Gothic, Risen... ELEX

I like the idea of a science fiction open world kind of game in the style of Gothic, but I’m a bit turned off that it’s also a mix of fantasy concepts and playstyles. Going to need to hear some more impressions on this one.

Same here. I like that they try new things. I don’t think I like what they’re trying :/

Day one!

Give them some credit - they got better and better at this with each release, to the point where Risen 3 only had one proper bug-fix patch I think. The game had very few issues at launch.

Reviews are landing. Predictably average:

Whenever I watch a trailer I end up more confused than when I started. Is it fantasy (dinosaurs, men in animal skins in a village where the houses are built of wood)? current-day (I see power lines, hotels with cars in front of them)? Future (I see jet packs, futuristic buildings, fancy guns)? Warhammer 40k (I see mechs, dudes in tunics with swords and men in future armor with 2-handed weapons)? WHAT ARE THEY DOING???

And then I get some sort of mental overload trying to figure things out and I go on to the next thing.

I want this game because I love those guys, but there are too many good things going on right now.

I bought it even though I was planning on waiting for a few days at least. I was watching some pre-reviews and the open world just sucked me in. I hope I do not regret my purchase.

If this game has like elves and dwarves and dragons running around that I can absolutely murder with power armor and a laser rifle, I’d be in.

What exactly is wrong with game devs that make these big open world RPGs in terms of combat. Every single game in this genre has horrible combat mechanics… I can’t think of one open world RPG that actually has even good combat mechanics much less great, and doesn’t feel like some clunk fest from 1998.

Skyrim, Witcher, Fallout, Dragons Dogma, you name it, they all just flat out suck when it comes to combat, what’s the problem? I love big open world RPGs, but I’m at the point of keyboard hurling over this combat problem, so many games that I would have otherwise loved just destroyed by it.

If anyone ever does actually make an open world game that has great combat, I will buy 10 copies just to support them.

You can’t do everything. RPGs used to have terrible graphics too. You can’t be an expert at everything either.

Dragon’s Dogma actually has good combat because it’s made by a company and a designer that understands those things. (It’s just too shallow and repetitive after a while.)

I’ll give you Witcher, but I thought the latest Elder Scrolls was a lot better than previous iterations when it came to combat, and Fallout 4 was much improved too, since it actually played like a satisfying shooter in real time, plus it still had VATS as a slow motion option. I thought Dragon’s Dogma was supposed to have good combat? I haven’t played it yet.

Witcher had horrible combat? News to me. But then, I loved the combat in the original Gothic, so…

Dragon’s Dogma combat is pretty good in my book, if a bit chaotic at times. And more action-adventure-y action-RPG-y games like Darksiders 2 and Middle Earth: Shadow of [Mordor|War] have pretty fun combat, too.

As for Piranha Bytes games… yeah. I thought Gothic combat was clunky but inspired, in the sense that skill mattered more than leveling. If you mastered the timing in combat, you could beat enemies well beyond your power level at the moment. But the actual implementation of controls got in the way of that often, at least for me; I love the idea of playing Gothic 2 again, but I’ve tried twice and ended up quitting because of the control scheme. I guess getting used to better controls in recent games got me spoiled.

As for ELEX… I’ll play it eventually, I think.

I don’t care about the combat. If it sucks I’ll crank the difficulty down and power through. Even if it didn’t suck it will probably have way too goddamn much combat like every other RPG ever made, and I’ll crank the difficulty down and power through.

I guess my best case is that this is kind of like the first couple of Ultimas, which commingled fantasy and sci-fi elements. I doubt that will happen but I like to dream big.

Yeah, holy moses this is bad - The animations, graphics and voice overs are like something on the PS3, and not in a good way. The dialogue is incredibly poor, and makes absolutely no sense. First I met a guy who says I HAVE to come with him and join a faction, and I can only join one. Okay - 1 minute in the game I have to choose something I have no clue as to why I have to choose? 2 minutes later we stop, and he asks me “Why haven’t you joined a faction”??!?! WHAT?!

There is no customization - you are a very ugly man thing.

Gah - I knew I should have waited but after mistakenly purchasing Shadows of War, I wanted to play something interesting and fun. This really isn’t it. Its VERY rough.

edit LOL the combat sounds are there AFTER you hit something? thats…amazing.

What I don’t understand about Piranha Bytes is that I don’t see any improvement. Gothic 2 was released in 2002 but this game seems to have all of the same flaws. Weird controls, poor voice acting, clunky animation. Surely they should be better at making these types of games by now.

I have never understood the melee combat mechanics in PB games. This is the main reason I play a mage. I do not have to deal with the ultra-janky melee combat.

What do you hate about it?
Also, someone post a counter opinion. Please do not tell me I wasted my money on this. I really want a good open world RPG to play. The next ES game isn’t even announced yet, let alone having a release date years in the future.

Are you on PS4 or how come you can already play?

Yeah PS4.

Haha - the soundtrack you get…doesn’t work either. It just says music directory isn’t there. This is so much amateur hour its not even funny.
@DeepT its just horrendously poorly done - every single part of it. It looks so bad, the animations are bad, the movement is bad, the combat is bad, the dialogue is bad - whats left of a game? Hell - I haven’t even heard any music yet? In the hour I’ve played so far - the same guy has been standing, peeing, the same place, with the lovely sound of it carrying pretty much 100 meters in all directions. hit sounds are lagging after the hits - nothing makes sense. Its just…not good in any way.