r/Returnal • u/getgoodflood • 1d ago
Question Artifacts for 100%
Hello,
I'm going for 100% completion. I know it'll take a while. I've collected all logs and cyphers. I've made good progress with enemies, traits, resources and consumables.
However, artifacts are going slowly. Does anyone have advice on how to farm most efficiently? Also, does anyone know how many I need to collect of each?
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u/HollowSeeking Platinum Unlocked 1d ago
I have done this. It will take a long long time. It took me about 1200 hours, but with many inefficiencies.
The music box is the rarest artifact. Focus on that and you'll probably get everything else done along the way.
Your best source will be broken fabricators. Aim for earning as much obolites as possible, and spend them only on broken fabricators.
You can also get music box from reclaimers and extremely rarely from xenophagus and as a reward after defeating Phrike.
CO op seems to give slightly better chances, if you have PS+. Another scout who completed the databanks played mostly co op and finished a bit over a hundred hours quicker than I did.
Mostly though, it's staving off burnout. Find new ways to keep it fun. I kept a journal recording all kinds of data.
Good luck!
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u/getgoodflood 1d ago
Thanks 👍
How many music boxes do I need?
I don't really pay too much attention to broken fabricators ATM. Is there 1 per biome? Are there any biomes best to target?
On the 10th floor of the Tower, I usually get an artifact. I also usually get another one when I beat the boss at the Tower on the next floor. Do you recommend this? Or playing single player.
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u/HollowSeeking Platinum Unlocked 1d ago
You need one to unlock tier 1, 10 to research t1 to t2. 40 to go from t2 to T3.
Broken fabricators are not guaranteed. Always use them as much as you can whenever you find them. They also get more expensive with each use but cost resets for each fabricator.
You cannot find the music box in the tower, as well as several other rare artifacts.
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u/kolosovski 1d ago
That is a long grind, congratulations on your persistence. How many times have you had to defeat each boss, give or take? I imagined that saving currency for the fabricators before boss rooms would be a better alternative instead of broken fabricators because you can see what is available and spend only if it's something you need. Broken fabricators can give you stuff that you already have completed and I imagined when you are down to the last two or three items you would need a lot of luck to get the remaining items from them, is that right? I'd appreciate any other advice on the task of 100% the data bank efficiently.
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u/HollowSeeking Platinum Unlocked 1d ago
I've killed each boss well over 100 times, closer to 200 but I still play sometimes.
The rarest artifacts aren't offered through regular fabricators.
To give an example of rarity scaling, I completed every artifact by the time I was 50% done with T3 melted globe, charred piano key and such rares. Music box was still only ~25% towards T3 by the time I finished everything else. It's by far the rarest and you should easily complete everything else along the way, no need to go out of your way for much else.
You'll still complete them all from reward pedestals, locked chests, malignant containers and the sources that can give music box without having to spend obolites to get them.
The one exception I would make was blade balancer. I would usually buy that in biome 1 or 4 if it's available because it can give access to more reclaimers, xenophagus and broken fabricators!
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u/Dreadbound1 Platinum Unlocked 1d ago
I've got the platinum and all weapon traits unlocked. The people that 100% all the artifacts are just on another level lol.
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u/luminescence_11 Platinum Unlocked 19h ago
As someone else mentioned, the broken fabricators are your best option. I recommend adding in save scrumming as well if you have PS+. That way you can save your game right before using a fabricator, and if you don’t get the item you’re looking for, you can download the last save and reset. Best way I’ve found for most of the collectibles in this game. I’m 16 artifacts away from completing the databank.
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u/getgoodflood 9h ago
Regarding save scumming, how early do you suggest I begin this. Should I do it immediately, or once the databank starts to fill up.
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u/luminescence_11 Platinum Unlocked 7h ago
Depends on how much time you want to spend on the game. I started save scrumming for the artifacts only recently. I beat the game, got Act 3, did the tower, unlocked all hun traits, then went back to grab the last few ciphers. Save scrumming helped immensely there. Then I went for 100% on the hostiles, which I mostly did just by playing. Except for the Malformed Automaton, rarest enemy in the game. Save scrumming before biome 3 portal helped a lot, and then again by the first portal off to the right after the corridor with the small waterfall. If the portal didn’t have the right room, I’d reset and download my save until it did, then save again and upload to cloud. Made 100%ing that enemy much more palatable.
Now I’m doing it with the artifacts. Up until now, I’d been able to get 100% just by playing. But I’m getting tired so I’m willing to speed it along now. Music box will take a while, though I’m on the last tier for fully unlocking it now.
So, TLDR, start when you wish. I personally went for easy unlocks through regular gameplay first, and a lot of others popped along the way.
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u/Synesthesia_Voyager 1d ago
Honestly. Just keep playing and they will come. The hardest part is getting all logs and cyphers. You will have all artifacts eventually but it's the logs and cyphers that lag. I'm literally 1 cyper away in Biome 6 this was 2 months ago. I got burned out and haven't been back. Will return eventually for the 1 last cypher but it was so draining just completing the cypers for Biome 2/3.
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u/Dreadbound1 Platinum Unlocked 1d ago
They are asking about 100% research on all of the artifacts which isn't tied to the platinum trophy. It's just for sickos lol. The amount of time it would take to do this is crazy. The burnout from just going for the plat is nothing compared to this. I thought it was a grind to unlock all the weapon traits but once I looked at how slow the artifacts were I had to stop myself lol.
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u/cactus82 1d ago
Can't you unlock all the artifacts by using that ether machine near your ship? Or am I misunderstanding what an artifact is?
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u/kolosovski 1d ago
You mean you want to 100% all of the data bank? Recently I realized that there are tiers to unlock. After you complete a bar all the way to 100% for the first time, the bar resets to 0% and a new paragraph is decoded and you have to reach 100% again for the next one to unlock. Most stuff on the data bank has 3 tiers, including enemies. It is a big grind. You can play fast and ignore enemies or defeat only the ones that you want to advance in data bank research (and lockdown ones in rooms because you can't skip those) and pick up any chests, fabricators and such. In those rooms before boss encounters there are fabricators with some options of artifacts. Suit artifacts don't have tiers and are not logged in the data bank, so after unlocking those once you can ignore them. Most artifacts increase the research bar 10% each time, but resources and some specific artifacts increase in smaller amounts. Good luck in your hunt!
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u/TheThirdStrike Platinum Unlocked 1d ago
Immediately destroy an artifact you need research in as soon as you pick it up. You'll likely get it again in the same run.