So I've made it further than ever before, making use of the La-Mulana wiki (http://lamulana-remake.wikia.com/wiki/La-Mulana_Remake_Wiki) for answers when I got stuck.
Some observations:
* Grinding and money remain an issue. I asked before how people get enough weights for triggers. Grinding up by the waterfall remains a good option, but at some point as I made progress it dried up and they won't drop blocks anymore so buying is the only option. I think that I should be using the Item Fairy to force increased drops... but I don't know how to consistently get that fairy to appear (my RNG almost always gives the healing fairy - nice, but rarely what I need). There is a way... I don't think that I have the right software yet, although I think I know where to buy it if I can get some more cash.
ITEM FARIES! you can gaurentee getting one by loading MIRACLE.EXE + CAPSTAR.EXE, or you can note the patterns of stars that appear when you first summon a faerie. if you get off the screen before the fairy comes in, you can reset the fairy point spawn. Item fairy has 4 stars moving in clockwise and counter clockwise patterns.
there's a screen in the chamber of extinction, 1 up and one left from the grail point where there's a series of 4 boxes that respawn when you go off screen. while under the effects of an item fairy, everything you destroy gushes money, and you farm money for that, and thus have money to buy weights, items, programs, or whatever you need!
This method can also be used to get keyfaries and unlock their secrets.
I'm just about at the endgame myself. I really have a couple of bosses to wrap up, the Djed Pillar, The Magatama, and Mantra.exe left to claim before I'm ready to kill bosses, wedge fields, get medicine, kill mother.
I feel NOW is the time to broach the subject on Hell Temple.
it's... something you won't experience on Wiiware because Nicalis never bothered publishing the DLC, but Hell temple was a part of the original game, as well as the Steam and Vita releases internationally.
For the unititiated, Hell Temple is kinda Takumi Naramura's take on those insane fever dream rumors you'd hear on the playground... do some arbitrary task like pushing a truck with the Strengh TM or getting 100 Kills on Cruel Melee to unlock Toad and Sonic in SSBM or the trick to reviving General Leo. It also is Naramura's way to take the piss out of completionists and teach them their folly by giving them a secret optional area that may actually be considered a form of torture in certain parts of Southeast Asia.
Accessing Hell Temple requires a series of complete nonsense actions, including bringing key fairies to nonsense places after certian story beats have been hit, plunging exactly 9 screens down into a seemingly bottomless pit of lava, and going into such odd and weird secret areas of the game to get the next breadcrumb in accessing this place...
... only to be met with when you get there a gauntlet of platforming challenges, crazy sub-weapon trick-shots, and infuriating puzzles that they actually feel like the developer might actually be punishing you for past misdeeds.
often times you find yourself jumping onto moving platforms that are smaller than lemeza, over expanses of pits while some fo the game's most dangerous and bullet spammy enemies are floating about.
... wait, Pits? there weren't any pits in the main game! besides maybe pools of water and lava. See, falling into the holes in Hell Temple bring Lemeza to a series of rooms labeled "LAND OF HELL". these often consist of a gauntlet of enemies or mini-bosses that die easy enough, give you a ton of XP orbs, and then a ladder spawns and puts you several rooms back...
... oh
no!
see, there's no grail point in hell temple, and the puzzles and rooms kinda... reset when you leave. Hell Temple isn't designed to kill Lemeza, but rather keeps pushing the player back, and feeds them JUST enough resources to keep them going. when leaving means you have to do everything in this place again, it kinda keeps you playing these crazy platforming sections over and over and over, because **** having to go back.
Eventually, you can open one shortcut, but for the most part, Hell Temple is truly meant to feel like you are slowly burning alive. it EARNS it's name, unlike a certain Cave Story area that's just hard and filled with lots of RNG.
But... moreover, I'm curious. Has anyone in the thread gotten to enjoy the Hell Temple experience? I tried to be pretty vague about specific challenges therein, but I wanted to hear any stories from would-be challengers of this super optional area among the community?