Topic: Returnal

I'm really feeling like I've hit a wall in biome 3. I'll keep working at it, but ...

Struggling with the drones, the variant of the turrets that fires a solid gold laser, and (especially) the mutated automatons. And if it throws all three at me at the same time, like it did just now, I'm toast and it feels like there's nothing I can do about it.

Panicking definitely doesn't help, mind

@Voltan Nice. That is an impressive amount of health too!

I think that one was my least favourite boss fight though as I wasn’t a fan of the platforming nature of it.

And I guess that’s the carbine with high calibre? I think my favourite weapon, especially for bosses, is the Hollowseeker as getting a couple of good traits (serrated projectile, wave, shrapnel, portal beam) can do massive damage and you can fire loads before reloading.

I still don’t have the shredder though.

@Thrillho I had a parasite that added health on adding and removing malfunctions. Needles to say, I used most malignant things I could find. And yeah, I think that was high caliber. Good damage

Edit: another run, another cipher in the Wastes. If the trophy pops at 19/20 like I’ve seen a number of people say, that’s just one left.

@Voltan That’s amazing. I can only hope that one day I might be half as good but that would still mean only getting hit 4 times 🤣

@JigsawPieces I know those places, it does feel like everything comes in on you all at once. The important thing to do is take your time when moving forward to those places. Look for grapple points and use them as escape routes so you can keep moving. Move first and shoot later, especially where things are advancing on you quickly. Don’t give up though, you’ll get better.

I’ve just wound up act 3. What a ride this game has been 🤯.

An update for anyone going for the Survey Trophies. I got another one last night after completing the Challenge Room in a biome (yellow door). I previously failed a Challenge Room in another biome and did not get a trophy, so simply entering the room does not seem to count. However, in Biome 3 I completed the Challenge Room and the moment the doors unlocked afterwards, my Survey Trophy popped.
My Activity Card for Biome 3 was at 83% before competing the Challenge Room, but I am not sure if this was accurate or not as the cards seem to be all over the place. I had previously collected every Scout Log, Glyph and Cypher in the game so these helped me get that last percentage.
So that's three surveys done, on Biomes 1, 3 and 5. Three more to go for the Platinum!

Beat Biome 6 last night . Got to love the Hollowseeker with Portal Beam II...
I think it was my 2nd or 3rd attempt at that boss, but way more than a few attempts at getting there. There is something in the room with the key, that absolutely destroys me everytime. Has anyone else had that? I finally managed to escape with the key by just running away. Unlocking the vault with a slither of health left, so I didn't need to go there the next time.

35 hours and 48 deaths I think my current total is. Still loving this game, so looking forward to going back through all the biomes with all the exploration tools.

@phil_j Congrats! I found it a bit strange going back to the other areas after biome 6 as I got so used to the massive jumps you can do in that one.

@phil_j I did the exact same when getting the boss key there. Died right after getting the key the first time (so I had to get it again) and barely lived the second, so I didn’t really stand a chance against the boss - got him next time though.

@Voltan Did you ever go in that room again? I hope there's no survey stuff in there. I'm too scared to go back in.

@phil_j Hell no But I think the worst part is actually the bridge right before it

@Voltan I died dashing off the side of platforms in biome 6 more times than I care to admit.
I'm kind of looking forward to watching the speedrun videos now I've finished the main parts. To see just how bad I am!

Well time to check that ending article from a while back! Finally beat act 3... any thing that increases max integrity with malfunctions or parasites is so helpful. So close to beating biome 6 boss with no hits but took a couple right at the end of the last bar.

Hollowseeker with serrated, portal beam and turret beam - absolutely disgusting!

@phil_j I have only the echoing ruins trophy which seems to be 5e easiest for most. I see people mentioning scout log number 9 but I must’ve got lucky because I have that. Missing only 10 and 44. 14 ciphers to find though I think so this’ll be fun!

@voltan - that was super clean in dealing with Nemesis!

@phil_j Well done and another good performance. Same happened to me in that room though, in fact the bridge before got me down on health a bit and the thing in the room finished me off. I'd grabbed the key before and had used the reconstructor so when I came back and looked through my inventory and not seeing the key in there I trudged all the way back there. When I got there I found that I'd actually killed the thing at the same time it had killed me so it was just an empty room, no key either. Turned out I had got the key as when I got back to the boss door it just opened, so kinda should of checked that first.

There's a couple of really great bonus rooms on 6 where they have some goodies up on the platforms and a ton of laser action. I have a quick look in and just turn and run away 😆

@Scratchy_Seal The thing about Scout Log 9 is that apparently it's much easier to get if you do enough runs of biome 1 before getting to Act 2. Once you beat the game (and get the orb-platform thingy), the generator seems to favor different rooms. I did find the rot lobber eventually though, so I'll find the log as well, I'm sure
10 was another one I was missing but I found it already. I have one other missing in the Citadel and some in Act 2, probably mostly in the ice level, since I haven't been there much. Trying to clear the first 3 biomes first though.

@Scratchy_Seal Hey awesome work, I did that again yesterday to complete act 3 and still got hit way more times than I would have liked.

I also love that Holllowseeker combo, though I also like a fully kitted out Electropylon Driver for hitting elites quickly and getting clear.

I read through that article and there's some interesting info in there.

@render Haha, I always just "nope" out of those rooms as well
Cleared one once, wasn't worth it

I watched a video about all ciphers in the Crimson Wastes and I'm not too sure I'm missing any of those... I'm not sure about one but it says it's common and I've run through the wastes a bunch of times already. What's worrying me is that the video says one of them has a glitch and might not count towards the goal an then you're screwed. I definitely got that one but I'm not sure whether it counted or not.
Buuuut I'm also not 100% sure I've beaten the challenge room in the wastes so I'll try that on my next run.

edit: ah, ok - that room I'm not sure about is marked as common but on the lower probability side of common (author approximates it as 1 in 10 runs) - so there's a chance I indeed haven't seen that one yet. Feeling optimistic again

@Voltan It's worth a shot to see if that pops the trophy. I only know for sure that I've done the challenge rooms in 1, 4, 5 and 6 so might have the other two to do.

I was on the Housemarque discord again to see if they've got any patches incoming and there's nothing mentioned. There's a story spoilers thread though so had a quick read through that. There's plenty of different theories being thrown out there but someone mentioned this great quote from Gregory Louden the Narrative Director at Housemarque:

I think they pretty much hit that nail on the head.

Citadel Survey complete!

I adopted a new tactic. Currently disregarding scout log 9, I go to Crimson Wastes asap, use the boss portal and then the other portal to the previous area, and run past the Severed. The room I'm currently looking for is either the next one or it's not there - in which case I run back and go to the citadel (except I can skip this step now).

Edit: Yusss Crimson Wastes survey complete as well!

Edit 2: I’m on a roll. Echoing Ruins done.

@Voltan Was it the challenge room you were missing for the Crimson Wastes?