And we're back! Last time, I'd been killed by a giant statue that came to life. Discouraged, I've decided to look at a few other places before going back. Planning to head back to the Waterworks, I pick up the Waterproof Case, then I go one screen to the right of the start of the game. I know there's a way to make a passage here because when I was trying to figure out how to record video of this game I looked at a run on Speed Demos Archive to see if I could figure out what settings they'd used, and I saw part of the video where a passage had been opened, but not how it was done. Once I unlocked the ruins I tried whipping the opposide side (i.e., from the inside out), but I guess this is the first time I tried hitting the outside wall. It makes the same noise you get when hitting the statues in the Guidance Gate, which I take to mean I'm not doing damage. Most walls in the game don't do that, so it seems I need to do something on this side.
Success! The Shuriken does the job.
Aww yuss. Of course, since I have the Grail this might be the last time I bother walking into the ruins instead of using the warp.
I head for the Waterworks, stopping to break a few coin-bearing pots along the way. Once I get there, I go to the room mentioned in this clue:
I said before I'd come back when I'd increased my maximum VIT, which I now have. Sure, I lost a lot of it getting here and probably don't have any more current VIT than when I was last here, but let's take another shot anyway:
This time, I make it through. Barely. It turns out the trick is to keep pressing up - you can jump at any time in the water. This allows me to reach the top. Maybe I could even jump high enough to reach the chest, though I haven't gotten it open yet. In the clue the room is shown with a waterfall, which I suspect will come out of the hole with the blue bottom at the top middle of the room and raise the water enough for me to reach the chest.
The clue on the stele here is quite interesting. I think it's saying I can get healed by fairies. The image shows a star that makes me think of the blue stars with a symbol in the middle that I've seen three of so far.
The next room has a waterfall I can't get past and a couple of fishmen. I take out the first one easily with a Shuriken, but the one on the platform below moves very quickly and will be hard to land a hit on before taking a hit myself. My Throwing Knife stock is at zero, unfortunately. That would be the perfect weapon here. Instead:
Here's the increasingly common sight of Lemeza dying.
So I reload, repurchase the case, reopen the passage, and return to the Waterworks. Directly beneath Lemeza in the last shot here is the altar for this area. It's underwater, sure, but I've got full VIT and a Waterproof Case this time. Let's give it a go!
Success! But I've forgotten to equip Glyph Reader and my VIT is ticking away.
I load the proper cart in the MSX and manage to read the altar. I finally get the proper name for this area, too: The Spring of the Sky. Then, harried by bats (they're the same colour as the water, meaning they're invisible when they fly through it), I warp out and save. Now, let's just check that my warp back there is working:
Look, it's fair to say that I have not always been the best steward of Lemeza's person, but this was a particularly poor choice. On the other hand, I learned something: you use the Grail by opening the item screen and pressing a number key. 0 is the Village, 1 the Guidance Gate, 2 the Mausoleum. Pressing 3 currently does nothing: I have to press 4 to reach the Spring. I guess I'm supposed to go somewhere else first. Also, until I learn to breathe underwater I'm gonna have to be careful not to warp here again.
Once again I head into the ruins on foot. I had this idea that maybe having the Jewel would cause the Ankh to appear, so I did another run through the Guidance Gate. The room in the second screenshot here seems a candidate for something to happen, but it hasn't yet. So I head for the Mausoleum. There's a change in the room shown in the last screenshot. Before I weighted Led's hand, there were spikes above the dais on this screen. Maybe I should try putting a weight there again?
The game allows me to place a weight, and the Shell Horn sounds, but nothing obvious has changed.
One screen below, however, the chest has opened and I score the map. It matches the one I've made.
It's time to take on the giant again, so I head back to the contraption. I didn't save after aligning the moons last time, so it's still showing the suns. It seems to hold its setting when aligned, but to otherwise reset to a default position when you leave the room. I knock the suns out of alignment, leave, and return. Last time I was able to align the moons by whipping the right pillar once, then the middle pillar once.
This time I mix it up, hitting the middle first and then the right. That also works, which would seem to confirm that there is a consistent pattern that the pillars change through rather than it just being a password.
I'm a slow learner, but I can be taught. I head out and save before going to face certain death at the hands of the giant. According to the internet, the guy on the left who I'm about to fight is Sakit. I don't know if there's some clue I've missed, or more clues coming up later, or if that's entirely based on this clue:
Stele:"Power in his hand" could refer to the gun this giant is holding or the Ankh in his other hand (I'd taken it to refer to the dais left on Led's hand). Other potential candidates for this giant are Abt and Riv. I've identified all the rest.
The youngest, Sakit, followed his own path. He locked Led's body, left power in his hand, and went into a long rest.
Stele:
We could not grant the Great Mother's wish. I am the only one to remain, and here I go to my long, final rest. Abt
Stele:I think a case could be made for either of these guys. Abt's text implies he was the last brother standing, and thus the one left to fight Lemeza, although he refers to a "final" rest. I thought it might be Riv because the thing in its hand looks kind of like a digging device, but I guess it being a gun makes that less likely. Anyways, let's wake up Sakit, or whoever this is:
Grieving for his elder brothers, Riv dug a tunnel from the lake to the tower to bring water to it. He collapsed in the effort and went into a long rest.
Once again, something is launched away as I use the Jewel on the Ankh, and Lemeza jumps away. I take him up the ladder. I have a big problem with slowdown in this fight (trying to look up how to fix it was how I found out the giant is Sakit). It kicks in as Lemeza climbs the ladder. I've since found a workaround, but only after finishing this fight.
I attempt to jump onto the giant's left hand as a platform from which to attack the face, but I cop a falling rock on the way and wind up on the ground. Then I attempt to block a shot with the Buckler, but it goes straight through. I whip the feet a few times, but I don't think any damage is done.
I climb back up the ladder, hoping again to stand on his hand, and another falling rock takes the last of my VIT. Game over!
On my next attempt I learn that the hand isn't actually something I can stand on.
Definitively.
I start flinging Shurikens instead, though I'm pretty sure they're having no effect. It turns out that after two cycles of the gun, the giant attacks with its fist, creating a path to its face for Lemeza. Here's my chance to attack! It doesn't go well, though.
On my next attempt, I start to get better at dodging the gunfire (not perfect, though). It's complicated by the ladder: you jump by pressing up, so if you stand in front of the ladder and try to jump Lemeza will climb instead and you'll get hit. I've also upped the framerate of the GIF to compensate for the slowdown. I think this is about the pace the fight is supposed to run at. That's just a video effect, though. I played through this whole fight at the glacial slowdown speed.
I try to deal some damage to the giant's fist while it's standing close, but I'm pretty sure it has no effect.
After another round of gunfire, the hand attack reappears. This time I manage to land a hit or two, but it's a pretty brief window.
I go through a few more cycles of this, the giant and I chipping away at each others' health, before losing the last of my VIT. Darn.
On the next attempt I try to walk right up to the giant's face so I don't have to jump to hit it, but it turns out you take damage as soon as you step off the blue cables in its arm (at least once it starts to raise its arm) and I die again.
By the next attempt I am getting to be, by my standards at least, something of an ace at dodging gunfire.
I'm less good with the arm, but I manage to get a hit or two in and dodge away ok. I also tried using the throwing knife, thinking it might run up the arm and into the face, but it just falls through the arm.
The next cycle goes pretty well, though if I were timing my attacks better I'd be whipping once on the way up and again on the way down instead of delivering several I believe ineffective strikes to the chest.
After taking a few more hits, the giant starts firing only two shots at a time instead of three, and the rate of debris falling from the ceiling seems to increase.
I manage as good a performance as I've had in this attack window.
Then things start to get strange. The debris is falling thick and fast, and the giant's shots don't seem to be synchronised with its own animation. Maybe this is from the slowdown? Or it's intentional to show the giant being injured?
It attacks with the gun three times in a row, right up close.
The hand comes out again and I score a couple more hits, and then:
I did it! The glowing ball that flew off when I used the Jewel reappears and circles the screen before exploding. Lemeza hangs in the air for a bit (I cut a couple seconds of it out of the GIF and it's still pretty long), and then drops to the ground.
Here's the symbol that appeared just before the explosion, by the way. What does it mean? Will there be a 2 below it after the next boss? Dunno.
So, uh... where's my reward?
I head left one screen, then back, which causes Zi and the platforms to reappear, along with a worm and some ghosts, but there's no sign of a reward. Then I realise I've just beaten the boss and I haven't saved yet. I bring up the menu, but pause to consider: will I get something if I kill all the enemies on this screen? Then I realise that with the menu open I can't see my VIT and I'm not sure how close they are to hitting me.
Unsure if it's safe to keep fighting, I warp out and save. That'll do for today! Before I go, though, did you notice this little detail?
On the left, immediately before the boss fight. On the right, immediately after. Whoever this is (Abt or Riv, I guess) has tears on his face following his brother's defeat. Does it mean something? I have no idea. But this seems like a good time to try to decipher the legend of the giants:
Stele:
We are the second race born of the Great Mother. We were born to return her to the skies. This is the sad story of our race. Nine brothers led our race: Zeb, Bud, Migera, Led, Fut, Abt, Zi, Riv, and Sakit.
Stele:
In order to hold up the Earth, Zeb stopped moving, and the remaining brothers split into two factions and fought amongst themselves.
Stele:
Bud, Migera, Led, and Fut built a flying tower to return the Mother to the sky.
Stele:
Abt, Zi, Riv, and Sakit wanted the Mother to remain here on Earth.
Stele:
The eldest, Zeb, could not move, as he had to hold up the Earth.
Stele:
Bud went into a long, final rest on a night when the sky was full of stars.
Stele:
To launch the tower, water was indispensible. Migera carried a lake to this land and expired in the effort.
Stele:
On a day when the sun was bright, Led fell in battle. A large hole torn in his chest, he went into his long, final rest.
Stele:
Zi started praying to the Earth on a moonlight night.
Stele:
Grieving for his elder brothers, Riv dug a tunnel from the lake to the tower to bring water to it. He collapsed in the effort and went into a long rest.
Stele:
The youngest, Sakit, followed his own path. He locked Led's body, left power in his hand, and went into a long rest.
Stele:The sequence of events is not totally clear to me, but: The Mother created the giants (after creating some other race) in order for them to return her to the skies. Some of the giant brothers built a spaceship, some exhausting themselves in the process, but some of the brothers for whatever reason didn't want to do that. So they fought. Presumably Led was killed by one or more of his brothers, perhaps Sakit (who "locked Led's body"). Riv, upset by the loss of the older brothers, set out to complete their work by providing the water needed to make the spaceship operate, but it seems not to have worked, since Abt says they could not grant the Great Mother's wish.
We could not grant the Great Mother's wish. I am the only one to remain, and here I go to my long, final rest. Abt
I feel like I'm still missing part of the story, to be honest. What happened to Fut?
What should I do next? I see three obvious choices: Take the path by the life seal in the Guidance Gate, take the path by the as-yet-unidentified seal near Led in the Mausoleum, or return to the Endless Corridor and check that out some more. The next post will be a look behind the scenes of the LP, so you have until then to cast your vote.
Maps:
Mausoleum of Giants
Spring of the Sky
Clues:
Village:
"The Algol with the blue body and the many eyes. Legend has it he is weak to the Serpent Staff."
Guidance Gate:
"Eight souls rest in this land. The souls are those of the Guardians that protect these lands. When the Ankhs holding the souls shatter from a shining red light, the souls will awaken. The Ankh in this land is beyond the path of Angels, and
""There is a path where the angels face each other" I found an invisible floor!"
"Offer three sacrifices to the heavens."
"The sad tale of the giants. Their history is recorded therein."
"If thou dost cross the ocean of the inferno, thou shouldst take the top path."
"In the temple of the Sun, a new trap fills a hole and conceals a trigger."
""Twin Guards" "Silent and alone" "Deliver a stone on high""
Spring of the Sky:
"If I tried to go under the waterfalls I'd just get swept away. If I had some sort of helmet I might be able to get by them..."
"The water that operates the tower. It flows here and is converted to energy."
Mausoleum of Giants:
"So these ruins are those from a race of giants... I was just about to decipher their legend too..."
"We are the second race born of the Great Mother. We were born to return her to the skies. This is the sad story of our race. Nine brothers led our race: Zeb, Bud, Migera, Led, Fut, Abt, Zi, Riv, and Sakit."
"In order to hold up the Earth, Zeb stopped moving, and the remaining brothers split into two factions and fought amongst themselves."
"Abt, Zi, Riv, and Sakit wanted the Mother to remain here on Earth."
"The eldest, Zeb, could not move, as he had to hold up the Earth."
"We could not grant the Great Mother's wish. I am the only one to remain, and here I go to my long, final rest. Abt"
"Zi started praying to the Earth on a moonlight night."
"On a day when the sun was bright, Led fell in battle. A large hole torn in his chest, he went into his long, final rest."
"Bud went into a long, final rest on a night when the sky was full of stars."
"To launch the tower, water was indispensible. Migera carried a lake to this land and expired in the effort."
"Grieving for his elder brothers, Riv dug a tunnel from the lake to the tower to bring water to it. He collapsed in the effort and went into a long rest."
"The youngest, Sakit, followed his own path. He locked Led's body, left power in his hand, and went into a long rest."
"1 Sword, 2 Bodies, 3 Wishes, 4 Disasters. 5 Stars, 6 Moons, 7 Lights, 8 Paths. 9 Cups, and 0 which is Life."
Endless Corridor:
To-Do:
Village:
-Kill the blue Algol at -5/1, probably with the Serpent Staff.
-Explore beyond the waterfall at 3/4
-Purchase:
--MSX2 (0/0) 150 Coins
--
Guidance Gate:
-Open treasure chests at -2/-2, 2/-1
-Get past barrier at 0/-2
-Climb upper ladder at 0/-2
-Get past holy rock at 1/-2
-Climb narrow shaft at 4/-1
-Take ladder to other Field at 1/-4
-Put weights on daises at -1/-2, 0/-2 (upper)
-Reach and press floor switch at -2/-2
-Do something at 2/-4
-Use Hand Scanner with Glyph Reader on:
--Steles: -1/-2, 4/-1
--Skeletons: 4/-1
-Get the Jewel in the mouth of the face on 0/-3
-Get the Jewel in the star at 0/-4
-Find the Ankh
--"Beyond the path of Angels"
-Awaken the Guardian
Spring of the Sky:
-Activate the waterworks
-Get the key from the blue flying one to open the floodgate
-Scan skeletons: 0/0, 2/1 (x2)
-Get the statue in the room at 0/1 to say or do something
-Reach the Life Jewel in the treasure chest at 0/2
-
-Reach the two circular objects in 2/0
-Learn to swim and/or breathe underwater
-Cross the waterfalls in 1/0, 3/1
--Get a helmet of some sort
-Climb against the flow of the water in 2/1 as depicted on the stele in Guidance Gate 0/-3
-Open the chests in 1/0, 2/1
-Find the fairies that will "kindly divine thy life", possibly near a star
Mausoleum of Giants:
-Decipher the legend of the giants
-Do something at the upper left of 2/-2
-Do something with holy wall at 1/-1
-
-Buy Seal of El Giza at 4/-2 (100 coins)
-Take path to other Field at 6/-3
-
-
Endless Corridor:
-Explore the Endless Corridor
-Scan upper skeleton at -1/0
Conception Locks:
-Guidance Gate -2/-5
Birth Locks:
-Guidance Gate 2/-1
-Waterworks 0/2
Life Locks:
-Village -4/1
-Endless Corridor -1/0
Next Time:
Side update: Getting La-Mulana to work
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