Topic: Saros Thread

@Th3solution There’s also a mechanism to redraw drops in Saros, another example of how much more approachable it is.

@StitchJones I’m with @render on this one. By all means, take a break but stick with it, man! I think it really helps to treat death as part of the process. Have you filled out the upgrade tree to where it gates you? If not, that could really help you. I’d encourage you to start a run from the beginning of Shattered Rise as well. Beyond the tree, Lucenite also raises Proficiency, and Drive raises the effectiveness of Lucenite, so it’s kind of a stacking effect that really adds up if you start earlier.

@JohnnyShoulder Glad to hear you’re enjoying it! I kind of dig how there’s no graphics options, you just know it’s going to run as intended regardless of machine.

@Oram77 Nicely done! Agreed, the sound design is next level stuff. The music really enhances the flow state I enter when things get intense and feels specifically designed to facilitate it.

I pushed hard last night (and late 😬) and made it to the end of the (5th?) area last before getting wrecked by the boss. Needed to recharge after that. I don’t know, I’ve got seven travel points in the portal but i wouldn’t say it’s seven distinctly different areas. The art direction and environmental design continues to impress too!

@Metonymy I seem to be getting 4k 60fps without any noticeable hutches in performance. My TV is good at doing some of the heavy lifting when required.

@StitchJones I had a few mini breaks on the way to the Returnal platinum, and I think I would have ended snapping the disc in half if I had not!

I consistently reach the boss in the second area. He’s not that difficult. I get him down to his final phase, but I manage to die every time. It’s everything that leads up to the boss fight. I typically play really well, but at some point I do get hit a couple of times and that just screws my run. I’ll beat it, though.

@Metonymy Damn you're crushing it! For real though when the music is pumping and you're in the zone and playing well (or clutching up) nothing can beat that feeling.

@JohnnyShoulder Just to butt in, it's running pretty much flawless for me too, but do notice frame drops/ hitching when you sometimes run into another zone, but during combat not a single blip.

@Kraven I think it's the run back for boss 2 is what makes it challenging, like you said the fight itself is manageable (except for the scary laser beam of death 😬) but we have faith in you and just like the slogan of the game "come back stronger"

@Oram77 Biome 4 is NASTY! Got to the final third of boss' health bar before i got whacked. Good news more story dialogue, bad news the group is being mean to Arjun.

@Kraven You got this! One thing that really helped me in that fight was essentially glueing myself to a jump pad as my deaths came when I was trying to find one.

@Oram77 Agreed!

There are certain times when the game forces a ‘return to passage’, I’m trying to figure out - from a design perspective - why this resets your weapon level to its base Proficiency. As far as I can tell, you keep everything else. Just seems like a weird penalty for doing everything right. Or am I missing something?

@Metonymy I think this is one of the friction areas between wanting a more cinematic narrative while also being gameplay first. It could also be to pad the length maybe? It's the only aspect that I find bizarre so far.

@Metonymy I noticed that about it forcing you back to the Passage. I tried to avoid that at one point and ended up finding a bug in the game where I'd essentially not gone the way the game wanted me to go and got locked out of being able to continue or go back to the Passage. I ended up losing a big chunk of my Lucinite as I had to use the option in the menu to quit my run. The reason I wanted to avoid it was to avoid that weapon proficiency penalty as it feels a little unfair.

@Kraven I can recommend starting a run from B1 if you are struggling as that's what worked for me. You then get to chose artefacts that don't have any negative affects from both biomes rather than having to take those after the eclipse. There's a few enemy types that seem to be able to absolutely wreck you in one hit so the more powerful you are the quicker you can dispatch them.

Made it to the 4th biome over lunch and had to park it there for now but it's been an awesome ride through the last couple of areas with a few new things unlocked to play with.

@cainhurst94 Yeah, it really is bizarre. Everything is so well considered, I have a hard time buying it as an oversight. ‘Friction’ is a great word. Every aspect of the game seems to be built around the idea of give and take, so I’ve been trying to frame it with that in mind. Probably was a real discussion behind the scenes!

@render That’s unfortunate! Yeah, it’s an aspect that really does stand out amongst such a tightly designed experience. Still not sure what to make of it.

@render hahaha I tried to do that yesterday once, running through biome 1 to power up first. And I thought I could bypass the boss to get back, which you cannot. And of course, I lost to boss1. So taking the time to try and do that was a waste, so I went back to just starting in biome 2.

@Th3solution I lost track of how many times I've had a dialog box in my face, taking up the whole middle of the screen at the wrong time, or even when you are trying to see a ledge to jump to. I'm sure they will look at this and it will be patched and fixed.

@Metonymy I die so much, I've had a stockpile of Lucenite for days. My upgrade tree has been 100% maxed, up to where they cut you off until you beat boss2, for awhile now and I still can't get passed biome2. And again, on powering up in biome 1 first, i tried that once last night and then died at boss1, not making it out of there, so it was a wasted endeavor and time. So I figured F that, I'd try to persevere and just run biome2, only to get kicked in the teeth some more. If I'm already on 2nd chance before the boss, I just restart cycle at that point. There's no way I'd beat the boss with just one life. I suck at this game, period. No other way to cut it.

I love the art and music and all, I stand by that. Its like no other game. But with 4 billion runs stuck in biome 2, I'm hearing and seeing the same thing way too many times over and over and over. The novelty is starting to wear off now to the point its getting on my nerves. Def not the games fault. The game is top notch. I suck and should be progressing, that's the issue. And again, I would rather quit for a bit, then dial back the difficulty like a pus** cause I can't hang. I don't do "cowards way out"

@StitchJones That’s fair, even if I think you’re being a bit hard on yourself, but you know you better than anyone else 😄

@Metonymy @render and am I missing something here? what would be the point in running biome1 again before 2, unless you still need to upgrade your tree? No artifacts carry over and you are back to proficiency 9 upon completion of biome1. You are no more powerful going into b2. That said, it does however make sense if your tree isn't maxed out, is that accurate and why one would suggest that?

@StitchJones The game only forces you back to the Passage at certain points when you have cleared a biome for the first time, in order to unlock the story elements. If you've already been to B2 and you then start at B1 again you don't have to travel back to the Passage after you complete B1, you can continue straight to B2. The same will apply to the later biomes and eventually you'll be able to run all the way through all the biomes unhindered if you so wish. It just means that once you complete B2 for the first time you will unfortunately also be forced to travel back to the Passage and will lose whatever artefacts and weapon proficiency you had.

@StitchJones It’s a bit confusing but my understanding is that Lucenite isn’t just currency for the tree. It also increases your proficiency, which can be referenced by the number near your health gauge. So the more Lucenite you’re carrying, the more proficiency you have, meaning better weapon drops. Beyond that, Drive increases the effectiveness of Lucenite on your proficiency. Collecting any artifacts that increase things like Drive, Integrity or Command will continue to stack and carry over to the next biome (until you die). So it’s totally worth running a previous biome to get more powerful. The only thing that gets reset if you ‘return to passage’ by choice is your weapon proficiency. I believe everything else carries over (unless you die, then you lose all artifacts, weapon proficiency resets to whatever your current base level is and you lose a percentage of Lucenite).

Feel free to correct anything I’ve said here! I’m no expert.

Finally boss 4 is down!! I really hope no else has problems with it, the run back is a pure gauntlet, one run I had the biggest mob in the smallest room and bleed my health and second chance (love that!), but on the successful run I absolutely melted the boss which is so satisfying even without an auto-aming weapon which was a shocker!

@Metonymy @render either the whole system is ultra confusing, or I did too many drugs at after parties when I used to work in restaurants. Prob a combo of the two. hahahaaaaaaaaaaa, sniff, sniff, snort, snort.

@render I can say that I finally defeated the second boss! Unfortunately, I had to leave for work ten minutes later, but at least I can go to work feeling accomplished. I’m looking forward to the third biome and new abilities.

@Oram77 Is this by chance Architect ? This is where I am and after dying, I just didn’t have another run in me last night. It’s a real hike to get there!

@Metonymy @render So I said F it and booted it up. I tried running through B1 like you guys said, but like a stooge, after the boss I warped back to base instead of pushing to B2. I just wasn't paying attention, and lost everything. So I did it again, but this time went straight into B2 already powered up. By the time I housed everyone in B2, with only a couple sketchy moments, I got to Boss2 and melted straight through him like a hot knife through butter. Lmao. I'm still an idiot for taking too long to understand what to do, many days later after early access launch. I appreciate all your guys help though.