Hello again. We seem to be coming towards the end of La-Mulana, and looking at my to-do list I remember that I still haven't beaten PR3. Time to give it another go! While I'm sitting on the title screen, I try entering the password "ZEUS", which I got from another ROM combination. It doesn't seem to do anything, just like everywhere else I've tried it.
I've got the opening down pat. Get a couple speed ups, get the missiles.
My routine has been to get DOUBLE!!, but I accidentally pick up FAMICOM!! instead. The laser is pretty powerful, taking out the building and baseball player very quickly, but needing to be on the same vertical level as enemies to hit them (missiles aside) makes navigation a bit tougher.
I'm actually doing pretty well until I allow myself to be trapped in front of enemy fire and die. I'm sent back to the beginning, where I take a new approach: last time I played PR3 I got really far on one of my lives, but it was my last life and so when I died I had to restart instead of going from a checkpoint. So this time, with each life lost I'm gonna quit the game and start it again, unless I get far enough to start from a checkpoint.
My next few attempts don't go as well as the first one did.
Skipping over three more early deaths, on this life I manage to make it pretty far again. But then:
I accidentally activate WHAT TH-!!, which takes away all my power-ups, leaving me in a slow ship with just the pea shooter. I die almost immediately afterwards. I find it quite hard to actually look at the power-up bar once the game gets hectic. I think I was expecting a second OPTION!! or maybe BARRIER!!.
On the plus side, it looks like I've reached a checkpoint. Barely - I'm pretty sure my starting position on this life is actually slightly further along than where I died. Unfortunately, starting from the checkpoint with no upgrades is pretty tough and I don't last long.
The next life is even worse, and then it's GAME OVER. Alright, enough of this! I've got Mantras to chant! Let's hit the ruins!
I start off by warping to the Temple of the Sun, going from there to the Twin Labyrinths (warping directly to the Labyrinths would be a shorter walk, but it involves fiddling with moving platforms whereas the Temple run is all falling down), and taking the ladder there to a room in the Shrine which I didn't visit last time. As with the rest of the Shrine, it's changed colour, has a tentacle across it, and hosts tougher enemies. And I don't find anything else there.
OK, time to look at the Mantras. There are three relevant clues I want to remind you of:
Giltorriyo:
Drive 8 wedges into the Mother's body. Find the Wedge and the Magatama Jewel, and chant the Mantras. The Mantras have been inscribed on Tablets. Drive the wedges through the rear.
Stele:
The Guardians protect something else. In those places lie wedges, eight wedges which can give form to a soul.
Fancy Stele:I think this symbol that appeared in the Dimensional Corridor after I beat Tiamat could be where I need to chant the first Mantra, which I believe is what the third quote there is giving me. Let's type "MARDUK" and see what happens:
Chant the name. The one who Tiamat loved and hated. The source of all the pain who gave birth to the 11 monsters. MARDUK.
Hmm... not much is happening. Unfortunately, me typing doesn't show up very well in the GIF, but the lack of any response is pretty clear. That's OK, though! There are lots of other places that could be where I need to go.
The room with the red cross is one of them. Not the right one, as it turns out. Maybe I should try doing something else. How sure am I that the method for chanting is to type the word in?
I head for the Tower of Ruin. There are some clues about this place that I'll bring up, too:
Stele:
The kind, mischievous fairy. The kind, lonely fairy. Her mischief is innocent. Innocent mischief will do thee no harm.
Stele:
The mischievous Rusali. Yaksi, who beguiles men. Dakini, dancing enticingly. Only one of them has a pure heart.
Fobous:I think that Rusali, Yaksi, and Dakini are the figures on these screens (never mind that one of them is apparently a whole bunch of fairies). The question is, which is which? I need to figure out which one is mischievous, kind, lonely, and innocent. I think that the part about being lonely eliminates the group of fairies. The one with the hearts that freeze Lemeza seems kind of mischevious (though also the best candidate for Yaksi who beguiles men), so I'll try casting BIRTH on her and see how I go:
With the Medicine of Life, one can attain the power of the Mother. The pure-hearted mischievous fairy has been entrusted with this medicine. Seek her out. When thou findest her, cast BIRTH, the spell of life, upon her. Cast DEATH, the spell of death, on the false fairies that would lead thee astray.
I type in BIRTH and she disappears, sending two stars off to the right. So typing in words is definitely how spellcasting works, whether I've picked the right fairy or not.
I cast DEATH on the others, causing them to die. Hope I've got this right!
When I go back to the statue with the pot, a green fluid is flowing from it. When Lemeza passes in front a sound plays, and when I check my ITEM WINDOW afterwards the container (bottom right) is filled with green liquid. If I've done this right, then I've obtained the Medicine of Life. I head back to where the fairy circle was and try scanning up the place, but I don't find anything.
I head back to town to save, then head for the Shrine via the Endless Corridor (because it seems there's no altar in the True Shrine). Now that I know I'm casting correctly, I'll try out a few spots in here where I might need to go to chant the first Mantra:
Option 1: Tiamat's room. Nothing happens.
Option 2: The room with this eye thing. Nothing happens.
Option 3: The Mother's chamber. I take along the key fairy in case there's something for it to do here, but nothing happens, either with the fairy or the Mantra. I'm running out of ideas, here!
I even try Amphisbaena's room in the Guidance Gate - this is the first Mantra, and it was the first Guardian, so maybe? But no.
Getting desperate, I return to the Dimensional Corridor and try typing MARDUK in every room. It doesn't work anywhere, but along the way I notice Fobous' door is open again, so I pop in. Have I gotten the Medicine puzzle wrong?
The Container is still full of green stuff. I dunno. For now, I'm focussing on the Mantra. Maybe I've been spelling it wrong?
I head back to the fancy stele to check - definitely MARDUK. I try chanting it here again, but still nothing. At this point I'm seriously considering ending the update here and asking if anyone has any suggestions, but instead I set off to try it on every screen in the Endless Corridor. I'm supposed to drive the wedges through the rear, and this is a front Field, but check out this clue that I crossed off after beating Tiamat:
Xelpud:If this is the back, then I might need to do it here somewhere.
Tiamat has distorted the front and rear of her part of the ruins. Yes, endlessness is the back.
I go one screen to the left and type in MARDUK, and the reversed glyph for 8 appears in a circle at the upper left. I found it! Yes!
To figure out how I was supposed to know to chant here, I look at the map, thinking of this clue:
Stele:I actually looked at my maps, rather than the in-game ones, but mine are impractically large and it's probably easier to see on the in-game. The blue rectangle on the Dimensional Corridor map is where I fought Tiamat, and where the big symbol with the (forwards) eight glyph had appeared. The red rectangles are where the crosses are. The blue one on the Dimensional corridor map is one screen to the right and three screens up from the red one. On the Endless Corridor map, I'm currently in the room with the little Lemeza symbol - that's where the (reversed) eight glyph appeared when I chanted MARDUK there. It's one screen to the right and three screens up from the red one. Is that what those crosses that I've been wondering about since almost the very beginning of the game are for?
The red glowing crosses are guides that connect the front and the back.
Now that I've chanted the first Mantra, I expect the second one should be available. The relevant clue is:
Stele:
The second Mantra is by the feet of the twins. The place where their feet connect.
I head for the lowest level of the Twin Labyrinths, and sure enough another fancy stele has appeared. From it I learn the second Mantra: SABBAT (actually I'd already seen this in the buggy text in the sound test - I wonder if it would have worked if I'd tried it before revealing this stele?).
I check the map (again, my map, not the in-game one shown here). The boss room is two screens right and two screens down from the red cross at the front, so I head to the room two screens right and two screens down from the red cross on the back. Let's chant:
Success! Two Mantras down, and now I know what the crosses are for, at last. I gotta say, though, starting the Mantra countdown with the back/front inverted Corridors seems kind of cruel, not to mention the fact that not all rooms are shown on the in-game maps (I added the blue and red rectangles in the middle of the Twin Labyrinths map above), and the boss rooms don't show as blue after the boss has been beaten. How do people who don't record their gameplay and make their own maps solve this one?
I stop by Baphomet's chamber, since it's not far away. There's a thing on the wall with the glyph for seven in it, just like the one I've seen in the Dimensional Corridor at Tiamat's chamber, but now that I've chanted the Mantra it's glowing.
Stele:As the clue suggests, I find the next fancy stele in the room next to where I fought Ox-Head and Horse-Face, guardians of hell. The Mantra is kind of odd - MU was the solution to a puzzle in the Tower of Ruin, not the Chamber of Extinction. Anyway, let's check the map to see where I need to go next to chant this Mantra:
The third Mantra is a green beast. By the side of the guardian of Hell.
OK, so Palenque was two screens right and one screen down from the cross. In the Chamber of Life/Birth, two screens right and one down is... off the map. Hmm. I guess I'll just run around the whole place chanting and see if I can find it.
It takes a while, but I find it. If you assume the map wraps (and ignore the hidden room where I got the Woman Statue, which isn't shown on the in-game map) and go from the room with the cross to the leftmost room, then right again and down, that's where this map is. So I guess the system still works, even if obscurely.
Stele:The next clue clearly describes this room in the upper left bit of the Inferno Cavern. The Mantra is the name of the boss of that Field, VIY.
The fourth Mantra is by a serpent. The path connecting to the pyramid Nu Wa guards.
The blue rectangle in the Cavern is down and to the left from the red one. On the Tower of Ruin's map, there's nothing there, but on my map a room is clearly visible. Let's go!
Success! This is probably getting slightly boring to read, but I'm ticking off items from my clue and to-do lists that have been there for months and it's exhilarating for me.
Stele:I'd thought this clue might refer to the goddess statue in the first screenshot, but I find the fancy stele below the one in the second. Which should have been obvious, given the latter is looking towards the broken tower in the last shot. I'm not sure where BAHRUN comes from, exactly. Bahrain?
The fifth Mantra is below the goddess. By the feet of the goddess who gazes at the crumbling tower.
This is another tricky one to work out on the map. The red rectangle in the Tower of the Goddess is a hidden room, so I've added it to this map myself. Bahamut's chamber is one right and five up from the cross, which again is off the boundaries of the map.
I find the right room one space to the right of the cross. If you wrap on the map from top to bottom, this screen is five screens above itself within its column. Intuitive!
There's no clue for the location of the sixth Mantra, but there's been a conspicuous abscence in the room with the clues about where the other Mantras are, so I was pretty sure the fancy stele would be there. And it is.
The maps are fairly closely aligned this time. The room one down and one right from where the little Lemeza is on the Moonlight map is where I need to go.
This one has a reversed three glyph on it. Two more to go!
Stele:I was actually thinking of a different room to for this clue (because I tried to identify where the Mantras would be back when I thought they were ROMs, so I was thinking of rooms where I found ROMs), but this room was on the way so I had no trouble finding it. I guess there are spikes protruding from seven floors here. Now, I've been leaving out most of the actual gameplay footage this time, but I'll make an exception for this room:
The seventh Mantra is by many spikes. Spikes that protude from seven floors.
It takes me two and a half minutes to reach the stele. This GIF isn't of the whole process, just one of the more frustrating attempts. The combination of spikes and ice floors is just brutal.
The blue screen is two to the left of the red one. Simple enough, for once.
Consider this wedge driven. ABT, the Mantra, is the name of the giant whose statue started crying after I beat Sakit, the Guardian of the Mausoleum.
Stele:I think "eight stars" refers to the eight circles below the fancy stele, but if I'm honest I found this one by running around every room in the Gate until I saw it.
The final Mantra is eight stars.
This time I need to go two screens right of the cross. Conveniently, that's a yellow rectangle on the Confusion Gate map, meaning it's the location of the altar and I can warp straight there.
And with that, all eight wedges have been driven. Might be time to pay another visit to the Shrine of the Mother!
Right after I save. I thought about stopping for the day at this point, having made a lot of progress, but I couldn't resist heading in to the ruins again to see what I'd done.
Getting to the Shrine still requires a trip through the Endless Corridor. I was hoping that driving the wedges would get rid of some of the tentacles and make the Shrine easier to navigate, but it doesn't seem to be so. The image of Sakit appears to have been smashed, though.
As have the others.
I summon a healing fairy along the way and get the green one, who sticks around long enough to fully heal me outside the Mother's chamber. When I enter, I find the final ankh in the centre of the room and one of each kind of Lock above it.
I break open the four locks and the red jewel in the centre of the Ankh turns green. I head over and try to scan it or drop a weight, but I can't. I don't have any more Ankh Jewels to use here.
One of the clues seems to say I should attack this thing, but it doesn't like being whipped.
There was a clue I dismissed a little while back: "The final ... jewel is ... Endless ... red light in the key". The keyblade, which I got in the Endless Corridor, now has a red pixel in the middle of its blade. Looking back over my footage, that wasn't there before I chanted the eighth Mantra. Straight afterwards, it was. Looks like I've found my key! Shame it's the weapon with the swastika on it.
Striking the Ankh with the keyblade causes a familiar spark to fly up, and a face appears between the towers. This must be the Mother! She opens her mouth and fires a projectile straight into Lemeza.
I get out my Shield, but it's ineffective. The keyblade produces the sound of a connecting hit, though.
I decide to try Bombs, but apparently forgot that Lemeza doesn't throw them straight up. When I do manage to connect with one it just pings, as does the whip.
I switch back to the keyblade and pretty much give up on dodging enemy fire, instead just jumping in to land as many hits as I can.
Eventually a blow causes the Mother's face to crack, and everything stops. What's going on?
The container appears and pours its contents over the jewel in the Mother's forehead. She disappears. After a pause, an exit opens at the lower right. If I've done things right, I think the Medicine of Life will have given form to the Mother's soul. Does the final boss battle wait beyond that doorway?
It looks like it doesn't. I'm back in the Shrine. With my current VIT, that's probably a stay of execution for Lemeza.
When I return to the Mother's Chamber, it's been restored to be as it was before I activated the final Ankh. I guess I picked the wrong fairy and didn't get the right medicine.
I consider activating the Ankh again just in case something's changed, but instead I warp out, save, and quit. I need to beat PR3 before I finish the game, anyway. Aside from that, I think I've done pretty much everything I can. There are clearly things I've missed and clues I don't understand yet, but I've made a pretty solid effort to look everywhere and not found them, so I think it's time to just press on. But not today!
Map:
Shrine of the Mother:
Clues:
"PASSWORD: ZEUS"
Village:
"Have you found all the ROMS? Something good will happen if you do."
"In obesiance to the Four Sages, we guarded the ruins. The four Sages realized that they could not grant the Mother's wish to return to the skies. Therefore, they wish at the very least to grant her the peace of death. That was the final conclusion that the Seventh Children reached. It is a sad thing that wish must be passed on to you, the eighth children. All children must eventually leave the parent's nest, I suppose. Your father was after the treasure of Life, the remains of the Mother's spirit once she dies. I hope you can get it in his place."
Confusion Gate:
"The mother ocean watches kindness and charity."
Temple of the Sun:
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
Temple of Moonlight:
"
"Welcome, chosen one. I am Alsedarna, one of the four Sages - the Sage of Death. I shall tell thee the secret of the ruins. We went into a long sleep to grant the Mother's wish. The Mother came to the Earth from the skies. We do not know where she came from. But she wanted to return. Having lost the power to move, the Mother breathed life into earthen dolls -- us humans. We were born to return her to the sky, and were given wisdom here in these ruins. Then we were send out into the wider world, to look for a way to return the Mother to the skies. Yes.... these ruins themselves are the Mother. Alas, returning the Mother to the skies is not possible. If we cannot grant her wish, then all we can do is grant her an eternal rest. Chosen one, please release the Mother from her suffering.... That is our wish...."
Spring of the Sky:
"Welcome, chosen one. I am Giltorriyo, one of the four Sages - the Sage of Knowledge. These ruins are the Mother's body. She can not be defeated. Thou must defeat her soul. Summon the soul of the Mother and give it a form in this world. The method to do so is already prepared. As the 7th children, we have devised a secret art for this.... And now we shall tell it to thee. Drive 8 wedges into the Mother's body. Find the Wedge and the Magatama Jewel, and chant the Mantras. The Mantras have been inscribed on Tablets. Drive the wedges through the rear. Please, chosen one. Grant our wish and release our Mother...."
Tower of the Goddess:
"The mischievous Rusali. Yaksi, who beguiles men. Dakini, dancing enticingly. Only one of them has a pure heart."
"The right eye sees Charity."
"Welcome, chosen one. I am Samaranta, one of the Four Sages - the Sage of Power. The soul of the Mother sleeps in the Shrine of the Mother. There lies the final Ankh. The final red light will bring forth its true form. Ye who hast conquered these ruins. Only thy power can grant the Mother rest. We four Sages sealed off four paths. Mine is now open. For the others, find Fobous and Giltorriyo. Now go, chosen one...."
Tower of Ruin:
"The kind, mischievous fairy. The kind, lonely fairy. Her mischief is innocent. Innocent mischief will do thee no harm."
"Ascertain those who would lead thee astray. Ascertain those who are truly pure."
"The left eye sees Kindness."
"To ye who hast made it this far, undertake the final trial. The Mother's wish can no longer be granted."
Chamber of Extinction:
"If thou cannot go left, go right."
"There is a medicine that can give form to a great soul. Consult the correct spirit."
Chamber of Life:
"Charity, Kindness, Charity, Charity, Kindness, Charity, Kindness, Kindness, the endless sound of the waves."
"
Twin Labyrinths (Front):
"Cast a spell on the spirits that have the elixir. The Elixir gives shape to souls."
"
Endless Corridor
"
Dimensional Corridor:
"Make praise, the bright sun shines into day, the dark moon will then vanish, push from the celestial wall forever."
"Welcome, chosen one. I am Fobous, one of the Four Sages - the Sage of Life. The Mother's power is the power to create life. In ages past, others attempted to create life as well. Tiamat, Nu Wa........neither could compare to the Mother. With the Medicine of Life, one can attain the power of the Mother. The pure-hearted mischievous fairy has been entrusted with this medicine. Seek her out. When thou findest her, cast BIRTH, the spell of life, upon her. Cast DEATH, the spell of death, on the false fairies that would lead thee astray. If thou attainest the wrong medicine, return here. Without the correct medicine, thou cannot attain the power of the Mother........"
The Shrine of the Mother:
"
"Is this my son reading this? I hope so. I've made it this far, but was not chosen by the sages. I could not wake the Mother. Please do what I could not. The source of all life is here. Oh yes, please hit the "off" button now."
To-Do:
Anywhere:
-Find Shorn Kosugi
-
-Clear each screen of enemies at least once
-Complete the software use and software combinations lists in the manual
-Find other key fairy locations, if they exist
-Get all the ROMs
--Have something good happen
-
--
-Undertake the final trial
--Defeat the Mother's soul
---Give the Mother's soul form
-Beat PR3
-Figure out where/how to use PASSWORD: ZEUS
Village:
-Return to hidden door at 4/2 with all the ROMs
Tower of the Goddess:
-Enter door: 1/-1 (behind water)
Tower of Ruin:
-Get the medicine of life
--Identify Rusali, Yaksi, and Dakini
---Cast BIRTH on Rusali, and DEATH on Yaksi and Dakini
-
-
Twin Labyrinths (Front):
-Solve block puzzle at 3/-2
--Find way to push leftmost block to the right
Dimensional Corridor:
-
The Shrine of the Mother:
-Do something with fairy spot at -2/1
-
-Bring forth the Mother's soul and its true form, and grant it rest
--
Fairy Locations:
-Confusion Gate -6/3
-Temple of Moonlight 0/-1
-Spring of the Sky 3/1
-Tower of the Goddess 2/5
-Chamber of Extinction 8/-3
-Endless Corridor 0/-2
-True Shrine of the Mother -2/1
ROMs:
-Antarctic Adventure -Athletic Land -Badlands -Break Shot -Cabbage Patch Kids -Circus Charlie -Comic Bakery -Contra -Diviner Sensation -F1 Spirit -F1 Spirit 3D Special -Firebird -Frogger -Game Collection 1 -Game Collection 2 -Game Collection 3 -Game Collection 4 -Game Collection EX -Game Master -Game Master 2 -Glyph Reader -Goonies -GR3 -Gradius -Gradius 2 -Gradius 2 Beta -Hyper Olympic 1 -Hyper Olympic 2 -Hyper Olympic 3 -Hyper Rally -Hyper Sports 1 -Hyper Sports 2 -King Kong 2 -King's Valley -King's Valley Disk -Knightmare -Konami Baseball -Konami Boxing -Konami Golf -Konami Pinball -Konami Ping-pong -Konami Soccer -Konami Tennis -Magical Tree -Mahjong Dojo -Mahjong Wizard -Metal Gear -Metal Gear 2 -Monkey Academy -Mopi Ranger -Nemesis 3 -Parodius -Penguin Adventure -Pennant Race -Pennant Race 2 -Pippols -PR3 -Q-bert -Quarth -Road Fighter -Ruins RAM 8K -Ruins RAM 16K -Salamander -SD Snatcher -Seal of El Giza -Shalom -Shin Synthesizer -Sky Jaguar -Snatcher -Space Manbow -Super Cobra -Time Pilot -Twinbee -Unreleased ROM -Usas -Video Hustler -Yie Ar Kung Fu -Yie Ar Kung Fu 2  |
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Next Time:
Part 47: Let's Play PR3
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