Noonan

Picked this up over the weekend and put in a couple hours. My best run so far was my first (after the "tutorial" run where you see the Title Screen). Not sure how close I was to the boss though. Those wraith looking things which come out in numbers really suck.

mewmartigan

Finally offed the second boss. Had a big health pack and an astronaut figure. Got down to a sliver of health before winning and didn't even need the astronaut figure! I appreciate how I can now go from level 1 to 3 without going through 2.

I had to look up how to break the yellow barriers...sucks that it isn't a permanent upgrade.

Noonan

I'm assuming to get stuff under water or on lava I need some upgrades I don't have yet while still in the first biome?

lopper

I can get to the third boss fairly regularly but he’s tough, and that third biome is pretty difficult in general. The weapons I prefer for the majority of this area (shot gun or pylon launcher) are nearly worthless with the boss. And if don’t have decently upgraded health and at least one health pack and revive by the time I hit the boss, then I know it’s going to be basically futile.


I’m probably putting this aside for a while. Started up God of War on a whim over the weekend and I think I’m hooked again.

dsa_shea

Game is amazing looking and fun to play but not fun enough to cycle through it over and over again.

Noonan

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

mewmartigan

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.

Noonan

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?

The Questyen

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.

Noonan

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.

The Questyen

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.

lopper

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.

Noonan

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.

Noonan

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.

Noonan

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.

Adam Tyner

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.

The Questyen

I wish that was the case for me.

Noonan

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.

lopper

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.

The Questyen

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.

Noonan

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.

lopper

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.

Noonan

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?

Adam Tyner

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

Noonan

"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.