[professor_scissors]

If I took maps online, then it would remove half the excitement of exploration from the game. It's like cheating.

[Dracko]

Any tips as to how you should defeat the first boss?

And I have yet to find the Grail you guys talk about.

HINT: If you're short on cash, there's an area under the Ruins (Specifically, the ladder in the room with a statue holding its chest) which leads to a new are where you can find a pot with 100 gold in it.
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[Deets]

Grail (because it's an incredibly helpful item):
In the east side of the Guidance Gate is a room with two pushable blocks, and a skeleton against the east wall who mentions a "shortcut" between ruins. Push against the wall that he's lying against and you'll warp to the opposite side of the map, next to a block. Push the block on to the weight to open the chest that holds the Grail.

[Dracko]

Good stuff, but how exactly does it work? I mean, the manual tells me I need to register certain sigils or something, and I don't think I've seen any yet.
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[Deets]

Just read a bunch of tablets and you should be able to figure it out, I think.

[Menander]

Is the Elder's hut the only place to save in this entire game? I really hate getting deep into a ruin and then losing all my progress/having to go all the way back to the surface.

Very good game otherwise!

[Intentionally Wrong]

I couldn't figure out the Grail until I talked with the Elder about it and then read the game controls in the manual. Those two facts together enabled me to use it. Handy!
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JSNLV is frequently and intentionally wrong.

[Clueless Gamer]

The game is great, but I hate the three birds in the entry to La Mulana. I have to deal with them each time I go there.

I haven't got enough time to put into the game, so I'm exploring bit a bit, gathering money and weights. I need enough gold to buy the glyph reader. But hell, it's an expensive gizmo.

Also, the cartridges you get from the corpses are of any use? I have a Mahjong game and a tennis game.

I love how it plays like a castlevania but has the loneliness and ambient of a metroid. (That is, you are alone in the middle of a hostile big place)
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[Intentionally Wrong]

[klez]

[Intentionally Wrong]

[Dracko]

Seriously, this first boss is a son of a bitch.
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[mauve]

Wandering around the Confusion Gate now, which has awesome music.

I'm digging this game a lot so far, as it's been awhile since I've found a game that's stumped me trying to progress in it. The level design is really well done, and doesn't feel like there's much in the way of wasted space. There are definite lessons to be learned here on how to construct a game's world.

[professor_scissors]

How do you learn the names of the Gates?

[mauve]

[Dracko]

[klez]

[mauve]

[Intentionally Wrong]

Man, this game. This game! Man.

I think I've been to six different fields so far, although I've only really explored two of them. I should get back to that, since I haven't even fought a room guard yet, let alone a guardian. Just about to buy an MSX2!
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JSNLV is frequently and intentionally wrong.

[Intentionally Wrong]

Well. I'm beating my head against the wall here, because I'm not making any progress. Rather than wander aimlessly, I'm trying to just finish the first field--and I feel like I'm up against a wall.

Here's the situation: The last concrete progress I made was to walk across the invisible blocks between the angels and flip the switches up there. I noticed the ankh has now appeared in the empty room with the ladders; unfortunately, I can't find the ankh jewel. I think it's past the corridor beneath the room with all the spikes and jumping monsters, but I don't know because I can't open the red barrier there. I found the tablet that says to "offer three sacrifices to the heavens", so I tried jumping down the hole three times. It didn't do anything, that I can see.

Could somebody please give me some indication of what I should be doing?
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JSNLV is frequently and intentionally wrong.

[klez]

[Intentionally Wrong]

[Deets]

If you've already done the thing with the armor display, then you should be able to find the ankh jewel at this point by simply revisiting some rooms you haven't been to in a while.

[Dracko]

This game is a bag of eels all on its own, I love it.

But does anyone know what those massive red eye blocks are? I'm sure they're hiding something, and I'm pretty much lost as to what I should be doing now. I'm in the Egyptian style area, and as I gather, I need to get my hands on some Boots and access a Moon Pyramid.
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[klez]

[Clueless Gamer]

Ok, now I have the shell horn, the grail and the glyph reader. Things becomes interesting. Now I must learn how to use the grail and then explore more. And I'll tinker a bit with the MSX menú. I'm sure it has any cool use.

EDIT: I'm so excited with this game. And I don't want to beat it. My main goal is to see as many rooms as I can. They are gorgeus.
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[Toups]

Does anyone know how the music was done for this? It seems like it's midi playback based on the manual, but it sounds nice and chiptuney. Is there some kind of fancy soundfont?
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[Deets]

[IceTyger]

I've been keeping handwritten notes for this game.

I never do that!
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Representing the face of destitute gaming

[Gideon Zhi]

Patch is up to 1.01. Fixes a bunch of things, including a screen in the bonus dungeon that might seem too easy.
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Aeon Genesis ~ Ambassador Thorman great man! I do anything he say!

[Dark Age Iron Savior]

The manual indicates that some MSX combinations produce musics. Can be a full music test be accessed in this way?
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[klez]

[username]

Okay, seriously dumb question here.

I finally got around to downloading the game and the new patch, yet every time I try to apply the patch I get an error about 90% or so into the process where it says that "file corrupt or unreadable: c:\...La-Mulana English Patch.D01 You will have to run this patch again to completely update La Mulana", yet the progress window has a ton of "successfully updated"s in it and ends with "lamulana.exe successfully updated".

I assume it isn't taking as the manual is still in japanese (unless I'm not supposed to directly click on the .html files in the manual subfolder), yet I've DL'd both zips off the agtp.romhack.net site multiple times with no luck. I doubt the files are corrupt from said site as people here seem to be having no problems, yet I can't quite figure out what I'm overlooking.

So, any help would be much appreciated. Gracias.
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http://www.audioatrocities.com/games/castlevania-sotn/clip1.mp3

[Deets]

Yeah, it just looks like the 1.01 patch only fixes the changes between the original patch and the new one, but doesn't actually include everything that was in the original patch. So! I uploaded the original patch here for the time being. It should work for you.

[klez]

[Dracko]

Okay, I'm totally at loss as to what I should be doing now. I've got the two first seals, discovered a few alternate areas, collected a bunch of crap, which doesn't seem to help at all, and have no idea where to find the ROMs to use the Grail in the alternate worlds. I'm also lacking on the original Grail locations (Only have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 0 so far), and haven't been able to figure out how to get to the red door in the Guidance Gate area.
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[mauve]

[Dracko]

Yeah, I got the Bronze Mirror, and just went around collecting stuff, quite a lot of stuff and Life Jewels, but just ended up stuck and clueless eventually, in spite of all the secret areas I found.

Which entrance to the Tower of Ruins should I consider? The only one I've found so far is via the Temple of Moonlight.
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[mauve]

[username]

[professor_scissors]

I am another person who is stuck as all hell, and needs a nudge in the right direction!
[I've defeated the first boss, haven't found any others. I've explored all but one of the rooms of the Mauloseum (I can't get to the last one), and I have no idea what I'm trying to do for the puzzle with the three pedestals. I feel like I've come as far as I can in the Temple of the Sun without the Boots. I'm not sure whether or not I solved the riddle of the pyramid, but I can leave it once I get in. I have a helmet, but can't explore most of the Spring of the Sky without a way to swim. The Inferno beats me back mercilessly, and the Endless Corridor seems to require a ROM that I don't have.

Basically, I need either a way to further explore the Temple of the sun (although there are only 3 rooms left in it I haven't been to), a way to solve the three pedestal puzzle in the Mauloseum, or a way to breathe underwater.

As a side note, there is a hand scanner available in a shop I found for 150 coins. Is this at all different from the hand scanner I have now, or is it a scam?

Incidentally, was I supposed to get some sort of item for killing the first boss? Because I didn't.]