ShalashaskaUK666

So I really want to like Dead Cells more, but every time I die, I'm finding the complete lack of carryover really off-putting. Save for gold coins that get you slightly better gear or unlock doors (but for the latter you can acquire just as many scrolls through exploration anyway), losing so many cells over and over (and over) gives me a gut feeling of wasting my time.

I wouldn't be as perturbed if - like many reviews have mentioned - your starting weapons "changed every time", but I'm a good 20 runs in and still getting bow/shield, incendiary/fire/ice grenades and a few different blades later on. I get that you can invest cells to change the starter weapons, but dying and losing them negates that so... yeah?

It kinda just feels like I'm starting the same game over and over, with no meaningful changes to that first level. Like yes, I can climb vines and teleport, but the actual meat of the experience is the same.

Coupled with a complete lack of narrative propulsion, I feel I'm bouncing off something the majority of gamers right now are ADORING.

Where are you guys on how the progression works, and is it something where you think I'm expecting too much, too fast?

After months of being "meh" on the game (finishing A and being put off by all the bullet hell hacking in B) I decided to go back.

Somehow everything kinda clicked - I think knowing the discussions around this game really help you get in its groove, and so I set about thundering through Route B because C is where the good stuff is at.

Only, now I'm in Route C, I'm level 37 and enemies are between 50-60. They kill me in two hits, if not one.

I've just died yet again because a lumbering 2B (in that sequence) wouldn't move out the way, and I quit. It took a TON of retries to get through those first battles where you help the other YorHa squads (again, lots of one-hit deaths) and this is just too much.

I'm constantly in the "slow-mo coz you just got hit too much" phase, popping Large restorations like there's no tomorrow (I went through 50 in that scene with the EMP as 9S), and I'm just thinking... have I broken the progression?

Is the only solution to try and grind out 15 levels or something? Honestly I'm so disappointed - everything had clicked, I'm DYING to see how it all goes, but the combat is destroying my will to carry on!

Yeah even if you search the UK Microsoft store it doesn't show up - so annoying as it was one of my favourites on the list!

So after watching the b/c vid the guys just did, I fired up by Xbox One (original, not the S or X) and went to buy Dead to Rights. It doesn't seem to be on the UK store, either in the "Original Xbox!" segment or by searching.

I can't find anything online about region locked b/c games, but have you guys come across anything of the sort?

Cheers!

Hey guys,

So I've taken over all four of the fortresses and I'd like to crack on with Act III, but Eltariel's quest, "The Ritual" just comes up saying I need the "Domination upgrade".

As far as I can see, I already have "Dominate Captain" in the bottom right, and the game offers nothing in the way of what to do or where to go.

Any help would be most appreciated, as right now I'm just mopping up the rest of the Carnan quests to kill time (Gondor, Bruz and Shelob are all done).

Cheers!

Yeah so... it was that I'd already used the free ones without really taking note of what was happening. All I had to do was get another Bright Engram and the screen you get shown when you talk to Tess is totally different.

Sorry for all the confusion and thanks a bunch to everyone who replied - the GB community continues to be the best I've ever been a part of :)

Happy blasting Guardians, I'm gonna go try out my new... leg armour pieces! :D

Thanks so much to everyone and especially hestilllives19 for such an in-depth response!

I'm going to grind another level and see what happens when I get a chance, I've a feeling that like a couple of you have suggested, I've decrypted the first Bright Engram in a blur of postgame unlocks, only to then not realise haha. You certainly get a ton of rewards after that final mission, and I have a sinking feeling that I might've actually decrypted the first Bright Engram when I beamed into the hub world, did all the "Talk to X" quests and then tried to talk to Tess again, to no avail.

I'll update the thread once I get time to try in a couple of hours, and if that is the case, mods please delete the thread (but thanks to guys so much!)

@efesell: Well that's... an interesting turn of events haha!

Yeah I've got a red bar coming up inside the pop-up that hangs over the Engram saying that it "Requires First Bright Engram Purchase".

I know they've been having a load of server issues so maybe something's glitched out, but yeah... not the best. I'll grind another level out and see if that changes anything.

So you literally finished the game, went to Tess and were able to decrypt? I don't remember any previous Bright Engrams being awarded that used up my 'free one' allocation - if there even is such a thing? Like I should be able to decrypt the Bright Engrams I'm awarded without paying any money, simple as?

Hey guys/Guardians,

So I just finished the campaign and now I get access to Bright Engrams, yet even though I was awarded one, when I go to Tess it states that to decode even the first one I need to "make a purchase", which is a microtransaction of £4.49.

Everything I'm reading online talks about how the BE's are decrypted by Tess, and you can purchase Silver to do so IF YOU WANT, but they skip past the fact that it sets up the first one as something you HAVE to do(?).

Feels like I'm missing something, but any help on how to get Silver without coughing up real cash would be great - or if it's a prerequisite to pay... that just sucks, but wouldn't surprise me.

Cheers!

I'd say it's always a mix of objectivity and subjectivity - workable functioning mechanics and acknowledgement of a developer's intentions, then how those things sit with you as a player/how they'd resonate with the wider cultural perspective. I can objectively say that swordplay in Hellblade is responsive and that blades meet bodies, but I can't say it'll be enjoyable to those looking for more mechanical variation.

All of which is to say: I think it's an objective problem that every time the story starts to come together, we're kicked back to solving rune puzzles. I totally get the first time (after the two paths when you emerge on the bridge) there's a renewed sense of drive stemming from slogging through the aforementioned puzzles, but that's literally all the game has to offer. Brad mentions in his review that this drive remained and overpowered the tedium of the puzzles, but the very fact they exist as an obstacle to the narrative feels like the devs 'needing' to insert gameplay where it was unnecessary.

I also don't think the notion of Senua constructing the world in her mind comes across at all - like, what's stopping me thinking she just lives in a fantasy world in the first place? The 'rules' of Hellblade's world come from the marketing, interviews with devs and the included documentary - which I think does more to ground her as a character than anything in-game.

Speaking of that doc, the process of "We wanted to do a hero's journey story about a damaged individual, so we researched damaged individuals and put their stories in the game" feels very... forced? I think Ninja Theory's heart is in the right place, but a lot of it had this "student art project" feel in terms of touching on themes rather than truly grappling with them, and ultimately that puts me off.

The last thing - and this is such a shame - is the most profound comment comes in the documentary, where the narrator/director talks about the notion of mental health not being cured through evolution. Why have we been afflicted by mental health issues for centuries? He concludes that it's to aid in creativity and perspectives on the world, which is a fantastic message to put out, put this is nowhere in the base game.