Topic: Returnal

@Th3solution The third phase was also made easier as I had a portal beam item which I dropped.

The lobber is fine but in the third phase it’s harder as you can’t easily hip fire with it and aiming slows you right down. As for distance to the boss, part of that is similar to the above in that it gives you a better chance of hitting when you’re closer but Nemesis is already so far back that it doesn’t make too much of a difference. Maybe it does affect what the turret guys do though.

And as Nemesis is so far back, you already have enough time to see attacks coming and for the most part you can avoid them just running side to side and dashing when needed.

As others have said, in phase 3 it works well to remember that you can’t get hurt when grappling so use that to avoid the huge wall of orbs.

The load out I had on that run was silly though; 295% integrity! They do seem to have tweaked it so that the health becomes resin when you’re at full health which I am certain didn’t use to be the case. Adrenaline leech (get health from damage caused based on adrenaline level) is my favorite artifact by far as well and having that then helps you find more resin.

@render These vids never feel easy at the time! And I’m not going to show you a rubbish run now am I?

@Thrillho

They do seem to have tweaked it so that the health becomes resin when you’re at full health which I am certain didn’t use to be the case

Pretty sure it was always the case

@Voltan Yeah, I think it might have been that health filled a slot when you were at full integrity but the game never told you that explicitly. So I used to (understandably) leave the health behind thinking I might need it later. Since going back to the game, it now seems to label it as resin rather than just health.

Maybe I’m imagining it but it felt like I was getting waaaay more of the stuff playing recently.

@Thrillho Yeah, that sounds about right - I don't think it ever actually tells you that.

For biome 5, anyone recommend racing through 4 to get to 5? I have yet to get to the boss. I spend too much time I think in 4 trying to get my health up and a good weapon. Then when I get to 5 I have to get the 3 keys. The closest I've come is 2 keys. I think I get too impatient and start getting sloppy towards the end. With RL obligations I often don't get more than one run a day if I get that deep into 5.

@Elodin Myself, I usually only did the "required" part of Echoing Ruins (I'd clear all the rooms in the first part but go straight to next biome from the fabricator room). But I actually got through it pretty quickly (Echoing Ruins took more attempts).
Let us know when you reach the boss

@Thrillho I noticed the generous second integrity bar — very nice! But in the end you didn’t even need all that health as you got Nemesis down with plenty to spare. It’s probably key (like most of these bosses probably) to not get hit in the first stage at all, and hopefully not much in the second stage so when things get crazy you’ve got plenty more in the tank to take on damage at the end.

Hoping to have time to take a few shots at Nemesis this weekend. I haven’t had the time or energy to play anything this entire week. Will probably be splitting time with the new PS5 version of A Plague Tale though.

@Elodin I always did a full run of Biome 4 before attempting Biomes 5 and 6, as I always struggled otherwise. After I finished Act 2 and went back looking for fragments, glyphs and Scout logs I seem to fare much better and only did upto the fabricator room in Biome 4.

I found the Electropylon Driver good for Biome 5, especially as it sticks some enemies in place. Failing that Rotgland Lobber or Hollowseeker (with the serrated edges trait) are also decent weapons for that Biome i found. Basically any weapon that continues to do damage after the initial hit is a god send in this game.

@Elodin Somehow I managed to do B5 in one go (don't ask me how as the rest of the game I definitely didn't manage anything first go) but I did do a full clear of B4 before I went there. I've done it a few times since as well as part of getting the platinum and would agree with @JohnnyShoulder on any of those weapon choices. You'll want to keep on moving as much as you can to avoid getting hit so Rotgland, Pylon or Hollowseeker with Portal Beam are all great options.

I got the true ending. I am not going for the Platinum.

@johncalmc Good one. That's a milestone in itself 👍

Act 3 done. I am going for the platinum, but only possibly for the rest of this weekend!

Well, I learned a difficult lesson. After waiting all week until I could have a handful of hours to try to get that stupid Nemesis down, I put together a pretty good run. I had the resin shield item as well as the item to decrease the resin count needed for a suit upgrade. So I took the time to level up in B2 and had a nice build, and right before teleporting over to B3 I decided to invest in a reconstructor just in case things went south then I’d just have to do B3 again. I made it through relatively unscathed to Nemesis (despite the onslaught of drones in the closing section), went in with a decent health bar, all filled up, and a level 13 Lobber, and 3 silphium’s in the tank to use.

I still didn’t even get through phase 2 😞
…But, I should get another shot from at least the end of B2 …. No! I respawned back at the beginning of B1. I guess the reconstructor only works if you die in the Biome it’s in? That stinks and I wish I’d have known that. Not that losing 6 Ether is the end of the world, but I was feeling so good about my chances and so the disappointment is killing me. These runs are so long at this point and with the weekend coming to an end, it’ll probably be another full week until I get the 4 hour block of time to have another realistic go at it.

As far as the Nemesis fight, I watched several videos before I went in and I’m just not getting as easy time with it. My Lobber wasn’t chipping the health down nearly fast enough, so I had to face several rounds of double red rings and also the fire pit with the sea of orbs coming down all in phase one. Most of the video I see don’t have that happening. In phase 2 I was just really bad at dodging, so that’s on me. Ugh. Not sure if Lobber is the weapon for me. I’ve now tried getting him with a Lobber, a pistol, and a Hollowseeker. I might have to try the launcher next, or if I can get my hands on a good carbine. And the last 5 or so runs I’ve had the astronaut has never dropped in the fabricator store. It’s always the blade enhancer, which does me zero good against Nemesis.

Sorry, not needing any particular advice, I think I know what to do, just sharing in my grief; it’s therapeutic for me. 😅

@Th3solution Ah man, I totally feel for you. It took me a few goes to get Nemesis and it definitely wasn’t pretty when I did. The build up is the hardest part as when you need to gear up across three biomes then there’s a lot invested in the run.

I remember that reconstructor catching me out just like that, and I had the same feeling of being cheated out of a second chance.

From what I’ve seen posted elsewhere it does sound like Nemesis might have been buffed in one of the patches but I don’t know for sure. The longer the fight takes the more likely you will see attacks you’ve not seen before or they will come round again.

If it makes you feel any better I’ve just spent 2 hours getting beaten by the same boss on Demon’s Souls and made zero progress.

@render Well, since I have the game on physical disc, I guess my final recourse would be to delete my game file and disconnect from the internet and reload the original version of the game. I can’t imagine I’ll get that desperate though. 😅

I’ve had Demon’s Souls on the watchlist and now that you can find it for $55 or so, I’m tempted but I’ll not want a difficult game for a while after this. Do you have an opinion on which game is harder — DeS or Returnal?

@Th3solution That's an interesting option but I think you'd be disappointed with yourself if you had to resort to that! 😉.

It does sound like you aren't too far away from doing it and as you've already noted it's just getting better at dodging and ensuring that you don't get hit. That is a thing I struggled with a lot initially but once I'd stopped panicking so much and started to wait for the right moment it became a lot easier.

The very same thing is what's getting me killed in DeS. It's so slow compared to other games and executing a move at the wrong moment is really punishing as all the animations are slow and play out in their entirety before you can make another move. Through the levels you can unlock shortcuts so it does mean that your journey back to the boss is quicker and easier even though you start back at the beginning of the level. Just like Returnal though if you use healing items then you don't get those back and you don't tend to find that many in a level so you end up having to farm them or farm souls to buy some. All equipment and other items / upgrades are carried over between runs though which means you know what you are going to have through the run, plus because you can farm souls you can buy permanent stat increases that make you stronger, have more health etc.

I am dying a lot more in DeS than I ever did in Returnal though, and boss wise I feel that Returnal was better at making me feel that I'd got a chance and I was able to learn more about their behaviour between attempts. With DeS I'm just getting killed 20 - 30 seconds in and have learnt nothing. Despite that I'm enjoying it and hopefully I'll make some progress this week, otherwise I might be farming for the next month just so I stand a chance 😂.

@Th3solution With Nemesis, are you sure you are hitting it in the glowing red area? If you are struggling avoiding all projectiles, just spend a bit of time concentrating on that and don't fire your weapon. Getting the timing with your dodges is key. Try not to panic when facing it, maybe take a 5 min break just before you face it.

If the Astronaut doesn't spawn for you in one Biome, it will spawn in another. So try getting to the fabricator room in biome 1 and then if it is not in there try Biome 2. I've been doing runs in Biomes 1 - 3 looking for glyphs, and I'm finding it one every run, sometimes twice if I've already used it. It will also appear in locked chests/rooms too, so try opening a few of those if it is not in the fabricator room. I've always got my game online, so maybe turn yours to online if you have it set to online. Not sure if that makes any difference though.

And I looked through the patch notes, there was nothing mentioned about making Nemesis more difficult, only a more general one about making the gamemplay experience more balanced.

@JohnnyShoulder @Th3solution The last time I played, which was after the last patch came out, it did feel like most things were pretty much the same. I didn't find anything that felt it was harder or easier than before but then I didn't play every biome to really compare. I thought that Nemesis was hard but not stupidly so even though it took me a few attempts to get through, then my wife went and did it and made it look easy by beating him first time, and the next boss as well. It should be her on here giving the advice 😆.

@render I beat Nemesis last night again and nothing stuck out at feeling more difficult than when I tried before. I only used one small health vials too, but my health regen was really high so it was like using a large health vial. I would like to think I'm better at the game than when I first took it on though, and I was using the Electopylon Driver which you don't get the first time round until Biome 4.

I've only got 2 glyphs left, both on biomes 2 and 3. Found one in biome 2 yesterday, but that was after several attempts of going through both biomes. Not sure if I can be bothered to go for them at the mo.

@Th3solution Personally, I don’t think the lobber is great for that fight given how far back you are for most of it. The one bonus is that it chips away at health between hits but aiming for that red area on the move is tough.

Hollowseeker with serrated blades or the portal could do the job better but you don’t always have much of a choice in what you end up with! Durable rot and explosive shot(?) are probably the most useful lobber traits.