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Transistor |OT| Super Giant Sword

Can you describe the quality of the story for someone who hasnt played Bastion? Exactly how big a focus is the plot?

There's plot and there is backstory and world building.

The main plot is about Red and the voice in the Transistor. That story drives the plot as you try to discover what happened to you and the Transistor, and what is happening to the world. That part is a bit blurrier and you need to do investigating, but it's no different than say Dark Souls where a lot of the backstory and world building comes from investigating items and putting pieces together.
 

LAUGHTREY

Modesty becomes a woman
I really don't get this game, from top to bottom.

I watched a lot of previews from last year, and it looks like a lot of stuff was cut, particularly the intro sequence was changed to go ahead a few seconds, don't know why but the way they just plonk you in mid story made it feel like my game was bugged.

The exposition sequence you get to about an hour into the game is so fast it's blink and you miss it, the 'cutscenes' would be a lot better if they were more clear I guess.

It really feels like there was a good story in the game, and they just cut it out for some reason.

I like the whole turn system, but I wish real time combat was more forgiving. I'd like a choice to do either or, not forced into the turn system.
 

marrec

Banned
I just finished it up.

I really enjoyed the storytelling style. The combat is the best I've experienced in a long time and the art/sound are fantastic.

I can understand why some people didn't enjoy the story... but I felt it was perfectly matched to the world that took place around it.

I'm struggling to think of a better games I've played this year based on the combat mechanics alone. Limiters really help later in the game when the combat gets too easy and I can't wait to play recursion with all the limiters on.
 

jediyoshi

Member
* The death penalty is to have one of your functions removed. This I don't understand one bit - so if a player is having a hard time with a boss or encounter, the idea is to make it even harder? So after that boss depletes your heath bar because you couldn't seem to get enough distance from their attacks the game decides to remove your Jaunt(). That's a real morale crusher right there. I don't get it.

I still don't get the confusion behind this. The death penalty is restarting from the last checkpoint, which if were already the case, would make the current system more forgiving than the expected norm. I don't see how you classify the death penalty the situation in which you're allowed to continue as opposed to the one where you're forced to restart and forfeit progress. Unless the expectation is coming from the complete opposite direction and for some reason turning around and making the game easier, other than the game not explicitly telling you your mechanically straight forward, immediate alternative of pausing and restarting, it's an odd perspective to view it as a death penalty.
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
So whats the "strategy" against fetch, the dog?

I cant avoid this fuckers hits at all. If you dont have jaunt, or not in turn, you are fucked. He hits you for huge damage, and seems to have huge range.

What a piece of shit enemy.
 
So whats the "strategy" against fetch, the dog?

I cant avoid this fuckers hits at all. If you dont have jaunt, or not in turn, you are fucked. He hits you for huge damage, and seems to have huge range.

What a piece of shit enemy.

Very basic strategy: initialize Mask() and then execute Cull() behind it. Jaunt() to safety or use Charm() afterwards. You may take some damage while it recharges, but that won't be enough to take you down before the battle ends. Never tested it on NG+, it probably wouldn't work.

There's many ways to fine-tune this strategy, but I found that it got me through all late-game encounters OK (in my first run).
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
Very basic strategy: initialize Mask() and then execute Cull() behind it. Jaunt() to safety or use Charm() afterwards. You may take some damage while it recharges, but that won't be enough to take you down before the battle ends. Never tested it on NG+, it probably wouldn't work.

There's many ways to fine-tune this strategy, but I found that it got me through all late-game encounters OK (in my first run).

I'm on NG+, and I'm more concerned about them in my final challenge, the one where you have to survive 17 waves.

Once those fucking dogs come out, everything goes to absolute shit.

It is especially bad because they go invisible and I am stuck with whatever skills they give me.
 
This game is super good. I started off kinda cold for the first half hour or so but man this game is good. Combat is fun. I kinda don't like the narration in spots. The guy almost talks too much sometimes and some of the tone just doesn't jive with me sometimes, either it's corny/cheesey or just kinda ugh, those particular instances are rare though for me
 
I'm on NG+, and I'm more concerned about them in my final challenge, the one where you have to survive 17 waves.

Once those fucking dogs come out, everything goes to absolute shit.

It is especially bad because they go invisible and I am stuck with whatever skills they give me.

I suppose the best way to deal with Fetch are to distract them with duplicates or summoned allies, because they're simply too fast otherwise. Purge and Charm don't last long enough and Jaunt is too slow.

Unfortunately, I don't know what that final challenge is like because I missed one of the backdoors somewhere.

Edit: If at all possible, follow Trey's advice.
 

Trey

Member
So whats the "strategy" against fetch, the dog?

Murder the shit out of them on sight. My usual rotation is Void -> Mask -> Tap. I can honestly skip the mask input cuz the Void is enough set up, but I want to be fancy. I have Spark()+Jaunt()+Breach() for when I'm waiting for my turn - gives me some range to defend myself.

Early game, I think running/jaunting away anytime you're not attacking is your best bet. Breach()+Crash() is pretty handy, since it's powerful, and it stuns.
 

Soma

Member
Just beat this.

Lots to mull over regarding the story but I love when a game or movie has been constantly thinking about it after I've finished it. Definitely a short but enjoyable ride. It took some time to get used to the battle system but once it clicked with me I found it to be really satisfying. I appreciate that it's a game that gives back based on how much the player puts in. Loved the visuals and the music but that was no surprise given how much I enjoyed those aspects from Bastion.

I can definitely see this somewhere on my GOTY list. Supergiant Games did it again!
 

MartyStu

Member
Cull() + Jaunt() is an amazing combo. Slow? Sure, but it hits so hard.

I find myself jonesing for more of this game. Hopefully SGG put some new stuff in the NG+.

Would make thematic sense. So they probably did not :(
 

Paskil

Member
I really loved this game. Might be my best of the year so far. Bastion never really clicked 100% with me because it just felt too slow
maybe I didn't play it long enough
.

Gaming needs more strong female protagonists, even if they're of the silent variety.

Bravo Supergiant, you've pretty much ensured by making this game that I will be there day one for your next release.
 

Kid Ska

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
Soo... is Reveal() bugged? I have all of the function files complete and it's not unlocking.

EDIT: Nevermind. Got it.
 

Rnr1224

Member
absolutely loving the game and on my way to 100% all i have left are the achievements for recurse and for completing all of the tests.
 

viveks86

Member
Oh wow! This is the best usage of the controller speaker I have seen so far. It definitely makes a huge difference in immersion. And the reverb effect that accompanies it through surround sound is so well executed.
 

lantus

Member
Just finished it. I really enjoyed the endgame, even if the end boss goes down in three turns with the right functions. Starting recursion mode now.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Just started Recursion mode. Whenever I get to zero health now, all it does is say "Transistor Overloaded". What exactly does that mean? I don't seem to be losing any functions.
 

Trey

Member
I nearly forgot to mention that I'm really disappointed in the Transistor soundtrack. It doesn't have the trailer version of We All Become, and that was something I was really looking forward to having. The extended version of We All Become is good but it lacks the intensity that makes the trailer version so enjoyable to hear, especially while looped.

You must patch it in, Supergiant!

I was preparing my shiv by the completion of this sentence. Glad I read the rest.
 
I still don't get the confusion behind this. The death penalty is restarting from the last checkpoint, which if were already the case, would make the current system more forgiving than the expected norm. I don't see how you classify the death penalty the situation in which you're allowed to continue as opposed to the one where you're forced to restart and forfeit progress. Unless the expectation is coming from the complete opposite direction and for some reason turning around and making the game easier, other than the game not explicitly telling you your mechanically straight forward, immediate alternative of pausing and restarting, it's an odd perspective to view it as a death penalty.
So in the example I gave - which in my case was the very first boss - I was having a hard time with the timing of her main attack and combo - just kept on getting hit even when I thought I was pulling my jaunts off correctly and had space or cover - it was pretty frustrating, but she managed to wipe out my health bar during this 'learning process'.

Now, at this point I screwed up, definitely. Restarting the battle is a fine option (and the one I use now) but having my health brought back while simultaneously removing Jaunt(), my one defensive move mind you, from my loadout was honestly demoralizing. It wasn't the game giving me a hand off the ground, offering a word of advice and pushing me back into the fight - it felt like the game just wanted to watch me die again, only this time without even my attempts at dodging to distract from the carnage.

So I tried fighting her without jaunt, and very rapidly got whittled down some more and had my secondary offensive power removed. So now I've got one attack, and no defense function against a boss who has been spanking me the whole time. And here I am feeling like the game is actively working against me, because its not a greater sense of challenge I'm feeling at this moment, its a doubling down on my frustration.

Believe me, when I saw that restarting the fight on the whole was an option in the menu I took advantage of that from that point forward.
 

Kid Ska

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
I nearly forgot to mention that I'm really disappointed in the Transistor soundtrack. It doesn't have the trailer version of We All Become, and that was something I was really looking forward to having. The extended version of We All Become is good but it lacks the intensity that makes the trailer version so enjoyable to hear, especially while looped.

You must patch it in, Supergiant!

Speaking of that trailer, it seems like the Camerata looked quite different at first. Go to 0:54.

And yeah, you're right about the OST version being less intense. That's disappointing.
 
So in the example I gave - which in my case was the very first boss - I was having a hard time with the timing of her main attack and combo - just kept on getting hit even when I thought I was pulling my jaunts off correctly and had space or cover - it was pretty frustrating, but she managed to wipe out my health bar during this 'learning process'.

Now, at this point I screwed up, definitely. Restarting the battle is a fine option (and the one I use now) but having my health brought back while simultaneously removing Jaunt(), my one defensive move mind you, from my loadout was honestly demoralizing. It wasn't the game giving me a hand off the ground, offering a word of advice and pushing me back into the fight - it felt like the game just wanted to watch me die again, only this time without even my attempts at dodging to distract from the carnage.

So I tried fighting her without jaunt, and very rapidly got whittled down some more and had my secondary offensive power removed. So now I've got one attack, and no defense function against a boss who has been spanking me the whole time. And here I am feeling like the game is actively working against me, because its not a greater sense of challenge I'm feeling at this moment, its a doubling down on my frustration.

Believe me, when I saw that restarting the fight on the whole was an option in the menu I took advantage of that from that point forward.

I'm on my second time through and had all ten limiters on when I did that fight. I did it on my second attempt with only one or two abilities left during the last phase. Jaunt was already knocked out so how I managed the fight was to just stand there and attack and right when she'd launch into her attack (three in a row, of course) I'd go into Turn() and just run away and typically place a regenerating wall or two in the path. I'd try to position myself in a good space so once the third attack was used (hopefully on a wall or far enough away from me) I could run up and do more attacks until I'd need to pop Turn() again and run away. So Turn() was my defense and attacks were done outside of it.

So yeah, it can suck losing abilities and feeling like you're punished but really it just forces a change in playstyle at that point.

The worst for me was late game when I lost my two main attacks and only had jaunt and I believe purge (the one that seeks enemies and drains health). I had five limiters on at the time including double cell spawns and shielded. Problem is the seeking attack won't hit shielded cells and instead just goes towards enemies. And with a chance for double cells it kept spawning more enemies. The clucker's big attack would break the shields so I had to try to get one clucker to bomb cells in time for me to collect them. In the end I was able to kill the last two cluckers alive right about at the same time and then the seeking ability was willing to knock out the shields on the last remaining cells.

I'll knock out the platinum to this pretty soon. I have three tests left (two performance and an agency), beating it a second time, and hitting level 24. I've got everything else complete so nothing else seems all that bad. Perhaps the last tests might take an attempt or two.
 

Grief.exe

Member
So in the example I gave - which in my case was the very first boss - I was having a hard time with the timing of her main attack and combo - just kept on getting hit even when I thought I was pulling my jaunts off correctly and had space or cover - it was pretty frustrating, but she managed to wipe out my health bar during this 'learning process'.

I was in a similar situation when I first fought her.

Spamming Jaunt to try to get away works in the first phase, but not in the second when she has the followup attack.

In subsequent fights, I would wait until she charges up, then go into planning mode to jaunt behind her and deliver the hurt.
 
Transistor's plot is very surface level, but I liked that. What you see is what you get, it's very honest in that respect.
I feel like it's almost the opposite actually, while a lot of the exposition didn't need to be as minimal and subtle as it was, other parts of the story were definitely better upon reflection.
 

Kid Ska

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
YJUxrIK.png

And that's all she wrote. Damn good game. Kinda wish
recursion was a little different/added more to the story but I guess there wasn't really much else to say
. One of the best combat mechanics I've ever had the pleasure of using, even though Void() was OP as hell. One thing I was curious of, however, is do
the Process ever get a 4.0 version? Is it in the second recursion?
. It seemed like that should have happened at some point.

Oh, and why did the Camerata steal Red's voice?
 

Artanisix

Member
My ONLY real gripe with the game is that it doesn't seem viable at all to beat the game on NG+ with limiters using only real time combat.
 
In subsequent fights, I would wait until she charges up, then go into planning mode to jaunt behind her and deliver the hurt.
Yeah, that's how I finally ended up beating her down. Just had to learn the best timing for Turn() in terms of putting down the damage as well as making an escape.
 

Grief.exe

Member
My ONLY real gripe with the game is that it doesn't seem viable at all to beat the game on NG+ with limiters using only real time combat.

10 limiters
Full disclosure, I beat the vast majority of NG+ with 8 limiters as I didn't want to limit my action choices. To put it simply, two of the limiters literally make the game less fun.
NG+
All Real Time

The trick is, having a ranged ability with some kind of stun at all times. My personal favorite was Purge() + Breach() + Jaunt()

Purge seeks out and strings to subsequent targets while applying a DOT as well as a slow. Breach makes the shot go infinitely farther and faster.
 
10 limiters
Full disclosure, I beat the vast majority of NG+ with 8 limiters as I didn't want to limit my action choices. To put it simply, two of the limiters literally make the game less fun.
NG+
All Real Time

The trick is, having a ranged ability with some kind of stun at all times. My personal favorite was Purge() + Breach() + Jaunt()

Purge seeks out and strings to subsequent targets while applying a DOT as well as a slow. Breach makes the shot go infinitely farther and faster.

I did my five 10-limiter fights near the beginning of the NG+ and used my main ability set that I went through the majority of the game with. The main attack was Spark() + Purge() + Mask(). I stumbled upon this and loved it as I largely hated Mask() until then. Spark fires quickly enough for the length of stealth Mask() gives while firing that you're essentially always in stealth while mashing the attack button. Also with Spark() having a decent area for splash damage and Purge() adding the DoT it deals a lot of damage to a lot of enemies effeciently. Everything else was mainly backup. I always kept Jaunt() on triangle and if I needed something to hit hard I started keeping Void() on one spot and something else that hits hard on the other spot so I could weaken and then burst a single thing down more easily.

I won't be going through with limiters on through the rest of NG+ but since it already throws in the late-game enemies at you and I used that on the first boss I don't think I'd have much of an issue getting through with most/all the limiters on from that point forward. A few fights might get tricky but I think it'd be manageable.
 

sharnaak

Member
100%'ed it on pc saturday night, overall steam clocks 17 hours played but I think it was more around 15 or so, took my time reading all the stuff.

The game is really good, probably one of the best I've put my hands on in the past year. The only disappointing part is that it doesn't have much to do once you go through your full second gameplay and that even with 10 limiters on the game is kinda easy once you understand how to deal with the diffrent kind of enemies.
My ability set was for most of the second gameplay this one
Crush()+Jaunt()+Breach() for weeds and men without going on Turn(), Cull()+Load()+Get() for dogs and heavy stuff and having Mask()+Mask()+Crush() and Void() as 3th/4th ability just for the harder stuff

I enjoyed the story and the storytelling a lot, but I guess with this kind of games it is pretty much an hit or miss for diffrent people.
 

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
I like this game. Combat is fun, it looks good, the world is interesting and the soundtrack is amazing.

I must be close to finishing it.
 

Lemondish

Member
I'm on NG+, and I'm more concerned about them in my final challenge, the one where you have to survive 17 waves.

Once those fucking dogs come out, everything goes to absolute shit.

It is especially bad because they go invisible and I am stuck with whatever skills they give me.

I completed that one last night. Charm(Bounce()) really made this a joke. I just stayed on the periphery and let them kick the shit out of each other while I ran in to collect cells and backstab some fools from Mask(Mask()).
 

Lemondish

Member
100%'ed it on pc saturday night, overall steam clocks 17 hours played but I think it was more around 15 or so, took my time reading all the stuff.

The game is really good, probably one of the best I've put my hands on in the past year. The only disappointing part is that it doesn't have much to do once you go through your full second gameplay and that even with 10 limiters on the game is kinda easy once you understand how to deal with the diffrent kind of enemies.
My ability set was for most of the second gameplay this one
Crush()+Jaunt()+Breach() for weeds and men without going on Turn(), Cull()+Load()+Get() for dogs and heavy stuff and having Mask()+Mask()+Crush() and Void() as 3th/4th ability just for the harder stuff

I enjoyed the story and the storytelling a lot, but I guess with this kind of games it is pretty much an hit or miss for diffrent people.

Nice suggestion. I used
Void(Get()+Crash()) with Purge(Crash()+Bounce()) with whatever combination of Spark(Breach()) thrown in that would fit around the limiters. Void x 3 plus Purge outside of Turn would essentially drag everything in close together, keep them stunned, eat away at their health, and Spark(Breach()) spam from range would finish them off. Would only ever need Turn() for avoidance and sick combos.
 
And that's all she wrote. Damn good game. Kinda wish
Oh, and why did the Camerata steal Red's voice?
Not really a story spoiler beyond the first few minutes, but...
In her Function file it's implied that the Transistor actually started to integrate her, but it was just barely, so it ended up just taking her voice.
 

Grief.exe

Member
Nice suggestion. I used
Void(Get()+Crash()) with Purge(Crash()+Bounce()) with whatever combination of Spark(Breach()) thrown in that would fit around the limiters. Void x 3 plus Purge outside of Turn would essentially drag everything in close together, keep them stunned, eat away at their health, and Spark(Breach()) spam from range would finish them off. Would only ever need Turn() for avoidance and sick combos.

I did have something similar. The problem with this set up is limiters.

You have far too many cells flying out at the same time to deal with.

I remember one encounter I had about 100 cells lying on the ground at one point, shielded, and no way to pick them all up.
Even more screwed if you use planning mode.
 

Lemondish

Member
Not really a story spoiler beyond the first few minutes, but...
In her Function file it's implied that the Transistor actually started to integrate her, but it was just barely, so it ended up just taking her voice.

And
I think it's also heavily implied that they might have been interested in her for her voice in the first place. In any case, she seemed to have been singled out as a target by Sybil who was infatuated with her but was overcome with jealousy. According to the profile, she may have been overstating or lying about Red's importance to the rest of the Camerata so that they would approach her.
 

Lemondish

Member
I did have something similar. The problem with this set up is limiters.

You have far too many cells flying out at the same time to deal with.

I remember one encounter I had about 100 cells lying on the ground at one point, shielded, and no way to pick them all up.
Even more screwed if you use planning mode.

I rarely had trouble with cells when I used it alongside a passive Get(). Granted, I didn't play the whole game with 10 limiters, just the required 5 or so encounters for the trophy (and a few more for giggles).
 
Is there any way to have 2 different games on the same account? I'd like to see how I could do not using Turn() at all for a full game.
 

sharnaak

Member
Is there any way to have 2 different games on the same account? I'd like to see how I could do not using Turn() at all for a full game.

For the pc version in the option menu there should be a profile setting, no idea about the ps4 version. (Didn't try it for myself but I think it's what it is supposed to be used for)
 
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