Sony Returnal - Information Thread, update: Digital Foundry PC Port Review - "It's Good, But Could Be Great"

[SaysWho?]

17 minutes ago, Joe said:

I went into rest mode at Nemesis with full health, an astronaut figure, and a small silphium vial. Will I emerge victorious later today? Probably not.

 

[Bloodporne]

Random tip: farm the parasite removal station rooms. You get 50 obolites for each removed parasite so go equip a few that totally suck, go to the room and make money. Obviously only works if you don't have any equipped that you don't want to lose, the removal process is random.

[skillzdadirecta]

3 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

Random tip: farm the parasite removal station rooms. You get 50 obolites for each removed parasite so go equip a few that totally suck, go to the room and make money. Obviously only works if you don't have any equipped that you don't want to lose, the removal process is random.

Another tip... shoot EVERYTHING shootable. You always get a couple of Obolites and occasionally a Parasite will pop out. Also in Biome 1, those statues? If you see any with glowing eyes, shoot them. They always have a decent amount of Obolites. I use this method to stock up on upgrades and stuff in the first biome before moving on. Miss playing this game 

[Bloodporne]

25 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Another tip... shoot EVERYTHING shootable. You always get a couple of Obolites and occasionally a Parasite will pop out. Also in Biome 1, those statues? If you see any with glowing eyes, shoot them. They always have a decent amount of Obolites. I use this method to stock up on upgrades and stuff in the first biome before moving on. Miss playing this game 

Absolutely. I'd had those alien pods in B4 drop resin, silphium, even ether. It's also incredibly addictive to shoot everything and I can't go through a level and not do it. It's like seeing barrels in Souls games, you can't not only it's worse here because you actually get stuff.

[Joe]

On 5/21/2021 at 5:12 PM, SaysWho? said:

 

True ending achieved. What a ride.

 

@Joe You beat biome 3 yet?

Yes 

[Joe]

Um, what the fuck is this?!

[skillzdadirecta]

3 minutes ago, Joe said:

Um, what the fuck is this?!

what happened?

[Joe]

3 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

what happened?

Biome 4 being Biome 1 redux was unexpected. Very cool though.

[Bloodporne]

11 hours ago, Joe said:

Biome 4 being Biome 1 redux was unexpected. Very cool though.

I love Biome 4 in general but I love it extra because it has those alien pods everywhere and I find smashing them on every single run extremely satisfying somehow. 

 

Also, @SaysWho?any thoughts on the overall story? I finished Act 3 last night and I feel like I just watched Alien: Twin Peaks Season 3 Edition

[SaysWho?]

Just now, Bloodporne said:

I love Biome 4 in general but I love it extra because it has those alien pods everywhere and I find smashing them on every single run extremely satisfying somehow. 

 

Also, @SaysWho?any thoughts on the overall story? I finished Act 3 last night and I feel like I just watched Alien: Twin Peaks Season 3 Edition

 

I read some theories and analysis, and I have some ideas, generally.

 

Spoiler

I thought Selene was the one driving the car, but it looks like that was her mom, who wanted to be an astronaut. Because Selene "distracted" her, she crashed and couldn't fulfill this mission she was obsessed with. Selene felt guilt about it the whole time but finally was able to let her go in Act 3.

The ending seems to suggest she finally got out of the loop when she resurfaced, but then I listened to the audio log that pops up right after that, and... it seems like she's stuck and became comfortable with it? 

Plenty of unpack, so I don't have the answers, but that's some of the gist.

 

[Bloodporne]

On 6/16/2021 at 9:26 AM, SaysWho? said:

 

I read some theories and analysis, and I have some ideas, generally.

 

  Hide contents

 

 

The game's story really nagged at me last night and without reading anything and going to rewatch a few of the cinematics on YouTube last night, this is my vague take on it so far (I'll be replaying this fucking game probably fifty times):

 

Spoiler

NOPE

 

[Bloodporne]

Spoiler

 

Also I believe when the game starts, taking Atropos on a physical level, we are like a thousand years into Selene repeating this cycle and she has already affected this civilization greatly. B4 is actually B1 in the 'past' compared to the B1. B1 is the ruined and dead future version of B4. There are bridges in B4 that are broken in the same version of the room in B1 and B1 is dark, fauna is dead etc.

 

Just an idea but I think the xenoglyph writings and those hologram statues in B1 through B3 show a vague 'creator' figure in the Severed's image. In B4 through B6, they are literally Selene. This could be interpreted as the 'mental break' version of her realizing once again it's all caused by 'herself' or if taking Atropos as a physical place, that the Severed have worshipped her and Helios, the ship, for so long that by the time B1 through B3 come around, she has ascended to some godlike entity in their own image. 

 

Also Selene herself made a lot of those xenoglyph writings on the planet herself in past/future versions of herself. There are corpses of Selene littered all over the place in every level, she has been doing this forever. 

 

 

Edit: Important to note that Ophion's three phases clearly represent something as its last phase takes the shape of the astronaut/White Shadow.

 

 

More vague plot theorizing. 

[SaysWho?]

22 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

The game's story really nagged at me last night and without reading anything and going to rewatch a few of the cinematics on YouTube last night, this is my vague take on it so far (I'll be replaying this fucking game probably fifty times):

 

  Hide contents

First of all, I think the Act 2 cutscene is chronologically first. The car is being driven by a psychologically ravaged and drugged-up Selene herself, the evidence for that I think is one of the house sequences showing scattered pill bottles everywhere and various audio logs and ship logs referring to her not taking her medication and having severe psychological issues and disassociating. I think what this implies is that Selene had already had serious issues due to her mother having been a horrible presence in her life, possibly having been denied a career as an astronaut due to her crippling spinal injury supported by the old-looking rejection letter found in the house and also the vintage astronaut space suit. I think some of the subsequent logs we find might be post-accident as in, I think the accident and the loss of her son Helios in the backseat with the 'Octo' toy completely broke and snapped her.

 

Regarding the accident in Act 2, that was Helios, her son in the backseat. The sequence where we play the child in the house isn't Selene, it's Helios, which it says on the child's room door. I also saw that cutscene often enough so far (lol) that I noticed she refers to the child as 'he' when the kid mentions the White Shadow, something like 'Does HE see it again' bla bla. We play as Helios playing Selene, his mom, on TV, we see ourselves looking for the astronaut/White Shadow in the house which I think is a metaphor for Selene being absent either mentally or physically. Every time we play as Helios, we look for her and she isn't there. The house itself shows signs of violence and a shitty home life like a broken door, no food in the house, leaving a child to fend for itself, pill bottles strewn everywhere, an unstable phone message from Selene once again telling Helios some half-assed sorry she isn't there. But worst of all, when you play as Helios, your knuckles and arms are bruised/scraped which I think in no way is accidental. 

 

This leads to the fact the further you get into the game, the more allusions to her not having wanted a child, considering abortion, feeling no love and only rage towards him, blaming her mother for being a loveless monster, ruining her mother's life. 

 

I really think Selene was/is an abusive fucked-up mother who ultimately drives them both off a bridge because of her psychotic delusions, ultimately killing the child she never wanted and it completely breaks her. I think the shape taking her away from Helios is the ultimate mental breakdown. The White Shadow aka astronaut is her psychotic obsession and guilt of having ruined her mother's life and aspirations (I haven't gotten to how that happened just yet) and her 'transforming' into the astronaut and appearing on the bridge herself essentially I think is her ultimate realization that it's been her self-sabotaging, for the lack of a better word, all along. The White Shadow haunting her always is her guilt over her mother and I think her shoving that decrepit creature at the end is 'beating' it finally. 

 

I think she has a breakthrough at the end of Act 3, she overcame her guilt finally. But then in the final seconds of that cutscene we hear her say Helios, which is her remembering once again that she 'killed' her son and after the credits, the cycle starts all over again and the last scout log is a rather chilling 'this is where I belong' message. I think she has a breakthrough, then remembers Helios and just completely gives up for good which is why the game keeps going and going. 

 

I know this is a lot and half of it might not make sense but yeah. I think Atropos and everything about it is essentially a Sci-Fi Silent Hill...some sort of mental hell, a purgatory. The more you explore, the heavier the allusions to it being perversions of Selene's hopes and fears deepen. Some memories are so strong and brutal they can't be erased so they pop up wholesale maybe, like the car and the house. There's a reason Ophion looks very similar to how she envisions her mother in Act 3's ending cutscene. 

 

One of the most fucked-up aspects of this is that I never realized until last night that when you leave the crash site, you always get the Warning: Helios abandoned message. Coming to the crash site over and over again is a metaphor for her reliving the nightmare and guilt of crashing the car and killing Helios, her son. It's never SPECIFICALLY stated that Helios is the ship's name I THINK, I think as the player it is assumed and kind of presented in such a way but left purposely ambiguous and now I know why. 

 

In short...this game is fucking really dark, jesus. 

 

Edit: I skipped Act 1's return to earth and all is well and Selene is a hero ending. I think it was yet another cycle of trying to overcome her guilt and trauma (finding White Shadow and being rescued) but when you fall into the grave, there is a distinct shape of a child approaching the edge which seems to trigger a freakout/kidnapping by cosmic horrors back to Atropos.

 

Edit #2: Also, I don't really think this is either true or not, my interpretation. I think she may have actually gone to Atropos and the Cosmic Horror that destroyed that civilization could be Silent Hill-ing her, spinning all these memories into a horrific jumbled sequence. 

 

Either way I think even with the 'mental break' situation, I don't think Atropos isn't real, I think it's essentially a Silent Hill type place. 

 

And Edit fucking #3: I also think it's entirely plausible that 'Selene' really is Theia and Selene is her wishful thinking persona after the mental break. I think this would make more sense actually especially considering the themes. I think Theia is the real, earthly Selene, the driver of the car who survived with a spinal injury and was subsequently wheelchair-bound and had a mental breakdown. Selene is everything she wish she could've been and therefore Selene confronts Theia as some hideous distortion of 'mother', something she didn't want to be. Maybe the Act 3 ending could be actually seen as her delusional, totally disconnected from reality Selene self finally winning over but then the thought of Helios enters her mind and the cycle begins right again with that memory invading her space explorer fantasy.

 

I gotta stop smoking weed when I play this

 

 

Spoiler

Hmm, playing as Helios isn't something I considered. I have to watch that clip again.

My feeling is there are two car crashes. One is when Selene is driving and Helios dies. One is when Selene is a kid and her mother is driving. Her mother blamed Selene distracting her for her not being able to seek out what she wanted to do as an astronaut, and the real ending shows Selene finally overcoming her and that guilt.

Theia I'm nearly 100% sure is her mother based on that second crash. That news break in the house even mentions that IIRC.

 

[Bloodporne]

1 hour ago, SaysWho? said:

 

  Hide contents

Hmm, playing as Helios isn't something I considered. I have to watch that clip again.

My feeling is there are two car crashes. One is when Selene is driving and Helios dies. One is when Selene is a kid and her mother is driving. Her mother blamed Selene distracting her for her not being able to seek out what she wanted to do as an astronaut, and the real ending shows Selene finally overcoming her and that guilt.

Theia I'm nearly 100% sure is her mother based on that second crash. That news break in the house even mentions that IIRC.

 

Okay, this'll be another big post because I'm obsessed with this game like I'm not sure I ever have with any other game and especially the story lol. Last night I decided to spend like an hour or two just on lore. Database entries, YouTube videos of cutscenes etc. and I think it's way clearer than what I wrote and actually quite different...and much more obvious. Just the story is presented in such small fragments and far apart, it's hard to remember this shit while playing. So here goes:

 

(sorry, wrote this down last night hence the copy/paste)

 

Spoiler

In my opinion, these are what the game presents somewhat reliably despite the issues with 'Child is voiced by boy actor', 'Thea looks like Selene' etc., not saying anything else is wrong but these seem reliably in context of the game at least...
 

• The news clip clearly states Thea was driving and suffered major spinal injuries and the girl miraculously survived. I think we can take this at face value. There is zero indication that Thea was pregnant visually. There is also zero indication of a second crash that I can find. The news clip is clearly of THE accident.
• The child in the backseat and that we play as in the house is Selene. The room is titled Helios, her own "play and pretend" space ship.
• Selene picks up Octo in a flashback saying "I remember you...", it's her toy.
• Future/Adult Selene tries to reach out over the two-way radio to warn her past, Child self. You can hear her voice chattering faintly while Child draws Octo on the chalkboard, coming from the two-way radio. Same goes for the static on the kitchen radio, I think it's possibly meant to be Adult Selene's attempts at communicating back in some capacity as well but none of #4 is that clear.
• Unless I missed it, nothing refers to the Child as him or her, so I think it'd be a huge leap for the game to have us assume this child isn't Selene. The more I looked into it, the more far-fetched I thought it would be. There's really no indication other than Corpse Thea being pregnant and allusions to pregnancy but I believe this can easily be interpreted as Selene's projection of Thea never having wanted her, a fact that is made very clear all over the game and the creature simply encompassing all her deepest fears. Physical corruption by the alien forces, she talks about this a lot in the game, her pregnancy, her wheelchair-bound mother, all of her fears shoot up to try to strangle her but she shuts it all down for an eternal life 'where she belongs' despite all her trepidations.
• On that note, I also believe Selene did have an abortion in order to fulfill her dream, Scout Log #060. She says she's in the middle of a lot right now, nobody can and will know and nobody will be present. This is the log that refers to 'safe to drive afterwards', this doesn't refer to the actual drive we see in the cutscenes, it's unrelated. That drive isn't coming home from the abortion clinic at 8:36PM with another kid in the car.
• I forgot to write down which Glyph but "there was no room for blood up in the stars. I buried them and left them behind, but the astronaut was always following me" I think alludes to all this. Her mother, the unborn child and the guilt over it all haunting her.
• The item that alludes to her being incompetent, making no sense etc. is actually the Ship Log entries, which ALL uniformly tell her she's a failure and useless. I believe this alludes to Helios being her childhood home safe space. When you 'abandon Helios' each time, I think it means venturing out into the world for Selene, doing her thing, without regrets and her safe space Helios tries to manipulate her into self-doubt and staying. The safe space is in her childhood home. Leaving home, leaving her mom that she more than likely takes care of etc. etc., it seems like her mother speaking directly to her "do not fucking leave me, you know you're worthless and can't do any of this".
• Scout Log #059 is a "Department Placement Interview", so she clearly was already in Astra. In this, she is signing up for the one-way exploration mission and states "No...they died a long time ago. I understand it's one way, that's why I signed up, there are no attachments pulling me back".
• Scout Log #058 is a "Mothership Psych Evaluation", so this psych evaluation actually happens already in Astra, on the mothership. It's clearly stated in the beginning of the game that she went rogue, to a forbidden planet. I believe the way this actually played out is that she suffered from depression ON THE MOTHERSHIP and all the guilt, was denied at the placement interview in Log #059 because of Log #058 and went rogue on her own accord. This seems to go with the opening cutscene to me, it is mentioned.
• With that said, the rejection letters she finds are written with a typewriter on yellowed paper. I firmly believe these were Thea's at this point. The suit and the rejection letter aesthetics point towards an older era of space travel uniformly. Then again, it's not like the timeline of space travel is 'realistic' in-game but I think they both have their older space travel aesthetic in common so it makes sense to me.
• Log #024 is "Debt Owed". "The woman who was supposed to step on the surface of another world...was mom. Thought she'd be proud of me following in her...where her footsteps may have taken her if she'd had the opportunity. Is that why I'm here? To go where she couldn't? Seeing that house again feels as though she's still judging me." Clearly alluding to the fact her footsteps were a wrong choice of words, that her mom wanted to do this and she feels immense guilt over it.
• Log #007 is "The Astronaut". "Someone else is here. An astronaut, but that's impossible. Is it guiding me? Or...following? It reminds me of the old photos mother showed me, the type of suit she would've worn if not for the accident. But something from the Apollo Era couldn't withstand this atmosphere." Don't need to spell this one out.
• And finally, the last Scout Log has a line "As I lay there dying by the side of the road". This does NOT refer to Child Selene, this refers to her, the astronaut on the bridge, dying once again and returning to Atropos. She then realized she'll wake up on Atropos again and she tried her everything and...it's okay, it's her home in the stars and if YOU'RE listening, the next Selene "As you will".

It is mentioned that the memories in the house are corrupted and jumbled, so I don't think everything can be taken at face-value, especially Selene attempting to interact with herself. I do believe the news report is 'real' and supported by various logs and statements and I do believe it is Selene in her safe-space, childhood make-believe space ship. I think Atropos is real, she did travel there but I think it's also Silent Hill style personal hell caused by the entity we meet at the game's end "Xaos??" or something manipulating her into being the Creator/Destroyer we keep reading about. Creator because according to glyps etc., she may have initially been a good for the planet but later incited all kinds of uprising and war according to the Severed.

Again, this is just my interpretation based on my 'research' last night but...it seems a lot less far-fetched to just take at least SOME of the game's storytelling moments as truth instead of sinking into 'everything is a metaphor' and it never ends. Also, that clearly is only my take on Selene as a character and her motivations, I haven't gotten to the planet and its lore yet. Another time.

 

 

[Joe]

I feel sick saying this, but I wish I had to redo Biome 1-3 to get back to Biome 4 lol. This biome seems so difficult right out of the gate and I feel so underpowered. I made it to Hyperion once and almost got to his third phase, but I’ve died in the biome itself like six times.

[SaysWho?]

9 minutes ago, Joe said:

I feel sick saying this, but I wish I had to redo Biome 1-3 to get back to Biome 4 lol. This biome seems so difficult right out of the gate and I feel so underpowered. I made it to Hyperion once and almost got to his third phase, but I’ve died in the biome itself like six times.

 

I didn't have much trouble with 4, but know that the upgrades for your weapons are gonna get crazy good, so it'll become easier every time you level something up.

[Joe]

I think Bloodporne mentioned that they made Biome 4 more difficult but not sure. These turrets are a nightmare.

[Bloodporne]

1 hour ago, Joe said:

I think Bloodporne mentioned that they made Biome 4 more difficult but not sure. These turrets are a nightmare.

I can only talk about Act 3 version of Biome 4. I think you're in Act 2, as in, Biome 4 right after you beat Nemesis? I think the difficulty ramps up later, where I'm at. And yeah, like SaysWho said, your weapon traits is where it's going to be at. Biome 4 is where you'll start unlocking some great Level II traits and turn some of those guns into beasts. Whenever you unlock a trait, it can appear on any version of that weapon in B4.

 

What about the turrets is giving you trouble? Getting close to the shielded ones? Getting caught in a room with several?

 

Also unrelated but the R2 spring in my DualSense just broke while playing Returnal. Been on YouTube etc. looking up how to open the controller for the last half hour and yeah, the spring snapped in half. It's not even six months old and I treat this thing with satin gloves basically, put it back in a drawer after every session etc.

[SaysWho?]

10 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

I can only talk about Act 3 version of Biome 4. I think you're in Act 2, as in, Biome 4 right after you beat Nemesis? I think the difficulty ramps up later, where I'm at. And yeah, like SaysWho said, your weapon traits is where it's going to be at. Biome 4 is where you'll start unlocking some great Level II traits and turn some of those guns into beasts. Whenever you unlock a trait, it can appear on any version of that weapon in B4.

 

What about the turrets is giving you trouble? Getting close to the shielded ones? Getting caught in a room with several?

 

Also unrelated but the R2 spring in my DualSense just broke while playing Returnal. Been on YouTube etc. looking up how to open the controller for the last half hour and yeah, the spring snapped in half. It's not even six months old and I treat this thing with satin gloves basically, put it back in a drawer after every session etc.

 

Good excuse to get those sexy red/black ones!

 

But that sucks.  

[Bloodporne]

29 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

Good excuse to get those sexy red/black ones!

 

But that sucks.  

Turns out the issue is so widespread, there are tons of sellers selling ten-packs of R2/L2 trigger springs for the DualSense  

Ordered one of those for $2.99 on Amazon last night and I'll just replace the spring. Still...pretty fucking lame. 

 

Also, the more time I've spent on Returnal's story and lore, the less any of it makes any sense to me. My last massive bullet point list of 'this is the plot' is also completely wrong so I throw in the towel lol.

Spoiler

You were right, the Child character you play as in the house is indeed Helios, which is also the kid in the back in the cutscene car crashes. The actor is credited as Helios and the character is literally a 1:1 model of the child actor named Elijah something, he even has exactly the same long hair we see in the car. 

 

So as you said, either there were two car crashes or the house, which she notes is a reconstruction based on corrupted and manufactured memories is all a complete untrustworthy jumble of her random memories and none of it is to be taken at face value, including the News report. 

 

In short, who the fuck knows. Pretty frustrating considering just how much I like the game and would love to at least vaguely know if this is a full cop-out "It's all in her head" or if anything we're playing is actually real. 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

10 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

Turns out the issue is so widespread, there are tons of sellers selling ten-packs of R2/L2 trigger springs for the DualSense  

Ordered one of those for $2.99 on Amazon last night and I'll just replace the spring. Still...pretty fucking lame. 

In was afraid that these controllers wouldn't be to durable. That sucks.

[Bloodporne]

35 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

In was afraid that these controllers wouldn't be to durable. That sucks.

I can't stress enough that compared to a lot of players out there, I don't even think I've played that much this year. I go through phases where I won't touch a game for like a month. When not playing, the thing is kept in my coffee table's drawer. In short, the thing's been babied for a damn controller. Really weak shit. 

 

That being said, if it happens to any of you, the fix is very easy ultimately at least and that does seem to be the only really widespread issue so far from what I've read.

 

And on another random story note, I'm curious if any of you have seen that old Horror movie Carnival Of Souls? Minus the Sci-Fi aspect, Returnal is really close. Also didn't put 2 and 2 together but...

Spoiler

the reason you put sun fragments together is to 'make Helios whole again'. I feel stupid for not understanding what significance the sun had until I realized Helios, the god, is the sun. 

 

[Joe]

Hyperion is down. Such a cool boss fight.

[Joe]

Ophion keeps kicking my ass. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. The beginning and middle is easy and then he absolutely loses his mind in the last bar. Shoots constant 4 story purple rings at me. Either the patch made him harder or I’m positioning myself wrong because I don’t see his final stage get that crazy in any video.

[JPDunks4]

5 minutes ago, Joe said:

Ophion keeps kicking my ass. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. The beginning and middle is easy and then he absolutely loses his mind in the last bar. Shoots constant 4 story purple rings at me. Either the patch made him harder or I’m positioning myself wrong because I don’t see his final stage get that crazy in any video.

 

Which boss is that?

 

[Joe]

Just now, JPDunks4 said:

 

Which boss is that?

The final one.

[JPDunks4]

Just now, Joe said:

The final one.

 

I thought he was really easy.  I don't recall any phase being too crazy difficult.  The Pylon weapon is definitely the best weapon I think because you can shoot him and then focus on dodging while the weapon does all the work.

 

I did mention once before, that if you don't kill a boss quick enough in any certain phase, it does seem like they get to some far more difficult attack patterns.  Watching some streams I saw some crazy attacks I never myself really had to deal with.  So I'd say focus on doing damage quicker if you can to try to avoid the boss getting to some of the more difficult patterns.

 

[Joe]

4 minutes ago, JPDunks4 said:

 

I thought he was really easy.  I don't recall any phase being too crazy difficult.  The Pylon weapon is definitely the best weapon I think because you can shoot him and then focus on dodging while the weapon does all the work.

 

I did mention once before, that if you don't kill a boss quick enough in any certain phase, it does seem like they get to some far more difficult attack patterns.  Watching some streams I saw some crazy attacks I never myself really had to deal with.  So I'd say focus on doing damage quicker if you can to try to avoid the boss getting to some of the more difficult patterns.

 

That might have been it. Thanks!

[SaysWho?]

I beat the final boss on my first try despite not understanding how I was actually damaging him.  

 

Our Joe's at the end of Biome 6. I am proud of you!

[Bloodporne]

10 hours ago, Joe said:

That might have been it. Thanks!

I was successful when I slowed down fighting Ophion. It's more about the purple ring platforming. Don't get greedy and only focus on blasting away.

 

Also, at the back of the arena, there are some breakable coral thingies. You get a health item from each!

[skillzdadirecta]

6 hours ago, SaysWho? said:

I beat the final boss on my first try despite not understanding how I was actually damaging him.  

 

Our Joe's at the end of Biome 6. I am proud of you!

I beat him my first try too with the shotgun weapon I think. I recorded it but haven't posted it yet. He was pretty easy I thought. @Joe don't get intimidated by those huge rings. You don't have to jump over them... you can dash THROUGH them as you get invincibility frames when you dash. Once you Master that, it makes a lot of thse boass fights MUCH easier.

[Joe]

Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

I beat him my first try too with the shotgun weapon I think. I recorded it but haven't posted it yet. He was pretty easy I thought. @Joe don't get intimidated by those huge rings. You don't have to jump over them... you can dash THROUGH them as you get invincibility frames when you dash. Once you Master that, it makes a lot of thse boass fights MUCH easier.

Not the purple ones though I believe.

[skillzdadirecta]

Just now, Joe said:

Not the purple ones though I believe.

It was so long since I beat him I can't remember if you can dash through those or not. In fact you;re right. I don't think you can dash through the purple rings. Still focus on his weak points and just concentrate on damaging him as quickly as possible. 

[Bloodporne]

1 hour ago, Joe said:

Not the purple ones though I believe.

Yea purple ones are basically 'platforming puzzle time now guy!' When those pop up, don't focus on shooting, focus on timing your jumps right instead. The purple rings hit harder than the small projectiles so worry about those more.

[Bloodporne]

Just went through the entire B2 and B3, bosses and all, and still can't get the last two cyphers each to appear. Think I have to give it a rest, must be bugged.

 

Also, I reinstalled the game thinking that might alleviate it somehow and instead B1 was way different than usual and I immediately found a Datacube I was missing.

 

It's kind of worrying that only after a reinstall does the level suddenly majorly change. I mean, I just did it on a whim, they really need to rein this game's bugs and weird proc gen shit in already.