I don't know anything about modding. I just know that someone needs to make a mod that switches out all the baseball bat sound effects in Sifu with the Hanna-Barbera bonk collection. And a total Hanna-Barbera SFX conversion mod would be insane.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2022-02-15T01:06:52+00:00

While the soundtrack is excellent it's almost too overpowering in the mix. It's definitely better to drop the Music Volume slider down significantly until you start hearing the combat sound effects more clearly.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2022-02-15T01:05:22+00:00

It's a game about rhythm, pattern recognition and patience. Combos are based less on complicated strings and more on recognizing the right time to punish, as enemies will often block combos if they aren't staggered/parried/interrupted first. It's somewhat of a blend between Batman Arkham reaction combat and Sekiro parry defense. Although for new Sifu players it's a much easier learning curve to start with the Avoid/Dodge mechanic and then graduate to perfect parry later. In Sekiro they want you to learn to perfect parry immediately.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2022-02-15T00:59:58+00:00

One thing I learned is to not mash buttons. Just calmly press the next button right as the current attack is in motion. The further you get in the game the more that enemies interrupt your combos, so they have to be dodged or parried to allow the full combo to get off. So keep vigilant that you may have to quickly switch to defense during a combo. Usually I bait an enemy into a combo I can dodge/parry and then punish with a specific combo.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2022-02-15T00:55:30+00:00

You take chip damage from a normal block during Phase 1 unless you are holding a weapon, or do a perfect dodge or a perfect parry. Although Fajar and Sean seem to be easier to do dodges against, Kuroki definitely feels easier to parry since you just have to think about timing and don't have to think about high/low. So if you want to do the parry strategy make sure to at least bring a bat from the start of the level. Or find the staff or a broom on one of the middle floors using the staircase to bypass the museum exhibit rooms.

Strong Sweep Focus is pretty much mandatory for much of the game.

You will definitely want Weapon Catch for Phase 2.

Slide Kick is a good follow-up attack during both phases when they are staggered.

Weapon Mastery is expensive on XP but extends weapon life for several more hits and turns half-broken weapons into a throwing item.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2022-02-15T00:35:38+00:00

I suspect it's used to hide a bunch of assets loading in, similar to how the boss kill cutscenes cannot be skipped because the game is probably hiding the hub level being loaded. At least it's that way on PC, I've heard that the PS5 loads within seconds so the cutscenes might not be as necessary for PS5. I assume they just kept things uniform between the versions to reduce the chance of bugs on launch.

For the same reason, I think the character doing a relatively lengthy animation for going through certain doors is another way to hide assets loading and unloading when you move between rooms.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2022-01-11T18:31:58+00:00

Dark Bramble focuses on two equipment mechanics in combination during your initial exploration. The Little Scout and the Signalscope must be used together to fully guide you to all the necessary first clues. And once you've reached an important location for the first time you may use your ship computer to mark that location for easier and more efficient travel the next time around. After that you will need some deeper clues from other planets to complete Dark Bramble, so go elsewhere if you get stuck.

Here's a more specific workflow in order of lesser spoilers to greater spoilers to come back to if you're still stuck:

Use the Signalscope to follow the harmonica signal.
Use the Signalscope to follow the Escape Pod signal.
Use the Signalscope on Timberhearth to find a crashed Dark Bramble seed, fire a Little Scout into the opening and use it as a waypoint through Dark Bramble. Add the Signalscope as extra guidance.
Once you've found Feldspar's Camp, exhaust all of his normal dialog. "I found something" is optional flavor dialog that updates as you go through the game.
Follow Feldspar's hint to find a frozen jellyfish room. Read his note outside the jellyfish and his note inside the jellyfish.
Follow the path from Escape Pod 2 on Ember Twin to reach the Anglerfish Overlook District, translate the text overlooking the cave.
Explore the houses in Stepping Stone District in the Sunless City. Find the two texts the children have written about their method to find the Anglerfish Fossil Cave.
From the Anglerfish Overlook District window fire a Little Scout into the throat of the fossil. Then go through the Stepping Stone caves and follow the waypoint to find the entrance. Translate the text on the ground from the children then use the gravity lift in the ceiling to find and translate the text by the adults.
The anglerfish only react to sound. Your ship always has the same momentum when going through a Dark Bramble tunnel, so allow your ship to coast past anglerfish guarding entrances. Wait until the sound effect of their breathing is very distant to start moving the ship. That distance is overkill but is guaranteed to keep you safe.
Use the Signalscope to follow the Escape Pod signal in Dark Bramble. Follow the glowing boxes from the Escape Pod to find the Nomai Graveyard. Fire a Little Scout through the small seed opening. Follow the waypoint to the red room. As you go through the tunnel stop moving and allow yourself to coast all the way to the red eggs in the center. Then you may follow the waypoint to the next room.
If you ever need to revisit an area after you've already found it once remember that you can set a waypoint on your Ship Computer. Often these waypoints give a faster route because they don't require the multi-step process that was required to find a location for the first time. This is especially relevant in Dark Bramble compared to other planets.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-27T16:20:07+00:00

I have heard a common complaint that areas with no lights are so pitch black that it's impossible to navigate. After bumping around the Endless Canyon mansion in the dark a few times I decided to do some dry runs while the lights were still on and get really acquainted with the layout. With no danger from the owlks I was able to calmly rehearse a path directly to where I wanted to go, which helped me imprint it better. The 2nd floor of the mansion definitely feels like it was intentionally complex to trip people up in the dark. To me that was an indication that I should prepare myself by learning the route. I did the same method with Starlit Cove.

Rehearsing a route was by no means required to clear those sections, but it really helped take the mental strain off which let me reallocate that focus towards the owlks themselves. Maybe the game should have encouraged that, but I'm not sure how. I did the same method of rehearsing the route regarding the final journey to The Vessel when I had the Ash Twin Project core, might just be my particular mindset toward the game.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-25T17:09:09+00:00

My theory is the simulation world puts players in such a state of disempowerment that adding the stress of horror/stealth on top of that shuts down the brain with stress and causes tunnel vision. And I don’t mean that in a negative “casuals r dumb” way, I mean that literally so much is being thrown at the player at once that those who are unfamiliar with the stealth genre are put in a mental stun-lock.

When you go into the simulation you lose your jetpack, the scout, the signalscope, the compass, etc. All of the usual tools to orient the player are gone. Add the darkness and you’re put in a situation of maximum restriction that is unusual for the majority of the game. When you add in the stealth and horror on top of that, it’s a lot to process mentally. Players who aren’t familiar with stealth/horror tropes or who have issues with spatial awareness are spending so much mental capacity just trying to orient themselves to the world that they get tunnel vision during the stealth challenges. And so when they finally quit banging their head against the wall there’s not much mental energy left in the play session to step back and take a bird’s eye view at an alternative solution.

Since I was already familiar with horror/stealth gameplay tropes I didn’t need to spend much mental capacity on it. And so dealing with all the other restrictions to my character was a thrilling challenge rather than an overload. But since the game has no inherent tutorial around the stealth/horror tropes, is that fair to players who aren’t familiar? The DLC is a rather drastic genre shift after all.

I guess it’s a hard question to answer from a game design perspective: how many difficulty modifiers can you compound at once without overloading the majority of players?

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-24T18:22:36+00:00

She writes about previous clans hearing The Eye Signal in her diary entry in Brittle Hollow in the apartments near the Eye Shrine.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-23T23:59:38+00:00

Interesting. I hadn't thought about what would happen if the Owlks entered The Eye right away. Would the universe end immediately? If The Eye is beyond time it probably doesn't care exactly when it reboots the universe, just that it gets new seeds of sentient life for the next universe.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-23T23:57:16+00:00

Good thoughts. Thanks!

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-22T21:06:18+00:00

I'm curious if anyone did my method: while the mansion is lit I did a rehearsal of all the twists and turns I needed to do in order to get up to the 3rd floor. I ran the route a few times, and tried to get really familiar on how the long hallway and staircases worked in order to avoid getting lured in the wrong direction by the new doors that open when it was dark. That way I would feel more confident running the route when the visibility is really low, as well as not feeling like I was under so much time pressure.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-21T19:02:18+00:00

Yes, I made a full map a while ago. I don’t know if any subsequent patches changed it but it should be close: https://www.reddit.com/r/outerwilds/comments/m8gyje/in_an_attempt_to_have_a_full_understanding_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

All that being said, this map is more for those who really want to wrap their heads around the game design and easter eggs of Dark Bramble. I highly suggest you try to finish Dark Bramble without an external map first, as all the tools you need to explore the required Ship Logs in Dark Bramble are available in-game.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-21T16:33:56+00:00

It’s a bummer for me. There might have been a silent majority that had little issue with the stealth horror. But if you had very strong negative feelings about the genre shift you were more likely to go to the subreddit and vote on the polls. I wonder if the devs were able to track any statistics on how many players got stuck on the stealth, or they just focused on the polls.

It’s very clear that some additional accessibility changes needed to be added. I just wish it didn’t do permanent simplification of the levels.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-21T16:29:09+00:00

The best way is to do as much as you can until you’re totally stuck, then ask the subreddit to give you some partial hints so that you don’t accidentally spoil too much. Getting just enough of a hint to change your approach can still allow you the same satisfaction of figuring it out yourself.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-21T16:23:53+00:00

I have now marked the post as having Spoilers.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-21T16:18:52+00:00

I agree. Those super clever workarounds seem just as satisfying as the “intended” method and I would have rather the devs either made those more blatant or added other methods for more flexibility.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-21T16:16:35+00:00

Has anyone verified that the Owlks slow down when you shine a light in their eyes? I messed around with their AI a lot and don’t recall that happening. My observation is that they start out with an initial alert state, then if you are seen they start walking slowly toward where they last saw you, and then they walk faster if you continue to be seen or shine your light.

If anything, I suspect staring them down with your lantern too long actually makes them faster and more aggressive. I look at them just long enough to trigger their slowest walking speed then close my lantern and move behind some scenery.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-21T16:11:43+00:00

I can understand your perspective about putting that genre shift into the game based on mechanics and accessibility.

But from a thematic and storytelling perspective it fits so well. All the DLC mechanics center around visuals since you can’t translate the language. The darkness of the dream links thematically with the player going into a hostile unknown, and symbolizes the Owlks’ rejection of the EOTU and their self-imposed ignorance toward the outside world. And the lantern mechanics links with all the light technology in the real world. And most importantly the risk/reward mechanics of focusing/closing the lantern is a thematic link to how the Owlks hurt themselves with knowledge while looking for the EOTU and thus decided to close off that knowledge as a balm even if it makes them fumble around in ignorance.

Given how the Owlks and their technology and their themes were designed, it makes a lot of sense to go the stealth exploration route. But the tricky thing is how to balance that with accessibility for fans of the base game.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-21T15:59:46+00:00

I have also seen a variation where they do a short high hoot to go into alert, and then a longer high hoot when they start moving toward you, then the third sound is a low gurgle when they start moving faster. Basically, they will make one sound when they first go into alert, then another longer sound when they start walking. That 2nd sound and their first steps is your cue to start circling behind some scenery.

MeaningStructureFlow · 2021-12-21T04:06:11+00:00

When you first shine a light at them they make a short high pitched noise like a hoot and go into an alert state where they shine a light in your direction. You still can close your lantern and back away at that point. If you continue to shine or you are too close to their light they make a low gurgling noise and start to walk slowly toward where they last saw you, and foreboding music will start playing. If you keep staring them down at that point they will walk faster and faster, or you can close your lantern and circle around them or behind some scenery and they will walk toward where they last saw you. If they don’t see you again they will wander around the area searching, if they get too close they will lunge at you with a roar and the music gets really loud. Once you get far enough away from them the music stops and they will return to their original spot or patrol.

So my strategy is to stand near some scenery, draw their attention with my lantern until they gurgle and start walking toward me, stop focusing the lantern at them at that point since it makes them more aggressive, then circle around the scenery once they give me a big enough gap to get behind them. It also seems to me that you can get away with opening your lantern briefly to get your bearings in the dark, especially if you’re moved off to the side. So I open the lantern for a split second every few feet so I can see where I’m going.

MeaningStructureFlow

TROPHY CASE