Author Topic: La Mulana 2 announced  (Read 8544 times)

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Offline azeke

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La Mulana 2 announced
« on: September 20, 2013, 11:51:57 AM »
http://nigoro.jp/en/2013/09/la-mulana2/

Awwww, yeah!..

No platform announced, but i'm guessing PC with possible other console port later.

First game, while chock full of unfair puzzles was a great metroidvania game with an amazing soundtrack. At some time i just had to look up video walkthrough, because later on puzzles just became absolutely impenetrable. Still i loved the experience, gameplay and music and bosses. Highly recommended if you want some LONG ass sprawling metroidvania.
« Last Edit: September 20, 2013, 11:55:44 AM by azeke »
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Offline Pixelated Pixies

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2013, 01:16:15 PM »
La Mulana had many things going for it, and I really enjoyed sections of it, but it's opaqueness really dragged down the experience for me. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement with a sequel, so I'll be really interested to see whether or not it retains the original's unrelenting difficulty.
 
Personally? I hope they dial back the difficulty somewhat. I'm all for difficult games, but La Mulana eventually just became infuriating.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2013, 06:37:20 PM »
...
Personally? I hope they dial back the difficulty somewhat. I'm all for difficult games, but La Mulana eventually just became infuriating.


Agreed, although just how difficult to make the game is debatable.


Hopefully the sequel is still a long and challenging game - we already have way too many games where there is no skill or challenge involved, instead being simple time sinks where anyone who cares to put in the time will be successful.
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Offline azeke

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2013, 12:01:02 AM »
Game wasn't that difficult, gameplay wise. Some puzzles, yes, were complete bullshit. But even then some were enjoyable («impregnating», decrypting old language with pen and paper - loved these).
Game was punishing and demanded slighlty more from player but it was extremely rewarding.
One of the techniques game forces you to learn to beat one boss absolutelty blew my mind - boss had a laser beam that was nearly impossible to dodge. The solution was, drop caltrops on the floor and step on them taking 1–2 hp damage for this instead of dying instantly when touching laser beam. Because you start blinking and become invincible for a few seconds after you take damage, you had to harm yourself and then just pass right through deadly laser beam during blinking amimation. The game had a special ability later on to prolong blinking so it definitely was intended.
It's one of the many, many things i loved so much in first game. Combined with awesome music, disturbing story and visuals it really made for an unforgettable experience.

First screenshot:

Booth photo:
« Last Edit: September 21, 2013, 12:25:08 AM by azeke »
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Offline Pixelated Pixies

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2013, 12:35:50 PM »
Those of us who don't like reading FAQs might just be in luck.
 
La-Mulana creator Takumi Naramura has said that he wishes to make the sequel less confusing than the first game.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-09-20-la-mulana-2-is-coming-to-pc-next-year
 
Hallelujah!
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Offline azeke

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2014, 02:24:46 AM »
Some kind of video from TGS demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PflEV7FrUtc

Looks exactly like first game, which is probably because it's a test footage made from the first game. Though i do wish they did something with somewhat broken jumping physics.

Their kickstarter is ending soon, as much as i hate doing it i still pledged for it.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2014, 06:41:01 PM »
Yuck. The Kickstarter result so far is really disappointing - I am very interested in La Mulana 2 after loving the original, but only if it's available to play on 3DS or Wii U.  PC gaming doesn't cut it for me, yet that seems like the only level that will be successful. 


Oh well. Maybe Steambox will change things in a couple of years.
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Offline azeke

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2014, 10:35:47 PM »
Yeah, those stretch goals they put out for console versions... Yeesh...

And the 3DS stretch goal was placed even higher which is weird especially considering this is a japanese game.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2014, 09:14:39 AM »
Yeah, those stretch goals they put out for console versions... Yeesh...

And the 3DS stretch goal was placed even higher which is weird especially considering this is a japanese game.


Stretch goals involving extra platforms being high makes sense - the first game was a PC release long before getting ported over to console, and being realistic about costs is better than promising more than they can deliver. Plus, there is always a possibility that La Mulana 2 will be ported over later regardless of what happens during the initial campaign.  So keeping my fingers crossed on that front.


Here's hoping they reach the "Father's Diary" stretch goal. The project is currently trending well enough for that to happen. "Character Stories" would also be awesome... but seems a little out of reach.


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/playism/la-mulana-2


http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/playism/la-mulana-2/


On the upside, following this Kickstarter has made me interested in going back to try and progress further in the original game. Maybe with some FAQ help this time around.   ;D
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Offline azeke

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #9 on: June 25, 2014, 05:02:57 AM »
Apparently the demo is out.
Spent 10 minutes running around. It's La Mulana, alright.
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Offline azeke

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2018, 08:13:05 AM »
Got my steam key!

La-Mulana 2 i guess is coming 1st of August 2018 (almost three years after promised "December of 2015").

On Gog and Steam.
https://www.gog.com/game/la_mulana_2
https://store.steampowered.com/app/835430/LaMulana_2/

Can't wait until the game unlocks.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2018, 06:27:56 PM »
Awesome! Post impressions when you get the chance? Not sure I'll end up playing as it probably won't be ported to anything I can access... but still a huge fan of the first game.
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Offline Powerskava

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #12 on: July 28, 2018, 08:22:43 PM »
This is gonna be so hype

Offline azeke

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #13 on: August 01, 2018, 01:05:17 AM »
Awesome! Post impressions when you get the chance?
LM2 starts with a lot of fanservice to old game and the most basic necessary items are basically given to you (holy grail, scanner, map) right at the start.

New characters' art is gorgeous to look at:



The actual gameplay is very much the same:


However there are numerous quality of life changes:
  • more air-control during jumps -- almost Mario-style control
  • you can jump ON a ladder and OFF a ladder (a HUGE game-changer)
  • you can duck
  • before each "guardian" boss game makes a checkpoint so you don't have to go back long after dying, however i don't see how it is meaningful because just like first game LM2 is chock full of mini-bosses who are not "guardians" and there is no checkpoint on those. Maybe if first and only guardian i beat had been harder i would appreciate it, but alas i he was very easy.

Beating first area is pretty straightforward, but after that i unlocked like 10 areas and read hundreds of tablets that dump entire new layers of lore into already thick mythology of La-Mulana and i'm so lost.

It's awesome.
« Last Edit: August 01, 2018, 01:07:09 AM by azeke »
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Offline azeke

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #14 on: September 18, 2018, 01:00:48 AM »
Finally...


My screenshots folder i used to solve puzzles:

That's 200 screens with NPC hints, tablet texts, random rooms, maps, one text file to solve an especially nasty Brahma puzzle, several MS Paint drawings to make sense of Dark Lord's Footsteps and many more.

It helped me to solve most of the puzzles, but as expected i still got stuck many times and this time i can blame the game. Several bosses are hidden behind very specific order of meeting and talking to NPCs which is not hinted nor can be guessed intuitively. One boss is also blocked from you unless you smack a rather unremarkable detail in the background for which there is ABSOLUTELY NO HINT whatsoever. That is bigger BS than anything in La-Mulana 1 times ten. Even infamously outrageous puzzle solutions like "take a knee", "are you a fool or a wiseman" and "dive deep into a pot" were still clearly telegraphed.

The puzzle i especially enjoyed was Dark Lord's Footsteps because of how early it appears and how encompassing it is of the entire game both in space and time. And busting out pen and paper to decode this puzzle felt really good. I also like how the puzzle is designed to be bruteforceable partially but then you will still have to actually understand what you did and then it clicks.

Once again, La-Mulana 2 builds lore of a cosmic scale and adds entirely new elements to the story of Children of The Mother. Several stories are turned on their head -- like tale of the giants from 1 gets an entirely new reading. Unlike in some of the other games, La-Mulana's lore is actively used to solve puzzles and you have to learn all the details because there WILL be a quiz later. Just like LM1 demanded you to learn and decode 2 languages, LM2 will ask you the meaning of yuga eras, what mala prayer beads stand for, how do you get to and use the benben stone and the symbols of maiden custodians. Nordic, Hinduist, Egyptian, Jomon and many mythologies are once again mashed into a salad and put into puzzles.

Many bosses seems completely unaproachable and their attacks look undodgeable at first but once you figure out the patterns it gets easier. I know it sounds generic and applies to all games but seriously bosses in this game are extremely committed to their gimmick. It's complete "how do even attack?" or "how do i even not DIE instantly?!" at first.

As i reached end-game more rushedness and straight up bugs started to pop up. It seems like they simply gave up by the end and that's why the very last area of the game feels so half baked. I don't even mind that it doesn't have any proper puzzles -- by that time in the game i just want to finish it and just look the solutions up because i am too mentally exhausted.

I didn't even had the patience to approach the final boss properly -- i just semi-cheated the final boss using overpowered weapons and several status effects with health and damage boosts.

It's still a great game still unmatched in scope of insane non-linearity of it's map and the way how it teaches you it's insane titanic lore. But 1 did nearly everything better.

Music in 2 feels less inspired too, while nearly all tracks from 1 were genuine bangers 2 i think has less standout tracks. Some were still great:

« Last Edit: September 18, 2018, 01:02:45 AM by azeke »
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Offline ejamer

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #15 on: September 18, 2018, 07:54:33 AM »
I'm still very jealous, even with the report of some rough spots.

The first game had enough BS moments that I straight up wouldn't have been able to complete it without internet help... but it also had more than its fair share of amazing "Ah-Ha!" moments where you solve clever puzzles, avoid traps, or discover entirely new aspects of the game world.

Sounds like the second game manages to create enough of those moments to be worth the effort. Hopefully I'll find myself in a position (ie: with a supported platform) to play eventually.
 ;D


Congrats on beating the game, and thanks for coming back to give your impressions!
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Offline azeke

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #16 on: November 18, 2018, 08:38:35 AM »
Spent last weeks by mostly being ill but also playing La Mulana 1 once again. This time on Hard with the goal of getting as much achievements along the way as i can.

Got the one for beating all bosses without using sub-weapons on Hard mode -- this one really requires you to study these bosses' patterns because on Hard they hit very hard and have more health. Ellmac who is usually an early and easy boss becomes a true nightmare on Hard because of his erratic patterns. As always -- getting an Axe early helps immensely, especially boosted with software combinations.

While playing LM1 i am once again shocked how much stuff it really has -- developer rooms, secret scanning spots, extremely obscure shortcuts between levels, treasure chests that only appears on escape sequences. It's astounding that i can play the game for like 10th time and still find new things. And of course Hell Temple and it's own set of secrets.

La Mulana 1 really makes the sequel look rather poor content-wise...
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Offline azeke

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Re: La Mulana 2 announced
« Reply #17 on: January 24, 2022, 02:31:59 AM »
DLC for La-Mulana 2 -- Tower of Oannes is out!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/835430/view/3142950850540601010

Launched it yesterday and spent several hours roaming around re-remembering how game works.

Couldn't even find the dang level! Welp.
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