After this many hours, this 51-year old managed to finish Act 2:
I would like to thank my artifact that gave me a shield when I was at low Integrity, and after failing the first time because I had no clue at what I was supposed to shoot, I was reconstructed, searched back for my level 16 Hollowseeker with Portal Beam, because Portal Beam does, unlike me, know where to shoot (even if my gun only had 4 pips of damage).
(Shoot the light orbs to expose the red nipples which need to be shot).
I guess Serrated helped out too, and the fact that I only met 2 swimming gorillas in World 6.
There's an Act 3 ? I guess/hope that's more a cleanup act instead of another 3 new Worlds to be tormented by...
I've been excited for this game ever since it came out, not least thanks to articles and videos like Jacob Geller's fascinating video essay on the game (embedded below). So when it came out on PC yesterday, I bought it immediately, got excited watching the benchmark - can't wait to enter this world! - and then... black screen. I could hear the sound effects of the intro, but the screen showed nothing, except for the prompt to skip the cutscene when I pressed a button, but even that didn't work.
I've since found out what I need to do to solve this problem (apparently there's some Microsoft codec that I haven't got installed), but yeah, my first impression of Returnal was a bit of an anticlimax.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Booted this up for PC this morning for a quick test before work. Just hit epic with no dlss and did the benchmark. Was curious what I'd get with dlss and going back I just can't find the option anymore. I spent a good 15 minutes this morning before work and it's just not there anymore.
Edit: Okay, I'm just a blind fool.
Mmmm... Cocks... on
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KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
edited February 2023
Yes, please let me know first PC impressions. I am tempted to double dip as well. I imagine the mods will be intense.
As a fan of roguelites, what does Returnal do that sets it apart from others? Put another way, why would someone play Returnal over others in the genre?
As a fan of roguelites, what does Returnal do that sets it apart from others? Put another way, why would someone play Returnal over others in the genre?
HOUSEMARQUE.
. . .also, from the roguelikes I've played (whether deckbuilders or action), it is the rare one with an actually interesting story. I've only made it to Biome 2 boss because I'm terrible at the game (or impatient), but the story bits are what really got me invested in Selene. I mean they hook you in within a minute of playing the game to where the "one more run" becomes more about unlocking the story as much as it is about unlocking progression upgrades.
But seriously, HOUSEMARQUE is the right answer to this.
I absolutely double dipped for this. Plays like a dream on PC.
Minor stuttering issue, but not enough to drop my fps below 100 fps. Playing around 120 fps is awesome, mouse and keyboard controls are basically perfect.
Pretty much the only thing holding the port back is that stuttering issue.
Got to the second half of the game on my second real attempt, feels like riding a bike. It is funny reading steam reviews complaining about the "randomness" when there absolutely are ways to guarantee you'll succeed in every run, it's just not obvious to new players what those ways are.
Played it, it's alright, I am a big fan of time loops, but this kind of negates the benefits of a time loop in that the shifting rooms, items, and enemies mean you're not mastering a run, you're learning how to adapt to some differences but you're not precision timing everything because you've played through these areas in this order a dozen times.
Also while the story was initially intriguing,
the wishy washy vagueness of the ending and the obtuse way you get into the house necessary for the other ending is frustrating. I eventually had to look up a guide and even then it didn't seem clear cut. You have to beat bosses to unlock the next phase of the house but I couldn't find a way to return to the original area without completing a run in full or dying and dying didn't seem to work as the house remained locked to me. I don't mind mystery, I don't know how Silent Hill works but at least the story has a clear beginning, middle, and end and things left up to interpretation have clues leading you to an outcome. I'm not even sure Selene is in space after all that and yet she must be because she went back and spent 63 years on Earth.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited February 2023
Yeah I've been eyeing this.
I'm not huge into roguethings, but I do love me a good shooter, and I'm better potitioned to play longer stretches on my PC than a console.
edit - also I saw a benchmark that has it averaging 70fps on a 6800XT in 3440x1440 on Ultra with raytracting and that's pretty great optimisation.
-Loki- on
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
It's not a real time loop, it's a rogue lite. The time loop is narrative only.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Played it, it's alright, I am a big fan of time loops, but this kind of negates the benefits of a time loop in that the shifting rooms, items, and enemies mean you're not mastering a run, you're learning how to adapt to some differences but you're not precision timing everything because you've played through these areas in this order a dozen times.
Also while the story was initially intriguing,
the wishy washy vagueness of the ending and the obtuse way you get into the house necessary for the other ending is frustrating. I eventually had to look up a guide and even then it didn't seem clear cut. You have to beat bosses to unlock the next phase of the house but I couldn't find a way to return to the original area without completing a run in full or dying and dying didn't seem to work as the house remained locked to me. I don't mind mystery, I don't know how Silent Hill works but at least the story has a clear beginning, middle, and end and things left up to interpretation have clues leading you to an outcome. I'm not even sure Selene is in space after all that and yet she must be because she went back and spent 63 years on Earth.
There's a machine in the ship you can use to switch between time periods, it's behind the cargo bay door that was locked. As for the last ending, you just have to the fragment in each biome. Once you do, the house will open up again.
It's not a real time loop, it's a rogue lite. The time loop is narrative only.
If you want a real time loop play Outer Wilds.
...and don't finish it on a work night.
3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited February 2023
Watching a stream of this to see if I like the gameplay loop, and the streamers session was ended by a bug (fell to death, fade to black, didn't die, just stayed black), so they quit and went back in and the game had saved at that point.
IIRC at lauch there was no save funtion at all? This moved it to an absolute buy for me. The ability to quit mid run and return later when runs can last an hour or more is pretty necessary.
I have seen the falling out-of-bounds bug, then fade to black until you're dead. It's very annoying, but has only happened to me once in 10 hours so far.
Hopefully it doesn't stick around, that's a very demoralizing bug for a roguelite with runs that last 3-4 hours.
I finished act 2 in about 11 hours, in that time only saw two issues:
1. Saved and exited right after finishing the first biome, when I tried to resume I immediately fell through the world and had to end the run to fix it.
2. Hard crashed once when teleporting, but when I returned to the game it resumed right before where I had been. That would have been super frustrating otherwise.
Other than that it was a pretty smooth port experience for me. Definitely over prepared for the final boss, went in with max integrity (didn’t know that was even a thing), 5 health pots, 2 revives, and a leech 2 carbine. Don’t think I lost more than a quarter bar of health. I think outside the first and second bosses the rest are mostly pushovers, especially compared to mid bosses/elites in the other biomes.
Bosses are dangerous, but they're a single enemy that you know to keep track of, which makes it a lot easier. Most of my deaths come from multiple enemies that I can't keep in sight at all times, then whoever I can't see is able to murder me.
I actually thought bosses were... under-tuned I guess? I don't want to be dismissive and say they were easy, they certainly had their challenges. But it felt like every normal enemy in the game could do serious damage to you and kill you in just a few hits. Meanwhile bosses felt like they actually did less damage to you and you could afford to take some smacks here and there. It just felt like after a certain point, the hardest part of any level was just getting to the boss, and not the boss itself.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
At least when it came out, the official stats released by Housemarque said that Phrike was the #1 player killer, so I think it comes down to familiarity.
Nobody remembers the singer. The song remains.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
The other thing to note is once you kill a lot of the bosses in this game, you don't have to bother fighting them again unless you specifically feel like it.
I'm enjoying this greatly, but I suck at it. Definitely thinking I should try playing it with KBAM instead of gamepad.
I don't know if it'll have the same longevity, but for the first couple of days Returnal exerted a similar pull on me as Hades, for what it's worth. Tonally it's totally different, obviously, but I got a very similar "just one more try" feeling from it.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Remember that early game is the hardest time you'll have with it. As you get further and unlock some permanent gear upgrades, you get more of a safety net against things going badly. Early on you're far more at the mercy of the RNG gods.
Yeah, I've heard that. It's possible that I'll play it with KBAM and won't like it as much - I've read one article that suggested it gets too easy with mouse aiming - and then I'd return to gamepad, because for third-person movement I can definitely see the advantages of stick steering over WASD.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
For what it's worth, the streamer I was watching was a veteran of the console release and said KBAM was night and day better. The game was designed for it.
So much so that he did the first real run without dying.
Well the PS5 title clearly wasn't designed for KBAM. Yes it makes aiming easier, but it wasn't what they designed it around in the first place.
Oh, and if you're using aim down sights, I'd advise not doing that most of the time. Just regular firing is generally accurate enough, and it's a lot easier to keep moving and dodging while you do so.
Also, just crank the auto aim all the way up. Your gut reaction might tell you it's cheating, but... fuck it. I'm sure aiming is a lot better with a mouse, but on a controller, screw precision aiming when the action is this hectic.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Also, just crank the auto aim all the way up. Your gut reaction might tell you it's cheating, but... fuck it. I'm sure aiming is a lot better with a mouse, but on a controller, screw precision aiming when the action is this hectic.
It's not just about the results, it's also about the feel of the game. I'm curious to see whether it'll *feel* better to play with KBAM for someone like me who played shooters exclusively with KBAM for a long, long time.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Well the PS5 title clearly wasn't designed for KBAM. Yes it makes aiming easier, but it wasn't what they designed it around in the first place.
The 'was designed for it' was more that the game has a lot of snap aiming. Enemies popping out from all kinds of directions, which is just flat out easier with KBAM. Hence why it felt like it was designed for it.
It wasn't, because they didn't even know they were doing a PC release when they made it, but it just felt better.
I just can't imagine playing this without a dualsense controller. The haptic feedback with rain and stuff is fantastic.
(I know some have tried to put force feedback in KBAM, but I don't think they've ever succeeded)
Are there any PC gamers here that have used the Dualsense? Is it worth getting one for the games that support its features on PC? I like what I hear about it, but I'm not sure I like it to the tune of US$75 (which is roughly what a Dualsense controller would cost over here).
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
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Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
Are there any PC gamers here that have used the Dualsense? Is it worth getting one for the games that support its features on PC? I like what I hear about it, but I'm not sure I like it to the tune of US$75 (which is roughly what a Dualsense controller would cost over here).
I have only used it for the Death Stranding Director’s Cut I picked up again a few days ago, and it’s cool as hell but maybe not $75 bucks and a handful of games cool
There’s some modders out there trying to make it work with a bunch of other games though, which I do find kind of exciting!
Are there any PC gamers here that have used the Dualsense? Is it worth getting one for the games that support its features on PC? I like what I hear about it, but I'm not sure I like it to the tune of US$75 (which is roughly what a Dualsense controller would cost over here).
I definitely found KBAM to be much easier than controller. I'm sure some of it was just working knowledge of what the game wanted me to do, but my PC playthrough went much, much smoother than my PS5 playthrough did at launch. I think it took me like half as long to beat on PC, give or take.
Unrelated, I've been messing around with the Tower a bit and it's definitely a fun change of pace from the normal exploration; just kind of non-stop Returnal action. I've actually done much better on the leaderboards than I expected but the top spot feels utterly unattainable? I scrolled through last night and it's pretty linear increases in score through the top few hundred and then in the top 10 things get pretty wonky. I think #10 was around 100 million points, #2 was about 300 million, and #1 was over 1 billion points. Is the top spot likely a cheater or just like exponentially better at Returnal than everyone else playing it?
surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
edited January 7
i picked it up randomly not realising it had got to pc ages ago and
finished the game on my first run hurrah
the game didnt say i was an "epic legendary gamer" and give me a medal though so feeling a bit disappointed. definitely felt fine on kbam and actively rewards aiming quickly while moving so not sure there's any benefit to controller?
EDIT: I will also say the 6th biome was a slog and a boring one at that - if it was shortened by 90% into a series of tighter story focused bits of exploration it would be vastly improved. zero hp jellyfish enemies and even floatier movement + boring aquatic soundscape and darkness is a duff note for a game that had some great environments otherwise. guess they had to stick in a descent (although for a game like this i assume it would be katabasis...)
interesting sci fi premise but its a metaphor actually is a pretty played out trope and the moment they tipped their hand i was mentally checked out. if ur going to do something like this fully commit and make it the descent into the narrator of a samuel beckett novel or something. the way this ended up was less than the sum of its parts
an excellent port with amazing sound and graphics work and reasonably ok gameplay (its workmanlike but shallow) and an interesting concept that somehow lets every part of itself down in how it is brought together
Posts
I would like to thank my artifact that gave me a shield when I was at low Integrity, and after failing the first time because I had no clue at what I was supposed to shoot, I was reconstructed, searched back for my level 16 Hollowseeker with Portal Beam, because Portal Beam does, unlike me, know where to shoot
(Shoot the light orbs to expose the red nipples which need to be shot).
I guess Serrated helped out too, and the fact that I only met 2 swimming gorillas in World 6.
There's an Act 3
I've since found out what I need to do to solve this problem (apparently there's some Microsoft codec that I haven't got installed), but yeah, my first impression of Returnal was a bit of an anticlimax.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
. . . this is easily the way to play. The fidelity on PS5 is fine, but good lord is it off the chain even at 2K (Epic) on PC.
Edit: Okay, I'm just a blind fool.
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
As a fan of roguelites, what does Returnal do that sets it apart from others? Put another way, why would someone play Returnal over others in the genre?
HOUSEMARQUE.
. . .also, from the roguelikes I've played (whether deckbuilders or action), it is the rare one with an actually interesting story. I've only made it to Biome 2 boss because I'm terrible at the game (or impatient), but the story bits are what really got me invested in Selene. I mean they hook you in within a minute of playing the game to where the "one more run" becomes more about unlocking the story as much as it is about unlocking progression upgrades.
But seriously, HOUSEMARQUE is the right answer to this.
Must... Not double dip...
Minor stuttering issue, but not enough to drop my fps below 100 fps. Playing around 120 fps is awesome, mouse and keyboard controls are basically perfect.
Pretty much the only thing holding the port back is that stuttering issue.
Got to the second half of the game on my second real attempt, feels like riding a bike. It is funny reading steam reviews complaining about the "randomness" when there absolutely are ways to guarantee you'll succeed in every run, it's just not obvious to new players what those ways are.
Also while the story was initially intriguing,
I'm not huge into roguethings, but I do love me a good shooter, and I'm better potitioned to play longer stretches on my PC than a console.
edit - also I saw a benchmark that has it averaging 70fps on a 6800XT in 3440x1440 on Ultra with raytracting and that's pretty great optimisation.
If you want a real time loop play Outer Wilds.
...and don't finish it on a work night.
IIRC at lauch there was no save funtion at all? This moved it to an absolute buy for me. The ability to quit mid run and return later when runs can last an hour or more is pretty necessary.
Hopefully it doesn't stick around, that's a very demoralizing bug for a roguelite with runs that last 3-4 hours.
Pretty fun game, I look forward to hearing that it gets fixed.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
1. Saved and exited right after finishing the first biome, when I tried to resume I immediately fell through the world and had to end the run to fix it.
2. Hard crashed once when teleporting, but when I returned to the game it resumed right before where I had been. That would have been super frustrating otherwise.
Other than that it was a pretty smooth port experience for me. Definitely over prepared for the final boss, went in with max integrity (didn’t know that was even a thing), 5 health pots, 2 revives, and a leech 2 carbine. Don’t think I lost more than a quarter bar of health. I think outside the first and second bosses the rest are mostly pushovers, especially compared to mid bosses/elites in the other biomes.
I don't know if it'll have the same longevity, but for the first couple of days Returnal exerted a similar pull on me as Hades, for what it's worth. Tonally it's totally different, obviously, but I got a very similar "just one more try" feeling from it.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
So much so that he did the first real run without dying.
Oh, and if you're using aim down sights, I'd advise not doing that most of the time. Just regular firing is generally accurate enough, and it's a lot easier to keep moving and dodging while you do so.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
The 'was designed for it' was more that the game has a lot of snap aiming. Enemies popping out from all kinds of directions, which is just flat out easier with KBAM. Hence why it felt like it was designed for it.
It wasn't, because they didn't even know they were doing a PC release when they made it, but it just felt better.
(I know some have tried to put force feedback in KBAM, but I don't think they've ever succeeded)
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
I have only used it for the Death Stranding Director’s Cut I picked up again a few days ago, and it’s cool as hell but maybe not $75 bucks and a handful of games cool
There’s some modders out there trying to make it work with a bunch of other games though, which I do find kind of exciting!
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Honestly? Nah. Not for that cost.
Unrelated, I've been messing around with the Tower a bit and it's definitely a fun change of pace from the normal exploration; just kind of non-stop Returnal action. I've actually done much better on the leaderboards than I expected but the top spot feels utterly unattainable? I scrolled through last night and it's pretty linear increases in score through the top few hundred and then in the top 10 things get pretty wonky. I think #10 was around 100 million points, #2 was about 300 million, and #1 was over 1 billion points. Is the top spot likely a cheater or just like exponentially better at Returnal than everyone else playing it?
finished the game on my first run hurrah
the game didnt say i was an "epic legendary gamer" and give me a medal though so feeling a bit disappointed. definitely felt fine on kbam and actively rewards aiming quickly while moving so not sure there's any benefit to controller?
EDIT: I will also say the 6th biome was a slog and a boring one at that - if it was shortened by 90% into a series of tighter story focused bits of exploration it would be vastly improved. zero hp jellyfish enemies and even floatier movement + boring aquatic soundscape and darkness is a duff note for a game that had some great environments otherwise. guess they had to stick in a descent (although for a game like this i assume it would be katabasis...)
interesting sci fi premise but its a metaphor actually is a pretty played out trope and the moment they tipped their hand i was mentally checked out. if ur going to do something like this fully commit and make it the descent into the narrator of a samuel beckett novel or something. the way this ended up was less than the sum of its parts
an excellent port with amazing sound and graphics work and reasonably ok gameplay (its workmanlike but shallow) and an interesting concept that somehow lets every part of itself down in how it is brought together