Let's Play La-Mulana, part 52: The Hell That Still Continues

Welcome back to Let's Play La-Mulana. This week it's part 52: The Hell That Still Continues (title borrowed from an online review my wife found of a place we were considering staying at in London some years ago - I think we wound up going elsewhere). I start off by stocking up on sub-weapons as usual, and then head for Hell Temple and its Lands of Hell. Last time I was stumped by a puzzle here - a stele says that I need to sleep within three lands. I've tried going to sleep in all three of these "Land of Hell" screens, but nothing has happened. This time, I've read DeeMer's spoilers (Thanks!), and I know what to do.



I need to sleep not just on this screen, but within the word "LAND" itself. Man, that's picky! When Lemeza stops patting his belly and starts ZZZing, the Shell Horn sounds. Looks like I've done it.



I repeat this in the other two Lands for two more Shell Horn soundings (the sleep in the second screenshot here didn't set off the Horn, which seems pretty mean on the game's part). Then I set off for the stele that told me about it. Along the way I try summoning a blue fairy in room #19 using the Diviner Sensation/Shalom combo, but nothing special happens. What is the purpose of that summon point?



When I reach room #28 and the stele (about twenty-two minutes of playtime into this update, by the way), nothing appears to have changed. When I scan the stele, though, the text is different. When I exit the scanner screen:



Lemeza falls through the floor into room #21. Those floors were not false before this.



When I beat the room guards, a stele appears. On reading it I realise I've reached a point I've been dreading: I mentioned a few updates back that I had spoiled myself on a couple of things in Hell Temple - this is one of them. While in this room, I need to replay PR3 and get a score above 120,000. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my time with PR3, but I've already played it pretty extensively and based on my previous experience it's going to take me a long time to get that score. Looking over my post about the game, I had high scores of 117,700 and 118,700 at times - painfully close to what's required here. I also had a failed run reach 139,300, and my winning run reached 124,400, so I am definitely capable of getting there.



Fortunately, this is a screenshot LP, so you don't have to watch me try over and over to get this. I've already covered the game pretty fully anyway, I think. After several attempts, I die during the Metal Gear rush just before the final boss with 112,200 points and one life remaining. I manage to get up to 120,000 shortly afterwards, and wind up dying almost exactly half an hour after first booting up PR3 with a new high score of 150,900. When I turn off the laptop, the Shell Horn sounds. Once again nothing visible has changed.



When I head back up there's no obvious change either, aside from the floor under the stele being false now. I head for the big gap in room #22, but there's still no clear path across it. What did my high score achieve?



I spend ages trying to break walls, taking the key fairy to the PR3 room, and generally running around everywhere in this area trying everything I can think of. Eventually, I hit the pause key and go to the wiki. It's not immediately helpful - the solutions there are given on a room by room basis. For room #22, the big hole, it says I need to solve the puzzle in room #20. But where is that? The map on the wiki puts it above #28, but I fail to find anything saying how to actually get there. In fact the wiki's text doesn't seem to mention room #28 at all, which is odd.



After roughly forever spent trying to reach room #20 by going up from #28, I have an idea: can I go down from #14 to get there?



Yep! The left lava pit took me to a Land of Hell earlier, but I never tried the right one before. Or is this what was unlocked by the high score?



I didn't find out how to get into this room on the wiki, but I did see the solution while I was trying to figure it out, so I won't pretend to have solved this myself. You gotta stand in the lava on the left until the stele turns red (which took at least forty-five seconds), then hop in the water on the right to turn it grey again and open the walls. "Lay the bridge" sounds like it's going to make a path for me in #22 (also the wiki told me it would).



I set off for #22, but fall into the Land of Hell along the way. I decide that, 83 minutes into this play session, I've had enough for the moment, so I warp out, save, and quit.



The next day I'm back for more. After the now-usual sub-weapon collection run (I must have a decent amount by now), I head for Hell Temple. Thirteen minutes after starting the game, I'm back in room #22. As expected, there's a way across now. Well, no time like the present:



. At this point, there's no-one to blame but myself for this. Of course there's a hole there.



Five minutes and many trips to Lands of Hell later, I'm back at the bridge. Let's try this again:



Not willing to take any chances, I double jump over most of the room, making it across.



Room #23 looks to be another block puzzle. OK, let's give it a shot:



I start pushing blocks onto receptacles. Nothing happens in response to any of these.



I push the last two as far as I can, but can't reach the remaining open space. If I could get the upper left block down, I'd be able to finish, but there's no way to get behind it. I thought maybe the "2" block at the top would be false, but I can't get through.



A couple more bad attempts later, I come up with a solution. I felt pretty clever when I figured out the step technique to get the uppermost block down (if you drop it directly on the receptacle that Lemeza's next to in the last shot you can't move it any further, which prevents using the block next to it anywhere), but getting a block onto all slots doesn't change anything. I'm missing something here.



After three and a half minutes spent alternately standing around and trying to break or walk through walls, I remember the fairy summon point a few screens back. I go and get the key fairy.



Success! Another receptacle. Hmm...



If I drop a block straight down, it'll land in a position that won't let me push it any further, so I repeat what I did earlier, making a step that will allow me to push the last block on the top level straight onto the receptacle. Except it turns out I can't stand to the left of it and so it can't be pushed where I want it. Darn. I hope I don't have to wait for the fairy spot to respawn before I can try this again.



Fortunately not. OK, let's try this again:



I make the steps one floor lower this time, and it works. I push blocks into place across the room, but find myself one short. I need to get that upper left one somehow.



After about fifteen seconds spent staring at the screen, I decide to try to break the "2" block. To my surprise, it's now a false wall. It wasn't before. Anyway, that allows me to put the last block in place, opening a path to the next room. Let's go!



Ah. Let's see that again in super-slow motion:



God almighty. Just look at that. What am I supposed to do with that? This makes the fire column in the Inferno Cavern look reasonable.



Here's the new Land of Hell. They've done well picking the most irritating enemies for these. At least there's not a hole leading even further back.



I climb back up and drop a weight on a dais. The Shell Horn sounds, and when I fail to navigate the spike column and fall through the lower room there's a newly opened path on the right side that I have very little hope of reaching.



Each of these eleven attempts follows on from a trip through the Land of Hell, then back up the ladders, so this GIF covers a quarter hour of play. The best I do is the two attempts that at least reach the lower screen. This sucks.



I warp out, save, and quit. I'm not ready to give up on this yet, but if anything is gonna end this LP prematurely, it's this. This is brutal. And if I make it past the first column, I have to navigate the second with its moving spikes (and redo the first when I fail). And once I get past that, no doubt there's another hole leading back to the Land of Hell below this that will mean I'll have to do it all again.

Map:



Clues:
"Sleep within three lands"

To-Do:
-Reach the end of Hell Temple or give up on it


Next Time:
Part 53: Enough