Just Finished Elex
 

I'm late to the party but 3 years and 145 hours later, I completed Elex. I ended up really enjoying the game despite that the fantasy+sci-fi+post-apocalypse setting isn't my favorite.

To follow are my 2 cents, for whoever cares to read it. Enjoy!

SPOILERS Ahead!

MAP

Textured Mini-Map
Allow for an option to have a textured or “radar” style mini-map.

Fixed North
Allow for an option to have the mini-map fix remain fixed North.

Player Direction on Mini-Map and Main Map
The player marker consists of a round circle with an inner arc to indicate player direction. The directional arc is difficult to see and to make it worse, is often blocked by the marker for the player’s companion or other map markers. Make the player marker a triangular shape and this entire problem goes away.

Player Map Marking
Allow the player to mark up the map as much as they want along with allowing them to type a few notes for each marker - a single player map marker is not enough. Some locations have no notable markings on the map (such as caves or areas filled with poison/frost/fire effects and so on) and being able to mark the map with player markers would be great. Make it so that player map markers can be toggled on and off.

Locations Visited
In a big world like Elex it would be nice if the game could help you remember where you've already explored. Sometimes I have to put a game down for weeks or even months… when I get back to it, a feature to help me remember where I’ve been during past play sessions would be helpful. There are a few solutions I can think of. One would be to simply allow the player to put their own markers on the map. Another way would be a "fog of war" type method. Lastly, a Zelda Breath of the Wild solution in which a path of where the player has been is shown on the map (should be able to be toggled on and off). As an imperfect work-around, I would completely loot ruins and other locations to give me some indication I had been there before, but this gets tedious.

USER INTERFACE

Overall
Though I will offer various opinions in this section, I think that Elex’s UI is one of the better and more polished UIs out of all PB’s games to date.

Return to Last Menu Position
When the player returns to the menu, the last Main Menu selection, sub-menu selection, and item selected should be the default starting point. For example, if I was in the Item menu, selected on the potions sub-menu, and I had selected a health potion, then closed the UI. When I next go into the UI, it should default to the last position I had been in when I last used it.

Color Code Items
This is more of an action RPG feature, but perhaps adding a color scheme to items as a general indicator of their quality at a given player level would be helpful. To Elex’s credit, the game does have a sound indicator when the player initially picks up various rare items from the world space… however later when you are browsing your inventories nothing really stands out from anything else… mundane items are indistinct from rare items. The player can work-around this by observing items with low quantities as an indicator of rarity, but a color scheme is more exciting imho.

Sorting Options
Ability to sort menu items in useful ways would be handy given how many items there are in the game. Off the top of my head would be to sort alphabetically and by most recently acquired. I really like how elex marks items that are new in your inventory – please KEEP this in Elex 2.

“Junk Items”
There are about a dozen or so items in the game that have no other use than to sell them to vendors for Elexit (“junk items”). These items should be broken out in their own tab when trading with vendors OR a one-click button to sell such items quickly. When trading with vendors in Elex with the intention to sell these kinds of “junk” items I have to click on the items sub-tab, scroll all the way to the bottom, then scroll up until I start seeing these items (such as chalice, hammers, unusable first aid kits etc.) and then sell each distinct item one at a time. Since these items really have no other use than to sell them, a quick way to sell them in Elex 2 would make a nice quality of life improvement.

Outfits
Elex really should have provided the player with the ability to define at least 3 different outfits and change into those outfits on the fly. If this feature were present I would have had an “exploration” set with amulets and rings for lockpicking, pickpocketing, boosting personality, wearing various sunglasses and so on. I’d have had another set for combat. Lastly, I’d have another set to equip poison/fire/frost/radiation gear. I really didn’t explore very many places in Elex where poison/fire/frost/radiation were present because changing into gear that would protect me from these things was a pain in the butt… then when leaving these areas, having to change back into normal combat gear. An outfit feature would encourage players to explore these areas more.

Face Slot
In Elex 2 I’d recommend a separate "Face Slot" so you can wear eyewear AND headgear at the same time. The sunglasses that let you see interactable objects easily were just way too useful and I never took them off. An alternative would be to make seeing items & monsters a learnable "skill" so that you could still wear protective headgear AND get the benefit of being able to see objects/monsters. I REALLY liked the sunglasses concept and the ability to see objects I could pick up but disliked that I couldn't both wear sunglasses AND protective headgear at the same time.

Rings
You should be able to wear at least 2 rings at the same time. I mean, c’mon…

Scrollable Log Box
A Log Box option on the game screen would be useful so the player can see all the information logged recently (exp for killing a monster, what quest you completed etc). I constantly missed messages such as how much experience I had just earned or the name of the Quest I just completed because the messages appear then disappear before I can read them. If there were a running log I could bring up to see recent messages that would be great.

Difficulty Indicators
Options to allow the player to turn on and off difficulty indicators would be great. Since Elex is a completely open world and the player can quite literally go any direction, such difficulty indicators could be helpful. However, for those who don’t want this kind of thing, being able to disable this is important. I would have enjoyed difficulty indicators in both my quest log and with monsters out in the wild. If a quest was intended for a level 20 character and I’m level 2, that quest could be colored in red or otherwise indicate its difficulty relative to my character’s level. Difficult monster are marked with a skull which is helpful but I noticed the same monsters with skulls still had skulls when I could wipe the floor with them. I would like some kind of indicator of monster strength relative to my current level. If I’m level 1 and the monster on my screen is level 5 then it gets a skull, when I’m level 5 the skull is gone and maybe the monster’s name is in white or something like this.

Completed Quests Marked With “!”
When you get a new quest in Elex, it appears in the Active Quests sub-menu and the game marks that quest with a “!” to indicate it is new in the Active Quests sub-menu. I’d like the same thing to happen in the Completed Quests sub-menu. When you complete a quest, that quest moves out of your Active Quests sub-menu into the Completed Quests sub-menu and is marked with a “!” to indicate that the quest is new to the Completed Quests sub-menu. Many times in Elex a quest is considered complete the moment you complete the Quest Objective… Elex will briefly display which quest has just been completed but if you miss it, it’s hard sometimes to remember the specific name of the quest you just completed. The reason it is important to know what quest you just completed is because more often than not, returning to and talking with the NPC who gave you the quest will yield additional experience and/or Elexit.

Make Quests Behave Consistently
How quests complete is inconsistent. A typical quest scenario is you get a quest from a Quest NPC along with the Quest Objective. Many times, a quest will complete by performing the Quest Objective AND then returning to the Quest NPC for a final dialog about the quest. In this scenario, quest markers are available to show you where the Quest Objective is (Yellow Marker) and where the Quest NPC is (Orange Marker). When you complete the Quest Objective, you can use the Quest NPC Orange Marker to find your way back to the Quest NPC to complete the quest. However, there is a second way Elex completes quest. Like the first scenario, there is usually a Quest NPC who gives you a Quest Objective and as long as you haven't completed the Quest Objective you can see the Yellow and Orange markers on your map. However, in this second scenario, when the Quest Objective is satisfied, the Quest is considered complete and you lose your Yellow & Orange quest markers. This makes it hard to find the Quest NPC if it has been a long time since the player received the quest. For example, an NPC named Galar at a wilderness camp in Edan will ask you to clear out a nearby cave of reavers (the quest called "The Reaver Leader"). When you kill the reaver leader the quest is completed, and your Quest NPC Orange marker disappears. but if you return to Galar and tell him that you killed the reavers he will reward you with 4 pelts. When I got this quest I was too low level to kill the leader so I returned to do this many hours later… I completed the quest and I knew if I returned to the quest giver I might get some exp or a reward but it had been so long ago that I couldn't quite remember where I had met Galar… I knew the camp was somewhere nearby but I just couldn't quite remember. Some people will rightly suggest that perhaps the player do a better job remembering where camps are and where NPCs are and I'm fine with that… which is why I have a prior suggestion of allowing the player to mark the map with their own notes which I'd be happy to do.

STORY & CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Story
Elex starts out pretty slow but does in fact have an interesting overall story. I did find it a little bit annoying that NPC conversations were a little long winded… though I’d rather a developer error in this direction than not provide enough dialog. Also, because I didn’t evenly progress main quests, I came across main quest NPCs where I kid you not, dialog went on sometimes for 10 to 15 minutes. Somehow story pacing should be worked out better in Elex 2 though I have no idea what to recommend.

Attributes
I didn’t really like how Attributes were exclusively used as barriers for skills and equipment. I think if you add points to strength, that in itself should make you hit harder. If you add more to Constitution, that in itself should give you more HP. I don’t mind that Attributes are used as barriers to skills and equipment but increases to attributes themselves should provide some benefit too. Near the end of my game I was dunking all my Attribute points into Constitution trying to get it up to 85 in order to get 3 of 3 for the armor skill. Never made it though as I finished the game… I got constitution up to 78 after dumping the last 4 or 5 levels worth of Attribute points into Constitution though never achieving my goal. A nice consolation prize would have been that the points I did have in Constitution provided some kind of benefit regardless.

Uneven Feel To Weapon Damage
I appreciate the difficulty curves in PB games. I really like how weak you start and how powerful you can become by the end of the game. However, in Elex it seemed like the spread between weapon upgrades was a little uneven. It seemed like whenever I did find a better weapon I could use or was able to upgrade a weapon that I could use, these upgrades were HUGE leaps in damage after having used my current weapon a really REALLY long time. I’d rather a more incremental and even approach throughout the game with the ability to use more weapons that were of incremental improvements with occasional big leaps here and there.

Uneven Feel Regarding Skills
There were so many skills I wanted but only met the criteria to get them in the late stages of the game where I didn’t get to enjoy them for very long. If this could be a little more evened-out in Elex 2 it might make for a more fun game.

EXPLORATION, DISOVERY, WORLD SIMULATION

Underwater Exploration
I really miss the ability to swim underwater in open world RPGs like Elex. This feature used to be common in the past but for years now this has gone away in too many open worlds where it would make a lot of sense to include. Underwater exploration adds an entire new way to explore a world with its own risks & dangers along with secrets to discover & rewards.

What Time Is It
In the technological world of Elex, there should be a way to tell what time it is… especially when there are quests based on what time it is…

Interior Glare Adjustment
I really disliked the "eye adjustment" effect when walking into places darker than the outside world such as buildings and caves. Make that effect optional or make the adjusting time way quicker. I really grew to HATE this by the end of my 142 hours play through.

Make Object Notifications Consistent
Some objects in the world are inexplicably labeled with very general names. For the most part, objects in the world have specific names when you pick them up. "Serrated Axe" or "Healing plant" or “Instructions to Make a Healing Potion.” But with rings you just see "A Ring" when you pick it up. A small gripe but this has been the case going all the way back to Gothic 1. I am here to say that this is officially annoying now.

Non-Interactable Objects
Some objects in the world were buried under the geometry in the game or floating in the air. This sends the item confiscation OCD in me through the roof. A little bit sloppy but a small gripe, nonetheless.

Objects Fail to Highlight
Occasionally, items that should highlight and display their names would stop doing so. I found that once I clicked on such an item the situation would resolve. A small gripe but still worth mentioning.

Day & Night
In a game like Elex where a world is simulated, day & night are expected. However, we have gone decades without much in the department of actual game play changes taking place dependent on time of day. I would really love to see Day & Night have some meaningful game play impacts.

Weather
Much like Day & Night, weather is important in open worlds, but few games implement meaningful game play changes because of current weather conditions. I would like to see some fun game play mechanics based on weather conditions… but please do not do what Breath of the Wild did by making it impossible to climb during rain… that was NOT a fun weather-based game play mechanic.

THE LITTLE THINGS I NOTICED THAT ADDED A LOT

Companions
Elex really got it right with companions. I never had to worry about them… they never got stuck or lost… they'd always find me if I ran away… I always could just freely explore, and they'd help me out as needed but not so much as to remove risk. I really enjoyed for the first time having an NPC follower because I didn't have to manage anything with them. Most importantly, companions never looted anything… can I get an amen? The only pain with companions is that I clicked on them too much when I meant to interact with some other object.

Rain
Rain stops when you go inside or underneath an outcropping. Finally, a cRPG gets this right.

Jax Running Alongside Walls with Coffee
Jax drags his hand along walls if you run closely adjacent to a wall. A nice touch.

Radios
Radios and their different stations were a cool touch.

Jack the Omnipresent
"Jack" at the lighthouse was a nice touch and an Easter Egg to PB fans.

Scrawl
Safe Passwords scrawled on the sides of buildings was a nice touch!

Companion Banter
I like how companions give you a clue of the difficulty level of an area or can even comment about the history of an area.

The Map
The Elex map is really quite nice. I like how the quest markers show if a quest objective is above or below you. I like how you can zoom way in and the detail of the zoomed in area becomes a map of its own so to speak. I wish the map were full screen, so I didn’t have to scroll it, but the map was very useful.

The Wormhole
The Wormhole in the sky after beating game is a nice touch.

Post-Game
I’m glad the devs allow the player to keep playing the game after beating it. I went around kicking monster butt for a while, just because I could. And it was good.

Nice write-up. I'm glad you enjoyed the game that much. Elex is my favorite PB title after Gothic 1&2.

Interesting point about the quest markers. I never realized it because I played without the minimap.

Normally I don't even prefer map markers but when the game world gets as big as Elex I need them because there is no way I can play the game this size remembering all the details between play sessions. Real life constantly interrupts and sometimes interrupts for weeks.

When I was young I mapped Wizardry dungeons and took meticulous notes playing U4… but these days it's one non-stop interruption after the next.

That said, I'd gladly trade automated map markers if the devs let me mark up the map myself.

Excellent write-up. It is a fun game. Side note - FO4 has rain occlusion. Its a nice feature.

I wanted the mod for that in Skyrim to work, but it seemed to have no end of issues. Ultimately, I had to give up on it.

@TheMadGamer, thanks for the thorough and interesting post. As someone who has yet to buy this game but has potential interest in it, this is very useful.

Amazing write-up.

The only point I really disagree on is the weapon progression. To me that's one of the most fun elements, when I get this shiny new weapon and/or armour and I really feel powerful.

Since Gothic 1, this was one of my most enjoyable experiences.

Being able to one shot those pesky scavengers and molerats when it initially took 3 hits. What a feeling :D

Seriously have to find time to replay the game. As I chose the cyber priest cult for my main faction. Think I'll give the theif/mercenary faction a chance on my next run.

To bad no info about Elex 2 has been officially announced.

For many of PB's games I'd agree. But with some of PB's very large worlds like Elex and Gothic 3, I get an itch to be able to change weapons a little more often with incremental power increases.

When it comes to armor, I was just fine with how it worked in Elex except that I wanted the benefit of the sunglasses AND a helmet… a small gripe though.

Me too! (for both)
Some people say that the cyber priest route is almost like cheatmode, but I found it challenging enough.
Really wish they'd released an expansion for it.

I really wanted to play this game, having greatly enjoyed their other stuff. But I read on Steam that it is not possible to remap the right MB to use as "forward". I hate using WSAD for movement… So… had to give it a miss…

This is a reason for you not to play a game? Sounds like a troll post to me.

On topic: I love this game. The only improvement I would ask for is an option to complete the game without joining a faction, because they are all disgusting. (Moreover since you have something like your own faction anyways in your base settlement.)

Edit: Completely forgot: great review.

Well, not that it's actually any of your business, but YES, it IS a reason for me not to play a game. I have far more control using my RH on a mouse button, than using my left hand. You know, like you jerking off with your RH instead of your LH.

GOG currently has a special discount on this game through their newsletter. Anyone played this recently? I'm curious about it, though the slow start makes me a bit wary. I can't play much so the first hours might take a few weeks, if I'm unlucky, and I might lose my momentum.

I just played a few months ago. Great exploration and decent gameplay. I had a problem getting into the main character which stopped my first play but I got over it and ended up enjoying it overall. The start isn't slow, it's just brutal if you don't know how to play it. Don't fight. There are many quests you can do peacefully in the starting area and others that you can run through and avoid enemies. Once you get to level 8 or so you'll be set.

As you may have seen from other posts of mine I love this game and recommend it wholeheartedly. I don't know, what additional information you need for your decision, which hasn't already been given in this thread (the review is great) or in other threads about the game…

Not sure really what I want. But I wanted some updated opinions. Just some nudging in the direction of spending my money [emoji14]

If you know and like any earlier Piranha bytes game you should at least try Elex.

Hm, all these discussions about Elex and Elex 2 in the last days make me start Elex once again right now…. Its your fault! ;)

That's a good way to endorse a game :)

I played this game last winter. It's a fairly good game but you have to enjoy PB style of games(Gothic, Risen). It has the usual elements : First person. Factions. Equipement you can't use until your stats are high enough…. The beginning is difficult, brutal, but once you get a couple of levels, it starts getting much easier.

The setting is very unique. A blend of Sci-Fi and Fantasy in a post-apoc world.

I don't have high hopes about liking Elex much (Eurojank is janky), but I think all of you being relentlessly positive about it plus a 75% off sale on Humblebundle is finally going to make me cave. At least I'll get a jetpack out of the deal.

It's super janky. Treat every enemy like the rabbit in Monty Python. The exploration is rock solid though.

I think ACG said it best, the game makes you feel like you need to go through Customs before you're allowed to start having fun. But there's fun to be had.

I already changed my mind and reinstalled Kingmaker instead, haha. I only got 30 hours into that so there's plenty of game left.

Janky is fine, as long as the jank is predictable. It'll just take some time to learn this particular jank.

I love the slow start. To me, that's one of the best parts of PB's design style. Having to slink around and pick off only the weakest of enemies while scavenging anything you can to survive. I think it makes their games a lot more satisfying in the long run.

The price is irrelevant tbh. If you like these kinds of games, Elex is easily worth it with or without any discount.

I waited about a year after Elex was out, just to get it on discount in case I didn't care for it. I couldn't have been more wrong, it's easily worth full price, take your time and explore the world, you should have a good time.

I feel the same way and that sentiment applies to any RPG… I love the start when everything is dangerous and almost every new piece of gear has meaning. Too many games are such that gear loses meaning too quickly.

Elex is a great game when modded :)

I think the story sort of falls apart in the end, and if you don't mod the game - it's incredibly poorly paced and balanced when it comes to combat and progression.

Other than that, though, it's a true PB game - which means it's glorious even with all the janky crap.

I've been itching for a replay… do you have any mods you'd recommend?

It's been a while - and I can see there's a ton of balance mods added since I last checked Nexusmods.

But I'm 99% certain I used this one:

https://www.nexusmods.com/elex/mods/57

It fixed the vast majority of my issues with game balance - including some positively absurd differences between certain weapons, where some are next to useless and others are vastly overpowered.

Also, it changes the item economy - especially for Elex potions - which, originally, would allow for infinite power growth once you reached a certain level of wealth.

Of course, you could simply not use them - but I prefer not having the option at all.

It's not an entirely new game or anything, but it flows better than I think it did in the vanilla version.

I agree that some weapons are kind of cheating devices, once you have them. That would be a valid concern. (I personally like it that way ;), however…)

If I remember correctly, using many of those come with a tradeoff that you loose humanity. So you have to decide between beeing an overpowered "bad guy" or a "good guy" with normal powers. At least I don't remember that you could rise your "humanity" stat for money. If it works this way it is like in a few RPGs. In Might&Magic VIII (at least, probably it is the same in VI and VII), you can get evil reputation easily and have access to more powerfull destruction spells in that way, while getting "good reputation" is harder and doesn't give you access to the same spells. I saw a similar trade offc in Baldur's Gate 2, but don't remember how it worked exactly.
Therefore I wouldn't see the need to mod this out, because it is a role-playing decision, you make.


I would like to add, that mods are not needed to make the game playable graphics-wise or UI-wise, like for some other games.

So I don't use mods for Elex despite having replayed it several times. In the end it is a matter of preferences.

I'm not suggesting there's any kind of need for modding :)

I'm just saying how I feel about the game and its balance - and I'm suggesting a mod as per the request.

IIRC, you didn't pick between "good" or "bad" - but between Cold and Emotional, but it's been a while so I could be wrong.

Since I was actually going for Cold - the Elex potion was a double exploit of sorts, except I think the actual impact on your stat was very limited.

The reason I consider it an exploit is that there's a non-cheating way to buy an infinite amount of them - which clearly wasn't intended.

Modding is a double-edged sword, because there's always a risk when you mess with the intention of the design. Well, perhaps not the intention - but certainly the actual result.

But I'm confident enough in my own personal preferences to the point where I'm comfortable changing aspects of certain games that bother me.

I'm a huge fan of PB - but I don't think they're great at stuff like balance and mechanics. In their defense, open world freeform RPGs are probably among the hardest games to balance - not counting multiplayer games.

It is true that it is between cold and emotional, which is interpreted by the game as being between machine-like and human-like. In order to see all possible endings you need to play it both ways (as I mentioned elsewhere, this was the only game I played until I got all steam achievements and managment of this stat is needed for that).

(By the way I didn't mean that you said, that the game is not a great game without mods, but I feared that people could interpret your statement "Elex is a great game when modded" in that way and wanted to give a different view… :cool: )

IIRC, it was best to be Cold as a Cleric - which was my faction of choice. But I must admit I forget the details.

You gotta give people more credit. I think most around here know me well enough to not necessarily trust my opinion as some kind of set-in-stone fact :)

But we can certainly agree that it's a great game overall.

Also, by the way, I recently learned that PB are "largely finished" with their next project (99% certain it's Elex 2) - and that they're essentially in polish mode right now.

To me, that sounds like a 2021 release is likely.

Which would be great - as the year seems a little light on great games, if you ask me.

From a pure power-gaming point of view that may be true (except if you want to be a pure melee guy, than berzerk may be better, or a hidden thief-type guy, where Outlaws might be better).



But, as I said, being very cold prevents you from some choices in the end game so you can't have all possible endings. There are at least three distinct endings and IIRC even these can have variants.



Edit: Eagerly waiting for Elex 2 too…

I also don't try to get several endings only for seeing them (I don't save at a decision point in order to try all decisions). I rather replay the game. But I make different role-playing decisions in different playthroughs. For example being a "cold" guy for the sake of being as powerful as possible in order to win against my arch enemy in one playthrough and being a human guy, who tries to do do the right thing in each single quest regardless of the power issue in another one. So I played Elex about three or four times (and am in another playthrough right now because of all the discussions here).
(The only exception from the above was when I tried to get the achievement, to learn all skills for every faction. In that case I may have reloaded a save short before joing a faction only for the sake of learning all the skills for a second faction, because I forgot that in an earlier playthrough. I had enough skill points for that anyway at that point in time, because that was a play through where I tried to finish every sidequest and all enemies without joining a faction as far as possible.)

Sorry for spamming the thread but since it is exclusively about Elex it is ok, I believe, to add some more:

I remembered some of the ending variants now and try to describe them spoiler-free.

The three main endings depend on the question, how you decide with regard to the final boss. However there are variants with regard to the question, which of the factions will support you in the end and also, IIRC, which of your possible companions will stay with you in the final fight. Somebody wrote that this means about 3*3*3=27 variants but I am not sure and since the decisions in the different aspects mentioned above are partly independent of each other you do not need to try all combinations in order to see the results of all decisions once. (But i didn't try that anyway and pissed of only factions and companions, for whom this fitted to my other role-playing decisions.)

I wish PB would make that kind of choice relevant for the sequel.

If there's anything that can motivate me to replay games, it's when choices persist between games in a series.

I mean, I'm on my 4th-ish replay of Mass Effect - and I don't even like the games all that much. I mean, they're good and all, but pretty limited when it comes to stuff I really like - apart from the lore/story but I've seen that a million times by now.

Of course, I never actually completed Mass Effect 3 - which is why I keep trying to replay the entire trilogy :)