Returnal

petes · 04-05-2021 8:52pm

I'm enjoying it but haven't a fcuking clue what's going on half the time. Got to the first boss once and that was it ðŸ˜႒.

Looks great and plays great, need to have a fair amo of time to play though but here I am about to play for another bit after switching it off. Definitely dragged me in!

Penn · 04-05-2021 9:53pm

Ended up belting away for about 3 hours. Managed to beat the bosses of biome 2 and 3 though thankfully used the regenerator thing midway through biome 3, and enemies don't respawn once you have, so after the boss of biome 3 beat me once I was able to get back to him fairly easily and beat him second try.

Most importantly, beating biome 3 starts Act 2 and you restart from there if you die, with 15 weapon proficiency, so it's not all bad.

Grumpypants · 05-05-2021 7:14am

Penn wrote: »

Ended up belting away for about 3 hours. Managed to beat the bosses of biome 2 and 3 though thankfully used the regenerator thing midway through biome 3, and enemies don't respawn once you have, so after the boss of biome 3 beat me once I was able to get back to him fairly easily and beat him second try.

Most importantly, beating biome 3 starts Act 2 and you restart from there if you die, with 15 weapon proficiency, so it's not all bad.

That is something to reach for at least. I'll jump back in knowing you have some reachable point.

Penn · 05-05-2021 8:05am

Grumpypants wrote: »

That is something to reach for at least. I'll jump back in knowing you have some reachable point.

Yeah it's definitely increased my will to keep playing, as my main bugbear about having to start again was losing weapon proficiency, but you start Act 2 with lvl15, so at least that's something too.

Incoming patch today though, so if anyone has their place saved in rest mode, I think the patch goes live at 6 or 7 this evening, so either turn off automatic updates or get shooting!

Penn · 05-05-2021 8:39am

Main tip I'd give people that I read elsewhere which definitely worked for me last night.

Go through as much of the first biome without picking up green resins (unless you really need to) or opening chests (but collect as many of the blue proficiency items as you can). Fast travel back to your ship to heal if you can instead (enter the ship and sleep in the bed). And don't do the rooms with really tough enemies (yellow door on map with star over), or some of the blue triangle doors where you might see the red blob forming, exit the door before the area enters lockdown.

Then when you're ready to complete biome 1, go back through all the rooms again picking up the resins and opening chests. As you're at full health having healed on the ship, the resins will work to increase your max health instead, and the chests will have better guns as your proficiency should be higher. Gives you a better shot at the boss or starting point for the next biome (I didn't have to fight first boss again last night, but had to do boss 2 & 3 in the same run).

McFly85 · 05-05-2021 11:02pm

Had a run to the 2nd biome boss after the patch dropped, and I’ve seen it’s much more frequent now for scout corpses to be available in the first biome.

Considering taking on these missions can be worth a fair chunk of ether, maybe I can spend the days where I don’t have so much time to look for these to do to help future runs instead!

Penn · 06-05-2021 6:21am

McFly85 wrote: »

Had a run to the 2nd biome boss after the patch dropped, and I’ve seen it’s much more frequent now for scout corpses to be available in the first biome.

Considering taking on these missions can be worth a fair chunk of ether, maybe I can spend the days where I don’t have so much time to look for these to do to help future runs instead!

Be careful with the patch. It's corrupting peoples save files. Housemarque have pulled the patch and are recommending that if you've downloaded the patch, either delete and redownload the entire game or don't play until the next patch is available and installed. It's bad enough that people are complaining about a lack of saves during runs, and then a patch ends up deleting the permanent progression people have already earned. I imagine the odds of a future proper save function might have now increased slightly.

The patch apparently also greatly reduces healing by sleeping in Helios, so that strategy I posted about is f*cked now.

Penn · 06-05-2021 8:34am

Made it to Biome 5 last night but died very early in it. Beat boss of biome 4 first time.

As great and vital as the astronaut is, it was definitely the artefact that auto-repairs some integrity when it gets low that helped me beat the boss. For all the bosses so far, most of their attacks throughout are fairly easy to dodge or avoid, but the ones that do hit, that artefact can give you back enough integrity if you avoid more hits for a few seconds. I think I had the same 25% of integrity that was constantly repairing itself for at least the last phase of this boss, if not earlier.

sniper_samurai · 06-05-2021 11:42am

Penn wrote: »

Made it to Biome 5 last night but died very early in it. Beat boss of biome 4 first time.

As great and vital as the astronaut is, it was definitely the artefact that auto-repairs some integrity when it gets low that helped me beat the boss. For all the bosses so far, most of their attacks throughout are fairly easy to dodge or avoid, but the ones that do hit, that artefact can give you back enough integrity if you avoid more hits for a few seconds. I think I had the same 25% of integrity that was constantly repairing itself for at least the last phase of this boss, if not earlier.

Got to Biome 5 myself last night. Beat the Biome 4 boss on my first attempt, then got hit with the save corruption upon arrival in Biome 5. Thankfully still had my cloud save from the start of Biome 4.

Also some extremely good advice, bring a carbine with Leech Rounds when fighting the bosses. Leech rounds are ridiculously overpowered, as long as you aren't getting hit constantly you shouldn't need to heal at all. Made the boss battles in Biomes 3 and 4 a cakewalk. Expect these to have the amount of health returned per hit significantly reduced.

Penn · 06-05-2021 12:29pm

New patch is live

Patch 1.3.4 is now live. This patch reverts to a previous stable build (1.3.1), also addressing a known Trophies issue, and fixing a keyboard exploit.

Please stay tuned for info on Patch 1.3.5 in the near future.

With Patch 1.3.4, all save games are safe to be played now.

For those who suffered issues with their save game after installing Patch 1.3.3, please see the scenarios below for the latest info after our investigations:

Some game saves will have become corrupted with Patch 1.3.3, but maintained their file size. Players with those save games are able to safely continue their progress after installing Patch 1.3.4, without the need for using a backed up save game.

Unfortunately other save games will have been effectively "deleted" by Patch 1.3.3, with their file size reducing to 0KB. These save games are not directly salvageable by Patch 1.3.4, without a backup save game available.

In those cases, please try using a backed up save from PS+ if available, after installing Patch 1.3.4. With an intact save game from PS+, players can safely restore and continue playing with Patch 1.3.4 installed.

Depending on the console settings, the cloud save may have been overwritten by the "deleted" save game noted above. If this is the case, progress will remain unsalvageable, even with Patch 1.3.4.

Penn · 06-05-2021 9:02pm

Hitting a huge wall in biome 5, not to mention numerous deaths in biome 4 too, some of which were laughably quick.

McFly85 · 06-05-2021 9:48pm

Pretty much coasted through biome 3 up until what I think are the last set of rooms which seemed to spike massively in difficulty and died.

As someone who isn’t a huge fan of roguelikes this has drawn me in massively. It’ll take me ages to actually finish it but that doesn’t bother me!

.G. · 06-05-2021 9:56pm

Really like the game but I'm bloody terrible at it! Near a week on now and I'm still on the bloody first biome. Have only got to the boss twice, wiped out easily the first time, got him down to half health of his third bar the second time.

Maybe in another week I'll have made it through! Although reading that you get sent all the way back to the ship unless you get to biome three is a buzz kill, they need to sort that sh!t out or I'll have to give up!

McFly85 · 06-05-2021 10:06pm

.G. wrote: »

Really like the game but I'm bloody terrible at it! Near a week on now and I'm still on the bloody first biome. Have only got to the boss twice, wiped out easily the first time, got him down to half health of his third bar the second time.

Maybe in another week I'll have made it through! Although reading that you get sent all the way back to the ship unless you get to biome three is a buzz kill, they need to sort that sh!t out or I'll have to give up!

I wouldn’t go near a boss without at least 1 large health kit and ideally a spaceman figure!

And regarding the going back to the ship, it’s not as bad as it sounds, do enough in one biome and there’ll be shortcuts so you don’t have to do absolutely everything again. It actually hasn’t bothered me at all, a few seconds after the initial frustration of dying I’ve forgotten about it and I’m right back into trying to get some decent upgrades!

.G. · 06-05-2021 10:40pm

Yeah I had the astronaut the second time out and had increased my integrity a lot too, was all set, still messed it up

goon_magee · 07-05-2021 10:15am

.G. wrote: »

Really like the game but I'm bloody terrible at it! Near a week on now and I'm still on the bloody first biome. Have only got to the boss twice, wiped out easily the first time, got him down to half health of his third bar the second time.

Maybe in another week I'll have made it through! Although reading that you get sent all the way back to the ship unless you get to biome three is a buzz kill, they need to sort that sh!t out or I'll have to give up!

Warning for your own sanity - even if you get to biome 3 and die, you're still going all the way back to the ship though you will have an "easy" route back :pac:

Don't get disheartened though, after a week of getting f'd up by drones in biome 3, I finally made it to the boss last night and beat the boss on my first attempt. I'm absolutely terrible at the game as well, but even someone of my meagre skill level can brute force their way through a biome if RNG is good to them. I got a good run of parasites last night that had negative impacts that didn't really impact my playstyle, and also got a couple of artefacts boosting protection which help way more than I realised.

Everyone owes it to themselves to at least make it to the biome 3 boss, cause holy crap, is it spectacular. Between the music and the pure spectacle/scale of the encounter, I had goosebumps the entire time.

One thing became even more apparent to me last night though - yes, this game absolutely needs a quick save system. Given the horrid time I had been having with biome 3, I hadn't even intended on giving biome 3 a good lash and was just intending on grinding up some weapon perks in biomes 1 & 2. Realising that I was on my best run yet though, I knew I had to give biome 3 a run also, problem being it was 1am already. I would have loved to be able to create a quick save, and pick up again today, but with the current set-up my only options were to play for another hour at least, or lose my progress on that run.

It all just feels unnecessarily punishing. I've no doubt that there is a sub-set of the playerbase who it doesn't affect as they have the reflexes and skills to make the length of runs a non-issue, but for those on the other end of the skill spectrum like me who at times crawl through biomes, a save system is crucial.

johnny_ultimate · 07-05-2021 4:31pm

Had hit a wall for a day or two - just couldn’t get past the first boss. And was being driven slowly mad by those bloody bats and their orange rush attack :pac: But pushed through there and in one lengthy run (with the help of a reconstructor) got through to biome 3. Second boss is a great bullet hell fight- some great bullet patterns to dodge through. I do think the two bosses so far have been rather bullet spongey, but I do enjoy dodging through their neon assaults.

Still really enjoying the game, and love how each biome has a different vibe of eerie desolation. The soundscape is one of the best I’ve heard in a recent game.

Is it just me or is the shotgun a bit crap? Feel like I need to get so close that it makes taking down crowds of enemies a more dangerous proposition. Love the carbine and hollowseeker... but makes me sad when my first four or five star weapon is a bloody blaster :pac:

Penn · 07-05-2021 4:40pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Had hit a wall for a day or two - just couldn’t get past the first boss. And was being driven slowly mad by those bloody bats and their orange rush attack :pac: But pushed through there and in one lengthy run (with the help of a reconstructor) got through to biome 3. Second boss is a great bullet hell fight- some great bullet patterns to dodge through. I do think the two bosses so far have been rather bullet spongey, but I do enjoy dodging through their neon assaults.

Still really enjoying the game, and love how each biome has a different vibe of eerie desolation. The soundscape is one of the best I’ve heard in a recent game.

Is it just me or is the shotgun a bit crap? Feel like I need to get so close that it makes taking down crowds of enemies a more dangerous proposition. Love the carbine and hollowseeker... but makes me sad when my first four or five star weapon is a bloody blaster :pac:

I thought the shotgun was crap at first too and always avoided it unless necessary, but if you get one with Slug Shot or level up the slug shot it does pretty decent damage at range too. Better with a narrow spread too if possible.

I mostly stick with the carbine, though using the Electopylon Driver a good bit too. A bit harder to use efficiently when under pressure though.

goon_magee · 07-05-2021 7:12pm

Anyone who is having difficulty laying down damage whilst dodging fire should consider the rotgrabber (think that's the name) also when it comes up.

With decent perks that buff the damage over time etc. it's a great choice for hitting and running while the dots tick over. Also really forgiving with how accurate you need to be, aiming at the general area an enemy is in usually seems to land a direct hit.

Just beat the 4th boss on my first try using it, so if it's helping a useless ****ebag like me pull of first attempts at bosses, it must be doing something right!

Penn · 07-05-2021 8:10pm

goon_magee wrote: »

Anyone who is having difficulty laying down damage whilst dodging fire should consider the rotgrabber (think that's the name) also when it comes up.

With decent perks that buff the damage over time etc. it's a great choice for hitting and running while the dots tick over. Also really forgiving with how accurate you need to be, aiming at the general area an enemy is in usually seems to land a direct hit.

Just beat the 4th boss on my first try using it, so if it's helping a useless ****ebag like me pull of first attempts at bosses, it must be doing something right!

Haven't found that one yet, but have found a few new weapons on my current run that I can't remember the names of. I'm just on a food break from a run where I've made it to and most of the way through biome 6. Sticking with the carbines til the end. This could be the big one.

.G. · 07-05-2021 9:00pm

Still trying to beat Phrike!

Almost had him today, had 160‰ integrity, a large vial of backup integrity in my pocket, max Adrenalin and a 3 star carbine but crucially no spaceman, fecker killed me just as I had him down to the bare minimum of his third health bar!

I'll be here till Christmas in this bloody biome.

Penn · 07-05-2021 9:04pm

Penn wrote: »

Haven't found that one yet, but have found a few new weapons on my current run that I can't remember the names of. I'm just on a food break from a run where I've made it to and most of the way through biome 6. Sticking with the carbines til the end. This could be the big one.

Huh.... whaddya know.... it was

Biome 5 is undoubtedly the worst. Not just the challenge room with the waves of enemies, but every area has them goddamn drones, and some rooms have a metric f*ckload of them.

Have read that there's another ending, so might keep doing a few more runs.

McFly85 · 07-05-2021 9:43pm

2 runs at biome 3 tonight, destroyed annoyingly early by those goddamned drones!

Weapon wise, I’ve been mostly sticking with the carbine but I had a hollowseeker with serrated projectiles yesterday and was tearing through everything! Maybe one more run tonight before bed

.G. · 07-05-2021 11:04pm

.G. wrote: »

Still trying to beat Phrike!

Almost had him today, had 160‰ integrity, a large vial of backup integrity in my pocket, max Adrenalin and a 3 star carbine but crucially no spaceman, fecker killed me just as I had him down to the bare minimum of his third health bar!

I'll be here till Christmas in this bloody biome.

I got the b@stard!

.G. · 08-05-2021 12:10am

The weapons you get on the daily challenge are a bit special! Make mince meat of everything in seconds.

Dave1711 · 08-05-2021 3:05am

Managed to beat it today, thought the last boss was the easiest imo but really enjoyed it, look forward to playing back through it trying out other guns etc.

goon_magee · 08-05-2021 12:15pm

Penn wrote: »

Huh.... whaddya know.... it was

Biome 5 is undoubtedly the worst. Not just the challenge room with the waves of enemies, but every area has them goddamn drones, and some rooms have a metric f*ckload of them.

Have read that there's another ending, so might keep doing a few more runs.

Biome 5 broke me last night. Had a hard time with drones in biome 3, when I seen sheer volume of them again in 5 my heart absolutely sank!

In biome 3 I got around them by just sprinting towards them which usually gets you out of the lock on they have, just doesn't seem a viable tactic in biome 5 though due to the crazy numbers they spawn in.

Penn · 08-05-2021 12:24pm

goon_magee wrote: »

Biome 5 broke me last night. Had a hard time with drones in biome 3, when I seen sheer volume of them again in 5 my heart absolutely sank!

In biome 3 I got around them by just sprinting towards them which usually gets you out of the lock on they have, just doesn't seem a viable tactic in biome 5 though due to the crazy numbers they spawn in.

Not going to lie, there was one room in my biome 5 where I had to cheese them with the door. Ran into a blue room hoping for heals but there was none, so I just kept opening door, shooting and retreating again until I got rid of them.

fixXxer · 08-05-2021 1:15pm

.G. wrote: »

The weapons you get on the daily challenge are a bit special! Make mince meat of everything in seconds.

Whats this? The rooms with the star on top?

sniper_samurai · 08-05-2021 1:17pm

fixXxer wrote: »

Whats this? The rooms with the star on top?

It's on one of the consoles in the Helios after completing Biome 1. You get 5 ether for running it.

Returnal

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