Returnal - RLLMUK and BAFTA GOTY 2021 - Free Ascension DLC out now!

[Hoodedclaw]

Got that first boss down to almost death in his third phase but I just couldn't learn his pattern. Don't think I found a gun over lvl 3 carbine , no idea what any of the pick ups really do even with description it's vague at best , with saying that tho I couldnt stop wanting to see more and had to drag myself to bed last night  

 

 

[Colonel Panic]

What are the rooms with a parasite covering the entrance? I died on the boss once and on subsequent runs, their's always a door like this, I enter and get torn to pieces after a few waves because I'm a bit average!

[Hoodedclaw]

5 minutes ago, Colonel Panic said:

What are the rooms with a parasite covering the entrance? I died on the boss once and on subsequent runs, their's always a door like this, I enter and get torn to pieces after a few waves because I'm a bit average!

Alt fire to remove them don't you ?

[imp]

7 minutes ago, Colonel Panic said:

What are the rooms with a parasite covering the entrance? I died on the boss once and on subsequent runs, their's always a door like this, I enter and get torn to pieces after a few waves because I'm a bit average!

Spoiler

Challenge rooms.

 

Spoiler

Fight waves of enemies including mini bosses for good reward. 

 

 

[Nosejam]

6 minutes ago, Colonel Panic said:

What are the rooms with a parasite covering the entrance? I died on the boss once and on subsequent runs, their's always a door like this, I enter and get torn to pieces after a few waves because I'm a bit average!

These are challenge rooms. On the map they are shown with a star above the door symbol.

 

They are bit harder than normal areas with 2 or 3 waves of enemies. They also seem to give a decent reward at the end.

[Majora]

I probably wouldn't recommend doing the challenge rooms if you're still lumbered with your level 0 starting weapon. If you've found one a bit better then it's worth having a crack at them.

[Colonel Panic]

Cheers all, best to not run into them unprepared, then!

[Minion]

The first boss is ridiculous, his third phase is just so unfair, what exactly is the counter to the melee? let alone all the other crap he throws at you/ And how do you get a revive, sometimes I've revived fighting him and just now I died. I'm already addicted but it is such a stingy game when it comes to upgrades and progression, I wonder if the £70 price tag made them up the difficulty to ensure people didn't beat it in 10 hours...

[superfunk]

I can't even defeat the mini bosses. Is it just a question of powering everything up as much as possible? I'm finding it quite frustrating. 

[Minion]

1 minute ago, superfunk said:

I can't even defeat the mini bosses. Is it just a question of powering everything up as much as possible? I'm finding it quite frustrating. 

 

Yeah getting a decent powered weapon and learning how to deal with certain enemies. Like the big mini boss who likes to melee you seems weak to melee himself so dodging his melee then returning with one of your own seems to help. The enemies I hate are the bat/manta ray things which also melee/rush you, they can fucking do one it's so hard to avoid their attacks.

[idespair]

1 minute ago, Minion said:

The first boss is ridiculous, his third phase is just so unfair, what exactly is the counter to the melee? let alone all the other crap he throws at you/

 

I’ll happily admit that I got lucky and defeated him the first time our paths crossed, but (from my limited experience) your best bet is to wait until he unleashes the expanding ring attack and then immediately dash to one side. Otherwise, by the time he starts moving it’s already too late.

[Minion]

I don't mind if you make your game hard but making it stingy as fuck too is kinda annoying. But just one more go...

[Colonel Panic]

Yeah, it's not like Souls where you can leg it to the boss after a while, each run needs some resource gathering first. 

[jonamok]

Yeah, Phrike always telegraphs that phase 3 teleport attack by dropping an expanding ring. So as soon as he lifts his hands from doing that, run to the side and dash. Then jump as the ring gets to you. Make sure sprint is set to ‘always on’ in the gameplay settings for his fight. I have it permanently on anyway as it helps in every combat - bar those near cliffs, obvs.

[sid]

4 minutes ago, jonamok said:

Yeah, Phrike always telegraphs that phase 3 teleport attack by dropping an expanding ring. So as soon as he lifts his hands from doing that, run to the side and dash. Then jump as the ring gets to you. Make sure sprint is set to ‘always on’ in the gameplay settings for his fight. I have it permanently on anyway as it helps in every combat - bar those near cliffs, obvs.

Always on. Why the fuck isn’t that the default ! Jesus Christ this game.

 

the boxart should just say FUCKYOU on the front in a big font

[Hylian]

I would definitely recommend trying to NOT aim down sights all the time. "hip fire" in this is very accurate and allows you to move about much more quickly while firing. I'm tended to use ADS when I have distant enemies or I know everything is in front of me. 

[Nate Dogg III]

I found it easier to backdash the melee, gives you a bit more time to resettle yourself to dodge the laser ring. It’s a big arena so you might as well use it. 
 

And yes I didn’t ADS at all after a couple of hours. Not only because I kept accidentally trying to altfire when things got tense, but also because I found I wanted as wide a view of the action as possible.

[superfunk]

27 minutes ago, Minion said:

 

Yeah getting a decent powered weapon and learning how to deal with certain enemies. Like the big mini boss who likes to melee you seems weak to melee himself so dodging his melee then returning with one of your own seems to help. The enemies I hate are the bat/manta ray things which also melee/rush you, they can fucking do one it's so hard to avoid their attacks.

I feel that that dog sat at a keyboard not having a clue what's he's doing.

[Majora]

28 minutes ago, Minion said:

 And how do you get a revive, sometimes I've revived fighting him and just now I died. 

 

Spoiler

The astronaut item revives you. You would have picked one up first time through the house. On subsequent runs you would need to either find or buy one so it's luck whether you'll get one for your next boss fight basically.

 

 

Worth mentioning for those feeling a little frustrated at this point that once you get to Biome 2, the entrance to it is still random but usually placed quite close to the ship area. Also, at the start of biome 2 there is always an item that boosts your weapon proficiency a lot so you don't need to worry about finding a good weapon in biome 1 before going to 2.

 

You may still want to explore 1 a bit to find fabricators/health upgrades and so on but once you beat biome 1's boss you do feel like you've made tangible progress.

[sid]

When you realise that the boss that fucking owned you in biome 1 isn’t a boss

[BitterToad]

Any tips for the green tree lads that throw out the slow shit? They own me every time I come into contact with them. 

[Minion]

FFS spend an hour to get wrecked by a boss with 3 health bars. This feels so unbalanced, I've seen so many complaints about From bosses getting more and more health bars but at least you can level everything up and be hard, in this you spend an hour of fighting your way through things to get some measly upgrades and then get 1 shot at taking down a 3 phase boss who can kill you in just a few mistakes. It's compulsive but it also feels massively unfair, where is the permanent progression, doesn't feel like there is any at all?

[JoeK]

I bet my left bollock that Sony will look into film/TV options for this. Strong woman in the lead, mystery and lots of shooting stuff. 

 

It'd probably flop, but I'd rather like to see it.

 

 

[Hylian]

10 minutes ago, BitterToad said:

Any tips for the green tree lads that throw out the slow shit? They own me every time I come into contact with them. 

Keep strafing around them. Watch out for when they get staggered and fall to their knees. Then go in and melee. 

[jonamok]

Melee is really the way against any ground-level or low-flying mob or turret. It can kill most things in biome 1 in one hit, and you can dash into the attack and through whatever they’re throwing at you. It also means you never miss an obolite drop. Only on the tree men and big orange melee beasts should you need to soften them up first with an alt-fire or two. But melee feels like it still has a bit of a stunlock on those boys too. So alt-fire them, dash in, slash slash, dash back out, retreat, keep running around the room furniture, repeat.

[Majora]

Setting sprint to always-on has been a revelation, you don't even need to dash half as much since you move so quickly while simply running and shooting from the hip. Only downside is that it makes some of the more precise platforming bits a little more finicky but it's a more than worthy trade-off.

[Bojangle]

1 hour ago, jonamok said:

Yeah, Phrike always telegraphs that phase 3 teleport attack by dropping an expanding ring. So as soon as he lifts his hands from doing that, run to the side and dash. Then jump as the ring gets to you. Make sure sprint is set to ‘always on’ in the gameplay settings for his fight. I have it permanently on anyway as it helps in every combat - bar those near cliffs, obvs.

He doesn’t always drop the ring before the melee, FYI. It fucks me up every time he does it without.

 

Thanks for the tip about the Always on Sprint, a game changer! Noticed there’s an Aim Assist slider in there too, set mine to high because honestly, I need what little help I can get!

 

I was 2-3 hits from finally downing Phrike last night but the fucker got me right at the end, a real sweaty palms moment. 

[Robo_1]

Yeah, I'm struggling with this and not the Dark Souls, "I can see the path forward and if I just practice / upgrade more I'll get it" type struggle. I mean I've only myself to blame, I knew going in I didn't like Roguelike/lite games, but the gameplay itself looked cool and I frankly just wanted to play a new exclusive next gen game and see the new shinies in action.

 

I've put a little over two hours in, so it is early days and I didn't even know there was a melee attack, so maybe I'm doing something wrong, but as of right now it feels as though I'm repeating the same dreary 15 mins of gameplay, before being broken by either the first mid-level boss or the subsequent one. If I'm struggling this much before even reaching the first boss fight and my reward for reaching that boss will be to repeat this same miserable block endlessly, then my motivation to carry on with it is dwindling to nothing. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this thread though, as hints like keeping running locked and upping the aim assist may all help tip the balance and offer that vital breakthrough moment which can spark the motivation to git guuud.

[Timmo]

Most games are too easy these days, I reckon people just need to get out of the mindset that bosses will drop first time. I can guarantee the first boss will seem trivial later on and that's because the game has gradually forced you to get generally better.

[Dave White]

My eyes. 
I look like Marty Feldman after 6 bags of coke and a crate of red bull.