Downpour first playthrough documenting (formerly seeking advice for karma stress)

[turbid flax]

in the first message could you spoiler tag “echoes”, “arena items”, and “karma system”

[naive scarab]

Reposted starting message

To whomever reads this, hi. Hope you're doing well.

A friend of mine recently picked up this game during the summer sale and while watching them play I decided I'd finally like to come back to play the DLCs and get all achievements.

I enjoyed my original play through which finished just before Downpour was released - but I never got round to actually doing a second run on monk or hunter, collecting all echoes and arena items, playing the new campaigns, etc. When playing for the first time the game I really didn't get too lost, since my anxiety over the karma system made exploration and experimentation feel heavily punishing. Resulting in me vaguely guessing what direction the game wanted me to go, then playing a straight line simulator to whatever den I find next; This probably explains why I found it so tiring.

Before starting to push myself on the new campaigns and collectathon. I want to see if I can break out of this habit since I know it hampered the fun I had originally since I couldn't manage longer sessions and was often left completely sapped afterwards (I think playing the game made me expend a lot of emotional energy, I'm not sure). If I could learn to it less seriously and enjoy exploring and making mistakes again, I believe my return experience can be much better.

So far I've been trying to break problem thinking patterns in a second play through that I'm doing as a refresher to the game, before starting with the DLC slug cats, however that's obviously not working since I'm treating it as a "play through" rather than a sandbox to explore. If anyone has any advice or suggestions for how I might be able to let myself just enjoy the game/feel more confident in general navigation to make playing less tiring, I would very much appreciate it.

[desert aspen]

💥

[turbid flax]

come on at least give them a chance

[desert aspen]

Took me a sec to read through the full thing

[turbid flax]

anyway if your main concern is the karma system then the more you fail the more you will learn

and therefore you will get better at survival and getting karma will come with ease

[desert aspen]

Who says you need karma in the first place?

Also if you have the Watcher DLC enabled me thinks you gotsa move to #1342915289595248701

I dunno though as I don't know much abt it

[golden crest]

something i did: if things like the rain timer and karma system end up making you anxious of the time limit and losing karma there is nothing wrong with using the remix settings to set it longer, and then resetting it once you're more comfortable. i doubled it during my first playthrough because the thought of a timer ended up giving me a lot more anxiety than making it enjoyable for me and i had the same rushing mindset rather than wanting to explore

[wide coral]

Sorry, forgot discord would just display to anyone, how would I do this? There doesn't seem to be an option to edit the message.

[golden crest]

it also helped me to focus on other things the game had to offer rather than just completion

like messing around in certain regions, seeing how creatures act, and becoming familiar with rooms

[desert aspen]

You put || like this || on either side of what you wanna spoiler tag
(But not anymore, as it was dealt with )

[wide coral]

Thanks I haven't really messed with the remix settings and I imagine something like this might help. Part of the reason exploration initially sucked for me was not enjoying not finding a den and feeling punished for spending time goofing off - so I'll definitely give this a go to see if it'll help.

[wide coral]

I don't actually struggle getting karma or surviving most areas -maybe sky gardens and whenever the evil wolf spider shows up. I just never broke out of the fear response I have to the idea of dying.

[desert aspen]

Well, in this game death is an integral part of it so

[wide coral]

Yes, hence the issue.

[desert aspen]

Tbh... I don't have much to say other than death is how you learn in this game and... you just have to overcome it if you wanna have fun just.... accept that you'll "fail" a lot

(There is no such thing as failing, because each death leads to something new whether that's a discovery or a new route)

[golden crest]

hopefully it works for you it does take awhile to break out of the "death isn't a punishment" mindset when most games enforce it. i recommend going through remix settings and seeing if there are any other options that you think would be helpful there too

i was also someone who goofed off too much and would have died to the rain too

really though if it makes it more enjoyable for you, there's nothing wrong with using assists like that

[prisma kindle]

I think timer-karma anxiety is pretty common, you are not alone here ówò

Remember that while you're exploring in borders of 1 region, you don't need karma at all. You may be on lowest karma for several times in a row but it doesn't mean that you're bad at game, it means that you were freely exploring and gaining information :]

The rain came to wash you away but you mapped out new part of the region, saw a beautiful view and observed a silly creature - you are ok, you will try going further next cycle and will be more knowledgeable about what you're doing or seeing.

The more you walk and explore the easier it will be for you to navigate and the more things you know about this world :]

allow yourself to get lost. The little helper the game gives you serves more as an adviser so you have any clue at all about what you can do. You don't have to listen to it precisely (or at all) your journey doesn't have to be a straight line.

I'm sure the mindset of not worrying about karma system will come to you eventually :] and if you struggle with any particular obstacle you can always ask for help here

[wide coral]

Thanks all for the advice. I actually ended up not messing with remix settings at all. I think I probably just needed to vent a little about how I was feeling before I got thoroughly invested again.

Put together a spreadsheet to track what unlocks I know I'm missing so I could start the dlc scugs and I'm having a blast. Even if I'm a little annoyed with Artificer after ||getting 5 echos before accidently finding the ending that gets rid of your karma||.

I kinda forgot that I play this game aggressively enough to just chose a ditectuon of travel and worry about shelter later.

The incident I somehow survived in Artis campaign was very funny. Here's hoping for more. ||2 king vultures, 2 vultures, a scav elite and a tonne of scavs after getting trapped by the first dead vulture||. Might start just a logging thread here at somepoint if that's okay cause I want to be social with this game but can't talk openly with most for fear of spoiling.

[desert aspen]

You don't need to worry about spoiling other people in this thread , those of us that are here are here to felp because we accept the risk of being spoiled

(p.s. you don't need to spoiler tag stuff past the opening message and title )

[golden crest]

and feel free to add the documenting/campaign tags to this thread too!! we love seeing people document their first playthroughs

that's a lot of creatures though

[wide coral]

Downpour first playthrough yap

Downpour first playthrough documenting (formerly seeking advice for karma stress)

I... Okay...

[wide coral]

Should've just held right lol

Or not

[prisma kindle]

average underhang morning on riv hehe

[wide coral]

Did not realise I could just go down from Five Pebbles. At least The Rot was a kinda easy area even if it was a pain to navigate.

Fingers crossed the access shaft under moon will be fun. It's looking like a water area and even though I like 5p gravity mechanics, swimming has always felt awkward and something the game has a controller in mind for. Though that might just be trauma from my first ever play through starting through drainage and doing 2 of the hell tunnels that unfortunately still feel like rng for if a snail will be camping one of the exit pipes, blocking your ability to escape the leaches and not drown.

Looking forward to finding the rivulet arena unlock so I can practice applying movement from the other slug cats on the changed input window.

[wide coral]

So uhhh... Spearmaster's spawns huh...

+The fact I'm apparently missing unlocks meaning I have to go everywhere ;-;

[wide coral]

Might just feed the red lizards instead of trying to fight them. Failing a spear throw feels like a death sentence unless I have a backup pipe to lose them in playing aggressively.

Route plan pre Pebbles as that seems to be where I'm being directed is Outskirts > Industrial Complex > pass through Outskirts > Farm Arrays > Subterranean > Drainage System> Pipeyard > Sky Islands > pass through Chimney Canopy (I hate that place with normal spawns, screw whatever's gonna happen to it now) > Exterior, up the wall > Five Pebbles to see what's up. Assuming nothing goes horribly wrong.

Picking up echoes on the way.

[wide coral]

Oh I remember why I disliked wolf spiders. I love revives (really not that bad)

[wide coral]

Subterranian really do be kicking my ass huh, I just need to find wherever the hell that last radio thingy is and get the hell out - idk where from.

I really hope it's not too deep into the mazes. I'm like a third of the way down and am just struggling to get to shelters in time since the blind lizard parade is after me

;-;

Infinite spears is at least really helpful for climbing your way out of issues.

Honestly thought food would be more of a problem in spear master's campaign after the bat start. I've just had to kill so much stuff to travel anywhere that it's kinda being a none issue.

Do I regret going to subterranian almost immediately? Yes. Am I hoping the story won't send me here again? Yes. Am I glad it will be over and done with at the start of the playthrough? ahkjlbfg please, thank you!

Might just exit through shorline and try to visit moon even if I think the observer is sending me to five pebbles.

[prisma kindle]

i love about spearmaster that you don't even necessarily have to defeat an animal to get food. You can just run around and throw a few spears into nearby birds

[wide coral]

True! Though I haven't been to a vulture infested area yet and I'm a lil worried about it given how many spawns there appear to be in this campaign.

I sorta feel like the last few campaigns have been preparing me to deal with worse and worse situations so I can't wait to find out saint is constantly being hunted by a pack of angry scavengers with short cycles and 6 billion red lizards, centipedes and king vultures.

Ngl if I don't find this final broadcast soon I might just assume it's Karma 10 locked. Still got about a 1/3rd of subterranean left though to explore on the right side though.

[wide coral]

Finally ;-;

[wide coral]

I'm free

[wide coral]

Totally worth half the cycle being bad.

I gotta get better at stuff that involves backflips to and from poles. I'd find more vertical movement options if I had to do it more.

[wide coral]

What is wrong with squidcadas in spearmaster campaign. I jump off into the abyss and friend decides to to flap their wings killing both of us.

So many broadcasts in sky islands wth

[wide coral]

Might honestly go for all passages as spearmaster at this stage concidering I'm at least gonna have to get wanderer. Just, just monk, saint will be such a chore.

Wouldn't be too bad if done with martyr though...

[whole nacelle]

Nice collection

[wide coral]

I hate the collectathon, but I've just been seaching the areas I go to in every campaign so slowly it's been getting better.

[wide coral]

Deciding to karma grind by hunting king vultures in chimney canopy has to be my worst idea yet.

Maybe I shouldn't be doing risky platforming while waiting for them to show up

Nah, birds gotta learn to fly somehow

[wide coral]

We love waiting

[wide coral]

Starve cycles are missery in this grind ;-;

If it wasn't a fun challenge I might just go to sky islands to grind instead

[wide coral]

Did they ALL reset???

What

I don't understand why does it say I have 1 in shorline. I haven't really been there yet.

Horrifying bug???

[golden crest]

intentional

where did you go before they all disappeared though

[wide coral]

My route to pebbles (where they disappeared) was Outskirts > Industrial Complex > Outskirts > Farm Arrays > Subterranean > Shoreline > Pipeyard > Sky Islands > Chimney Canopy > Exterior (I hate Chimney Canopy with a burning passion).

[wide coral]

This news is misery and my day is ruined. I can't believe I'm gonna have to do pearls and pearls 2 before finally getting to play expedition mode. I like the game, but the pacing of this feels like busy work, especially since remix added tracking (which I'm glad it did, just ignorance is bliss).

I am so looking forward to getting to play expedition mode. From what I know it looks like my thing - I just want all achievements and a complete save file before I let myself indulge.

Trying to do expeditions as fast as possible sounds like a blast and a fun test of adaptivity, technical skill and game knowledge. Bingo speedrun competing with yourself.

I arrived at Luna during the night which reminded me how stunning this game can be. Hoping the hike back to sky islands can be relaxing. I'm kinda tempted to go by outskirts and try styling on some red lizards now I've experimented with how to kill them head on in arena mode (mouth stab stun my beloved); Even if I'm still struggling to drop and pickup my spear around the tongue though.

Now I've been locked out of the message unlocks pre 5p for this campaign idk if I can be bothered going for all passages like I'd planned. So it's entirely possible I just rush story so I can see what's up with Saint.

[wide coral]

So uhhh, Saint. Saint scares me.

[golden crest]

[wide coral]

I'm realising that I think immediately losing my lantern was a bad idea. Also what the hell happened to the exterior is pebbles okay???

I guess I'll try and go down through farm-arrays? That or go to the farm echo through outskirts and hope to find a lantern.

That or I'm early enough that I could just reset and not lose the starting lantern.

[golden crest]

hopefully you can find another soon

[wide coral]

Not having cycles end is actually really nice

Me and my 3 lanterns are having a blast

[wide coral]

Beautiful. Now where the hell is the bonus area? (rhetorical I'll find whatever was added eventually).

I like the whole character that can't fight as someone who just kills everything on screen - but I kinda wish I got to experiment with tongue combat.

[wide coral]

Definetly not my brightest moment.

[wide coral]

What's the point of threat music visual pulse? I've never used the threat music to know when I'm in danger (hell I'm normally just listening to other music on my computer). Yeah there's information that can be gained from audio queues - but there's a massive overlap with what you get from just looking at the game? I'm tempted to turn it on cause maybe threat music will stop the rare incident of enemies in pipes entirely covered by foreground elements killing me - but it's not like threat music even plays until something has noticed me?

[golden crest]

threat music does play, just maybe more subtly than what you're thinking

the visual pulse adds a visual threat meter bar that works the same way as threat music just as a visual

i've never really used it though other than once

[wide coral]

And that's every downpour campaign

What was the point of getting spears...

[golden crest]

congrats!!