aka theenglishman
I've been toying with this idea ever since I saw Greenalink's newgame+ run on the site. Doing newgame will certainly be frustrating from the standpoint of doing SDA attempts (a brand new gamertag is required for every single attempt) but it's been fascinating trying to get an interesting route.
So here are a couple of things I was able to figure out on my own while testing the newgame route:
- I recently found out that early foam is possible on newgame (it basically uses the same route as newgame+ except the tarantula fight is a lot slower due to the lack of inertial element. It's still fast enough that the panel to the hot vent remains open.
- Early foam locks you out of the first third of the story, which means no Thrust Pack and you're stuck with the pistol until you get the Coil Rifle. There's no way to go back to Thrust Pack after foam without early missiles (which requires infinite foam), and as far as I know, there's no way to go directly to Thrust Pack since you'd need foam to do major sequence breaking anyway.
- I'll need to pick up as many extra foam packs as possible on the way to the Omega Armour. Foam bridges are absolutely critical as a substitute for the Thrust Pack, and I screwed myself over in early testing by not diverting enough to grab other foam packs. I tried looking at some maps online, but they're all laid out confusingly. I'd love some help in organizing all the potential foam packs on the way to Omega.
- Without the thrust pack, the foam/water puzzle just before Omega (which can easily be done without the scuba mask) cannot be skipped. The helicopter fight right after that CAN be skipped with a foam bridge, although I've only done it once.
- Inertial element is not required to get to the end. You have the option of jumping straight to the final boss after getting the Thrust Boots.
- There's this one long vertical corridor (with an unavoidable grenade pack at the bottom) which I was able to pass without double jump by sheer luck. I think it has something to do with jumping up and firing foam at exactly the right point below Jason so that he lands on it. It seems finnicky, because normally you're not allowed to place foam on either side of that tunnel.
My current test gamertag has been rendered unwinnable; however, I am 90% sure that was because I didn't try to grab any extra foam packs and was stuck with 12 after Omega. I'll need as many as possible.
Newgame 100% basic conclusions:
- Early foam is a no-go for 100%, due to the reasons I've laid out below. Only a handful of sequence breaks (like skipping the first flooded area and the helicopter fight before Omega) are doable.
I'm going to continue testing, primarily with any%, and then try and get a 100% route (which would mean getting gold bars and passkey components too)
Foam packs (based on GamesRadar's map):
- F1 (the foam gun itself)
- F2 (the same room as the foam gun)
- F3 (maybe? It requires going through the normal route then backtracking to the foam save room to do the bridge. Might not be worth it. The guide says you need the scuba mask, but I doubt it).
- F4 (without a doubt, it's right in the middle of the path)
- F5 (get it right after Friction Dampener, might have to backtrack for it if the bridge lowering is skipped)
Haven't thought about any other of the packs yet, but I really think this route needs to go out of its way whenever possible to grab extra foam.
NEWGAME ROUTE NOTES
- complete prologue
- wiggle jump over the rock, collect climbing gear
- proceed as normal, collect pistol
- go to grenades, need a relatively quick Tarantula fight, seems to be random? No further grenade pickups necessary, maybe....
- take early foam route
- all double-jump stuff replaced by foam bridges
- is Coil Rifle really needed after XOS-1? I forget whether I collect the MP60 too.
- battlefield skip, which can be duplicated when backtracking
- magic number for foam pre-missiles is 24. The first foam pack can be completed on the way to stopping the bottom smashers with foam. You start with 4 foam, use one foam to blow open the foam door then stop the bottom three smashers while the foam door is exploding. Collect the foam pack then do the top three.
- the double-jump vent after missiles can be completed without foam, I need to wallrun in exactly the right spot
- backtrack to double-jump, proceed on NG+ route
- final boss completed as normal, use RT+B to break out of missile animation after firing
EXPECTED FINAL TIME WITHOUT SCREWING UP THE VENT: 2 hours (?)
So here are a couple of things I was able to figure out on my own while testing the newgame route:
- I recently found out that early foam is possible on newgame (it basically uses the same route as newgame+ except the tarantula fight is a lot slower due to the lack of inertial element. It's still fast enough that the panel to the hot vent remains open.
- Early foam locks you out of the first third of the story, which means no Thrust Pack and you're stuck with the pistol until you get the Coil Rifle. There's no way to go back to Thrust Pack after foam without early missiles (which requires infinite foam), and as far as I know, there's no way to go directly to Thrust Pack since you'd need foam to do major sequence breaking anyway.
- I'll need to pick up as many extra foam packs as possible on the way to the Omega Armour. Foam bridges are absolutely critical as a substitute for the Thrust Pack, and I screwed myself over in early testing by not diverting enough to grab other foam packs. I tried looking at some maps online, but they're all laid out confusingly. I'd love some help in organizing all the potential foam packs on the way to Omega.
- Without the thrust pack, the foam/water puzzle just before Omega (which can easily be done without the scuba mask) cannot be skipped. The helicopter fight right after that CAN be skipped with a foam bridge, although I've only done it once.
- Inertial element is not required to get to the end. You have the option of jumping straight to the final boss after getting the Thrust Boots.
- There's this one long vertical corridor (with an unavoidable grenade pack at the bottom) which I was able to pass without double jump by sheer luck. I think it has something to do with jumping up and firing foam at exactly the right point below Jason so that he lands on it. It seems finnicky, because normally you're not allowed to place foam on either side of that tunnel.
My current test gamertag has been rendered unwinnable; however, I am 90% sure that was because I didn't try to grab any extra foam packs and was stuck with 12 after Omega. I'll need as many as possible.
Newgame 100% basic conclusions:
- Early foam is a no-go for 100%, due to the reasons I've laid out below. Only a handful of sequence breaks (like skipping the first flooded area and the helicopter fight before Omega) are doable.
I'm going to continue testing, primarily with any%, and then try and get a 100% route (which would mean getting gold bars and passkey components too)
Foam packs (based on GamesRadar's map):
- F1 (the foam gun itself)
- F2 (the same room as the foam gun)
- F3 (maybe? It requires going through the normal route then backtracking to the foam save room to do the bridge. Might not be worth it. The guide says you need the scuba mask, but I doubt it).
- F4 (without a doubt, it's right in the middle of the path)
- F5 (get it right after Friction Dampener, might have to backtrack for it if the bridge lowering is skipped)
Haven't thought about any other of the packs yet, but I really think this route needs to go out of its way whenever possible to grab extra foam.
NEWGAME ROUTE NOTES
- complete prologue
- wiggle jump over the rock, collect climbing gear
- proceed as normal, collect pistol
- go to grenades, need a relatively quick Tarantula fight, seems to be random? No further grenade pickups necessary, maybe....
- take early foam route
- all double-jump stuff replaced by foam bridges
- is Coil Rifle really needed after XOS-1? I forget whether I collect the MP60 too.
- battlefield skip, which can be duplicated when backtracking
- magic number for foam pre-missiles is 24. The first foam pack can be completed on the way to stopping the bottom smashers with foam. You start with 4 foam, use one foam to blow open the foam door then stop the bottom three smashers while the foam door is exploding. Collect the foam pack then do the top three.
- the double-jump vent after missiles can be completed without foam, I need to wallrun in exactly the right spot
- backtrack to double-jump, proceed on NG+ route
- final boss completed as normal, use RT+B to break out of missile animation after firing
EXPECTED FINAL TIME WITHOUT SCREWING UP THE VENT: 2 hours (?)
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