Funniest thing I’ve in a while.
That looks like Witcher 2 to me. ;)
People at work are wondering why I’m laughing so much right now.
I’ve only just realised how melee works :/
I thought you had to hit a very specific rhythm to build a combo. But queuing attacks works just as well. And the reason I get a flashing green exclamation mark on screen is because they know they’ve put the stamina bar miles from the combo meter, so I have no hope of watching both ://
I’m going to learn to play before passing judgement.
I don’t believe Elex makes you colder.
You get colder through conversation choices. They are usually the choice that is less empathic than others.
The whole setup of the game is that elex makes you emotionless…
I doubt those potions will affect “cold” as they seem a stat boost mechanic similar to the Hero’s Crown plants in Risen. Having them also force Cold increase would be bad because then you couldn’t get the stat boost without shifting your intended character style in one direction. Plus every time there’s a cold change it notifies you in-game. But maybe the bigger potions do, because as @Alistair says that’s the whole conceit? I haven’t tried… :)
Small Elex drinks will give you xp and bigger ones give attribute and stat points. Don’t use the small ones as you can combine them into bigger ones (with chem skill); I’d say stat points are more valuable than XP increase. You can also get a recipe in Golieth.
For those struggling with combat, do you have a companion? I’d say the game is (somewhat) balanced around taking one.
For well you know that it’s a fool
Who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder
Weirdly Metacritic has the PC and PS4 versions at 74 and 55 respectively. Is that due to different expectations from differing crowds, or is the PS4 version not a good one?
It’s growing on me I think.
Well @Razgon’s scathing views were based on playing the PS4 version. But I have little doubt he’d hold similar opinions if playing on PC (maybe the graphics are a little less horrid).
I’m on the PS4, and it seems ok to me.
Razgon’s European. He’s supposed to love clunky RPGS :)
I’ve uninstalled the game now, otherwise I’d record my first 15 minutes for you guys, but seriously - its horrible. When the guy crashes in his ship, you look down upon, and see three rocks doing texture pop-ins, one after another - Graphically, I Was reminded about Jedi Knight on the PC - you know, that kind of textures. Jumping down looked weird, no jumping up, the “climb” button only appearing you turned yourself correctly, the dialogue making absolutely no sense, and then in that insane 1980 computer game voice - it was just all too much. I died in the first village, after having helped someone kill monsters, when my last swing hit the one I was helping, and he immediately killed me - to the sound of the guy peeing 100 feet away.
I don’t mind clunky, or old school - I LOVE Divinity 2, which is pretty damn old-school. This is just poor craftmanship all the way around.
55 on Metacritic sound right - but I AM happy you guys are enjoying it. It was just an immense letdown for me, seeing the quality of games we are used to on the PS4.
So are there any ini hacks yet to push out the view distance on PC? I’ve got the game on ultra settings but the fog is still a bit too close for my liking. It doesn’t seem to look as good as the publicity screenshots.
And how does one get a companion? I assume there is a quest that needs to be done. I talked to the original guy who met me in the tutorial area. He wants me to run all over BFE to talk to people. Its on my to do list.
Is there anyway to see exact values of your computed stats? IE: Exactly how many HP do I have? When I have a potion of +30 hp vs one of +90 and my health bar is half empty, which one is the right one to use? Since some skills rely on your cold value, where can I go to see my exact cold value?
I found my companion at random while en route from A to B. He is tougher than me but by not that much. Or he might just know how combat works.
Sure that fog’s not the depth of field effect? That can be turned off.
Great impressions by Age of Decadence dev:
A long time ago Piranha Bytes released a game called Gothic, featuring a very different approach to game design:
- Instead of starting you off as a mighty Chosen One, you played the role of a convict with a very short life expectancy in a world where nearly every living thing could kill you in two hits
- Factions played a large role in the game, but instead of blessing a local faction with your attention, you had to convince a faction of your choice that you’re worthy and work your way up the ladder
- Somehow PB managed to conjure a living & breathing world which became an instantly recognizable trademark
- The first half of the game (until the faction choice) was amazingly non-linear and full of choices and multiple solutions, which were still a rarity in 2001.
Needless to say the game was very well received by the hardcore crowd and PB spent the next 14 years making all kinds of Gothic and Risen (reskinned Gothic due to losing the license in a publishing deal gone wrong) games, until they decided that they need something new and way cooler than fantasy.
What’s cooler than fantasy, you ask? Elex!
Imagine a world hit by a comet carrying a load of magical ore (all the way from Gothic, I assume). The comet instantly turns it into a post-apocalyptic world increasing the coolness factor by 10 and the magical ore turns the survivors into the following 4 groups:
- Axe-fighting, spell-casting Vikings partying like it’s 800AD
- Tech-worshipping, gun-toting Clerics
- Mad-Maxian Outlaws getting high on their own supply
- Real fucking assholes that nobody likes
On the surface it sounds like an equivalent of a world where ninjas, pirates, and robots are fighting for a rare resource that makes the robots shinier, ninjas faster, and pirates even more awesome, which … is kinda awesome, if you think about it, so I decided to buy me some Elex and see what all the fuss is about.
Part 1 – The World
You play the role of a former member of the asshole army, double-crossed, left for dead, and thirsty for revenge, which is a perfect setup for a PB game, much better than being a generic convict or shipwrecked. In a few quick strokes you gain a backstory, a wide-open goal, and that feeling of being a stranger in a strange land, not to mention that your kind is usually killed on sight. As a bonus, you even look like an asshole so it’s very easy to get immersed in this role. You’re stripped of your armor and your abilities (Elex that powered them has worn off days ago) so in a typical PB fashion you start the game weak as a kitten, and should avoid any animal that isn’t marked as ‘sick’ or a ‘runt’. Welcome to the bottom of the food chain.
PB doesn’t deviate from the formula: you make your way through the starting area, meet a friendly guide who tells you the basics and escorts you to the nearby town, showing you what a real fighting man can do by killing everything that comes close. Now you can explore the town (home of the Vikings who call themselves Berserkers for extra badassary) and do some side quests to earn their goodwill or leave and explore the world. No restrictions and no hand-holding. You will die a lot.
It’s a very familiar game but it’s a very good game and PB at their best, so it becomes a very enjoyable ride where every gain (a non-runt creature killed, new pants found, new recipe acquired, new level gained) is a small but meaningful victory in a very cruel and indifferent world.
Skyrim it’s not. Forget about killing dragons. The only bird you can kill at this point is a mutated chicken (which will fuck you up faster than you can say Dovahkiin if you aren’t quick enough), so if you like challenging combat and slow progression, this game is for you.
So back to the factions. I’ve played the game for 5 hours so I haven’t seen much but what I’ve seen I liked a LOT. While the factions sound crazy on paper somehow they make sense within the game. The devil is always in the details.
Clearly, the main goal was to let you play any way you want. Who says you can’t bring a sword to a gunfight? Certainly not Warhammer 40,000. Anyway, so PB takes this crazy concept, asks ‘but what if it were real, hmm?’ and starts fleshing it out with details that make all this craziness fitting and even believable within the context of the gameworld.
Instead of being angry Vikings, the Berserkers become terraformers who ban and destroy all technology they find. Not every citizen of their utopia shares their concerns, so you find people trading tech on the side or questioning their beliefs and leadership. Such details matter and they matter a lot. Before you know you stop seeing generic, out of place Vikings and start seeing an interesting faction that does belong in this literally fantastic world.
In a sense this world is what Bethesda’s Fallout should have been like. You have the remnants of the Old World here and there (ruins, old buildings and power stations) but the world has moved on and no longer dwells in these ruins.
In the next part I will cover the character system which is or at least appears to be surprisingly complex, so stay tuned.
IGN score: 4.9/10
Gamespot score: 4/10
IGN’s No Man’s Sky score: 9/10
That’s a very entertaining write up. It also shows very clearly how what you expect determines what you see, for good or ill. Given that the writer is offering impressions, not a formal review, that’s perfectly fine, because I think a lot of what most gamers get out of games what they take into them. And if you take in the same sort of baggage, it’s more likely you’ll come away with a similar viewpoint on the title.
Also, nothing in there contradicts the equally heartfelt criticisms made about the game. It’s entirely possible to have a buggy, ugly, janky, frustrating, poorly balanced and grossly unfair game that is also amazingly compelling, internally consistent, and viscerally satisfying. It just may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
For me, definitely a “wait for the sale” title though.