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Returnal: Ascension Update (releases tomorrow 22nd March)

Ezekiel_

Banned
So not including this DLC I have 199 hours in Returnal 😅

dTM9wOJ.jpg
That's crazy!

Did you just go through biome 4-6, or you went back to 1-3?
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
What did they changed in the game after the first month (so after i sold the game)?

Like parasites rebalancments or some shit?

I kinda wanna re-buy the game to do some coop but if they changed enough i can go for another campaign run...
I think the drones were nerfed but they can still push your shit in 😂

I would give it another shot and experiment with different weapons. If I had to rate my favorites

1. Electropylon Driver
2. Rotgland
3. Hollowseeker with a portal beam

And some parasites aren't worth it for the trade offs so pay attention to what you're picking up

Some upgrades are better than maxing out your health too. If you see adrenaline leech get it before anything else, also get the astro figure for 1 extra life
 

TheMan

Member
So how’s the coop? Easy to find dudes to play with? Does the game compensate by making things harder?
 

Rockman33

Member
The tower is awesome. Great addition to the game. Seems like something that should have been there from the beginning. But I’m happy it’s here now.

Just wish the platforming in between levels weren’t there.
 

Bramble

Member
So how’s the coop? Easy to find dudes to play with? Does the game compensate by making things harder?

It's great. Found 2 dudes/dudettes very quickly yesterday. The first one left pretty quickly, but the second one followed me everywhere (I have finished the game multiple times by now) and we (well, I) beat Phrike. Had to revive the poor soul in between phases, but managed to beat the boss. Than he died a couple of times in the Crimson Wastes and he left.

But pretty cool helping people out.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
I think the drones were nerfed but they can still push your shit in 😂

I would give it another shot and experiment with different weapons. If I had to rate my favorites

1. Electropylon Driver
2. Rotgland
3. Hollowseeker with a portal beam

And some parasites aren't worth it for the trade offs so pay attention to what you're picking up

Some upgrades are better than maxing out your health too. If you see adrenaline leech get it before anything else, also get the astro figure for 1 extra life
I was probably the only one who didn't had problems with drones, but i had problems with other enemies :lollipop_grinning_sweat:

I played the game for like 30 hoiurs so i extensively tried all the weapons.

If they put coop in the tower mode i could buy the game again in the future.
 

Dr Bass

Member
Played the tower last night. I love that you can FINALLY get through that door! They must have had that planned from the beginning and I always kinda wondered if we would ever get through there ...

So the tower was cool. Saw the first story segment and got to phase 2 room 20 or something like that, but I also wasn't giving it my all because it was late and I was just wanting to "try" it and not "play" it. I'm interested to see the rest of the story bits, and I have an idea what it's going to relate to.

But I'm not sure I want to grind on this new tower section. I had a distinct feeling of inevitable death, so what's the point. Literally like an old arcade game that you can't win (which I know they sorta said was the point), but I'm not into that. Game still plays like a complete dream, and still think this setup would make for an absolutely killer 3D Metroid game if it had a more Metroid style exploration bent.

Still an awesome game, but just not sure the tower adds much for me at this point. But I'll play it a few more times. But still .... what a game, what a game.
 

edbrat

Member
Have you unlocked the grappling hook? It is needed to enter the DLC.
yea I've got the plat :) Something weird happened no idea what, ended up deleting all the game data and reinstalling and it was all fine bar the annoying delay to start playing.

Done a couple of Sisyphus runs, love it so far. Done a bit of coop, again fun and looking forward to doing more. Housemarque really managed to squeeze the last few drops of juice from this wonderful fruit.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
Wow so good to be back. Getting wrecked in Phase 4 but I still feel like I'm re-learning the game. I don't quite get how weapon traits work here, do they unlock at higher tiers as my proficiency goes up?
 

DeepSpace5D

Member
Just wrapped up getting the new trophies for the Tower of Sisyphus. I thought it was a great addition for free content, very fun. It was cool learning a little more than before with the new scout logs and hospital sequences.

The Tower itself was just as great as I remembered the game to be. I guess I could kind of see why the tower doesn’t have coop, since some of the rooms are quite small. If you had two players, I assume you would have to double the amount of enemies present and it seems like it would have been quite chaotic on some of those smaller maps. I think it could have worked, but they would have needed to make some of the arena layouts much larger imo.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
It's great. Found 2 dudes/dudettes very quickly yesterday. The first one left pretty quickly, but the second one followed me everywhere (I have finished the game multiple times by now) and we (well, I) beat Phrike. Had to revive the poor soul in between phases, but managed to beat the boss. Than he died a couple of times in the Crimson Wastes and he left.

But pretty cool helping people out.

Did they randomly ask to play with you?
 

Bartski

Gold Member
is it possible to locate the player you got matched with, as in other MP games and/or previous versions of the OS? I can't find it anymore.

Had a cool game yesterday helping out some player, he clearly had no idea what to do. We finally failed at Phrike while I got hit reviving him for the nth time, I had to disconnect for work and felt kinda bad about it as he probably thought I'm leaving cause he sucked. Gave me an accolade. I'd just wanna message him and say to ping me when he's back... is that even possible now? Some games seem to have a card for this, not here.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Tower mode is now my go to. I already got all the story segments. I can get to phase 4 is thats when the game gives you the middle finger and fucks your wife in front of you. And not in a good way.

Co-op needs some optimization. Tons of dropped frames, might have been the other players connection? But you need to play with someone you know, randoms have no clue, and just take all health items in rooms.

I literally beat most of the bosses in first section and the guy takes all health, and weapon drops. I got on the mic and told him he's being a fuck then got off.

But all in all Returnal to me is a return to just amazing gameplay. This game should sell more, I can't wait to see what Housemarque makes next.
 

Bramble

Member
is it possible to locate the player you got matched with, as in other MP games and/or previous versions of the OS? I can't find it anymore.

Had a cool game yesterday helping out some player, he clearly had no idea what to do. We finally failed at Phrike while I got hit reviving him for the nth time, I had to disconnect for work and felt kinda bad about it as he probably thought I'm leaving cause he sucked. Gave me an accolade. I'd just wanna message him and say to ping me when he's back... is that even possible now? Some games seem to have a card for this, not here.
First hit on Google:
 

Papacheeks

Banned
It's such an OP weapon. Once I figured out how to use it, it carried me all the way to the end of the game with very little effort.

That was at launch though, I don't know if they've nerfed it since.

they've added new weapons variants since. I believe they added some of the weapons that are in Tower in campaign. I'm noticing more varied drops. Especially ones with more locked stats that you have to use to unlock.

Game keeps me coming back. It's too addictive. Imagine if Housemarque is given a huge budget? imagine what they could do? Open world sci-fi Elden Ring with arcade fast pace shooting? Jesus!

Getting Moist thinking about it.
 

8BiTw0LF

Banned
For those of you who've completed Acension - "Find Release" trophy:

This story is far from over. We will se more expansions in the future - right? I'm so fucking hooked on this game! The octopus is still watching every move Selene is doing.. Must be the true endgame boss.
 

ChiefDada

Gold Member
So how’s the coop? Easy to find dudes to play with? Does the game compensate by making things harder?

I tried it for the first time today, mainly to assist those who may be having a tough time advancing. It's easy enough to be paired for co-op but the occasional lag really screws things up especially for a game like Returnal. I do think the enemies are a bit stronger against the weapons as well.

ToS has been nonstop fun. At a loss for how to get past stage 5 but that doesn't stop me from jumping back in over and over again. Also, maybe it's me but I feel like iq has been noticably cleaned up.
 

saintjules

Member
I'm definitely going to have to re-learn the game again before trying the Tower. I also have to go back to the final boss again for the secret ending as well.
 

Bramble

Member
I'm definitely going to have to re-learn the game again before trying the Tower. I also have to go back to the final boss again for the secret ending as well.

It's dodge, jump, shoot and timed reloads. You can stop playing for 20 years and still be able to hop on effortlessly like riding a bike.
 

saintjules

Member
It's dodge, jump, shoot and timed reloads. You can stop playing for 20 years and still be able to hop on effortlessly like riding a bike.

Sure...I guess? Its about the fluidity of my movements and remembering my personal control patterns. It might take a bit as I haven't played in nearly a year. Thanks.
 

Bramble

Member
Sure...I guess? Its about the fluidity of my movements and remembering my personal control patterns. It might take a bit as I haven't played in nearly a year. Thanks.

Yeah it's one of the easiest games to get into again. You'll feel like a god in 10 minutes.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
Came to peace with climbing the leaderboard being not for me, doing one casual run a day phase 5 feels like a brick wall...PB rank 6062. Top of the leaderboard is in phase 30 wtf? That's over 600 floors.

Played some co-op, real nice but the framerate chugging hard. I'm missing one cube and a scout log seemingly bugged but not really, maybe I'll do a run or two in the weekend but this may be the time to move on with more games on the Horizon.

Great expansion to the underrated GOTY 2021, can't wait to see what's next for the studio.
 
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Mephisto40

Member
I bought this game on release and rage quit after I got to the first boss and never played it again, just couldnt beat that boss no matter how many tries

Have they done any rebalencing since release or is it still just as punishing?

I know, I know, git gud and all that, I just wasnt expecting it to be as difficult as it was, and i've played all the souls games all the way through so it's not like i'm a serial quitter as soon as I hit a challenge
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
This game is addictive. I reached 14million+ on endless mode. But Im gonna start reaching for 20+

This and GT7 are perfect for quick games, atm I cant play Elden Ring, Horizon 2, Kirby and Triangle strategy because I wanna play them without having any studying to do, so will have to wait till June.
 

8BiTw0LF

Banned
Came to peace with climbing the leaderboard being not for me, doing one casual run a day phase 5 feels like a brick wall...PB rank 6062. Top of the leaderboard is in phase 30 wtf? That's over 600 floors.

Played some co-op, real nice but the framerate chugging hard. I'm missing one cube and a scout log seemingly bugged but not really, maybe I'll do a run or two in the weekend but this may be the time to move on with more games on the Horizon.

Great expansion to the underrated GOTY 2021, can't wait to see what's next for the studio.
I've seen some vids of the high ranking players and the Dreadbound looks to be one of the favorite weapons to climb the ladder.

Screenshot from one of the top 10 players:
ZrtmfbC.jpg


I didn't use it at all in my playthroughs in the main game, so i've just started to pick it up and get the lvl 2 perks for it.
 

Con-Z-epT

Live from NeoGAF, it's Friday Night!
I bought this game on release and rage quit after I got to the first boss and never played it again, just couldnt beat that boss no matter how many tries

Have they done any rebalencing since release or is it still just as punishing?

I know, I know, git gud and all that, I just wasnt expecting it to be as difficult as it was, and i've played all the souls games all the way through so it's not like i'm a serial quitter as soon as I hit a challenge
You can back out now and come back to where you left your game but the core difficulty is still the same.

Edit: You could coop your way through the game with a skilled played. Forgot to mention that. This was patched in.
 
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BlvckFox

Gold Member
I bought this game on release and rage quit after I got to the first boss and never played it again, just couldnt beat that boss no matter how many tries

Have they done any rebalencing since release or is it still just as punishing?

I know, I know, git gud and all that, I just wasnt expecting it to be as difficult as it was, and i've played all the souls games all the way through so it's not like i'm a serial quitter as soon as I hit a challenge
You should pick it up again. I, too, was not prepared for that first boss. Go back to it and just pay attention to his moveset. It is incredibly limited and once you get his patterns down, he can be kind of a joke.
 

edbrat

Member
I've seen some vids of the high ranking players and the Dreadbound looks to be one of the favorite weapons to climb the ladder.

Screenshot from one of the top 10 players:
ZrtmfbC.jpg


I didn't use it at all in my playthroughs in the main game, so i've just started to pick it up and get the lvl 2 perks for it.
wow really I wonder why, I absolutely suck with dreadbound.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
I've seen some vids of the high ranking players and the Dreadbound looks to be one of the favorite weapons to climb the ladder.

Screenshot from one of the top 10 players:
ZrtmfbC.jpg


I didn't use it at all in my playthroughs in the main game, so i've just started to pick it up and get the lvl 2 perks for it.

so the perk unlocks are shared between the main game and the tower? I didn't know I'm this much behind on most weapons, barely unlocking 2nd tiers... This seems less of a problem in the campaign, but here you just need to work with whatever the game gives you before maxing out proficiency by the end of phase 3
 

saintjules

Member
I tried co-op for the first time last night. My partner is always taking all the items, especially health. Got annoying after a while. Anyone else experience that?
 
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8BiTw0LF

Banned
so the perk unlocks are shared between the main game and the tower? I didn't know I'm this much behind on most weapons, barely unlocking 2nd tiers... This seems less of a problem in the campaign, but here you just need to work with whatever the game gives you before maxing out proficiency by the end of phase 3
Yes. It really makes sense to level up all weapons so RNG is more "even" in the late game.
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
Following in the footsteps of the poster who rage quit at the first boss. . .I don't recall rage quitting, but rather putting the game up with all the stuff that was out at the time (I had just picked up a PS5).

. . .picked the game back up and was able to "one shot" the boss (I had two revives on me). I've never been a "bullet hell" fan, but this feels a bit more fair and manageable. In terms of strategy, it looks like the game gives you a checkpoint right up front. . .however I'm guessing the level is laid out for you if you want to rerun it to get beefier and better weapons before continuing?

Also I don't remember this thing being a straight up horror game. Some of these sequences are unsettling as hell.
 

Rockman33

Member
I was able to get to 30 million point with the lob gun. That seems to be my favorite. I had no idea the dreadbond was that powerful. I always hated it when I picked it up.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
I was able to make it to Phase 9. This mode is really fun to play.


My wishlist is that they add at least 3 more biomes and rotate them every phase.
 
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