Topic: Returnal

@MightyDemon82 I though you might not want to, which is why I tagged it. Anyways, there's a significant bit of story happening at that point. It's still all kinda cryptic and confusing though

I’m quite enjoying investigating the second biome at the moment but will have to try and crack on soon as it’s getting late. Can’t wait to unlock more of the story as it really is cryptic so far.

@velio84 that’s unlucky about the crash and that’s partly why the rest mode thing sucks a little as if it crashes whilst in rest mode (which I have had happen) then you’ve lost your current run. I’ve been stuck in a room before so also went back to the first suit and haven’t had that happen since. I’ve got a bug at the moment though where I can’t get into the settings menu as it just flicks into one of the other options when you try and select it. Was just going to see if there’s any fine tuning I could do but guess I will have to do that another time.

@Voltan I had a crack at one of the challenges yesterday and it was really fun. Had a good weapon and just had to do a good run through the first biome to try and get the best score. I didn’t do too great, think I was about half way down the leaderboard but it added a different dimension to play and it’s definitely something I’d come back to even after finishing the game.

Beat the second boss and got through the citadel to take on the third only to die quite quickly. I’d used a reconstructor so went straight back and got further but my skill still ran out. Tbh I shouldn’t have beaten the second as just as I’d got it all the way down I did the stupid dash off the side, but luckily it didn’t completely kill me and I just managed to finish it.

That run was 5 hours in the making though and I did quite a bit of exploring. Glad to take a break but I’m sure by tomorrow night I’ll be itching to get another run in.

@velio84 I saw some mentions of that on Reddit. Weird, you'd think it would fix it as it seems the most common issue at this point.

@velio84 does it happen randomly now,or does it still involve the deluxe edition suits?

Went back to Atropos. Died within a few minutes. I love this game.

Going to face the 4th boss now, I think! I have to backtrack a little and find a different weapon though, because I'm not exactly comfortable facing it with a shotgun...

I'm getting absolutely nowhere with this game. I can go quite far without taking damage then i get put in a room with turrets, big red thing, green things and the standard blue ones and get ripped a new one. I'm trying all the secret rooms and getting everything i come across but just not getting much further in the first biome. Does it get to a point where you keep earning permanent traits and the rooms become a little easier each time? How long does it take to finish the first biome, i've been in one run for a couple of hours and not got anywhere near the objective...

Ok, killed the 4th boss (as awesome as the others, loved the design), got killed in biome 5 (goddamn things that dive and explode next to you AFTER you kill them). Enough for today

@Throb It's different every run but on my successful ones I was able to reach the first boss in ~45 minutes maybe? If you were in the 1st biome for a couple hours you were probably like 1 room away from getting the boss key...
Getting the melee weapon does help, you get it before the 1st boss (you need it to get the key that opens his area). Other permanent unlocks let you skip some parts of the map or reach previously unreachable places (but you don't get the grapple until you defeat the 2nd boss) but don't really help with combat tbh.
Otherwise it's mostly about learning the mechanics and getting lucky with the items you find.

@Throb Sometimes it’s a struggle as it’s quite random what gear / items you get. When you get dealt a good hand though you can make good progress and sometimes go on for hours.

With those rooms with the green turrets, they are providing like a shield for the other enemies in the room so if you take those out first then everything else is easier. That usually involves trying the sprint through the room trying to avoid everything as you go and then doing your best to take it out before the rest get you. If you’ve got the sword then you can melee it quite quickly and then use your alt-fire for a bit of crowd control. Just keep going though as you will get better.

Oh, I also managed to complete a daily challenge and placed like 109 out of 1000 or something. Not too bad, I guess.

@velio84 How do you avoid the update as it usually auto installs any patches? Does that mean you can’t use the network features as normally you have to be running the latest version of the game?

@Voltan That’s awesome. I really enjoy the challenge mode as you can be a bit more gung-ho with it.

The online features (other than the challenge mode) don't really seem to work right now anyway...
That said, I updated the game, did a few runs (including the one that got my to biome 5) and still had zero problems. According to to some posts I've seen, this update should prevent some of the random crashes so I'm not sure it's worth avoiding...

after 17 loops I've Finally got to the end game content now. had some really good runs did the first 3 biomes and then got all the way to to biome Five in one run! love the game and the story. Might see if i can get the platinum for it.

@Ash_uk1 That’s impressive. I feel I might be closer to 10 times that number of runs before I’m there. I do like to get my monies worth though!

And I thought I was the one doing good!
Congrats, @Ash_uk1

defeated phrike and made it a bit into the crimson desert biome before getting killed by a special enemy.

oh well.

also the fact that sleeping in the ship always heals you for a good amount helped for sure during the first biome.

Yeah, that was huge for me clearing the first area. I wish I would have known you could do that sooner. There are so many things the game doesn't tell you.

Had a go at the daily challenge tonight. Had to clear the crimson wastes using the pylon gun and you couldn’t heal. It was quite tough and I didn’t make it through but still enjoyed it. If anyone hasn’t tried it yet it’s well worth giving that mode a go as you earn ether if you complete it.