
Heh, well I basically only use the carbine or the hollowseeker because spray and pray is my MO in this game. I'll only switch to the blaster if its like +2 levels over what I'm currently using.
I made it to the "mini-boss" (I think) that should give the next traversal tool, but didn't get there at full health, so wasn't the best fight.
Also question:
For now is beating the 1st boss again the only way to get access to the Data Cube "processor"?Not sure what to do if I'm exploring Biome 1 some more and I find one
Spoiler:I didn't die on Biome 3 so didn't get put back to the Overgrown Ruins. Now that I'm at the Echoing Ruins it seems that this is the first & maybe only major checkpoint of the game, so basically I died in one of the early areas & just got sent back to the start of Echoing Ruins. You start at level 15 weapon proficiency too. Now I'm happy about this in the sense of progression but it also means I can't go back to use my grappling hook on all those areas I couldn't get to before in the Overgrown Ruins. I wonder if there's something that will open up a portal or some other other way to travel back to it? Maybe you don't need to but I was lusting to get to those high areas all the times I seen the grappling points.
I'm basically where you are. I understand there is an Act 3 and you will eventually go back to levels 1-3.
Thanks Orphu that's good to know.
On progress I've beaten Hyperion the big bad of the Echoing Ruins on my second attempt. Thematically that was a great leadup to the encounter. The battle itself isn't too hard, there are elements of the previous bosses, including a Phrike like laser swipe, different patterns of bullet hell style attacks filling up the screen like Ixiom but there are some orb formations that come down from the sky that are tricky to avoid. It's like your stuck in an aggressive form of Tetris were every block can do some damage if it connects. The secret card I pulled out of the hat was a consumable, it's a portal like gun that spawns & shoots out laser attacks at enemies. I had 3 of these, it worked a treat.
The Echoing Ruins seems daunting at first but it's a great challenge once you get used to the unique cadence of fire from some of the flying enemies & the more aggressive elite type enemies. I like how there's more malignant items about but also more ether to cleanse them with.
The weapon I'm loving using lately that initially seems a little underwhelming to use is the Electropylon Driver. It shoots red electric like pylons, webbed in their shape, they can stick into enemies or on bits of the environment. Initial damage is ok but the damage over time makes this weapon a powerhouse even though you don't get that initial gratification of some of the other fast firing weapons. You can actually fire the pylons onto high pillars or walls so that the electricity strikes out at enemies coming past. In that respect the Electropylon Driver can be utilised to set traps for incoming enemies, it's extra useful for those pesky airborne enemies like the Gyropod's.
I'm itching to press on with the Fractured Wastes after getting wasted about 10 mins into exploring the areas. Tough step up in competition to say the least!
I've kind of hit a wall with the Fractured Wastes. Seriously F the version of the drones in this area.
The weapon I'm loving using lately that initially seems a little underwhelming to use is the Electropylon Driver. It shoots red electric like pylons, webbed in their shape, they can stick into enemies or on bits of the environment. Initial damage is ok but the damage over time makes this weapon a powerhouse even though you don't get that initial gratification of some of the other fast firing weapons. You can actually fire the pylons onto high pillars or walls so that the electricity strikes out at enemies coming past. In that respect the Electropylon Driver can be utilised to set traps for incoming enemies, it's extra useful for those pesky airborne enemies like the Gyropod's.
I'll be all about that weapon. The ability to craft a kill corridor, essentially, or tag enemies directly and focus on defensive evasion as they continue to take damage. Superb!
I've kind of hit a wall with the Fractured Wastes. Seriously F the version of the drones in this area.
That's what I got absolutely ruined by, they are a good step up in difficulty from the Gyropod enemies. I think it's gonna take unlocking more of the various weapons traits or a good run of artifacts or stat boosts to deal with them easier.
Spikeout wrote:The weapon I'm loving using lately that initially seems a little underwhelming to use is the Electropylon Driver. It shoots red electric like pylons, webbed in their shape, they can stick into enemies or on bits of the environment. Initial damage is ok but the damage over time makes this weapon a powerhouse even though you don't get that initial gratification of some of the other fast firing weapons. You can actually fire the pylons onto high pillars or walls so that the electricity strikes out at enemies coming past. In that respect the Electropylon Driver can be utilised to set traps for incoming enemies, it's extra useful for those pesky airborne enemies like the Gyropod's.
I'll be all about that weapon. The ability to craft a kill corridor, essentially, or tag enemies directly and focus on defensive evasion as they continue to take damage. Superb!
That's the term I was looking for 'kill corridor' it works brilliantly when your dealing with a high number of standard enemies in amongst an elite that can end your run in no time. It's likely deadly decor that's on your side when they come running or flying towards your location & get struck by the red electricity licking out when they come into the relevant distance.
The other thing I haven't mentioned is the obstacle course style areas of lasers that make traversing more dangerous. They are pretty standard in the earlier biomes & easy to avoid for the most part but the later ones are more complex & require better timing to come through unscathed. You can dash through the red lasers & take no damage but the thicker purple ones will damage you if you touch them anywhere, dashing or not.
So I like this dev and I like rogue likes but I don't generally like $70 games. So anybody got a recommendation? Wait for a $50 sale? Buy it now? I got a lot on the pile so I'm tempted to wait. But it does look good.
You can see from my previous posts that I'm very high on Returnal & it's my GOTY so far, I'd say it's worth every penny personally. I think I've put around 25 hours in & it's constantly pulling me back like a good Roguelike/lite should. Moving & shooting feel absolutely superb, I'd say one of the best third person shooters I've ever controlled. When you add in the Dual Sense stuff it probably elevates it right to the top of its class.
The story is drip fed & specifically about Selene & why she's going through this loop. You won't be meeting new characters, getting exposition, lots of dialogue etc from them like in Hades. The primary driver is going into the house, your viewpoint changes to first person & you pick up meaningful items that connect with her past, different rooms in the house open up with further visits, Selene will comment on things herself, it's handled really well.
I think anyone who enjoys the Roguelike genre & likes third person shooters will think highly of Returnal. It's got brilliant replay value & tough choices with what you pickup along the way on each run. The parasites have one positive & one negative effect, you have to weigh up the benefit vs the drawback. There are malignant chests/items that have a chance of infecting you with a weakness which if successful you will need to complete a goal to get rid of it (kill 15 hostiles, collect 150 obolites etc). It's got such good systems behind it all.
In terms of the $70 it's upto you but I'd recommend it all day long Stele going by what type of games you like.
Yeah I scrolled your posts... and you've never led me wrong before. I guess I could always buy physical and resell it...
Or... sounds like Carlbear is getting his butt kicked, maybe he'll sell me his copy soon.
Yep that's it buy physical so if on the off chance you don't like it you can get most of your money back. You'll like it though trust me
I got to the 6th Biome, my goodness what a change up. I played for about 3 hours straight going through the Echoing Ruins, the Fractured Wastes which I was very well equipped for then onto the last one. What an amazing change up from the previous 5. I maxed out the amount of artifacts I could carry (15) so had to destroy some once I found better ones. I've all the permanent upgrades now, fully kitted out for future runs.
There's definitely a noticeable increase in difficulty in the 5th & 6th biomes. The enemy design continues to be outstanding, especially in biome 6 there are some absolute showstoppers.
Yeah I scrolled your posts... and you've never led me wrong before. I guess I could always buy physical and resell it...
Or... sounds like Carlbear is getting his butt kicked, maybe he'll sell me his copy soon. ;)
What makes the game great is that I'm terrible at it and yet I still want to play it more.
Might be ok, there's one up in Trading Thread already. Hopefully I was first on it, after an hour.
EDIT: Got it. Hopefully playing by next weekend.
What makes the game great is that I'm terrible at it and yet I still want to play it more.
I've heard similar things about heroin, too. Whenever a game really gets its hooks into me I keep thinking of those rats that keep hitting a button day and night in the hopes that this time a food pellet will drop.
I am now in on this.
Had a good first (non-tutorial) run of the first area, getting the boss down to ~20% of the last life bar? But then I failed. Subsequent runs have not been so good.
I hit a room with an area lockdown, a mini boss type, and what seemed like three of the teleporting plant man enemies. Do not want.
I find myself wanting a little more meta-improvement between runs (ie I wish there were more things than permanent gear/traversal unlocks), but I know that's not the story here (beyond a specific thing that occurs)
I think the other problem I have in this game is not really understanding "when" to go to the next level. I find myself trying to gear up in Biome 1 rather than hopping straight into Biome 2. Is that worth the effort? I usually want to at least make it to the Biome 1 shop and get a weapon better than the level 0 sidearm.
I always am thorough with each biome even when I don't have to defeat the boss again, it's to build up weapon proficiency more than anything else. I haven't tried just fast tracking it to the next biome, enemies can be tough enough when your weapon proficiency is at a good level. It's nice to build up your collection of artifacts, parasites & stat boosts too. It will likely be a more viable option the more traits you unlock for your weapons, some traits like 'full auto' can be game changers on certain weapons.
I'm still stalled in biome 5.
I can pretty much walk through biome 4 now. I've got it down to a science for getting a great weapon at around level 22, buying the health upgrade and farming some good artifacts. Most of the time I'm ready to buy the health upgrade and an artifact plus the reconstructor as soon as I get to biome 5. If I'm lucky I'll have Adrenaline Leech, maybe Phantom Limb, or Golden Coil.
Once there, there are essentially three paths, that are always the same. Each seems to lead to a key.
There is one optional path that gets you the Promethean Insulators. Got that. Very handy for getting more stuff in biome 4.
Path 1: A containment room. If you go too far, you cannot return without defeating the containment room. It always seems to be Frost Drones+Frost Machina, Frost Kerberonyx, then Frost Severed. The Severed kill me so fast. I've yet to beat it. I'm going to save this to last so I can be as powerful as possible, so I skip this for now.
Path 2: Giant rooms full of the really nasty Frost Drones and Turrets. I don't have a good strat for the drones. I try to kite them to the entrance to deal with them in lower numbers, but they inevitably hit me, preventing me from keeping up my adrenaline. And if I can't keep up the adrenaline, then I can't scale up my integrity, or weapon proficiency very fast.
Path 3: seems to be several rooms with malformed elites. I inevitably get one with 2-3 malformed severed and it's game over.
I kinda wish I could go back to 1-3 and farm things. Just playing 4 and a little of 5 over and over is getting a bit tedious.
Biomes 1 & 2 down, 2nd boss on first attempt (holy crap, serrated projectiles is pretty damn effective).
Backtracking a bit to see what other goodies I can find now that I have some additional movement options. Admittedly was getting a bit sour before this burst of success, but making progress has renewed the fun.
Yeah, same with being in the Derelict Citadel. Actually managed to get to the end, but as usual, my brain does not process the actions I took until after the fight is over, so wiped at the boss (and now better understand what is expected). We'll see how long it takes to get back there.
'cause I do not look forward to getting through drones again.
Yeah, those missile drones are just - woof. The dodge timing has to be so tight. Everything else is manageable, but those guys just eat me up in close combat.
I hopped onto a platform in this area... and then was quickly OVERWHELMED by swarms of missile drones and legless automatons. They just kept coming! And exploding! It was not good.
So... about those drones... they get worse.
So, boss 3 down (first attempt!), and now things are weird. Serrated projectiles is still my favorite thing ever.
On one of my recent runs all the aerial enemies, well at least most of them, were spitting the Kerberonyx style fast red orb attacks. The projectiles are so fast so it's a lot harder, your reaction time has to be a second quicker. The volume of some of the Drones, Strixera's etc are fairly high in some rooms so darting in & out of environmental cover is essential.
On Biomes 4-6
I got the ability to go under water which means you open up the shortcut in the big temple area before the boss in Echoing Ruins. Biome 5 is to the right & Biome 6 is to the left. I was worried about weapon proficiency going straight to the Abyssal Scar but I found a calibrator in the first room of the AS that bumped my weapon proficiency up about 3-4 levels.
On the weapons themselves it's probably good to know that not only can you have 3-4 traits per weapon (possibly more) but these can be levelled up too. You need to unlock those traits first & kill hostiles to level them up but it really makes a big enough difference in terms of how powerful you feel in future runs as the traits carry over. The alternative fire traits eg Tendrils, Horizontal Barrage can also be levelled up.
Game got just patched. What's changed was apparent in the very first room. Pretty cool!
Finally reached the point where I can easily get to the boss of the second biome. Both fights I had were close so I think I'll be able to knock this one out without too much more effort. Was hitting a bit of a wall on this biome but finally made some progress tonight which was really satisfying.
This game continually impresses me. I can't get over how much fun the moment to moment is in this game. Additionally the pacing is fantastic for a procedurally generated game. You'll have a couple of action packed rooms followed by something more atmospheric or a shop or something... those breaks really help make the action stand out that much more and prevent fatigue.
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