OK, enough of the Temple of the Sun. I haven't done everything there, but I can't figure out what else to do at present (I mentioned in the thread that I accidentally played for a while without recording - I spent some of that time scouring the Temple for things I could do and not finding any). Instead, I return to the Mausoleum of the Giants and this stele. I also load up Diviner Sensation in the hope of figuring out what it does.
I've come to this stele because it's got numbers and some capital letters on it, both of which are in short supply on my English language glyph key.
Here's my updated key. Full disclosure: I didn't do this because I'm wanting to finish this thing. After realising the message on the wall in the last update was in Japanese I came to the conclusion that there's no point learning to do this myself when the Hand Scanner with Glyph Reader does it for me. But, when I was looking at the font file to make my Japanese-Glyph key, I noticed something about the numbers. I didn't want to just get the key from the font file, but I remembered this stele and came back to it.
Here are the signs next to the ladders leading to the Guidance Gate from the Mausoleum of Giants, the Temple of the Sun, and the Spring of the Sky. At the right is the glyph for the number one. To warp to the Guidance Gate you press 1.
And here we have the symbols by the entrances to, from top to bottom:
The Mausoleum of Giants (warp 2)
The Temple of the Sun (warp 3)
The Spring of the Sky (warp 4)
Inferno Cavern
A door I haven't entered yet at 5/-3 in the Temple
A ladder I haven't climbed yet at 6/-3 in the Mausoleum
The signs are numbers, and seem to correspond with the order I've been doing these stages in. Is this important? Dunno.
OK, time to start looking in new directions. I start with the Endless Corridor, since I'm in the area. I didn't get very far last time I was here, just to this second screen.
The second and third screens of the corridor are fairly unremarkable, though I'll be back for that Life Lock at some point. I pick up Video Hustler from a skeleton. I was reluctant to google that one, but it turns out it's a billiards sim from 1984. The fourth screen of the corridor has an altar, a doorway, and a treasure chest.
The altar states the obvious, but through the doorway I find a fairy who has more dialogue than anyone since Xelpud. I don't know who the four Sages are, but it looks like they're on my side.
She spots the MSX and decides to use it as a sign. I'll need to come back when I have something suitable. Let's try now:
I've still got Diviner Sensation equipped, and she picks that as the sign. Maybe she just goes with whatever you have in the slot, but since DS has a fairy on the cover I'm guessing it's the only one that works. When I leave and return, she's gone. I'm not sure how I'll find her and her friends in the ruins.
The chest still isn't open, and killing all the enemies doesn't open it, so I go left again. It leads me back to where I started. I guess this is what makes the corridor endless: it loops around.
I go through the corridor a second time, and the chest opens when I reach the fourth room again. I get the map from it, revealing there's a whole lot of Endless Corridor that I haven't reached yet.
I run aroud the Corridor a little more looking for any paths I missed but don't find any (or any fairies). So I warp back to town and save.
I had thought, because of this clue, that these stars indicated places where I could get healed by fairies, but you can stare at this GIF it's not a GIF all day and it won't happen.
So I head for somewhere I haven't been yet: the Field beyond the number 7 symbol in the Mausoleum.
The most notable thing I find in this room is that the lizard enemy can only be hit by the knife, not the whip. I don't have a screenshot of that because I came here during the run I forgot to record so at the time of this run I already knew it and didn't try the whip. I also forget to put Glyph Reader in my MSX, so I get some more squiggles. I haven't seen the glyph for "R" before, so this lets me add it to my key. It turns out to be the same glyph as for "r". Actually, all the upper case glyphs starting from P match the lower case, and all up to M are different. Dunno why. As for the message itself, it's the third (I think) reference to twins that I've seen so far.
The next room has a blank broken stele, and this area's Ankh Jewel just sitting out in the open. Score! Let's pick it up:
Waa! Attempting to collect it unleashes a nightmare of bats (not sure if that's the right collective noun, but it should be). Plus that jumpy red thing with the proboscis comes at me. Ugh.
On the plus side, they net me enough experience to get a much-needed VIT refill.
On closer inspection, I don't think these are bats. They're Owl Bears! So far as I can tell, they're functionally identical to bats. Anyways, now that I have some VIT I can show something else:
Yes, it's more divine retribution! And it's a costly one! If I'd done this before healing up it would have been curtains.
I carry on to the next screen, where I pick up Pennant Race, a 1988 baseball sim (I'd thought it was going to be a car racing game. Baseball isn't a big thing where I live). You might think that the dark spot at the top of the screen is an archway you can pass through, but if it is I haven't figured out how. Maybe the surrounding figures are the twins? At the bottom of the screen I manage to break a pot with the knife while standing on it. It might be useful to know that it can strike below me like that.
The pot takes me from 124 coins to 154. So far as I've noticed, every other pot only drops 10 coins. I wonder if this one will refill after reloading? Could be a good spot to come back to when I need cash. I take the ladder on the right and find myself back at the entrance to this Field. That's odd. Looking closely, the screen I went down from had ladders down on both sides, but where I wound up has only the one on the right going back up. I go back down, and this time take the left hand ladder:
It takes me to a new screen! This one, I notice now, has bats instead of flying eyes. I don't know if that's significant. There's also a store, run by the younger brother. He sells the Helmet, which I've been looking for, but also a Scanner. I've already got a Hand Scanner, but this one is much more expensive. Does it do something different? I pick it up, which unfortunately that leaves me without the funds for the Helmet.
As I step outside the Shell Horn sounds, but nothing obvious has changed. The scanner in my inventory looks the same, and it doesn't pick anything up off the broken stele at the bottom level. I head back up the left side ladder.
The room above has changed. Man, this is gonna be a pain to make a map of. Anyway, the new room has pretty much the same layout, but with knights and little blobs instead of bats and lizards. The pot at the bottom is in a different place, too, and now holds 100 coins instead of 30. Score! There's a message on the broken stele that I don't currently understand.
I head back down the left side and find another new room, and the older brother's store. He's selling ammo for subweapons I don't have yet, and the Dragon Bone, which I can't afford. I wonder if that's the skull mentioned in the broken stele on the previous screen? I've mentioned a few times now that I'm replaying a section that I went through without recording: this is probably the most significant change from that run. Either this shop didn't appear in it, or I didn't notice it. In that run I bought the helmet instead of the scanner, so I wonder if buying a useless item in the little brother's shop is necessary to unlock the big brother's shop?
I also scan the stele for a clue about Tiamat. Will I be escaping from the front of the world at some point?
Taking the left side ladder up gets me back to the bottom of the entry screen. My map is really not going to be able to capture the layout of this place.
I return to the little brother's shop and get the Helmet:
User's Manual:The manual isn't much use on the Helmet, but I know from a clue in the Spring of the Sky that it'll let me walk through waterfalls without being washed away. That'll be my next destination. For now I take the right hand ladder up, which takes me to the same place the left hand one did, then spend a little time fruitlessly going up and down ladders looking for new rooms before warping out to save. Reviewing the footage, I think I've taken every ladder except the right hand one going up on the screen with the older brother's store. Missed that one. I'll add it to the list to try later. For now, though, time for the Spring of the Sky:
Helmet: Great for training!
Ah. Did I forget about the water? Not check I had enough VIT to make it out? Or did I just see dying and reloading as the quickest way to get my health back? I honestly don't remember, but probably the last option. Sorry, Lemeza.
The next attempt goes a little better, though my decision to scan the skeleton by the altar means spending longer underwater than is healthy.
As promised, now that I have the Helmet I can pass through the waterfalls without being washed away. It doesn't do anything about the bats, though.
I land in the water again and struggle a bit with bats and the fishman before getting out. My VIT is not great.
The picture on this stele seems pretty straightforward. I need to get an Ankh Jewel from a big fish at the end of a boat ride.
There's another waterfall a bit deeper into the Spring, so I set off for it, but drown along the way. I'm not on top form at the moment. Fortunately, I don't think I've achieved anything since my last save.
On my return to the Spring, I unexpectedly open the treasure chest at 1/0. I guess it's unlocked by moving through the upper right portion of the waterfall? Or maybe by jumping through both waterfalls? Last time it didn't unlock, but I think I jumped over rather than through the right hand fall.
I pick up the map. Man, this is a pretty big Field.
The trip through the water goes a little better this time.
I load up Glyph Reader and scan the stele here again, just for a reminder. I'm still equipping Diviner Sensation, too.
In the next room a fairy appears and restores my VIT. Pretty cool! It's obvious watching the GIF now, but there's a little glimmer in the spot where the fairy appears that I didn't notice when I was playing, so this was a bit of a surprise.
I take the floating platform up a couple of screens to a horizontally floating platform. Another vertical one comes and goes. Also of note: in some of the waterfall shots you can see a little circle that flickers on and off. I thought it was just a glitch of the water animation, but when you get close:
A fish leaps out! Luckily for me, I land on the other platform.
Unfortunately, I blow the next jump and am beset by a series of disasters.
I warp out to save, but neglect to equip Game Master. Xelpud gives me a clue about the Spring. Could it be getting the map that triggers Xelpud's clue? If so, I've missed a few by talking to him with Game Master equipped when he would have clued me in if I hadn't. Oh well.
Being low on health, I go in via the Guidance Gate so that I won't have to swim up from the altar. I'm not sure how I thought I was going to get through the other flooded room, but it's a moot point because I get knocked down a hole by a bat and drown again.
I once again warp to the Gate and walk back to the room with the healing fairy. I guess it's in this room so you can top up on VIT after the swim to get here.
This time I notice the spark on the platform.
I hop over and another fairy appears to refill my VIT. Last time the fairy was wearing blue, this time it's more of a red colour. Is that significant? Also, I'm still equipping Diviner Sensation, which I think is necessary for the fairy to appear. I should try coming here without it to see if I can still see the spark, and to confirm that the fairy won't heal me without the ROM.
I head up a couple of screens and decide to take the path right instead of trying my luck on the moving platforms again. The ledge starts to fall away as I land on it, so I rush to the next room.
As I step inside the door closes and the ladder up disappears. Am I trapped?
Aah! A creature bursts from the water below and starts firing at me. It's hard to make out because of the transparency of the sprite, but I see it as a cyclopean centaur with claws for hands.
I equip the Shuriken and attempt an attack, without much success.
What better time than a miniboss fight to read a stele? I already know about the seals from the User's Manual, but I am impressed by how many different versions of these symbols the creators of the game made.
This is fast becoming my standard room guard tactic. It works!
In the next room I see what looks like the Conception Seal. Excellent!
Sure enough, that's what it is. The Conception symbol appears at the right side of my HUD as I collect it. I also get ten coins from the pot and Hyper Sports 1 from the broken stele. HS1 is a 1984 sports game that actually has the number 1 on its title screen, which seems kind of unusual. A little while ago I found Hyper Olympic 3, which I thought might have actually been Hyper Sports 1, since HS1 is the third Hyper release and there was no actual Hyper Olympic 3, but I guess not.
I go left and emerge back in the waterfall shaft. I attempt to jump to the moving platform, but miss the button press and instead fall down two screens. But hey, there's a Conception Lock here for me to try my new Seal on! Let's give it a go:
I fall down again before making it to the seal, but when I do get there a spark appears, breaks the seal, and a doorway appears. Rockin'.
I struggle to get over there, though, and wind up warping back to town to save with my VIT critical. Those bubble fishmen and waterfall fish are a real nuisance.
I'm sure you can fill in the blank that explains my reappearance in the ruins with increased VIT Lemeza died and I reloaded. When I return to the room with the spark without Diviner Sensation in the MSX I can see the spark but can't make the fairy appear. This is good to know - it means I don't have to keep DS loaded in order to find other fairy locations. I decide to hold off on restoring my VIT until it's really low, and then head back up to the newly appeared doorway.
It's a subweapon/weights shop run by a fish. It's got one good fish pun and two less good ones. I don't buy anything. Then I start climbing the shaft again.
I take a side passage to the left. There's another Lock in here, and a boat down below.
The Conception seal breaks the lock, and with it the wall on the left. I put a weight on the revealed Dais and the waterworks mechanism comes to life again.
Outside a second waterfall has started flowing and has flooded the shelf on the wall. The water isn't making it through to the next room, so perhaps I need to get the gear in the pool working, but I don't have the VIT to risk going in there just now. Also, I got two bats in one strike of the whip.
I ride the platform up to the top of the shaft and find another lock. Breaking it reveals a sphere with a fish in it. Could it be?
It is! I get the Scalesphere:
User's Manual:I should be able to breathe underwater now, which will make getting around the Spring much less of a pain. I guess the clue earlier about finding a rock and getting it polished was just flavour text.
Scalesphere: How do fish breathe?
Sure enough, I'm able to stand in this water without my VIT draining. I'm trying to unstick this gear, but it isn't working.
It turns out I need to hit the top half to get it moving. Or maybe the black spot in the wall is actually a blockage of some kind and that's what I'm striking?
Either way, this gets water flowing into the boat room. An earlier clue suggested that casting off the boat would take me to Bahamut's sleeping place. That sounds like somewhere I want to go with full VIT, so I turn back to visit the fairy.
I get my VIT back, and decide that while I'm here I'll check out the passageway at the bottom of this screen.
It does not go well. I'm trapped!
Or not. There must be at least some percentage of players who miss the Grail and actually get trapped by stuff like this. Imagine playing this far having to walk all the way in and out of the ruins every time you wanted to save, though.
OK, that's enough for today. I feel like I made a lot of progress this time!
Maps:
Endless Corridor:
The Maze:
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." "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:
"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:
Temple of the Sun:
"
"Leap into the sun." "Challenge the cavern of the inferno. It will be a long road. He who follows it should be prepared to die." "If there is a man, there is also a woman. You must not use weapons inside the woman. If you wish to solve the riddle of the temple, proceed into the next room. (to 0/-4)" "Ye who has solved all the riddles, proceed below. (to 2/-5)" "Summon the power of the twins. The twins are two and yet one. The twins are very much alike." "Sahete's understanding/clarity was born from The Mother"  |
Inferno Cavern:
"Strange, these ruins are strange. This shouldn't be a dead end..."
The Maze:
"Release the twins."
To-Do:
Anywhere:
-Complete the software use and software combinations lists in the manual
--
Village:
-Kill the blue Algol at -5/1, probably with the Serpent Staff.
-Explore beyond the waterfall at 3/4
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:
-
-Get the key from the blue flying one to open the floodgate
-Scan skeletons: 0/0,
-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
-
--
--Get it polished by "a pure maiden" to become the Scalesphere
-
--
-Climb against the flow of the water in 2/1 as depicted on the stele in Guidance Gate 0/-3
-Open the chests in
-
-Cast off the boat at 2/4
--Meet Bahamut
-Get the Ankh Jewel from the master of fish
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
--Find a way into the rooms below the top floor
Temple of the Sun:
-Do something with the grey block at 1/0
-Scan skeletons: 4/-2 (x2)
-Scan steles: 1/-2 (several), 1/-4, 4/-2, 5/-3
--Do something at gap in top row of steles at 1/-2
-Get faster to climb slopes
-Open treasure chest at 5/-3
-Do something with blue platform at 2/-4
-?Push the mine cart (at 1/0?) all the way to the bottom?
-Solve all the puzzles
--Proceed below (to 2/-5)
-Purchase Heatproof Case (100 coins) (3/-4)
-Bring the Woman Statue to the sun at 3/-2
-Do something with the wall that goes "ping" at the upper left of 3/-3
-Do something with the statue at 4/-2
-Go to the other Field at 5/-3
Inferno Cavern:
-Become impervious to lava
-Scan skeletons: -2/0 (x2), -1/0 (x2), 0/0 (x2)
-Unlock and take the path to another Field at -2/1
--Kill all enemies in the room
-Get Heatproof Case
-Reach the two rooms at the top left of the map
-?Push the mine cart all the way to the bottom?
The Maze:
-Release the twins
-Try collecting the coins from the pots in 0/-2 again to see if they're still big money
-Buy Dragon Bone (200 coins)
-Take the right hand ladder up from the older brother's store
-Figure out the layout
Conception Locks:
-Guidance Gate -2/-5
-Temple of the Sun 5/-3
Birth Locks:
-Guidance Gate 2/-1
-Waterworks 0/2
Life Locks:
-Village -4/1
-Endless Corridor -1/0
Death Locks:
-Temple of the Sun 0/-4
Fairy Locations:
-Spring of the Sky 3/1
ROMs:
Next Time:
Part 13: Vehicles
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