Outlast 2 Platinum Playthrough

[Atoya]

Wish me luck guys I will try to make the platinum my 2000 trophy, and honestly the problem with me that my heart keeps racing none stop from start to finish because insane run is INSANE

[Phoenix_argentea]

5 hours ago, Atooya said:

Wish me luck guys I will try to make the platinum my 2000 trophy, and honestly the problem with me that my heart keeps racing none stop from start to finish because insane run is INSANE

I wanted to put it in the 75th platinum milestone, but I always died. Then I put Secret of Mana in that place, two more attempts and finally I obtained this platinum. But I'm sure I'd not manage to put it in a milestone.

But you're not alone, even my heart kept racing during every single chase on insane difficulty, while this didn't happen on nightmare (probably for the checkpoints).

[Atoya]

29 minutes ago, Phoenix_argentea said:

I wanted to put it in the 75th platinum milestone, but I always died. Then I put Secret of Mana in that place, two more attempts and finally I obtained this platinum. But I'm sure I'd not manage to put it in a milestone.

But you're not alone, even my heart kept racing during every single chase on insane difficulty, while this didn't happen on nightmare (probably for the checkpoints).

I did a full nightmare run and I only died at the beginning but then I finished the game easily without dying, I think the game isn’t that bad but because we know we will restart it from the beginning we start panicking and mess it up

[Dauersack]

3 hours ago, Atooya said:

I did a full nightmare run and I only died at the beginning but then I finished the game easily without dying, I think the game isn’t that bad but because we know we will restart it from the beginning we start panicking and mess it up

It is not just that, I am absolutely certain that enemies behave differently on insane, I died too many times to enemies doing random or unusual shit I have never come across on any of my nightmare runs for this to be just the result of being slightly nervous. Before I went on a break I could basically go safely through every encounter on nightmare except two of the Nick and Laird encounters (that are just impossible to do 100%) and the one tricky mine encounter that I used a strategy for that could backfire occasionally, but come insane difficulty and I died in ways I have never seen on nightmare and could not replicate even when I tried. I guess they wanted to make the experience as miserable as possible, otherwise they would have included the option to skip cutscenes when they put out patches for the encounters.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Nighcisama

[Atoya]

57 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

It is not just that, I am absolutely certain that enemies behave differently on insane, I died too many times to enemies doing random or unusual shit I have never come across on any of my nightmare runs for this to be just the result of being slightly nervous. Before I went on a break I could basically go safely through every encounter on nightmare except two of the Nick and Laird encounters (that are just impossible to do 100%) and the one tricky mine encounter that I used a strategy for that could backfire occasionally, but come insane difficulty and I died in ways I have never seen on nightmare and could not replicate even when I tried. I guess they wanted to make the experience as miserable as possible, otherwise they would have included the option to skip cutscenes when they put out patches for the encounters.

Honestly if they just add the option to skip cutscenes it would be much better, because it gets really boring as you keep trying 

[Quink666]

3 minutes ago, Atooya said:

Honestly if they just add the option to skip cutscenes it would be much better, because it gets really boring as you keep trying 

 

What you don't like to watch the intro cutscene again and again? It was the best part imo => 

 

Skipping cutscenes would help a ton, especially the first long one. But i don't think we will get anymore updates unfortunately.

[Atoya]

10 hours ago, Quink666 said:

 

What you don't like to watch the intro cutscene again and again? It was the best part imo => 

 

Skipping cutscenes would help a ton, especially the first long one. But i don't think we will get anymore updates unfortunately.

I mean the first part isn’t an issue but nick and laird cutscene is disgusting and boring, the first Martha cutscenes is really boring as well, and there’s a cutscene I forgot which one, I went bring water quickly they automatically turned on my camera meaning my run got screwed, the game always fucks with me since April it has been

Edited January 3, 2020 by Atooya

[TheBonobo4]

Yeah I really don't get why you can't skip cuteness, or why night vision comes on automatically at certain points. The only thing I can think of for the cutscenes is because of the 4 hour trophy, but if the cutscene is a specific length they could easily just add this time in and let you skip the cut scene, or pause the clock timer in the cut scene?

[Phoenix_argentea]

5 hours ago, TheBonobo4 said:

Yeah I really don't get why you can't skip cuteness, or why night vision comes on automatically at certain points. The only thing I can think of for the cutscenes is because of the 4 hour trophy, but if the cutscene is a specific length they could easily just add this time in and let you skip the cut scene, or pause the clock timer in the cut scene?

I remember Red Barrels said they couldn't add a "skip-the-cutscenes" option "due to the structure of the game."

https://twitter.com/theredbarrels/status/866697746740383745

I really hope they add this option in the next game (not the multiplayer one).

Also the auto night vision is stupid, but since both events happen in chapter 1 (when you meet again with Lynn --> long cutscene --> first Val's appearance; and at the end of chapter 1 in the school vent when the tentacle grabs Blake) is not a real issue, due to the Nick&Laird one battery glitch.

[Dauersack]

20 minutes ago, Phoenix_argentea said:

Also the auto night vision is stupid, but since both events happen in chapter 1 (when you meet again with Lynn --> long cutscene --> first Val's appearance; and at the end of chapter 1 in the school vent when the tentacle grabs Blake) is not a real issue, due to the Nick&Laird one battery glitch.

There is also auto night vision in chapter 3 when you get pulled into the pool. That one can sting a bit more if you panic and forget to turn it off quickly because you really need all the nightvision you can get for chapter 4 and especially 5.

 

Biggest fear of mine is still the crawling bug that messed up my best run. I have somewhat of an idea what causes this shit to happen, but I doubt it can be avoided entirely.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Nighcisama

[Burstawesome]

After dying on Nick & Laird on the forest section I'm convinced it's an RNG situation. Most of the time I make it to the edge of thehill and still die even though I have done the same thing as on Nightmare. I haven't even made it to the 2nd half of the game especially chapter 4 which I fear I will die on alot. Especially when the heretic falls down and you have to wait for him to break down the door.

[Dauersack]

6 hours ago, Burstawesome said:

After dying on Nick & Laird on the forest section I'm convinced it's an RNG situation. Most of the time I make it to the edge of thehill and still die even though I have done the same thing as on Nightmare. I haven't even made it to the 2nd half of the game especially chapter 4 which I fear I will die on alot. Especially when the heretic falls down and you have to wait for him to break down the door.

I have witnessed 2 cases of rng in the Nick&Laird encounters. The very first encounter can be done reliably if your timing is on point, and the second one in the water too so no problems there. The forest encounter however is impossible to do 100% due to rng, sometimes you just die, I died twice because the second I peeked out of the window of the house I am running to I got an arrow in the face despite these two fools not even looking my way, but usually you die on your last few steps towards the ledge or sometimes even while already being on the ledge. Simulated this shit so many times, exact same timing and route, sometimes you just die and theres nothing that can be done about it. The encounter with the rocks is tricky but usually can be done, biggest risk is peeking out to make them fire, then running with bad timing and therefore running straight in the arrow they fired so better wait until their arrow hits the rock, running all the way is playing russian roulette as sometimes the arrows feel like they are heat seeking missiles that will hit you whether you keep running or randomly stand for a moment to juke them. The last Nick&Laird encounter is similar in that sometimes you have bad luck and can't make it because on rare occasions there will be an extra hillbilly standing near the rope you are supposed to carry, and then its just not doable anymore as you can't kite him away far enough without the other hillbillies coming after you too. Never could figure out why that guy just stands there sometimes but thankfully its not all that often.

 

Chapter 4 should not go wrong unless you face a bug, as there are no rng elements except one encounter(the one you have after falling down between the heretics) and it is almost entirely practice. I died 2 times thanks to bugs, one time because on the encounter you described my character ran out of stamina near the corpse wall you have to jump over despite me taking the exact same route as before, enemy catched up and I died, never happened before or since and I could never replicate that even when I tried taking a longer route on nightmare, definitely was the game bullshitting me. The second and most annoying was the crawling bug that affected me in the last monster encounter in the bathroom, normally an impossible to fuck up encounter the crawling bug hit me when I tried crawling into the stall, leading to me getting stuck and the monster to catch up to me and kill me, since then I prefer to open and close the stall door instead, much more reliable even if the timing is a bit tighter.

 

So far I have managed to get all encounters done reliably in practice except 4. 2 are the aforementioned Nick&Laird encounters, one is the chapter 4 heretic encounter after falling down that just seems impossible to do completely safe due to the enemies being so close they take several swipes in any case and sometimes just end up getting a hit in, and the last is the triple heretic encounter in the mine tunnel that has been my most dreaded. Aside from an enemy sometimes catching up for some reason and oneshotting my ass, it is dark as hell and getting the timing with locking the door is hard to do under pressure, also sometimes the first heretic just loves to climb into the crevice with the torch I am hiding in until the second heretic stops blocking the tunnel. This encounter goes south in at least 1 out of 5 cases due to that first heretic climbing through the walls and ending up in the hiding spot I am choosing, that seems unavoidable and the thought of dying there on insane is really not appealing, so if anyone has a 100% reliable strat for that encounter it would lift my spirit a lot.

[Phoenix_argentea]

2 hours ago, Nighcisama said:

The forest encounter however is impossible to do 100% due to rng, sometimes you just die, I died twice because the second I peeked out of the window of the house I am running to I got an arrow in the face despite these two fools not even looking my way, but usually you die on your last few steps towards the ledge or sometimes even while already being on the ledge.  really not appealing, so if anyone has a 100% reliable strat for that encounter it would lift my spirit a lot.

About this, make sure Nick&Laird don't see you while you are under the window. Wait for them, adn when they break the door, simply escape from the house. In this way they shouldn't see you and you should be safe. This startegy always worked in my runs. If the "forest encounter" is the one after the school section and you find yourself inside the closet...

 

2 hours ago, Nighcisama said:

Chapter 4 should not go wrong unless you face a bug, as there are no rng elements except one encounter(the one you have after falling down between the heretics) and it is almost entirely practice. I died 2 times thanks to bugs, one time because on the encounter you described my character ran out of stamina near the corpse wall you have to jump over despite me taking the exact same route as before, enemy catched up and I died, never happened before or since and I could never replicate that even when I tried taking a longer route on nightmare, definitely was the game bullshitting me. The second and most annoying was the crawling bug that affected me in the last monster encounter in the bathroom, normally an impossible to fuck up encounter the crawling bug hit me when I tried crawling into the stall, leading to me getting stuck and the monster to catch up to me and kill me, since then I prefer to open and close the stall door instead, much more reliable even if the timing is a bit tighter.

Sometimes in this chase you can run out of stamina. This is my idea, but I used a couple of strategies and they made it fine. First, run without you camera (used it in the previous section in order to find the stairs and the access to the next chase, then remove it), I don't know if I'm sure, but it seems tha Blake runs faster without the camera. And, when you pass through the wall and you begin the next section, don't spam the run button. Simply walk for one second, then start running (I think you should recover a bit of stamina, which should be enough for this chase).

And in the last school section you don't have to worry about the second part, since it was removed. You can hide in the stall, and then open the door, no one will chase you anymore! Unless Red Barrels changed something again with another patch...

 

2 hours ago, Nighcisama said:

and the last is the triple heretic encounter in the mine tunnel that has been my most dreaded. Aside from an enemy sometimes catching up for some reason and oneshotting my ass, it is dark as hell and getting the timing with locking the door is hard to do under pressure, also sometimes the first heretic just loves to climb into the crevice with the torch I am hiding in until the second heretic stops blocking the tunnel. This encounter goes south in at least 1 out of 5 cases due to that first heretic climbing through the walls and ending up in the hiding spot I am choosing, that seems unavoidable and the thought of dying there on insane is really not appealing, so if anyone has a 100% reliable strat for that encounter it would lift my spirit a lot.

Did you try the PS4Trophies strategy? I used it, and I worked.

Before running in the long mines tunnel, open the door on you right (when you're facing the tunnel, not the one on your left, because you'll trigger an instant-death!), then run in the tunnel. Trigger the chase, run back and hide into the crevice. Let the heretic pull you out, then run into the door you opened previuosly and close it. Stay near the door and don't go too far, otherwise another heretic will jump down! Open the door, let the heretic blocking the tunnel see you, and run again into the crevice. Let him pull you out (again), and now run!

[AJ_Radio]

13 hours ago, Nighcisama said:

-snip-

 

Feels good reading your post. Sort of going through RNG bullshit right now. It grinds my gears when something is heavily luck based, instead of using skill to surpass an obstacle. 

 

I may still buy Outlast 1. Don’t like the fact Outlast 2 is so much longer.

[JoaLoft]

I can't offer you guys a full platinum playthrough, but I did collect both Insane trophies and the speed run trophy in one go, and recorded my entire run. I'll post it below.

 

 

 

Here are some pointers which are essential to completing this game on the highest difficulty without any additional batteries:
 

• Conserve most of your battery for chapter 5 in the mines. You'll need it. As long as you have at least 50% battery power left when you descend into the mineshaft, you should have nothing to fear.
• Use in-game light sources to navigate most of the environments, to conserve your battery optimally. This is related to the previous pointer.
• Use your microphone to locate enemies in times of uncertainty. This was a lot harder in the pre-patch versions where the difficulty was still significantly higher and your microphone drained your battery too, but in this case: exploit that microphone whenever you want to. It could end up being your saving grace.
• Conserve stamina for the right moments. It seems tempting to rush through every environment non-stop, but Blake will need to catch his breath often. And if you end up exhausted at the start of a chase sequence, chances are huge you will not survive. Conserving stamina is the difference between life or death.
• Know the game inside and out. Practice sections on Nightmare difficulty first. This is pretty self-explanatory: having full knowledge of what comes next and how to deal with the situation at hand is key and helps to anticipate and plan ahead.
• Keep collecting bandages. In some cases a regular NPC (or if you're very lucky like I was, a main antagonist), could hit you and you'll survive but you'll be wounded, meaning you'll be slower and in mortal peril. Make sure you keep collecting bandages in case you end up in a similar situation.
• Stay calm, and keep a level head. Perhaps the biggest tip of them all, and an ostensibly stupid one, but nevertheless one that could save your entire run. Outlast 2 has a fantastic horror atmosphere, with impeccable audio design, meaning you could end up panicking during certain parts or when something doesn't go according to plan. Stay calm, remember where you need to go, and handle accordingly.

 

Hope this can help you get past some of the more tricky parts. Good luck!

[Dauersack]

On 4.1.2020 at 3:02 PM, Phoenix_argentea said:

About this, make sure Nick&Laird don't see you while you are under the window. Wait for them, adn when they break the door, simply escape from the house. In this way they shouldn't see you and you should be safe. This startegy always worked in my runs. If the "forest encounter" is the one after the school section and you find yourself inside the closet...

Or just use the microphone and only peek out of the window then you know they are already about to bust the door. Helps to avoid the instant headshot at the window, but you still can always die when trying to reach the ledge. My last 2 runs ended due to that exact reason, once I got shot in the back by them once they broke through the door and I started running, backshot hit me around the tree with the barbwire despite me using the same timing every single time, in my other run I just got killed despite me already having reached the ledge. I was 3 seconds into squeezing myself through there and then the arrow hit me, not the first time and definitely not the last, as my tests have shown that this encounter has a MUCH higher chance to go wrong on insane, and it frequently goes to shit for me despite me making it through on nightmare most of the time.

On 4.1.2020 at 3:02 PM, Phoenix_argentea said:

Sometimes in this chase you can run out of stamina. This is my idea, but I used a couple of strategies and they made it fine. First, run without you camera (used it in the previous section in order to find the stairs and the access to the next chase, then remove it), I don't know if I'm sure, but it seems tha Blake runs faster without the camera. And, when you pass through the wall and you begin the next section, don't spam the run button. Simply walk for one second, then start running (I think you should recover a bit of stamina, which should be enough for this chase).

And in the last school section you don't have to worry about the second part, since it was removed. You can hide in the stall, and then open the door, no one will chase you anymore! Unless Red Barrels changed something again with another patch...

Blake certainly looks faster without camera, but I doubt it makes any difference. Tried that walking part a few times, makes no difference really as you usually do not run out of stamina in this encounter until the very end and you always have a lot of distance between the enemy and yourself. The time I died there was just the game screwing me over, it happened for absolutely no reason and will most likely never happen again, as I could not replicate this shit despite seriously trying everything, had to be a bug to prevent the platinum, wouldn't be surprised if that kind of crap was put in intentionally on insane at this point. The last school section is normally impossible to fuck up, but as I said Blake refused to move further when crawling under the stall, that will not happen again as I now open the stall, go in and crawl, that resets the monster because the next sequence gets triggered the instant you crawl in a stall even if the door is still open, the monster is a solid 2.5-3 seconds behind you during this encounter so it can be done reliably, problem is ever getting that far again.

On 4.1.2020 at 3:02 PM, Phoenix_argentea said:

Did you try the PS4Trophies strategy? I used it, and I worked.

Before running in the long mines tunnel, open the door on you right (when you're facing the tunnel, not the one on your left, because you'll trigger an instant-death!), then run in the tunnel. Trigger the chase, run back and hide into the crevice. Let the heretic pull you out, then run into the door you opened previuosly and close it. Stay near the door and don't go too far, otherwise another heretic will jump down! Open the door, let the heretic blocking the tunnel see you, and run again into the crevice. Let him pull you out (again), and now run!

This strategy mostly does not work for me and I would never do it on insane, as it is the highest risk strategy imaginable for this encounter. I got hit in the back by the enemy that drags me out several times, and you have to do that shit TWICE, you also have to get close enough to the standing enemy to trigger him into following you which needs perfect timing for him not to catch you, something I do not trust myself with only a few minutes away from the ending. Probs to anyone who has the nerve and good faith to try this strategy, I think it is a dumb strategy that is more than twice as risky as the one I am using so I pass on using it, I'd rather try the locker strategy that usually goes to shit.

 

On 5.1.2020 at 1:33 AM, Spaz said:

 

Feels good reading your post. Sort of going through RNG bullshit right now. It grinds my gears when something is heavily luck based, instead of using skill to surpass an obstacle. 

 

I may still buy Outlast 1. Don’t like the fact Outlast 2 is so much longer.

Then I hope you are having a better time than me at the moment, because I already checked out some good steam sales and will probably abandon the PS4 for a few weeks if shit goes on like this for a few more days, because my playtime is getting more limited so sacrificing it for this turd feels unrewarding as hell. Did a marathon with several tries on a free day, literally all attempts ended in chapter 2, two runs today both ended at the exact same point in chapter 2. Zero progress is being made while I watch some series during chapter 1 to stop my brain from puking from the same old stuff, only to then die from a random arrow each time in chapter 2. Feel like I deserve this crap plat for all the hours I put into this game already, maybe I legit just hide the game at some point and move on to the other games I wanna complete, because I refuse to let this shit end my completion project so early, but I am getting really tired of it by now even giving most of my attention to something else while playing the more casual parts.

 

On 5.1.2020 at 3:16 AM, JoaLoft said:

I can't offer you guys a full platinum playthrough, but I did collect both Insane trophies and the speed run trophy in one go, and recorded my entire run. I'll post it below.

 

Hope this can help you get past some of the more tricky parts. Good luck!

Don't wanna diminish your platinum run as getting the plat is very impressive, but I wish my game was half as forgiving as yours was in that attempt. Some of the things you did, like hiding that close to the heretic for so long or openly crawling into Nick&Lairds field of vision would instantly get me killed, I even tried that approach to test it and got arrowed several times, your luck was immense here.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Nighcisama

[AJ_Radio]

1 hour ago, Nighcisama said:

Then I hope you are having a better time than me at the moment, because I already checked out some good steam sales and will probably abandon the PS4 for a few weeks if shit goes on like this for a few more days, because my playtime is getting more limited so sacrificing it for this turd feels unrewarding as hell. Did a marathon with several tries on a free day, literally all attempts ended in chapter 2, two runs today both ended at the exact same point in chapter 2. Zero progress is being made while I watch some series during chapter 1 to stop my brain from puking from the same old stuff, only to then die from a random arrow each time in chapter 2. Feel like I deserve this crap plat for all the hours I put into this game already, maybe I legit just hide the game at some point and move on to the other games I wanna complete, because I refuse to let this shit end my completion project so early, but I am getting really tired of it by now even giving most of my attention to something else while playing the more casual parts.

 

If you're going to go the Steam route, then I strongly suggest investing in a custom PC desktop that can handle high resolutions in newer games. Plenty of choices to be had on the internet, pick and choose what works best for you.

 

I would definitely work on other games. Sniper Elite 4 is a good start, DLC looks fairly easy. Prototype 1 & 2 look a lot more tempting.

[Dauersack]

17 minutes ago, Spaz said:

 

If you're going to go the Steam route, then I strongly suggest investing in a custom PC desktop that can handle high resolutions in newer games. Plenty of choices to be had on the internet, pick and choose what works best for you.

 

I would definitely work on other games. Sniper Elite 4 is a good start, DLC looks fairly easy. Prototype 1 & 2 look a lot more tempting.

I have a decent pc, not a gaming pc by any means but given that I mostly play strategy games on Pc it is sufficient, could also get back into playing Dota 2, that thing is guaranteed to eat any gaming time up by itself, and the company in that game is still better than in Outlast 2.

 

The problem is I have to get Outlast 2 out of the way at some point, and aside from Super Meat Boy it is the only thing on my to do list thats either difficult enough or in this case bullshit enough to make me lose my mind enough to drive me away from the console itself for prolonged periods of time. If I can't get that thing out of the way, I doubt attempting to complete anything else is even worth the effort. I give it a few more days, if I keep dying in chapter 2 on insane despite me being able to get through that chapter between 3 and 5 times before dying once on nightmare(yes I actually tested that, insane is NOT the same as nightmare), then I have to reconsider my approach, or I try patching the game back to an earlier version thats hopefully less shit with the one encounter that keeps killing me the most. Well enough ranting, time for something useful.

 

Gameplay information. Fooling around with Nick&Laird on nightmare made me realize that you can duck to dodge the arrows during the second part of the cover encounter. The arrows are heat seeking auto aim arrows, thats a fact, you can't dodge them to the left or right once they are fired because they will adjust and hit you in the head, so getting behind cover is the only way to avoid them in the first encounter. On the second however, the angle from which the lowlife is firing at you is much less steep, the arrow is still seeking your head but is almost coming in a straight line towards you, but the developers were too stupid, once again, to include every scenario so you can just duck and dodge the arrows like this in the second encounter. This works because the arrows only adjust horizontally, not vertically, one more oversight by this team. Does not work in the first section because the arrow comes from so far above it will hit you in any case, but since they are almost the same height you are in the second one, just going into a squat once an arrow is fired will evade 100% of the arrows and make that second part an absolute breeze. Not sure if that helps anyone since the second part wasn't that hard to begin with, but I wanted to put it out there anyway. Hell given how tired I am of insane difficulty, I might just try to find ways to glitch Nick&Laird, not like me to actively try and break a game but this game deserves it.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Nighcisama

[AJ_Radio]

18 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

I have a decent pc, not a gaming pc by any means but given that I mostly play strategy games on Pc it is sufficient, could also get back into playing Dota 2, that thing is guarenteed to eat any gaming time up by itself.

 

I have a Windows 10 laptop I paid $1200 - 1300 for around mid 2018. Nothing spectacular but it still has a pretty okay graphics card and it does what I want out of it. Honestly I find laptops in this day and age to be all around more useful, since most of the stuff I do on computers is essentially working on projects and assignments, both for work and college/university.

 

Honestly though, most of the stuff I have is stuff from the mid 2000s to early 2010s. I can't play any of the new AAA games on this computer because it just can't handle the spec requirements. I have strategy games like Civilization IV, Civilization V, SimCity 4, Stronghold HD, Age of Empires II, RollerCoaster Tycoon and others I still play from time to time. Those games offer more replayability and enjoyment than virtually anything I've seen that's big these past few years on Steam.

 

I guess I'm just an old school guy who prefers the older stuff...

 

18 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

The problem is I have to get Outlast 2 out of the way at some point, and aside from Super Meat Boy it is the only thing on my to do list thats either difficult enough or in this case bullshit enough to make me lose my mind enough to drive me away from the console itself for prolonged periods of time. If I can't get that thing out of the way, I doubt attempting to complete anything else is even worth the effort because I end up at the same spot anyway, so it means either completing it now or hiding it forever because I will not relearning this crap again after not touching it for months. I give it a few more days, if I keep dying in chapter 2 on insane despite me being able to get through that chapter between 3 and 5 times before dying once on nightmare(yes I actually tested that, insane is NOT the same as nightmare), then I seriously might just hide it or try patching the game back to an earlier version thats hopefully less shit with the one encounter that keeps killing me the most.

 

I mean, the fact you've expressed more distaste for Outlast 2 than Super Meat Boy really speaks volumes for how RNG that section is.

 

I had to spend around 50 hours to get Impossible Boy. One of the hardest things I ever did in my 25+ years of gaming. However I put it off for a good year and a half. I practice for a hour or two, try to make a run, fail miserably and go through a 'rage quit' phase.

 

Now I'm working on Challenge 6 in Vanquish, I have one last trophy before the platinum. People have said it can take anywhere from 10 hours to well over 20 hours. Someone even mentioned it took him over 30 hours to beat Challenge 6. Challenge 4 was bad enough and that alone took many attempts and some screaming at the TV. First three challenges were easy. Challenge 5 was sort of meh, nothing too hard. But Challenge 6..... real heartache considering I'm usually pretty ass at shooters.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Spaz

[JoaLoft]

11 hours ago, Nighcisama said:

Don't wanna diminish your platinum run as getting the plat is very impressive, but I wish my game was half as forgiving as yours was in that attempt. Some of the things you did, like hiding that close to the heretic for so long or openly crawling into Nick&Lairds field of vision would instantly get me killed, I even tried that approach to test it and got arrowed several times, your luck was immense here.

 

Aside from that one time Marta hit me during the cart section and almost killed me, everything else was pretty much planned. And everything should work.

 

I know it works, because I did two successful "Insane without batteries" platinum runs in a little over 12 hours using the same tactics - once on my brother's account (because he really wanted the platinum trophy too and I put in the effort for him) and one on my own. So I know the tactics work if executed properly.

Edited January 7, 2020 by JoaLoft

[Sezzuyasha]

Completed this game yesterday. It overall took me like 10-12 tries. Once I made it past Laird and Nick everything was pretty much done.

For the Martha & the cart scene, I honestly do not exactly know why people have problems with it. You first push the cart as far as you can (Blake will stop on its own), turn around, run a whole circle, go back to cart, do not even attempt to push it because she will break through the fence, run another circle, push the cart until you hear her scream again, wait for her to come thorugh the fence, and after running another round you can push it to the end. Martha has never caused me a problem that way and I was not hit once.

For Laird and Nick, they totally suck. For the first encounter, I first tried the tent strategy which did not work for me at all. Once i tried the strategy with the two trees, this section did not cause me any problems at all anymore. For the second encounter, I just waited till they broke in the door and just ran for it. I read about people getting shot there sometimes on the edge and stuff, but for some reason I was never killed in this encounter. Waited for the door to be smashed in, waited like half a second just to be safe they aren't inf ront of the house anymore and ran. For the next few seconds, when you run and Nick and Laird shoot arrows across the map, I actually died twice. It's the arrow right before making it to the first campfire with the guy talking about walking across a river with you? So basically what I think caused this is, that like half a second before that Blake got a bit slower because of stamina issues. So to prevent this, I first started sprinting after I was about halfway done with balancing over the tree. After that I was always faster than the arrow.

For the last encounter, where you have to pick up the rope: Before they appear and you are actually on your way to the rope, I just ran straight up to the rope.Like right thorugh there, not around or anything. Don't wait for the guy to pass just run. Destroyed the tree, went down the hill, let my stamina recharge for 2 seconds, pick up the rope and then I ran around the houses to avoid Nick and Laird. So here's the thing: When I first tried it I ran around the houses to go to the rope. Then when I ran back, the area was full with people. I once got shot there and pretty much the last thing I saw was a woman pointing at me and then I got aimbotet by Nick and Laird. So my thinking is, that I'll just run straight to the rope so the first guy in the area can not alarm everyone so no one can fucking point at me. I don't know if that is actually how that section is ment to work, but after doing it that way I didn't die there anymore.

One thing I died to once was the library scene, but that was simply because I completely blackoutet for a second and forget where the fuck I am. Once I made it past this, I have not died anymore.

For the heretic chase scene in the raining blood, just know where you are going and it'll be fine. Blake ran out of stamina during the chase but no one of them was able to catch me still.

For the heretic scene in the beginning of the mines. Once you open the door, duck down and sneak in. Once the guy falls down from god knows where, just wait for him to go into the next door. Now run to the end. Recharge your stamina. Once the heretic on the end of that tunnel starts chasing you, run into the exact door that the first heretic went in to. Now wait till he stops chasing you, go back into the tunnel and make him chase you again, go into the crack that is at the start of the tunnel, wait for him to pull you out again and just run for your life. So here's the thing: if you went into the door like I did first, the 3rd heretic that should be in the tunnel, just isn't there. Don't ask me why, he just isn't.

For Val and the 2 switches, this encounter is pretty easy in my opinion. Just went with most of the videos I saw. The chase scene after that is pretty easy too, just flash your nightvision a few times and you are pretty much done.

So that was my experience on this. By the way, I have never had experience with this game before, I played Outlast 1 to 100% but that's about it. With these staretgies I just wrote about I made it to 100% in like 2-3 days or something and actually made in on the leaderboard for fastest 100%, so I thought maybe this can help some of you guys out.

[Dauersack]

19 hours ago, JoaLoft said:

 

Aside from that one time Marta hit me during the cart section and almost killed me, everything else was pretty much planned. And everything should work.

 

I know it works, because I did two successful "Insane without batteries" platinum runs in a little over 12 hours using the same tactics - once on my brother's account (because he really wanted the platinum trophy too and I put in the effort for him) and one on my own. So I know the tactics work if executed properly.

That hiding strat you did in chapter 4 killed me the first two times I tried it because the enemy can easily spot you and hit you from the right side, needed to learn to anticipate that and hide further to the left to avoid that, but then it was an improvement over the old strat as it reduces the chance of running out of stamina too early even further and sometimes outright despawns the guy that catches you in the second half of this encounter, and you are legit unkillable while hiding in the far left corner because the enemies seem to have no animation or ability to pull you out from under the table. As for the Nick&Laird strat, the one for the forest is easily the riskiest one I have ever seen someone use on insane.

 

I spent 3 hours just trying around everything in all the encounters that could be any trouble for me, as I really wanted this trophy. I now use new strategies for most chapter 1 encounters making these guaranteed success except Marta cart which I didn't experiment with, but I didn't die to that once since I returned to this shitpile of a game so no reason to change things up anyway, works like a charm every time. I also changed strategies for 3 encounters in chapter 4, I got through all of them 10 times in a row using these except the drop down encounter I died twice too when I got swiped from behind, nothing that can be done here but 2 out of 10 ain't bad. I experimented with the chapter 5 mine encounter too but theres simply no way to make this 100%, but I managed to get through it several times in a row, dying roughly 1/5 times which is ok odds to have, hard to reliably plan around a teleporting heretic that can run at you from dead ends you know he never normally entered so the good old hiding in the crevice is still the best strat for me.

.

Chapter 2 is where I spent the most time experimenting, I did not bother with the first Nick&Laird encounter since that one has not killed me in forever despite the duo occasionally mixing things up a bit on insane. I absolutely perfected the cover encounter, didn't die there once and don't see how I could with the knowledge I now have about how it works. Last encounter was trickier, basically my result in over 20 attempts is that going through the left building and straight running towards the goal dodging the one guy thats on the way is the single best way, never died once doing that. Sometimes going that way is not possible because the random hillbilly asshat is around the rope and usually blocks the way towards the building, so doing the more risky way to the right is the emergency plan for that scenario, made it through most of these attempts too but its a bit more random with the enemies being around and sometimes an arrow to the back is unavoidable, but its rare.

Now to the bane of my existence, the dumbfuck forest encounter. I tested everything, running different routes, crawling, analyzing the enemies interactions to develop strategies, duck dodging arrows, full stealth, using trees as cover, abusing the mini house, baiting them around things like in the first encounter. Also all variants of the big house, going through the doors, going through the windows instantly, going through window with no doors locked, both doors locked, one door locked, going through the same window I entered to run a complete backwards circle etc. Some promising strategies came up, but none as reliable as the one door locked strategy. Locking the door nearest to the window in the big house fucks over the ai of Nick&Laird, as they are programmed to sprint after you and shoot if they spot you, or approach you a bit slower when they haven't spot you but are programmed to still know where you are, but the locked door gets rated as a high obstacle while the non locked door gets rated as a normal way, so they go further around to open the far away door to reach your location, giving you much more time to escape if you time the jump out of the window right. After nailing this strat and mastering both scenarios, getting spotted by them or not getting spotted, something you have zero control over but at least get audio cues for, and practicing the different timings required for it, I legit made it through this encounter 10 times in a row on nightmare practice despite it sometimes sounding like I barely made it due to the number of arrows shot at me. Next day I wanted to do another 10, but died once after 6 attempts, completed the following attempts without further issue. 1 death for 19 success attempts in total is awesome odds, so I felt ready to tackle this thing on insane again, so I did.

I write this now after my THIRD death in a row on the forest encounter, yes I am not kidding, got killed 3 times on insane despite my awesome winrate on nightmare difficulty, did the exact same thing that allowed me to succeed so many times. I can't get past this encounter no matter what I try, maybe it really is time to just hide the game and mark it off as impossible as almost all of my deaths were in this impenetrable encounter. I can't say at this point if my game is somehow bugged/broken beyond belief in that encounter, if I have the worst luck in the world or if I somehow do some absolutely tiny thing differently that makes this encounter a 100% failure, all I know is that I am really feeling fed up with this as it simply does not work. I could probably finish the game on nightmare several times in a row without dying, but insane simply isn't allowing me to get past chapter 2 anymore.

 

Taking a break from it now in any case, otherwise I completely lose it, then I decide what to do. Every failed attempt is 1.5 hours of my life spent with this shit for absolutely no payoff, so the last 3 days were a horrendous waste of my free time and I almost celebrate the fact that I have less and less free time the further the month progresses.

Edited January 8, 2020 by Nighcisama

[Lum]

13 hours ago, Nighcisama said:

Now to the bane of my existence, the dumbfuck forest encounter.

It's been awhile since I played this game but if I remembered correctly, what I did for that part was after baiting and letting the 3 arrows fly past you, sprint out of the cabin and run towards the right side of the forest. After a certain point, I crouched and stealthed it all the way towards the front cabin that's closest to the ledge where you have to shimmy your way across. In front of the cabin there is a tree trunk that you can jump and hide in where you stay crouched and peek out of a hole where you can see Nick & Laird from a distance. It's perfectly safe to hide in as long as you stay crouched inside the trunk. From here you should see Nick & Laird walking back and forth away (to the left) and towards (to the right) the ledge in a repeated pattern. You may have to wait a few seconds though for them to start this pattern. This is where you have to experiment a little and judge the distance to see how far enough to the left (away from the ledge) they have to walk where it's safe enough for you to quickly climb out of the tree trunk and sprint (or maybe just walk/crouch walk, don't remember) towards the ledge. I remembered doing this strategy pretty consistently. Half the time they will spot you, half the time they won't. Either way it will be too late for them to shoot you with the arrow by the time they spot you because you'll be far enough along the ledge already to where the arrow can't hit you.

 

I avoided using any kind of strategy that had to do with the cabin because it was inconsistent for me as well.

Edited January 8, 2020 by Lumi

[Dauersack]

1 hour ago, Lumi said:

It's been awhile since I played this game but if I remembered correctly, what I did for that part was after baiting and letting the 3 arrows fly past you, sprint out of the cabin and run towards the right side of the forest. After a certain point, I crouched and stealthed it all the way towards the front cabin that's closest to the ledge where you have to shimmy your way across. In front of the cabin there is a tree trunk that you can jump and hide in where you stay crouched and peek out of a hole where you can see Nick & Laird from a distance. It's perfectly safe to hide in as long as you stay crouched inside the trunk. From here you should see Nick & Laird walking back and forth away (to the left) and towards (to the right) the ledge in a repeated pattern. You may have to wait a few seconds though for them to start this pattern. This is where you have to experiment a little and judge the distance to see how far enough to the left (away from the ledge) they have to walk where it's safe enough for you to quickly climb out of the tree trunk and sprint (or maybe just walk/crouch walk, don't remember) towards the ledge. I remembered doing this strategy pretty consistently. Half the time they will spot you, half the time they won't. Either way it will be too late for them to shoot you with the arrow by the time they spot you because you'll be far enough along the ledge already to where the arrow can't hit you.

 

I avoided using any kind of strategy that had to do with the cabin because it was inconsistent for me as well.

I found the tree trunks during my strategy tests but quickly gave up on them because Nick&Laird are usually gravitating towards the one you are hiding in and can pull you out to an instant death, though I once managed to crouch around one after being spotted until they lost interest in me despite being right next to me, but didn't feel reliable at all. Before I further test this, there are two tree trunks next to the cabin, the easily accessible one without a peekhole that has basically the same route to as the cabin window, and the one closer to the ledge that has a peekhole and is probably the one you are talking about. Thing is, getting into that second one is looking legit harder than getting to the cliff because Nick&Laird are always patrolling around it, I managed to get in once and then had to wait quite a while using my microphone, but I could never really figure out when to go and it seemed a hell of a lot more risky than even the cabin because just getting in seemed like a massive leap of faith. If you don't mind me asking, were you using the back window at the beginning or the front door and how much stealth and risk is required just to get into that trunk? How many times, if at all, did they pull you out of it or kill you on your way to the cliff on insane? Willing to try anything at this point and thankful for any new strategy I can test, but this one requires a bit more information because currently I am having a hard time with it even on nightmare.

Edited January 8, 2020 by Nighcisama

[Lum]

19 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

If you don't mind me asking, were you using the back window at the beginning or the front door and how much stealth and risk is required just to get into that trunk? How many times, if at all, did they pull you out of it or kill you on your way to the cliff on insane? Willing to try anything at this point and thankful for any new strategy I can test, but this one requires a bit more information because currently I am having a hard time with it even on nightmare.

I ran out the front door. The risk was really low because I was deep enough into the forest to where it was dark and they couldn't see me, and plus the route that I took was pretty consistent. My route was a bit of a curve I think, a wide right somewhat to the tree trunk. I think I went behind/around one of the buildings halfway there. I was never pulled out of the trunk because I was far enough from them to be able to jump in safely that they never saw me.

 

I'm gonna reinstall the game to my ps4 so I can test the strategy out again. I'll even record it and post it here to show how I went about it so you'll have an exact picture. It's going to take maybe about a day or so to download since my download speeds are pretty slow.

Edited January 8, 2020 by Lumi