ELEX - The Outlaw Faction

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Piranha Bytes released a trailer about the Outlaw faction of ELEX. The open world RPG will be released on October 17:

ELEX - The Outlaw Faction



The desert of Tavar - hot, dusty and lethal. After the territorial wars ended, this godforsaken pit was the last thing anyone wanted to call home. But due to the lack of choice, the destitute survivors and outcasts took shelter and slowly regrouped, becoming a unique and dangerous faction: The Outlaws.

More information.
 
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The graphics are ok... a bit outdated, but that doesn't bother me much. What do turn me off are those animations. Horrible! They're floating it seems. Reminds me of 20 years old games. I do hope they will fix it.
The combat system seems clunky too. I doubt they can do anything about it at this stage in development. I'll wait for reviews before even considering buying it.
 
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The graphics are ok… a bit outdated, but that doesn't bother me much. What do turn me off are those animations. Horrible! They're floating it seems. Reminds me of 20 years old games. I do hope they will fix it.
The combat system seems clunky too. I doubt they can do anything about it at this stage in development. I'll wait for reviews before even considering buying it.

I think that's always been a weakness of PB games - kind of perfunctory combat systems that feel like paper dolls just swiping at each other. From playing around with Unity and Unreal, that's pretty much what combat is like out of the box, unless you bring in some real talent for animation and physics. I'd guess that PB have never developed much strength in that area.
 
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I'm playing Risen 3 right now, and I'm having a blast - as with all PB games so far. Yes, the combat is pretty weak. Yes, the animations are quite clunky. Yes, the UI and character progression could be better. But somehow I have more fun playing it than I had with games such as DA:I, a game which I never finished due to becoming too tedious.

I'm pretty sure Elex will be more of the same. It appeals to a certain subset of gamers (those who love to explore and don't care too much about state of the art graphics), while the rest couldn't care less.
 
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The graphics are ok… a bit outdated, but that doesn't bother me much. What do turn me off are those animations. Horrible! They're floating it seems. Reminds me of 20 years old games. I do hope they will fix it.
The combat system seems clunky too. I doubt they can do anything about it at this stage in development. I'll wait for reviews before even considering buying it.

Wouldn't be a PB game without it. ;)
Not sure if it's engine related, but their melee was always like hitting things with a wet newspaper instead of piece of metal.
Even with subpar animation quality, there are a couple of "tricks" they could use to "camouflage" it...screen shake, pause, etc.
Capcom's Devil May Cry is best at this, IV in particular, absolutely phenomenal sense of impact and elasticity when it comes to hit feedback and attack animations, flow and telegraphing.
 
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I thought that PB managed a very good combat system in Risen 1, which they abandoned in all their subsequent iterations. I don't think that I have heard a convincing argument for abandoning this system. Was it too challenging for average Joe without an awesome button?
 
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I've seen what I need to see of this one.

Looks exactly like all other PB games in terms of visuals and production values. Not really why I play them, so…
 
I thought that PB managed a very good combat system in Risen 1, which they abandoned in all their subsequent iterations.

Yes, they did big mistake abandoning it.


I don't think that I have heard a convincing argument for abandoning this system. Was it too challenging for average Joe without an awesome button?

Probably. I dont know what feedback devs received about this combat but I noticed that some console players hated it.
 
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Risen 1 had a decent melee combat system, yeah - but that was about it.
 
I thought that PB managed a very good combat system in Risen 1, which they abandoned in all their subsequent iterations. I don't think that I have heard a convincing argument for abandoning this system. Was it too challenging for average Joe without an awesome button?

You mean Angry Joe? :p

But no, it was not a matter of difficulty...Risen I had same issues, but was more manageable, with more focus on few-er opponents and strafe than rolling around larger number of enemies.

They need to improve basic feedback that always lacked in their melee system...without it, nothing feels right ( see Skyrim mods).
Also big problem is telegraphing...( most) enemies attack too quickly for player to respond and they stunlock the player.
On top of that, there is no clear order in group attack patterns, as they quickly ramp up on the player...reason why enemy "leashing" ( in other words, exploiting) is the only real, reliable "strategy".
They should decide on one option...either focus on single enemy oriented combat ( Souls, Severance, etc) with stat derived stagger system or on group combat, higher emphasis on speed and mobility, style of beat-em-up's, with clear designed, order and rhythm in attack patterns of enemy groups.
For what PB has always been going for ( more down to earth protagonist/setting/progression), first option would definitely be better.
Besides that, they could work on better implemented I-frames( Gothic 1/2 had probably some of the worst there is in action games), add more complexity beyond one or two basic combos, and tone down enemy damage sponges with some incremental variation in AI based on enemy "tiers".

It would be no spectacle, but still a fully functional and enjoyable system even if done on limited budget/outdated tech.
 
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Risen 1 on consoles was considered a disaster - I didn't care back then why. Erm… And I still don't care why.

Angry Joe has not a clue how to play PB games. Dunno if he is stupid or he thinks every game out there is DarkSouls dodger. He should stay away from Elex.
 
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Risen is easily the best game in that trilogy for me. Risen 2&3 had better production values, but I preferred the atmosphere and exploration in Risen. It was closer to the Gothic games in those aspects.

I also preferred the combat in Risen, and it was much more challenging than the sequels.
 
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Yeah, the first Risen was the only one of the series I finished. It really was a decent game although I hated the final boss battle.
 
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Risen is easily the best game in that trilogy for me. Risen 2&3 had better production values, but I preferred the atmosphere and exploration in Risen. It was closer to the Gothic games in those aspects.

I also preferred the combat in Risen, and it was much more challenging than the sequels.

Still have yet to play Risen 3, started it a couple of months ago but for only about 30 minutes.

I really loved the first one until the last battle, hated it, HATED it.
 
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I think Risen 3 is the best of the series, overall.

Risen 1 was fantastic in terms of atmosphere, though. But the last third of the game was just abysmal - and Risen 3 has it beat in terms of gameplay arsenal and visual variety.
 
Risen 3 is really good and Risen 2 is underrated, but the original Risen is still my favorite. That said, R3 has some great elements, but a few missteps, too. They said they are correcting those in ELEX. ELEX is supposed to be more Gothic than Risen, according to the devs, and they are bringing back a lot of classic elements from the trilogy.

Anyway, this will probably be my personal GOTD (Game of the Decade, 2010s.) :) I've greatly enjoyed all of PB's games and they are probably my favorite RPG devs going right now, and very high on my all-time list.

For a studio of 20-25 people, the work they've done is a borderline miracle, IMO.
 
You mean Angry Joe? :p

That's a good one!

But no, it was not a matter of difficulty…Risen I had same issues, but was more manageable, with more focus on few-er opponents and strafe than rolling around larger number of enemies.

They need to improve basic feedback that always lacked in their melee system…without it, nothing feels right ( see Skyrim mods).
Also big problem is telegraphing…( most) enemies attack too quickly for player to respond and they stunlock the player.
On top of that, there is no clear order in group attack patterns, as they quickly ramp up on the player…reason why enemy "leashing" ( in other words, exploiting) is the only real, reliable "strategy".
They should decide on one option…either focus on single enemy oriented combat ( Souls, Severance, etc) with stat derived stagger system or on group combat, higher emphasis on speed and mobility, style of beat-em-up's, with clear designed, order and rhythm in attack patterns of enemy groups.
For what PB has always been going for ( more down to earth protagonist/setting/progression), first option would definitely be better.
Besides that, they could work on better implemented I-frames( Gothic 1/2 had probably some of the worst there is in action games), add more complexity beyond one or two basic combos, and tone down enemy damage sponges with some incremental variation in AI based on enemy "tiers".

It would be no spectacle, but still a fully functional and enjoyable system even if done on limited budget/outdated tech.

I like your detailed analysis and distinction of combat systems, which shows your deep understanding of their mechanics and applicability.

There are so many options for combat for PB (in addition to refining their combat system in Risen 1), and they have included a stamina gauge so hope that the actual game has better combat than is currently shown by this video. Maybe they are not counting too much on melee combat and focusing on ranged.
 
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Yeah, the first Risen was the only one of the series I finished. It really was a decent game although I hated the final boss battle.

Exactly. I really enjoyed Risen 1 a lot but that end game boss battle made me feel that I jumped from an RPG to an arcade style fight action fiasco. I hated how they closed out an otherwise fun game.
 
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The graphics are ok… a bit outdated, but that doesn't bother me much. What do turn me off are those animations. Horrible! They're floating it seems. Reminds me of 20 years old games. I do hope they will fix it.
The combat system seems clunky too. I doubt they can do anything about it at this stage in development. I'll wait for reviews before even considering buying it.

Agreed, combat is looking TERRIBLE, clunky and outdated, especially melee. To get the most out of this game I'll opt for magic/ranged and explore the world non-linearly.
 
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