Welcome back to Let's Play La-Mulana: The Mother Has Been Waiting. Once again I'm starting off by gathering sub-weapons for use in Hell Temple, particularly Bombs. But hold on a second: in the third screenshot here I only have 31 remaining after using one. Surely I should have more than that by now? I went back and reviewed my videos - last time I used a Bomb, I went from 32 down to 31. It appears there is a hard limit on how many Bombs Lemeza can carry - 32. This means that my trips to collect sub-weapons, while still netting me more Spears and Flares and so on (assuming they don't also have limits), have pretty much been wastes of time. There are enough Bomb drops on the main path in Hell Temple to refill what I've been using.
I manage to return to this shaft without falling down it straight away.
I'm going to try playing smart, not well. Also, I read a spoiler. Apparently, by equipping this ROM combo (which increases "blink" time after taking a hit), you can just jump down the shaft instead of grappling from side to side through the spikes. Given how difficult the grappling is, I wouldn't be surprised if this was actually the intended solution, making this into a puzzle rather than an execution challenge. I equip Bombs, to use their friendly fire effect to start Lemeza's "blink" time.
It doesn't go well. I thought I'd be thrown backwards, not forwards.
Some time later, I'm back to try again. This time I'll test my technique in the closed space to the left of the door:
OK, perfect. If I press into the corner between wall and ceiling and throw a Bomb, Lemeza will take a hit but be pushed into the wall instead of away from it. Let's do it:
Argh.
This isn't working for me. I've been trying to use Bombs because I can control them, but there is another source of "blink" time: the flying eyes.
The problem with this approach is that they move erratically, so it takes forever to get a hit from them. It might actually be quicker for me to git gud. Plus, if they come at me from the left I'll be knocked down the hole. Eventually I manage to get my blink on, but it doesn't last long enough to get me past the last set of spikes. Lemeza is again knocked down the pit to the Land of Hell.
The next attempt, after another long wait, goes better. I've cleared the first pit!
Getting from there to the top of the second pit is a challenge in itself, but at least the chances of being thrown back down the hole are fairly slim.
The right side of the upper screen offers a Bomb top-up and a ladder back upwards. Perhaps going up the ladder opens a shortcut that would allow me to skip the left shaft? But probably it doesn't, and even if it did I'd only be able to use it once per visit because there's no way to climb back up from the left side of the screen. I'm not trying it.
The eye is just sitting there, so I throw Lemeza against it and drop into the pit. The attempt fails - just like with my first shot at the left pit, Lemeza takes a hit from the last set of spikes. Watching this now I wonder if I might have made it if I'd jumped straight after being knocked back by the bat instead of walking first - this would have started Lemeza falling a few frames earlier, perhaps enough to clear the spikes.
Now that I've pulled it off once I seem to be able to clear the left shaft with relative ease, though I still have to wait around for the eye to come to Lemeza.
This time I try Bombs again. There's enough ceiling here that I can use them to get blinky without falling down straight away. This is a pretty poor attempt, though - the idea was that I would grab the left side wall (which only has the one set of fixed spikes at the top) and from there jump across to the opening on the right of the lower screen. I grabbed way too early, as well as taking far too long to jump, and wound up getting caught by one of the moving spikes.
[Sigh]
I try for the left side again, but I'm still too slow. These moving spikes are a menace!
I just can't get this.
Man, that's close! If that eye hadn't gotten in the way I would have made it! This seems like a winning technique: blink past the moving spikes to the right wall, jump across to the left, and from there jump to the opening. I just need the RNG to go my way with the eye.
I fail to replicate the technique on my next attempt.
This is still happening from time to time, too. You know what?
I'm done.
I'm sorry to end it like this, but this is as far as this LP goes. If I keep at it, I'll get through - that attempt that was stopped by the flying eye at the very last jump shows that. But then what? I've looked at the spoilers. There are two more rooms that can drop me back to the Land of Hell and from there to these shafts. Best case scenario, if I get past them without falling down, I'll reach a room further along that has to be visited with each of the three different medicines from the Tower of Ruin - that means at least three trips to that room, meaning three trips through these shafts. If I stick with it, I'll get through. Perhaps I'll even git gud enough to clear the shafts without too much difficulty after long enough. But I just can't face the frustration of getting to that point. I think that the LP so far shows that I have it in me to be patient. Although I've broken down and looked up spoilers a few times, for the most part I've done what the game has asked of me, even when it's ridiculous, but I do have my limits and here they are.
It's a shame to finish in frustration on a negative. La-Mulana has, for the most part, been a great game. I've enjoyed playing it, documenting it, and trying to figure it out. I've even enjoyed most of Hell Temple. I hope you've all enjoyed it too. Thanks for reading!
To-Do:
-
Next Time:
Maps
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