Topic: Returnal

@Th3solution Cool and glad you’re enjoying it! Really had fun with my play through, and the DLC topup episode was a welcome addition. Look forward to your update…

Here’s hoping that upcoming StateOfPlay shows us more on XVI 👍

@Th3solution how much time have you put into ff7r across your playthrough? I’ve been thinking about buying it for sub -$50. Is it worth it?

@CJD87 Good work! I've dabbled with the game a little since finishing act 3 and have the survey trophy for biome 1 but am nowhere near the others.

Save feature + Photo Mode out now! https://blog.playstation.com/2021/10/26/returnal-2-0-update-b...

Amazing - I hope the "not buying it until they add a save option" crowd will indeed get the game now!

That’s a very pretty photo mode too..

@Kidfried it's a real welcome addition in my eyes. I don't play every day and can't leave it in rest mode. I'll admit to not being the best gamer and struggling with the difficulty level but this will now allow me to dedicate time to clearing biome 1 and 2 rather than rushing ahead, building up much needed integrity and 'saving' before jumping in again.
If I still can't beat the game now, well that's on me, rather than being forced to rush through and being underpowered in terms of my ability level.
It's a win win - people can still play it without pausing their run, and us struggling folk can't resume from the same save point over and over.

@Voltan Agree that I really hope those people on the fence about getting it because of no save now put their money where their mouths are.

It’s great for those people that feel they need it and it’s going to be great to see some of the pictures generated using photo mode.

@render The photo mode is great! There are so many options to choose from, multiple spotlights, great filters, cool frames! Everything I could have hoped for in a photo mode!

@Kidfried In all fairness, there were people like me that didn't want to play the game at all because it wouldn't be enjoyable for them. I'm not saying people are wrong for enjoying games that are designed to be really frustrating, but that's definitely not my thing, so I passed on this knowing it would be much more frustrating than enjoyable for me.

My question for everybody who has played the game already though.... For somebody like me that passed on this game because it would have been too frustrating, would the addition of being able to suspend the game just once be enough to make it a lot more enjoyable?

@KilloWertz - Returnal is my personal GOTY, and I'll take any opportunity to back it when in discussion with others who are potentially 'on the fence'!

When you say you passed on Returnal, was it a case that you avoided it completely? Or tried it and then decided it wasn't for you?

There are a lot of comments/articles regarding its perceived difficulty, but I honestly think a lot of this boiled down to the psychological pressure & connotations regarding the constant stress of knowing that hours of progress (in a given run) could be wiped/lost at anytime... with zero option to suspend or have a safety net of sorts.

I completed Act3 and obtained the 'true' ending last week, and my only gripe with this game was a lack of suspend option. For perspective - I'm mid-30s, with a demanding travel-based job and 2 young children. I have no issue 'committing' to a given run, but it always felt like the game didn't respect my time... and leaving PS5 in rest mode overnight was sweat-inducingly tense at times!

What put you off Returnal? And what other games are you playing currently, or have you played this year?

I was playing Hades on the Switch, which was my first Rogue-lite/like experience ever, and absolutely adored it. Whilst I'd say Hades is the 'better' game of the 2, I didn't find that it consumed me in the same way as Returnal did. The atmosphere, gameplay, grind and challenge of Returnal was just incredible... for sure it was difficult at times, but a 'suspend' function would have made all the difference!

Did you play Hades yet? If yes, and you enjoyed, then I'd say to give Returnal a chance. A great next-gen experience also, and this recent patch brings the game to where it should have been from Day 1 (IMO).

My final comment - most of my frustrations sat around 'rushing' my runs, in the knowledge of no safe way to suspend... and then f*cking up big time because I hadn't played properly. A suspend function changes all of this.

BTW - I am a pretty casual gamer, not a trophy-hunter / completionist, and my skill level is pretty average (at best). If i can clear this game, then anyone can!

Convinced yet?!

@CJD87 Avoided it completely. Cancelled my pre-order once I found out what it was, as I think they didn't say initially that it was going to be a rougelike. Avoided it because knowing that hours of gameplay could be wasted if I died. Honestly, I knew I wouldn't ever finish the game if that happened several times.

I think you might need to get some therapy or something if you are so nervous about an update closing your game that you wake up all sweaty. Or you have other kinds of dreams....

Anyways, yes, I tried Hades on my Series X since it's on Game Pass, but didn't really care for it much.

@KilloWertz Based on your feedback I’d probably advise you to avoid… unless you can pick up cheap on a sale.

‘Suspend’ function or not, your biggest issue will still exist - in that technically you can still feel you’ve lost hours of progress due to an untimely death (save for a few ‘carry over’ upgrades like weapon traits learned etc, but these are probably of little currency vs the concession of lost time)

In a perfect scenario, borrowing the game from a friend would potentially be ideal. I’d love to recommend you still try the game, but based on your comments I would advise against any financial commitment

@KilloWertz There’s no harm in feeling a game isn’t for you.

I had a love/hate relationship with the Dark Souls games in that I loved the atmosphere etc but didn’t find I actually enjoyed the games. Sekiro sounds like a fantastic game but not something I wanted to play.

So don’t feel obliged to play Returnal. I did really enjoy the game as I thought it was one of the first games to show off some of the potential of the PS5 as well as feeling fantastic to play.

I got lucky that on my runs I got through a couple of tough biomes first time but have struggled going back to them. The suspend function wouldn’t have made a huge difference for me but I would certainly have liked the option!

I’m keen on jumping back in for photo mode though so maybe I’ll end up getting some more survey trophies when I do as well..

@velio84 @CJD87 @Thrillho @Kidfried Thanks for all the feedback. I'm glad all of you can enjoy it, but I will take the advice and continue to pass on it. There are plenty of other games to play.

If they had actually made it so you could suspend the game as much as you wanted, it would be a different story. Not sure why they couldn't have given that option since they could have give the option to turn it off to anybody who would complain that it ruins the experience, but oh well I guess.

@KilloWertz I’ll echo what others have said, that is — Returnal is one of my favorite games over the last few years, definitely top 5 for the last year (which has been a great year that includes my playing God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, Control, Persona 5, and Astrobot, and currently FF7R…) so I really want people to experience it and the suspend feature will definitely help. There were times that I would have loved having it. Like others have said, I would have this debate in my mind after about a 2 hour run and it was late and I was tired, or my run went long and I had an appointment, or whatever and I had to decide whether to used rest mode or just push through quickly. I used rest mode a handful of times and it worked fine except once or twice, but I never felt confident in it, so about half the time I’d just rush through the run and go all-out and see if I could crash through to the boss. It almost always ended poorly that way. If I was playing now with this feature I’d probably have been able to clear the game in much less overall time, probably 50 hrs instead of 80. Nevertheless, I never stopped having fun with the game. It never became unpleasant to me.

That said — after reading your thoughts on Kena and how you really disliked some of the boss aspects of that game and the difficulty spikes, I don’t think you’ll click with Returnal. You’ll die a lot. And I get the feeling you won’t enjoy that part of it.

You did play FF7R and there’s some tough boss fights there. But in this game you can’t make some equipment adjustments and reload to have another shot at it. And you can’t decrease the difficulty level.

If you really enjoyed Control, specifically the combat in that game, then you might like Returnal enough to shrug things off when you have to start over; the base combat before bosses is fast and kinetic like Control where there are multiple enemies flying at you and you run, dodge, and shoot constantly. But my guess is that even if you love that part, when you get to the tougher fights you’ll quickly become disgruntled with the game. …And that’s okay. It’s not a indictment on your gaming preferences. There nothing wrong with not liking this kind of gameplay loop.

Edit: oops… sorry, I see you already decided. Feel free to ignore my post 😛

Noice

Edit: Nooooooice lol

@Voltan Wow, 2021 is still going on. Kinda early to hand out GOTY awards.
(Not that I would criticize Returnal as being a winner)

@Th3solution Lol, it's alright. I appreciate the effort you put in at least.

I loved Control, as it was my personal 2019 Game of the Year and I've finished it twice. I get the comparison, but since you can actually save on there, I already know I'd like this far less.

I can deal with frustration, as plenty of the battles in Horizon Zero Dawn were frustrating enough. Kena broke me, but I'd still more likely go back to that game rather than play Returnal as I know I can at least keep trying from right before whichever boss fight for 50 times before I beat it rather than a whole playthrough 50 times over because a boss killed me. While I'm glad obviously plenty of people loved the game, I already know I couldn't do it.

@Th3solution All these "Game of the year" awards are actually "game of this annual award show" and hardly any actually consider games that came out in an actual calendar year. This just means it competed with some titles from 2020 (like Miles Morales, which got the Best Audio award). Still noice!