Let's Play La-Mulana: The Mother Has Been Waiting

Welcome back. When we left off, I'd explored most of the Temple of Moonlight and found a few treasures. This time we'll explore some more. I start off by trying out the axe on the walls in this room, but it gets me nowhere, so I head up to the room with multiple chests and daises. There was a clue about this:

But how do I open them starting from the front? Guess the only thing to do is start dropping weights and see what happens.



Putting a weight at the upper left opens the first chest. A good start. The middle right dais opens the rightmost chest, so I won't be solving this on the first attempt. The top right opens the second chest, so the lowest one must do the third chest. I leave the room and re-enter and the chests have all reset. Let's try again:



Success! Let's take a look at that map:



If you compare that to my map from last time, it looks like I've been everywhere except for the two rooms at the upper left. I'm pretty close to there now, so why not check them out?



I head on up. Last time I was here I fell down the shaft on the left and got Lemeza killed. Will things go better this time?



They will. Although I'm heading for the room to the left, I also want to take a look in this middle bit. It leads to a dead end in the room below. There must be something there, right?



The pot is empty. I get knocked down to the room below, where I notice a shadow in the corner. Scanning it reveals Pennant Race 2, the sequel to a game I already have, Pennant Race. As I mentioned when I picked the first game up, it's baseball.



The head statue at the right starts shooting at me and there's no apparent way to get out of this room, so I warp back to the Temple of the Sun and from there return to the room above. To reach the passage on the left I just need to jump down and hold left, but instead I return to the middle section and start probing the floor for breakable blocks. I don't find any, so it's time to jump down and to the left. Let's do it:



It doesn't go to plan.



So I take the lower, more accessible path to the left. After a few attempts. It feels like if you hit the double jump right at the apex of the first jump you get a lot higher than if you do it only very slightly below.



This next room is a nightmare of skeletons. What on earth is happening in the room above? Anyways, after a moment about half of the skeletons get up and start throwing bones around.



I take out all the moving skeletons and read the stele. This "cape of ice" sounds pretty cool. I also scan all the remaining skeletons but find nothing. Then I return to the precipice over the path to the upper part of the skeleton chamber. This time I wait and take out the flying eyes before attempting the jump.



My caution pays off, and I make it. The new room has a dais and a chest in it. Let's get some treasure!



Aww.



It takes me about a minute to get back to this room (I fell down a hole along the way, which slowed it a bit). This time, not wanting to come again, I pause to take a look before leaping.



I subweapon my way through these three skeletons, for safety.



I weight the dais and the chest opens to reveal the Ice Cape.



The manual's quote doesn't tell you much, but I've just had a clue from a stele that says this thing will protect me from the harshest heat. Will it let me walk in lava?



I head down to the fairy to get topped up, then warp out to the village to save.



I go in without Game Master and get some talk from Xelpud that I haven't seen before. Then I go in again with Game Master and save.

After brief excursions to the Spring and Temple to try new weapons on the walls there (both unsuccessful), I head for the Inferno Cavern. Let's see how this Ice Cape handles the lava:



Pretty well, as it turns out, although it doesn't protect me from the fireballs within the lava.



I run around the Cavern swimming in all the lava, but don't find anything. The skeletons don't scan, and I don't find any breakable walls. Disappointing. You'd think the pipes in the second screenshot here might lead to something (especially since on the in-game map there's a room they seem to lead to), but if so I haven't found it.



So I head to the Mausoleum of Giants. There used to be an eye thing where this doorway is now. I didn't think of this while playing, but I've seen both open and closed doors. Both of the open ones are in Fields where I've defeated the Guardians. I should revisit the one in the Guidance Gate now that I've beat the Amphisbaena to see if it's open now (though I still probably won't be able to reach it).



Before going through the door I make several attempts to reach the upper left of the screen, but don't make it. I'm pretty sure it can be done with the Grapple Claw, but I get frustrated and give up for now.



I head through the door and into another reverse field. This seems like as good a time as any to mention just how good the graphics in this game are. It's low-res, low colour, but looks really nice. Well, sort of creepy. The normal field has dignified looking Giant statues, but here in the reverse it looks like we've got their actual bodies frozen in ice. I don't think I'll be able to identify which is which, but let's take a head count: two on this screen.



I whip one of these ice puff things and read the broken stele. My own strength, and also my double jump, I bet.



The ice puffs are a real pain to attack, dodging away if you don't get them bang on.



Lemeza also has to contend with classic video game ice slipperiness. I try to cope by jumping a lot, but it doesn't help much.



Eventually I kill the last puff, for no apparent benefit, and head right to the next room. There's a giant hand poking out of the ground here, but no heads. Maybe it's from the same giant as the disembodied head in the previous room.



A wizard appears and attacks. I kill it, which opens the chest up top to reveal the map, but I'm knocked offscreen by flying eyes before I can open it.



Down I go. I pass a chest with a barrier next to it, a Birth Seal, a door, and a passageway leading right. What I don't pass is any way back up to where I fell from.



I kill all the enemies on this screen, which takes forever because of their random movement pattern and the slippery ice, and gets me nothing (though I get ten coins from the pot on the right, which reveals a giant face behind it that I didn't notice while playing but should maybe scan (running giant headcount: three)). Then I head down again, the only path open to me.



The stele in the new room refers to eyes, and the giant here (headcount: four) has an eye that's missing from the other ones I've seen. I try whipping it, but nothing seems to happen. Curious. Let's try the dais by the chest:



It doesn't go well. This seemingly invincible shelled enemy appears and starts throwing fireballs at Lemeza. My attacks don't seem to work.



The Throwing Knife is no good.



I manage to take it by out using the axe and just enduring its hits. I don't seem to get anything for my troubles. The chest opened when I put the weight on the dais and the enemy appeared. Is it just a prop to trick me into weighting the dais, or is there some other way to open it that will get me a treasure? There's another chest in the Temple of Moonlight that I have the same question about. I suspect they're just traps, but I don't want to count them out just yet, so I'll put it on my list.



I take the rightmost ladder up, which leads me to an enclosed space in the previous screen. I have to use a weight to get out, and I think it's just a trap to get you to waste a weight. When I go back down, the shelled enemy has reappeared, but not the others. Maybe I should have killed it again to see if it would get me anything? Instead, I headed straight for the leftmost ladder and went up and from there to the left.



I reach a room with a pushable block puzzle, a dais behind a barrier, a couple more dead giants or parts thereof (headcount: six), and these odd enemies. I think they're headless pegasi? Or a winged person bent over so far their head is hidden? Anyways, I take them out and pause to consider the puzzle. Assuming the blocks reset when you leave the room, I'll need to enter the room to the left of the lowest block to solve it, so I head one screen left. There's another dead giant (headcount: seven), a path to another Field, and a stele with a cryptic clue on it. Am I the chosen one? First I've heard of it. The path to the left has a backwards version of the glyph for 5 on it, so I guess it leads to the Reverse Field of the Inferno Cavern, whose entrance is marked with the regular 5 glyph (I had trouble earlier identifying the glyph by the path at the top of the Temple of Moonlight - now that I realise it's backwards I can see that it's the glyph for 1, so I was right about it leading to the reverse of the Guidance Gate).



I'll save the other Field for when I'm done with this one, though, so I take out the enemies (again, nothing happens), and head back to the right. Let's push blocks!

Things start off great, but once I have them all in position and just need to push the top one a little to the right I realise: how am I going to get to the left side of that block without leaving the room and resetting the puzzle?



After a moment's thought, I remember I have a double jump. I'm able to push the block into position, which removes the barrier and allows me to weight the dais. The "you did something" sound plays, but what that something is isn't clear.



I head left and nothing obvious has changed, so I go back and take the upper right exit allowing me to reach the closed chamber at the left of the fourth screenshot. There's a Seal I can unseal here, but before I do that, take another look at the third screenshot: that moving platform wasn't there before. I believe this is what the dais did.



I jump to the seal and the barrier by the chest disappears. Then my jump continues and Lemeza hits the spikes.



I spend quite a while climbing up here before realising that the chest isn't actually open so there was no point doing it. The skeleton doesn't scan, either.



The exit takes me back to the big vertical shaft. I've unlocked a moving platform which can carry me back up to the rest of the stage, but I head back down to the bottom room intending to take another look at the chest. By luck I hit the giant in the eye while trying to get the enemies and this time I notice it makes a sound, which either didn't happen last time or I missed it. I whip it a few more times and the eye disappears to the accompaniment of the "you did a thing" sound. Maybe I should try that chest again:



Or maybe not. Whatever taking out the eye did, it didn't change this.



Low on health and facing an enemy I'm not sure how best to kill, I warp out and save. Xelpud comments on the ice, and what he says about not being able to make it less slippery seems to be true. So far as I can see, there's nothing listed in the manual that improves Lemeza's grip on the ice, although there are a few things whose descriptions don't make it clear what they do, so maybe one of those will help me out. I also warp to the Chamber of Extinction to get healed. Unfortunately I get the orange fairy, which seems to provide less healing than the others, but I'm still in better shape than before.



I return to the ice and attempt to get to the map. I fluff the jump, but the recently-unlocked moving platform brings me back up to try again. Also of note: the treasure chest in the third image here is now open. That must be what blinding that dead giant unlocked.



I fall down a few more times (not shown), but eventually make it to the map. Let's check it out:



So we're in the Graveyard of the Giants. That checks out. It looks like I've explored the lower left pretty well so far, but have more to do on the upper left and to the right.



Before that though, there's an open chest to be gotten to. I head back around and get the Gauntlet:



Sounds pretty good, but what does it actually mean?



The whip is now faster, that's what. It's gone from twelve frames down to eight (I'm recording at 30 frames per second, which I think is what the game runs at but I'm not sure). I wonder if the axe is less unuseably slow now?



I apparently wasn't thinking about that at the time, though, so I head back down and climb to the right side exit to see if I can explore that part of the Field. Unfortunately, the path is blocked. The whip produces the "ting" noise that indicates that I can break something, but not with this weapon.



Here's me trying out all my weapons (I've cut out going into the menu to switch between them), which coincidentally shows their new faster speeds. The knife is now on-screen for three frames (previously six), and the axe for sixteen (previously twenty-four).



I start heading left again, then realise that rather than climbing back up and dealing with all the ice I can just warp back to the Mausoleum and re-enter, so I do that and take the ladder upwards. There's another dead giant up here (headcount: eight).



With a bit of slipping and sliding, I manage to take out the enemies. The one on the bottom that shoots out spikes is new. Kind of reminds me of Dr. Seuss, for some reason.



The stele has another cryptic message. Presumably this refers to the Endless Corridor.



I struggle a bit to reach the upper level, but get there in the end. Good thing I got the double jump before coming here.

The next room has a few bats and some daises. I hold off on placing weights for the moment, but I do read the stele before heading left. There's a tiny bit of ice on the lower level above the right ladder, which I suspect is there so that you'll slip into the wall, as I'm doing in the second image here. I'm not sure what the benefit of the hidden passage is, given you can walk past the stele above, but it's there.



The next room has another path to a different Field. This one has a reversed number 1 glyph. I can't climb the ladder to it though, because it doesn't reach the ground. There's also another giant body at the bottom of the screen (headcount: nine). The stele has another unclear message. The rogue it references could maybe be the wizard enemy in this Field (seen in the first image releasing what could be "many lights"), but I don't think I have any silver shines (maybe the Cross?) and I haven't had any difficulty dealing with them.



I have to push the block a little to get to the upper level. Once there I break the rock, revealing a wedge holding up part of the roof. I break it, causing the block to drop and separating the upper and lower parts of the screen. I didn't realise it at the time, but doing this will allow me to push the block over to the space under the ladder and so be able to climb it. I suspect that the daises in the previous room would cause the big ice blocks in there to drop, which would create pathways for getting up to this part of the Field without the double jump.



I carry on to the left and find another dead giant, this one with a shop under its knees. That brings us to ten giants, which is more than I thought there were. In the Mausoleum there are nine brothers, and I'd been assuming that they were the entire race of giants. Looking at the clues again, it says "Nine brothers led our race", so I guess the Mausoleum houses the remains of the aristocracy and the regular folk are in the Graveyard. Anyway, the shop sells a "real Shield". Anytime someone goes out of their way to say something is authentic you start to suspect that it's not, don't you? I buy it anyway.



The manual lists a Silver Shield (maybe the "silver shine" referenced a couple stele ago?) and an Angel Shield, but neither one's picture looks like this shield. In my inventory I still appear to have the Buckler, and when I equip it and hold it out it hasn't changed. Have I been ripped off? I go back in, expecting there to be another dodgy shield on sale, but it's still sold out.



I head down a screen for another dead giant (I'm going to stop counting now) and a clue on a stele that might have been more useful a couple minutes ago. Then I head right.



The next room has two of the nigh-invulnerable shelled enemies and a holy block. The stele has some pretty explicit sexual imagery. Is that the man's penis?



Anyways, I move to take on the shell guys. I find that by holding the buckler up I can block their shots. I think they can only be struck from the front, and I try using the axe because that's what I've used to kill them before, but I'm not doing well.



I try to take the other one out from below, but it seems my attacks aren't harming it, even when I'm on the ladder and so at almost the same height as it. I guess I need to actually be directly in front of it.



I think what I have to do is hold up the shield, stand in front of them, and attack with a fast weapon in between the fireballs. I can do that, but with almost no VIT now isn't the best time. I warp to the guidance gate and kill a few myrmecoleos to tip my EXP over and get a VIT refill, then head back to Xelpud to save.



On my return I go through the hidden passage I pointed out earlier.



It leads me to the altar. There's also a chest here that's already open (not sure what I did to open it). It contains Contra, a run-and-gun that some readers may have heard of. Apparently it's not as good on MSX as on NES. There's also yet another path to a different Field, this one with a reversed four Glyph. That suggests it leads to the reverse of the Spring of the Sky. The dais on the left side of the room I think probably drops the block next to it to the screen below, which would allow someone without the double jump to reach the chest with the map. I assume it's possible to reach this area without the double jump by entering from one of the other Reverse Fields.



I finish off the enemies and then take the lower right exit down. It takes me to the back of a door I couldn't go through before, but I'm not sure what the benefit of that is. I warp back to town and save. That's enough for today.



For next time, though: I'll clear up a few loose ends in the Graveyard, then head for another Reverse Field to explore. My options, as shown in the picture above, are:

Top left: Reverse Guidance Gate, entered from Temple of Moonlight
Top right: Reverse Guidance Gate, entered from Graveyard of the Giants
Bottom left: Reverse Spring of the Sky
Bottom right: Reverse Inferno Cavern

Which should I go for?



Maps:

Temple of Moonlight:



Graveyard of the Giants:

Clues:

Village:

"Have you found all the ROMS? Something good will happen if you do."

Guidance Gate:



Spring of the Sky:



Mausoleum of Giants:


Graveyard of the Giants:

"Only thy own strength can get thee through this frozen land."

"Art thou the chosen one or not? Proceed ahead. We wait for thee beyond."

"The confusion is endless. The Endless Key lies within the confusion. On top of the same word."

"MU is the name of the nameless one, the one who climbs to the sky."

"The rogue that releases many lights. He who does not hold the silver shine is doomed."



Endless Corridor:



Temple of the Sun:



Temple of Moonlight:

"This is the Temple of Moonlight. The lovely, female temple."

"Changing water to power, the Tower flies up into the sky."

"The sound of the flute is given to the pregnant woman."

"Four treasures and one treasure. Open them starting from the front."



Inferno Cavern:



The Maze:



Chamber of Extinction:






To-Do:

Anywhere:
-Clear each screen of enemies at least once
-Complete the software use and software combinations lists in the manual
-Get all the ROMs
--Have something good happen

Village:
-Go through invisible door at 4/1
-Return to hidden door at 4/2 with all the ROMs

Guidance Gate:
-Open treasure chest at -2/-2
-Reach and press floor switch at -2/-2
-Go through invisible doorway at -2/-2
--Check if it's opened since defeating Amphisbaena
-Scan skeletons: 2/-2 (upper)
-Get the Jewel in the mouth of the face on 0/-3
-Get the Jewel in the star at 0/-4
-Do something with the angels at 1/-3

Mausoleum of Giants:
-Decipher the legend of the giants
-Do something at the upper left of 2/-2
--Try again with the Grapple Claw to reach it
-Go through invisible doorway at 2/-2
-Do something with holy wall at 1/-1

Graveyard of the Giants:
-Get something from chest at 1/-3
--Kill the shelled enemy again
-Take the path to another field at -1/2, -1/-2, 1/1
-Scan the giant's head behind the rock at 1/-2
-Break the wall at 2/-1
-Scan stele: 2/-1 (x2)
-Weight dais: 0/2 (x2), 1/1, 2/-1
-Open barrier: 2/-1
-Do something with holy block at -1/1
--Kill all enemies on screen

Temple of the Sun:
-Scan steles: 1/-2 (several)
--Do something at gap in top row of steles at 1/-2
-Solve all the puzzles
-Do something with the wall that goes "ping" at the upper left of 3/-3
-Do something with the statue at 4/-2
-Do something with squiggles at 3/-3
--Bring the Woman Statue

Temple of Moonlight:
-Weight daises: -1/0, 0/3 (several)
-Break all the bricks in -1/0
--Try the axe
-Head through door at -1/0 to other Field
-Unlock and take the path to another Field at 1/3
-Open chest at 0/-1
--Try the dais again
-Open chests at 0/3, 1/2
-Do something with the reproductive system image at 1/2
-Get the statue in the room at 2/2 to say or do something
-Explore the Field beyond the ladder at -1/4
-Reach the middle section of -1/4, and from it the upper bit of -1/3

Spring of the Sky:
-Get the statue in the room at 0/1 to say or do something
-Reach the two circular objects in 2/0
-Defeat Bahamut
-Break wall at 1/-2

Inferno Cavern:
-Become impervious to lava
-Scan skeletons: -2/0 (x2), -1/0 (x2), 0/0 (x2)
-Unlock and take the path to another Field at -2/1
-Reach the two rooms at the top left of the map
-Find that which is not here, which is at another here
--Check the back
-Do something in the broken wall space at -1/-3

Chamber of Extinction:
-Open chest at 5/-2
-Get into lower part of 5/-3
--Enter from 6/-3 somehow?
--Unlock Birth Lock at 5/-3
--Push block (?) onto block space at 5/-3
-Step on footswitch at end of lower corridor at 6/-3
-Read stele at 7/-3
-Get past barrier at 7/-3
-Break the wall at the upper left of 7/-3
-Find path upwards to new Field at 7/-3
-Reach the rooms at the upper right of the map

Endless Corridor:
-Explore the Endless Corridor
--Find a way into the rooms below the top floor

The Maze:
-Release the twins
-Buy Dragon Bone (200 coins)
-Figure out the layout
-Go through the Twins' Gates
--Acquire the Twins' Souls





Birth Locks:
-Chamber of Extinction 5/-3

Life Locks:
-Village -4/1
-Endless Corridor -1/0

Death Locks:
-Temple of the Sun 0/-4

Fairy Locations:
-Spring of the Sky 3/1
-Chamber of Extinction 8/-3
-Temple of the Moon 0/-1

ROMs:



Glyph Key:

Go for the reverse Spring!

Silver Shine? Is that a lesser version of the Golden Glow from The Last Dragon?

(the shopkeeper scammed him with the buyable silver shield)

I'd say reverse Guidance Gate: let's go back to the beginning, but from the back this time.

Also, I assume "The rogue that releases many lights." is the quasi-invincible enemy, and if you fight it you are almost doomed indeed. I guess the silver shield will reflect its projectiles back to it and kill it. No?

Hello again. Before branching out into other fields, I'm heading back into the Guidance Gate. Last time it occurred to me that opening the doors between normal and reverse Fields might be dependent on beating the Guardians. Before I beat Amphisbaena, the door in the third screenshot here was closed. Now, it's open. Q.E.D.

I still can't get to it though, so I head for the Mausoleum and go through a door I can reach.



When I was putting together the previous update I noticed the giant head behind a rock here at 1/-2 on my map. On returning and scanning it, I find Sky Jaguar, a 1984 vertical shmup. Apparently it's pretty good aside from jerky scrolling due to the MSX's hardware limitations. There's also an unlicensed Sega Master System version that was put out in Korea. Going off what footage I could find online, it's pretty much identical, right down to the choppy scrolling. The SMS can definitely scroll, so that's a shame.



I head down a screen to take another shot at this chest. It's probably just the bait in a trap that I've already set off, though.



This time I come somewhat prepared, using the Buckler to absorb its fire. After a couple of interruptions I manage to take the enemy out, but I still haven't gotten anything from the chest.



When I leave the room and return, the chest is again closed and the dais unweighted. I try it again and the enemy reappears. I wasn't expecting it to, so I don't get the Buckler up in time.



I warp back to the Mausoleum and return to the Graveyard entrance. There are a bunch of daises near big ice blocks like the one in the second shot here. I assume putting down weights will make the ice blocks drop. Let's give it a go:



Yep. Let's see where it landed:



One screen below, where it creates a path to reach the map chest without the double jump. I have the double jump, so I don't need this.



One screen up and to the left of the dais I just weighted are two more, and two more blocks.



The first one makes the climb back up easier, which is welcome because I still struggle a little timing the double jumps to get full height. Again, if you got here without the double jump it would create a path you could cross. You'd have to come from a different direction, though, since I needed the double jump to reach the dais.



The other one completes the stairway. This probably actually makes things harder for me, since it means I can't jump up from the right side of the lower room. Maybe I should try attacking the wall to the right of where the ice block used to be, just in case. I'll add it to my list for next time.



I carry on until I reach these two enemies at map reference -1/1. Sensenic suggested in the thread that I might need to reflect their attacks back at them with the Silver Shield. My current theory is that killing them will remove the holy block and allow me to collect the Silver Shield. Let's give it a go.



The results are nothing short of disappointing. The block remains. Maybe I do need to come here with a better shield?



I try whipping the block with predictable results. I also probe pretty much every other surface in the room, finding nothing. I go through the door at the bottom, which seems pretty pointless since it just leads to an area of the room to the left that I could reach anyway. Looking at my map, I notice that the shaft to the right of the holy block dead ends rather than continuing to the room above, which seems a little odd. Maybe I have to do something up there to get into the shaft and enter the room that way to clear the block?



I've done about what I can figure out how to do in the Graveyard for now, so it's time to check out other Fields. Mogri responded first, suggesting I go to the reverse Spring, so I set off for that door. Incidentally, the rock I'm whipping in the third image here dropped 100 coins last time, but I didn't notice until I was playing this time and realised I had more money than I thought I would (it happened between this image and the next one in the previous update). It drops nothing this time.



Heading through the door I find myself in a small corridor with what looks like the stage proper in the background. On the other side is what appears to be a door to another Field. I guess I'll need to come back when I get Power Bombs.



I head through the door and find myself behind the wall I can't attack in the Temple of Moonlight. I was hoping for somewhere new. Oh well. Let's see if I can break it from this side:



Oh. That was unexpected.



With the Reverse Spring exhaustively explored, my next destination is the Reverse Guidance Gate, as per Sensenic's request. Which entrance was unspecified, but since I'm in the Temple now I might as well take that one, after dropping by the fairy for some VIT. There's a lot of stuff on this first screen. All those daises up top must be a puzzle of some sort.



The snakes here have a different attack pattern to the ones back in the village.



I whip a bunch of surfaces and kill all the enemies, but find nothing. That said, I didn't try whipping the bricks by the ladder I came in on. Maybe I should do that. Also, the dark patch on the back wall directly under Lemeza in the second shot looks suspicious to me. I should scan it. More items for my list!



I head left to another busy screen that I can't reach most of. I'm starting to think that I may have named the wrong area "The Maze". The clue seems likely to relate to the layout of this area, but I'm not sure what confusion I need to leap into. In the final shot of this image I'm trying to get off the ladder to the platform on the left, but Lemeza doesn't move that way. I can only get off ladders at the top or the bottom. Looking at these first two screens of this Field, there's no obvious way to get in to the middle section. Maybe the clue about courage is similar to the one in the normal Guidance Gate, which was advising me to pass through some spikes? If so, maybe I can jump through the spikes here to get to the platform with the blue dais? Anyway, I didn't think of that at the time so it'll have to wait for the next update.



A little hop over these spikes and I'm on my way.



This room is pretty much completely inaccessible from here.



The next room has a few steles in it. The broken one is blank, and the lower complete one has a riddle. I think the guy who went left is the truly wise one? Dunno. There are doors on either side of the stele, so I guess I have a choice between going left or going right.

Or I can put the decision off until later.



The next screen has several open chests and one that's closed. I head left again to a room with several closed upside down chests (no idea what that's about), but am stymied in my leftward progress by a one way door that goes the wrong way. Apparently not noticing the ladder that would let me reach the door in the level above, I head back to the wise fool stele. Time to decide.



As I said, it seems like the fool who went left was the wise one, so I go that way. That gives me a few options for proceeding, but I start by heading into the closed space in the middle of the screen. I drop a weight to enter an apparent dead end and then attack the wall at the end to find:



Nothing. Hmm.



I start to walk away, then think better of it and use the Hand Scanner in the space I've opened in the wall. I find Salamander, a Gradius spin-off released in 1987 which has the choppy scrolling so common on the MSX. Apparently it's a pretty different game to the other versions of Salamander.



I head up the ladder I haven't climbed yet and past a treasure chest that's not open. There's a jumping enemy still alive on the bottom level, so I think I have not yet cleared the screen of enemies. One more for the list. On the next screen I scan the broken stele, which is blank, and I do take out all the enemies. Nothing happens.



I head through the lowest door and this time take the ladder I missed before, which leads to a dead end, so I head back to the wise fool stele and this time go right.



I pass through a screen I've been to before. So far as I can tell I can't get to the upper section from here. I made a GIF of this because of something I noticed: if you watch the jumping enemy that knocks Lemeza down the hole, it passes through the wall of blocks at centre-right on the way to him. Presumably at some point I'll be able to get from one half of the upper section of the screen to the other through that wall.



I land in the upper bit of this screen, which allows me to reach the left side (not shown: me falling down the big ladder shaft on the first attempt and having to go back around again). The pot on the left has some coins.



One hundred coins, in fact. Not bad! I'm unable to jump through the wall to the right, and I can't break the block wall at the top or walk through it. The ladder on the top level takes me to the left side of the block wall in the next room up, but I can't get through it, either.



I think I've been just about everywhere I can reach in this Field, so I head for the ladder at the leftmost screen, along the way checking out the one path I hadn't taken (which leads to the dead end in the second screenshot of this image). The ladder takes me to the upper area of the Graveyard. So I guess I'll need to find another entrance to reach the upper parts of the Reverse Gate. The normal Gate has doors leading to the Temple, the Mausoleum, and the Spring. I've found entrances to the reverse from the Reverse Temple and Reverse Mausoleum, so maybe I'll find another in the Reverse Spring once I can get out of the tunnel?



I push the block over so I can reach the ladder back up to the Reverse Gate, then take it. When I return to the Graveyard, the block has gone back to where it was, meaning every time I want to go this way I'll have to push it again. That's kind of annoying.



I'll be leaving the Reverse Gate for now, but before I do, here's the map with where I've been overlaid in blue, and each of the other sections in a different colour. It looks like each coloured area is inaccessible from the others, aside from some where you can go through a one-way door to get out, but not to get in. I assume I'll get access to the red, green, white, and yellow areas from above, but how am I gonna reach the gray bit at the lower right? Maybe there's an item that'll let me go through doors backwards? Or there are holes in the floors above those areas?



Anyways, that's a problem for later. For now, I've got one more Field entrance to try out. I head for the bottom of the Graveyard. Along the way, I notice something:



These spikes are fake. I don't know why, though. Neither the whip nor the flares make a sound when they pass through, so I don't think the wall is breakable, and I can't jump into the wall. It's odd.



Anyways, I head through the doorway into the what I expect to be the Reverse Inferno Cavern. It certainly looks like it.



I move in and start taking on the enemies. There are fire lizards that turn into fireballs and float around the room, and some kind of winged bug that comes up out of the lava.



I scan the stele for a clue that reminds me of an earlier one (I'll get to it later in this update), then kill all the enemies and whip the various walls. I don't find any hidden passages or manage to get the chest open, though, so I move on to the next screen. Incidentally, did you notice the dais below Lemeza in the last screenshot here? If so, congrats, you're more observant than I was at this point.



I fall in the lava trying to whip the upper walls. Luckily my Ice Cape protects me from heat. I take out the flame lizards, again finding nothing, and move to the next screen.



I can't do anything from the bottom level, so I head left again and find what looks like a tower. The box doesn't drop anything and I don't find anything in the walls, so I head back to the right. I'll have to come back later and try going down the tower.



I have no idea what this clue means. The fairies certainly haven't been doing me any harm so far, though. I can't find a way to clear the holy block, so I take the ladder upwards. There's a few things going on on this next screen: I get some coins from the box, which is always nice, but there's a footswitch in an enclosed space near the upper middle of the screen I want to get to, and a closed passageway on the left I'd also like to enter. There's also a new enemy type. Can you spot it?



Look closely at this GIF of me checking for and finding a secret passage and you can see a black cat on the upper platform barely standing out from the background.



Heading through I find a room with several letters on the wall. What's this about? Well, remember the clue a few minutes ago:

And one back in the Graveyard:

There's an M and a U on the wall here. Let's try them out:



"Try" being the key word. I get the M ok, but accidentally hit the Y as well trying to take out a flying eye (which I miss by a mile). The floor drops out and I fall to the lava below. Again, good thing I have the Ice Cape.



On the plus side, this time around I notice the dais. Weighting it opens the chest on the screen to the right and I get another Life Jewel. I must be pretty close to the complete set of these, judging by the length of my VIT bar.

I head back up to the MU room and this time spell it out without incident, scoring an Ankh Jewel for my troubles.



I head back left and take the other path. The stele gives another clue I don't know what to do with. If I meet any large earthen dolls (the giants?) I'll check them for flying golden keys.



I reach the top of the tower, and a flying monster that shoots lightning. I'm able to take it and the other enemies out with only minimal injury to Lemeza, but this probably would have gone better if I'd used the Shuriken instead.



I'm having pretty good luck with secret passages today! I head up to the top left and whip the wall until it (and another spot lower down) breaks open. I do find myself wondering just how many of these I've missed in other places, though.



In the next area I take on another black cat and get hit by an invisible enemy. That doesn't seem fair.



Once again I don't know what the clue means. Is the iron bird the lightning monster I just killed? An aeroplane? Is it a good thing or a bad thing if the goddesses depart? I whip the walls here a bit, then take the ladder up. As I enter the next room, the detector beeps, indicating a hidden door on this screen.



I kill all the enemies and break all the pots, but no hidden doors are revealed. Striking the block at the top centre of the room makes a "ping" with all my weapons, though, so I guess I'll be back here to open a door when I have a few more options. "That which moves to fast to see" might be the invisible enemy in the room below. If I find a way to stop time, I'll come back to it.



I head left. There's another chest here.



To my surprise, it opens when I kill the second cat, revealing the map.



I get the map and take a look. "Tower of Ruin", eh? If there was any doubt that this is the reverse of the Inferno Cavern, it's gone now. I've included the Cavern's map, with its similar layout. There were a lot of clues in and around the Cavern that talked about other heres, or checking the back, and I've stuck in one of those, too. It seems to show the Cavern on the left, laid on top of the Tower on the right. There's a little picture of the tower I saw earlier on it. I think the little image at the lower right of the clue picture might be of an Ankh Jewel, which is perhaps the thing which is not here but is here. The room where I got the Ankh Jewel isn't shown on the tower map, but is on the Cavern map. There are two rooms at the upper right of the Tower map that aren't on the Cavern map, maybe I should look for hidden passages into that area in the Cavern?



I do my usual whipping of the walls and head left, where I find three short dead ends, one of which has another stele. I have to head back right a couple screens to reach the bottommost passage. I was hoping to take out all the enemies in the map room, but they respawn when I leave so I haven't done it yet.



The leftmost screen of the Field (at least according to the map) is mostly inaccessible, but I do manage to break a pillar from below, revealing a dais. Once I make it to the upper section, I'll weight it. The sign at the upper left suggests the doorway here goes to the Reverse Guidance Gate.



Having reached one end of the area, I decide to warp out and call it a day. Xelpud gives me some advice I haven't seen before, which I assume relates to one of the three new areas I've visited today. Presumably the Tower, since I was there most recently and got the map, although it seems to relate more closely to the Reverse Gate. I try going in and out a few times to see if he'll give any more clues, but he doesn't. I save and quit. See you next time!

Maps:

Reverse Spring:



Reverse Gate:



Tower of Ruin:

Clues:

Village:

"Have you found all the ROMS? Something good will happen if you do."

Guidance Gate:



Reverse Guidance Gate:

"Thou wilt not find thy way by just wandering. Courage to leap into the confusion will grant thy wish."

"A fool thought he was wise because he was a fool. Small minded, he went right. A fool was wise but thought he was a fool and thus was. Self-depricating, he went left. There is only one true path. May ye be truly wise."

Mausoleum of Giants:



Graveyard of the Giants:

"Only thy own strength can get thee through this frozen land."

"Art thou the chosen one or not? Proceed ahead. We wait for thee beyond."

"The confusion is endless. The Endless Key lies within the confusion. On top of the same word."

"MU is the name of the nameless one, the one who climbs to the sky."

"The rogue that releases many lights. He who does not hold the silver shine is doomed."



Endless Corridor:



Temple of the Sun:



Temple of Moonlight:



Spring of the Sky:



Inferno Cavern:

"Strange, these ruins are strange. This shouldn't be a dead end..."

"Discover where the truth of this land lies."

"This is the Inferno Cavern. A place that was once a source of power."

"If you can't find something important where it should be, check the back."

"The imprisoned twins. The man that runs faster than anyone will free them."

"What is here is not everything. This is the critical location. Take another path and return to this land again."



Tower of Ruin:

"The kind, mischievous fairy. The kind, lonely fairy. Her mischief is innocent. Innocent mischief will do thee no harm."

"The large earthen doll, It carries the flying golden key."

"The flying iron bird. Distressed at its travel, the goddesses depart."

"That which moves too fast to see. Even stopping time cannot stop its movement."

"The people who created Nu Wa, those who imitate the power of the Great Mother. The power to create life. The power to create us. That wish goes unfulfilled."

The Maze:



Chamber of Extinction:






To-Do:

Anywhere:
-Clear each screen of enemies at least once
-Complete the software use and software combinations lists in the manual
-Get all the ROMs
--Have something good happen

Village:
-Go through invisible door at 4/1
-Return to hidden door at 4/2 with all the ROMs

Guidance Gate:
-Open treasure chest at -2/-2
-Reach and press floor switch at -2/-2
-Go through invisible doorway at -2/-2
--Check if it's opened since defeating Amphisbaena
-Scan skeletons: 2/-2 (upper)
-Get the Jewel in the mouth of the face on 0/-3
-Get the Jewel in the star at 0/-4
-Do something with the angels at 1/-3

Reverse Guidance Gate:
-Weight daises: -1/0, 0/0 (several)
-Try to break bricks next to entrance ladder at 0/0
-Scan dark spot in background at 0/0
-Scan stele: -2/1 (upper), -1/0, -1/1, 0/0
-Open barrier: -1/0
-Scan skeleton -1/0
-Try jumping through the spikes at -1/0
-Open chest -4/1 (x3), -3/1
-Enter door -4/1 (upside down)
-Kill all enemies at -3/1
-Pass through block wall at second-lowest level of -1/1

Mausoleum of Giants:


Graveyard of the Giants:
-Get something from chest at 1/-3
--Kill the shelled enemy again
-Take the path to another field at -1/2, -1/-2, 1/1
-Scan the giant's head behind the rock at 1/-2
-Break the wall at 2/-1
-Scan stele: 2/-1 (x2)
-Weight dais: 0/2 (x2), 1/1, 2/-1
-Attack wall to right of where ice block was at 0/2
-Open barrier: 2/-1
-Do something with holy block at -1/1
--Kill all enemies on screen
--Try to reflect enemies' attacks with Silver Shield
--Get into shaft at right of -1/1 from -1/2 somehow
-Do something with fake spikes at -1/-2

Temple of the Sun:


Temple of Moonlight:
-Weight daises: -1/0
-Break all the bricks in -1/0
-Head through door at -1/0 to other Field
-Unlock and take the path to another Field at 1/3
-Open chest at 0/-1
--Try the dais again
-Open chest at 1/2
-Do something with the reproductive system image at 1/2
-Get the statue in the room at 2/2 to say or do something
-Explore the Field beyond the ladder at -1/4

Spring of the Sky:


Reverse Spring
-Reach the stage outside the small corridor at 0/0
-Kill all enemies at 0/0
-Break brick block at 0/0
-Read stele: 0/0

Inferno Cavern:
-Unlock and take the path to another Field at -2/1
-Try to find a passage leading right from -2/1
-Reach the two rooms at the top left of the map
-Find that which is not here, which is at another here
--Check the back
-Do something in the broken wall space at -1/-3

Tower of Ruin:
-Clear holy block at -2/0
-Enter closed passage at left of -2/1
-Step on enclosed footswitch in -2/1
-Read stele: -3/1
-Break box: -3/1
-Find hidden doorway in -4/2
--Break upper middle wall
-Stop time in -4/1
-Kill all enemies in -6/2, -5/2
-Weight dais in -6/2

Chamber of Extinction:


Endless Corridor:


The Maze:






Birth Locks:
-Chamber of Extinction 5/-3

Life Locks:
-Village -4/1
-Endless Corridor -1/0

Death Locks:
-Temple of the Sun 0/-4

Fairy Locations:
-Spring of the Sky 3/1
-Chamber of Extinction 8/-3
-Temple of the Moon 0/-1

ROMs:



Glyph Key:

So wait, does this mean all three doors have tigers?

The puzzle seems to be indicating that neither the left or right paths are the correct one, yes.

My first thought on the fool clue is that it was telling you to go neither left nor right, which leaves... up?

That makes a lot of sense. I wish I’d thought of it! I’ll try it next time.

A+ Maridia tube joke.

I'm pretty sure I would have resorted to a walkthrough by now. Really cool to see you persevering and figuring stuff out!

Here we are again. Last time I had a run around in the reverse of the Inferno Cavern, and decided to try to reach an area visible on the reverse map but not the normal one. On the way I stop by this alcove again. There must be something there, right?



As it turns out, there is! This is Konami Game Collection Vol. 2, a compilation of Konami's Boxing, Konami's Tennis, Video Hustler, Hyper Olympic 1, and Hyper Sports 2. Not a super appealing set to me, to be honest. It turns out I just needed to use the Hand Scanner in here. Pretty obvious, in retrospect.



I head for the uppermost room of the Cavern that I've been to. On the map of the Tower of Ruin there are two rooms to the right of this room, which makes me think maybe there are hidden rooms there in the Cavern, but if there are I don't find them. I also took a look at the rooms underneath where the hidden rooms would be, but I don't find anything there, either.



I spend a little time wandering around to jars and rocks that I know have subweapon drops, then head for the Tower of Ruin. I go to the tower itself. Last time I didn't try going down from this screen.



Huh. I can't go down from this screen. The big cables on the left seem to be blocking me.



I head back to the right and start going up. The closed areas on the left side of this screen are bugging me. Can I break a wall there or something?



Oh. I guess I can just walk through the wall.



I explore the space a little and manage to push the button. A sound plays, but nothing obvious happens.



I make my way into the left passage and from there down a screen, where I find that the holy block has disappeared. Nice!



I get the Spear!



As with the other subweapons, picking up the Spear doesn't get me any ammo for it, but the game is kind enough to put some in the nearby box. Let's give it a go:



It doesn't go entirely smoothly, but it works pretty much as advertised. It's basically a downward flare.



I take my new toy back to the tower and use it to clear the screen of enemies. When I take out the two on the lower level, a ladder appears allowing me to get down there.



Down below I find the base of the tower, sitting on a pool of lava. There's a door back to the front here, but since I haven't killed the Guardian in the Cavern yet it's closed. The stele gives another mystifying clue.



As on the level above, I don't seem to be able to step off of the tower. I head back up.



I scan the stele in the room with the lightning beast, which I missed last time. The medicine of life sounds nice, and I think I know where the invisible enemy is: one screen to the left. Let's wave a weapon around randomly and hope to hit it!



This isn't working. There was a clue about stopping time that I thought might apply to this room. I'll come back when I know how to do that.



I head up and go to the left. I thought I might get something for clearing these rooms of enemies, but no such luck.



I go back a couple of screens and then right to a screen I haven't been to before. There are a few things happening here: a stele, flying eyes and a cat that are both hard to see against the background, and a mysterious one-way door that exits a tiny closed space.



I break all the boxes and read the stele. The image looks a lot like the star in the upper right of the room. I think I've seen one of these in almost every Field so far, but I stopped taking notice of them because I didn't seem to be able to do anything with them. In retrospect, they were obviously there for some reason. I guess they'll allow me to move from the front to the back? But the ones on the walls are blue, not red, and I haven't found any way to interact with them. Oh well.



I make an attempt to reach the closed space behind the door by jumping through the wall like I did earlier, but it doesn't work.

I try the other wall and find a doorway, but fail to get to it.



The next try goes better.



Inside, a computer sits silent. It's similar to the statues I've seen in a few other places, I guess.



I get back to trying to get into the space behind the one-way door. The knife and Throwing Knife make a "ping" at the spot in the second and third shots. The axe doesn't make any noise for whatever reason.



Perhaps predictably, the Spear is the key. But now that I'm in there, what can I actually do?



I equip the Hand Scanner and start scanning, eventually finding Shin Synthesizer, which as the name suggests is a music creation program. Looks pretty cool, actually.



Put the cart in Lemeza's MSX and press F4 to run it and you enter Music Mode, i.e. the sound test.



There are lots of tracks, although it doesn't seem to let me play some of them. In GIF form with no sound obviously something is lost here. Scroll far enough through the titles and it seems to glitch out and start showing text that looks like it belongs on steles. Spoilers!



I head up another screen, where I find the altar, some flame lizards, and a bunch of fairies. Are these the ones referred to in this stele from last time?

Hey! What's happening in the second image here? I didn't notice this while playing, or even at first when writing this, but there's a red-clad Lemeza clone at the upper right of the second picture. Could it be his missing Dad? Let's go back for another look:



Whoa! I would have completely missed this if I weren't doing the LP. Whoever that is, I should track him down.



Here are Lemeza and his dad, Shorn, as depicted in the manual, and Lemeza and this red guy in the game. Although they look very similar, there are slight differences in their sprites' faces. The red one might be wearing glasses, like Shorn?



Anyways, here's my entire time on this screen so you can see the fairies' movement. They circle in one direction, then stop and go the other way.



I warp back to town to save, and pick up a new clue from Xelpud. I guess maybe the guy I just saw was one of the Four Sages? I think it's probably either Shorn or maybe some kind of Mirror Lemeza, though. I wonder if he's made other appearances that I just didn't notice? Anyways, I head back in to the ruins. My next destination is the Reverse Gate, but along the way I pass through the Graveyard. Directly below where Lemeza stands in the last screenshot is the vertical shaft in the room with the holy block and two fireball enemies. Now that I have the Spear, can I open it?



Nope! I'm able to get a "ping" sound from the whip, knife, axe, Throwing Knives, and Spear, but nothing seems to be able to break it.



I head up the ladder into the Reverse Guidance Gate. Last time I was here I had various ideas about how I might proceed involving breaking walls and scanning particular spots. Then it was pointed out in the thread that the puzzle where the fools went left and right probably required me to go up and that was so obviously correct that all my other ideas seemed meaningless. Still, I rush around trying to whip walls, jump through spikes, and scan dark spots. None of it gets me anywhere.



So I return to the left/right room. It's obvious now that there's a hidden ladder here.

This is probably what this clue is about: you press the up key both to jump and to climb ladders. Let's try it out:



Oh. Maybe not?



Or maybe so! As is so often the case, persistence is the key. I've gained access to at least some of the upper levels.



Thanks, game.



I head left and break a pot. Then:



I'm teleported two screens to the right. That explains all the apparently inaccessible bits of this Field: I'm in a teleport maze. Ugh.

Before I can proceed, I'm knocked back by a flying eye and teleported again.



I start heading right, then jump into another warp. I'm going to spend a lot of the rest of my playtime this update trying and failing to find this spot again. Good thing I was able to review the video afterwards. Anyways, in the previous update I saw an enemy pass through the wall to my immediate right. Can Lemeza do it too?



Yep! Before I'm able to capitalise on it I'm knocked back into the warp point by another enemy and teleported away. As I mentioned, I won't find the warp point to get back to this little area again, so next time I'll be coming here again to try to reach the ladder at the right and from there go up. I might also try and see if there's a hidden ladder to the bottom right corner of the room, which looks like my path to the closed area below.



I start heading to the upper floor of the screen I've been warped to. At this point my oven timer goes off and I have to pause for a few minutes to sort out dinner. Normally I wouldn't point this out, but:



I have no idea why this chest opened. Is it because I passed in front of the open chest? Is it because I'd passed in front of all of the open chests? Is it because I spent a long time on this screen (which is why I mentioned pausing the game)? Anyway, there's the map. I can't reach it from where I am, but next time I'm in the bottom part of the area I'll pick it up.



I carry on to the left. I try to enter the upside down door on the ceiling, but can't, so I take the ladder upwards. I get a look at another room, but can't reach it in any substantial way. Maybe there's a teleport that'll help?



I head back into the teleport maze, where a stele gives some encouragement. I will definitely continue to be lost, for the record.



I head left from the stele and find another two warp points. The second one takes me back to the lower portion of the area, somewhere I've been before.



I take the opportunity to pick up the map and learn that I'm in the Confusion Gate. That's a very apt name. Then I head back up the invisible ladder and into the confusion.



This dead end doesn't have a teleport, but I find Q-bert, a 1986 port of a classic game that I had a DOS version of as a kid but could never get into. I think the diagonal movements were too confusing for me. The MSX version looks a little different to what I remember.



I wander around the maze a little. If you're finding this confusing then I've managed to convey the experience accurately.



Here's another warp sequence.



I wander around for a while trying to find the path to the upper right or the maze or any teleports that lead anywhere else, but get nowhere. Rather than show all of that, here's a portion of my map of this Field. Teleport starting points are in capital letters, landing points lower case. The one marked "Z" is my next target: it should let me reach the ladder upwards at the very right. I should also check for spots I might have missed to the right of Z by jumping in between the other blocks.



My new ROM, Q-bert, is listed in the manual as combining with Diviner Sensation to do something. What exactly is unspecified. I go into the MSX2 window and put the two ROMs in the slots. A sound plays to signify that it's a valid combination, which is good to know about because it means I can start combining various ROMs and I'll have a way of knowing which combinations do something, even if I don't know what that something is. I thought I'd read about that sound in the manual, but I couldn't find it. Turns out, it's in the English patch's readme file:

There's something else in there that I also thought I'd read in the manual but had been unable to find again:

This arguably violates my spoiler policy but is useful information. This is part of the reason I haven't gone back to Bahamut, by the way. If I get totally stuck I'll do it, but until then I'm going to try to avoid killing any more Guardians.



Anyways, for now I have two ROMs equipped that I know do something together. But what?



I warp to the Chamber of Extinction and head for the fairy there. Diviner Sensation alone lets me summon healing fairies, maybe in combination with Q-bert it will change the summon somehow?



It seems that it does! Instead of a healing fairy, I get one holding a big key. Where do I need to unlock something?



My first idea is the Endless Corridor, where I first met the Fairies and where I need to unlock access to the lower floors. When I get there though nothing happens and I remember that what I probably need to do to go down a floor is unseal the Life Lock. So I warp back to the village to save. The fairy comes along, then fades away. I suspect maybe the fairy is the key to the blue crosses I've seen in the backgrounds of so many Fields, but looking in to that will have to wait for next time. There are also various treasure chests I haven't opened yet, maybe I should take a fairy to one of those?



For now, though, I save and quit.

Maps:

Confusion Gate:



Tower of Ruin:

Clues:

Village:

"Have you found all the ROMS? Something good will happen if you do."

"The traps and tricks in the ruins are said to have been set by the Four Sages. They wait for you to come."

Guidance Gate:



Confusion Gate:

"Thou wilt not find thy way by just wandering. Courage to leap into the confusion will grant thy wish."

"A fool thought he was wise because he was a fool. Small minded, he went right. A fool was wise but thought he was a fool and thus was. Self-depricating, he went left. There is only one true path. May ye be truly wise."

Mausoleum of Giants:



Graveyard of the Giants:



Temple of the Sun:



Temple of Moonlight:



Spring of the Sky:



Inferno Cavern:



Tower of Ruin:

"The kind, mischievous fairy. The kind, lonely fairy. Her mischief is innocent. Innocent mischief will do thee no harm."

"The large earthen doll, It carries the flying golden key."

"The flying iron bird. Distressed at its travel, the goddesses depart."

"That which moves too fast to see. Even stopping time cannot stop its movement."

"The people who created Nu Wa, those who imitate the power of the Great Mother. The power to create life. The power to create us. That wish goes unfulfilled."

"The left eye sees Kindness."



Chamber of Extinction:



Endless Corridor:



The Maze:






To-Do:

Anywhere:
-Find Shorn Kosugi
-Find the Four Sages
-Clear each screen of enemies at least once
-Complete the software use and software combinations lists in the manual
-Figure out what the key fairy does
--Take her to the blue crosses
-Get all the ROMs
--Have something good happen

Village:
-Go through invisible door at 4/1
-Return to hidden door at 4/2 with all the ROMs

Guidance Gate:
-Open treasure chest at -2/-2
-Reach and press floor switch at -2/-2
-Go through invisible doorway at -2/-2
-Scan skeletons: 2/-2 (upper)
-Get the Jewel in the mouth of the face on 0/-3
-Get the Jewel in the star at 0/-4
-Do something with the angels at 1/-3

Confusion Gate:
-Weight daises: -1/0, 0/0 (several)
-Try to break bricks next to entrance ladder at 0/0
-Scan dark spot in background at 0/0
-Scan stele: -4/2 (x3), -2/1 (upper), -1/0, -1/1, 0/0
-Open barrier: -1/0
-Scan skeleton -1/0
-Try jumping through the spikes at -1/0
-Open chest -4/1 (x3), -3/1
-Enter door -4/1 (upside down)
-Kill all enemies at -3/1
-Pass through block wall at second-lowest level of -1/1
-Take the warp (Z on my map) at -2/1 to reach the lower right of -1/1
--Check for a hidden ladder downwards from there
--Try to reach the ladder upwards from there
-Check for more warps to the right of point Z
-Break wall at -4/2
-Push block to climb ladder at -4/2

Mausoleum of Giants:
-Decipher the legend of the giants
-Do something at the upper left of 2/-2
--Try again with the Grapple Claw to reach it
-Do something with holy wall at 1/-1

Graveyard of the Giants:
-Get something from chest at 1/-3
-Take the path to another field at -1/2, -1/-2, 1/1
-Break the wall at 2/-1
-Scan stele: 2/-1 (x2)
-Weight dais: 2/-1
-Attack wall to right of where ice block was at 0/2
-Open barrier: 2/-1
-Do something with holy block at -1/1
--Try to reflect enemies' attacks with Silver Shield
--Get into shaft at right of -1/1 from -1/2 somehow
---Break floor in -1/2
-Do something with fake spikes at -1/-2

Temple of the Sun:
-Scan steles: 1/-2 (several)
--Do something at gap in top row of steles at 1/-2
-Solve all the puzzles
-Do something with the wall that goes "ping" at the upper left of 3/-3
-Do something with the statue at 4/-2
-Do something with squiggles at 3/-3
--Bring the Woman Statue

Temple of Moonlight:
-Weight daises: -1/0
-Break all the bricks in -1/0
-Head through door at -1/0 to other Field
-Unlock and take the path to another Field at 1/3
-Open chest at 0/-1
--Try the dais again
-Open chest at 1/2
-Do something with the reproductive system image at 1/2
-Get the statue in the room at 2/2 to say or do something

Spring of the Sky:
-Get the statue in the room at 0/1 to say or do something
-Reach the two circular objects in 2/0
-Defeat Bahamut
-Break wall at 1/-2

Reverse Spring
-Reach the stage outside the small corridor at 0/0
-Kill all enemies at 0/0
-Break brick block at 0/0
-Read stele: 0/0

Inferno Cavern:
-Unlock and take the path to another Field at -2/1
-Try to find a passage leading right from -2/1
-Reach the two rooms at the top left of the map
-Do something in the broken wall space at -1/-3

Tower of Ruin:
-Clear holy block at -2/0
-Enter closed passage at left of -2/1
-Step on enclosed footswitch in -2/1
-Read stele: -3/1
-Find hidden doorway in -4/2
--Break upper middle wall
-Defeat the invisible enemy (probably at -4/1)
--Get the medicine of life
-Stop time in -4/1
-Kill all enemies in -6/2, -5/2
-Weight dais in -6/2
-Do something with the blue cross at -3/2
-Interact with the computer in the room at -3/2
-Reach the fairies at -3/3

Chamber of Extinction:
-Open chest at 5/-2
-Get into lower part of 5/-3
--Enter from 6/-3 somehow?
--Unlock Birth Lock at 5/-3
--Push block (?) onto block space at 5/-3
-Step on footswitch at end of lower corridor at 6/-3
-Read stele at 7/-3
-Get past barrier at 7/-3
-Break the wall at the upper left of 7/-3
-Find path upwards to new Field at 7/-3
-Reach the rooms at the upper right of the map

Endless Corridor:
-Explore the Endless Corridor
--Find a way into the rooms below the top floor

The Maze:
-Release the twins
-Buy Dragon Bone (200 coins)
-Figure out the layout
-Go through the Twins' Gates
--Acquire the Twins' Souls





Birth Locks:
-Chamber of Extinction 5/-3

Life Locks:
-Village -4/1
-Endless Corridor -1/0

Death Locks:
-Temple of the Sun 0/-4

Fairy Locations:
-Spring of the Sky 3/1
-Chamber of Extinction 8/-3
-Temple of the Moon 0/-1

ROMs:



Glyph Key:

There is stele with a line about true fools and waiting, then a puzzle that potentially opened by pausing the screen. Hhhmmm.

I love that key fairy sprite.

These stupid crosses. I know how they are supposed to work but it still doesn't make any sense to me (in the remake anyway).

(huge ginormous spoilers for the remake and potentially for this as well)

In the remake, aren't they used with the Mantra puzzle at the very end of everything to get you into Mother's sanctum? Granted, it's been a while for me so bad memory, etc.

It is neat to see how differently the Gate of Confusion (Illusion in the remake) is set up in the original compared to the remake's.

LemeZA-X?

Ugh indeed. Are those ever not awful?

Maybe this clue refers to the key fairy? The fairy looks definitely different from the other ones, maybe it's a doll?
Or maybe it's a clue as to what the key opens?

Or maybe it's unrelated, no idea. u_u

The teleport maze was pretty bad when I was first playing it, but now that I've mapped it out it's not so bad. Most people probably wouldn't go to that trouble, though.

The key fairy might be the large earthen doll. I was thinking of something like the giants, but I suppose if she's a doll then she is pretty large - human sized. Not sure what to do with that idea, though.

Would anyone be interested in a making-of post? Something like this, talking about how I'm recording the game and how I'm making the screenshots and GIFs?

I would! There are games I'd like to LP in the future where I'd like to do GIFs like this, but have no idea how.