ELEX II

I am so very disappointed in Elex 2. It's nowhere near what I expected. Elex 1 is FAR superior in every single way. The performance in Elex 2 is absolutely abysmal. I was getting wild fluctuating frame rates in the 30s using an RTX2080 and i9 processor with everything set to low or off and even the scaling set at 50%. How could any game be released in such a condition? The camera angles are also terrible and the fov is really low with no fov slider. The models in this game also look far worse than Elex 1 and the dialogue is terribly dull. Trust me, Elex 2 is absolute crap compared to Elex 1.

Lets start with positive - I really like how they improved jet pack, because map is positively huge and you will have to do a lot of legwork to explore it sufficiently. It is also nice to see old but new map with memorable locations that got a little twist, like towns swittching to other factions, new settlements or overall biome changes. But after that freshness ends, you end up with unbalanced game with convoluted and twisted story. Without spoilers, the more you know about what is happening, the less it makes any sense, you start with clear goal, only to end up with another "let them come" ending. Original Elex was full of "impactful" choices, but they do not carry over, so when you meet character the past, you have no idea what your relatonship will be. Once again, joining a faction makes no real difference to the story. In the end you fix all problems for them and then rescue the world on your own, with only cool armor to show for it. Companions are thin, easy to please, and offer nothing more than good damage sponge in combats, if you manage to let AI to aggro on them (which is not that easy). And of course romance - is it even there? You will have cutscenes for flashbacks that makes no difference to current story, but there is nothing to show intimacy between Jax and current partner... I can add many more complaints, like pacing issues (new side quest do not unlock in relation to main quest, so you can actually take care of almost everything before going to main storyline and then end up with "wait untili further notice" when you have nothing to do, but skip in game time...), or artificial prolongement by adding "kill X" enemies quests few times in the row during endgame. Overall Elex 2 was overhyped and did not deliver grand story, I am glad that I did not bought it for full price on release.

Compared to The Chronicles of Myrtana, a new installment of Elex series is nothing short of a disappointment. I would say that in a greater picture, Elex 2 is a pretty shameful display. The game is not bad, but it's generally less fun from the first game. The combat basics are greatly improved: most enemies have a working stamina bar and their behaviour is more natural. The story is great and has some surprising twists, which make me still wait for Elex 3. General world building is engaging and interesting, even if it's a little dosjointed (the Bastion and Morkons). There's a ton of fun side quests and, as always, an attention to details is impressive. Defienitely the best part. However, 90% of the gameplay time is a tiring slog, overstaying its welcome. The pacing is awful: you can't feel the development: one day you're struggling with killing anything, you level up once or twice and you're already a god stomping every single mob in the game without any effort. The itemization is almost non-existant and it's mostly tied to a really boring and stale exploration. The map is much more horizontal when compared with Elex 1, which had some impressive and fun huge vertical parts open for exploration. Huge patches of land are empty, the enemy placement is mostly not tied to the loot they're guarding. Best unique items in the game are placed mostly randomly. You can find a unique item lying on the ground in the middle of nowhere. They also aren't really that great. There's only one real character build - one handed melee fighter. Most of the factions' skills favor melee (even Berserkers' spells), and you can use only 1-handed while using the jetpack. Most of the ranged weapons are trash, and heavy weapons don't have enough ammo to support using them all the time. There were hours that consisted only boring mob stomping. Most of the new mobs are really crude, with both their looks and their behaviours. Hit, backstep, hit, backstep rinse and repeat. Only for die hard fans.

Played the first and really enjoyed it. Couldn't wait for this one. Right off the bat, during the first mission, I encounter a group of Morkons. They are mean looking, bad mouthed, spike wearing nasties. The tell me to F off. I saw a life potion on one of the crates and picked it up, assuming they were going to rush me. Nope. Nothing. So I picked up more stuff. Cleaned them out as they sat around. I even took a nap in one of their beds to heal. No problem. At that point I expected one to get in bed and give me a massage. I finally started beating them. Killing one at a time. Ran away a short distance, came back and they were back in the same spot. I did get a message telling me that they were upset. LOL! That was about an hour into the game and enough for me to quit and uninstall it. The acting is horrendous. The dialogue painful to listen to. It's just plain awful. Very disappointed that Piranha is getting so lazy and careless. They won't be around much longer at this rate. Bummer.

I completed Elex and today Elex 2. It's a decent game with some improvements over Elex but TBH I expected a bit more. The game just didn't suprise me as often as Elex, which had some interesting quests, e.g. the rise of Rat, the future of Abessa or the big bang quest. So don't get me wrong, I give it 5 stars and also Elex 2 has nice quests. But I expected more story and a better story. Especially in the end game. I hope THQ Nordics gives them more money to switch to another engine and hire some more writers & level builders. If you never played Elex, it is probably better you start with Elex than Elex 2.