I'm not sure I can actually take more of Elex.
The first game was not bad but... yeah. I felt it was enough.

And I'm not sure I can take more of this Pirhana style RPGs.
I feel like they are ongoing hurdle by forever.

The story changes a bit but, fundamentally, they feel the same.

I wouldn't recommend it either. These half-done Pirhana Byte games, a buggy mess with questionable controls and imho pretty bad game design. Which is a real shame because they have one/some pretty awesome environmental designers.
I was so fascinated back than with Gothic I and despite the horrible controls, it felt real alive, also duo to the great visual and audio environment (to that time in 2001). G II was not bad, but one could feel already, that game design, controls and balancing was not a strong part of PB. After that, they only released crap, which based on long outdated principles and designs. Ever since Skyrim proved, that it's possible to create an amazing game world with great, dynamic control and balancing, this became even more obvious.

I won't make that mistake of buying a PB game again, but I guess there are still enough hard-core fans who keep them above waterline so they don't feel the need to progress. I couldn't care less, I guess.

Well, I really don't play many RPGs but Elex was one of the few that kept me going to the end.
What I really enjoyed was the world, the characters, the quests and also that new gear actually matters.
Other games throw such a mass of useless weapons, armor, etc. at you that it felt pretty amazing in Elex when I was finally being able to use the better weapon and it actually felt stronger.

Also that even on the side quests there are nice developments in characters.

But yes, the control/fighting really was mediocre at best. But then again, thats one of the downsides on mosts RPGs.

So I am really looking forward to this. But I am also not expecting a perfectly polished game.

I enjoyed Elex quite a lot but was disappointed by the lack of continued support. The last patches and how PB never cared about the fans critique in regard of them (lighting problems for example) made a really bad impression. I can understand they wanted to move on but that's not how you should treat your fans OR your current AAA title, especially not if you want to continue the franchise.

LOL
But that's one of the sellings points of this game really.
A lot of people like this style of game and mechanics and story
So as long as it's not a real bug fest or horribly done story it should be a mostly enjoyable experience.

I was on the fecnce about this, but I watched some videos of it and it reminded that I had enjoyed Elex and that this was probably "the same but bigger" which isn't a bad thing to me.

I loved Gothic 2 and Gotch 3 and Risen even though arguably or at some level they're just the "same basic game"
And I enjoyed Elex so all things considered this seems like a no brainer to buy and try

Well, I definitely buy it.
If we are not engulfed in a nuclear war first.

But I ll wait a deep discount and lots of bug fixes

This. Contrary to many other games, most NPCs in Piranha Bytes games are memorable and their quests logically connected to their personal story. This goes way back to their first Gothic game.

*** SPOILER FOR ELEX 1 ***

One of my favourite moments in Elex was when I checked already "done" areas in the late game for any details that I might have missed, and then stumbled upon an NPCs in the Valley of the Damned (Drog) who my prior actions got banned from the Berserker village Goliet. Naturally, he blamed me for it and wanted to "settle this once and for all", but I managed to talk him (and pay 2000 shards) into going to the Clerics and start a new life. I even tried to protect him on his way, but lost sight of him during a fight with local creatures. To my pleasant surprise, I later found him again in the Cleric's cantina. In our final conversation, he told me to fuck off, which was totally fine with me, since I was the reason for his situation.

*** END OF SPOILER ***

PB games are filled to the brim with these little side stories and personal fates, and you can never be sure if the random stranger or even enemy could lead into some of them. That's why with all of their quirks and shortcomings, I passionately love every PB game, although I never play one before 1-2 years of patches.

edit: Apropos, the fact that NPCs will actually travel between locations (even across the whole world map as in the above example) and can be followed if the player manages to keep up, is an extremely immersive feature that many so-called AAA games do lack up until this day.

edit 2: As one last anecdote, my absolute favourite conversation in Gothic 2 was with a man who sits on a bench in the middle of the human village. When the main character asks him how it's going, he answers: "Ah, all quiet. I guess when the the orcs come, we'll hear it."