Elex Elex First Impressions

joxer said:

But in Elex it's not a pain to get required funds - by the time you get to armor buying you'll be filthy rich. Even without those few money exploit schemes. All you need is:
- thieving and looting
- trophy skill at least on level 2
- haggling

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I don't know - I have haggling (which seems to get you very little? Or maybe you need other skills to make it more effective), I have trophy 1 and thieving 1 - because skill points are too precious and I simply chose to put more into combat etc (which is so common). I am not filthy rich (at most I accumulated about 10,000 elexit which I have spent on a great many things) - so basically I am going to have to waste playing time looking for ways to scrape together this amount e.g. hunting, gathering plants, making jewellery etc. Sure, I can do it, but it's not fun (to me at any rate).

lackblogger said:

You can't buy XYZ piece of equipment until you come across a vendor selling it, the gating of that equipment is therefore gated by when you meet that trader, not by how much money you have.

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That would be some linear game.
You may buy basically anything that's offered through vendors in Elex's first hour as the game is openworld and you can reach each of them by flying past trashmobs.
There is only one vendor not possible to reach in the first hour because you need $1000 to hire him, a huge sum seemingly impossible to gather that early.

booboo said:

I don't know - I have haggling (which seems to get you very little? Or maybe you need other skills to make it more effective), I have trophy 1 and thieving 1 - because skill points are too precious and I simply chose to put more into combat etc (which is so common). I am not filthy rich (at most I accumulated about 10,000 elexit which I have spent on a great many things) - so basically I am going to have to waste playing time looking for ways to scrape together this amount e.g. hunting, gathering plants, making jewellery etc. Sure, I can do it, but it's not fun (to me at any rate).

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Haggling is IIRC -5% pricedrop and has two levels. Not much, right? Well, when you start buying natural elex, then we'll talk.
Thieving 1 is basically enough, don't steal crap items from people, just cash.
Trophy level 2 however is superimportant, I'd say stuff trashmobs drop on it's level 2 approximately sells for 50 and you'll be swimming in thousands by selling teeth, pelts and etc.

To close the circle. You need $ to buy natural elex which is then used for upping stats (hint: first visit Alrik, then south abessa alb separatist trader in converter).
There is nothing wrong with boosting STR, DEX and CON on level up, but elex pots are an integral part of the game. Without them I don't see how would anyone reach almost 100 in an attribute required for skills/weapons. How come?
Attribute 1-30 needs 1 point to improve by 1
30-60 needs 2 points to improve by 1
60+ needs 5 points to improve by 1
Each level up gets you 10 points to distribute. Drinking each (Medium) Elex potion gives you 2 points. These pots are not cheap to brew.

I don't have any interest in stealing myself and don't want to feel forced to do that just to afford things. But I may look into the trophy perk.

I suspect I may hit a wall in this game. I don't like it when games force you to play a certain way and from what @joxer; is saying it seems you have to steal and make potions if you want to succeed.

wolfgrimdark said:

I don't have any interest in stealing myself and don't want to feel forced to do that just to afford things. But I may look into the trophy perk.

I suspect I may hit a wall in this game. I don't like it when games force you to play a certain way and from what @joxer; is saying it seems you have to steal and make potions if you want to succeed.

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I don't think steeling is a requirement, I think joxer was suggesting that would be an optimum way to grind out the end-game.

[btw, the game turns into a grinding game at some point]

And like all grinding games, it's then a question of maximising your sources to speed-up the grind. So if you don't want to steal stuff then you can always just continually kill all the repsawns.

[btw, the game has lots of respawns]

To which, yes, levelling up hunting trophy is the best source of loot generation for killing all the respawns. So you should be fine to continue.

Exactly.
Thieving is not something mandatory. By robbing everyone in settlements during nights (and night guards during day) you'll easily reach 10K+ of $ earlygame, but honestly in the long term, trophy level 2 and then 3 are much more profitable skill investments. Wrote in another post, trophy level 3 will make mutants drop natural elex which automatically saves you the need to spend $ and buy more of that stuff plus you get even more teeth and other crap to sell. At least I have a feeling natural elex started dropping on trophy 3...

However, looting chests and safes in the wild is something you should definetly invest into (lockpicking/hacking), sometimes there is just crap in those but in some I found "tons" of $ and valuables.

One more thing. Because I don't have all recipes bought I don't know if crafting jewelry and pots can be used to earn $. Once I do (loot or) buy all recipes available, I'll test it thoroughly, but that won't be soon. That's why I didn't put that in the previous post.

Just please don't abuse cleric pots improving or coins/prewar bugs. With so many options to earn $ "properly" there is no need for that.

I love a PB game's economy. I'm used to it though from playing Gothic 2 and 3 recently. That said, ELEX hasn't been too hard to earn money in so far. I've been buying grenades and using them like they're going out of style, haven't joined a faction yet and still have over 4k Elexit. Probably spent 5k on grenades alone already. Haven't thieved anything yet either.

A few things. If you're investing in combat, then go explore and kill things! In these games you have to use the skills you have to your best advantage to earn money. Whether it's trophy gathering, thieving, hacking, making potions, upgrading weapons, etc..

Next, I'd say that you don't *need* to buy something like expensive armor the first minute you see it. Save up your pennies and soon you'll have enough, and it will be very rewarding when you finally can afford it. PB games are all about this slow progression design but it does go against what you're normally used to in RPGs like this.

Their games can be tough nuts to crack but they CAN be cracked, it just takes some ingenuity and patience on the part of the player. Good luck.

Saw those posts from a couple rpgwatchers about saying they don't find it fun to grind for gold. I'm also one of those game players that doesn't find the economy stuff fun in most rpgs. So I will usually use cheats (if they are available) and give myself all the money I need.

There is a new trainer for Elex just released on a service I have been using, https://www.wemod.com/infinity

I noticed it yesterday. It's completely free. (Though of course you have to install the software program first) So if anyone might be interested, check it out.

One of the cheats included is "Add 5k Elex" -- (its in the "inventory" section, in the middle of the screen shot) -- [which basically means infinite money, because you could activate the cheat over and over, as much as you wanted]

Note: make sure to read the instructions before activating the cheat. You must have the inventory screen opened in game, and also have some Elex money to begin with, for the cheat to work.

@jdr; looks like someone's modding in Instant Gratification whether you like it or not

That's what mods are for; make the game the way you want it.

Doesn't affect my game so I'm fine with it, lol.

Yep, I've already added infinite stamina and jetpack when not in combat. I always mod out what I don't like.

I prefer to do it the hard-way. The only time I mod is for visual quality or immersion, never for cheating. But thanks for the ideas. If a game becomes too grindy for my taste I simply set it aside simple as that. A game has to stand on its own, for me, on its mechanics and overall game play. One shouldn't have to cheat to make a game enjoyable in that regard. But that is just me - need to stress that before someone bites my head off. Everyone has different play styles. I need to know I finish a game on its own merits and didn't cheat to do it or the feeling of satisfaction becomes empty.

I'm finding that I have more than enough money without any kind of grinding. I like to explore though, and I'm intentionally dragging the game out by poking my nose into every corner.

I guess I could see how a cheat might appeal to those who aren't really interested in exploring, though that sort of defeats the purpose of playing a PB game if you ask me.

wolfgrimdark said:

I prefer to do it the hard-way. The only time I mod is for visual quality or immersion, never for cheating. But thanks for the ideas. If a game becomes too grindy for my taste I simply set it aside simple as that. A game has to stand on its own, for me, on its mechanics and overall game play. One shouldn't have to cheat to make a game enjoyable in that regard. But that is just me - need to stress that before someone bites my head off. Everyone has different play styles. I need to know I finish a game on its own merits and didn't cheat to do it or the feeling of satisfaction becomes empty.

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Yeah, I'm the same.

Companions seem to scale up significantly when you join a faction. Duras I noticed after joining the Outlaws does a lot more damage now.

crpgnut said:

Yep, I've already added infinite stamina and jetpack when not in combat. I always mod out what I don't like.

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I can understand jetpack with zero point module cheat at some point, less hassle post end to explore areas you skipped during main "campaign". But I wouldn't use it normally, I don't think the hero is supposed to roleplay Angry Birds.

But endless stamina? With easy to grab early level 1 more stamina skill and later permanent stamina potions? Man…

JDR13 said:

I'm finding that I have more than enough money without any kind of grinding.

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So true. I'm not at chapter 2 yet, "earned" near $80K already from different sources - at least the achievement progress says that. Without any revisiting areas in order to grind respawned trashmobs.
Sitting on $50K unspent because of apparently very expensive final faction armor, dunno what it's actual price will be so better safe than sorry. The $ I spent went into a few recipes, plasma ammo (EMP rocks!) and quite a few (strong and medium) Elex pots as I wanted to unlock some things like trophy level 3 asap.

joxer said:

So true. I'm not at chapter 2 yet, "earned" near $80K already from different sources - at least the achievement progress says that. Without any revisiting areas in order to grind respawned trashmobs.
Sitting on $50K unspent because of apparently very expensive final faction armor, dunno what it's actual price will be so better safe than sorry. The $ I spent went into a few recipes, plasma ammo (EMP rocks!) and quite a few (strong and medium) Elex pots as I wanted to unlock some things like trophy level 3 asap.

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Chapter level is fairly irrelevant as you can do that at any character level of your choosing. Some people are reporting getting to the high 20s before starting chapter 2 and then spending like half an hour in chapter 2. Apparently sidequests don;t renew with a new chapter, so if you've done them all in chapter 1 then there wont be much to do in chapter 2 etc etc.

So its best to use character level rather than chapter level when making statements like this...?

joxer said:

But endless stamina? With easy to grab early level 1 more stamina skill and later permanent stamina potions? Man…

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I don't want to waste a learning point on something that should have been part of the game all along. I mean w/o investment, you can swing a sword about 3 times without using up all your stamina. However, enemies never run out of stamina and can chain attack all day long. I'm just leveling the playing field….

Elex is full of illogical cheats to drag combat out; such as nearly every monster having a ranged attack. Dogs, bugs, etc. Two can play that game and it makes combat go quicker while really not giving a great advantage. I can still be two-hit by most things with a skull icon.

Makes it more fun for me, rather than a quick uninstall and a harsh review on Steam, etc.

crpgnut said:

I don't want to waste a learning point on something that should have been part of the game all along. I mean w/o investment, you can swing a sword about 3 times without using up all your stamina. However, enemies never run out of stamina and can chain attack all day long. I'm just leveling the playing field….

Elex is full of illogical cheats to drag combat out; such as nearly every monster having a ranged attack. Dogs, bugs, etc. Two can play that game and it makes combat go quicker while really not giving a great advantage. I can still be two-hit by most things with a skull icon.

Makes it more fun for me, rather than a quick uninstall and a harsh review on Steam, etc.

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I sort of agree with you! I have no issues running out of stamina but then they will need to make monsters run out of stamina too.

The monster range attack thing is very unrealistic as well. Also human enemies will never run out of ammo as well! I guess this is a price you pay for jet pack but it sort of defeat the purpose.

lackblogger said:

level rather than chapter level when making statements like this…?

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Level 24. No grind same areas for trashmobs, only questchasing and exploring areas I haven't been to.

crpgnut said:

Elex is full of illogical cheats to drag combat out; such as nearly every monster having a ranged attack. Dogs, bugs, etc. Two can play that game and it makes combat go quicker while really not giving a great advantage. I can still be two-hit by most things with a skull icon.

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Not true. Not "nearly every", perhaps half of them. Some minibosses like nightshade don't have ranged attack at all so you can cheese them killed from a ledge.
Additionally, all of those ranged hits from trashmobs have special effect which means, train up resistances and later brew some permaresistance pots.

And why are you attacking skullicon mobs on level 10 and less if you didn't up your attributes by brewing permapots in order to equip elemental (any will do, poison, fire, ice, whatever) damage weaponry?

It's not true that trashmobs don't run out of stamina. While melee on you, they do. Unless they use ranged skill. But then again, if you're using ranged weapons, you also don't run out of stamina. And also, you have hundreds of different ammo types in inventory so don't tell me hostiles shouldn't have it too.

crpgnut said:

I don't want to waste a learning point on something that should have been part of the game all along. I mean w/o investment, you can swing a sword about 3 times without using up all your stamina. However, enemies never run out of stamina and can chain attack all day long. I'm just leveling the playing field.

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You're wrong there. There's a stamina bar under the enemies health bar. It's small and kind if hard to see, but they certainly can and do run out of stamina, and they can't attack while it's recharging.