A very normal heroic adventure. Let's Play Lenna's Inception

Kalir · #1 06-30-2020, 06:00 PM

Hey everyone!

Let's play Lenna's Inception!

Released by Bytten Studios, Lenna's Inception is a top-down adventurey sort of game EXTREMELY inspired by the Legend of Zelda games, particularly the Game Boy and GBA iterations like Link's Awakening. At first glance, I'd be tempted to call it a knock-off, but it has a lot of heart and character to it that makes it worth showing off, despite its flaws. It's also got some procedural generation to it, which isn't perfect, but it does lend to replayability. There's even daily seeds and challenge runs if that's your sort of thing.

Due to this, as well as some other things, I'm going to be doing two playthroughs of the game, both video, ideally with guest commentary. I intend to use two different seeds as well for world generation, the first one being FUNKERDOME. Oh, and one more thing: I'd like to issue a general photosensitivity warning for this game, ESPECIALLY if you don't turn off the generation visualization. Not a super serious one, but there are some flickery effects that could be bad, and better safe than sorry, y'know?

PART 01

PERFECTLY NORMAL SCHOOL DAY
LEVEL 1 - MOTHER PENG'S ISLAND
REGULAR PUPILS
aturtledoesbite - BEAT - fanboymaster

Lenna's school is having a bad time.

NOTES

GAMEPLAY CUSTOMIZATION. You can choose between 8-bit and 32-bit graphics/sound for this game. I go for 32-bit because I like it more. We're also given the option to play different challenge runs, as well as the chance to use a specific world seed, using the name of the region the game takes place in. Charmville barely loses out to FUNKERDOME.
THE FIRST SCREEN IS AMAZING. The muted color scheme, off-beat music and the school/students having just a little bit of strangeness to their behaviour makes for a really strong first impression, as does the follow-up of Lenna falling out of her school, now a glitchy mess. That in and of itself would be a powerful and excellent opener for the game.
THE ELDER'S CAVE WRECKS IT. All of the subtlety of the school is gone, replaced with something right out of a Newgrounds parody animation. Having Lenna act as an NPC for the protagonist Lance is a nice touch, but the hamfisted "HAHA DO YOU GET IT" bloody scene just takes the wind out of the sails far too early.
LANCE IS THE HERO OF FORTITUDE. As an NPC, it is Lenna's responsibility to provide him with quests and aid so that he can defeat the archangels. The other villagers all over town talk about this as part of the framework for how both the world and society work, which I kinda like, but which a video LP format doesn't really have the time to go over in full.
RANDOMIZED ITEM APPEARANCES. Potions and tunics, which can carry the same sorts of properties, have different appearances in each seed, and they're sold at different vendors as well. Andres always sells one tunic and two potions for relatively cheap, and one tunic for not-so-cheap. Fortunately, our first tunic is a handy-dandy Fire Resistance Tunic.
A TRAGIC ACCIDENT. Alas, poor Lance, cut down before he could master using it. Lenna takes his sword, as well as his phone (can't exactly just leave it there) and the Power of Fortitude, one of the four powers that balance the land.
DUNGEON MESHI IS GOOD. Go look that up.
ARCHANGEL AZRAFLAIL. They're as first-boss as they come: spin the flail around, maybe throw it at the end, no biggie. The sword can cut the flail's rope easily enough, leaving Azraflail himself open to attack. By defeating them, the Power of Fortitude grants us the Archangel Heart, improving Lenna's life total!
CORRUPTED MEMORY #0. Nothing fancy here, just backstory about Lance and his family of heroes. His dad Claymore and his mom Stiletto were both slain by the archangels, so he's gotta step up and be the Hero of Fortitude way before he's ready.

Albatoss · #2 06-30-2020, 06:18 PM

This is a cool game! I played through it in 8-bit mode so I'm excited to see all the graphical differences in this playthrough.

aturtledoesbite · #3 06-30-2020, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kalir

Oh, and one more thing: I'd like to issue a general photosensitivity warning for this game, ESPECIALLY if you don't turn off the generation visualization. Not a super serious one, but there are some flickery effects that could be bad, and better safe than sorry, y'know?

I feel like this must have been added after you downloaded it; it's the very first thing I see when I open the game.

Mightyblue · #4 06-30-2020, 08:34 PM

Also, the layout of the students in the school is important.

Kalir · #5 07-01-2020, 08:15 PM

PART 02

THE PUN LIBRARY
LEVEL 2 - VUHUR SUBTERRANEAN SWAMP
ACOLYTES OF THE ELDER
aturtledoesbite - BEAT - fanboymaster

Lenna's gotta be the hero, I guess.

NOTES

PHONE CALL FROM THE E̶LDER̛. Lenna inherits Lance's quest to vanquish the archangels and stop the chairman of the Bankers' Guild. Not that, y'know, she particularly cares about either of those, but they might be connected to the mishaps of the school, so.
MEET PAIGE. In addition to a healthy supply of puns, Paige entrusts us with tracking down some of her missing books, and keeps us appraised of where the next dungeon is. She also smoothly leaves her number with Lenna, in case you want to call her up.
TRADING QUEST. We need to find something the office worker can use to help organize all her stuff. I like trading quests in Zelds!
SUDDENLY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES TALK. I haven't ever played it, but it's kinda fun hearing about it out of context.
I FIND SOME BOOKS. I have posts here, so I can put the books in plaintext here. And so I will!
PIECE OF HEART. As a standalone joke, having the pieces of heart be literal cardiac tissue would be fine, I think. But given that the game's already proven ready to jump right into gore for no good reason, it's not really a great sign. Still, these work exactly like they do in any other Zeld.
CYNICWYRM AND LANCERECNM IN THE CHAT. Hello!
SPECIAL ENEMIES. Enemies in the hidden caves around the land, as well as guarding the dungeon item, will always come with the benefit of one of the assorted potion types on deck. And since the potion types are randomized, you never know with 100% certainty what buff they're gonna be packing.
BOMS? They're ours, no rupees required. One of my favorite dungeon items in this game, so I'm glad we got them early. The blasts can hurt you, and they hit for two full hearts, so exercise caution!
ARCHANGEL TENTALUCHUS. This fight's considerably more involved than the previous one. Tentaluchus starts off by spitting ink bubbles, which you can destroy for more bombs. After that, he burrows underground, where you can unearth the tentacles with your bombs, then sever them with your sword. Feed him a bomb after that, and he'll start to bounce around the arena, then repeat the cycle. If you're a speedrunning sort, note that you can blast all the tentacles in one go if you time your bomb throw just right!
CORRUPTED MEMORY #1. Here we see the origin of the archangels we've been fighting! Some mysterious progenitor-archangel entrusted the Corrupted Memories to all of them. Fascinating!

BOOKS:

Historia Funkerdome:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elder Jesse

Much that was once known is now lost, as our historians forgot to write most of it down. After a calamity ended the previous age, the architects created an avatar of the world in four parts - Compassion, Fortitude, Wealth, and Truth. With this, they forged from dead stone and lifeless seas the land of Funkerdome. After their work was done, they handed the four powers down to the people of the land. Compassion was to be given to the royals, so that they should always treat their subjects with kindness. Truth was given to the scholars, so that they could retain the secrets of the world. Wealth was given to the financiers, so that economic gain would advance the societies of Funkerdome.

Finally, Fortitude was handed to the common folk, so that if any of the other three powers grew too great, they would have the means to stop it.

The Power of Wealth soon corrupted the financiers, turning them from men to monsters. From this heartlessness rose Chairman Mammon, an incorrigible creature of pure greed. As wealth disparity brought the world to ruin, a hero boy used the Power of Fortitude to fight back. Using magics provided by the scholars, the boy was able to traverse time itself and undo much of Chairman Mammon's destruction, as well as defeating him in a climactic battle.

The Power of Wealth immortalised the Chairman's soul, ensuring that his malevolent spirit will always rise to sow discord whenever the common people should become too complacent. The Funkerdome Royal Family consequently decreed that every generation a commoner would be appointed as the new hero boy, so that there will always be someone ready to rise up against Mammon.

Meanwhile, the use of time travel created a branching timeline, causing no shortage of headaches among the royal historians. It was decreed that to keep the history of Funkerdome straightforward and easy to understand, all time travel would be banned forevermore.

Ultimatum:

Beasts of Funkerdome:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prof. Bellua

#001 Bat
Although completely blind, this beast possesses a keen sense of hearing. Bat hearts are highly sought after for their healing properties.

#002 Slime
Do not be fooled by its Resting Blob Face-this creature wishes only to give you a good hug. Unfortunately, it secretes a painful acid.

#003 Marshmallow
Ingredients:

Egg whites
Gelatin
Sugar

#004 Skeleton
Skeletons are everywhere; there is one inside of you right now. Once free of its fleshy prison, a skeleton will look for ways to free its brethren. Some directly attack humans, while others turn to the finance industry.

#010 Whirligig
When an adventurer dies during a spin attack and does not become a skeleton, there is a small chance for a Whirligig to form.

#011 Crab Knight
When Queen Josephine knighted Sir Crabbe, she hadn't counted on an actual family of crabs overhearing. Now their descendants take it upon themselves to scour the shores of Funkerdome for miscreants and wrongdoing.

#013 Smileder
Every Smileder is secretly grinning at the joke it heard once, "Smileder? I barely know 'er!"

Dentists hate them.

#014 Sharktula
Unlike their Smileder cousins, Sharktulas have no sense of humor. Their idea of fun is drowning swimmers and eating babies.

#015 Snail
A sour, bourgeois slime that owns its own home, and poisons the trail for those that follow.

#016 Bombshell
If you approach it at the wrong moment, this boomer is prone to explode in misguided outrage.

#017 Dolphin
After the extinction of cattle, western society relied on dolphins for mass milk production. They have still not forgiven us for this.

#018 Pyromeleon
By turning transparent, it can focus light rays like a lens to ignite fire. It can often be found committing arson in dungeons.

#019 Pumpkin
If grown in slime-fertilized soil, carved, and sprinkled with blood, a pumpkin will develop a mind of its own. Pumpkins make life-long, loyal friends.

The 'Flawless' City:

DRAM Error Rate Analysis:

Kalir · #6 07-02-2020, 08:36 PM

PART 03

GLITCH DISCOURSE
LEVEL 3 - KAIN HIDDEN ISLAND
PUMPKIN FOOD
aturtledoesbite - BEAT - fanboymaster

Lenna makes a bunch of new friends.

NOTES

GLITCHES ARE JUST THE NEW ZOMBIES. What I mean by that is a lot of what BEAT was saying. They're a storytelling device that can be incredibly useful and very flavorful, BUT that very attractiveness has led to them sort of oversaturating media a lot, diminishing their impact.
SILVER SHIELD. I wish the shields in the GB Zelds had this functionality and I'm glad it exists now, but basically, the Silver Shield legit reflects all projectiles that the shield would block before. That's WAY more interesting than "oh you can block slightly bigger shots now".
STEALTH MINIGAME. Again, right out of the Oracle Zelds. Annoyingly, the camouflage potion/tunic does nothing to hide you from the invader, but the cardboard boxes on the ground apparently stretch to the ceiling and obscure all vision. It's not too hard once you know it, thankfully. Our reward is the Police Report, which does nothing.
GOURDON THE PUMPKIN. There's four companions you can have in the game, all of which can be dismissed or called back with the Pet Whistle. Henrietta is the one we start with, but she doesn't do anything. Gourdon, on the other hand, will fight alongside us!
YES I AM RECORDING. Yes I forgot to do that last time. Yes I have been doing this for years.
PAIGE JOINS US! Once you get 8 of the library books, you can have Paige travel as a companion! We immediately appoint Gourdon as interim librarian and bring Paige right into Kain Hidden Island. She is armed with throwing books and puns, and gains an extra heart with every book we find. Sadly, her damage is low, but still trips mercy invulnerability on enemies, so she's not strictly optimal.
GIANT CRAB! Watch this fight.
FISH LEATHER. It's the swimmy power. Ya swims with it. There's separate meters for faster swimming as well as diving, and you can still do those things while the meters are empty, but it'll damage you. No way to attack in the water, but the mobility and defense is solid, at least.
SPEED TUNIC. There's a lot of tunics you can use as permanent outfits for the bulk of the game, and the Speed Tunic is one of them. Lenna's default move speed is just a hair too slow for my tastes, so it's a favorite for sure.
DON'T BE LIKE IMMORTAN JOE. Just don't.
ARCHANGEL SANDOLPHIN. So, when you're fighting a boss with a piece of gear that's largely defensive, the way to make that interesting isn't to worry about how to do sick combo moves on them, but to make the fight mechanics more about avoidance, like what Undertale did. Sandolphin's a pretty nice exemplar of that, if perhaps a little simple.
CORRUPTED MEMORY #2. PIZZA! PIZZA TIME PIZZA TIME PIZZA TIME PIZZA TIME

BOOKS:

devchat-1992-05-12.log:

Clay Series vol. 7:

Kalir · #7 07-03-2020, 08:25 PM

Hey, just to be on the safe side: this update's got some of that mild photosensitivity warning sort of stuff in it, at around 7 minutes in up through the 10 minute mark or so.

PART 04

TRIOMINOES PIZZA
LEVEL 4 - CASTLE OF THE TENFOLD VENGEANCE OF RIV
STOCK JOCKEYS
aturtledoesbite - BEAT - fanboymaster

Lenna takes the long way to the bank.

NOTES

PIZZA TIME! You can order whichever pizza you like for 10 cents by calling the number, and it will arrive after 40 minutes of real-world time. Why? Why not, I ask?
NO HOLY WARS IN THE DISCORD. This is an important rule.
BRUCE THE BAT. The final companion you can have is a bat, who flies around and attacks enemies for you. Since Paige is the only companion who talks to us, we stick with her, of course.
MASTER OF NAVIGATION. Can't blame this one on the procedural generation, at least not entirely. This one is all me.
OCEAN TRAIN. Take me through the rain, far away from pain, wherever I deign.
THE DUNGEON IS NOT HERE. Instead, we find the Bankers' Guild. Lacking any better ideas, Lenna heads in to investigate and address the Chairman in person. But first:
GLITCHY CAVE. Cave's just having a real normal one. One of those mild photosensitivity warning sorts of ones.
STOCK MARKET MINIGAME. It's a slot machine, but with stocks. So... a slot machine, basically. There's a Steam achievement for doubling your investment in a single pull of the lever, and more than a few people dropping clues about what happens if you try to exceed the 999 cent withdrawal limit. We'll give that a shot later.
CHAIRMAN MAMMON. He drops us into the dungeon, which the Bankers' Guild built over, when we attempt to fight him.
THEN WE GET A LIGHTER. The lighter functions as something between the Zelda 1 Magic Wand and the Pegasus Boots, and ignites things that it touches. Despite it being a speed boost, I'm not a big fan of it due to how awkwardly it handles. You can also self-damage with it.
SECRET ITEM! In addition to the progression items you get from each dungeon, there are a few special items hidden throughout Funkerdome that do special things. The mines, for example, trade the ability to throw bombs in exchange for activating on proximity with enemies. They're good and all, but bombs are more direct and we run the risk of injuring Paige with mines.
THE PROCEDURAL GENERATION SHOWS ITS LIMITS. Procedural generation is at its best when it's spicing up what would otherwise be "filler" areas. You can add in unexpected things via the generation that make an otherwise-dull section of the game more interesting, or simply provide unexpected combinations of enemies or gear that wouldn't be something you'd see normally. It's not a dealbreaker for this game, and I know there's games that handle it worse (like Chasm) but the dungeons have already run out of ways to be interesting, specifically due to a lack of real setpieces that would fit in with a Zelda title.
ARCHANGEL SANTAQUIEL. As fun as this guy is thematically, the actual boss fight is a little annoying, due in particular to the inconsistency of the hit detection of the lighter. Is there supposed to be an opening in his rotation of moves? Does the snowflake shield do anything? It's really hard to tell, and the weird part is that it doesn't make the actual fight any harder.
THEN THINGS GET W̛E̛͏I̵R̡D͡.͘҉ Starting with the fourth boss (which, again, the order of bosses 2-7 is randomized with the world seed), bosses add a second, glitched phase to their attacks. Santaquiel, unfortunately, has one of the weakest iterations of this, especially if you do it right like I did and strike as soon as the phase begins. If you let Santaquiel build up momentum, though, ice scatters everywhere and you'll be bogged down by skeletons and just won't be able to do anything.
CORRUPTED MEMORY #3. Crabaddon is the best character in the game.

BOOKS:

Ś̵͝O̵̵̷S҉́͘͢

D̶́i̡͠͞͝a̷͘͝͠͞r͜҉͘҉͘y̵͠:

101 Uses for Hearts

Albatoss · #8 07-03-2020, 10:57 PM

I don't recall if I ever found a speed tunic, but I did find a defense tunic and kept that on the whole game.

Mightyblue · #9 07-04-2020, 12:04 AM

I think I rotated between the sword strength up one or the floating one.

Kalir · #10 07-04-2020, 08:04 PM

PART 05

THINGS LOOKING FINE
LEVEL 5 - VALLEY OF THE KOR WARRIORS
SELF-INSERT
aturtledoesbite

Lenna meets the Elder's acolyte.

NOTES

SHADOW TEMPLE. This imposing building in the middle of town is how you unlock the game's co-op mode. Just plug in another input and Shadow Lenna can join the team!
CLEANING UP WEST FUNKERDOME. Finding a few trading quest fellows, heart pieces, meteors, etc.
OH YEAH WE GOT SOMETHING FROM PRINCE DANIEL. The Power of Compassion allows us to show kindness to our enemies. Near as I can tell, this has no in-game effect, but it is an equippable item regardless.
AWKWARDGRANT IN CHAT. Hello!
BATTLE ON THE BIG BRIDGE. The Chairman isn't afraid to throw his financial weight around, quite literally. You can dodge and weave and deflect his coin attacks, and yes, those count as actual cents if you're interested, but he abruptly cuts his offensive short once you get close enough for him to recognize Lenna.
WE TRY TO PURSUE HIM, BUT... The Elder's acolyte, Delvin, interrupts us before we can make progress. His entire demeanor is really fishy, but he at least verifies that Lance's quest involves slaying the archangels in order to defeat the Chairman.
EAST FUNKERDOME! Right off the bat, we can see some new kinds of obstacles. Some of them, like the targets, make what we need to get past them obvious. The glitchy walls... that's less apparent.
PAIGE SIDEQUEST! Just take down 10 marshmallow enemies. It's a little annoying without the lighter, since they don't often spawn on East Funkerdome naturally.
I GOT A BOOK AND I'M LEAVING IT AT THAT. And by that I mean I'm still transcribing it in this post.
SWORD UPGRADE. As I keep mentioning, the Damascus Katana is broadly the better choice, since you can move while swinging it and it does plenty of damage, not to mention its powerful spin attack. I just can't say no to the heated Tungsten Sword, which burns enemies and can shoot lightning. No rule saying you can't get both, if you've got the meteors for it.
YEEEEAAAAH IT'S THE BOW. Nothing else of real merit happens in the dungeon. The bow shoots arrows, what do you expect? You can upgrade it at the blacksmith for much faster arrows, and it's nice for dealing with enemies like snails that can't be safely handled at range, but honestly, I prefer bombs.
ARCHANGEL CRABADDON. Hell yeah best archangel. Crabbadon handles almost exactly like a classical Gohma: struts to either side, occasionally dashing forward, and opens up first his claws, and then his mouth, to deliver more attacks. Interrupt with an arrow and you're done. This continues even with Crabaddon's glitched form, although the claws (now theatre masks) instead orbit around Crabaddon, and he no longer stops to attack, making the targeting a little trickier.
CORRUPTED MEMORY #4. The Chairman is another piece of the mystery archangel's plan, it seems. Also note that that money appears specifically when the archangel injures themselves with the scythe.

BOOKS:

Doctor Bones

The World Rap

The Lusty Archangel Maid

Bank With The Guild

Kalir · #11 07-04-2020, 08:05 PM

Related.

Albatoss · #12 07-04-2020, 09:27 PM

Aw man, I had no idea the Tungsten Sword could shoot lightning, otherwise I might have used it more. I did use the heck out of the Damascus Katana though, moving while slashing is just too fun.

Kalir · #13 07-05-2020, 07:59 PM

So uh... from here on out, let's just say that photosensitivity warning is in persistent effect, eh? I learned that you CAN disable all of the flicker and the like, but... not until the very end of the Funkerdome run. Anyway.

PART 06

PHONING IT IN
LEVEL 6 - LIL ENG FORBIDDEN NECROPOLIS
AXE MURDERER
aturtledoesbite

Lenna becomes seized with a sudden case of completionism.

NOTES

THE LEMON PAGES. Naturally, we call every single number in this book. For the record, they are not procedurally generated, so you can call any of the numbers listed in it from the beginning, if you'd like.
TOMBS & TENTACLES. You can play it online here if you want, although the language is a bit harsher than the in-game version. It is "beatable". I don't care to demonstrate, though.
THE WOODCUTTER'S AXE. In addition to destroying any trees (but leaving an impassable stump behind) the Woodcutter's Axe can open up hidden areas that can contain exceptionally rare items. The first hidden area we discover gets the woodcutter to give us the Error Log, which does not̀hing҉.
PAIGE'S DUBIOUS CELEBRATION. Just a sweet little cutscene, commemorated with Paige giving Lenna her Locket. It also does nothing, but it's the feeling that counts, you know?
I GO LOOKING FOR MORE SECRETS. Unfortunately, without certain items we lack, it's not especially reasonable to get anything from these hidden rooms. We really need, at the minimum, something to clear pits with.
AMULET OF STRENGTH. Level 6 doesn't give us anything to clear pits with, but we do, finally, gain the ability to lift heavy objects, including seashells, skulls, and empty cardboard boxes.
ARCHANGEL HEADRANIEL. I'd like to say there was more to the dungeon, but there wasn't. Headraniel is at least interesting to talk about, not least because his appearance changes drastically, and for the better, in 8-Bit. Beyond that, the fight here is more about quickly grabbing either the skulls he spits out, or the chunks of statuary he leaves when injured, and throwing them at him. Second glitchy phase is over pretty quickly and doesn't play too much with new mechanics, but it's a little more hazardous to avoid hits.
CORRUPTED MEMORY #5. Looks like Lenna's not the only person having an extremely normal one here.

BOOKS:

The Lemon Pages

Tombs & Tentacles

Mightyblue · #14 07-05-2020, 08:47 PM

RE: The dodge crabs, they can't dodge the hammer, but you also have to deal with its shitty hitbox.

Kalir · #15 07-06-2020, 08:58 PM

PART 07

THE PLURAL OF "NECROPOLIS"
LEVEL 7 - DASHI CURSED NECROPOLIS
JUST A HALLUCINATION
aturtledoesbite

Lenna experiments with clothing.

NOTES

HAMMY'S HOUSE. Blasting it open gives us the hammer, which has almost all of the destructive power of a bomb in a convenient infinite-ammo swingable form. This comes especially handy in fighting the heavily-armored Crab Knights.
HALLUCINATORY BATTLE ARENA. Hallucination potions, ordinarily, instantly summon a frankly terrifying amount of monsters into virtually every open space in the room. The Hallucination Tunic, however, introduces more measured waves. The only thing we get for doing this is the Beta Cup, which does nothing, and the Hallucination Tunic itself.
SPRINGTIME. The Spring uses the same slot as our shield, and allows Lenna to jump on command, letting her clear water and pit tiles with ease. For this reason, the Spring's dungeon is, to my knowledge, always generated after the Fish-Leather Shorts dungeon. I feel like if the procedural generation was a little more fine-tuned, that wouldn't be a big issue, but it is what it is.
THAT'S REALLY ABOUT IT IN THE DUNGEON. Seriously, give us some puzzle rooms with the dungeon item. The combat on its own isn't enough to sustain a couple hundred rooms of the exact same thing!
ARCHANGEL CATSIEL. Heavily inspired by the Helmasaur King, Catsiel attacks by alternating with a tail whip and a slam, the latter of which launches the TV from its head, letting us hit the weak point. The glitched phase is a lot more involved, and requires you to maneuver around to hit the switch from different directions, matching the inputs on Catsiel's screen. Pretty solid boss, although the procgen means that you'll have a very rare chance to see Catsiel without a glitched phase.
CORRUPTED MEMORY #6. Henrietta's origin story! And, I guess, an explanation for why the world is having such an extremely normal one.

Awkward Grunt · #16 07-07-2020, 07:09 AM

When I pointed out the Final Fantasy Adventure/Seiken Densetsu inspiration a few episodes ago I was mostly referencing the way the AI moves and attacks, where they mostly just wander around semi randomly and shoot all over the place.

Kalir · #17 07-07-2020, 08:30 PM

PART 08

NORMALITY I͜NĆR̡EASI̡N̵G̶
LEVEL 8 - GATE OF THE CHOSEN PEACE OF UHER
IMPROPERLY LOADED ENTITIES
aturtledoesbite - BEAT - Trynant

Lenna wiggles between spatial folds in order to get loot faster.

NOTES

LANCER RPG NONSENSE. I want to play it someday. In the meantime, I have this to chortle at.
SPRING SHOES! One of the first things you'll find in the Woodcutter's Axe areas is the Spring Shoes, assuming you find a way to cross the pits in your way. The Spring Shoes allow you to double jump, which is enough to clear a lot of the ledges in the overworld, apparently!
CHAIN. This upgrade to the Lasso makes it function much more like the Hookshot. It can be used for some of the puzzles you'd unlock the Spring Shoes with. I still don't care to use it.
ACCIDENTALLY WORLD WRAPPED AND SOFT LOCKED. Yes, you can world wrap in this game. It's usually a very unsafe idea on account of the ocean, which is unswimmable.
SECRET LABORATORY. As with level 4, level 8 has an existing installation on top of it. And wouldn't you know it, we get ourselves trapped down where Prof. Maxwell is! We solve some of the few non-procedural puzzles (which, as you note, require all of the items from previous dungeons to get through) and save him. But, as aturtledoesbite correctly points out, much of the puzzle is skippable, due to the pits around it. Hovering, or using speed with the Spring Shoes, can bypass a lot of it.
MORE ABOUT DELVIN. We already saw his disagreement with Prof. Maxwell, which I guess is why Delvin trapped him in the basement. Fortunately, Maxwell himself is happy to help out, and sends us into the 8th dungeon with the Quakemaker2000.
THE MOST NORMAL DUNGEON YET. Very clearly, we're getting something in this dungeon to deal with the glitchiness all around us, and even outside of those barriers, the entire place is a flickering mess.
YOU CAN PICK UP THE SNAILS WITH THE AMULET OF STRENGTH. This is a really good way to deal with them, but I haven't gotten the knack of it yet.
PHOENIX ASH. This item can be used to upgrade Henrietta. I'll show it off next run.
TRYNANT SHOWS UP EARLY IN THE DUNGEON. Howdy!
THE MISSINGLASSES. Very clearly inspired by the screenwarp glitch in Link's Awakening, the Missinglasses serve a few purposes. First, they work like a Lens of Truth, allowing Lenna to perceive and interact properly with glitched objects. Second and more importantly, while you have the Missinglasses on, any screen transitions you cross instead deposit you on the other side of the map. Properly used, this lets you use any room with an exit to reach effectively any room, including nonexistent ones, on the same map. The Missinglasses are cool as hell, and it's a shame (though an understandable one) that you get them so late.
SECRET BUOY. I, uh... don't know what it does. Let me know if you figure it out.
ARCHANGEL HATASIAH. Hatasiah is always last in the order, unsurprisingly given the requirement of the Missinglasses for the fight. Hatasiah's pattern is the most complex and involved one yet, with several phases you have to get through before she ever becomes vulnerable. Thankfully, the non-glitched form only takes two hits. The glitched form isn't especially dangerous in comparison, although you will need to keep the Missinglasses on hand to navigate the arena when it gets lasered, and keep the pressure on as much as possible so you don't get bogged down in the nearly-limitless spawns.
ALL ARCHANGELS DEFEATED. By recovering all of the Corrupted Memories, we claim the Power of Truth, which doesn't have an ingame effect, but is required to avoid the worst ending. Speaking of...
CORRUPTED MEMORY #7. We finally learn how everything started. How Lenna's school, and Lenna herself, got to their current states. What that mysterious specter outside of the Elder's Cave was, as well as how the Elder was killed. And, of course... what Lenna has really done.

Mightyblue · #18 07-07-2020, 10:31 PM

I believe the Buoy acts like a cheap version of the shorts; you can swim but you can't go faster or dive? I got mine in the same dungeon the shorts were in for my second playthrough so I didn't really explore the differences.

Torzelbaum · #19 07-07-2020, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kalir

[*]THE MISSINGLASSES. Very clearly inspired by the screenwarp glitch in Link's Awakening

Wait, do you mean screenwarp or screenwrap? Because the first NES Zelda has a screenwarp trick / glitch.

Albatoss · #20 07-08-2020, 07:58 PM

Aw man, I had no idea the buoy, spring shoes, or chain existed; I didn't know what the phoenix ash was for either. Seems like I missed a fair bit of stuff!

Mightyblue · #21 07-08-2020, 09:26 PM

Well, there's four types of bombs; landmines, as Kalir's gotten so far, glider bombs (which are controlled like the floor-fill dealios from Link's Awakening), and Bomberman bombs.

Kalir · #22 07-10-2020, 08:30 PM

PART 09

MISTY STEP
THE PALACE
ALONG FOR THE RIDE
aturtledoesbite - BEAT - Trynant

Lenna tracks down the Chairman.

NOTES

DO YOU ENJOY HURTING OTHER PEOPLE? Lenna used to be the mother of all of the archangels, the very same archangels that she has unknowingly slain and consumed the hearts of. She'll have to come to a reckoning with herself for that, but right now there's two other, more immediate problems: the Chairman's coup, and Delvin's meddling.
WELCOME TO G̴Ĺ̀͝ÌT͞͞C̢Ḩ̨͜ ̶́C̢͜Í͏T̷Y̨͡. Before this all went down, the name was just a goofy coincidence, not an actually descriptive moniker. But these days, well. It's riddled with corrupted tiles, full of high-tier monsters, and what NPCs exist move about quickly and erratically, and haven't got much that we can understand if we talk to them anyway.
STATUS EFFECT STORE. So, this place has a sidequest (or you can warp to the part of the map with the full store with the Missinglasses, either way). Long story short, since potions and tunics are functionally linked, this place offers a service where you can "dye" one of your existing tunics with a potion, replacing its old effect with an entirely new one. They also sell a few extra potions and tunics, so you can get some extras to work with if the seed hasn't been playing nice. Not saying it's cheap, but it's generally a better way to spend your money lategame than anything else.
WANDERING MERCHANT. There are four or so tiles in the game where the merchant can spawn, and you have to visit all of them for him to appear (that I know of). Once you do, he goes back to each of the four spots, until you hit the point where he forks over the Book of Changes, which tells your fortune and therefore does nothing. He also always sells a few key items, including runny blue potions (water) and a new bit of gear, dependent on the seed. In our case...
GLIDER. It's a bomb... that flies! Wooooooo! Apparently you can control it remotely? I've never experimented much with it.
TRACKING DOWN TRESSA. Pretty simple, provided you've already run into all the locations you need (i.e. the bank, which you need to enter before reaching East Funkerdome) and the strange cave. Our reward is Patent No. 950996, which does n͡oth̶i͏ng̵.
FINALLY DOING THE TRADING SEQUENCE. Water potion is traded for the red paperclip, which trades for the fishy pen, then the forged deed, then the briefcase, then the shirt, then the bear claw, and finally the Binoculars, which do something! Specifically, they let you preview what the screen ahead of you looks like! It's... not especially useful, but it can be nice if you're screenwrapping a lot and need to figure out if the area ahead is safe. And if you're a coward.
WITHDRAWAL LIMIT EXCEEDED. If you have any GILD stocks, you can ignore the withdrawal limit, otherwise the game tells you no. Regardless, on your first attempt, you get the Guild IOU. Guess what? It also does n̴ot͝h̨i͘n̵ǵ.
THE PALACE. And with that, we're finally at the palace, home to one of the game's rare instances of non-procedural dungeoning! It is entirely a navigation puzzle built around using the Missinglasses, complete with new warp tiles that throw you back to what could theoretically be called a "start". It is an absolute mess, but a mess with actual game design involved, so it comes across as much more enjoyable than the usual dungeons despite my messing up.
JUST THE PALACE. I am considerably slow about the entire debacle and take forever to figure out what should be one of the very first steps of navigating, so... that's pretty much the rest of the video as soon as we get in there.

Kalir · #23 07-11-2020, 08:04 PM

PART 10

WRONG SHOWDOWN
THE CHAIRMAN AND DELVIN
HEXIDECIMAL EYES
aturtledoesbite - BEAT - Trynant

Lenna starts over.

NOTES

CHAIRMAN MAMMON, OR IS IT GAMMON? The Chairman makes a very strong first impression by leaning waaaay into the capitalist pig angle... and then ruins it by requiring five cycles of the same spammed-two-moves pattern, during which you can only hit him once at the end, maybe. Oh well.
DISDAIN UP. We also obtain the last of the four powers, namely the Power of Wealth. Unlike the two before it, the Power of Wealth DOES have an ingame effect, attracting all pickups to the bearer from a long range. Not that we can get much chance to play with it, seeing as we go right from that to...
ARCHANGEL DELVIN. Among the many other things 8Fridge did, it swapped the properties of Delvin (NPC) and Lenna (archangel), so now he gets to be the final boss instead of Lenna. And this fight is properly flashy for this last showdown. Not only are we free to dive in and strike at him at any time he's stopped, he's got a wide variety of attacks that can be approached in a multitude of ways. The fight has four phases, but they all follow largely the same mechanics and strategy. First phase is just the skull orbs and tendrils.
BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF FUNKERDOME. The second phase is nice and scenic, in a way that plays to the strengths of the procedural generation, I think. It's also got a smaller arena, and two more attacks that Delvin can do: a scythe throw, and a weird kind of spindash, I think? Either way, sound cues are your way of dealing with the second phase, since they are very subtly different.
UNDEFINED BACKGROUND IMAGE. The third phase goes to a much more open arena, where you have to pursue Delvin after each spindash through screenwraps, but his attacks are unchanged beyond that. Note that while Paige stays out of this fight, she can be injured here, although it doesn't do anything.
T҉̨͜H̢͡͡͞͞Ì͝Ş̷̛͟ ̢͘͜҉C̴̛A̵̵N͢͜͞ ̧̧̢̕͢Ǫ̷̨̧͝N̡͢L̸͟Y͘͟ ̨È̴͜͡N̶͘͘Ḑ̶̛̀ ̛͢O̷̕͝͞Ņ͘͞E̸͡ ̢̛Ẃ̧͏̧Ą̨́Ỳ͝҉͟͜,҉́͠ ͠͝L͡͡E͏̵̡͜Ǹ͞N̵̕A̶̢̧̕͞.̴̴͝ As with the other archangels, Delvin breaks down to a glitchy form near the end. In this form, he loses the scythe and skull attacks, but can now weaponize Lenna's HUD against her, which has the same fiery properties as the skull orbs, but instead homes in on her. What's more, the heart attack does scale to the number of archangel hearts Lenna has acquired! It doesn't matter a whole lot since you'll just jump over it, but its there.
LOLDEAD. We'll pretend it's intentional so you can see the different dialogue you get for entering the Delvin fight with any deaths on file.
BREAKING DOWN OTHER FAMOUS GAME GLITCHES. There's some fascinating stuff there, if you know where you look.
EVENTUALLY, WE ARE VICTORIOUS. Delvin is defeated and the Game Cartridge is obtained. At this stage, we can either decline to blow out the dust (which kills us and ends the game) or reset it. I opt to do the latter, which leads into the ending for Funkerdome. But we're not done yet.

Mightyblue · #24 07-11-2020, 10:00 PM

Strength Tunic + Silver Bow is honestly a much easier way to fight both Mammon and Delvin, especially when you only have 4 hearts to your name.

Kalir · #25 07-14-2020, 08:19 PM

PART 11

LET'S TRY THAT AGAIN
WEST CHUNGUSBURG PLAINS
SEEN IT BEFORE
aturtledoesbite - fanboymaster

Lenna sets out to master the Power of Compassion.

NOTES

YOU'VE HEARD OF FUNKERDOME, NOW GET READY FOR CHUNGUSBURG. Really is just a Love Day situation over here, huh.
THE SCHOOLHOUSE IS A CLUE. Every student's desk tells you exactly what you need to pacify them, which does change on a per-seed basis. So, for our seed...
- Azraflail, also known as Asrabel, really likes "observing" people, and wants the Binoculars.
- Headraniel, or Draniel for short, has a fascination with fortune-telling, so we can give him the Book of Changes.
- Santaquiel, aka "Klaus", pays close attention to their finances. We can ease their worries with a Guild IOU.
- Sandolphin, or Sandy to her friends, is a fairly competitive sort, so we can give her the Beta Cup.
- Tentaluchus, who you may know as Luchas, has a creative and detail-oriented mindset that makes them a perfect fit for Patent No. 950996.
- Catsiel, or Catherine if you're not into that brevity thing, has a bit of a talent for woodcarving, and the only wood we can get is the Error Log.
- Crabaddon, which is a way cooler name than just Crabbe, is a bookworm at heart. Paige's heart belongs to Lenna, but she won't mind us showing off that Locket.
- Hatasiah, or Hattie, needs to see us after class. Oh, and we can pacify her with a Police Report.
NEW SEED, NEW ID GAME. Your early tunics play a huge part in how painless a run is. The Undead Tunic is... well, it's not bad, but it's too situational to carry a run the way a Strength or Speed Tunic would.
LANCE DIES AGAIN. I don't really know how you're meant to skip his death, and apparently the intended method is by a potion of some kind? Not what I'm interested in, anyway.
LOW HEART RUN. Upon obtaining Lance's Sword, we duck out of the first dungeon, which changes the makeup of the world slightly. In particular, the vast, VAST majority of cardiac tissue in the game gets replaced with meteors. Hope you like being at 3 hearts, forever. This is, however, a necessary step to getting the Power of Compassion, which only appears after exiting the fourth dungeon with its item.
WE GET OUR ACTUAL TUNIC. It's no Speed Tunic, but it does the job for sure.
AND THEN WE LOOT LEVEL 2. These early ones take no time a-tall, since they're confined to such small spaces, but later dungeons are far less reliable.

Mightyblue · #26 07-14-2020, 09:22 PM

iirc, there's only 3-4 guaranteed heart pieces in the world gen plus the two in the guaranteed shops. You realllllllly want Healing or Defense tunics for this run type.

The secret zones are a random grabbag of stuff, so no idea if the occasional heart containers you can find still show up in them.

Beowulf · #27 07-15-2020, 05:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kalir

LOW HEART RUN. Upon obtaining Lance's Sword, we duck out of the first dungeon, which changes the makeup of the world slightly. In particular, the vast, VAST majority of cardiac tissue in the game gets replaced with meteors. Hope you like being at 3 hearts, forever. This is, however, a necessary step to getting the Power of Compassion, which only appears after exiting the fourth dungeon with its item.

Wait, that's what happened? Holy crap!

Backing up: I put off reading this LP until I actually played the game; and I actually played it through twice this past week, basically the same way you did. And I figured it was something stupid in my seeds that I found 16+ heart pieces in the first run, and exactly four in the second. I had no idea that the game forced you into a low-heart run if you didn't kill the first boss right away!

aturtledoesbite · #28 07-15-2020, 11:06 AM

I think what officially happens is that the game generates some meteors as "possible heart pieces", then transforms them once you kill an archangel.

Secret area heart pieces are no exception.

Kalir · #29 07-16-2020, 10:32 PM

PART 12

FIRE HAZARD
UP TO THE BANK
ROASTED CHICKENS
aturtledoesbite - fanboymaster

Lenna performs a highly inconsequential sequence break.

NOTES

SILVER SHIELD. Probably not actually that important since the Spring is just so much better than the shield, but hey, why not.
POLICE REPORT. With this, we can pacify Hatasiah, which... is still a long ways into the game. But hey, one down, seven to go.
POTION OF BEER. It reverses your controls and heavily blurs the screen. You love to see it, possibly.
POTION OF ANTI-FUN. Slow potions suuuuuuuck. You can throw some potions at enemies to impart their effects on them, but I don't know if slow potions are among those.
WE SEQUENCE BREAK FOR A SINGLE DOLLAR. It's not much, but I wanted to do it. And just... disregard that level 3 is right by there and holds the lighter.
LEVEL 3 AND LEVEL 4 GO BY QUICKLY. Which is exactly what you want to see in these runs, get that item early and wiggle on out.
THE POWER OF COMPASSION, FOR REAL THIS TIME. To use it, you need to equip the Power of Compassion, drop a boss to the point where one ham will kill them, and use it with the proper mystery item in your inventory. The Power of Compassion will hover around in the item slot when the boss is vulnerable, and there's no penalty to biking out and retrying the fight if you don't have the right item.

Kalir · #30 07-18-2020, 09:04 PM

PART 13

SOMETHING IS OFF
EAST CHUNGUSBURG WOODS
HARD TO PLEASE
aturtledoesbite - fanboymaster

Lenna fails to meet standards.

NOTES

SKIPPING AHEAD. Since a lot of the game's got really uneventful stuff, I decided to jump ahead to where things actually start occurring.
SNAIL SECRETS. Snails can rarely drop potions. If they do, their slime trail is modified to match the potion type they drop. So the Frugal Potion applies to Lenna when she steps in the snail's trail in Level 5.
BOMBS AND PAIGE. I think Paige only gains hearts if she's present when you collect a book, so the earlier you grab her, the better.
LEVEL 6 TAKES FOREVER. We do eventually find the Spring, but only after exploring the bulk of the dungeon.
ERROR LOG. Well, since we've already cleared out most of Level 6 by now, I think we can just hop back in and go pacify Catsiel, right?
ARCHANGEL CATSIEL IGNORED YOU. Hold up. That doesn't sound right. We've got the Error Log, why don't they want to be our friend? Hm.