PlayStation Official Returnal Discussion

[Dinkin_Flicka]

Made a ton of progress this afternoon. Had a great run and took down the 3rd boss and made it to Act 2.

4th biome isn't terribly difficult and once in Act 2 it becomes your starting point and you always start at weapon proficiency 15. I find it really hard to get health upgrade items. Made it to the boss several times without putting together enough resin to get a health boost. First run at the boss I got half way through his third phase, think I died because I was super antsy. Fought him again with an AR with Leeching Rounds and was able to keep my health topped up pretty well.

I am getting absolutely smashed in the 5th biome. I've barely made it past the first few rooms. Those bastard box drones are back with a vengeance launching walls of missiles from every angle. Their projectile speed is outrageous. I walked into a room going slow with about half health targeting an elite mob phasing in off in the distance. Was completely blindsided by one of the drones and he just washed over me with missiles and downed me. Didn't even see it coming. Was just looking down my sights and next thing I know I'm dead.

I did unlock the last item slot and and armor plating that lets me walk over the red toxic liquid.

 

[Lone Coyote]

Maybe I've been lucky, but I haven't seen them on the bridge.

Yeah, you've been lucky, those duckers appear there to stop you from running.

On another matter, got boss n4, got killed by a cheating bastard that disappeared and got a shotgun

 

[Lone Coyote]

can cc. I walked into a room going slow with about half health targeting an elite mob phasing in off in the distance. Was completely blindsided by one of the drones and he just washed over me with missiles and downed me. Didn't even see it coming. Was just looking down my sights and next thing I know I'm dead.

I did unlock the last item slot and and armor plating that lets me walk over the red toxic liquid.

Apparently we meet the same ducker

 

[SaiWa]

Made a ton of progress this afternoon. Had a great run and took down the 3rd boss and made it to Act 2.

4th biome isn't terribly difficult and once in Act 2 it becomes your starting point and you always start at weapon proficiency 15. I find it really hard to get health upgrade items. Made it to the boss several times without putting together enough resin to get a health boost. First run at the boss I got half way through his third phase, think I died because I was super antsy. Fought him again with an AR with Leeching Rounds and was able to keep my health topped up pretty well.

I am getting absolutely smashed in the 5th biome. I've barely made it past the first few rooms. Those bastard box drones are back with a vengeance launching walls of missiles from every angle. Their projectile speed is outrageous. I walked into a room going slow with about half health targeting an elite mob phasing in off in the distance. Was completely blindsided by one of the drones and he just washed over me with missiles and downed me. Didn't even see it coming. Was just looking down my sights and next thing I know I'm dead.

I did unlock the last item slot and and armor plating that lets me walk over the red toxic liquid.

I played way too much myself.

also beat the 3rd biome boss. Easily I might add. It was my 2nd time facing him. All my prevopis runs except one ended against those flying scrubs or suddenly being overwhelmed before I got there. Went in with my favorite weapon. Level 15 pylon driver. Spanked that boss. I knew the mechanics so it was easy to dodge and react the 2nd time around.

reached act 2 as well. Managed to get to the 4th boss on my 3rd run and beat him on the first attempt. I had the perk that regen health when near low on health and basically straddled that line between being alive and dead. That fight was exhilarating. Used a really strong shotty with slug rounds.

died in the 5th biome. Ran it again and was able to snag multiple pylon drivers. I had a really cool build that worked out really well. I forgot the ability but whenever you get a few kills it levels up and gives you benefits (anyway i found an artifact that gave me health every time i levelled that up). Then i had a perk that gave me a shield whenever i used a resin. So i stayed at max health, used a resin to get a shield, go into a fight, usually would do really well and come out either with a shield or without but or near full health, picked up another resin or two - regain shield and moved on. I literally ran that 5th biome almost flawlessly and by the end i had to run back and recollect all the resins i left around just in case and increased my health pool massively.

I will state that I am semi-cheesing the shit out of some rooms. I fire before entering rooms at times to draw enemies out and will run back to previous rooms and funnel them bitches to the door. other times i just run around in a circle incessantly until i clear most of the enemies (scrubs, flying or turrets). There are some rooms that lock up where i managed to trigger that boss outside of it and then draw that fucker in front of the room and kill it through the door. LOL.

I will end my summary here and put spoilers next.

DO NOT READ the spoiler below until you've acquired the 3 keys and open up the special door in the 5th biome and continued.

Spoiler: 5th biome - beyond the door

I expected a boss but nope it was an empty room that looked like I may fight a boss but i received another upgrade - ability to walk in or underwater (which is arguably retarded because i can walk on lava.. how can the suit not be able to handle water??).

Anyway I jump off the plank into the abyss and i am in a water world. Again there's an insane amount of enemies so i fire from outside the area where they spawn and literally kill several dozens before moving on. I didn't get too far further when i reach another choking point with ooogles of floating ads. I am destroying them with my driver and then one manages to sneak by my webs of firing and knocks me off. i land on a ledge that I guess i wasn't suppose to land on. anyway i am stuck there. If I jump off and die i respawn on that ledge. I must have been there for 20 minutes or so trying to figure out how jump back up while continuously firing at ads with my driver - would get hurt, kill a bunch of ads, regen health, try to jump somewhere, die, respawn on ledge, repeat. I maxed out my proficiency to 30 during this mayhem.

NOTE: This point may be an excellent spot to max out proficiency if you can regen health properly and not fall out and get stuck.

After a while all ads are dead except two that wont come near me. i try to jump out in different angles but i find nothing to help me go back up. I do this for another 5 mins or so and just give in and jump off continously till i die. I am hoping I am reborn in the 5th biome because but nope.. The 5th biome is bossless and the underwater world is its own biome. I respawn a the beginning of act 2. Fuckin pissed.. I was loaded and kicking ass. What a SHITTY way to end another phenomenal run. SIGH...

Anyway.. eager to get back into the fight and try all of that again but i got family stuff to do this weekend.

 

[Dinkin_Flicka]

I played way too much myself.

also beat the 3rd biome boss. Easily I might add. It was my 2nd time facing him. All my prevopis runs except one ended against those flying scrubs or suddenly being overwhelmed before I got there. Went in with my favorite weapon. Level 15 pylon driver. Spanked that boss. I knew the mechanics so it was easy to dodge and react the 2nd time around.

reached act 2 as well. Managed to get to the 4th boss on my 3rd run and beat him on the first attempt. I had the perk that regen health when near low on health and basically straddled that line between being alive and dead. That fight was exhilarating. Used a really strong shotty with slug rounds.

died in the 5th biome. Ran it again and was able to snag multiple pylon drivers. I had a really cool build that worked out really well. I forgot the ability but whenever you get a few kills it levels up and gives you benefits (anyway i found an artifact that gave me health every time i levelled that up). Then i had a perk that gave me a shield whenever i used a resin. So i stayed at max health, used a resin to get a shield, go into a fight, usually would do really well and come out either with a shield or without but or near full health, picked up another resin or two - regain shield and moved on. I literally ran that 5th biome almost flawlessly and by the end i had to run back and recollect all the resins i left around just in case and increased my health pool massively.

I will state that I am semi-cheesing the shit out of some rooms. I fire before entering rooms at times to draw enemies out and will run back to previous rooms and funnel them bitches to the door. other times i just run around in a circle incessantly until i clear most of the enemies (scrubs, flying or turrets). There are some rooms that lock up where i managed to trigger that boss outside of it and then draw that fucker in front of the room and kill it through the door. LOL.

I will end my summary here and put spoilers next.

DO NOT READ the spoiler below until you've acquired the 3 keys and open up the special door in the 5th biome and continued.

Spoiler: 5th biome - beyond the door

I expected a boss but nope it was an empty room that looked like I may fight a boss but i received another upgrade - ability to walk in or underwater (which is arguably retarded because i can walk on lava.. how can the suit not be able to handle water??).

Anyway I jump off the plank into the abyss and i am in a water world. Again there's an insane amount of enemies so i fire from outside the area where they spawn and literally kill several dozens before moving on. I didn't get too far further when i reach another choking point with ooogles of floating ads. I am destroying them with my driver and then one manages to sneak by my webs of firing and knocks me off. i land on a ledge that I guess i wasn't suppose to land on. anyway i am stuck there. If I jump off and die i respawn on that ledge. I must have been there for 20 minutes or so trying to figure out how jump back up while continuously firing at ads with my driver - would get hurt, kill a bunch of ads, regen health, try to jump somewhere, die, respawn on ledge, repeat. I maxed out my proficiency to 30 during this mayhem.

NOTE: This point may be an excellent spot to max out proficiency if you can regen health properly and not fall out and get stuck.

After a while all ads are dead except two that wont come near me. i try to jump out in different angles but i find nothing to help me go back up. I do this for another 5 mins or so and just give in and jump off continously till i die. I am hoping I am reborn in the 5th biome because but nope.. The 5th biome is bossless and the underwater world is its own biome. I respawn a the beginning of act 2. Fuckin pissed.. I was loaded and kicking ass. What a SHITTY way to end another phenomenal run. SIGH...

Anyway.. eager to get back into the fight and try all of that again but i got family stuff to do this weekend.

Out of Act II, I found the fifth biome the most difficult. I ended up using the Pylon Driver with the Web skill and would enter the rooms and bait the missile drones to the entrance and load it up with electric webs. Then just let the webs do the dirty work. Worked slow and methodical and cleared the biome with only one scare from a room that locked down and spawned in a ton enemies.

I actually didn't find the 6th biome as hard as the 5th, and cleared fairly smoothly just going slow. Made it to the boss on my first run with an Astronaut relic and the checkpoint enabled. Got the boss down to the last phase in my first try and found my Pylon Driver with Pylon Web didn't work to well. On the second try switched out to the Carbine with Leech II and it went much smoother as it was much easier to hit his shifting weak spots. Was elated when he went down.

Spoiler

Knew that there was a secret ending that required a second playthrough so wasn't surprised when the ending felt like there was more to the story.

To get the secret ending you're supposed to find A Surface Fragment in each of the 6 biomes and use a special item after the final boss. Made it through most of the way through the first biome and didn't find it, so hoping I didn't miss it. All of the traits are still unlocked and you don't need to fight the bosses again so the second pass will be less frustrating having all of the suit enhancements and skipping the bosses.[spoiler/]

 

[Fraz]

Beat the third boss earlier first try, the fourth boss has kicked my ass a couple of times now.

Loving the rocket launcher and electropylon, definite upgrades to the arsenal.

Also at #15 in the leaderboard for the daily challenge surprised I did that well on it.

 

[Dinkin_Flicka]

Picked up all the Sunface Artifacts except for the one in the 6th biome. Scoured the hell out of it and couldn't find it. Watched a few videos, but since every run is different I'm thinking I just didn't see the same configurations. I did the Act II Sunface Artifacts in a single run and spent my time looking in every nook and cranny to make sure I didn't miss them. By the time I made it back to the last boss I was absolutely loaded to the gills. Tons of artifacts, 200% suit integrity, and proficiency 30. Absolutely crushed the last boss. The first run was tense, so glad the following run was a lot more one sided since you have to beat him again after you collect all the Sunface Artifacts and a special item from the first Biome.

 

[Valhoven]

<Lmaoo>

​

 

[Fraz]

Picked up all the Sunface Artifacts except for the one in the 6th biome. Scoured the hell out of it and couldn't find it. Watched a few videos, but since every run is different I'm thinking I just didn't see the same configurations. I did the Act II Sunface Artifacts in a single run and spent my time looking in every nook and cranny to make sure I didn't miss them. By the time I made it back to the last boss I was absolutely loaded to the gills. Tons of artifacts, 200% suit integrity, and proficiency 30. Absolutely crushed the last boss. The first run was tense, so glad the following run was a lot more one sided since you have to beat him again after you collect all the Sunface Artifacts and a special item from the first Biome.

How is it looking for replayability once you beat the game? Think I may try to platinum it.

 

[SaiWa]

How is it looking for replayability once you beat the game? Think I may try to platinum it.

Not there yet but I wouldn't mind unlocking all the weapon and perks and then run that shit again with the different weapons just for shits and giggles. I think it has tons of replayability but that's just me.

 

[Fraz]

Not there yet but I wouldn't mind unlocking all the weapon and perks and then run that shit again with the different weapons just for shits and giggles. I think it has tons of replayability but that's just me.

Yeah same can feel myself playing on even after beating it, it's just fun to play in general. the mechanics are so tight.

 

[Dinkin_Flicka]

How is it looking for replayability once you beat the game? Think I may try to platinum it.

It's not as stressfull, that's for sure. Just for the true ending you need to replay all of the biomes to collect special items, but you don't have to take on the bosses. It's still fun to fight them again so I took on most of them. You'll have to play through Act II at least two more times. Once to collect the the 3 Sunface Fragments that all have to be turned in at the house in the first biome, then once you collect a special key, you have to beat the last boss again to use it in the area beyond.

Outside of that there are tons of collectables in audio logs and translations. Their random through the biomes so you'd need a few runs to get them all. If you want to unlock all of the traits, that will take a good long time. The Tier III traits level up really slow. I kept the same gun for a trait and through the last 3 biomes and still didn't unlock it. I looked through the trophies and thankfully didn't remember seeing a trophy around getting all the traits, that would take forever.

 

[Fraz]

Beat Piano Man, took 3 attempts, died a good few times trying to reach him. Had a beast of a rocket launcher on the last attempt.

 

[Dinkin_Flicka]

Beat Piano Man, took 3 attempts, died a good few times trying to reach him. Had a beast of a rocket launcher on the last attempt.

Take some time hearing up in biome 4 before diving into the 5th biome. The box drones with their wall of missiles are brutal. Just take it slow, it's super easy to wipe if you try to rush. No boss in the 5th biome, but the last key for the area is behind a challenge room which can be pretty tough.

 

[SaiWa]

Finally beat the game.

I had to spend some time leveling up other weapons. It made runs easier instead of looking for only the driver or shotty.

I figured out a little way of getting a good amount of obolites in Act II. The 4th biome (first one in Act II) has tons of weeds that will yield obolites if you shoot or melee them. Once I cleared the entire biome i would teleport from one stage to another and farm them. Look for areas where there are tons of weeds. I used a 3 stage rotation and was able to buy everything in the 4th biome and still had 2K obolites.

Anyway I was more or less maxed out with health consumables for the final boss. First time facing him so i was a bit nervous. I couldn't figure him out for a good while (maybe 3-4 minutes) but once i did it turned out to be pretty easy. I was regen-ing and had tons of health consumables. Only ended up using one consumable.

On my 2nd run i was also fuckin' loaded but the game crashed on the 3rd biome. I couldn't find the 3rd sunkeep or thingamajig... fuck.. had cleared the whole area and was about to head towards the bridge when it crashed... fuckin' A... this game is so much fun but it's really annoying when it crashes and you lose all your progress...

 

[Dinkin_Flicka]

On my 2nd run i was also fuckin' loaded but the game crashed on the 3rd biome. I couldn't find the 3rd sunkeep or thingamajig... fuck.. had cleared the whole area and was about to head towards the bridge when it crashed... fuckin' A... this game is so much fun but it's really annoying when it crashes and you lose all your progress...

Gah! I think you were pretty close. I found the 3rd Sunface Fragment in the other side of the bridge. The 5 fragment was similar for me where I scoured the level and frustrated after I cleared the 3 paths with no luck, then ended up finding it just behind the Hadal Key door where you get the Ballast suit upgrade. Not really a waste since i got a ton of boosts in the process.

Did a run last night to try for the last fragment in the Abyss. Had respectable gear and slowly looking everywhere for the last fragment. Hit a big room with 2 of the giant squid things that continually spawn the smaller squids, both behind shields. Tried do go slowly and after a certain one of the big Orb enemies came out that launches the huge volley of shockwaves. Decided to make a break for the squid spawned since a sword attack drops them pretty quick when shielded. By the time I took them both out I had eaten a ton of damage. Tried to dash through some shockwaves and ended up dashing into a pit and died.

Always kick myself when I die from stupid shit. Should have backed out and killed the orb first. Will have to wait for the weekend to clean up the last of the stuff. Timing is working out good though since I wanted to be done for Biomutant on the 25th.

 

[Fraz]

Take some time hearing up in biome 4 before diving into the 5th biome. The box drones with their wall of missiles are brutal. Just take it slow, it's super easy to wipe if you try to rush. No boss in the 5th biome, but the last key for the area is behind a challenge room which can be pretty tough.

On 5th biome now, you are right those little bastards are tough, I enjoy fighting them though it's frantic, non stop dashing and jumping to get away from there missiles and charge attacks.

 

[SaiWa]

On 5th biome now, you are right those little bastards are tough, I enjoy fighting them though it's frantic, non stop dashing and jumping to get away from there missiles and charge attacks.

yeah I also got used to them and enjoy the frantic pace of action at times.

I’ve also changed the way I level up. I used to favor attacking perks but now I save up for anything that helps me survive. Increase protection is high on my priority as well as any artifact that will get me health back, add protection or give me a shield.

I also don’t gamble as much on malignant items anymore unless I have a consumable that will clear malfunctions or it’s super early in the game..

 

[SaiWa]

I do find it super annoying that we cannot run the daily challenge without losing our progress. What's the point of having a daily challenge for people who can't play this a lot or often in a day if you cannot do it in the middle of a run?

 

[Dinkin_Flicka]

Played a little bit this morning on my telewor day and finally found the last Sunface Fragment in The Abyss. It should be prior to the first big drop, so if you get to it, don't take the plunge. All the videos and tips showed similar stuff that there is a chest that doesn't show on the map until you get close to it, at the chest there is an Orb to shoot off a bit that leads to the fragment.

Bummed you can't use that run to see the true ending since you need to start a fresh run in the first area to get the final item. Picked up the last item and got going in a new run for the true ending. Got some good stuff going so far, but having a rocky go with some of the early rooms with some hard stuff right out the gates. Hope to finish it this afternoon.