Tuesday, October 17, 2017

ELEX ~ A Preview Review

It is launch day for ELEX, and honestly I've just scratched the surface of this 50+ hour game. I can't give it a final verdict yet as I've not played enough of it to see if it is worth the asking price. I can, however give you my thoughts on what I've experienced so far ...

ELEX, at heart is a post-apocalyptic action RPG with a warring factions theme. As the cast out protagonist of the Albs, a power hungry faction that is greedy for the newly introduced element Elex, you find yourself doing the dirty work for various other factions in order to get revenge on those who did you wrong, and stole from you. The other factions such as the Clerics, the Berserkers, and the Outlaws were each effected differently by the new element that was introduced via an asteroid, and each utilize the alien gift for a survival advantage. Some were corrupted while others learned to harness the energy source in different ways. The Berserkers, for example turned the Elex into a mana source which gave them magic powers. The Clerics were able to use Elex for technological advancements while the Albs were able to infuse Elex into their bodies to become more powerful. Those corrupted by the addiction of Elex though were eventually transformed into mutants, and became enemies of all.

When the game begins you find out that you are playing as Jaks? or Jags? ... Don't know what his name was ... You crash land somewhere in Magalan while on a mission to change said civilization's fate only to be betrayed by your brother, and stripped of your armor by some lone stranger. From there you venture deeper into the world meeting the various factions, and doing work for them in exchange for pay, and the chance to get better equipment. A sort of mercenary for hire. The quests you take on are of the main quest, and sub-quest assortment, and include a ton of deep seeded conversations between characters to carry you through to completion, and help you to reap rewards thereof. The conversations you'll encounter are very lengthy, and offer up multiple choice questions to ask the NPCs which in turn explain the lore a little more, and forward the plot while fleshing out your existence.

As a character in a third person action RPG the protagonist will be dealing with combat situations in which he utilizes a quick select menu that is assigned to the four DPad directions. You can equip consumables, and weapons to the four quick select slots for ease of use. In regards to the weapon options your combat is governed by a strict stamina meter that depletes as you attack, or evade via your evasive roll. This often times leaves you open to enemy attack as your character has no defense options. A huge oversight by the developer. Your character can also run in the traditional FPS sense by pressing in, and forward with the "L3" stick. By running out of range of enemies they will leave eventually you alone. In fact the developer suggested doing so when you feel you are about to be defeated.

For those of you worried about deaths, and starting over in a playthrough the game automatically saves where your character stands every three minutes. You can also manually save the game, and continue that point at the main menu. Thus an untimely death will not leave you too far from your destination, and will give you the opportunity to get back on track to wherever it is you were going.

Survival in the game is not entirely combat, or equipment focused. To improve upon your odds for survival outside of the bought, or obtained armor as well as the applied battle tactics you'll need to upgrade your base stats via earned experience points. These are your usual RPG stats pertaining to strength, dexterity, intellect and all those other skill effecting enhancements. It should be noted that upgrading some of the base stats will better suit different factions. The Berserkers for example are magically inclined therefore intellect will help you to become a better Berserker, and learn new magic spells. Speaking of that you'll also find that skill points come into play. These skill points accompanied by the required in-game currency, and material requirements will give you bonus perks, and abilities. Some of which are passive, and others that are manually beneficial.

When it comes to the previously mentioned quests you'll find in your "TOUCH PAD" menu a timeline of character interactions that can be clicked on with "TRIANGLE", and set as markers, or guided points of interest on the map which also resides in the same menu system. Each chapter, or conversation based quest line harbors some text detailing what it is you are to do to complete the quest. None of which has to be done in any particular order. This sometimes entails simply talking to other NPCs, running errands for NPCs, and sometimes battling enemy targets of varying sorts. The tasks at hand are very tedious in that you'll usually sit through more voice acted conversations than you will commit to actually using the combat mechanics at your disposal. The game is heavy on the lore, and it is apparent from chapter one onward that, that was the main focus of the developer. As such the game feels a lot like Elder Scrolls with all the textual tidbits of information shared throughout the game. Sadly, the that lore makes you feel as if you were dropped midway into a book without an efficient telling of the backstory.

The game itself is boasted as to having 50+ hours of gameplay, and replay value in the form of the choices you have in regards to the factions you can join. I think a lot of that time will be spent digesting the "Game of Thrones" level of character to character conversations, and less on the combat though. The combat at hand feels crudely applied, and without a guard option it leaves the player to suffer a lot of seemingly unfair deaths that can't be properly escaped due to the unforgiving stamina meter, and damage intake.

Visually the game is not perfect, but when compared to the games it was obviously inspired by such as the Elder Scrolls games it looks more impressively animated. The fact that every NPC has their own voiced dialogue, and distinct accents really makes the characters' presence more substantial. You will find decent graphic designs associated with the characters, and the surrounding environments, but that there are some quirky animations that make the game seem less than the 'Triple A' experience it's price point indicates. I did like the background blurring during the character conversations as it added this odd photo-realistic quality that was almost theatrical in presentation. Needless to say the game has it's fine, and not so fine points when it comes to the presentation.

In closing ... I'm not far enough into the game to comfortably give a final verdict. That having been said at this point in my playthrough I am not seeing the quality that such an asking price reflects. It is a crude game with some clunky control issues, and plenty of visual flaws. The story is this game's shining point, and it feels like the combat took a back seat of importance to the story being told. If I were to rate it now I'd have to say skip it unless you really like a fleshed out story of the apocalyptic kind.

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