Topic: Returnal

@JohnnyShoulder there's always progress to be made even if it's something small. They've made ether a lot easier to get now so picking up that helps. Use it to unlock a new item at the start of each run. Keep unlocking weapon traits and before you know it you'll have some weapons that make all the enemies in the game a piece of cake

Just take your time working through each area.

I know a lot of people talked about the lack of save states and I get it, but it's also not thaaaaaat bad either. No run at any point in the game should take more than 3 hours at an absolute max

@JohnnyShoulder The citadel does suddenly ramp up the difficulty and even after completing the game it can be a challenge. You can definitely do things to make it easier though such as get the right weapon, and like @roe mentioned, the right traits. Are there any enemy types / areas you are particularly struggling with?

I know I racked up a few of those hours played and most definitely plenty of the deaths 🤣

This should mean the game sold a few hundred thousand units, most likely... which doesn't seem like a lot but I guess it makes sense.

@Voltan It could mean that or that there are a lot of people that were really good at the game and they didn’t spend that many hours playing 😆.

More likely though, like you say, it might have just done 6 figure type numbers. That’s still not bad for a new IP and a slightly niche game. It’s also up against it with the number of PS5s out there.

@render They do seem to be happy with the numbers.

Shouldn’t it say ‘most player deaths caused by crashes’? Or caused by having a life and the lack of a save option 😂

This is an interesting little read;

@render @roe I guess I'm just getting fed up of going through biomes 1 and 2, then eventually getting rinsed in biome 3. It is mostly the flying droids I struggle with, and then if they are combined with other enemies, I've got no hope.

I usually get like this with rogue lites/likes, only with Returnal I have sunk a lot more hours before feeling like this.

@JohnnyShoulder Drones are just the worst. I struggled with them too until I worked out the void beam and energy barriers are your best defence. They are extra annoying because they don’t seem to be easily staggered so you hit them and they still manage to come at you.

If you can take them out with one shot then no problem but you have to be pretty accurate or lucky. Something like the rotgland lobber would do that, but I find the overload tough to hit on that so end up with not enough shots in to take down a pack.

Running and hiding is an option if you can get well enough round a corner to get out of the fire of those missiles. That doesn’t always help when the automaton things are in the mix unless you’ve got the grappler and then you can try and keep moving around.

Best advice I can think for Biome 3 is just be patient and take your time with it.

Remember you can usually grapple back a bit if you feel overwhelmed, and never advance too far forward without clearing enemies that have already spawned

@render @roe Yeah I got the void beam and it did work a treat on the droids with the rocket launcher or hollowseeker. I kinda was already doing what you guys said, taking the enemies out from afar when I could. But there always seemed to be one room which f'd me over with everything felt like piling on me at once.

And that room before the boss, yeah I just try and hoover up any items and scamper past the enemies. If there are those broken Automatons, you can try and hit em from above.

I did fair a bit better this time and got to the third stage of Nemesis. So a wee bit of progress today. It did take me playing it on and off throughout the day too. 🙃

@JohnnyShoulder That’s good progress and at least you are getting through that bit before the boss without getting hammered 👍.

I feel a bit stuck too. Was going for the platinum but lost count of how many times I’ve been through 2 now and not found anything. My cypher count is staying on 16/20. That’s either 4, or 3 if it’s broken, rooms that I have never seen before, and stubbornly won’t appear for me. Grrrr.

Hi, when I played Returnal, sometimes in malfunction status, I've got buzz sound, although I quit game, still had those buzz sounds. Please take a look from 59:11, anyone have this issue?

@adrianthealchemist Yeah I had a level 12 weapon when I started the Citadel which made things a lot easier. Cheers for the tips!

Still getting hammered @render, but I had my Integrity above 200, lots of health packs and artifacts so was able to cope a bit better this time.

@JohnnyShoulder The drones are just the worst! Both in biome 3 and 5 they are one of the biggest threats in the game.

About life bar enhancements: Imho the protection % rate does way more than life bar expansions, if you have to choose. In my experience once you get the protection to around 45% between parasites and boosts you can survive anything and finish the game without any trouble.

PSA: TODAY’S CHALLENGE IS VERY EASY IF YOU ARE HUNTING THE DAILY CHALLENGE TROPHY (or just 5 extra ethers)

@Feena That's good to know, thanks and I'll bear that in mind.

I saw that challenge and did think that was one of the easier ones. I've had to laugh ar the buffs and debuffs some of the days - 'successful overdrive boosts speed' - 'overdrive deactivated'. 😑

On today's run I've got an artifact which boosts max Integrity when you add or remove parasites, so that will come in handy.

@gundamf91 I've had some sound bugs in the game (some sounds would become very loud and distorted) but it never sounded like that. Kinda weird.

@adrianthealchemist i don’t know what pool I am in, I have completed act 3. Basically today you had to walk through biome 1 with a very good weapon, upgraded health but...the enemies died in a pool of acid. Piece of cake.

@Feena If you beat the game at least once, you have Tier 6 challenges.