Impressions and Tips to Offer

I gave Let It Die a try last night, and it seemed super dense. I felt like I was going to need to dedicate a bit more time to figuring shit out. There were tons of paragraphs and tutorials, and it was a lot to soak in while I was halfway ready to go to bed.

This morning, I had about four hours before work, so I messed around with it. That game is pretty fucking sweet, AND they just added online mode! It seems like they are going to be releasing new stuff for the game, which seems cool. You need those kinds of frequent updates to keep an F2P game going.

I have a couple of inherent issues with the game at the moment:

1. Only having three-hit combos is kind of the worst.
2. Recovery time vs reaction time can be really problematic when dealing with more than one enemy.
3. Enemy aggro range is HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE.
4. Inherent lack of staggering with most weapons you use.
5. The need to farm and grind for currency, just to get minimal upgrades in the end.
6. Small variety of weapons and enemies.

Mind you, I've only been to level 5 so far, which means there's a lot of game that I haven't seen yet. However, it just starts feeling like it stacks against you in some pretty ridiculous ways that are difficult to do anything about. The "death rooms" are some of the worst things ever. They are basically rooms with three enemies that show up and a briefcase with (usually) a rare crafting material inside. What makes it rough? Bad camera angle possibilities in a small space with difficulties of handling crowds, alongside the inability to switch lock-on targets, causes you to dodge weird and miss attacks that you needed to land.

Here are ten tips that I can offer anyone new to get some better runs:

1. BLOCK! Blocking reduces your damage a ton, but it also reduces your recovery time from animations. This gives you an advantage against someone swinging wildly.
2. ALWAYS TAKE THE FROGS! Don't step on them. Seriously, healing items start becoming pretty scarce, and if you step on them, they may not give you any type of healing item at all. I would go so far as to say that you should probably stock up about 5x or 6x of those things (easily obtained in Ikegara, the first floor), take them back and cook them, and have them in your inventory.
3. RED HOT IRON RAGE MOVE IS YOUR FRIEND! The Red Hot Iron does some decent damage, but its rage move will send out steam that staggers as well as blinds your opponent. This works really well against high-level haters.
4. GYMNAST DECAL! Buy it. 30% reduced stamina usage on your dodge makes a world of difference in that game.
5. FARM IKEGARA AT LEAST THREE TIMES BEFORE FLOOR 2! I say this because the enemies are easy to defeat, there are a ton of useful items (which a chance at some rare weapons like the Apocalyptic Hockey Stick or the Jungle Machete from boxes), and getting the Kill Coins to get full durability weapons stocked up is a huge boost for you. You'll also level up at least once, and dump it all into HP and Stamina.
6. USE YOUR FISTS! Your own two hands are some of the best weapons in the game. Why? They swing fast, they are easy to level up for mastery level (as you always have them), they have 100% durability at all times, and the special attack (L1 or R1) is a bit overhead pummel move that does some serious damage.
7. RAGE MOVES ARE IMPORTANT! Rage moves are used when you hold Triangle and then attack. Weapons have all kinds of different rage moves, but they can go beyond the properties of what the weapon itself would normally do. For instance, if you are using the buzzsaw melee weapon, you can get a pretty serious ranged move out of it that shoots blades and deals damage over time to someone while locking them up. This means you can Rage Move Buzzsaw, and then while they are staggered a bit, get in and melee the shit out of them. Red Hot Iron, as I stated above, is some great crowd control. The Fireworks gun shoots a big explosion out (and make sure it doesn't hit you!). The Metal Bat does a forward lunge, which is REALLY REALLY REALLY good. Play around with them and learn what they do to make situational combat easier.
8. FARM OUT YOUR QUESTS! Most of these quests will give you Kill Coins, which is great. 5k Kill Coins can get a little bit of stuff done. However, there are some that will give you Death Metal, which is the real-money currency of the game. This is also what gets you Death Insurance. That leads me to my next thing...
9. USE YOUR DEATH METAL FOR A SOLID RUN! If you are doing poorly on a run and die on, say, the second floor, don't use your Death Metal for death insurance. Just don't. It's a waste. Get really good at running those first two or three floors, and THEN start using your death insurance.
10. ALWAYS PICK UP BLUEPRINTS! It doesn't matter what is in your Death Bag at the moment - it's not as important as that blueprint. Turning the blueprints in can get you some seriously good gear that will start at 100% durability when you equip it. If it is something you already know, then it is worth some serious Kill Coins (mine were around 400-600 KC each). Trust me - that cotton or scrap metal is not nearly as important (unless it's rare).

I have a feeling I'm going to play quite a bit of this game. It's simplistic in its design and its gameplay elements, but there are nuances in that gameplay which make a world of difference and offer some unique playthroughs.

Hope everyone enjoys it!

P.S. - I'm REALLY hoping that the Giant Bomb staff include Uncle Death as a late addition to Best Character discussions. Seriously, he's doooooope as fuuuuuuck.

I've been putting some time into this myself, and I'm also really digging it. I haven't gotten super far, but I'll add that you CAN sneak up on enemies. Their aggro range being as crazy as it is, its kinda hard to even get a chance to do, but it's possible. If you crouch and manage to get right up behind someone (assuming they don't turn slightly or immediately spot you), you'll get an X-button prompt to deliver a vicious backdrop for a decent amount of damage. I've only pulled it off once, but it's probably something worth keeping in mind.

Cook your consumables.

Make use of stomp on downed enemies by pressing X near them.

You can upgrade your kill coin bank limit among other things after completing the raiding tutorial. Just talk to that robot cop guy and go to Waiting Room and then Buy Equipment.

The soundtrack is dope. You can set your waiting room music by going back to the arcade and messing with the radio there.

does anyone know how to get past level 25? nvm i figured it out dunno what prompts it but at some point you can buy grade 2 characters

@jakob187: I accidentally used Rage-fireworks at close range, and then I got a introduction to how "life insurance" works in the game.

My main tip is if your in a situation where you have very limited items but have to deal with a group of 3 or more enemies. You're better off running around in a circle to make them attack each other. A hater being around is advantageous since he will prioritize other enemies in the level if they get too close to him. I ended up using a hater that way accidently when the game put me in a locked room full of normal enemies and one hater. Also beating the boss on floor 10 will unlock access to 2-star characters.

So far I've been enjoying this game more than I expected. The atmosphere and the silly narrative have kept me interested in climbing the tower of barbs.

@dochaus: I got my introduction by accidentally hitting right side of touch pad while having a bomb mushroom equipped.

I think you have to beat the boss at level 10.

I got to level 10 and died and had to scrap one of my characters. I took a bit of a weird route, there's some kind of shortcut on one of the fifth floor areas. I'm not sure if you have to beat the second mid boss to get there.

My tip is to not get too pissed off. You level up fast and once you know where you're going it doesnt take too long, and I dont remember if the game tells you but down on the d-pad is the map.

Also is there no way to repair armour or weapons? I've been looking around and I have yet to find it. But having missed the map until recently it wouldnt surprise me to find out i'd missed a whole bunch of other stuff.

@jakob187: They didn't "just add the online mode", it just unlocks after you play for a while and the wording there is weird...

I'll say it right now, I would really appreciate a QL of this game.

I gots a PS 4, and I sure would like to use it.

Just did a short run, died at level 2. This game is kind of awesome, although I can definitely imagine the F2P-ness rearing its ugly head after a while. Hope it gets improved over time, as well. I'm already seeing where the combat is lacking, and not in the player's favor. I'm predicting a ton of controls-related deaths.

Either way, this game is a really pleasant surprise, and an easy contender for Best STYYYYYLE.

AAAAAHHHH. I didn't know, solely because that wording did make it seem like it was just added.

I'm on the 7th floor right now. Been taking my time and just taking it in. I kind of hate how hard they reuse level assets, but it's understandable. It also gives me a sense of familiarity in the areas, which helps to think of where enemies could possibly be.

Also, dropkicks....are....AWESOME! Fuck me, it's so fun.

Hitting down d-pad opens the map.

Up d-pad switches targets once you are locked on.

Holding x + left d-pad drops your current left weapon, hold x + right d-pad to drop your current right weapon.

Don't be afraid to invade other people and upgrade your coin and freezer maximum. Most people don't even have characters that are defending so you just walk in and get a bunch of free splithium. Even if they do have defenders, they aren't too tough no matter how high level once you learn how to counter each weapon. But again, maybe 1 in 10 people have anyone defending.

On the challenge quests (like climb from ikegara to imokawa-cho with no armor) I could not originally get them to register. When I finally got them to complete I dropped the quests and picked them up and immediately went to do the no armor and no dodge quests. I also made sure I got the killing blow on all enemies. I have no idea what part is bugged but if you have trouble you can try these. The quest will complete upon killing the last enemy in imokawa. Side note, I got killed by a jackel while afking in a dungeon writing this, woops.

@boozak said:

I don't think so, at least not in the beginning parts of the game. The equipment you buy from the Choku-Funsha start out with full durability, however. Also, pressing R3 over items shows additional information on them, such as how quickly they deteriorate, or how much of your meter a Rage Move (Triangle while you attack) with said weapon will cost.

Some hot tips from someone who's about 18 hours in and just hit floor 13. I took my sweet time clearing every single room before the first real boss on floor 10, so I'm sure you could make it up way faster if you haul ass. I've also spent a fair amount of time on the multiplayer stuff.

I'll echo some of the things others have said.

• You can cook stuff way faster by standing next to a fire. You'll get a new button prompt, and will never again have to worry about throwing stuff through the geometry, or of setting yourself on fire while trying to pick stuff back up (this happened to me constantly). By using this method you can also amp up stuff like the explosive, and poisonous mushrooms, which would normally be used up after a throw.
• The Firework Launcher can be used to cook beasts immediately by shooting them. (Lock on with R3)
• Your character's stomach actually rumbles if you don't eat for a while. What'll happen then is your Stamina will run out faster, and you stop regenerating HP like you normally would.
• You have to stomp on the scorpions twice before you can pick them up. Otherwise the fuckers will hurt!
• To reload guns, hold X and then press either R2, or L2 depending on which hand you're holding them in. Either will work if you're carrying a bigger gun that fills both hands.
• Running for a while before hitting X will do a sweet dropkick. Missing and falling on your face looks great, but it'll also leave you open to enemy attacks.
• Like @mindbullet said, you can Suplex enemies if you creep up on enemies from behind, but that's not the only stealth move in the game. If you're above an unsuspecting enemy, you can perform a sick Frankensteiner. This'll also knock them down, so that you can get those stomps in for free damage before they get up.
• You get new attacks for your weapons as your Mastery level increases. They're all weapon-specific, so make sure to read up on the details in your Rolodex. For example, my hammer now does this horizontal swing with R1, that's super useful against groups of enemies.
• There's a Perfect Guard you can use by hitting O just before an enemy attacks. This'll stagger them if you pull it off, though the timing's pretty tough.
• Some vending machines can be broken, and they can have either Kill Coins or enemies inside them. They'll have a white outline around them, and will give you a button prompt as you get close.
• As you make your way through the Tower on to the higher floors, more Fighters will become purchasable from the Fighter Freezer in your Waiting Room. These characters can have higher caps on their stats than the ones you start with, which is how you can get to higher character levels. One of them even starts out with a bigger inventory. My highest leveled character right now is 49, and has a total of 33 inventory slots.
• If you stay on a single floor long enough, these three level 200 enemies will come after you. This is what I'm told anyway. I haven't come across them even once while playing myself, so you'd have to be crawling at a snail's pace to bump into them, I think. Also I don't think they'll start appearing until you get the cutscene that introduces them initially.
• There's a secret shop you can come across in the Tower. There's a bunch of materials, and super expensive blueprints for sale. The shop'll stay where it is until you logout.
• This has only happened to me once, but I'm pretty sure you can extinguish yourself if you're caught on fire by running to water, even if it's only ankle-deep.
• You can spend Death Metals to speed up the timers that show up, when performing R&D on weapons for example, but I'd recommend saving them. None of the timers I've seen so far have been too obscene, and the currency is better spent on continues if you die, in my opinion.
• You can taunt by hitting L1+R1 at the same time. These are character-specific.

On some of the multiplayer stuff:

• From the Fighter Freezer, you can send out your extra characters to invade other people's games, and if they manage to kill them, you'll get a bunch of stuff. They'll return with some gear even if they fail, so there's really no reason not to do it.
• After you reach a high enough floor, the Terminal will become available to you, and you can start raiding other people's Waiting Rooms. This is a pretty good source of SPLithium (the third currency, under your Death Metals and Kill Coins). SPLithium can be used to increase the cap on your Kill Coins, or the amount of fighters you can have at a time, for example.
• Raiding also sometimes allows you to capture other players' Fighters. If you successfully carry one back to your train, they'll go into your own Waiting Room's bathroom. There they will slowly (around 48 real-time hours) be converted into your own Fighters. Check in every once in a while because they're being harvested for SPLithium while they're there.
• The Fighters you've imprisoned can be freed by anyone who attacks your base, but know that you can do that too, if the bases you attack happen to have people locked up.

For those worried of repetition, the game changes things up after you beat the first real boss. The floors I'm on right now are in a city-setting with an open sky, and feel more open and varied in design. I'm also finding new armor, and weapons such assault rifles, and butterfly knives. I'm also fighting some new enemies, but the Screamers are still the most common ones, though they'll also have the new gear I mentioned. I'm pretty sure one tried to shoot me with a grenade launcher, but he was thankfully blown up by a landmine before he could land a shot.

What happened to me last was, I puked out an explosive hologram of myself after I accidentally ate a "Decoyshroom," when I was actually trying to eat a fish I'd caught with my bare hands from a river earlier.

I've also yet to spend any real money on the game, but I will once the store comes online in Europe, even if I'm not in need of any Death Metals. That's how much I've enjoyed my time with it. This is one of the best F2P games I've played in a long while. A lot of thought and production value's been put behind this thing.

Basically what I'm saying is, this game's pretty fucking great, and everyone with a PS4 should try it out.

Uncle Death for the Best New Character of 2016.

@cettu: Damn, thanks for the info dump.

Apparently there's something called "Fun Fungus" later on that might repair items but I dont know whether that's bs.

So, I was wondering if any one has found the stamp machine for 8F? I have found all the other stamp machines for 1-10F. I have scoured the three rooms I have for 8F( Meta-Kova, Niko-Senzoku, Sashi-Magome) and have not been able to find it.

@seanz10: I actually spent a lot of time yesterday searching for that one too and couldn't find it. I think it's either bugged or another floor on that level opens later.

I really wish blocking was faster or that there was a parry or something it's easy to get kind of stun locked.

I will echo how awesome dropkicks are but the recovery time really sucks when you miss.

Is there a way to buy more inventory space with death metals or whatever they're called? I thought I saw that mentioned but can't find a place to do it.

@citizencoffeecake: You can expand your storage from the DH service by 10 slots for 2 death metals. If you want a bigger inventory, the collector class can hold 30 items. Rank 2 fighters can also carry slightly more, and I assume it's the same for higher ranks past that.

@citizencoffeecake: There totally is a parry, they just call it the "Perfect Guard." Hit circle just before an enemy hits you, and you'll stagger them back.

In other news, the "grenade launcher" I was talking about? Turns out, it's the assault rifle's Rage Move. Just learned that the hard way. If someone's shooting you with one, and suddenly starts glowing blue - duck and cover!

If you press L1 and R1 and the same time you can do a cool pose.

I believe it's free isn't it? Also i'm not too sure they even do quick looks of f2p games all that often.

@oursin_360: Nope, did not know that it was f2p.

I think they have done a few,.... Jeff was saying he liked this game, that is what I had in mind.

If anyone manages to kill a Jackal, record it and post it

They're level 200, and there's 3 of them that come at the same time. I think it'll be a few months before we see anyone accomplish that.

@sirio: I dont think they come all at the same time. I had just the Laser Yo-yo chic show up for me, I tried to escape didn't make it(she can teleport btw), she hit me for 25k+.

I found it! For me it was in the room named Maminemachi on a different hunter. I guess each hunter has their our unique path through the tower???

lol. Good luck to anyone who wants to grind to a level where you can take them down. Dear lord.

@cettu@noobsmog

Great! Thanks for the info.

Here are my tips:

1. Survive
2. Kill everything
3. Pay Suda for the glory he has created.

I'd expand on the Death Metal tip a bit. By default, you have 30 spots in your storage chest. This is nothing. I have 80 spots now after spending most of the free DMs I've earned or received on expanding on it, and I'm already almost full. I try and build a set of armor and one weapon every time I go to the waiting room, and put it in storage. I also have a bunch of grilled frogs in there, any rare weapons (magnums, mostly), and crafting materials.

Crafting materials can be in storage and still function for R&D. The game doesn't just check your Death Bag.

Mastery levels are persistent across characters. While your level 1 might not take a lot of damage, if you are good at dodging, there's really not a whole lot stopping you from fucking up a level 25 hater with a few R1 or L1 punches as a result.

Level up all your fighters equally. Don't focus on one fighter. If your "favorite" gets stolen, or dies, you'll be fucked. Having your whole squad be beefed up means never being in a truly shitty situation. Plus, you'll be working up your masteries that much more.

People are still learning how the invasion mechanics work. Use this to your advantage. Yes, I'm saying that you should be a horrible monster. You want to have more room in your Fighter Freezer? A larger coin capacity? more SPlithium capacity? Finish the 3rd floor and you'll unlock a bunch of new features, including the invasion mechanic. It works a lot like the FOBs in MGSV. Take a train to a low level players Waiting Room, fuck them up (it's an AI controlling them), beat the shit out of their bank and SPlithium tank, and carry any unconscious fighters you see laying around with you back to the train. You'll put them in your restroom and hold them ransom, and earn SPlithium per minute off of them. With this, you can upgrade all those capacities.

You need to upgrade your bank capacity at least once to buy Mushroom Stew. You want to do this, because Mushroom Stew can give decals that persist beyond death.

My only tip doesn't involve gameplay, but may help people enjoy the game more. Jack out and talk to the characters in the arcade every chance you get. They have a ridiculous number of random lines, and most of them are pretty great. Also, the transitions between the game and arcade alone should help it win Best Styyyyyyyyyle. What a fuckin awesome thing this game is.

@seanz10: Aha! Got it, thanks for the heads up. Although it seems like my map changed for all my characters. I wonder if the tower changes up on a weekly basis or something?

After running several defense simulations, I think I've got a pretty good set up for anybody who wants to protect their Waiting Room from getting jacked up.

To make this work, you'll need to have R&D'd a good melee weapon, and a piece of armor for each slot (head, torso, legs). The reason being, items bought from the store don't lose durability if they are used for this purpose, so you can keep people on defense using them as long as you want.

When you go to the TDM menu by talking to Tetsuo, choose Waiting Room, then something like Defense Options or Settings. You should see two displays near the bottom-middle portion of your screen. One shows a very basic overhead view of the train platform, and another shows a very basic overhead view of the Waiting Room. The numbers don't actually correspond to anything other than how many Fighters you have placed in each area. From this menu, you can assign fighters to defend either the platform, or the Waiting Room.

Now, when someone invades, they will have to break down a gate between the platform and your Waiting Room. It's not very tough, but it's durable enough that if there are, say, two or three jerks with bats or hammers trying to crack their skull open at the same time, they will have a very hard time.

I went ahead and did a few invasions to earn the SPlithium needed to buy a fourth fighter slot (it's a pretty small amount, about 4000 I believe), and then put all three of my original fighters, fully geared up, on the platform.

With a set up like this, invaders have to spend a large portion of their 3 minute time limit fighting off your crew before they can even get close to working on the gate. In all the defense simulations, I never even touched the gate.

For specifics, the armor I'm using is the DIY Fighter. One fighter is using a +2 hammer and a +3 bat, the second fighter is using just the +3 bat, and the third has a two handed combat pickaxe.

The first "real" boss fight is... Really, really cool. God, this game has some style.

I've now put about 25 hours into the game, and it just keeps growing and growing. I'm slowly falling in love with it, and it's basically become the only thing I want to play.

First of all, I've made my way to floor 13...aaaaaaaaand a TON of secret areas between the first floor and there. Mind you, I haven't fought the (I'm assuming) boss on floor 11 yet, and it's because...I can't figure out how to get past the 13th floor. I've been going everywhere I can think of, and I've had nothing so far. Escalators are locked off, the boss area on the 11th floor is locked, and I don't know what to do. Because of that, I've just been grinding out quests and just getting my bank and SPLithium tank upgraded as much as possible, buying as many fighter slots as possible, grinding as much money as possible, and setting up those fighters to defend because I FINALLY jumped into the raid mechanics.

Holy. Shit. The raid stuff has to be one of the coolest setups in a video game in a long while! Building up defense at your own base, invading someone else's base and taking their kill coins and their SPLithium AND THEIR FIGHTER, locking him up in an old urinal converted into a cell, draining SPLithium from him until he becomes YOURS or he's taken back...or they pay a ransom for him? THAT IS SERIOUSLY AWESOME, and hopefully, they expand on it in the future.

However...HOWEVER...I have not been able to ENGAGE in raiding someone. I've only BEEN raided. Every time I try to invade someone, it gives me one option, and it says that person was already attacked and that I can't attack them. What the fucking fuck? I want to raid. I also had one of my fighters captured, aaaaaaand I don't have the option to go into that person's waiting room, kick the shit out of them, and then take my guy back? That's pretty fucking weak! Maybe I'm missing something. I don't know. Nonetheless, it's led me to farming floor 1-3 a ton to get money and mats, upgrade shit loads of gear, and equip fighters so that I can defend my turf as best as possible.

Regardless of ALL this, I'm having a ton of fun. When you die, it is FUCKING DEVASTATING, especially when you're on a solid run, picked up a ton of stuff, and then just...BLAM...and you have no Death Metal? It's simply the worst feeling, but it's also the BEST feeling. I haven't had that feeling in a while. Even in Dark Souls, when I would die, it was "eh, I can get that many souls again, whatever." This just feels like it can be SO BAD!

THAT IS...if you don't have the kill coins to salvage the body. Luckily, if you are a farming machine, then you can salvage the body AND that fighter will have all the kill coins you had farmed up. Hence, I typically just run like a madman, get naked on whatever floor I'm on, die, then salvage my body. Sure, it's more expensive than the elevator, but it's far more time consuming, and I'm at the point where I go "I farmed up 30k coins on this run, it'll cost about 7k for me to bring this guy back...so yeah, it's worth it."

Of course, if I have an Express Pass (which the devs have been gracious in offering THREE 24-hour passes so far), I don't do that. Elevator rides are free, and as fucked up as it sounds, that chick in the elevator has a sweet ass.

Hope everyone is still enjoying it, and if there are any tips on how to get up to the 14th floor, I would love them. Gonna be adventuring most of tonight, though.

A few I've found.

If you're killed and have the gold to return to the same floor, you can fight your own hater. Killing yourself (!) will revive that fighter.

When you first get to floor 11, get all the healing you can and grind 12 for a while. Fill up your slots with materials and return home. It's not the most optimal cycle but it'll get you fresh guns, the butterfly knife and some important armor.

If you're on a run and flying through floors, keep going until your slots are full AND you're basically out of healing items. Don't push it. Return home, level up, refresh, get back at it.

Re-explore the rooms on the far left/right fringes of the map once you've advanced 5 floors higher. Once you get to 15, you should open any old doors from 10 down. It's a good way to level your fresh fighters and get materials. You should be able to cruise through.

Spend all your monies before logging off and don't worry about defence. It's a good way to have your team's equipment break while you're away.

Hold mushrooms to a fire always always always. Left touchpad next to the flame, X will roast them. Gives a boost.

I've been doing a ton of raids recently and the only time that message came up is when I tried to raid someone from the Rescue tab, it's never come up when I've tried from the Random tab. Have you tried exiting out of the TDM menu completely and then going back in to repopulate your list?

Well there is definitely something to this, but it hasnt really grabbed me yet. Feels like a high res ps3 game for sure, and the combat isnt really great, but it definitely has some charming quirks to it. My guess is yoh can spend real money on revives? If so when the revive lady gets sad when you don't buy one is a bit off putting. Seems like an ok f2p game though, unless there is some pay to win stuff in the late game i am missing.

@jakob187: Pretty sure you have to beat the boss (I just stumbled on him, cant recall where, sorry!) and then go from Kamoto to Yamadai and the next elevator you reach will be on the 16th (!) floor. I have yet to fight the boss there. I need a bit of a break, this game is quite addictive. ;p

Really enjoying it so far, yes it's clunky and the graphics are last gen but it has a lot of style and that goes a long way. I can see people getting pissed at the F2P stuff though. I just used the express hell thing recently and going back to my regular inventory after that is going to suck. (level 50 striker)

Personally i've been avoiding defending my base just because I dont want to deal with people abducting my fighters. That to me is worse than losing money or SPlithium.

Does anyone know specific rooms and floors for collectibles? I have started writing em down but would love some help filling in the holes.

being dark soulsy there are 2 givens. 1. i will suck shit at it. 2. i will probably lose interest in it and put it aside after a few hours, still looks real neat for a f2p game and seems to be gaining some real traction so good for them. at least it's free, in my case.

Tip: Beware of Direct Hell Express Elevators.

After using it I got stuck, couldnt move and the doors were closed. I waited for awhile but nothing happend, (there was also no loading icon) so I did the only thing I could do and closed the game. That counted as a death and now i've lost my best character. 29,000 to salvage. Not happy.

I'm aware this has a very low chance of happening but this isnt the first time they have been glitchy for me. It almost happend before when I was going up, it was taking awhile and then it cut to a blank loading screen and I was back in the waiting area outside the freezer and I couldnt move. Thankfully I could switch character by pressing X and that fixed the problem.

@cannonballbam: The fanwiki has a nice list over here: http://letitdie.gamepedia.com/R%26D_Materials

It's been hell trying to consistently find cotton though. I get iron scraps for days and maybe two cotton piles.

I guess the best tip I have so far is to make sure you level up the Red Hot Iron a decent amount. It's literally the perfect offhand weapon (maybe tied with crossbow). As mentioned before, the rage move is great crowd control, but it's L1 attack that you get from upgrading it is a parry with really long active frames, way longer than the default block parry. This is super useful for the mission where you have to make it through a couple floors without rolling.

Another piece of advice is to level up the firework gun, and keep it handy for crowd control. When leveled up, it can stunlock a group of enemies if they're close enough together since it gains a secondary burning/explosion effect. They are common and not terribly useful outside a few instances, so keeping one around just in case is pretty handy.

With both of those, don't bother using them as your primary damage dealer unless you're desperate (even then, your fists are probably better). Just level them up by getting the last hit with them.

Oh yeah, and gore moves don't seem to use ammo or durability, so an easy way to level up your weapons in to keep it in the offhand or switch to it, and do all your gore moves with that. Works even with empty ranged weapons.

Kinda hate the combat in this game, but I can't stop playing it.

Floor 11 or 12 has several pillbugs. Lock on to one and stun it(I think you have to stomp them from the back) then use the barehanded R1 to kill it. It'll drop a mushroom that revives you on death if you eat it.

You can shoot the poison snails that are stuck on walls with a firework gun to cook them to get rid of the poison and for food.

Upgrading equipment past rank 4 gives you a pretty big jump in power since it allows you to buy the next tier of that gear.

Here's a silly one. Eating sleep mushrooms gives 10 exp, but takes a while for the sleep to wear off. However, if you fall off a ledge, literally any distance, you snap out of it. So pick them up and save them for when you are near a short drop for some easy exp, especially with new characters.

It also seems like the weapons that are the most annoying to deal with when enemies use them are a natural choice for primaries for yourself and your invaders/defenders. I'm finding machetes work really well, and it's probably the reason the majority of the haters I run into have them.

Also have a quick question. I keep failing the climb from x floor to x floor killing everything with conditions missions. I'm doing what's being asked, so I think it's that I'm not killing everything even when I completely clear the floor. The only two things I can think of is that it wants me to kill beasts, or that haters killing other enemies is preventing it. Anyone have any ideas?

I thought people using machetes was a personal preference kind of thing, but I just got a MEIJIN TIP that straight up called them overpowered... So, yeah that kinda sucked some of the fun out of it for me. I was having a blast leveling up some gun and blunt weapon skills, but I guess its not really worth it if that's the case?

No way man, I use a variety of weapons. I was mainly talking about what to equip your expeditions and lobby defenders with based on fighting against AI. The AI are too stupid to use some of the weapons effectively, making them way easier to deal with. I'm personally leveling everything and upgrading as many weapons as I can. That being said, the machete/hot iron combo seems to be the most universally useful for me so far. Also, I'm still only tier two and haven't seen all the weapons yet. Was more suggesting to look at what AI give you the most trouble and maybe using that to inform what weapons you give your AI.

Side note, one of my favorite things so far is the sounds the beasts make. Rats and bugs are nothing special, but frogs, scorpions and crabs all make funny noises.

Frogs say "gero gero" which is the Japanese onomatopoeia for frog croaks. While scorpions and crabs go full Pokemon and repeat their own names over and over, sasori and kani respectively.

I love this game.