What now after completing my first run?

[SofaKingA]

So I beat the final boss what are you guys working on achieving now? In what priority if there is one?

I've just been working on leveling up and collecting all the keepsakes. Can't bring myself to do any heat runs yet.

Thanks!

[Askeladd]

The story will run smoothly, no need to spoil here.
I suggest you to do the heat run quickly, some rules are easy to achieve and it will allow you to improve you weapons, relatioships and skills.

[SofaKingA]

Originally posted by Askeladd:

The story will run smoothly, no need to spoil here.
I suggest you to do the heat run quickly, some rules are easy to achieve and it will allow you to improve you weapons, relatioships and skills.

I feel like I should beat it more than just once before doing heat runs. Am I being too cautious? I don't even have alll the aspects leveled yet.

[Askeladd]

I'll keep it as spoiler-free as i can.
You 'll have to beat the game many other times to end the story and keep playing to get all the game offers.
Doing heat run is the only way to upgrade all the aspects and even if you fail to beat hades, you'll get diamond, blood and ambrosia from first bosses.
It is way more fun to try heat run until you suceed and finish the story than finishing it with 0 heat and discovering features too late, when it will seems pointless.

[Bobywan]

If you want to upgrade your weapon you will need blood and you can only get some during boss fights with new weapon or heat level, by buying it in charon's shop before hades or by fishing in greece after beating hades.
If you want to get all the achievements you will need at least one victory with heat level 16.
It can be pretty long as well to upgrade your keepsakes.

[B0T MAREK]

ok

[SofaKingA]

Originally posted by Askeladd:

I'll keep it as spoiler-free as i can.
You 'll have to beat the game many other times to end the story and keep playing to get all the game offers.
Doing heat run is the only way to upgrade all the aspects and even if you fail to beat hades, you'll get diamond, blood and ambrosia from first bosses.
It is way more fun to try heat run until you suceed and finish the story than finishing it with 0 heat and discovering features too late, when it will seems pointless.

Makes sense thanks. It was hard enough beating him without heat to add more difficulty to each run is well...difficult. I get your point though. Thanks.

[SofaKingA]

Originally posted by Bobywan:

If you want to upgrade your weapon you will need blood and you can only get some during boss fights with new weapon or heat level, by buying it in charon's shop before hades or by fishing in greece after beating hades.
If you want to get all the achievements you will need at least one victory with heat level 16.
It can be pretty long as well to upgrade your keepsakes.

Ah I was wondering how to get more blood. Lol, yeah it will take me 10 yrs to get to heat level 16. Thanks.

[roymaster45]

Originally posted by SofaKingA:

Originally posted by Bobywan:

If you want to upgrade your weapon you will need blood and you can only get some during boss fights with new weapon or heat level, by buying it in charon's shop before hades or by fishing in greece after beating hades.
If you want to get all the achievements you will need at least one victory with heat level 16.
It can be pretty long as well to upgrade your keepsakes.

Ah I was wondering how to get more blood. Lol, yeah it will take me 10 yrs to get to heat level 16. Thanks.

Believe it or not, getting up to successful 16-heat runs is not as daunting as it might first seem. While certain Pact of Punishment conditions (such as Extreme Measures or Routine Inspection) can definitely make or break your escape attempt regardless of your skill or how much you luck out with boons... many of them will likely seem somewhat easy or even inconsequential when you give them a try.

-Damage Control: all this does is give enemies one (or two) "shield points" when they first appear. As soon as you knock those shield points out, they have the same health, abilities, and strength as always.
-Calisthenics Program OR Jury Duty (wouldn't recommend doing both at the same time): apart from later regions like Elysium and Temple of Styx, giving enemies a bit more health or a bit more strength in numbers really just translates to "hit them harder and/or be a bit more cautious about dodging".
-Middle Management: since it's entirely possible to get through each of the four regions without hitting any "mini-boss" rooms, this one can almost count as a freebie. Even in Tartarus or Asphodel though, the perks for the mini-bosses typically boil down to stuff like "they have a bit more agility" or "their projectile attack has a few extra shots before the cooldown phase".

Ultimately, I think the important thing is to start small and gradually work your way up. Once you've gotten the hang of a particular Pact of Punishment condition, try adding in another one. You'll get to 8, 12, and 16 heat before you know it.

[roymaster45]

More generally, in terms of what to work towards after you finish your first run, here are the two main things you might want to know about the story (no spoilers, I promise):

1) In order to get to the end of the game (the "credits roll and the main narrative is largely concluded" ending), you have to clear 10 runs. Again, I know this seems daunting at your current level, but trust me... as you continue to level up your permanent abilities and get more familiar with the bosses (not to mention getting more upgrade materials from low-heat runs), getting to the final boss and beating him will become more and more routine.

2) Your idea for gathering keepsakes and deepening your relationships with the characters is smart, because after the ending I mentioned above, there IS also a small epilogue... which requires you to progress to earning a Favor from 6 of the Olympian gods. So continuing to give them Nectar and eventually figuring out what you need to do in order to unlock Ambrosia-giving (which I think eventually comes up in dialogue if you interact with them enough) will help with that in the long run.

[SofaKingA]

Originally posted by roymaster45:

More generally, in terms of what to work towards after you finish your first run, here are the two main things you might want to know about the story (no spoilers, I promise):

1) In order to get to the end of the game (the "credits roll and the main narrative is largely concluded" ending), you have to clear 10 runs. Again, I know this seems daunting at your current level, but trust me... as you continue to level up your permanent abilities and get more familiar with the bosses (not to mention getting more upgrade materials from low-heat runs), getting to the final boss and beating him will become more and more routine.

2) Your idea for gathering keepsakes and deepening your relationships with the characters is smart, because after the ending I mentioned above, there IS also a small epilogue... which requires you to progress to earning a Favor from 6 of the Olympian gods. So continuing to give them Nectar and eventually figuring out what you need to do in order to unlock Ambrosia-giving (which I think eventually comes up in dialogue if you interact with them enough) will help with that in the long run.

Thanks so much for your response! Is there any benefit to beating the game without adding heat but with each weapon before progressing to the heat system? I swear I'm not avoiding heat. But I had it in my head that you get rewards for doing this. I just don't want to miss out on anything and jump the gun.

[DarrkPhoenix]

Originally posted by SofaKingA:

Thanks so much for your response! Is there any benefit to beating the game without adding heat but with each weapon before progressing to the heat system? I swear I'm not avoiding heat. But I had it in my head that you get rewards for doing this. I just don't want to miss out on anything and jump the gun.

You get blood, diamond, and ambrosia rewards the first time you beat a boss at a given heat level with a specific weapon, so if you haven't yet cleared the game with other weapons you'll still get the boss rewards for the first clear with those. You can also crank the heat beyond the next level, and the game will keep track of what set of rewards you've earned; as an example, you could skip directly to heat 5, but you'd first get the rewards for heat 1, then heat 2, and so forth up to heat 5 before needing to adjust the heat level further for additional rewards, so you don't have to worry about missing out on rewards by skipping up heat levels. Additionally, completing bosses on heat levels you've already completed nets you darkness rather than the blood, diamond, and ambrosia rewards, although darkness farming is also a thing to buy the various upgrades you use darkness for.

Short version- put heat to whatever level you find fun, you don't have to worry about missing out on anything.

[SofaKingA]

Originally posted by DarrkPhoenix:

Originally posted by SofaKingA:

Thanks so much for your response! Is there any benefit to beating the game without adding heat but with each weapon before progressing to the heat system? I swear I'm not avoiding heat. But I had it in my head that you get rewards for doing this. I just don't want to miss out on anything and jump the gun.

You get blood, diamond, and ambrosia rewards the first time you beat a boss at a given heat level with a specific weapon, so if you haven't yet cleared the game with other weapons you'll still get the boss rewards for the first clear with those. You can also crank the heat beyond the next level, and the game will keep track of what set of rewards you've earned; as an example, you could skip directly to heat 5, but you'd first get the rewards for heat 1, then heat 2, and so forth up to heat 5 before needing to adjust the heat level further for additional rewards, so you don't have to worry about missing out on rewards by skipping up heat levels. Additionally, completing bosses on heat levels you've already completed nets you darkness rather than the blood, diamond, and ambrosia rewards, although darkness farming is also a thing to buy the various upgrades you use darkness for.

Short version- put heat to whatever level you find fun, you don't have to worry about missing out on anything.

Perfect! Thanks! Just out of curiosity. How many times have you best the game?

[DarrkPhoenix]

Originally posted by SofaKingA:

Perfect! Thanks! Just out of curiosity. How many times have you best the game?

115 successful escapes out of 165 attempts. It's been a while since I've played, but clearly it held my interest for quite a while.

[SofaKingA]

Originally posted by DarrkPhoenix:

Originally posted by SofaKingA:

Perfect! Thanks! Just out of curiosity. How many times have you best the game?

115 successful escapes out of 165 attempts. It's been a while since I've played, but clearly it held my interest for quite a while.

Holy Mother of God!

[kebabsoup]

Here I'm on 77 successful escapes out of 107 attempts 47 successful escapes out of 77 attempts. And I still have not fought the real last boss of the game yet. (Hades on extreme measures)

But no rush, I'm enjoying it and just rolling with whatever weapon the game highlights for me, progressing through the pacts of punishments and uncovering the story.

Edit: I derped my math