Malf on 14/3/2023 at 12:01
A couple of Returnal tips that should help:
That Astronaut figurine you can buy? That's an extra life.
Also, that round stone with the imprint of a Sentient in it that takes 6 ether to acivate? That resurrects you after death, so kind of an extra life, just that you resurrect at the stone.
Thirith on 14/3/2023 at 12:19
Cheers. My first experience with the revive station, after spending those 6 ether on it? I leave the room, all the exits lock down, and I find myself in a fight with a bunch of those mid-sized bosses (the toxic ent dudes and the beasties that seem to have escaped from Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy). Best 6 ether I've ever spent. :p
Honestly, though, sometimes I feel like I've become worse at video games, especially the twitchier kind. Is this what growing older feels like?
Malf on 14/3/2023 at 12:38
You know, I don't really think of Returnal as being a twitchy game. I mean sure, it looks like one in motion and screenshots, but as with a lot of traditional bullet hell shooters, it's more about finding a safe path through the patterns.
There's also a LOT of generous homing and auto aim going on with a lot of the weapons, and the active reload mechanics add a degree of rhythm gaming to proceedings. A lot of mechanics play off of active reload, so once you've got that nailed, things start dying quicker.
Adrenaline levels also help, but it's not the end if you lose it. It's quick to build back up, and it doesn't degrade over time.
There's several things which are a bit of a trap:
The shotgun weapon, for the most part, is complete shit. Slug shot can make it somewhat tolerable, but in general, only pick it up if it's significantly more powerful than your current weapon.
Don't bother heading through the gold star gate or starting revenge for one of those suit signals unless you're:
A: Confident in your abilities with your current weapon
or
B: Overpowered.
Malignant items can be worth taking the risk over, but there are very few parasites that are worth the trade-off.
Secondary fire's too fiddly to bother with most of the time. I'm sure there are streamers and speedrunners who absolutely rely on it, but it's very possible to play the game completely ignoring secondary fire.
rachel on 14/3/2023 at 20:14
A little over 4 hours in on Tunic and I'm loving the shit out of it. I don't have the Zelda or Dark Souls refs so to me it feels a bit like wandering in a Miyazaki anime, especially something like Castle in the Sky. It can be frustratingly deadly at times but it's very well balanced and I keep coming back for more. The soundtrack is downright hypnotic.
Brilliant so far.
Rizopas on 15/3/2023 at 07:35
Started playing Prey (2017) again, hopefully might finish it this time :D
Thirith on 15/3/2023 at 07:43
Quote Posted by rachel
A little over 4 hours in on
Tunic and I'm loving the shit out of it. I don't have the Zelda or Dark Souls refs so to me it feels a bit like wandering in a Miyazaki anime, especially something like
Castle in the Sky. It can be frustratingly deadly at times but it's very well balanced and I keep coming back for more. The soundtrack is downright
hypnotic.
Chances are you already know this, but Lifeformed, who worked on the soundtrack for
Tunic, also wrote the music for
Double Fine Adventure, the extended (and wonderful) making-of of Double Fine's
Broken Age. If you haven't done so already, it's worth checking out
Double Fine Adventure, as much for the music as for everything else.
Sulphur on 15/3/2023 at 07:55
If you're gonna mention Lifeformed, it is mandatory to give the Dustforce OST a shout-out too, you know. The entirety of Cider Time and Sepia Tone Laboratory are etched into my brain at this point.
[video=youtube;KXH5G_bqrlc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXH5G_bqrlc[/video]
Thirith on 15/3/2023 at 09:17
Thanks for posting that one, Sulphur! I'd heard the name of the game before, but I don't think I'd heard any of the music. I love the melancholy that Lifeformed absolutely nails in some of their tunes (much like Disasterpeace, in FEZ and Hyper Light Drifter, or Christopher Larkin of Hollow Knight fame).
Sulphur on 15/3/2023 at 14:54
Cheers! I like those too, but funnily enough I think the Disasterpeace album I most enjoy is the It Follows soundtrack.
Speaking of soundtracks, I'm dipping in and out of TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, and that has some banging tunes, like henke mentioned. Crunchy combat, chunky pixels, and (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmJdPSo0hfQ) cracking choruses - that's a heck of a game.
PigLick on 15/3/2023 at 15:05
It is very good, especially in 4 player co-op.
