Author Topic: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!  (Read 18022 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline azeke

  • He's ruining Splatfest for the rest of us
  • Score: 11
    • View Profile
La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« on: December 22, 2012, 03:19:09 AM »
Just curious about one choice.

In Mausoleum of Giants there is a plate says "do not read me a second time". So i didn't.

Well a week later i got curious and did read it. I heard a sound like a solved a puzzle and some flying pharaoh thing appeared. And monsters in all levels got harder and there are just more of them now.

Should i proceed? Or is it better to start anew? I really have no problem with increased difficulty, i'm just asking.
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks

Offline azeke

  • He's ruining Splatfest for the rest of us
  • Score: 11
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #1 on: December 24, 2012, 12:10:55 PM »
Okay, so i've advanced a bit after lat moment and realized "hard mode" that me reading that tablet second time activated is making me waste too much time (like waiting when those egyptian ghost turn around and stuff).

So i started the game from the scratch.

I remember what i should do more or less clearly so i am already at second boss with 1 hour 21 minutes.

Second time around the game definitely flows much better when you know what does what.

Loving the game so far, especially music.

PS Controls are busted though, especially jumping and swimming.
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks

Offline ejamer

  • Does he even know Khushrenada?!?
  • Score: 24
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2013, 11:55:14 AM »
Did the same thing - both in reading the tablet twice, then (after a couple of hours) restarting. Difficulty ramps up very quickly after you read that tablet with more enemies and all... but since I enjoy the puzzles and exploration more than action, the increased challenge really wasn't what I wanted.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2013, 12:57:38 PM by ejamer »
NNID: ejamer

Offline azeke

  • He's ruining Splatfest for the rest of us
  • Score: 11
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2013, 12:26:06 PM »
Just an update while at it.

Before leaving to visit my parents in other city to celebrate New Year, i played quite a bit during the night.

I'm at seven hours in (after restarting), and i beat four bosses so far. Awoke Mulbruk (she is kinda useless for me so far cause most of the stuff she says i already found) and got two seals. And no i am still not stuck.

Also while i was at my parents' and didn't have access to my Wii U, i kinda got curious and tried out original freeware version of La Mulana.

Damn. This remake is peanuts compared to the original. They don't even explain how to teleport and to do that you have to press a number on a keyboard when in items menu. Which isn't explained anywhere and there is no indication on GUI that you even can do that.

Also there are no saves. Unless you find some obscure program in the ruins and combine it somehow on in-game MSX computer.

Also the prices on stuff is ridiculous. Glyph reader is 100 something coins. From the pace i was going it would took me from two to four hours to grind that much.

Also -- no hot springs. The only way to replenish health is to grind experience and wait till it fills up to restore your health. Or take sacred orb.

Pure evil.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2013, 12:29:53 PM by azeke »
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks

Offline ejamer

  • Does he even know Khushrenada?!?
  • Score: 24
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2013, 12:56:43 PM »
Hmmm... I don't find that the WiiWare version has been that difficult so far (at a similar point to what you describe). The original version sounds more obscure than I'm interested in though! No warping, no hot springs, no saves? This remake might water the game down, but I'm ok with that.
 ;D


Probably going to put this game on the back burner for a while to finish off some other, shorter games. Have to admit that playing La-Mulana over the past month has catapulted it to one of my favorite 2012 releases. Every time I feel like I'm about to hit a wall, something new and exciting opens up. Most recently: (minor spoiler by listing an item name) the bronze mirror.

NNID: ejamer

Offline azeke

  • He's ruining Splatfest for the rest of us
  • Score: 11
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2013, 03:27:14 AM »
So it happened.

Last time when i saved i looked at a playtime counter and realized i wasted two hours going in circles since last save and didn't advance at all.

I'm officially stuck.

Possible points where i can progress:

Twin Labyrinths:
"Unsolvable" puzzle (what's with those stands with celestial bodies on them? i change from moon to stars to sun but it changes nothing)
Time stopping bird mini-boss (but i don't hope on it opening anything significant, hmmmmm, or maybe it opens up the area on the top of the unsolvable puzzle? hmmm)
Can't figure out which tablet i need to read to remove poisonous fog

Dark area:
Well it's dark, i roamed a bit in it and grinded some gold a few times with my own flares and one time with a flare launching fairy. Maybe i should venture into it properly.

Also that sphinx in Sun Temple is annoying me. I have no idea how to remove it.

I am mostly going for the bird in twin labyrinth and losing to it constantly. I feel i can eventually finish it off with flares while running left and right on the bottom floor, but time-stopping wave makes dodging feather impossible and after five or some minutes i usually die. It's also annoying that i can't teleport to twin labyrinths directly and have to get to it all the way through Lava Inferno level -- takes a lot of time.
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks

Offline Pixelated Pixies

  • Just call me PixPix™
  • Score: -178
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2013, 08:06:09 AM »
I am mostly going for the bird in twin labyrinth and losing to it constantly. I feel i can eventually finish it off with flares while running left and right on the bottom floor, but time-stopping wave makes dodging feather impossible and after five or some minutes i usually die. It's also annoying that i can't teleport to twin labyrinths directly and have to get to it all the way through Lava Inferno level -- takes a lot of time.

That's pretty much where I was the last time I picked this up. That bird kept killing me and I eventually got frustrated having to climb my way back there and just gave up, lol.
Gouge away.

Offline azeke

  • He's ruining Splatfest for the rest of us
  • Score: 11
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2013, 12:31:50 PM »
After a moment of weakness that i overcame by venting here ;p, i gave up on a bird and decided to explore dark level a bit.  And hurray! I found
bronze mirror.
This just blew my mind. Wow, just wow.

This game just gets better and better and better still.
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks

Offline ejamer

  • Does he even know Khushrenada?!?
  • Score: 24
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2013, 02:18:49 PM »
After a moment of weakness that i overcame by venting here ;p, i gave up on a bird and decided to explore dark level a bit.  And hurray! I found
bronze mirror.
This just blew my mind. Wow, just wow.

This game just gets better and better and better still.


No kidding!  There is a very direct hint about this provided early on in the water level, so I knew where to look when I got stuck and frustrated about lack of progression... but I had no idea how big its effect would. Will be jumping back into the game in a week or so and imagine that I won't be lacking areas to explore for a little while.


Really need to go clean up some stuff before moving on though. I know there are a few small details I've missed since restarting, I haven't bothered to go back in and actually fight some of the bosses a second time, and I never did sit down and figure out how to get help from the fairies (although think I've got the key tablet info recorded and just need to put the pieces together).
NNID: ejamer

Offline azeke

  • He's ruining Splatfest for the rest of us
  • Score: 11
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2013, 12:25:12 PM »
I just had a pants shitting moment in the game. Paradise.

Daaamn.

* goes to clean myself
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks

Offline azeke

  • He's ruining Splatfest for the rest of us
  • Score: 11
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #10 on: January 17, 2013, 03:07:59 PM »
I killed that blue guy with eyes all over him. The thing he guards ended up being bullshit though (double jump), cause it might have helped in the beginning but now there is nothing it might help me to unlock.

I also ended up going back to original version after watching it's let's play. Interestingly, it's actually easier than remake in places after you get through initial shock with completely unexplained saving and teleporting.

Saving is actually very easy to unlock, you just buy "game master" for 10 coins and go to old man. He saves it. And when you continue from that save your health is at 100% -- no need to walk to some springs.

Also weights are everywhere. And bosses are total wusses compared to remake.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2013, 03:10:18 PM by azeke »
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks

Offline azeke

  • He's ruining Splatfest for the rest of us
  • Score: 11
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #11 on: March 18, 2013, 12:27:34 AM »
The night before my vacation to Malaysia i played a bit more of Confusion Labyrinth and it annoyed me enough to look up the solution. I looked it up on original La-Mulana let's play and while remake's solution is somewhat different it's still the biggest bullshit in entire game so far. Game, forcing players to examine random places is not fair. So, no guilt.

After that i found some unlock that fills maps with icons showing you what's inside the rooms. And while some of them are self-explanatory, like gates and fairies some are i don't get. Pink frames probably mean a puzzle. Silver stars probably are connected to to that mysterious crests in the dungeons.

Also got new encrypted tablets and old man said that i need to translate four of them by comparing them to already translated tablets. I think i need to analyze encrypted text, count letters in each word and then record text from tablets with matching words? And do that four times?

After vacation i resumed the game, opened few more areas, solved a puzzle with six symbols (the solution is shown to you in Mausoleum of Giants but i realized that after i simply bruteforced correct two symbols) and got to Inferno Cavern's boss.

Nice reference to Nikolai Gogol, game.

Curiously while still hard, this boss is the most vulnerable of all bosses so far. You need flares to beat Jumping Fish, and ninja stars for Double Snakes.

On this boss, you can use rolling ninja stars, you can use regular flying ninja stars, you can use axe and whip, you can use spear, you probably can also use caltrops if you like.

I haven't beaten him yet, but i can harm him enough until he changes his behavior (which should mean i took half of his health), will probably finish him tonight if i take the health replenishing fairy with me.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2013, 12:31:45 AM by azeke »
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks

Offline ejamer

  • Does he even know Khushrenada?!?
  • Score: 24
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2013, 08:03:16 AM »
The night before my vacation to Malaysia i played a bit more of Confusion Labyrinth and it annoyed me enough to look up the solution. I looked it up on original La-Mulana let's play and while remake's solution is somewhat different it's still the biggest bullshit in entire game so far. Game, forcing players to examine random places is not fair. So, no guilt.
...


Bah! I was stuck here before taking a break from the game.  Not good news. :(

NNID: ejamer

Offline azeke

  • He's ruining Splatfest for the rest of us
  • Score: 11
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2013, 04:26:39 AM »
Bah! I was stuck here before taking a break from the game.  Not good news. :(
Don't bother, seriously. That "puzzle" is maximum trolling on creator's part.

On this boss, you can use rolling ninja stars, you can use regular flying ninja stars, you can use axe and whip, you can use spear, you probably can also use caltrops if you like.

I haven't beaten him yet, but i can harm him enough until he changes his behavior (which should mean i took half of his health), will probably finish him tonight if i take the health replenishing fairy with me.
Yeah, i beat that guy same night. Didn't even used fairy.

Game opened up tremendously since. After some "fairy grinding" in Confusion Labyrinth you get item to open up Endless Corridor, there you find item that unlocks Twin Labyrinth. I think i've been on most levels in the game so far and have maps for majority of them.
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks

Offline azeke

  • He's ruining Splatfest for the rest of us
  • Score: 11
    • View Profile
Re: La Mulana -- no, i am not stuck!
« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2013, 12:15:43 AM »
Yep.

I did it.

Beat it.

Took like ten or so tries on final boss -- my finger still hurts.

Coincidentally this game also doesn't save after ending -- i looked it up and yeah, it doesn't have post-game content. There is some uber hard additional DLC level that you can access before you go fight final boss, but apparently it's not available on WiiWare. Ah well.

Speaking of looking up solutions. I'll sum up game's puzzles:

"Are you fucking kidding me?"-tier puzzles. Don't even bother solving these ones. Just go straight to walkthrough.
  • Aforementioned puzzle in Gate of Illusion. Uber bullshit. You need to press down or scan in very random places to open new paths.
  • Removing right shield thing to let water flow from Springs to the Sky to Temple of Goddess. A way to left shield is already somewhat BS-y (the only way in is to bump into some random wall which transfers you there), but the way to right shield is something else entirely. To enter it, you have to go to Mausoleum of Giants, find one jar that giant is pointing at, and get into it Mario style by pressing down while on top of it. One tablet in Temple of Goddess gives a hint but it's incredibly obtuse.
  • "Dance of life" in Chamber of Birth. Bulllllllshiiiiiit. Tablet supposedly showing you how to perform it doesn't really show you anything.


"Doh! How did i not notice it myself!" tier:
  • Most of the Chamber of Birth's holes that you meant to put various items in . Didn't understand that i was supposed to put snake staff onto the pedestal even if snake is drawn right there. The part where you had to put woman in one hole and dragon skull in another was somewhat bullshitty though. Especially considering level punishes you for wrong used item.
  • Magatama drawing in upper level of Chamber of Destruction. I simply didn't notice it, it pretty small.
  • That you can climb up on vein looking things in True Shrine of the Mother. Doh!

"Hey, it's not that bad!" tier:
  • Decoding tablets in old La Mulanese. Decrypting them with pen and paper was actually pretty fun. Once you realize most of the texts start with "The" which gives you three starting symbols, it's pretty easy. Unfortunately, all decoded tablets don't really say anything relevant to you and once you get to puzzles they're hinting at, you'll have old Mulanese translated for you automatically by then.
  • "Triforce hunt" analogue near the end. Four philosophers spell out all the rules for you, several times. I got most of the mantras by myself just randomly wandering around and shouting mantras everywhere.
  • Some bosses: Viy and Mother herself.

Also be warned: there is a trap that's unique to WiiWare version in Graveyard of Giants. If you will do things in wrong order there, you will block out yourself from few items, won't get access to teleporting tablet of that area and eventually won't be able to even face the final boss. Had to go to gamefaqs for the solution.

Final notes: after finishing the game, i smiled on realization on how game trolls you on few parts. Like the interface implies there are five seals. Nope, only four.

Or there is a shop on a ceiling in Gate Of Illusion. I expected to get ability to invert gravity at some point. Nope.

Huge stars on a walls in all levels. I thought i will get some item to break them. Nope.

Random empty shops. Maybe someone will come there and give something to you? Nope, nope, nope.


So overall, great game, lots of bullshit, lots of great bosses, amazing music, enjoyed it immensely.

PS. I literally laughed out loud when i got to part where i "impregnated" mother statue.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2013, 12:18:25 AM by azeke »
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks