And a general question for those who have made it this far; is it possible to have missed a house sequence? I had seen two in the first biome, one after first finding the house key and the other after unlocking biome 2. As I ran straight through biome 3, I never returned to the first area and just had the house encounter in biome 4.
@ThrillhoFor me I've had them all in a sequence and they appear to unlock after either reaching a new biome or unlocking a new permanent upgrade, at least that's what it seems like.
What does everyone think about the difficulty level of this game so far then and not having the ability to save etc? I was on Housemarque's discord just to see if there was any news of an incoming patch etc and noticed some chatter from several fairly annoyed users complaining about the difficulty level and that it was not aimed at your average user, but just those of a certain skill level or those that had a lot of time to git good. Also that because there wasn't enough information out there to make an informed decision about the difficulty before it came out it sounds like they feel a little hard done by.
Now I would say I'm a less than average gamer and I'm really pleased to so far have got where I have in this game. Yes I've put in a few longer sessions but most of my successful runs have been over just a few hours and haven't required me to do an all nighter or anything. I'd also say that while I have improved I'm still not up to the level of a lot of you guys on here but I've still really enjoyed the game and have muddled by in most situations. I knew what I was getting myself into as well as I waited for the reviews and yes they made it sound like it was going to be difficult, but they also made it sound like the challenge was part of the fun so I was up for that. I've said often enough that I love this game, I really do think it's awesome even for someone of my skill level so I'm totally happy I parted with the cash even if I never actually finish the game.
Just interested in what everyone else's perception is of the difficulty of the game and also what your perceptions were before you played the game to after?
@render Personally I feel they hit the difficulty sweet spot pretty well. You might say difficulty is all over the place with some rooms being a total cakewalk and others nearly impossible to survive but I feel like it works. I never really felt like it needed the save feature but I still understand how others might feel otherwise (especially seeing how some players adopt a very different playstyle that makes their runs much longer than mine)
@render I would say that the problem isn’t that the game’s too hard but more that you never feel like you can succeed unless you get lucky with the RNG. The balancing is all over the place. In other similar games, you can pick up an item which feels like you’re doomed, but then one more item can create a synergy and suddenly you feel like your build is so much better. The potential for synergies is so much slimmer in this game and you often have to bend over backwards just to get one sole artefact, dealing with multiple malfunctions etc. There are also too many downsides, with far more resin, silphium, keys, chests etc that give you malfunctions than there really should be. So it’s the RNG that feels too punishing rather than the gameplay itself. Except the drones. F**k the drones.
@Kidfried See, restarting on the first floor just defeats the purpose of those games. You could get something rubbish on that floor but then get the best item in the game the next floor. As long as you don’t die. That’s the entire gameplay loop, which Returnal kinda misses. It’s a good game, it just feels like it’s missing that freedom and potential for fun or interesting builds.
@Voltan@nessisonett@Kidfried Some interesting views from everyone. It sounds like the majority of people on here are happy with the level it’s hit. How would you feel if HM went and dropped a difficulty level in a patch? Would anyone take advantage of that to make it harder / easier?
I agree with @Kidfried. Instead of synergies making or breaking a run, you're own famiarity with the enemies and the areas is your best weapon. When I die, it's usually to new enemies or in an environment I'm not that familiar with (falling off ledges). In that respect it leans more towards it's shoot 'em up roots than it's roguelite inspirations, I guess.
I think the difficulty is fine, but I would still like a save state. I'm not good enough to skip on powering up in the previous biomes, which can take a while.
And I wonder, those complaining that it wasn't clear the game was going to be tough didnt they watch any of the many preview videos? Maybe catch one of the many references to bullet hell? 😂
@Kidfried Interesting take. I guess I don't know rougelikes well enough to judge this aspect of Returnal but seems like it's what @PossibLeigh says. It's a bullet hell shooter with rougelike-inspired elements. And it really succeeds at being just that.
@Kidfried That’s just not true about first floors though. Take Isaac. Let’s say you get My Reflection on the first floor, which makes your bullets fly back towards you. Not a great item. Then you get Ipecac, which makes bullets explode on impact, meaning you have a possibility of murdering yourself with every single explosive shot. That would normally be a run-ending item. But then you get Pyromaniac the next floor, which makes explosions heal you instead of harming you. Suddenly your run is completely blown wide open and the only way is up. That’s the beauty of these games and is what this game is missing. Artefacts aren’t interesting. They don’t affect your run in any meaningful way.
I checked and all of my trophies popped fine. I'm only missing the final 7 - the surveys and the plat.
I'm missing like 2 cyphers in each biome except the Citadel (got all) and Crimson Wastes (I was there literally twice, so I got like 7/20 lol).
Not sure about audio logs.
@Kidfried Isaac 100% relies on skill. I have thousands of hours in that game and the skill is in making the most out of your situation. Returnal’s runs aren’t distinct enough from each other for you to be excited about what items you could potentially get, which I think is why a lot of players are frustrated when they die rather than encouraged to give it another go.
The runs feel different enough to me to still have some mystery engagement. But similar enough, to feel like 'if I can just do this a little bit better, I'll make it.' It always feels like it's my fault when I die
In regards to the artifacts it's fairly easy to get something close to what you're after, once you know what you're doing with obelites, and fabricators.
The malfunction balance has been thrown of slightly by their inability to get the online aspect working. Revenge was 5 ether a pop, meaning you had a lot more to cleanse items.
Forums
Topic: Returnal
Posts 581 to 600 of 2,684
Sorry, this topic has been locked.