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Elex |OT| Gothic 5: Risen From Jank

Alexander DeLarge

Alexander DeLarge

Member
Karak said:
I loved many parts of the game. But jezuz the AI even all patched up is insanely bad. Like next level poor and sadly the game pushes companions and their stories. Also some bugs with quests, and other little issues.

If you are a PB fan you might be ok with it. But if your a PB fan you are probably in one of 2 groups. Those who buy day one, and those who love later after patches.

For me the issues put me in the latter
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Damn. Collector's Edition comes tomorrow but it sounds like I'll be finishing Risen 3 through while I wait for patches. Just found this mod and I highly recommend it.

https://www.nexusmods.com/risen3/mods/6/?

Fortunately Piranha Bytes games can generally be fixed with patches and minor tweaks by the community. I'll take that over a fundamentally flawed game without the technical issues any day of the week.
 
M

MosquitoSmasher

Member
SilentRob said:
My review still takes some time but:

It's very, very good. The quest design is among the best in the genre, the amount of choices and consequences available are at times staggering. Even a simple fetch quest can turn out to be some epic betrayal between friends you spend an hour on. Sometimes the consequences of your actions only become clear 10, 20 hours later. The put a huge focus on choice and consequences and it makes the world and characters both way more "alive" and interesting than open worlds normally are. Also, one of the best, most fun to explore open worlds since Gothic 2.
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Goddamn, now you're making me reconsider my decision to wait it out. I might need to get this asap. Watch this game being a source for inspiration for other devs like Bethesda and such when it comes to those things. I've said it before but PB's worlds still tend to have things the best of the best RPGs devs just don't offer. Not to mention quests.
 
S

Stygr

Banned
Karak said:
Its a PB game. I swear their patches are just required DLC by now
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I cant watch the review, is the game worth at full price? I love RPGs but im kinda annoyed by the open world structure in a lot of games.
I dont care about jankiness.
 
Karak

Karak

Member
2blackcats said:
I've never played one I'm embarrassed to say. Been following this one for a bit though and think it looks pretty great.
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Well I have to say Elex is hands down one of the best constructed and interesting worlds ever. If you like that kind of thing. PB just happen to have terrible issues in other spots.
 
S

SkywardBeam

Member
Karak said:
incredibly horrid voice acting
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Can you change the voice acting separate from the subtitles? If so, I recommend trying the German dub as this one (being a German game after all) was excellent in past PB games (or better "charming", as it's not representative for the German voice acting standard quality-wise).
 
S

SilentRob

Member
Karak said:
I loved many parts of the game and the open ended quests have to be one of them. I could have done a video just about those. And the world is fantastic to explore. But jezuz the AI even all patched up is insanely bad. Like next level poor and sadly the game pushes companions and their stories. Also some bugs with quests, incredibly horrid voice acting, collision detection, and other little issues.

If you are a PB fan you might be ok with it. But if your a PB fan you are probably in one of 2 groups. Those who buy day one, and those who love later after patches.

For me the issues put me in the latter
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It's really interesting to hear you say that about the allied AI - I only ever had that problem once during my 40 to 50 hours with the game. Ray just didn't want to fight for me, it was a total guessing game if he would draw his sword or not. I never had any problems with the other AI partners though and never went back to Ray. I saw in your video that you had problems with him, too...is it maybe just that one companion?

Also, OH BOY that english voice actor for the MC. Jesus christ. The german VO isn't amazing but...jeeeesus. That's bad.
 
S

Soulblighter31

Banned
Stygr said:
I cant watch the review, is the game worth at full price? I love RPGs but im kinda annoyed by the open world structure in a lot of games.
I dont care about jankiness.
Click to expand...

Gothic 2 is the best gamedesign in open world rpg's. All of them, from all time. Its so genius-level made i always thought it should be studied in gamedesign classes. If you hate the open world structure on modern shit, Gothic 2 is the game that could show them how good games look like.

Elex looks to follow very closely in its footstepts. Id pay 60 for it
 
Karak

Karak

Member
SilentRob said:
It's really interesting to hear you say that about the allied AI - I only ever had that problem once during my 40 to 50 hours with the game. Ray just didn't want to fight for me, it was a total guessing game if he would draw his sword or not. I never had any problems with the other AI partners though and never went back to Ray. I saw in your video that you had problems with him, too...is it maybe just that one companion?

Also, OH BOY that english voice actor for the MC. Jesus christ. The german VO isn't amazing but...jeeeesus. That's bad.
Click to expand...

Weird every single person I know had it. To the point where a couple stopped playing and it included everyone. Nope I think combined we have about 20 hours of AI footage losing their shit, between me and a couple others that I know got it. But PB knows and its in all their patch notes. So you got luckier than the devs themselves lol
I would assume we are looking at them shoring it up at least.

SkywardBeam said:
Can you change the voice acting separate from the subtitles? If so, I recommend trying the German dub as this one (being a German game after all) was excellent in past PB games (or better "charming", as it's not representative for the German voice acting standard quality-wise).
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I think so but I review the voice acting for the language I can speak.
 
I

Imp the Dimp

Member
Soulblighter31 said:
Gothic 2 is the best gamedesign in open world rpg's. All of them, from all time. Its so genius-level made i always thought it should be studied in gamedesign classes. If you hate the open world structure on modern shit, Gothic 2 is the game that could show them how good games look like.

Elex looks to follow very closely in its footstepts. Id pay 60 for it
Click to expand...
Risen's OW is just as good
 
H

His Majesty

Banned
OK I will probably wait for some patches and meanwhile I can finish Divinity: Original Sin 2 and The Evil Within 2. Crisis averted.
 
S

SilentRob

Member
Karak said:
Weird every single person I know had it. To the point where a couple stopped playing and it included everyone. Nope I think combined we have about 20 hours of AI footage losing their shit. But I was also told PB knows. So you got luckier than the devs themselves lol
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Woof, yeah, that's bad. I would've been pretty much fucked if not for my companions the first 10, 15 hours so I totally get the frustration.
 
Karak

Karak

Member
SilentRob said:
Woof, yeah, that's bad. I would've been pretty much fucked if not for my companions the first 10, 15 hours so I totally get the frustration.
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Agreed and add in the really insane collision detection and it can make things fucking weird. Also I wonder how many folks are going to forget companions at first and just get thunderpunted across the land at first lol
But all that being said, when its working, its just an ace title.

And each person has their own experience whether just normal gamer or reviewer. So by all means if you had no issues than thats what you should say. Didn't want it coming off like I was saying the other.
 
S

Sendero

Member
Karak said:
Agreed and add in the really insane collision detection and it can make things fucking weird. Also I wonder how many folks are going to forget companions at first and just get thunderpunted across the land at first lol
But all that being said, when its working, its just an ace title.
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I assume you can have multiple companions at your disposal, but only travel with 1 alone. Is that correct?

Also, one critic that you didn't fully mention (but I noticed in all videos), is that some sound effects seems to have a small delay: Like, if the character turns around or change surfaces, the sound does not play immediately. And when there are several special effects mixed, some of those apparently do not play at all.
 
1

120v

Member
watching Lets Plays all weekend really sold me on the game. obviously has some issues but looks to scratch the open world rpg itch just right.

not sure how i'll fit it in to Destiny 2 PC in coming weeks but it'll be a priority this holiday
 
Y

YawZah

Neo Member
The comments from some of the people reviewing the game really really makes me want to play this game right now. An RPG with actual choices and consequences with interesting characters, non-linear quests, and an incredibly well crafted world is something I've been yearning for, for ages. If only I had the time.. Darn it.
 
V

Vuze

Member
SilentRob said:
Woof, yeah, that's bad. I would've been pretty much fucked if not for my companions the first 10, 15 hours so I totally get the frustration.
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Yeaah, I was totally lost until I finally thought about getting back to the guy from the beginning and he joined me. It's extremely easy to get frustrated in the beginning especially because the berserker town is so shitty to get around in and I managed to mess up the relation to the leader without even planning to. So nobody would trade any equip or items with me anymore :(

Sendero said:
I assume you can have multiple companions at your disposal, but only travel with 1 alone. Is that correct?
Click to expand...
Yes, atleast so far I can only have one at my side. They are pretty damn cool though - share their thoughts on locations you visit, react to your actions in the world and their relation and behaviour changes based on that.

I totally dig the game now after having found some decent equip and having moved away for the berserker village. It's such a nice and rich world to explore once you don't get insta-killed lol
 
C

CrichtonKicks

Member
YawZah said:
The comments from some of the people reviewing the game really really makes me want to play this game right now. An RPG with actual choices and consequences with interesting characters, non-linear quests, and an incredibly well crafted world is something I've been yearning for, for ages. If only I had the time.. Darn it.
Click to expand...

Original Sin 2 is only a month old, though.
 
A

Airbar

Neo Member
Definitely will keep my eyes on this. To this day I still think of Gothic 1 and 2 fondly from time to time but afterwards only really tried G3 and Risen 1. Sadly SM Odyssey is releasing next week and I still have to write my bachelor thesis and 2 good games at a time would be too tempting for me :p
Also I was shocked when I started to follow English speaking games media and learned of their view on the Gothic games. I know those games got a cult following but to me Gothic 1, 2 and Morrowind are the trifecta of RPG goodness.
 
R

Ragnar Blackmane

Member
Great OT, really have to get the game. Gothic 2 still is my GOAT RPG, so Piranha being back on track and particularly with a creative sci-fi/fantasy mix world makes me happy.

dragn said:
should i play this in german? or is the english va good too?
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For Piranha games you should always opt for German if you can, it's the original language used for development and is then gets translated an localized for the other languages including English, so stuff will get lost in translation (unlike e.g. Witcher 3 where English was the primary language of the game, even though CD Project Red is a Polish studio). They also tend to hire really good German VAs that fit their vision of the characters, something that is extremely rare for German versions of games.
 
D

Darkstorne

Member
Q: Can I create my own character?
A: No, you can only play as a white, bald male.
Click to expand...

giphy.webp


STILL!? Come on, PB.
 
Y

YawZah

Neo Member
CrichtonKicks said:
Original Sin 2 is only a month old, though.
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I know. And while it does look somewhat interesting it seems to emphasize the co-op experience (I predominantly play alone) and I don't really enjoy turn based combat or bird view to be honest.

In essence I just really want another Gothic experience. And if I can't get that I'll take the next closest thing I suppose.
 
L

Lucifon

Junior Member
YawZah said:
I know. And while it does look somewhat interesting it seems to emphasize the co-op experience (I predominantly play alone) and I don't really enjoy turn based combat or bird view to be honest.

In essence I just really want another Gothic experience. And if I can't get that I'll take the next closest thing I suppose.
Click to expand...
For what it's worth Divinity Original Sin 2 is an absolutely superb single player game.
 
Moff

Moff

Member
dragn said:
should i play this in german? or is the english va good too?
Click to expand...

from what I have seen the English VA sounds pretty generic.
the German VA is what you are used from Piranha Bytes, which for me is always a highlight and one of the reasons why I love their games. so if you understand German pick that one.
 
Karak

Karak

Member
rfield84 said:
ACG says he got his review code two weeks ago.
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Ya here is the link to the email with bits redacted. I have been discussing lately that it seems like tiers are really being separated now when it comes to reviews, streamers, streamers with webpages and review, and all sorts of other stuff.
deleted
 
G

Gothos

Member
PB should hit Kickstarter before their next game and spent all raised funds on bringing new people for animation/combat developlemnt. It's shame looking at their games becuase they could easly become second CD Projekt RED if only they took some risks and hired more people to make better, less janky combat.
 
C

Charlouie Jonesman

Banned
Moff said:
from what I have seen the English VA sounds pretty generic.
the German VA is what you are used from Piranha Bytes, which for me is always a highlight and one of the reasons why I love their games. so if you understand German pick that one.
Click to expand...

When I replayed the first Gothic like 1-2 years ago after not having touched it for years I was actually surprised at how...uneven, but leaning towards not-so-great, the German voice acting was. All those "Tough guy" voices come out as really forced and unconvincing and some NPCs are horrible miscast. Then I got curious and checked out the english dub of the game and it was much worse.

Gothic 2's German VA however, was as great as I remembered it being, which is weird, because it's mostly the same VAs as the first game.
 
Audioboxer

Audioboxer

Member
Gothos said:
PB should hit Kickstarter before their next game and spent all raised funds on bringing new people for animation/combat developlemnt. It's shame looking at their games becuase they could easly become second CD Projekt RED if only they took some risks and hired more people to make better, less janky combat.
Click to expand...

Studio expansion is incredibly risky when you're genuinely a small budget studio. Mishandling it in any way is a sureshot way to lead yourself to bankruptcy. Obviously PB are relatively happy working on a shoestring budget with a small team of staff to the tune of whatever returns they make on their "budget conscious" games.

However, I would like to see them edge further down the path of someone like Obsidian. Not overnight, but if Elex does okay they should think seriously about the stature of their studio for their next project. With some more polish along with some of their writing they could take it up a notch from cult classic Euro Jank to more mainstream buyers.

I'm a little worried about Elex as it's a terrible name, and Gothic/Risen are at least "well known" IPs. I shouldn't be over critical of them trying to diversify their portfolio a little, going with futuristic elements and a new IP. They've done a lot of traditional fantasy and pirate games now.
 
F

FeelTheKick

Member
From what I've seen Polish VO is also pretty good. Gothic was very popular in Poland, in part thanks to a great localization. Good to see PB continues the tradition.
 
C

CrichtonKicks

Member
YawZah said:
I know. And while it does look somewhat interesting it seems to emphasize the co-op experience (I predominantly play alone) and I don't really enjoy turn based combat or bird view to be honest.

In essence I just really want another Gothic experience. And if I can't get that I'll take the next closest thing I suppose.
Click to expand...

FWIW, OS2 is amazing single player with great choice and consequence, non-linear quests, and excellent character writing.
 
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