Returnal

johnny_ultimate · 20-06-2021 1:57am

Haven’t been playing this much recently just because I like to have a few no-pressure hours free to commit to a run. Also HATED the bloody drones in biome 3 - their missiles would more often than not immediately mess up what had otherwise been a great run.

Anyway, finally got through biome 3 tonight. Had a near ideal run through the first level, and with a few nice bonuses from the second. Alas, the drones again left me with but a sliver of health for most of biome 3. But fought through, and got through the boss thanks to one invaluable tool: the Rotgland Lobber. I’d fought the boss once before and the weapon I had (either a carbine or hollowseeker IIRC) was like a peashooter. Lobber was a godsend in comparison - hacking away at the health bar while having more concentration to commit to dodging. Was a breeze of a fight in the end thanks to, after a gruelling first attempt.

Onwards, anyway, but glad to have some permanent progress now as I push forward.

weiland79 · 20-06-2021 11:30am

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Haven’t been playing this much recently just because I like to have a few no-pressure hours free to commit to a run. Also HATED the bloody drones in biome 3 - their missiles would more often than not immediately mess up what had otherwise been a great run.

Anyway, finally got through biome 3 tonight. Had a near ideal run through the first level, and with a few nice bonuses from the second. Alas, the drones again left me with but a sliver of health for most of biome 3. But fought through, and got through the boss thanks to one invaluable tool: the Rotgland Lobber. I’d fought the boss once before and the weapon I had (either a carbine or hollowseeker IIRC) was like a peashooter. Lobber was a godsend in comparison - hacking away at the health bar while having more concentration to commit to dodging. Was a breeze of a fight in the end thanks to, after a gruelling first attempt.

Onwards, anyway, but glad to have some permanent progress now as I push forward.

I learned to cheese those drones. Lure them to a door which they generally dont pass through and let the door open and close and take them out with cheap shots.

weiland79 · 20-06-2021 11:32am

Is there much to do after the final boss? I finished it but thought Ratchet might be a nice pallete cleanser for a week. Still have it installed.

Penn · 20-06-2021 2:34pm

weiland79 wrote: »

Is there much to do after the final boss? I finished it but thought Ratchet might be a nice pallete cleanser for a week. Still have it installed.

There are items (Sunshine Fragments) to collect in each biome (one in each biome). Collecting them all, doing a final house sequence and then beating the final boss again gives the true full ending.

I switched to Mass Effect 1, then Ratchet & Clank. Now I've started playing Returnal again to go for the platinum. Latest patch makes it easier to collect some of the rarest audio logs & glyphs for the survey trophies, they're more likely to spawn in different rooms etc. I just enjoy the gameplay of the game as a whole and wanted to play it for a while probably before jumping into Mass Effect 2.

Potential-Monke · 20-06-2021 7:57pm

Ok, so I haven't read or looked into much about this. Would ye recommend? I'm aware it's a 3rd person bullet hell rougelike, but is it fun? I find most rougelikes get samey or have huge difficulty spikes out of nowhere that usually stop me playing.

Penn · 20-06-2021 10:32pm

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Ok, so I haven't read or looked into much about this. Would ye recommend? I'm aware it's a 3rd person bullet hell rougelike, but is it fun? I find most rougelikes get samey or have huge difficulty spikes out of nowhere that usually stop me playing.

I'd nearly be reluctant to use the word "fun". The enjoyment comes from the challenge, the frantic gameplay, the ebb and flow of the randomness going your way or not going your way, and the tense nature and general unease of the world around you.

Some runs, you get good item boosts, weapons and you're generally smashing everything in your way. Other runs, it's like the PS5 walks over to you and kicks you in the shin.

I'd say check out some gameplay videos. It's not going to spoil anything, but it's also not going to do it complete justice either as playing it and watching it are very different beasts, but it'll give a decent overview of what most of the game is like, as the majority of the gameplay is pretty static throughout (though different weapons etc can change your playstyle a bit).

johnny_ultimate · 20-06-2021 11:26pm

Pushed through to Biome 6 tonight before having to throw the PS5 into rest mode for the night (boo, let me save!). Not a game to play before bed as it gets the heart pumping something fierce :pac:

Biomes 4 and 5 seemed like relatively easy challenges after what had come before, will see now if the difficulty jumps for the last stretch. But absolutely loved the whole atmosphere around the fourth boss - the bone-rattling music matched with the beautiful horror of the bullet patterns was really a sight to behold, with some serious build up as you made the ascent towards the arena.

Potential-Monke · 22-06-2021 5:42pm

I took a chance and got it. Put about 4 hours into it last night, got to the biome 1 boss, and thought I had him beat until I copped he has 3 or 4 health bars. He killed me on his last life.

It's good, and a nice variation of the roguelike, I'm liking it. I just hope it doesn't get too hard! Still trying to get me head around everything, do more weapons open up in further biomes? I've only found the pistol, assault rifle and shotgun so far. Do you also get to carry more than 1 weapon at the time?

One thing I will say is the DualSense implementation. The intro especially. I nearly want all movies to have haptic feedback, it was so good.

Penn · 22-06-2021 5:56pm

Potential-Monke wrote: »

I took a chance and got it. Put about 4 hours into it last night, got to the biome 1 boss, and thought I had him beat until I copped he has 3 or 4 health bars. He killed me on his last life.

It's good, and a nice variation of the roguelike, I'm liking it. I just hope it doesn't get too hard! Still trying to get me head around everything, do more weapons open up in further biomes? I've only found the pistol, assault rifle and shotgun so far. Do you also get to carry more than 1 weapon at the time?

One thing I will say is the DualSense implementation. The intro especially. I nearly want all movies to have haptic feedback, it was so good.

The game doesn't necessarily get too much harder, though there are pricks of enemies who pop up later, and the randomisation can work against you sometimes by throwing you into a room that's just going to f*ck you up. But, the more artefacts and boosts you pick up along the way balances a lot of it out. You learn the best weapons to use for different areas as you go (eg. pray & spray for areas with loads of small enemies, or high dps for areas likely to have big slow enemies) or for your own playstyle, but finding those weapons isn't always easy.

Once you find a new type of weapon (there's about 10 in the game), it gets added to the randomisation, so you might find a new type of weapon in biome 3, then it'll have a chance to start appearing in biome 1 & 2 on future runs. You can only ever carry one at a time though. Plus the alt-fires are randomised too. You upgrade the weapons the more you use them (each have different levels of different traits), and those upgrades are permanent so you might find the assault rifle with some of the upgrade traits you've already unlocked previously.

Same with artefacts and consumables, once you find one for the first time, it's added to the randomisation pool to appear in the future everywhere.

At the end of each biome too you unlock a new ability which again is permanent for all future runs, and will unlock new areas for you (like areas that currently seem out of reach).

So for the most part, no run is ever wasted. You are constantly levelling up permanent boosts in some way.

Arcadeheroes · 24-06-2021 7:01pm

Finished the game few weeks ago, Took me 2 days to finish with a total of 20 deaths with most of that being at the very start of the game trying to learn the mechanics and the overall feel of the game .

Bought the game at launch to support the devs but when I saw the game was facing alot of issues with crashes I stayed away until the game got patched enough for it to be safe to play without having to worry about facing any of these issues and losing progress.

The game did hard crash on me once resulting me losing few hours of progress and also made my ps5 lock and having to do a hard reset and reboot my system .

Thankfully I didnt lose my saved game progress even though I got a message saying my save file was corrupt.

Despite that I liked Returnal but I found it everything outside of its core gameplay hook everything else felt very inconsistent.

The game is not worth its asking price of 80 euros imo but I was so willing to show full support to a indie dev who finally had a chance to make a game with a AAA budget just to see what type of game could they make.

from the rouge like games I have played there is a consistency to the build you can get that makes the risk vs reward aspect fair but with returnal I always felt if you had a bad start to the game your entire run was doomed to fail no matter what the outcome was .

I also was not a fan of the bosses and found them to be very easy. I killed them all on my first attempt except for the first boss which killed me 2 times .

Level design of the game also I was not a fan of and found the level settings to be very bland outside of the jungle areas.

Overall I would give it a 7/10 . There is a solid foundation here for a better sequel if the devs were ever to return to this IP . The shooting is really solid and feels incredible to have a high budget arcade game but everything else needs a rework for me with more content to justify the 80 euro price tag.

Penn · 25-06-2021 8:07am

It's definitely not a game without its flaws, but having paid full launch price for it, I'm satisfied that I got my money's worth. I'm still sinking hours into the game and enjoying it a lot, because so much of the core gameplay and design is just fantastic.

I beat most of the bosses on the first go too, but I think a lot of that comes down to how much time you spend in each biome and how powered up you can be when you reach the bosses. There were some biomes I made it through the full way on the first go. But I think it's also a game where the wrong weapon in the wrong situation and you're basically f*cked against basic enemies. While hunting for glyphs I went straight from biome 1 to 3, still had starting pistol but changed it out for a dreadbound in biome 3. Ended up getting cornered and royally screwed by drones. Other runs I could find a hollowseeker or something and blitz most of the biome.

Either way, the design of the game is such that you can plug away at it any time you have a few hours spare and have a great ol' time. The RNG gods have been fairly kind to me in my hunt for the platinum, have usually found something on each room (including some rooms I'd never seen before) and only have one glyph in Biome 6 to go.

It'll definitely be interesting to see how they follow it up. I liked Resogun but never got too far into it. Never bothered with Nex Machina either. But I'll definitely be checking out what Housemarque do next.

johnny_ultimate · 25-06-2021 8:20am

The Phantom Pain wrote: »

My only question is, is it too easy to die from silly mistakes like fall damage? I can accept ending a run due to getting overwhelmed by enemies but it would be annoying to have to restart because you missed a gap on the floor or made a bad jump.

The game's pretty punishing if you fall down a gap. Takes a fair chunk of health and resets your invaluable combo gauge. But you can fall any distance and not be hurt if you land on solid land.

The main challenge of the game IMO is health management. Every hit you take matters, and managing your health resources is ultimately vital to the moment-to-moment and hour-to-hour flow of the game alike (with some very unusual and specific mechanics attached to health restoration / health gauge extension).

Penn · 25-06-2021 8:53am

The Phantom Pain wrote: »

My only question is, is it too easy to die from silly mistakes like fall damage? I can accept ending a run due to getting overwhelmed by enemies but it would be annoying to have to restart because you missed a gap on the floor or made a bad jump.

There is no fall damage unless you have a parasite or malfunction that causes damage from long falls, but even then if you dash before hitting the ground it prevents it as it no longer becomes a long fall.

But like JU says, you can fall into gaps which does cause damage. There's also some areas with kind of lava which causes damage, and you can't go into water until later in the game. Damage by those is easily done if you're dodging attacks. There'll also be some laser type areas you have to try get through (some of which disable your dash) they can take a good chunk if not timed right. I've rarely died from stuff like that though, it takes a bit of health but not much, the reset of adrenaline is usually the big kicker. Either I was close to dying anyway and panicking, or just got greedy seeing something in the distance out of reach.

Penn · 25-06-2021 6:29pm

Got the platinum. Found the last glyph in biome 6 but trophies didn't pop. Turned out I never did the challenge room in biome 6. Died in the last stage, but you only have to attempt it for it to count towards the survey trophy, so job done. Ship's computer says my playtime was about 54 hours.

Potential-Monke · 28-06-2021 9:16pm

Finally, FINALLY, managed to get out of biome 1. Mainly kept getting killed by that big tentaclely jumpy bastard. He always manages to jump on me while I'm trying to kill those fecking Leshens, or whatever this game calls them. Got a bit into the second biome and got overwhelmed and died. But I'm enjoying it, albeit in short bursts. I'll do a run, and depending on how soon I get killed I'll either do another one or take a break. I think visually it's lovely so far, but that's mainly based on the first biome as it's where I've spent most of my time. The haptics, as I've already mentioned, are amazing in this. Another game to prove that Sony/PS had some actual innovation this gen, and I will find it very hard to play a properly haptic enabled game on anything but a PS5 now. It really does add to a game when done right. Gameplay is smooth and while it can be unforgiving, and the RNG has a lot to say for that, it still seems fair.

TBH, I don't know if I'll ever finish it, as I don't think I've ever "finished" a roguelike, unless you count getting to 2BC in Dead Cells. But it's another excellent game to showcase the power and features of the PS5. I got it for about €35 traded in, so definitely worth that much anyway. I'll probably trade it in soon while it's still worth a few quid, but I will definitely pick it up again in a sale, or hopefully when it comes to PS+/Now.

Potential-Monke · 28-06-2021 10:16pm

Also, @Arcadeheroes, 2 days and 20 deaths in total? I'm at about 8 hours and 17 deaths, and just got to the second biome... How?!

jones · 29-06-2021 11:31am

I was playing this in spurts since it came out love it but could not dedicate a lot of time to it life getting in the way.

It took me a long time to get past biome 1 I'm talking 10 plus hours long. But then on 1 run I beat the second and third areas without much issue. It's all down to how good of a weapon you have imo and just being in the zone I suspect

Penn · 29-06-2021 11:35am

jones wrote: »

I was playing this in spurts since it came out love it but could not dedicate a lot of time to it life getting in the way.

It took me a long time to get past biome 1 I'm talking 10 plus hours long. But then on 1 run I beat the second and third areas without much issue. It's all down to how good of a weapon you have imo and just being in the zone I suspect

Absolutely. Being in the zone is key, but the right weapon with the right traits, plus some good artefacts and a decent bit of integrity really makes the later biomes much more manageable. That's why for serious runs, I'd normally farm the hell out of the first biome rather than just travel to the 2nd or 3rd once I found the gateway.

Mr.Fantastic · 03-07-2021 9:30pm

Started this , defo this gen the lighting in it is great also the 3d audio is wow !

Love it, don't see the difficulty as of yet , it's very twitch response but nothing overly difficult

Mr.Fantastic · 04-07-2021 9:34pm

Mr.Fantastic wrote: »

Started this , defo this gen the lighting in it is great also the 3d audio is wow !

Love it, don't see the difficulty as of yet , it's very twitch response but nothing overly difficult

Okay yeah not too hard did the first three biomes,

think you have to finish it a few times to get the ending

Playtime is 5 hours it says not bad got lucky with the gear I picked up and made sure I had loads of health , struggled with first boss yesterday died twice came back after dinner and then boom blitzed him.

petes · 05-07-2021 10:15am

I'm useless at it so way more than 5 hours :pac:

Still haven't finished it but really enjoyed what I did play!

Penn · 05-07-2021 10:39am

Mr.Fantastic wrote: »

Okay yeah not too hard did the first three biomes,
think you have to finish it a few times to get the ending

Act 1 = Biomes 1-3
Act 2 = Biomes 4-6
Act 3 =

Have to do all house sequences, collect a certain item in each biome then beat final boss again

Mr.Fantastic · 05-07-2021 10:58pm

Penn wrote: »

Act 1 = Biomes 1-3
Act 2 = Biomes 4-6
Act 3 =
Have to do all house sequences, collect a certain item in each biome then beat final boss again

Okay I take that back

biome 4 and the biome 4 boss Hyperion are wrecking me

jones · 06-07-2021 10:24am

Is it just me or is this harder since the last patch?

Mr.Fantastic · 06-07-2021 10:56am

jones wrote: »

Is it just me or is this harder since the last patch?

Felt that aswell first few runs in

biome 4

were grand was getting punished last night post patch

jones · 06-07-2021 10:59am

Mr.Fantastic wrote: »

Felt that aswell first few runs in
biome 4
were grand was getting punished last night post patch

Yeah i was the same even mining the first biome i died in places i'd never usually die

Potential-Monke · 06-07-2021 9:56pm

Oh great, it's harder! Just what I wanted!

EoinMcLovin · 26-10-2021 1:18pm

Returnal’s 2.0 update is live today, allowing players to pause mid-run with Suspend Cycle, and get creative with Photo Mode

Suspend Cycle

One of the main features of this update is the Suspend Cycle functionality, which will allow you to pause your cycle to be continued later, letting you exit the game and turn off your console without losing your progress in that session. The structure of the game remains unchanged, so this functionality is not a traditional mid-game "Save Game" option: by suspending the cycle, Returnal will simply create a single use suspend point, and once you resume playing the suspend point is deleted and cannot be used again. Your game will continue directly from the moment you left it, and if you want to suspend the cycle again, your progress will be captured from that new point onwards. There are some limitations in place – for example, players won't be able to create a suspend point during Boss battles, cinematics, first-person sequences or during intense combat scenarios – as we felt there are certain moments in Returnal that are best experienced unfragmented to preserve the intended challenge and flow.

With this approach, we can keep the roguelike spirit and "high stakes" commitment to your run intact, while still providing some quality-of-life convenience for players who like to experience Returnal in shorter bursts. So next time you're deep into a lengthy session on Atropos and life comes knocking at your door, you'll be able to simply Suspend Cycle and jump back in at a more convenient time.

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/10/26/returnal-2-0-update-brings-suspend-cycle-and-photo-mode/

https://youtu.be/CmBcI_9Bui0

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1452968578366513152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1452968578366513152%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=

johnny_ultimate · 26-10-2021 1:30pm

Time to finally finish the game, so :)

Love so much about the game but needing two-three hours free to commit to a run was a tough ask. Have made it to the final biome but just didn’t have the time to properly commit.

brady12 · 26-10-2021 10:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118074630#Comment_118074630

x2

EoinMcLovin · 16-03-2022 5:05pm

https://youtu.be/W0BZT8BqKhQ

____

Potential-Monke · 11-07-2022 9:38pm

Started playing this again recently, fresh save. On my 4th attempt, I finished a run. Never got passed the second area before with hours, so I feel like they made it a bit easier? Looking forward to more runs now that I know what to expect. Excellent game.

Penn · 12-07-2022 9:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119323765#Comment_119323765

The right combination of artifacts, weapons and buffs can make a huge difference, and permanent weapons buffs are always building up in the background the more you use them. General familiarity plays a huge part too.

I don't think they made any of it easier, but it always feels like you're starting again at the start of each run whereas you are genuinely levelling up and improving your odds all the time.

Potential-Monke · 12-07-2022 10:50pm

The first time I tried, I was barely getting out of the first area the few times I did manage. Think I got to the second boss once. But yeah, it was definitely a combination of the buffs on the carbine. The one where it shoots faster the longer you hold it down, and some serious luck to keep the adrenaline up!

Must have been it, because I'm back to getting destroyed! Handy to have all (as far as I'm aware) movement abilities. A lot faster now, and the environments are getting harder as a result too, lots more drops.

TitianGerm · 30-12-2022 11:58am

I started this over Christmas and I'm really enjoying it. So much so I'm actually tempted to grab it on PC for more precise aiming with a mouse which I think might actually improve the gaming experience for me.

Am I right in thinking I should save Ether from runs and spend it at the column with the white orb in the starting area to unlock new items permanently?

Penn · 30-12-2022 4:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120046021#Comment_120046021

I'd always try to keep enough ether to use the reconstructor (which brings you back to life if you die). Don't use it in the first biome, but in the second or third it can be invaluable if you can find it and can keep a strong run going. Other than that, yeah unlocking new artifacts at the start mean they can then show up on all future runs.

It can be tempting to cleanse malfunctions or chests, but as ether is rare, its best to save it for the bigger stuff. Malfunctions etc can be removed in other ways.

TitianGerm · 30-12-2022 4:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120046905#Comment_120046905

I've 9nly played about 2-3 hours so far so still finding my way around. Can't wait to give it another go.

jobrien874ie · 27-02-2023 4:12pm

Love this game so far, I really need to dive into again I got far into the desert level and then set it aside because of the boss 😂

Returnal

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