Do I have to deal with Ray for a long time?

[starfarts]

I just went straight to the Outlaws because the Berserkers were so obnoxious and only now got around to doing the main quests. I met Ray for the first time and the game won't let me kill him, so I googled the issue. I understand what happens to him, but can I just ignore his quests or do I really have to deal with him?

I was having so much fun until I met him too.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

You may ignore him as a companion. Yet he is an important story NPC that will be part of the event you have read about. You cannot avoid that.

[starfarts]

Well great, that's made me lose all drive to keep playing. Sigh.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Why? Jax likes Ray. That is the story that is being told in ELEX. As player of this game, you get a few options to influence Jax, but it's still Jax you role-play, not "yourself". And Ray is a nice guy, so it's much harder to have Jax turn against Ray than to have them team up.

[starfarts]

Because he's annoying and I don't like him. And the game is FORCING me to like Ray, which I find to be incredibly lazy design. He stole my armor and acts like a prick during the first meeting, I have no reason not to knock him into the next dimension but I'm not allowed to because reasons. I even chose the most antagonistic dialog choices but regardless it's shoehorning me into one specific path.

[Fredolin]

Originally posted by starfarts:

Because he's annoying and I don't like him. And the game is FORCING me to like Ray, which I find to be incredibly lazy design. He stole my armor and acts like a prick during the first meeting, I have no reason not to knock him into the next dimension but I'm not allowed to because reasons. I even chose the most antagonistic dialog choices but regardless it's shoehorning me into one specific path.

Hi, i didn't like him aswell when i played, because of reasons you say.
But what happened later changed my view entirely.. I think you should give it a chance because the Story is actually really good. He basically started as the most disliked companion for me to literally the Best and most respected. Just saying.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by starfarts:

Because he's annoying and I don't like him.

Then you are not a role-player. If the story wanted it to be like that, Jax would have killed him at Sandy Pines. But Jax is clever enough to let him live, and Jax also uses many other people/factions as his tools - so play a smart Jax, not a jackass Jax. Not even if influencing Jax to increase cold value there is good reason to kill Ray.

Originally posted by starfarts:

And the game is FORCING me to like Ray, which I find to be incredibly lazy design.

The game tells the story of ex-Alb Commander Jax, and you get a few choices, but you don't play "yourself". You play Jax. Jax, who rediscovers his human background with emotions, friendship, romances. Jax kinda likes and respects Ray. You may consume Elex and return quite a bit to your former Alb way of thinking and acting - but the story of ELEX is about Jax using the free people of Magalan to reach his goals.

Originally posted by starfarts:

He stole my armor and acts like a prick during the first meeting, I have no reason not to knock him into the next dimension but I'm not allowed to because reasons.

Then you are not a role-player. Many story NPCs in this game could simply decide to eliminate Jax early because they hate Albs, former Albs, outsiders and weaklings. Game over. It could be done as a story event or in a duel. But the game tells the story of ex-Alb Commander Jax, so play according to Jax's main missions and take the opportunities influence his story.

[Fredolin]

But honestly you don't even see much of Ray after you find him at the Gas Station, if you don't want to, so i don't get the Problem. Like i literally skipped the scene when you meet him and then moved on to do other stuff and 30 hours later i think there's only a Main Quest which involved him and that's it. But ok

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Along the same lines, Jax becomes fond of Caja or Nasty or both as a female romance option - no matter whether you, player, like them or consider them pretty/beautiful/sexy, whatever. There are no alternatives except not starting a romance with either one.

[Shellbie]

Ray is cool.

[starfarts]

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

tl;dr

You're right, I'm not a role player because I'm playing a video game that just happens to have the RPG tag, among others. It's a video game that lets you build your character ("muh Jax reeeeee") how you wish to, and make choices that suit YOU. Because that's what RPG games are. I'm not sure if you're stuck in the '80s with Ultima or whatever, but the genre isn't about that anymore.

[V I D A L]

That's such an over-reaction. You have to deal with Ray for like 5% of the time you will spend with the game.

[starfarts]

Originally posted by V I D A L:

That's such an over-reaction. You have to deal with Ray for like 5% of the time you will spend with the game.

I realized this myself lol, but it was such a change from the previous 7 hours I played. I think if I'd gone straight to Ray before I'd explored the world and did a bunch of Outlaw quests then it wouldn't have been so jarring.

[V I D A L]

Originally posted by starfarts:

Originally posted by V I D A L:

That's such an over-reaction. You have to deal with Ray for like 5% of the time you will spend with the game.

I realized this myself lol, but it was such a change from the previous 7 hours I played. I think if I'd gone straight to Ray before I'd explored the world and did a bunch of Outlaw quests then it wouldn't have been so jarring.

Not even 5%. I've been playing for 100 hours and didn't have Ray with me for more than 1 hour.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by starfarts:

You're right, I'm not a role player because I'm playing a video game that just happens to have the RPG tag, among others.

You are supposed to role-play Jax, not "yourself". As player, you only get limited options to influence Jax.

Originally posted by starfarts:

It's a video game that lets you build your character ("muh Jax reeeeee") how you wish to, and make choices that suit YOU.

Nope. Neither one. Almost everything about Jax is predefined. His appearance, his sex, his base attributes, his starting abilities, his background, his story up to the start of the game. The RPG features allow for limited character progression and some choices/actions (typically during conversation) - the story progression, on the other hand, doesn't give you ultimate freedom.

Btw, it's the same in all other ARPGs/CRPGs that tell a story. There are at most multiple paths through the game depending on major choices and leading to different outcomes (or only nuances) at the end of the game.