Re: Currently Playing
Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2023 6:14 pm
Elex II
So a number of years ago my eldest son and I made a simple blood pact that I myself would never ever purchase Elex as he did, a game that made for such a memorable piece of so called 'EuroJank' we would both just be in fits of laughter as he streamed it for me over many a different session. I'd like to confirm here thus today that I have remained true to that same father and son pact - I bought the sequel instead.
And there's just something that compels you to keep playing, to keep searching for poorly allocated items that sometimes zing into the air when collected, to continue to loot areas so absent of any form of light sourcing I'm using the actual placement of the glowy collectable items once highlighted to find my way back out again. Using my trusty jetpack I can adventure in a way few other open world games can even touch, I can thrust my way ever upward like an eagle then get stuck in part of a building directly staring at the item I knew would be placed there taunting me to clasp hold of it unable to move. I can take on dangerous looking Turkey creatures that hit me with such immense force they fold my character in half making my torso become one with the ground and I physically recoil from my screen in abject horror.
The map is bloody huge, maybe even too large and the game is a mixed veg bowl variant of games such as what you vaguely recall of say Two Worlds Fallout Risen and of course the classic Gothic series of old.
Characters all look decidedly freaked out to behold your presence, I feel bad talking to them at one point I came across a small child, then got chased out of the village. Placing a waypoint on the map isn't a case of simply marking X and heading there - instead it offers you readily made icons you can place such as a ? or a campfire or a skull so you can remind yourself that you too were part of the games very own development because the map is completely empty otherwise. Maybe I'm doing it wrong? Combat is pure jank city, you start off with nothing but a lead pipe that magically floats at your hip very soon I found a bow and arrow and honestly it's pretty darn fun when stamina permits so it's best to make good use of the jetpack and always have the high ground.
Scouring the areas in Elex II is not only an interesting time in terms of looting and fighting, the graphics are so beautifully rendered at a distance I can visually see an animal and a tree blinking in and out of existence as they both fight desperately to maintain the same 3D space. If I ever go anywhere near the base of an actually oh so genuinely nicely rendered waterfall my frames go from 60 right down to 6 or 7, I did my best to swim away to regain some frames but the stamina system said no and I was instantly killed by some fugly ass frog creature at around the 27fps mark as I made it back on land. I returned to the area staying away from the killer fps water and clubbed that frog to death with a pipe, then as I attempted to loot it some type of buzzing flying moth I couldn't even see cracked me one and I fell through the map. It's all continued surprises fun and games in the world of Elex II.
Finally the music. The music in this game acts like a jump scare, a completely randomised one that can't decide what mood to set so just says fuck it and cycles through them all in mere moments. What the game does in its defence is remind you of just going out into a game world and actually truly adventuring, no sign postings no pesky hand holding etc just get the fuck out there and get it. Area too high? Come back later and decimate them or give it a shot, sod it. There's always something interesting to come across regardless and that is why it works for all the issues I've experienced.
It's all so fucking good. I can't stop playing it. Four pounds of gratuitous janky goodness.
So a number of years ago my eldest son and I made a simple blood pact that I myself would never ever purchase Elex as he did, a game that made for such a memorable piece of so called 'EuroJank' we would both just be in fits of laughter as he streamed it for me over many a different session. I'd like to confirm here thus today that I have remained true to that same father and son pact - I bought the sequel instead.
And there's just something that compels you to keep playing, to keep searching for poorly allocated items that sometimes zing into the air when collected, to continue to loot areas so absent of any form of light sourcing I'm using the actual placement of the glowy collectable items once highlighted to find my way back out again. Using my trusty jetpack I can adventure in a way few other open world games can even touch, I can thrust my way ever upward like an eagle then get stuck in part of a building directly staring at the item I knew would be placed there taunting me to clasp hold of it unable to move. I can take on dangerous looking Turkey creatures that hit me with such immense force they fold my character in half making my torso become one with the ground and I physically recoil from my screen in abject horror.
The map is bloody huge, maybe even too large and the game is a mixed veg bowl variant of games such as what you vaguely recall of say Two Worlds Fallout Risen and of course the classic Gothic series of old.
Characters all look decidedly freaked out to behold your presence, I feel bad talking to them at one point I came across a small child, then got chased out of the village. Placing a waypoint on the map isn't a case of simply marking X and heading there - instead it offers you readily made icons you can place such as a ? or a campfire or a skull so you can remind yourself that you too were part of the games very own development because the map is completely empty otherwise. Maybe I'm doing it wrong? Combat is pure jank city, you start off with nothing but a lead pipe that magically floats at your hip very soon I found a bow and arrow and honestly it's pretty darn fun when stamina permits so it's best to make good use of the jetpack and always have the high ground.
Scouring the areas in Elex II is not only an interesting time in terms of looting and fighting, the graphics are so beautifully rendered at a distance I can visually see an animal and a tree blinking in and out of existence as they both fight desperately to maintain the same 3D space. If I ever go anywhere near the base of an actually oh so genuinely nicely rendered waterfall my frames go from 60 right down to 6 or 7, I did my best to swim away to regain some frames but the stamina system said no and I was instantly killed by some fugly ass frog creature at around the 27fps mark as I made it back on land. I returned to the area staying away from the killer fps water and clubbed that frog to death with a pipe, then as I attempted to loot it some type of buzzing flying moth I couldn't even see cracked me one and I fell through the map. It's all continued surprises fun and games in the world of Elex II.
Finally the music. The music in this game acts like a jump scare, a completely randomised one that can't decide what mood to set so just says fuck it and cycles through them all in mere moments. What the game does in its defence is remind you of just going out into a game world and actually truly adventuring, no sign postings no pesky hand holding etc just get the fuck out there and get it. Area too high? Come back later and decimate them or give it a shot, sod it. There's always something interesting to come across regardless and that is why it works for all the issues I've experienced.
It's all so fucking good. I can't stop playing it. Four pounds of gratuitous janky goodness.