[luvcraft]

Finally started playing the remake last night. It sure is a lot easier than the original; I remember one of the tensest moments early in the first one was finally getting enough money to buy the save system and then having to very carefully make my way back to the base camp to buy it without dying because, ya know, I hadn't bought the save system yet. And this one gives me the save system right from the get-go, and then gives me warping within the first half hour of gameplay. I'm also dying a whole lot less.

It's kinda fun playing this a year and a half after the original; I'm trying to play without any guides or outside help beyond my own memories, which are apparently very very hazy; I know I've solved these puzzles, I just don't have any recollection of how... or in what order.
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[SuperWes]

I'm curious how sales of La Mulana on the Wii will be affected when the Wii U is released.

-Wes
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[meauxdal]

just started playing the remake for wii. i love it so far. never got very deep into the first one because of some aforementioned early hurdles (having to buy the save system) and general add, but this... my, my. this is excellent
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[wourme]

I had wanted to get the double jump so that I could get that program that lets you teleport to the alternate areas. There were so many steps involved that I lost track of them. By the time I got the feather, I had forgotten that was my goal.

I got impatient on that Anubis miniboss and used all my pistol ammo. I hope that's not something I'll regret later. I had planned to use chakrams, but I was out and couldn't find any. I'd have been more careful with them had I realized they were so scarce.

[8128]

fuck me this game is great fuck
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[Toups]

yeah so... once you use all your pistol ammo, you never get any more, right?
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[8128]

you can buy it toups you fool
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[luvcraft]

played some more last night. I really tried to play it "honestly" this time, but I couldn't find any in-game hints about the proper order to smash the elemental tablets in Guidance Gate, so I gave up and wiki-ed it.

I guess I didn't remember that there is no immediate reward for beating several of the guardians? Like Amphibeansa and Sakit? I mean, there is a long-term reward for beating all of them, obviously, but I was expecting more of the standard "beat boss, get bacon" metrovania formula. If I'd realized that I'd have focussed more on other things, but on the other hand boss fights are always fun. Amphibeansa seemed WAY easier than in the original, though; I just whipped the left head -- occasionally dodging fire breath -- until it died.
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[bza]

You can actually open up huge chunks of the game without fighting a single boss. I ended up with the Axe before I beat the first 3 bosses...

The hint for the tablets in the Guidance Gate is nearby I thought, it's a little poem about the history of some people iirc. You really gotta search everywhere and read/remember everything, it's too much.

[Lucaz]

Well, in Deceased Crab's second lp he leaves four or five bosses alone until he is about to finish the game.

[luvcraft]

I had the knife, and I ended up using the whip because I found it a lot harder to hit him with the knife in the remake.
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[luvcraft]

Just beat the remake. Definitely easier than the original. Man, that escape sequence is going down as one of the dirtiest tricks of all time. :|
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[luvcraft]

it's kinda weird... now that the remake is out, pretty much all information on the original has evaporated from the internet. I'm trying to go back and beat the original, but when I get to the final boss room it's empty, and I don't remember how to make the fight start...
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[Flylighter]

I tried to play this, not knowing anything about it. Last night, I got down to some egyptian looking place. Tonight, the game decided it couldn't save my files anymore. I guess that's the end of that.

EDIT: Nevermind, just needs to be run as admin. Phew.
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I'm on Steam! ----- I'm on Youtube!

[Felix]

so I'm finally making headway in this thanks to some long flights. I had to look up how to get the darn grail because I was totally confused and dispirited, but I've been kicking it ever since! two guardians down, and I have the bronze mirror.

I think it's a little too hard to refill your health once your max is >128 and you make the mistake of saving with <20 left. I guess I shouldn't be saving with that little health, but still.

[8128]

hey felix do you not know about the hot spring or is that a joke about how slowly your health refills in the hot spring

if you don't know about the hot spring then it's left of the village also you're welcome
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[Felix]

christ. are you kidding?

I remember NPCs talking about a hot spring when I first started but I never found it and must've forgotten.

well, that makes a big difference. I guess this is somewhere between the translator software and the holy grail in terms of missable stuff that you really really ought to get a handle on within the first 30 minutes. oh well. onward!

I think I sort of like the axe better than the chain whip even though the former seemed easier to get.

[Felix]

okay, I've now beaten Viy (knew I was saving my pistol bullets for something) and I'm pretty sure the game is approaching the level of "too baroque." I was really enjoying myself for a good while there, and the new scenery continues to delight and impress, but I'm pretty durn confused by the paths available to me and I'm almost certain I'm going to faq this eden puzzle as I can sort of tell what the game wants me to do but don't really want to do it.

[luvcraft]

You will never make it through Gate of Illusion without a FAQ, Felix.
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[Felix]

sigh. at any rate, I'm saving the rest of the game for (too much) work travel throughout January, as it's one of the only things I'm currently in the middle of that runs happily on my laptop, and I really need to be playing it on a plane to prevent myself from FAQing it.

[8128]

i made it through the gate of illusion without an faq and it was fun

disclaimer i hecka didn't make it through some other parts without an faq tho

what i'm saying is believe in yourself
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[Lucaz]

Confusion Gate's difficulty varies a lot from layer to player, I found it easier than other things at that time of the game. It may be very random, but it's also very straightforward and localized (as in, it takes a few screens instead of a few areas).

[Felix]

[Schwere Viper]

I still think that really is one of the worst ideas in the game. If not THE worst.
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HeavyViper@Twitter ~~~ HeavyViper@Soundcloud
Blog: Machines That Sing

[8128]

the mario pipe move is very difficult to justify, though i figured it out on my own where there are plenty of things that are totally justifiable that i had to look so i don't know help
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[bza]

I figured out the Mario pipe thing purely by accident, it's probably the worst part of the game
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[luvcraft]

[JUMBO]

I played a lotta La Mulana after hurricane Sandy hit, from when our power came back on (that took a week or so) til we got our internet back (that took a month -- I couldn't even use my cell phone to cheat, the reception was so bad post-Sandy). Maybe ideal circumstances under which to play it, since it kept me honest. I mean, it drove me kinda crazy, but it also made progress super satisfying.

But then I hit the Gate of Illusion. It broke me. I went almost a week without making any meaningful progress. Eventually I got so fed up I went to a library two towns over so's I could look at a FAQ. Then I saw the solution to the puzzle that had been driving me batty was the Mario pipe move. :(

Kinda stopped playing after that. I'd gotten so hooked on roughing it that turning to a FAQ felt like a massive failure. Which doesn't make any sense, since the solution was so fucking dumb, but still...the game had broken my trust, and whenever I found myself stuck I found myself wanting to peek at a FAQ, cuz I didn't wanna waste more time on puzzles that I'd never be able to solve on my own.

(I do think there's a tablet hinting at the Mario move, but it's still dumb as fuck.)

Still GOTY 2012 though.

(Am I the only one who says FACK rather than F.A.Q.? And by says I mean thinks, cuz I've said it out loud like...once.)

[Felix]

That wasn't the first thing I had to look up -- by and large I'm okay with having to peek at the wiki now and again, as if nothing else it's a lot more fun than reading a FAQ in that it doesn't tell you point by point where to go so much as what you need to get where.

It was, however, the stupidest, and it puts a bad taste in my mouth when the game has more or less walked a fine line of being brutally oblique up to now. The last couple of pages of this thread have given me conflicting reports as to whether the game keeps on being this stupid in its second half (which I feel as though I'm now roughly into); while putzing around not being able to make progress a little while ago, I came upon eight tablets in the Temple of the Sun meant to have been left by my father, detailing what appears to be an endgame collectathon which I'm also not looking forward to. Meanwhile, I seem to be missing a whole heck of a lot of lock-and-key items, if the bottom left chunk of my inventory that contains only the scanner and the serpent staff is any indication...

It's still pretty close to being my GOTY as well -- only competition is new XCom and ME3.

[luvcraft]

[Swimmy]

I also say FACK.

This game is obtuse and I'm reading the wiki and that's that.
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[luvcraft]

[wourme]

This game is $3 right now on Steam (until September 23), for anyone still on the fence who might be swayed at this price.

[Red_venom]

i love la mulana and feel dumb that i never finished the orignial then bought the remake and have barely played it.. really need to sit and just beat it one of these days.

also if you like it on facebook they make some cute posts from time to time

[Broco]

It's a really hard game to beat... it's really engaging at first, but then kind of wears you down with obscure puzzles that you get stuck at then end up looking at a FAQ, over and over until you're exhausted with the whole thing. Last month I gave the remake a really good try intending to win it, then gradually started just looking at the wiki ahead of time for everything, then eventually gave up after beating 5 of the 8 bosses. http://steamcommunity.com/stats/LaMulana/achievements shows only a 3.7% completion rate so you're not alone. I say everybody should play the game while they're still enjoying it but don't feel too bad about giving up, it seems to be the developers' intent that "literally most people don't complete the dungeon" (it's not just a hollow claim that NPCs make like in every other game).

[Iacus]

BTW, La Mulana 2 announced
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Guayaba 2600

[Felix]

fwiw "gave it a good try, then gradually started overusing the wiki, then gave up after the 5th boss" was exactly my experience with the game, but I'm still psyched at the idea of a sequel.

[wourme]

[Broco]

Nigoro says La Mulana 2's puzzles will be less obscure: http://indiegames.com/2013/09/la-mulana_2_announced_still_di.html

[Dracko]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/playism/la-mulana-2
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[OffalAl]

this is 90% off on Steam at the moment
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