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Topic: Returnal

Posts 1,681 to 1,700 of 2,684

render

@Th3solution You are right on your descriptions of those stats. If I had to use obolites to pay for anything then I'd always take protection first, weapon damage second, and proficiency rate third. There were a couple of artefacts I would normally buy if I had an excess of obos which wasn't often. The Blown Nightlight, which offers 10% extra damage at full or low integrity, and there was one which increased protection while Alt-Fire was recharging but I can't remember what that was called.

I think on some runs I managed to get something ridiculous like 40 - 50% extra protection or damage which really makes a difference.

render

JigsawPieces

I'd go for integrity first (goes without saying?), then protection, then maybe damage. Proficiency rate doesn't really come into it, IMO.

JigsawPieces

PSN: JigsawPieces

Th3solution

@render Yeah, I almost bought the alt-fire recharge / increased protection item yesterday, since it sounded useful, but opted to spend the obolites on just the flat 25% added integrity. If I’d have had a few more obolites then I would have gone for the item that slowly auto repairs integrity when critically low, but that’s pretty expensive and during a boss battle I’m not sure the regen speed is quick enough to make a difference. It’s more useful to recharge between rooms after a tough tussle.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

JigsawPieces

@Th3solution Actually ... that auto repair artefact was part of what got me past Nemesis, the first time I managed it. It's very slow, but it can still be useful if you're good at dodging, or (in Nemesis phase 3) using the environment to shield yourself.

JigsawPieces

PSN: JigsawPieces

render

@Th3solution @JigsawPieces I think I only ever used that auto repair one once or twice and didn't really bother with it too much as I found much the same with the speed of the regeneration. Guess I'm pretty bad at dodging

render

JohnnyShoulder

@Th3solution I'm always using alt fire, and it is one of the factors when I'm deciding whether to pick up a weapon or not. Saying that, I always prioritise protection and weapon damage over it. And I find in any one run I'm not getting stat increases/artefacts/parasites for all of the stats, so I would just grab as many as I could. I would either have only enough obolites only for a large health pack and say an Astronaut, or have loads so I could purchase almost everything.

Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

PSN: JohnnyShoulder

Th3solution

@JigsawPieces @render @JohnnyShoulder I think I’ll be pushing through to B2 fabricator room, so the alt-fire recharge / protection item should still be there. I tend to have a lot more obolites in B2 so I hope to have 400 for that and maybe a large silphium. Also, I went ahead and bought the blade balancer in B1 and so I’ll test my theory about the astronaut showing up to replace it for purchase in the B2 shop. Here’s hoping 🤞🏼
So I’m going to need about 800-900 obolites to get all the items I want.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Th3solution

Talk about anti-climactic.

I obliterated Nemesis. Not even close

I really could have beaten Nemesis five times in a row with my loadout, the poser.

😛

So my path to success was that when I resumed my run from yesterday, I went ahead and went back through nearly the entirety of B2, every room and side room, and by the end had doubled my integrity bar and had started stockpiling silphium vials.
And then after going through half of B3, I was able to gather even more vials, and a combination of purchasing silphium vials and getting lucky finding them as pick-ups, I had 8 regular silphium vials and 2 large sliphium vials. And the resinous shield. Oh and the astronaut. (My theory was correct in that by purchasing the blade balancer upgrade in the B1 shop then the fabricator slot 2nd from the left is now replaced with the astronaut in the B2 fabricator shop.)

And I had a level 15 Hollowseeker with serrated blades.

It was laughably easy at that point. I actually only ended up using 3 of my small silphiums is all. And even with that I had half my health bar still left over, probably could have got away with using only one vial to be honest.

So I had all that extra health I gathered for nothing. 😂. But I don’t care, because I’m FREEEEEE!!! Finished with Biome 3. Ah it feels so good.

My only regret is that all those unused health packs and the astronaut don’t carry over with you into the next level.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Jimmer-jammer

@Th3solution congrats, man!! That’s awesome. Integrity and silphium have been the greatest resource in the game for me. You’re now entering what has been my favourite stretch of the game - B4 and it’s boss. I haven’t had a chance to make another run to the B6 boss yet. Anyways, Nemesis vanquished! Enjoy the feeling!

“Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.” C.S. Lewis

JohnnyShoulder

@Th3solution Well done! How did you do in Biome 4?

Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

PSN: JohnnyShoulder

Th3solution

@JohnnyShoulder Well, I was doing fine, really only stuck around for a couple sections. Long enough to make it to the house again and see those story bits like the letter of rejection to the Astra program, etc. and then have a few easy enemy encounters, a scout recording or two and then I just had to go to bed. My run to Nemesis was quite time consuming so I actually just quit out of the game pretty early on. The fact that this should be the new starting point means that there was no downside to quitting here before I got too far. I should be able to devote some time this weekend.

It is pretty interesting story-wise now. Can’t say the enemies and Biome structure have been all that interesting yet, but it’s early.

Oh, and I made it far enough to be able to try out the Pylon Driver (I think it’s called) and it was an fun twist to weaponry. Seems to function almost like a Rotgland Lobber the way it does damage over time, just with even less shooting accuracy required.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Th3solution

@JigsawPieces @Jimmer-jammer Thanks, and it does feel good to have that behind me. The advice and support of this thread was definitely key.

I also forgot to mention that I even left a regeneration station unused, which would have been another full amount of health I could have used but didn’t need. There was a fast travel point right next to it in B3 and I purposely left it alone so I could jump back to it right before Nemesis if I needed to top off my health but as it occurred, I had a full health bar going into the fight even without needing that. It was an embarrassment of riches with integrity items.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

render

@Th3solution Wow you walked it, well done!! 👍

It always pays to have too much stuff rather than too little, although shame you can’t get a refund 😁.

Totally agree @Jimmer-jammer, B4 is fantastic.

render

JohnnyShoulder

@Th3solution Electropylon Driver is maybe my favourite weapon in the game. Once you get the extended chamber so you have more than the paltry two bullets per round, and some of the other traits, I found it really useful. What I like about is that you don't need to be hugely accurate with it to deal damage, and some enemies will get caught in the webs the bullets create.

Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

PSN: JohnnyShoulder

Th3solution

Disaster averted, mates —
I just discovered that my power cut temporarily at some point overnight, as evidenced by clocks flashing and such. So thank goodness I chose to just finish off my suspended Nemesis run last night! I thought briefly about holding off and just resuming it tonight when I’d have more time, but I was already a little nervous to keep my good run suspended in rest mode for two nights in a row. I don’t have power outages very often — maybe once every couple months at most, or if there’s a thunderstorm then it might happen then, but the RNG of real life is as unpredictable as Returnal’s! I had prepared for the contingency of an update by disabling rest mode internet connections and updates, but there no telling when electricity decides it wants to be finicky!

So I’m so glad I pushed through to the end and beat Nemesis last night and then just did a full shut down of my PS5 before going to bed. Praise the Sun!

Although I lucked out, I do think the lack of a legitimate mid run save is the game’s weakest point. I understand the artists’ vision and all that, but they come right out and tell you in the opening splash screen to use the PS5 rest mode to suspend your game if you need to stop midway, and so if they already know that’s going to be done, why not just make an actual save function? I realize it could be exploited through cloud saves, but it seems there has to be a way to prevent that on the front end. Like maybe the progress of weapon traits and glyphs and such is a different file that can upload to the cloud but the save with your run intact can be a separate file that doesn’t upload to cloud and is somehow protected from copying… ? I don’t even know if that’s possible, but there has to be a way.

Alas, I’ve dodged a bullet, and …well, I’ve dodged thousands of bullets in this game, but I mean a metaphorical bullet this time. 😉

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Elodin

@Th3solution congratulations! Wow what a pile of repair items you had. That's what makes this game great. You get that perfect run of gear and continue on. B4 is fantastic. Actually they all are great. B4 just has a really unique "tone" to it.

Elodin

Th3solution

@JohnnyShoulder @render Thanks, and I enjoyed what part of B4 I’ve done.

As for weapons, it is interesting how my affinity for the different weapons changes the more I use them. For example, I haven’t really like the Spitmaw and rarely use it, but I had a high level one for part of my run last night which was decimating certain enemy types, so I have a new appreciation for its use. Also the carbine and Hollowseeker are my favorites, but when I was using them in B3 they just weren’t as effective as the lobber which is what got me through most of B3.

I’ve usually tried to rotate the weapons around and will go with a weapon I like less if it has a trait to work on, but when I was in serious focus mode to complete the biome, I was turning down weapons that had traits to unlock in favor of what was working at the time.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Th3solution

@Elodin Thanks and yes, it certainly does feel different (and familiar of course) but so far, so good! Can’t wait to get back into this weekend.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

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