Topic: Returnal

@Tatarimokke I had to look this one up! Apparently it plays music when you are close to a “secret”. The following is copied from PowerfulGate241 in r/Returnal
The Music Box gives signal upon entering a Room (it can be a complex area, and some side rooms are also related to the basis of the signal), as long as there are any Items around that have not been picked up (you can pick them up, and swap Items back as desired). Items dropped from Enemies does not cause reaction, relatively. Relative Items are generated upon entering unknown locations (Rooms on initial discovery).

Apparently it counts portals as a secret too

@Tatarimokke The music box just plays a little sound cue when you're near a portal to a bonus room or a fake wall... which are usually quite clearly visible so honestly I thought it was pretty useless myself

@Just_2_milky @Voltan thanks for lighting me up! It doesn't sound that important then. The astronaut figurine is finally available in the shopfor me by the way:) Not cheap I must say:)
What's your opinion about parasites ? Do you pick them up occasionally? I think they are designed to be there for good reason but i didn't find them very useful . Actually i found one which granted me 15% extra protection and seemingly took nothing instead.

@Tatarimokke Parasites have randomized upsides and downsides so it’s really a case by case basis. Some are clearly worth it, some clearly not.

@Tatarimokke I like parasites if I can negate the negative. Say if I find Obolite Extractor - gives me 3 extra seconds of obolite on the ground, then I find an parasite that gives me Survive a killing blow (actually, I would always pick this one up unless the negative is super bad), and 2 less seconds of obolites, then I like the parasites. Or if I can chain parasites when the positive for Para B outweighs the negative for Para A.

Sounds like the parasite you got was pretty good!

@Tatarimokke Parasites can be great but you'll get to know which ones work for you or not. If there was ever one which would reduce melee damage then I'd not take it as I used melee a lot. Things like increase malignancy chances I'd probably give a go later on as I stopped opening malignant items. It's amazing how even the downsides aren't always that bad though. I did one run that I basically decided to take every parasite I found, I think it was to get the trophy for that, and I ended up pretty powerful because I'd managed to negate some of the negatives.

Definitely good to experiment with them.

@Tatarimokke hey, fellow person who played Returnal here. Just piping in to say best of luck with the game, stick with it if you're struggling it's well worth it. One of the best controlling games I've ever played.

To pitch in with meaningful stuff, I used to love parasites, but only if the negative was something that I have to choose to do that wasn't too important (it's been a while so can't remember a specific example) but if it's anything like silphium damage or fall damage I avoided like the plague. I used to like ones that gave me bonus on successful overloads.

@render has just given the specific example I was thinking of (thank you!), I would always pick up increased Malignancy if I liked the positive, as I just ignored Malignant items. I actually had a run that had full parasites, all with effects I liked. That was a good run...

@Voltan @Just_2_milky @render ok I see. Obviously I didn't experience a big range a parasites so far as I'm still at beginning of the game but I'll definitely use the little guys if I find them useful and not too harmful like the one I mentioned above.
About melee attack: I found it very useful in certain situation. It's a one hit kill on small enemies but also very effective against large ones. Like the green tree guy if you stagger him with an alt fire shot then you need just a few melee hit and he's down.
Another thing i was thinking. Is it worth spending your time in the first biome hoping you find a decent weapon or just go to second straight away? Usually there is an item right at the beginning of the 2nd biome which gives me 4-5 level upgrade to my actual weapon straight away then few rooms later there is a chest with a level 5-6 weapon. So basically the only reason for staying in the first biome to get some obolites and buy the health upgrade and vial. Or am i wrong?
@NedStarksGhost thank you my friend! I definitely won't quit for a while. I feel I am improving every day a little bit:)

@Tatarimokke About weapons: building up your weapon proficiency doesn't upgrade your current weapon - it makes any future weapon drops better. The modular calibrator at the beginning of biome 2 (and every other biome you get to, in fact) is always there and it actually always brings your weapon proficiency to a certain level. So if you enter biome 2 with weapon proficiency level 4, it will get you to level 5 but if you go straight there with level 1, it will still get you to level 5.
So no, weapon proficiency and weapons in general are not a reason to spend time in the first biome. That said, you might wanna do that to get some health upgrades and artifacts/consumables.

@Tatarimokke “prepping” in the earlier biomes let’s you build up obolites, items, and build your integrity up.

But it will take longer and can be HIGHLY infuriating to die while you’re on that run and not even in the biome you’re on.

@NedStarksGhost I think that you can mitigate the fall damage curse by hitting dash right before you land. I can’t be 100% sure on that but I think I tried it toward the end of my playthrough and was kicking myself for not taking that debuff on more often since it’s pretty easy to neutralize the effect with a well timed dash.

@Tatarimokke I usually did half of Biome 1 before going to Biome 2. Enough to get to the fabricator shop and at least buy one useful thing like integrity boost, an astronaut, a large silphium vial, or the blade balancer.
But yeah, don’t spend time there for purposes of leveling up weapon proficiency because you get the automatic calibrator to level 5 no matter what. Take advantage of the game’s charity there! 😄

Also I found that on average there were more weapon chests in the first half of Biome 2 than in all of Biome 1. Seems like I always had 2-3 great weapon options within the first few sections of Biome 2, and sometimes you can go through all of Biome 1 and only get 2 or 3 good weapon option in the whole dang biome.
There is lots of silphium deposits in that large open section at the beginning of B2 also. Look for the yellow rocks and the side buildings and the collapsing floors, etc. The openness of the area makes for much easier avoidance of the enemy attacks. And the flying things shoot a sheet of orbs that is laughably easy to just dash forward through to avoid. All in all, it’s my favorite place to level up, get some currency and decent weapons, and just have a good time. Now the second half of the biome is much more intense…. 😅

So definitely take advantage of that shortcut to Biome 2.

@NedStarksGhost @Th3solution Yes, if you dash before landing you negate all damage.

@Tatarimokke I would go straight to Biome 2 after clearing out all rooms as I go along that I had been in. If it was in the first room, I’ll clear that out, and move one. If it was in room 3, I’ll clear out room one, then go to 2, then clear 3, then go into the biome

@Just_2_milky @Th3solution yep you can, I just personally wasn't a fan of it as during combat that were usually enough to think about without having to think about having to dash before landing.

@Voltan @Th3solution @Just_2_milky @Thrillho yes that's what I'm doing. Spend as little time in biome 1. What I experienced in biome 2:
The first part of the biome ( until you need to teleport far away) is absolutely manageable but then it's getting more complicated. Those severed ones quite tough. I also run into a mini boss ( think it was, I've never seen enemy with orange health bar so far apart from bosses) just right before the boss battle so i was weakened enough to die in the second phase of the boss fight. But that's fine. Any idea how to avoid his rush attack? He's running from one corner to the other leaving some kind of energy wall behind him. I couldn't managed that. I'm on my second run in biome 2 at the moment so will see how far i can go this time. Also what's your opinion about the hollow gun? Its alt fire shoot seems quite powerful.

@Tatarimokke I actually have no advice on the second boss as I literally only fought him once
But FYI: alt-fires are not specific to a weapon type. Any weapon can have any of the alt-fires.
Also, the Hollowseeker was my favorite weapon in the game but it becomes way more powerful with some of the traits you can get at higher levels.

@Tatarimokke First off the Hollowseeker is one of my favorites. The accuracy is ‘meh’, but it unloads so many rounds that it doesn’t really matter. Also the traits can be absolute life-savors. There’s two traits, a turret, and a beam laser (forgetting the name now), which can independently fire at enemies while you’re running and dodging around. So it’s worth unlocking those traits ASAP.
And there is actually different alt-fires for all the weapons, so just like the traits on the gun are random, the alt-fire is too so won’t necessarily be the same the next time you find the gun.

As to the B2 boss — those rush attacks are actually easy to avoid if you position yourself on one side toward the end of the arena. The projectiles won’t really be able to reach you there. So you just need to not be running around in the middle of the arena with him during those attacks. It’s one of the battles where you need to actually be a little more still and patient and place yourself strategically during some of the phases.

Good job though ! Amazing that you’ve done so well! And yeah; the severed are effin’ horrible 😅

@Th3solution Pretty sure you don't unlock Portal Beam and Portal Turret until you reach Biome 4... but they are the better traits available.

@Tatarimokke Any thing that does continuous damage after you've stopped firing is your friend in this game. So at your point in the game the traits Serrates Projectiles will do this, but I also found Waves handy.

As for Alt-Fire, it is probably best to experiment a little with these to see which ones you prefer. I did find some more useful than others, and some guns I didn't bother with if they had a certain Alt-fire. But they can be really handy against more powerful foes.

@Voltan @Th3solution I was lucky enough to dispatch the second boss too on my second attempt. He was though but felt easier then Phrike. The hollowseeker is a fantastic weapon definitely my favorite so far!
Now head to biome 3! You guys said it's going to be challenging. Any specific thing I need to care of? Did you spend any time in biome 2 to strengthen up? I think I'm going to.
Thank you everyone for the tips, without you I would be still in biome 1 i guess...

@Tatarimokke watch out for the drones. They are the only enemy in that will be in the air, and when you have them with low health, they will come after you in a suicide mission

@Just_2_milky The drones made me take off a full mark from the game. Great game but f**k those drones.