Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Those red glowing monsters with the machine gun "bullets" are so annoying when they have a shield. :mad2:

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

I haven't made it to the third boss yet. Pretty much any run that has those Kamikaze TIE fighters is a loss. Then on a good run I think I got close to the boss and walked into a room where 4 mini-bosses spawned together and I lasted about 5 seconds.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Is there any point to going back into the house every run? Or is there nothing new after the first time you get there with the key?

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

You can't get in the house every run. Nor is the house even available every run. Once you go in the first time it's locked again when you return until you progress further in the story. And yes different things happen.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Oh, good to know. I assumed since the key is an item that carries over from run to run that I could go back in whenever.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

I'm looking forward to getting back to this once I finish Resident Evil: Village. I still haven't made it through the second boss. I can make it through the first boss without getting hit now that I know the patterns but the second boss seems a lot more chaotic.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Ya those are the worst.

I’ve read that once you lower the bridge you’ll have a shortcut back to the boss. Lots of people saying you can just run past the enemies then and go straight to the end. Haven’t tried it yet but I will when I get back to this game.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

I just realized in the first biome that those vines shouldn't always be avoided. You can ride them up then dash to get to higher areas. Not sure why I didn't realize this sooner. :lol:

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Finally saw the first boss last night. Getting through all three life bars will be fun. Still enjoying every run but I'm glad I don't need to get the key anymore.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Either the 2nd biome is easier overall or getting through the 1st just prepares you for it. I got to the boss pretty quickly and just need another look or two at his moves during his last health bar to take him out.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

The impression I've gotten from podcasts and other forums I read is that the first biome is the most brutal, and once you've mastered that, everything else kind of just falls into place.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

I wish that was the case for me.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Are you making sure to always grab the blue upgrade right when you zone into biome 2? It auto jumps your weapon grade to 5 so all new weapons will be upgraded.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

They must've not made it to the third biome yet. :) From my experience, and from what I've heard/read elsewhere, that's where the difficulty spikes dramatically. I've played through it enough that I can get to the end relatively consistently, but that boss is just too much.

I had an excellent run this morning. Figured I'd spend some time gearing up for the third boss, so I cleared out the first biome, skipped the shortcut to the third, and went into the second one to grind some suit upgrades. By the time I'd made it deep into two, after about an hour playtime, I had three health consumables, my weapon of choice, and my health bar was nearly double in size. But I went into one last room and was jumped by roughly nine enemies -- three large ground based tentacled things, three turrets, and then three of the smaller airborne things with lock-on laser attacks. Cleared all those out with about 1/5 health remaining, only to be picked up by invisible (glitched) vines and dropped to the ground, where I took inexplicable fall damage. End of run.

I'll probably end my time trying to make any serious progress in this game for now. I understand Housemarque wanted to make a hardcore rogue like, but I think they swung far too hard in that direction. Run times are entirely too long. Parasites, buffs, and upgrades are pretty useless -- the risk in this game is rarely ever worth the reward. No health regen between levels. And the active reload is just one too many things to manage. I've never liked that mechanic in any other game, and I don't like it here either. It sounds like the devs are at least receptive to hearing feedback, but I'm very curious to see how they respond.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Yep. I have zero problems with the first biome now but I still have only made it to the 2nd biome boss like 2 or 3 times.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

I find the 2nd easier because of the wide open areas. You never really get backed into a corner. Plus the portal to take you to the top/boss lets you avoid having to fight one of those guys who look like the 1st boss.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Prior to last night, I’d never run into the corpse of another player during a run. Dozens of hours and not one. But last night I found three within the first two biomes. The first two were ghosts that I could loot or avenge. I avenged both and got some really good items from the enemy drops. The third turned into some kind of zombie.

Seems like PS5 doesn’t automatically connect to the internet after being in rest mode, so I wonder if I’ve been playing offline pretty much the whole time.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Same here actually. I think it has to do with the update that just happened? I'm guessing you had to use one of the "online" beacons that were in the fabrication room before. They may have just made it default to on since people probably didn't even realize it was a thing.

I was going to take more stabs at the 2nd boss last night and I ended up just trying to avenge everyone I found. I have like 20 ether now. I wonder if the player being avenged gets anything on their end if you're able to kill the mini boss that spawns?

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Yeah, that was in the patch notes for Thursday's update:

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

"Not appearing as often as intended" is a bit misleading unless I was correct and before the update you had to use the online station to get them to appear. Like lopper, I had never seen a single one until last night; where I saw at least one every run.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Yeah, the update caused them to appear a lot more. Before avenging other scouts, Ether was really hard to come by. Now you get 4 plus whatever the creature drops when you avenge them. I wouldn't recommend looting them though. I spent 3 ether once for a crap consumable.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

So does this mean that if my corpse is scavenged by another player, I would have a negative effect parasite when I next played the game?

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Sounds to me like you have it if they don't.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Just beat boss 3. The pylon driver is a must for him. You can put constant damage over time on him and just focus on dodging.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Beat boss 4 this morning. As far as I'm concerned, the pylon driver is hands down the best weapon in the game, and is pretty much a necessity at this point. After the third area, it seems like there's an 80/20 split of corrupt to usable pickups (resins, keys, etc.). Pretty rare to find consumables as well.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

How do you get it? i have been trying to beat the 3rd boss forever. I figured the pylon driver (among other weapons) was further into the game.

Now that ether is easier to come by, I have been using that ether deposit near the ship more but I don't believe it drops weapons.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

You know what, I just checked and it’s an early unlock for the digital deluxe version, so that’s how I’ve been able to use it this early in the game.

What weapon are you using?

I usually would try to go straight to the third boss, but ended up clearing out the first and second areas to level up my suit, weapons, and to stock up on items. My health bar was double in size by the time I made it to the end of level 3.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

I've tried the Hollowseeker with waves and voidbeam....voidbeam is freaking awesome on enemies but the 3rd boss maybe seems to far away? His health bar doesn't move when I use it.

I've also used the carbine. Those are my two favorite guns. The shotgun and lobber are too hard to aim/shoot while dodging and don't auto fire.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Saw the 3rd boss....this is going to take a while. :lol:

Oh, does anyone know why every so often I have to do the small scene where I crawl out of my ship rather than skipping straight to the new run? It happens once maybe every 10-15 runs.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

I think I'd have ended up using the Hollowseeker for this boss if the pylon diver were not available, with either the Tracker Swarm or Shieldbreaker alt fires. Regardless of weapon, I'd highly recommend clearing the first two areas to level up and gather consumables, then running/grappling past all enemies in the third area and going straight to the boss. That makes for a very long run though...

I'm not sure why it does that. Maybe to remind you that those computer terminals exist where you can check your stats?

Is there really any benefit to going through the house aside from bits of story? I've gone in maybe twice but I don't bother with it anymore -- stopping for that long kills my momentum.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

I haven't gone back into the house since the first run when you discover it. Does more open up in there?

How do you deal with the flying things in biome 3? Between their guided missiles, expanding ring attack, and kamikaze dives I can't find a method to deal with them without getting hit at least once or twice.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Theres some different narrative elements in the house but from what I’ve seen that’s about it. Maybe there’s more to it but I don’t know.

As far as the flying things in three - run away. You can literally grapple/run/dash past everything leading up to the bridge. Don’t bother with them at all.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Yeah, that's what I've been doing for the most part since I opened up the bridge. I'm going to have to find time to do some real runs with going through 1 and 2 to build up my character rather than dashing to biome 3 and to the boss as fast as I can with few to no upgrades. I wish 3 was a bit more forgiving so I could spend time exploring the area. Some of the rooms you run across are damn near impossible even with a good gun.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Yeah, those Kamikaze TIE fighters are nuts. I usually find myself hiding behind pillars and running/grappling for my life.

Speaking of waking up in the ship, I just checked the log and I have died 117 times and I still can't get past the 3rd boss. A lot of the stuff people say is OP, I don't have and never see, such as the parasite that regenerates health on kills or the void turret that deploys and continually fires at the boss while you dodge.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

I've seen a parasite that regens health on melee kills but its side effect is you can't pick up health items, so not really worth it.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Parasites summed up nicely.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

Some are situationally useful. IIRC I got one that increased my defense but made me took damage if I used a key. That one was good for a run going straight to a boss. But yeah, some of the malfunctions they give make them a non-starter. Increases your max health but then you can't pick up new weapons! -screwy-

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

i got a suit thing once that regenerated health each time you picked up or removed a parasite. That was nice but most of these are absolutely no help against the bosses.

I'm now at 138 deaths and still haven't gotten the third boss past his second health bar. I may walk away for a while. I had a good run yesterday with a nice gun, almost 2x health bar, astronaut figurine and large/small silphium vials to heal me.
On my way to the boss I encountered a room with 7 or 8 tie fighters, 4 of the ground crawlers that explode when you get near them and several of the imperial probe droids. Even trying to run away the homing missiles from all the tie fighters took care of business before I got to the boss. I don't encounter that room configuration too often but when you do its game over even if you survive as you've wasted all your "boss" resources.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

I looked last night and I'm at 119 deaths. I went back into the house and it definitely had more content. Things had moved and there was some new dialogue. No idea how often you should go there though; maybe after you clear a biome? It also said I unlocked a new item when it was done but it didn't tell me what it was.

I had a pretty lucky run last night and made it to the 3rd boss with full health, a large potion, and an astronaut. Down side was that I was using a pretty mediocre pistol for a weapon. Got him down to maybe 20% left of his 2nd bar.

Re: Returnal - From Housemarque Studio (PS5) - 4/30/21
 

117 deaths for me so far. I unlocked a weapon in biome 5 that I have no idea what exactly it does. Slow fire rate and low damage. I just haven't figured out the gimmick yet.

Just had a run where I picked something up that put a malfunction on me that prevented me from picking up any new weapons until I'd killed 4 enemies simultaneously. I don't know how I would've ever satisfied that requirement. I also went into the house again and at the end it said that I unlocked a new item. No idea what it is.