Wow lots of responses when I logged in here after work!

I play hardest difficulty because of the problem Dartness mentioned… most games after you clear the first couple hours you just get overpowered and faceroll everything and it doesnt engage me anymore.

I never noticed the difficulty custom settings before! Sheesh. I swear I went through all the options at the beginning (I always put subtitles on first thing).

Maybe I'm expecting to kill things too fast in this mode. I played Risen and Gothic with one point in swords because everything was killable, just needed patience and timing. Even a troll can be felled with 150hits. This game some things are too tough amd I just cant dodge enough. Maybe I should try running :)

Anyway this was not meant to sound like a complaint. I love the game.

You really have to run for awhile IMO, unless you find cheesing the system and killing things in 200 hits or whatever fun.

My strategy was fire a shot or see how much damage Duras is doing, if it's barely moving the health bar, run. Then you'll start learning which creatures you can mess with and which to avoid entirely, then just use that knowledge going forward. Survival skills like Camouflage, Sixth Sense and so on help a lot too.

Good luck and enjoy. :)

Thats the other downside. I generally don't play with companions in any game. Much prefer the solo. I either find them way too strong (Patty Risen 2 wtf) or way too weak (Dogmeat.. nooooo!!)

It is to be expected, since the night sky is filled with two huge moons! (Small moon orbiting big moon actually.)

Wow, pickpocket skill is stupidly overpowered :)

Really? I rarely found NPCs carrying much on them. Usually just some elexit and 1 or 2 random items of low value.

I sort of forgot about it after a while though and stopped using it.

Well, so far they carry a lot more Elexit than most items have been worth. I think I just looted more than 1000 elexit in 5 minutes. I also looted sunglasses from a trainer. It's fast and if you fail, reloading is nearly instant.

I guess later on it won't be worth as much, but right now it's the best investment I've made in terms of progression :)

It's more of a "must-use" component of ELEX IMO. But I guess if you really just want to avoid combat for even longer and then level up enough to handle it yourself, that's an option. Duras just makes a good bodyguard for the early parts of the game.

Bow is a great choice Dart. I think the ranged weapon that does the most damage is a Warbow III.

But there is a Cleric spelll that increases cleric gun damage so that puts them at the top for ranged weapons apparently.

I think all the ranged weapon types are viable. I went with bows but that's because I was a beserker and it made sense from a role-playing standpoint. I would have went with energy weapons had I played a cleric or shotguns If I was an Outlaw.

Spearguns are pretty wicked, too, as they can cause bleeding damage which takes larger chunks out of enemies even if you are low level. So the attacks themselves don't do much but the bleeding does.

What's the recommended difficulty for a first playthrough?

Having great fun with the game and I'm getting into a proper PB mood :)

The basic Cultivator Bow + Duras has really been enough to clear the vast majority of Goliet quests with zero challenge. The pickpocket skill has made money a non-issue - so I can buy whatever I need. Primarily, I've been buying arrows so that I don't feel I have to conserve ammo.

Combat is a bit clunky - and it's way, way too easy to evade and shoot at most stuff. In fact, the only thing preventing me from defeating harder enemies is a lack of patience. I suspect once I upgrade the bow and get Ranged weapons to level 2 - it's going to be a lot easier.

As always with PB games, the best part of Elex is the world and the exploration. The writing is not very good - but some of the plot is kinda neat. The combat is less than satisfying - but it gets the job done in terms of progression.

The progression itself is ok, even if I still think it's a mistake to prolong the power incline for so long. But, the jetpack and super forgiving monster AI means I can easily run from quest to quest in a timely manner.

The only big downside for me, so far, is the bright night issue after the patch. I remember the darker nights from before - and it was really cool from a lighting perspective. I fear we won't see a fix for this for a long time - if ever.

Pretty annoying, actually - but I refuse to wait for another patch.

I can easily see how it has gotten such poor ratings, though. It's about as far from a mainstream experience as I can imagine for an otherwise great game.

Anyway, having fun…..

Also, the world is pretty huge. I just ran all the way to Hort from Goliet - quite a hike.

Love the variety so far!

I think some people (I whish I could write kids and teenagers but alas not) still haven't understand this, no matter how basic it is. :-)

If really that's the point, ask yourself why you thought that you choose another difficulty level would worth a thread? I wonder. :-)

I'd have to say people who feel the need to belittle how others have fun should probably consider who the real kids are :)

@Dasale sorry I dont understand your question.

I used to play Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden, Double Dragon and Robocop. When you grow up playing a NES, you just cannot play modern games in normal mode, nightmare is the bare minimum.