Reading that this game is kinda short, I will probably start this game after finishing Final Fantasy XII (Thank god for the 4X speed forward.)
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Mortal Shell |OT| These Shells Crack Twice ['Enhanced Edition' Now Out On PS5/XBS]
- Thread starter Dancrane212
- Start date
- OT
Probably because everyone can grab it for free off any platform without needing to own the base game. It's only free for 5 days, seems reasonable
Grabbed the free DLC and will try again to try and get into this game. The DLC looks real good, I just remember not liking the hardening aspect of the game.
How to get the GOG, Steam and EGS versions for free? on Steam it's not free and on EGS and GOG it's free but you can't check it ou in your cart.
Only Xbox and PSN versions are available to get.
You could still have the mode gated behind the main game where you need to boot Mortal Shell to access it without making people play through to an arbitrary point only to quit out and access it via a menu.
It does align with the general style of the game, again akin to Dark Souls, but given that you don't even carry your character or ajything through seems odd.
Here it is, the boss nuke. Axatana in axe form, L2 + R2 ability (NG+, with a +10 weapon):
It's so buggy it also rapidly refills Resolve too (even if the enemy is dead), so you can spam it even if you whiff. Even on a major boss:
The final boss does appear to be immune to whatever glitch this is, though. But I nuked every boss in the game in NG+ with this except Tarsus (still took a fuckton of damage and was brain-dead easy, but not OHKO'd due to his erratic dodging and movement) and the final boss (which seemingly took normal damage from the ability).
It's so buggy it also rapidly refills Resolve too (even if the enemy is dead), so you can spam it even if you whiff. Even on a major boss:
The final boss does appear to be immune to whatever glitch this is, though. But I nuked every boss in the game in NG+ with this except Tarsus (still took a fuckton of damage and was brain-dead easy, but not OHKO'd due to his erratic dodging and movement) and the final boss (which seemingly took normal damage from the ability).
Now live in Game Pass for Xbox and PC.
OP
OP
perfect game to sharpen your skill before Elden Ring, enjoy guys.
I dont understand how some things work in this game...awful tutorial....do I have to go back to where I died or something...how do I level up,I have to identify a Shell to level up something at that Lady ?...I keep dying after about 20 minutes...3 hits and I am dead,frogs out of nowhere poison me,damn traps everywhere lol....should I quit now or does it get easier...?
The cryptic approach is very deliberate.
If you go back to where you died you can claim some of your resources back I think. Once you get out of the overworld area and into one of the primary areas it does become a bit clearer, fewer traps etc..
I hate to be a big noobish imposition but I wanted to ask about how to really get started in this game.
For reference, I have played, loved, and excelled at every Soulsborne game. I'm no stranger to mystery and trial and error.
Something about this game just feels a little too vague initially. Like I have ZERO idea of where to go. I don't know if I'm supposed to be cashing in whatever my orange bar is. (Souls-like?) Or if I should be sad I lost anything when I die?
I don't know how to learn my shell's name so I don't know how to unlock that skills board thing.
I just need a good push in the right direction as I do like what I am playing.
Thanks!
For reference, I have played, loved, and excelled at every Soulsborne game. I'm no stranger to mystery and trial and error.
Something about this game just feels a little too vague initially. Like I have ZERO idea of where to go. I don't know if I'm supposed to be cashing in whatever my orange bar is. (Souls-like?) Or if I should be sad I lost anything when I die?
I don't know how to learn my shell's name so I don't know how to unlock that skills board thing.
I just need a good push in the right direction as I do like what I am playing.
Thanks!
I think it's supposed to be vague, but the few clues you get, are those times when you sense something and get three short camera clips of where it is. In the beginning the first sense instinct seems to point you towards the central ruin/tower area in the swamp and that seems to be a pretty good place to go. You'll get access to this game's camp fire (a woman) where you can upgrade your shell + learn it's name, sense locations of further shells, find the shop and other stuff.
I went there and started branching out randomly afterwards. Without knowing the area, it's difficult to really use the shell sense clues in the tomb, so you'll just have to try some different directions. Eventually I stumbled on a boss, which had an item to upgrade the sword and started recognizing the surrounding areas, leading to shell two and three, which is where I am now.
It is quite confusing in terms of level layouts and it doesn't help that everything looks samey, but aside from those short sense glimpses, I don't think there were any other clues or maybe I missed them.
EDIT: The orange bar is resolve and will also come into play when you get to the central ruins.
Last edited:
Thank you! I appreciate it. I think everything being kind of samey just makes interpreting insights a bit of a challenge. (So far). I have spoken to Sestra. I can get her to show me a skill tree thing? But I need to discover my name. Perhaps I will go in search of that tower. (Unless where she is *IS* the tower.)
You mean Sester Genessa? She's kinda this game's campfire, where you can rest and upgrade your character. She's in the ruins/tower - and other places - so it sounds like you might have found it. Can't she give you the name of the shell, when you pay her some XP (don't remember what it's called)? I think that's how I did it, which unlocked the skills.
If you are in the right ruin there's further sense clues in the tombs, but they are difficult to follow until you getter a better feel for the area.
Cool. Don't miss the shop on top of it all (there's a staircase outside). The boss I fought is really close by, near the area outside of the semi-broken door, where there are poison frogs.
Last edited:
I just cant get the blocking or kicking or hardening to work most of the time so I am just not using them,4 hits and I am dead(currently in the Ash Temple,got the Solomon Shell and the Mace,which sucks,so I raised the blade to Max instead,my most used attack is a small run and jump with the heavy attack,back up and repeat lol...besides that awful timing to block or Harden,I am enjoy this,probably wont be able to finish it if I dont get use to hardening but so far so good...
I also absolutly hate the use an item once to learn what it does.
I also absolutly hate the use an item once to learn what it does.
I'm not sure if I like this yet. It's certainly not bad, with decent enough combat. There just doesn't seem to be much variety and level design is poor. The first area was just confusing, with everything looking like everything else and now that I'm in this obsidian stone level, it's just sprawlingly huge with tons of empty space in-between a few areas of interest.
There's none of the feeling of interconnectedness of the better Souls-likes, where you open some passage, discovering with relief that it leads back to the bonfire and you can now travel much faster through the area, with this new connection. Here it just feels confusing or large and empty, with little visual variety on top. In fact, mostly it feels like an "engine game", if that makes sense, utilizing all sorts of Unreal engine trickery, without enough personality.
On top of a mouse cursor appearing on screen, when opening the menu, the Game Pass version also doesn't remember many (all?) options, so every time you boot up, you'll have to adjust things again. That's a little disappointing considering how old the game is now.
I do the same. Most enemies can't deal with just doing a heavy attack as an opponent approaches and immediately rolling away on the B button, so the enemy's follow up attack misses. Makes combat very repetetive.
I also found some MAJOR flaws in the Hadern fights:
There's none of the feeling of interconnectedness of the better Souls-likes, where you open some passage, discovering with relief that it leads back to the bonfire and you can now travel much faster through the area, with this new connection. Here it just feels confusing or large and empty, with little visual variety on top. In fact, mostly it feels like an "engine game", if that makes sense, utilizing all sorts of Unreal engine trickery, without enough personality.
On top of a mouse cursor appearing on screen, when opening the menu, the Game Pass version also doesn't remember many (all?) options, so every time you boot up, you'll have to adjust things again. That's a little disappointing considering how old the game is now.
I do the same. Most enemies can't deal with just doing a heavy attack as an opponent approaches and immediately rolling away on the B button, so the enemy's follow up attack misses. Makes combat very repetetive.
I also found some MAJOR flaws in the Hadern fights:
I don't know if it applies to all of them, but I've tried it in two. When you see Hadern rushing you, just run away to the edge of the arena. Somewhere on the edge of the arena, Hadern can't step into and it seems to be a different part from fight to fight. As soon as one finds the proper spot, he just stands there looking stupid. Now do the heavy attack while approching him and roll away immediately after hitting him, repeating as many times as necessary. Fight won, no damage.
Didn't test it in the first fight, because I was still getting used to the game, but wouldn't be surprised if it works there as well.
EDIT: It doesn't work in the first fight.
Didn't test it in the first fight, because I was still getting used to the game, but wouldn't be surprised if it works there as well.
EDIT: It doesn't work in the first fight.
Last edited:
It's not immediately obvious and I searched like an idiot for the "name" myself, but you can unlock the shell name the moment you meet her. Just go in the menu and HOLD X (or Square? There's a button you need to hold) for a few seconds to "unlock" the name, then you can spend your XP on the skills.
Yeah, it should have been... clearer...
Some of the upgrades in this are of the shitty grinding game variant, where you get 0.216% bonus whenever there's two tuesdays in a week and it rains chickens:
Whoopti effing do, an entire 5% damage resist for 10 seconds, IF making a kill. I'm simply refusing to upgrade that and similar crap effects. Maybe there's some area with many easily killable minor enemies among a larger boss, where it's actually worth it?
Whoopti effing do, an entire 5% damage resist for 10 seconds, IF making a kill. I'm simply refusing to upgrade that and similar crap effects. Maybe there's some area with many easily killable minor enemies among a larger boss, where it's actually worth it?
Last edited:
Finished the ''second dungeon'' ,well for me,I took a quick peek at a guide that suggested that one first and it had a little of the Dark Souls area,where you find a shortcut along the way to make things easier,I liked that one and there was a nice surprise that I wont spoil but that also added a bit of variety.
I still only have 2 Shells and I am getting use to the Mace now,because well I tried an item and it changed my Sword back to the Mace lol and nowhere to change it back so I had no choice to ''get gud'' with it...I still sucks at parrying and hardening though so yeah,I hate when I find something that says adds something to when you parry,like burn the ennemies because parrying takes half my health usually lol(I miss).
I still only have 2 Shells and I am getting use to the Mace now,because well I tried an item and it changed my Sword back to the Mace lol and nowhere to change it back so I had no choice to ''get gud'' with it...I still sucks at parrying and hardening though so yeah,I hate when I find something that says adds something to when you parry,like burn the ennemies because parrying takes half my health usually lol(I miss).
i'm a bit confused, I just beat Hadern in a boss fight and there is no fog or additional enemy placements and I am unable to open the frog chests. I thought I read when you beat a boss you got a gland but I don't see any in my possession did I miss something when the worm fish took me away?
The gland/chest thing is only after beating dungeon bosses, not Hadern which is a separate thing that lets you unlock weapons (so he's technically optional).
Ohhhhhhh my bad. Ok so hadern should have unlocked a weapon? How do I find?
It should be on some altar near the book you found that triggered the fight, I think?
So is there no way to teleport back to the Lady besides the last one you saved at...? I am at the one before a Boss that I cant beat but I have some items to level up the Mace but no Anvil where she is...also what sucks is the Items you use during the fight are gone after you die and revive at the Lady save...so now I am out of healing stuff and the like.
I need to go all the way out or the start of the dungeon to raise the Mace ?...I think I am done with this game,I lasted longer then I thought anyway lol.
I need to go all the way out or the start of the dungeon to raise the Mace ?...I think I am done with this game,I lasted longer then I thought anyway lol.
And done. That was… Short. I mean really short. Not that the length really bothers me, but what does is that despite the game being short, it also feels like it's stretching it's assets beyond the breaking point, making the player fight the same enemies over and over again. I complained a lot about the level design earlier, having only seen the starting and the obsidian area, which it turns out are the worst the game offers, with one being confusing and the other being large and empty. The other areas aren't fantastic or anything, but at least they don't outstay their welcome in the same way.
I liked the bosses. The were both well balanced and struck a nice balance between clearly telegraphing their moves and becoming super easy. I also like the game's lack of direction, letting the player explore, finding their own way, without interrupting the flow. Combat also remained decent, though repetetive due to a lack of enemy variety and equipment. With precision and proper spacing, you could beat most enemies without taking damage and it felt good. Hardening took some time to get used to, but at the end of the game, I started getting into a good flow of using it to regain stamina or delaying attack to right after being struck, often using it to make attacks other games wouldn't allow, because the animation would be too long, thus locking you into being hit. Here it's possible to avoid that by starting the attack first, then harden, take the hit and finally retaliating. Pretty cool.
I never got used to parrying and often ended up losing as much energy, as I gained, unless it was against the early game enemies and with those I never needed it. Didn't have time to get used to the other parry powers, because the game ended so soon after getting them.
In conclusion I'm pretty mixed on this. I would certainly buy a sequel (on Steam), but mostly because I enjoy the genre, more than due to it being particularly memorable. I hope they change the menus/loading screens, if they do a sequel. Layout was fine, but it was just a little to close to Souls for comfort, even if there never was any doubt, what the game was imitating.
Earlier in the thread people were talking about whether to get this or Hellpoint and if someone is still wondering, Hellpoint is the far better game, with much more complex and interconnected level design and a pretty unique setup, with a spaceship orbiting a black hole, affecting some things on the ship. It was a worthy addition to the genre and very memorable in comparision.
EDIT: They fixed the options of the PC Game Pass version, so it remembers them after exiting the game. Nice!
Yeah, the healing system is flawed in the sense that it doesn't ration an amount of healing to each section, but allows the player to have nothing or gather a huge amount. It just feels tedious and like another way of stretching the already thin content.
And yes, if there isn't a workbench, you have to go outside or at least I didn't find any other way of doing it.
I liked the bosses. The were both well balanced and struck a nice balance between clearly telegraphing their moves and becoming super easy. I also like the game's lack of direction, letting the player explore, finding their own way, without interrupting the flow. Combat also remained decent, though repetetive due to a lack of enemy variety and equipment. With precision and proper spacing, you could beat most enemies without taking damage and it felt good. Hardening took some time to get used to, but at the end of the game, I started getting into a good flow of using it to regain stamina or delaying attack to right after being struck, often using it to make attacks other games wouldn't allow, because the animation would be too long, thus locking you into being hit. Here it's possible to avoid that by starting the attack first, then harden, take the hit and finally retaliating. Pretty cool.
I never got used to parrying and often ended up losing as much energy, as I gained, unless it was against the early game enemies and with those I never needed it. Didn't have time to get used to the other parry powers, because the game ended so soon after getting them.
In conclusion I'm pretty mixed on this. I would certainly buy a sequel (on Steam), but mostly because I enjoy the genre, more than due to it being particularly memorable. I hope they change the menus/loading screens, if they do a sequel. Layout was fine, but it was just a little to close to Souls for comfort, even if there never was any doubt, what the game was imitating.
Earlier in the thread people were talking about whether to get this or Hellpoint and if someone is still wondering, Hellpoint is the far better game, with much more complex and interconnected level design and a pretty unique setup, with a spaceship orbiting a black hole, affecting some things on the ship. It was a worthy addition to the genre and very memorable in comparision.
EDIT: They fixed the options of the PC Game Pass version, so it remembers them after exiting the game. Nice!
Yeah, the healing system is flawed in the sense that it doesn't ration an amount of healing to each section, but allows the player to have nothing or gather a huge amount. It just feels tedious and like another way of stretching the already thin content.
And yes, if there isn't a workbench, you have to go outside or at least I didn't find any other way of doing it.
Last edited:
There is an item you can purchase which allows you to fast travel, but you need to max out all of the abilities of a shell first. I wish I had known about this earlier as I had been using a maxed out Tiel shell for a while and backtracking like crazy, but oh well.
This one had a number of flaws (long healing animations, terrible enemy pop in), but it's the only Souls knockoff so far that managed to keep my attention enough that I was able to stick with it and finish. I will more than likely buy the Virtuous Cycle DLC just to try out the new shell and weapon.
Yes,got that fast travel mask to any Sestra(sp?),thanks for the tip,upgraded the Mace but I am still not use to it compared to the Hallowed Sword because I cant do the run and jump heavy attack with that one...that Boss in the Ice area is a real pain,still cant beat him but this fast travel will help me get back to him with a few extra buffs and lots of healing...might try doing it with Tiel also,he has a lot of stamina but low health...mmm.
Last edited:
I've been playing this here and there since Xmas and I've quite enjoyed it - haven't quite finished it yet, one boss left before the final boss, not exactly a 'blind' playthrough as I've watched videos way back and know how many bosses there are etc, but the exploration has been fresh - I spent a lot of time completely lost in Fallgrim and even now when I come back I'm spending way too long trying to get back to the tower NPCs because I'm so disorientated. That's probably my terrible sense of direction, but I could use a few more landmarks to get my bearings!
Weapon, I just stuck with the starter sword, I tried the giant Zweihander type and mace but they didn't gel with me. The shell I've used mostly and fully upgraded is the crown looking guy - giant health bar, as much stamina as I need. I was using one of the others for a while and I liked the longer stamina bar but found I wasn't making use of it, so went for the health instead, not sure of the actual numbers.
So it feels like a pretty vanilla playthrough, but there's a lot of scope here for repeat playthroughs - the combat is fun if pretty repetitive. The best strategy seems to be for every enemy or boss to do a running R2, maybe an R1, harden, R1, then roll out, wait for the harden to charge up again, repeat until dead. I know there's more to it, and I did parry a little, but the running R2 just works every time. Because of this I've probably found it a bit easy, I killed both bosses I've fought first try - although the ice guy was close, I was shell-less and stayed hardened for what felt like ages, then he bonked me and took damage and died, lol.
I definately want to come back and try other weapons, NG+ or a shell-less run even at some point (after ER maybe.) It's pretty short, but the areas feel huge and I keep reading they're a small dev team.but they did a super job with the atmosphere and style, it's quite impressive and I'm interested to see what they next, if it's a bigger sequel or something else.
Edit - And finished. I died once to the red centurian boss but other than that killed all the bosses first try with the old running R2 strat, lol - a bit lazy but it got the job done. Final boss felt imposing and to scale, didn't really have any problems until the shades started turning up and they seemed impervious to my R2 strat, getting stunlocked by them as they surrounded me after a missed running R2, healed like crazy and somehow survived. I didn't go on to NG+, saved that for another time.
Weapon, I just stuck with the starter sword, I tried the giant Zweihander type and mace but they didn't gel with me. The shell I've used mostly and fully upgraded is the crown looking guy - giant health bar, as much stamina as I need. I was using one of the others for a while and I liked the longer stamina bar but found I wasn't making use of it, so went for the health instead, not sure of the actual numbers.
So it feels like a pretty vanilla playthrough, but there's a lot of scope here for repeat playthroughs - the combat is fun if pretty repetitive. The best strategy seems to be for every enemy or boss to do a running R2, maybe an R1, harden, R1, then roll out, wait for the harden to charge up again, repeat until dead. I know there's more to it, and I did parry a little, but the running R2 just works every time. Because of this I've probably found it a bit easy, I killed both bosses I've fought first try - although the ice guy was close, I was shell-less and stayed hardened for what felt like ages, then he bonked me and took damage and died, lol.
I definately want to come back and try other weapons, NG+ or a shell-less run even at some point (after ER maybe.) It's pretty short, but the areas feel huge and I keep reading they're a small dev team.but they did a super job with the atmosphere and style, it's quite impressive and I'm interested to see what they next, if it's a bigger sequel or something else.
Edit - And finished. I died once to the red centurian boss but other than that killed all the bosses first try with the old running R2 strat, lol - a bit lazy but it got the job done. Final boss felt imposing and to scale, didn't really have any problems until the shades started turning up and they seemed impervious to my R2 strat, getting stunlocked by them as they surrounded me after a missed running R2, healed like crazy and somehow survived. I didn't go on to NG+, saved that for another time.
Last edited:
Free on the Epic Games Store
