Topic: Saros Thread

@StitchJones That’s awesome! I have the Pulse for now, but I’ve been happy with it.

Pragmata is great. I’m absolutely loving it but the kids all ended up really loving it too so I decided to work through it with them. We’re at the end of the mines so quite a ways into it, I think.

@Kraven Congrats!! It’s a tough game, I’m glad for all of the options.Just made it to the third area myself. I like the second area though, it’s cool. Has my imagination going!

@Kraven the speed of the mech enemies was quite a surprise on my first attempt.

@StitchJones that’s exactly what my wife said. It’s a really atmospheric area and I like the variation in enemy types. The boss is certainly tough.

I thought I would regret not booking the day off, but Mr Amazon has not delivered Saros yet, so I would be more frustrated just waiting at home than working in the office.

Biome 3 is kicking my ass. Partially my fault as I am trying to avoid using modifiers but I think I am severely under upgraded.

@StitchJones What part are you getting stuck on exactly? Is it the Eclipse enemies or the boss?

If it's the enemies, not much advice I can give. For the Boss, try to stick to back jump pads of the arena (use pistol/rifle). It gives you the most time to react to his moves.

@StitchJones Hmm I'd say do a run not with the intention of winning but learning the enemy patterns. Biome 2 throws some really complex looking ones. Deal with flying enemies first as they love to flank you when you are distracted. The shield delay is something you'll just have to learn the timing for, I still struggle with it some times as it comes only after the melee.

@StitchJones I’ll throw some things out there too! Just a grab bags of tips, feel free to disregard 😊

I find running previous biomes to be super helpful when I’m struggling. Artifact buffs really add up! As does the proficiency from collected lucenite.

Nothing wrong with modifiers. The system operates in a similar way to corrupted artifacts anyway, where you have to balance out buffs with debuffs.

In the second area, don’t trigger the eclipse early, or you’ll have to run both sides with corruption.

The Smart Rifle is overall the easiest and most reliable weapon to use.

I’ve died loads of times too and will continue to but the upgrade tree makes all the difference in the world, with meaningful upgrades buried in there. 2nd chance is a real life saver 😏

Don’t neglect the shield!

This might just be preference but I find Prominence far more effective than the other one and a single high level shot can even take out multiple grouped hostiles.

You want to be inside the purple dome shields to do proper damage.

Melee is effective!

I am working on Biome 2 boss. Did they change something about rifles in latest update? It seems much more useful than before in my run today.

What are your favorite skills/ weapons so far? I am loving the "poison" (not really) secondary weapon and the bouncing guns.

Copying the disc now, I'll catch you guys up in no time 💪😤

@StitchJones I've only faced the b2 boss once so far and managed to get to the second phase but got wiped pretty quickly after that. Then the two runs I had after that were horrible and I got killed pretty quickly. I was trying to use the shield a bit more having realised that the power weapon is definitely the way to go in order to get some big damage. It's actually a lot harder in b2 because there's more of a mixture of blue, yellow and red projectiles with less of a gap between them so you have to choose very carefully when it's worth deploying the shield.

What I have found useful though as using melee on the projectiles. You have to get a bit lucky with the timing of the fast moving ones but it can be really useful when there isn't the space to dash. It might be worth giving it a go to see if it helps you. If there is change to take a whole bunch of blues to the face though definitely get that shield out and adsorb them and then you'll be able to use that power weapon way more often.

@Nei Not sure I've got any favourites just yet but I found a hand cannon with charged shot the other day and I usually hate charged shot but that thing was awesome. I could obliterate most smaller hostiles in a single shot.

@StitchJones Looking at that plat count, that tracks!

@StitchJones Oh man, the muscle memory coming directly from Returnal can’t be helping at all! I’m opposite, went hard for a couple of days but will now have limited gaming time for the next week.

@Nei I didn’t notice anything when I played last night but maybe there was an update today? I know weapons change depending on their attributes and proficiency.

As for favourite weapons, I’ve been leaning toward rifles and away from shotguns. Sometimes play around with handguns. I have much more success at range. I haven’t encountered poison as far as I know.

Good luck with the boss! Personally, I struggled less than with the first one, not sure why.

I played about 1.5h so far, died in the 2nd phase of the boss.
It's incredible and I love it.

Do you all think there are any major updates the game might need in coming weeks, à la the Returnal patch that added mid run saves? Just wondering, as I am debating in my mind how quickly to start it. I still working through other games and then have to travel for a few days so realistically might not start the game for 2-3 weeks, even though I plan to go pick up my pre-order from GameStop later today. Waiting a couple weeks will allow for any necessary patches to drop as well. But the FOMO is real. 😅

@Th3solution The game seems fully cooked to me. It looks, sounds and runs like a dream and in my opinion is far more accessible than Returnal out the gate. I would be surprised if they eventually add to it, like Returnal, but who knows how long that might be. It’s so worth it. I’ve even shamelessly double dipped digital and physical…

Two bosses down, damn that run back for boss 2 is kinda brutal huh 😅

Edit: Yeah Housemarque are turning into the goats when comes to controls/gameplay, they just feel so solid and responsive. my only gripe so far are the dodgy facial animations, but that's literally it!

Exploring the third biome and the game is really opening up a lot. I just eliminated some kind of mid boss.

@Oram77 impressive!

@Metonymy you were right, the second boss gave me a lot less problems than the first, I just needed to figure out the environment. For “poison” I intend that sub weapon that eats away enemy health over time. Loving it!
@render interesting, I will give it a try!

@Th3solution based on the 3h I played now, it feels like they took all the feedback from Returnal and really thought it through.
Autosave during a run is now the standard. You can get permanent upgrades even after failed runs, so you're less likely to get stuck on difficult parts - although "getting gud" is definitely the recommended way
I haven't gotten to that part yet but I understand that later on you can use modifiers to make the game easier (or harder) if you want to. Not sure what else they'd need to add...

@Nei exploding bullets for shotgun with Vertical Alt (massacres flying enemies)

Pistol with bouncing or exploding bullets. I always avoid if they have the charge alt fire. Favored enemy is also a good perk

Smart Rifle any. Theyre the most well rounded of the bunch.