Gameplay experience Megathread

[Jens]

Good day to you, my rogue-lite friends!

 

I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread in which we could just share all kinds of experiences, tips, frustrations and revelations we had in Neon Abyss. This game is so incredibly niche and rogue-lites have thousands of questions to be answered, might be worthwhile to gather them all in one spot instead of 200 tiny threads  I won't be able to contribute a whole lot just yet because I barely started it (and therefore suck), but I'll get there, I promise.

If you consider anything CRUCIAL to new players just @ me or shoot me a PM and I'll try to work it into this starting post.

 

Let me just start by saying that taking damage by your own blocked shots (mostly because of that block egg) might be the most annoying design decision I've seen in a rogue-lite. Really hard to learn the game when you can't locate the source of you taking damage in 50% of the cases...

[Jens]

Well... my second day of focusing on Neon Abyss ended it quite the failure. I lost my third very potent run to that annoying black screen issue. The shops don't spawn any items, you warp to (or in my latest case just enter) a room and that's it, the screen stays black and your run is gone. That's something I really can't stand, having your run depend on the game not shitting the bed. I might put this game on hold until it (hopefully) gets patched one day. Quite the buzzkill to be honest.

Am I unlucky or is this just that common? 

[Raveniteh]

8 minutes ago, Jens said:

Well... my second day of focusing on Neon Abyss ended it quite the failure. I lost my third very potent run to that annoying black screen issue. The shops don't spawn any items, you warp to (or in my latest case just enter) a room and that's it, the screen stays black and your run is gone. That's something I really can't stand, having your run depend on the game not shitting the bed. I might put this game on hold until it (hopefully) gets patched one day. Quite the buzzkill to be honest.

Am I unlucky or is this just that common? 

 

Some of these issue are addressed already in public patch test on PC so it's just a matter of time before it's fixed. They are also fixing some of the more annoying pets and splitting eggs in between helpful eggs you still pick up automatically and rotten eggs you have to button pick up. I also lost couple runs to the black screen but it's very rare for me. One issue I have with this game is that you're dependable on luck whether you get to some endgame boss or not. Other than that it's brilliant little game. Could use more music tho.

[Jens]

13 minutes ago, Raveniteh said:

 

Some of these issue are addressed already in public patch test on PC so it's just a matter of time before it's fixed. They are also fixing some of the more annoying pets and splitting eggs in between helpful eggs you still pick up automatically and rotten eggs you have to button pick up. I also lost couple runs to the black screen but it's very rare for me. One issue I have with this game is that you're dependable on luck whether you get to some endgame boss or not. Other than that it's brilliant little game. Could use more music tho.

Well that's great news, thanks for the info  Because I definitely like it overall too. I won't say that it will crack my top 3 of rogue-lites 100% just yet, but it hits all the beats at least in a good fashion and going for it all seems pretty compelling. Unlocking things is alright, beating the learning curve is good as always, that's almost all it takes for me. But knowing that they are on their way of fixing it would make me feel less bad about stopping for a while.

 

My biggest gripe with it is that it's not very... flashy. It's called "Neon Abyss" and they just put some lazy neon signs on the walls and call it a day. I imagined it way brighter and flashier, but it looks kind of generic. The game could have the name Tech Abyss or Bug Abyss and it wouldn't really fit any less. They could've learned a lesson or two from Gungeon or Isaac, if you see those games in action you know exactly what it is. That's not a death sentence for the game though, just a minor disappointment.

Edited August 25, 2020 by Jens

[Raveniteh]

Another thing I could recommend is maybe waiting for new patch before you start unlocking new things as they plan to reduce the price unlocks. Then again not sure when PS4 patch is supposed to hit so it's up to you.

 

I do enjoy it from rogue-lite point of view but I acknowledge there are better ones. Have you played RAD?  

[Jens]

53 minutes ago, Raveniteh said:

I do enjoy it from rogue-lite point of view but I acknowledge there are better ones. Have you played RAD?  

Nope. I have seen the name pop up here and there, but I wouldn't have put it in the same basket as Neon Abyss and Co. To me it always looked like Hob. Worth a recommendation in your eyes?

 

All other somewhat similar games I've played are The Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, Slay the Spire, Wizard of Legend, Flinthook, Downwell (close-ish), Rogue Legacy (also close-ish).... and one black and white game on Steam where you play as a girl in a school (?).... I completely forgot the name of it and Google isn't cooperative.

[RNumbers]

RAD is pretty awesome, IMO. I also enjoyed Children of Morta a lot. Definitely recommend checking that one out.

[Joe Dubz]

You are definitely not alone with the black screen crashes... I have had 3 great runs ruined so far because of this! One of them was precluded by an Item Room with no item in it. I do very much like the game and I'm glad to hear others mention some helpful things from a potential patch down the road; I may have to put this off to the side until some of these things are remedied cuz it's quite a pain in the arse.

 

Also, to piggyback with the others, I highly recommend RAD as well. I think someone may have co-created a trophy guide for that one on this site since they liked it so much...?!   ?

Edited August 25, 2020 by integra_93GS-R

[Jens]

Well, guess you got me. Children of Morta was on the mental list for a while now, Rad is now sitting next to it  

 

And with Neon Abyss I'll just keep chipping away at the grindier stuff (999 runs in general, deaths, treasure chests, you name it) and maybe fluke into an Ares kill. But some serious completion-oriented play will have to wait for after the patch.

One quick question though. The trophies that require you to not lose a heart during a run, or not picking one up during a run. Are they talking about completing a whole run to the very last endboss or can you "cheese" them on a new save file? Seems way easier to achieve when the end goal is only Argus.

Edited August 25, 2020 by Jens

[Joe Dubz]

20 minutes ago, Jens said:

One quick question though. The trophies that require you to not lose a heart during a run, or not picking one up during a run. Are they talking about completing a whole run to the very last endboss or can you "cheese" them on a new save file? Seems way easier to achieve when the end goal is only Argus.

I can say there is another thread that addresses this very question. You are actually able to cheese it on a new save! Someone suggested even getting one of the trial items to help out. So essentially you would only need to make it to level 5 and beat Argus to make it pop.

Edited August 25, 2020 by integra_93GS-R

[iGGTheEnd]

8 hours ago, Jens said:

Well, guess you got me. Children of Morta was on the mental list for a while now, Rad is now sitting next to it  

 

And with Neon Abyss I'll just keep chipping away at the grindier stuff (999 runs in general, deaths, treasure chests, you name it) and maybe fluke into an Ares kill. But some serious completion-oriented play will have to wait for after the patch

One quick question though. The trophies that require you to not lose a heart iduring a run, or not picking one up during a run. Are they talking about completing a whole run to the very last endboss or can you "cheese" them on a new save file? Seems way easier to achieve when the end goal is only Argus.

Neon abyss isn't worth your time in it's current state (too many black screens).  I would Reccomend "Streets of rogue" and "Risk of rain 2" before it if you are looking for a roguelike.  

[Raveniteh]

 

14 hours ago, Jens said:

Worth a recommendation in your eyes?

As many already mentioned, RAD is fantastic. Skill combinations and the way it mutates your body always makes it for fun experience, narration is amusing and somehow repetitive world building blocks makes it fast and simple to learn. And synth music. Awesome synth music. Buy it especially if you can get it on sale at one point or another.

[Jens]

13 hours ago, integra_93GS-R said:

I can say there is another thread that addresses this very question. You are actually able to cheese it on a new save! Someone suggested even getting one of the trial items to help out. So essentially you would only need to make it to level 5 and beat Argus to make it pop.

That's good to know. At least I've used it to clear the "Don't pick up any hearts" one, I'll take that as a start  Do you know if there's any way to quickly reset that scenario in which you can get those trial items without having to watch the intro and tutorial again? Other than uploading and downloading your save file, that would always work I guess. That chance seems to be gone once you die and that would be quite the ordeal otherwise. Haven't tried it yet though.

 

5 hours ago, iGGTheEnd said:

Neon abyss isn't worth your time in it's current state (too many black screens).  I would Reccomend "Streets of rogue" and "Risk of rain 2" before it if you are looking for a roguelike.  

You're definitely not wrong. If Gungeon would have crashed at all I couldn't see myself going for that platinum back then because that would've been an even harder kick in the teeth. It's good enough at the moment to just slowly grind away to finally feel free switching to Hard again. Currently playing on Easy to secure a good streak of unlocks / grinding progress.

And once more those are games I kept in the back of my head for quite some time now and I thank you for your recommendations  I just try to avoid mixing too many rogue-lites at once because I have an easier and better time in those if I stay in the game with my brain. Once you understand the items, consumable / unlockable economy, gameplay loop and so on everything becomes easier. And my tiny brain can only contain so much of that information at once So it might be a little rogue-lite stop until Neon Abyss seems to be fixed (well, or dead, who knows), but afterwards I'll surely take another close look at the games you've mentioned.

Especially Risk of Rain 2 seems to be an interesting option. I could really see myself wanting to play that one co-op with someone at some point in the future, that would be a unique experience for a rogue-lite. It's just a little complicated at the moment for various reasons.

 

3 hours ago, Raveniteh said:

 

As many already mentioned, RAD is fantastic. Skill combinations and the way it mutates your body always makes it for fun experience, narration is amusing and somehow repetitive world building blocks makes it fast and simple to learn. And synth music. Awesome synth music. Buy it especially if you can get it on sale at one point or another.

The more I hear about it from you guys the more I wonder how it went right by me as a rogue-lite guy myself. It sounds like it could be right up my alley, a slightly less frantic Nuclear Throne.

But on the other hand... if a friend wouldn't have mentioned Neon Abyss I wouldn't have noticed it either. So I might just be a little out of the loop

 

 

And let me take a second to mention that RAD and Risk of Rain 2 just got another sale discount today (over here in the EU at least). Your recommendations are hell on my time and wallet.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Jens

[Raveniteh]

41 minutes ago, Jens said:

And let me take a second to mention that RAD and Risk of Rain 2 just got another sale discount today (over here in the EU at least). Your recommendations are hell on my time and wallet.

 

You're welcome  I actually discovered RAD going through PSN Sales, completely ignoring it and my lady just asked 'what's that game?'. And then I binged it for several days, fun stuff.

[Spraragen88]

Can someone explain how to hatch eggs? What do I do? I had like 10 following me and nothing hatched, even after finishing 2 levels.

[Joe Dubz]

On 9/1/2020 at 7:58 PM, Spraragen88 said:

Can someone explain how to hatch eggs? What do I do? I had like 10 following me and nothing hatched, even after finishing 2 levels.

I'm a little late to the party here, so hopefully you figured it out by now! But if not, they should just hatch automatically. There is an item I think that prevents you from hatching eggs unless you are at full health or something like that, so is it possible if you had that item at the time? Otherwise, the game is a bit buggy so I wouldn't be surprised if it glitched out on you or something.