Gothic, Risen... ELEX

Games
584

They could start using ChaGPT to help:

Sure! Here’s an example dialogue in the style of the “Piranha Bytes” games, such as the “Elex” series:

Protagonist: Greetings, stranger. What brings you to these parts?

NPC: I’m searching for a way to reach the highest peak in these mountains. They say it holds the key to unlocking untold power.

Protagonist: Ah, I’ve heard of that legend. But be warned, the journey is treacherous and many have lost their lives trying to reach the summit.

NPC: I am aware of the dangers. But the reward is worth the risk. Will you accompany me on this quest?

Protagonist: Sorry, but I prefer to journey alone. However, I can give you a map that may help you reach your destination.

NPC: That would be most generous of you. I’ll make sure to repay your kindness when I return with the power I seek.

Protagonist: Just be careful out there. The creatures in these mountains are brutal, and the terrain is unforgiving.

NPC: I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for your help, and may we meet again under better circumstances.

585

Are the Protagonist and NPC reversed? Maybe it’s a shop keeper mod I haven’t played!

586

I ended up installing this finally yesterday, because of this thread. The voice actor for Jax is Taliesin Jaffe from critical role, and once you hear it, you cant unhear it. Weirdly its not that I dont like him or his voice, and maby its because of covid, but the disconnect between his dialog and everyone else is pretty huge. I dont think hes a bad voice actor, but its obvious hes not having a conversation with another voice actor, or even hearing their lines. Hes probably in a closet reading lines by himself. With the other actor doing the exact same thing.

I looked into the German thing last night too, according to people who speak german, the english voices are better. They said it seemed like it was made in english first, and dubbed by german voice actors that are known for dubbing everything. But not very well. I played gothic 2 night of the raven in german with subtitles tho, and since I dont speak german, thought it was good. Maby Ill enjoy badly dubbed german I dont understand over this dissjointed english.

Could this be why so many games with voice acting leave the protagonist silent? It would help hide the lack of effort into the flow of conversation.

Then the writing. Damn you guys are not kidding. Im only about an hour in, but its like listening to two people talk to eachother, but neither one is really listening to, or at times even acknowledging the fact that they know, eachother.

“Wheres my son?” Who I barely know cause Im a dead beat dad.
“His mom took him. And when you meet her…” Then goes on to describe her personality. Ya she sounds familiar

Then a minute latter one of her lackys has to be told not to shoot Jax with an arrow, because hes approaching the gate with his arms raised.

Followed be her verbally beating him down for being a deadbeat dad, and him suddenly acting like he gives a damn.

Then Jax walking up to the boys babysitter, telling him its to dangerous here, Im taking him north to a spot I think will be better, and the babysitter is totally cool with it. Just take him for a safe stroll thru the wilderness, that will be safer then behind these walls.

I dont know how it can be that rough in the first 15 minutes of the game. Not that Im quitting.

587

Hahaha, you are in for a wild, wild ride writing-wise, I gotta tell you that.

588

So I have an in game theory, that I assume wont get confirmed or denied in game. Traveled west for a crony quest, and decided to jet pack my way up the cliff to see if I could see Goliet, the berzerker capital.

And theres a poison barrier up there, for mechanical reasons, as an excuse to keep us contained ingame, but

To me its evidence that the berzerkers terreforming ultimate form kills the parasite, that is humanity. Especially since the fort has also stopped receiving shipments from Goliet. Also fits with the, every faction sucks theme.

589

German internet thinks Piranha Bytes may be being wound up.

Claims of layoffs, none of the site or media content being updated any more. Negotiations maybe ongoing but the lead guy is said to have gone.

On one hand that’s a shame. On the other my grand plan of having them merge with Spiders may be one step further along.

590

It’s kind of a miracle they made it this long!

591

Yeah, and remaking the same game over and over. What game had the best “follow the guy to fighter camp?”

592

German games magazine GameStar, which has (well, had…) a pretty good connection to the studio verified today that Piranha Bytes indeed went belly-up.

Oh well. I had my fun with their offerings. Still a bit of a shame, if only for the nostalgia angle.

593

Farewell!

594

It occurs to me I’ve never played a Piranha Bytes game, which would be the one to choose if I were so inclined? Sounds like Elex is pretty good?

595

I wondered the same and chose Risen because it sounded like it had enough old school feel while containing a few modern touches.

However, I played it 9 years ago, so there’s probably a better choice now. [EDIT] Or not! Go for it.

596

I think the first Risen game is pretty solid and doesn’t have the too old and clunky factor of Gothic.

It’s probably one of the best of thiers. I haven’t played Elex 2 yet. Elex 1 is alright but a bit too punishing early game and the stats system is confusing. It doesn’t help that the attribute description text lies to you.

597

Best games are Gothic 2 Night of the Raven and Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos (which is not made by PB, but it runs on Gothic 2 engine and is its prequel and is fantastic).

They do have oldschool graphics though. So I guess if you need something more modern looking, Risen 1 or Elex 1 are good options.

598

For me it’s less about how modern it looks and more about how modern it plays - which I guess means newer is probably going to win, all else being equal. But I’m also intrigued by stuff I haven’t really seen before, which both Risen (pirate rpg!) and Elex (sci-fi vs fantasy!) seem to have. Gothic, by comparison, just looks a bit more generic to my eye. Not necessarily opposed to trying it, I would just probably need some kind of hook to stay interested.

599

Well, Risen 3 is a nice remix (3 factions to choose, Pirates, Mages, Demon Hunters) and it’s relatively playable. It also IMHO suffers least from PB’s tendency to instakill people that stray off the intended path. See also Elex below.

Risen 1 is pretty close to a 1:1 reimagining of Gothic.

Elex is kinda weird, and has the nasty tendency to murder you hard if you stray from the intended path. Okay, all their games do that, but the “intended path” in Elex was more of a vague suggestion, direction-wise. Two steps in the wrong direction and the local monstrosities beat you to a pulp. The world only really opens up once you joined a faction and got a semblance of equipment.
Normally, you’re prevented from ending up where the wild things roam by having to follow paths that lead to clear gateway monsters. Well, not in Elex. You can hop, skip and jump with your jetpack, and as such end up where you’re absolutely not supposed to be.

I admit not having bought or played Elex 2.

600

I’m not totally sure what you’re looking for there, but it might be important to point out that PB games are notoriously janky. I know Gothic supposedly had really weird controls too, but I never had much problem with the controls in Risen for what that’s worth.

601

I don’t really know what I’m looking for myself, guess I’m just looking for a general idea of how worthwhile these games overall may be. Not very worthwhile at all is a reasonable response as well.

602

Risen 1 was the only of their games I ever beat. But I had enough of a good time with that that I purchased Risen 2, 3, and Elex on launch. Never beat any of those, but I enjoyed my time with Risen 2 and 3 and probably just found a new shiny. Didn’t play more than an hour of Elex so that’s a game I just didn’t give a proper chance to.

603

I think I only played Gothic 1 and 2, didn’t finish or even get very far with either. I remember I died very quickly over and over in G2 and said, “fuck it” and quit. I did get Elex and Elex 2 extremely cheap for Xbox during a sale, but I haven’t played them yet.

I kept thinking this whole time that Gothic, Risen, Elex, Technomancer, Greedfall, and The Surge were all the same developer, but looking it up now, seems to be three unrelated ones!

I guess because they’re mostly similarly feeling, ambitious but clunky low (mid?) budget affairs.