Topic: Returnal

So ... sidearm with charging shot - worst weapon upgrade in the game?

I unlocked it halfway through a fight yesterday, and suddenly couldn't kill anything any more!

@JigsawPieces Yeah there are some annoying ones. One of the ones I found quite off-putting for a while was high caliber on the carbine. Similar to you I was half way through a fight and it kicked in and I thought the game was broken 😂.

It really shows that the traits make one hell of a difference though. I've never really been into the dreadbound before but the other day I used it and unlocked a few traits on it and it turned into an awesome drone killing machine in biome 4. I kept it for a bit into 5 and it was still performing quite well but swapped it for something else that needed an unlock and was actually disappointed to get rid of it.

@render I like the sound of "awesome drone killing machine" I haven't got that weapon yet, but I look forward to trying it one day ...

I'm starting to think that scout log #9 was easy compared to the last cypher I need in the Crimson Wastes. I think I know the room that I need having watched the videogamerseu guide and that lists it as a 1/25 room. So far that's proving correct as in the past few days I must have been through 15 times already. You guys that have got the platinum must have got really lucky!!

Well what do you know, no sooner was I thinking it would never turn up and it goes and turns up. It only took another 3 runs through.

So I’m down to needing 1 scout log from 5 and 1 cypher from 6. Should be easy! 😳

@render So close! (Or ... so near and yet so far?)

My playtime for Returnal is now at over 50 hours and I'm still in the third biome.

@JigsawPieces Best case scenario I'll find both items on one 4-6 run through. Chances of that happening... 🎲

@johncalmc Once you get past that hopefully things will get a bit easier for you, 3 is a real struggle. As long as you are still having fun though it's worth continuing.

@johncalmc I think you're still a long way ahead of where I was when I eventually got through it! Keep at it and hopefully you'll find it just comes together sometime, probably when you least expect it.

Biome 3 is really tough, and I feel like the game opens out again after that.

@render I actually really like it, but I'm not playing it very much. I'm basically only playing on weekends because it takes so long to do a run that I like to make sure I can do it all in one sitting. The third biome is kinda weird because I don't really find it that difficult mostly but what's tripping me up is that I'm losing too much health in one of the final rooms before the boss, then trying to get that health back before trying the boss by tackling optional rooms, then dying. I've actually only gotten to the boss once. But the same thing happened for me in the second biome and I beat the boss on my second go. I was just too greedy going for health boosts and ended up dying.

@johncalmc I remember your post from a while back where you'd got into the swing of things so it's a bonus if you are still enjoying it. I've posted on biome 3 many times but that bit going up to the boss really hammers you at first until you can get into the flow of things. For some reason though I really like the citadel, strange I know because those drones are annoying but I just like the atmosphere and the traversing gets really fun around there.

I know what you mean though about getting it done in one go. I think that's the thing with the save feature that everyone wants, I'm not sure how useful it would have been to me when first playing through as I always needed to "warm-up" to things first before really getting into the action. I think if I had the ability to save and then come back half way through a biome I'd probably have gone and got killed straight away from having not had that time to get up to speed.

I should not have started playing this game late but got into a run trying to find the last two collectibles. Came away with one, the scout log from b5, so just one to go. It’s annoying that I didn’t find it on that run but hopefully it’ll be there on the next one.

@render I feel like I have to do it all in one go because I forget how I was playing if I leave it a day and then I'll just end up dying while I get to grips with it. Depending on what I've picked up during a run depends on how I'll want to approach certain situations etc. I'll probably be back on it this afternoon and I'm looking forward to it, but I'm basically at the point where I'm just doing it over and over until I find the artefacts I like and then I'll win. That's one of the gripes I have with the game, really. Not all the artefacts and abilities and weapons are created equally, and so you can have a run in which you feel really overpowered - like if you get the one that gives you health per damager per adrenaline - or really underpowered - like if you've picked up a bunch of stuff like time dilation while using secondary fire.

@johncalmc I was a fan of the warped bouncy ball (I think) that I got from the machine by Helios. It gave 5% extra repair efficiency per ether up to 50%. Seeing as I always had almost 30 ether by the end, it was pretty useful.

The adrenaline level ones were the best though. The one giving health from damage was great for boss fights, especially if you had the item to get level 5 adrenaline with you too.

@johncalmc I forgot how long it took for me to get past the Citadel, but it was similar to how long you've spent in the game. Get your proficiency, Integrity, protection, damage up pretty high and you will be ok. 😆

I've not played the game this week as I was getting destroyed in biome 5 after going through rinsing biome 4. Was getting to feel a bit disillusioned with it all. But will fire it back up tonight as if leave it too long, I know I will probably not go back to it

@phil_j ahh well done man, and to wrap it up in biome 6 too. I’m still plugging away in biome 2

@render was your last one you mention in crimson wastes the room with the central tower... I think that’s the one I’m after and it’s a real struggle!.

@Scratchy_Seal It sounds like that one. It’s got a single platform in the middle and you go across that where you can then grapple up, shoot an orb and get across to the other side? I did 18 runs in a go before it turned up so definitely a real struggle!

Doing it back to front I would take the portal gate thing up to the top, take out whatever is in the room with the staircase, try and run past whatever appeared in the next room which was usually an elite or two, through the no dash room and it was the next one on from there. I was pretty happy to get it.

Got the second fragment from Crimson Wastes. Still playing and probably will go for the platinum but I've started Nier Replicant (well 15 hours in) which is fantastic, Although after playing Returnal everything feels sluggish haha!

@render ahh I have that one. I think the one I’m missing is the glitchy one that @voltan posted a while back. Circular small room where the cipher is in middle, level one mountain so even running it from the back wouldn’t help. I’ve run it so many times and just can’t get this room to spawn but I’ve seen the hand and the orb room so many times!

@Scratchy_Seal I’ve not seen that one for a while now but then I’ve been missing level one out. Hope it turns up for you soon 👍.

@adrianthealchemist Will have a check to see if I’ve got those couple of items that you are missing. The wife went and completed b4 in one flippin go. She’s making me look bad now 😆.