Topic: Returnal

@MatthewJP Ha, it’s not the most intuitive photo mode to open seeing as it was a bit of an afterthought.

I got a couple of glyphs in biome 3 in my couple of hours with the game but think it’ll be going on the back burner again. It will haunt me though being one of only two games I’ve played this year and not got the platinum for!

Not really surprising...

Think only Sekiro tops it for a game I almost gave up on, but for different reasons.

@JohnnyShoulder Sekiro’s still one of the only games I’ve ever given up on for just being too hard. Most ‘hard’ games are actually fun but that one didn’t do it for me.

I haven’t given up on it, but honestly biome 3 is just not fun. They need to nerf the rocket drones badly. for now I’ve put it aside in favour of other games, but will come back to it.

@Mega-Gazz The rocket drones definitely soured the experience for me. Most enemies at least feel alright but those drones spot you from a mile away and hit you at the speed of light.

@Mega-Gazz Yeah the first time you get to biome 3 is tough. The Rotland Gobber is very useful, but you will need to spend a bit of time upgrading and unlocking some traits for it. Another tip is alway be on the move and use the grapple. Which sometimes can be tricky if you are on a platform with not much cover.

@Mega-Gazz Yeah, the Lobber is one way to get through 3. Or the Pylon Driver, but I don’t think you likely have access to that yet. With either of those you can just point on the general direction, fire a couple shots and then dash for your life while the enemies take damage while you run! 😄

@Mega-Gazz A third vote for the lobber, it’s one of if not the best weapon in the game. Explosive rot and trailing rot are some great traits to have on it and can do wonders on those drones. If you are struggling with them then in some areas you can play defensively and back track into a room so you can just cheese them from the door.

@render @nessisonett @JohnnyShoulder @Th3solution thanks -I did try the lobber, and did get to the boss twice. Mostly I need to dodge into the rockets instead of to the side or back but it is super unintuitive and one mistake basically ruins a run with how much damage they do. And learning a difficult boss with one attempt every few days, not even at full health on account of drones… it just wasn't fun. I’ll come back to the game eventually.

I always found the Hollowseeker with serrated edges was great against the drones.

I just played my first 45 mins and got annihilated by the remnant of a suit that turned into some crazy monster! My initial impression are very positive, strong alien vibes but oh my days it seems tough!

@R1spam I’m currently playing Kena and that’s making Returnal seem easy. Returnal is not easy either, well not for most normal folk. You’ll get it though, just keep trying and eventually the odds won’t feel insurmountable. There’s plenty of tips if you got back through the thread but that’s only if you need any help.

@R1spam I really wouldn’t go after those suits to be honest.

Since they properly got implanted, I rarely touch them as the enemies it triggers are normally really difficult ones and the payoff isn’t particularly worth it.

My early game tip is to use melee a lot once you’ve unlocked it as it can one hit kill most small enemies in the first biome and either staggers or causes good damage to big enemies.

Good luck!

@R1spam My usual advice is to remember that not getting hit is more important than hitting things. And by that I mean focusing on avoiding damage might make you hit things a little less consistently but you'll still hit them - and the pay off for not getting hit is actually worth it.

@Render ha that's funny, I asked for kena for my Christmas as I thought it might be fun to play through with my daughter as something more chilled ahead of Elden ring, oops!! 😂@Thrillho @Voltan thanks for the tips folks! Played a couple more runs but have hit the suspend cycle for tonight

So this is my first forray into a rogue like game and I am impressed its bloody hard died a few times in the first hour or so (this is to be expected as im being overly aggressive with my gameplay)

I do like how the scenery changes on each death and some of the weapons are great fun

@Ypmud Sounds like your doing great! If I may, some runs call for aggression, while some might benefit from hiding and shooting. On the aggression runs, try not to aim down your sights and try going to the options and turning on auto run.

Just beat the first boss after getting the melee, ooft this game is not messing about!! It's one thing to stick a boss that hard after a bonfire in a souls game, its another to stick it at the end of a rogue-lite run with almost no increases in level/ability between run. I can't say it wasn't a tense, exhilarating affair though, it felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest! Shout out to my level 2 spitmaw with grenade launcher and increased effectiveness at distance. I can see why folks haven't finished this game and an interesting choice to make this a rogue-lite. Its one thing to replay a hard boss on something like metroid dread or bloodborne when you effectively can retry the boss almost immediately, its another to redo a whole level. Are folks just running through rooms that aren't on lockdown to get to the boss??

@velio84 is totally right here… I learned the hard way that rushing just won’t allow you to attain the needed level of preparations for a boss battle! @R1spam - Returnal is actually my personal GOTY and I felt very similarly to you in my early stages of playing. I’d urge you to persevere, and guarantee you will see quick progress once you get a better grip on the game mechanics etc

In fairness, I think the first boss is actually the steepest learning curve… and B1 is pretty rough whilst you’re still learning how the game wants to be played.

Give it a decent chance and don’t give up!

2021 Platinum games for my account: Ratchet & Klank, Resident Evil, Returnal, Deathloop, Ghosts of Tushima, and Hades.

None compare to Returnal! Scenery, gameplay, haptic feedback, score, story…it’s a game for the ages. I’ve been playing games since Coleco/Atari..this platinum was truly special for me!