I was expecting more a slog and I am disappointed.

tin_robot wrote:

Good work Moot, well and truly smashed it. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed seeking out the “secret ending”. Not so much for the ending itself, but for the excuse to revisit all the biomes. It was also a good opportunity to dig into the story much more and try to get my head round the elliptical narrative. (Speaking of which, what was your reaction to the reveal after biome 3?)

I'll be returning Muzzy's copy soon, he can get back on it himself and I'll offer the same bet.

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I can give advive now! Doorhanging is a legit tactic mrsmr2. I know the general advice was to push on when you can but I used the 'mop up everything' approach to beat biome 3 (and the whole thing). When I got through biome 3 I'd spent hours slowly building my run in biome 1 & 2 to give me a health/damage/perks advantage, rather than rushing straight to the destination and learning the stage by repeatedly dying in it. This approach took the sharper edges off the tougher stages imo - runs took ages, but I didn't die often in the nastier sections because I was powered up and over cautious, even though I hadn't familiarised myself with the environments/enemies as much as I would've liked. Biomes 3 and 5 were noticeably trickier than the rest, but I only died four times in 3 and three times in 5, including the first visits, because of my super slow approach.

It can be played either way, which is testament to its magnificence, but I reckon I'd still be struggling if I'd gone straight for shortcuts. I needed the leg up of artifacts/stat boosts.

Yeah, they need to be taken care of a sap.

My tactic wasn’t door hanging but was staying mobile, especially in later biomes. Not so much dashes, more runs, changes in elevation, getting away from packs. Always moving, always getting out of danger. I found it worked well for me, except with certain enemies who would outpace my constant retreats.

The second by second gameplay is unmatched.

stonechalice wrote:

The second by second gameplay is unmatched.

This. Still game of the generation even with a huge game like Elden Ring being amazing.

Awesome stuff. Love that you’re seeing this as a game of the generation, as it really is that good. Well done.

From the 52 Games thread....

Returnal - PS5 (19hrs)

Pew Pew ∞!  Sumptuous arcadelike arena shooter from the masters of blasters starring Trumpton's favourite firefighting twins trapped in a perpetual intergalactic rogue loop.  Housemarque have replaced Treasure as the go-to pew guys in recent years - Resogun and Nex Machina were both S tier bullet sprayers.  Yes, I've gone 'on record' saying I prefer Aqua Kitty Milk Mine Defender to Resogun, but a) I fucking love Aqua Kitty and b) I played the slightly stepped on Vita version of Resogun, rather than the smooth & shiny PS4 game.  Plus I never said Aqua Kitty was a better game...

As mentioned elsewhere I was a bit disappointed/concerned when this was revealed as it's a huge jump from ultra polished small scale shmups to developing a roguelike flagship AAA title leading the first wave of the next gen offensive.  At a time when Sony believed in generations, no less.  In hindsight there was no need to worry as there's absolutely nothing about this game that suggests they weren't ready for the leap.  Despite the grander scale it's at least as well executed as the near perfect Nex Machina.  

In terms of layout the structure is interesting as there seem to be far less cards being shuffled behind the scenes than you'd usually see in comparative titles.  Each biome consists of a set number(?) of rooms arranged at random, but the hidden tombola spitting them out is only half full.  This means it's possible to learn the arenas/areas through repetition, as they're stitched together from eventually recognisable segments, whereas in other roguelikes you'll be training yourself to git gud/learning how to adapt on your toes.  This is important, because at first the odds felt insurmountable so the limited number of permutations work in the player's favour over time.  It's a small yet welcome leg up anyway.

Pretty much everything about the controls felt right, from the movement speed to the dash duration to the zipwire tracking to the jump length/height.  It's a shooter, but it's no slouch in the getting from A to B department either.  The half depress of L2 was a swing and a miss for me so I played it as a shoot-from-the-hip game.  Heavy fingers under pressure maybe, but a tender half press just wasn't possible on the cobbled dancefloor.  Crayon mentioned an alt fire button as an option, so I presume you can map aiming down the sights to a full press of L2 if you wish.  It wasn't an issue for me anyway.

There's so much left to say, but Supermarket Shriek is calling before bed.  I intended to waffle on for ages but I've changed my mind.  A quickfire summary of things I would have typed paragraphs on if I wasn't tired: The absolute balance of it all; even with all the risk/reward factors and multiple plates spinning at once, balance still emerges victorious.  The truly wonderful sound design - the room clear motif is chef's smooch stuff.  The drip fed narrative that trumps even the best walking sims and embarrasses all other shooters with a story attached (except Spec Ops: The Line maybe, that was good).  The pool of play-your-way weapons.  And most importantly, the absolute death grip addictiveness of every single second of it.

It's so very nearly a [10].  If pushed for complaints I'd say the sword isn't quite as satisfying to use as I would have liked, and I'd still suggest the required run times are a huge ask.  You really have to dedicate film length sessions to schleps that will invariable result in failure (climb as many ladders as you like, the sneaky snakes will still take you back to one of two squares), and although I see no obvious way around it without changing the fundamentals of what this game is, I'd have to highlight it as an issue.  I believe the suspend feature was added post launch, but even so...it's a lot. This is not how I play games, and I had to make an exception based on the quality of the experience.  

If you have the time, patience, skill [toots dusty trumpet] and dedication to see it through it's a once in a generation experience though, which is currently doorhanging just outside my all-time top ten waiting for an audio cue on an alt fire cooldown. Worth the price of a PS5. [9]

Happy with them moving on.

Lol moot's text the same size as his ween

You might have to delete your save file.

I'll be cracking this at some point for sure, but it might not be soon because when the weather is hot and girls are dressing less I'll checking out the fellas to tell em who's best.

Definitely up for diving back in at some point, but so much to play at the minute.