Transistor, Supergiant Games' New Game

Wow. Just finished this, what a game. Really blew me out of the water.

So what do you guys think the first line in recursion mode means? It really threw me for a loop when I heard it.

This game. Just finished it, loved it as much as Bastion. I think I like Bastion's combat a little more, but I'm tied on which narrator I liked more (yes, I'm aware they're both Cunningham. I just don't know which style I like more).

Also, Asher was awesome. I liked his logs a lot, and I liked that he was married to Grant. It's nice to see representation like that.

overall, I'd say I preferred combat in this game over bastion, but I also have to say that Rucks > Transistor as a narrator. Though I also really liked how Red would occasionally talk to Transistor with the Leave Comment boxes.

also, I think I have discovered the ultimate ability combo. Mask with Void, followed by Tap with Breach and Get.

Mask with Void does like 400% more damage on your first attack, Breach makes Tap ranged and Get makes it do more damage at range. Both together gives you an absurdly strong ranged aoe nuke.

and when I say strong, I mean "1 shot phase 3 sybil" strong.

the only downside is that Tap doesn't get backstab bonuses. oh well.

I had a crazy thought the other day that they were using all these different voices to try and... enhance the process, to give it an good all around view of what humanity is, maybe even try to bring it to full sapience. Or something like that. Because it occasionally mentions people who were taken not because they were influential or anything, but just because they represented a viewpoint/personality type that they didn't already have.

edited 25th May '14 4:58:59 AM by Blissey1

What's your damage record in practice mode?

Mine is 59000.

i saw that with the lady from the gold-channel or whatevet it was called.

but, im fairly sure what they wanted her for was to keep them from reaching the base of the slippery slope; what they were saying about viewpoints and philosphies they didnt already have, i believe they meant it in the sense that her voice would have reminded them that they arent the only legitimate viewpoints. at the same time of course, that person's philosphy was most definately not one that would have allowed for their plan, which is why they didnt just try and bring her in on it instead of disappearing her.

Accidentally spoilered myself by reading our trope page for the game. Like a rookie.

Doesn't matter too much, I'm fairly certain I'm near the end anyway (2 doors in opposite directions from my last access point, and Royce has been blabbing non-stop while I fight Men).

So far, I'm digging Void()+Crash() with Mask() and Breach(). One-hit on Men with lots of time to move? Yes please.

What's Void() and Mask() do?

Mask on its own makes you invisible and has you do 200% damage on your first attack breaking out of it. Void casts a debuff on enemies that lowers both their attack and defenses up to three times. Void combined with other stuff, tends to increase their damage 150% or 200% I don't remember exactly which.

Notably, using Void() doesn't break Mask().

It doesn't!?

...

Oh boy.

Actually it might break Mask() outside of Turn(). All I know is that I can enter Turn() with Mask() on, triple-dip on Void() and still get the Mask() damage bonus.

But I will test some more when I get home tonight, a lot of my Transistor combat has been pretty hectic so my memory might be unreliable (and I didn't play last night).

Right, finished the game started a Recursion. Am currently level 20.

Last night, I realised that the game only uses Turn() for non-combat purposes once: very early on when you use it to hit two panels at the same time and unlock a gate. After that, you never use it in a puzzle-solving capacity again. Which is a shame, since it feels like wasted potential.

100% Completion done. Tap() with Void(Crash+Load) and Mask(Crash+Get) are pretty rough on the poor Process.

Like an self-inflicted tormentor, I never switched off a single limiter once I switched it on. So, by the time I got to the final boss, had no clue how to handle it.

Decided to go for a debuffs/tanking build. Bounce, Cull and the one that restores health for passives, picked out the light and fast attack power with Crash and the corrosion effect, Mask and Void to give my attack Turn() as much punch as possible, and Jaunt to give myself a way to keep distance when he's trying to reengage for his Turn().

Interestingly, in early phases, he seems unable to take proper aim if you hide in the lower right corner. Or maybe I just got lucky? I only got overloaded once.

So, after a while of putting it off, I finished this game. Man, it fucked me up. I have a question, though: In rebuilding Cloudbank with the Transistor, would the people-turned-pillars (that you spent the whole game destroying, whoops) go back to normal? Or was Cloudbank, with its people, doomed?

They're implied to be all dead.

Not implied; stated. Mr. Nobody couldn't get back in his body after it was processed, even after Red created a duplicate.

It's made pretty clear that being processed physically destroys you and uses the matter as raw materials.

edited 8th Jul '14 2:57:31 PM by Bisected8

...If Supergiant makes another Spiritual Successor, I want it to be on the other side of Bastion as Transistor was. As in, super happy and upbeat.

That's right, I forgot about that part.

They are both pretty depressing, aren't they?

eh.

in the end red and the man get what they want.

in the end the kid and all the others move on. if you let them.

transistors pretty dark but bastion is pretty hopeful all the way through and definitely ends on a positive note.

Yeah, Bastion's ending might be bittersweet, but it's hopeful all around, and carries an edge of adventure and discovery, even if it gets dark at several parts. Transistor, on the other hand, is... bleak. Bleak is the word. As the story progresses, there's less and less to fight for, until nothing remains. The Esoteric Happy Ending is cute, though.

I finished this yesterday and it was pretty sad...but I loved the music and the way it fit with the plot.

Especially Paper Boats.

I consider the fact that all the Caelondians died ('cept for Rucks and the Kid) to be pretty depressing.

It is, but the focus, and arguably the point of the game, is not on those who fell, but on moving on and making a better tomorrow rather than dwelling on the past. Doing so nearly destroyed Zulf and what remained of the Ura.

The way I see it, everyone got their happy ending but in opposite ways in either game; both were about adapting to the new status quo, rather than wasting what you had left trying to revert everything, but:

• Bastion was about moving on to something better (The Kid accepted his mother's death and went for another tour of duty on The Wall, Zulf improved his life by becoming a missionary and moving to pastures new, the mancers screwed things up by dwelling on old conflicts). The happy ending comes from moving on to somewhere new instead of trying to reset things.
• Transistor was about accepting what you have (the Camerata screwed things up because they wanted more of a "voice" and were pissed off because everyone constantly wanted more, Sybil set everything off with an If I Can't Have You…; even the little things like getting ambushed trying to order pizzaflatbread or getting gang rushed by angry ladies if you mess with the cells in the nursery...). The "happy" ending was basically Red discarding the (now dead and pointless) city in favour of joining Mr. Nobody in the transistor.