Topic: Returnal

@render Yeah, I’ve been able to have runs which involved those two power ups. And actually, as far as obolite pick ups, I personally seem to have benefitted most from the one (I think it was a parasite) that made your obolite attraction radius double at the expense of them hanging around for less time (I think likewise was a 1.5s sacrifice in time before disappearing). The lack of necessary proximity was better for me than longer duration. At least that was my experience on the one time I happened upon that parasite.

Speaking of parasites, I find most (but not all) helpful, but malignancies have been the death of me a few times. Losing 75% weapon efficiency or having to take damage when I pick up an item, stuff like that just can ruin a run. For me I have been less prone to take malignant items lately. It’s weird because sometimes it’s well worth it because the clearance criteria is something super simple like “use a consumable” and I happen to have a worthless consumable and I just burn it to get rid of the malignancy. Once I picked up a malignancy and the cure was “pick up a parasite” and I was satisfied because I figured that was easy since I’ll typically pick most of them up, ..then I went the whole stage without seeing any parasites. Grrr…

The other random thing about parasites is that they are strangely comforting to me, from an emotional standpoint. I know it sounds silly, but the game is very lonesome and foreboding thematically and the world is pretty scary, so having a little companion in my arm chirping and squirming around has an unexpected soothing effect on my psyche 😅

@Th3solution Good call! I forgot about the attraction radius one but sounds like you've been making the most of that. Unless you can find another one that perfectly cancels out the downside there's always going to be a hit on your collection somewhere. There's a good weapon trait called obolite magnet, which you might get lucky on getting sometimes, that allows obolites to be deposited right to your feet on killing a hostile. When I've had that I've gathered a ton of them and then you can really go to town on the fabs.

I've been through various phases with the malignant items. First I was taking my chances with things, then after a while decided to start playing it safe so didn't touch anything malignant. Eventually I found I was gambling on things that were moderate / high in the first few biomes but nothing after that and then once I'd finished the game I'd just go for it and pick up anything. Sometimes I've been really lucky and picked up 4 - 5 items in a row without anything happening and then other times I've been hit with something every time. That's when those malfunctions really sting. I especially hate the 2.5s added cool down time to dash and the pools of acid on hostile death ones, both usually lead to my demise 😆.

@Th3solution It is just the RNG at play, no one has a less stingy version or anything like that. Some times it will work for you, sometimes not.

You say you've only fought the boss twice, I would concentrate on facing it a bit more so you get more familiar it's moves.

You also mentioned there will sometimes be rubbish artefacts at the fabricator. If you have the obolites spare I would still get them, as it is still a small benefit to have. Sometimes having your alt fire available a couple of seconds quicker could be the difference. Experiment with a couple to see how you get on.

In regards to collecting obolites, some weapon traits you unlock will help with this, they may come later in game, however. Also your adrenaline level is a sort of combo meter. Every time you kill three enemies without being damaged yourself, your adrenaline level will increase, to a maximum level of 5. If you're hit, your adrenaline level is reset to 0. Each level brings with it some neat benefits, like a larger window for Overloads, the ability to see enemies through walls, and more.

@render Oh, I actually like the pools of acid penalty. As far as penalties go, I am less hampered by it than others. The pools are easily seen and since I’ve been playing more from a distance lately, then I’m far enough away that they don’t affect me. But I can see it you melee kill a lot then it will be harder to avoid.
I had a great parasite during one of me best runs that has auto regenerate a little health when it gets critically low, at the expense of the acid pool thing. I thought for sure that would be golden for the boss fight, since I wouldn’t have any acid pools there. But it wasn’t enough to save me.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, I’ve found the adrenaline meter to be a critical difference. Fights are easier when the meter is kept high. I like the perk that I found once or twice where you get a level up in adrenaline after 2 kills instead of 3. It really helps! Wish I could find that more often 😄

@Th3solution There is a consumable which fills it completely, which comes in very handy!

@Th3solution I'm glad that one works out for somebody. I probably melee a bit more and just forget every flippin time that there's going to be a pool of acid there. The only place it didn't affect me when I've had it has been 6 but it's still not perfect.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah I like that one, it can be really useful in boss fights where once you are hit you are never going to get that adrenaline back.

@Th3solution That parasite that slowly repairs you at low integrity was part of what got me through the Nemesis boss fight, the first time I beat him

@render Yean I'm not too keen on the acid pool either. The only time I was ok with it was in Biome 6 too when I wasn't using melee as frequently. Plus I had surviving a killing blow, which I needed in Biome 6.

Got the trophy for finishing Biome 1 earlier, along with the fragment. So two down four to go.

@JohnnyShoulder I did a daily challenge a while back that had pool of acid as one of the set malfunctions. I think I lasted 2 minutes!!

Well done on the trophy, each one of those is hard earned. My wife got the one for B3 tonight but is still searching for one cipher in B2, the exact same one that I ended up doing 18 runs to find.

@render I must have spent so long in B1 first time round I picked up most of things then!

I got nothing from my first run in B2 and don't recall getting anything in B3 either. Then got 3 Ciphers in no time in B2, one right near the start and then two in side rooms I couldn't access previous due to not having the right ability.

@adrianthealchemist Thank you very much, I’ll take any and all help you think I could benefit from. I appreciate so much having this thread. yes, I had been given that advice about waiting on the chests and have implemented it somewhat, although I just didn’t realize level 5 was the goal before the other traits unlock. I just have been trying to wait to open the chests if possible until the proficiency is leveled up. Good to know I should shoot for level 5. Not sure I typically get there in one run though. Usually max at 4

On the whole chest thing, I wouldn't wait to go up a level. I'd keep opening chests. There's loads of chances to get weapons in the first biome: you usually get at least one lockdown room and the big enemies drop weapons, if you do those secret rooms where you fall through the floor - some of those contain weapons, there's always a weapon en route to the boss, there's usually multiple locked rooms containing weapons if you shoot the yellow switch, and if you do the golden extra hard room (which is not that hard in the first biome once you have a decent weapon) you should get three or four weapons.

The problem with waiting is that by the time you've killed enough things to get to level 5 you'll have wiped out most if not all of biome 1 anyway, and then when you move on to biome 2 it won't matter any more. The level of the weapon is also not quite as important as you might think - it's often better to have a weapon you like even if it's a substantially lower level than one you don't like. Example, I finished the game with a weapon that was 8 levels below my proficiency level, and turned down multiple weapons that were at my level because I didn't like them as much. There's also some weapons that are - in my opinion - objectively overpowered compared to other weapons.

For me the most important thing when starting a run was finding a decent weapon early and then just doing your best to stay at range from the baddies and not get hit. It seems obvious to not get hit, but not getting hit is essential so that once you've wiped out the enemies in a room out you can go around and pick up all the health things, and if you're at full health then they upgrade your maximum health instead of healing you.

Also some general tips:

1. Chests that need unlocking ALWAYS contain an artefact or more rarely a consumable. At least they did on my game. I opened one whenever I had a key because a lot of the artefacts are great. A lot are rubbish too, but that's the game. Some artefacts are absolute game changers, and getting a good one can really help give you that extra push.

2. Every big enemy in the first biome barring the boss is staggered by one melee attack. When in a lockdown situation you can usually kill the main threat without it ever really being a threat, by hitting it with a melee, then your alt-fire attack, and then if it's still alive just unloading.

3. Take breaks. If you're anything like me, if you have a good run and then die you'll be frustrated starting again, and try rushing through to get back to where you were. My most productive play sessions were when I put the pad down and did something else for a while - even a day or two - and came back to it. In most of the biomes, I planned to wipe out every single room so I could get maximum health and money and proficiency in preparation for the boss. There's only one biome that I tend to skip through as fast as possible, which is much later in the game. You can't really do that if you're rushing.

Also it took me over 100 hours to beat the game so listening to my tips might not be the best idea...

Some cool stuff that didn't make it to the game in there. Also some cool stuff that did

@johncalmc I think you are as qualified as the rest of us to give tips about this game and those are worth while tips 😀.

With regards to the weapon chests, I played it sort of half and half in that I'd try and find a weapon that I was happy with perhaps with a trait to unlock and then I'd stick with that. Then once I'd gone up in proficiency I'd have a look in the chests that I'd not opened to see if there was anything worth swapping my current weapon for. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes not.

The locked chests for me are always an artefact, never anything else. The last few times I've played I've basically opened every locked chest I could, saving my keys just for that job, and every single time it's been an artefact. There is definitely something that lives on the system that fixes somethings for some people and this seems to be one of those for me.

@velio84 @Voltan Those are some pretty cool images. I particularly like 12/15, that's an awesome image!

@johncalmc @render Thank you guys so much for the thoughts. Keep ‘em coming. I’m soaking it up and trying to integrate advice and experience to help me get through.

I’ve found the ‘take breaks so not to get too impatient’ advice to be true. My best run ha typically been the 3rd or 4th run per gaming session. The first two get the rhythm and timing back, and then anything after the 6th or so is just me being reckless because I’m frustrated.

Question (for anyone) — as far as firing techniques, do you find it more effective to bursts fire automatic weapons or just hold the trigger down and unload the whole clip at once? I know this is a highly subjective and personal preference issue, but I was wondering, since I’m still struggling to clear the first biome that maybe I need to change my tactic. Not sure if I should be playing it like DOOM or like Uncharted 😅
Where I am in the game, I only have access to the pistol, shotgun, and carbine. Firing one shot at a time of the pistol, or 3-5 burst rounds of the carbine seems to give me a little more accuracy and a little more time before I’m empty, but it usually throws my timing for hitting the overload off. When I realized I could just hold the trigger down and the pistol will essentially act like a slow automatic weapon and fire pretty consistently then I started trying that and it’s a bit easier to hit overload in that rhythm but my accuracy per round really tanks since I’m running, jumping, and dashing at the same time.

Anyways, just curious what people find to be most effective.

@Th3solution Definitely holding down the trigger for most weapons but I can't say I felt like it affected my aim, personally. I was definitely hitting the overload more consistently once I realized I could hold the trigger with most guns and that made a real difference.

@Th3solution As far as my personal experience goes - for automatic weapons and the pistol I just tend to hold the trigger down until the thing I'm aiming at is dead or the clip is empty. Then I try and hit the overload, which is very 50 / 50 indeed.

I'm constantly moving though (with always sprint enabled) at least to the left or the right, shooting from the hip, and only using dash when I'm closed in my projectiles / about to get jumped or can see an opportunity to go forward and melee something.

With bats and things I tend to try and keep them all in my window of vision as that makes it easier to try and stagger them before they yellow up.

@Th3solution I tend to hold the trigger down for the whole clip so I can use the overload thing to get the bonus projectiles on my next fire. It kinda depends on what weapon I have. If I'm using the Rotgland Lobber then I'm tapping now and again. If I've got the Hollowseeker then my finger is barely off R2.

@TraCuz- Responding here to keep from detailing the other thread —
But yes, I have now enabled the permanent sprint and am doing mostly ‘shoot from the hip’. I rarely aim unless things are slowed down and I’m just needed a little accuracy. At first I did have the reflex to want to aim with L2 but now I mostly just run-n-gun. 😄