ELEX 2 - Is Coming @ C4G

After one hour, you are barely out of the tutorial part. In all honesty, after one hour I gave up with the game for a couple of days.. then I went back and discovered that it could be pretty good and fun.

Originally Posted by Nereida
It baffles me how people anticipate the sequel of a mediocre game that racked a whooping 6.5 metacritic score both from media and users. If any RPG I ever looked forward got a score under 8, I'd be highly disappointed.

There are plenty of high scoring metacritic games that I think are terrible, boring, or just plain uninteresting so while metacritic might provide a general perception of a game, it doesn't always weed out bad games from good or vice versa.

PB is Dark Chocolate… most people like the more sugary Milk Chocolate. But there is still a significant niche of Dark Chocolate lovers.

PB embraced the term Eurojank and never looked back. You will either love the games they make or hate them. They must have enough of a fan-base to still be in business.

For those who aren't familiar with the term, eurojank basically means games with less polished feel than their Western or Eastern counterparts. Like voice acting or animations are stiff and off, sometimes unusal gameplay mechanics that feel too awkward. They almost always come from Europe.

I'm guessing most of their fans are from Europe as they always had a hard time with critics in the US. I fondly remember the debates about how the scores are wrong.

Originally Posted by JDR13
An hour isn't really trying Elex tbh. You don't even scratch the surface of that game until 10+.

Elex has a 7.0 on Metacritic, so I'm not sure why you keep repeating 6.5, but you probably already know that Metacritic scores are largely useless anyways. For example, PoE II only has a 7.8, and I'm willing to bet you think that should be significantly higher.

Piranha Bytes doesn't make games to please the mainstream, they make games that appeal to a specific fanbase. In that way, they're one of the few long-time developers that hasn't sold out.

True, I could give it a better shot, it just didn't grab me. I just checked Metacritic again, you're right, PC score is 7, it was PS4 what has 6.5 (from public reviews anyway, the media gives it a 5.8).

Again, I mentioned Metacritict because it's a valid demographic, so it didn't sound like "Elex is a mediocre game" was my personal opinion alone. Also, I can tell you from working in the industry that a lot of studios get rewarded based on the metacritic score their game reaches (incentives, bonuses, share profits etc), so it's more valuable than you make it seem, whether we like it or not.

So, about the video…

He mentions there will be more than 3 factions this time, but only 2 from the first game - Beserkers and Outlaws. I wonder who the new factions will be and why the Clerics were excluded.

He also voices the same concern I had about the flying mechanic and how it will effect exploration.

Also, it'll apparently have more dialogue and C&C than any previous PB game.

Originally Posted by Nereida
I tired it for about 1 hour and I agree with the general sentiment. "Big, ambitious, but dull, dated and generally bland". A 6.5 is fair score. The only reason I mention bigger score pools is to point out that it's not just a personal opinion.

I'm not saying it's bad game, just that it gets a lot of spotlight for such an average product. They must have a real good PR to get all this coverage and "hype".

It's not that. The game opens up a lot. It just take 5.hours to do so. So the people who tend to stick with PB games love them. Others who don't tend to hate the game or find it very mediocre.

Originally Posted by Nereida
Again, I mentioned Metacritict because it's a valid demographic, so it didn't sound like "Elex is a mediocre game" was my personal opinion alone. Also, I can tell you from working in the industry that a lot of studios get rewarded based on the metacritic score their game reaches (incentives, bonuses, share profits etc), so it's more valuable than you make it seem, whether we like it or not.

What does studios getting rewarded have to do with the scores? Do you think the people scoring them care about that?

Metacritic only gives a general perception of things at best, and is often skewed by trolling from gamers who are jaded about something or didn't like the game because it was too difficult, etc. I could give numerous examples of games that, realistically, should have scored significantly higher than they did.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Elex has a 7.0 on Metacritic, so I'm not sure why you keep repeating 6.5, but you probably already know that Metacritic scores are largely useless anyways. For example, PoE II only has a 7.8, and I'm willing to bet you think that should be significantly higher.

Because she's talking about critic scores and you're talking about user scores. Maybe. Never, ever pay attention to Metacritic user scores.

For the record, Elex is 6.7 (67) on Metacritic, and PoE 2 is an 8.8 (88)

Originally Posted by JDR13
So, about the video…

He mentions there will be more than 3 factions this time, but only 2 from the first game - Beserkers and Outlaws. I wonder who the new factions will be and why the Clerics were excluded.

He also voices the same concern I had about the flying mechanic and how it will effect exploration.

Also, it'll apparently have more dialogue and C&C than any previous PB game.

Regarding the Clerics: may be Jax eventually told them the truth about their god and they dissolved…

And now to something completely different: I would like to see Caja or Nasty as a playable character, but choosing among more than one playable characters would probably be non-PB-style…

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
Because she's talking about critic scores and you're talking about user scores. Maybe. Never, ever pay attention to Metacritic user scores.

For the record, Elex is 6.7 (67) on Metacritic, and PoE 2 is an 8.8 (88)

We were both talking about user-scores. She was orginally quoting the PS4 score which is why there was a difference.

Not sure why you think the critics scores are somehow more valid or why you're trying to convert them like that.

*Edit* I suppose converting them doesn't make a difference, but I don't put much faith in critics scores either for various reasons…especially when it comes to games that aren't from mainstream studios.

Originally Posted by bkrueger
Regarding the Clerics: may be Jax eventually told them the truth about their god and they dissolved…

And now to something completely different: I would like to see Caja or Nasty as a playable character, but choosing among more than one playable characters would probably be non-PB-style…

If they're going to exclude one of the previous factions, I'd have preferred it was the Outlaws myself. I found them the least compelling of the three.

I think it could be interesting to take control of another character temporarily during part of a quest perhaps. I don't see them ever giving us multiple characters to choose from though. Think of all the extra writing they'd have to do for that.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I think it could be interesting to take control of another character temporarily during part of a quest perhaps. I don't see them ever giving us multiple characters to choose from though. Think of all the extra writing they'd have to do for that.

I also assume that it would be too expensive for them, I was only dreaming…

On the other hand I liked how it was possible to play a male or female protagonist in Prey without need to have extra writing. But probably there is no way storywise to do something similar here…

Regarding the clerics: The robots and weapons of the clerics were very similar to those of the Albs, as if they had planned initially to make the outcast albs a playable faction in Elex 1. May be they make those a playable faction now instead?

Some people are more vocal with what pleases them, and far less about negativity when something does not. I find myself simply walking away from things most of the time rather than complaining about them, yet when something truly strikes a chord with me, I'll rant and rave about it. I think, at least for me, it's more about accentuating the positives and trying to leave most of the negatives to others.

Elex sucked me in completely when I played it. I wasn't a day one player, matter of fact I think I waited a year or so, and got it at a very reasonable price. And I couldn't stop playing the bloody thing, for like six weeks.

Originally Posted by bkrueger
Regarding the clerics: The robots and weapons of the clerics were very similar to those of the Albs, as if they had planned initially to make the outcast albs a playable faction in Elex 1. May be they make those a playable faction now instead?

It's possible, but I don't picture the Albs being very interesting as a joinable faction. Plus, I'd think they would be diminished after the events of the first game.

My guess is that PB is introducing at least two new factions. Perhaps groups from another region that we never saw in the first game.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
Never, ever pay attention to Metacritic user scores.

Funny you write that. If I pay attention at all, I only pay attention to the user scores. Gaming "journalists" are terrible and have been for decades… they are a broken, bought off, and deceptive industry… and the fact that the industry has also jumped onto the politics and social engineering bandwagons doesn't help.

However, I'm fully aware of the 100% and 0% scorers and adjust my perception accordingly. What I tend to scour for are recurring complaints or compliments as there is generally truth when something is spotlighted again and again by many different people.

You can't really pay attention to either users or journalists. Anything counts as a journalist these days, and their criteria is questionable, especially when they tend to analyse games they don't like to start with, or get it wrong altogether, like analysing Mass Effect as a shooter. However, journalists at least try to be sensible. Users have the "Black&White" mindset. Especially if they don't like the studio or publisher for some reason, it's automatic 0, which destroys the validity of any averages.

In general, both user and journalist scores do give you an idea of how good a game is, though.

Piranha Bytes games often expose game journalists who write a review just after a few hours of playing.

In the beginning of a PB game you can't win fights easily and your swordfighting is clunky, because a) you have to learn swordfighting first and b) buy/find/craft a decent weapon and later c) join a faction to learn/get the real good stuff.

There's no instant gratification, with lots of loot, easy enemies and questmarker handholding in the beginning.

PB tried to make the game mechanics more mainstream with Risen 2 and Risen 3 and got a lot of critique from the oldschool Gothic crowd (game is way too easy now) and from the mainstream crowd, too (still to hard, no quality of life features, no aaa gfx etc.)

Originally Posted by Nereida
In general, both user and journalist scores do give you an idea of how good a game is, though.

I would think that would be the case, yeah, but there plenty of times when they don't.

Originally Posted by Nereida
It baffles me how people anticipate the sequel of a mediocre game that racked a whooping 6.5 metacritic score both from media and users. If any RPG I ever looked forward got a score under 8, I'd be highly disappointed.

look at you profile picture the answers is within. anyway hope you'r at a beach and that's the reason you'r so salty.

Elex was the first and only PB game that I actually enjoyed, although it had a lot of flaws. I didn't finish it, though. I got burned out of it and never found motivation to go back to it later (but that's nothing extraordinary on my part, I don't finish many games I play).

But I'm curious about the sequel, anyway. I'll keep it on my radar.