Let's Play: Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand!

I for one am totally a-ok with the smaller images.

Me too. The only thing I'd change is leaving a small space between the 4 pictures, so that the edges are more distinct. The block of images is a bit disorienting when they're together.

Don't push yourself too hard to finish this quickly, this is a really great LP, and I don't want you to burn out before you're done.

Sorry again about the delay, but let's get this show on the road!



As you can see, Sundance ended up being the name chosen! (There's an alternate comment if you stick with Django.) The background suddenly fades to black and a disembodied voice speaks to them:

???: Heh heh heh! So here you are, Otenko, Messenger of the Sun! And this must be the new Vampire hunter... But I'm afraid you're too late. While you've been busy playing with the decoy, my wounds have healed splendidly.

Master Otenko: The Count! We've been tricked!

You didn't think it would that easy, did you Otenko? It would be a pretty short game if he really was dead.

Count: I'll teach you a thing or two. When I attacked the City of the Sun, San Miguel, and struck my enemy down... I had another objective. Yes, the Lunar Maiden... Moon Beauty. She... is still alive. Heh heh heh! Do you dare go after her... Otenko?



Y'know, I don't think they could make the foreshadowing that much more obvious.

Master Otenko: I sense darkness... to the North. Let's go Sundance! We have to save Moon Beauty! Do not fear, Solar Boy. We have the Sun. The Sun will rise tomorrow! May the Sun be with you!

So now we have an additional purpose in Istrakan, other than just slaying vampires. On the walk to the next dungeon, Otenko explains to us this little safety mechanic they put in the game to keep you from playing in intense sunlight for too long. If the Solar Sensor stays at too high of a level for too long, the gun icon next to the meter will turn into an X. If you don't get into the shade to get the sunlight level lower after a certain amount of time, the gun will overheat. When the gun overheats, it's unusable for a little while, and after some time in the shade, it will cool down and become usable again. But even after Overheat status has ended, the Gun del Sol is still hot, so it's easily susceptible to overheating again for the rest of the day. If you keep overheating it, the safety mechanism disables the Solar Gun, and it won't undo itself until the sun sets. I've never had an issue with this before, because I don't think I've ever gotten higher than 5 or 6 bars out of 8.



when we're outside of dungeons, Otenko floats behind you and you can talk to him. He'll impart little bits of backstory, like that. We take the left path from that fork we were at at the start of the game, and head into a cave.



Master Otenko: The journey will take us through dungeons like this one. Each time we enter an Undead Dungeon, the traps and devices will be reset, and the Undead will be back. You must not lose heart, even when surrounded by danger. Understood?

I think that's a good enough reason as any for reseting a dungeon when you leave it.



Otenko summons up a Magic Warp Circle at the start of each dungeon, and again when you finish one, making for an easy way to pass through them when you're back-tracking to another area. Although there's only one area where you'd really want to backtrack to, it's still pretty convenient.



That little white bag in the second screen is an item that the other ghoul dropped when he died,and because it happened to be partially behind that pillar, it ended up all white and in the foreground. It's a nice feature for when stuff drops completely behind something, and I don't mind if it's a little overzealous in it's detection. Sunlight can stream through holes in ceilings of caves too, and the flickering track for faux transparency shows up again. It looks a lot better in game, I swear! I decide to take the left path at this fork.



Master Otenko: If you leave the Dungeon their power will weaken and the key will evaporate. That blue key can only be used inside this Dungeon. Remember that.

Otenko gets his monocle on when he examines the key. I really like that they try to give reasons for game mechanics, and how Otenko will change size depending on the sunlight levels. Also, blue (They call them blue, but they look purple to me.) chests have keys to the dungeon you're in, and can come in a few geometric shapes, like this key is a trangle.



We kill that Bok on the other ledge, then head back and take the right path this time. Coming across these two Boks blocking our path to the chest, who are easily disposed. That chest has a Silver Coin in it, there are a total of 30 of them in the game, and the Sound Test is unlocked if you collect them all. There were also two Boks on that ledge, so intent on watching the path that they leave their backs unguarded, making them easy pickings. We aquire a new gun frame, and I'll show you it soon enough.



Now we take that center path back at the fork, and thankfully, there's some invisible railing here so you can't fall off the ledges. I totally didn't think that shot was gonna hit him, but the hit detection felt like being generous today. We use blue key on blue door, and encounter the boss for this dungeon. The bosses of Undead dungeons are pretty much just a swarm of regular enemies. In this case, bats!

Damn, that's a lot of bats. To make things slightly easier, I switch to our new frame. The Axel type of frame automatically spins you around while firing the Spread. It's a very situational frame, I've only really used it to take out a swarm of small enemies, like what we're facing now, and it makes short work of these bats.



A-? Damn, I was gonna try for an S-Rank game. I figured I wouldn't really get all S-Ranks, not without retrying levels a few times, but I didn't think I would fail my secret challenge so early!



Warp Magic.. Square? Otenko, I think you might have been out in the sun for too long.



Some more backstory before entering the next dungeon, the Gate of the Dead, which we'll get to later. For now though, I'm off to go check out some apartments!

Oh, don't worry, it won't be finished too quickly. Next week I go out of town to help move my fiancee here, and then there's moving into our own place. On top of that, like 6 months ago my old monitor broke, and my roommate has been letting me borrow his old monitor, so I'll have to give that back when I move out. Which means my computer access will be limited to internet browsing while I'm at work until I can get a new monitor.

Hey guys, I'm back with another (quick) update! In tonight's episode, we pass through the Gate of the Dead.



Honestly, I don't have too much to talk about with this one, I didn't take too many screenshots. You can see an increase in difficulty here, as the enemies get more plentiful and the patrols get a little bit more complex. This is also where we learn that you can push wooden blocks by pressing up against them. We snag another Silver Coin and Life Fruit, bringing both their totals up to 2.



Even though it gets a bit more complex, you can still rely on wall-tapping trickery and the stunning power of back shots to slaughter everything in your path.



Now we've got a magic floating sword to contend with. This guy is pretty simple, really. I just spray it with sunlight as it floats around taking swings at me. It'll spawn multiple smaller swords, and they'll fling themselves at you, but that's a good thing. Why is it a good thing? Because you can use your gun to deflect them back at the big sword to inflict more damage. Upon death it evaporates into clouds of red smoke.



Another A-,and I thought I was making good time through that dungeon, especially since I was playing before work and trying to get it done before I had to leave.



The Sword has a green treasure chest with him in addition to the usual orange chest. The Star Lens is pretty worthless, and has only one, very limited use, you can't even fire with it. With it equipped, the sunlight you collect goes directly to your bank. It also displays the current amount of sunlight charges you have stored, so maybe it has two uses. But it's still worthless!





Decision Time!
The fate of Sundance is in your hands, Talking Time. To the left is the Ancient Forest, and to the right is the Catacombs.

Depending on which way we go, and where we go with the upcoming decisions can affect affect our armaments. If we choose to go one way, and then afterwards go straight on to the next area, we can potentially miss out on some Gun del Sol frames and Life Fruits, or we could go back and round 'em all up. The choice is up to you Tyrants to make this potentially easier or harder. Will Sundance be the type to leave no kirby-like fruit behind, or will he walk off into the sunset, driven to continue his vampire killing journey?

I say go through both dungeons. The more massive your supply of solar powered death rays, the better.

I almost always wind up in the Catacombs, I'm not sure why. Try the Ancient Forest first.

I won't let you be forgotten, Boktai!

Don't worry, it's not forgotten, I've just been out of town for over a week and I just got back. I mentioned it in a previous update, but I forgot to make a post about it before I left, sorry bout that. I'm still pretty swamped with stuff to take care of, but I hope to at least get through the first Immortal dungeon before I move and have to return my roommate's computer monitor.

So, big change in plans. I get to move into my new apartment 2 weeks earlier than I was told when I got the place, which means I gotta start packing this week. So this is now on hiatus until I can get settled in and afford a new monitor for my home computer. Sorry!

No worries about it Knight, we all will wait diligently for the next installment of Sundance's adventures. Whenever they may happen.

ditto

I once again started playing this on my vacation this summer. But now that I am no longer on vacation, I'm finding it hard to play it outside while the sun is still out.

This was the trickiest part. I think it came out in Fall and I got it for christmas, and that was sort of a challenge to find some way to play it. This really is a game with only a limited window of time to get the best sun/weather combo to play it in. But I kept at it and after two summers I actually got to the last dungeon! I was determined to power through the end on the next sunny day! But then I got stuck on a puzzle and the sun was too low in the sky to go after the last boss. So, I just said screw it, and brought out this old plasma ball someone gave me. It's a pretty damn good inside sun.

But I still love Boktai for trying to do it's thing! My lifestyle just doesn't fit with it. Sorry I work day shift, Boktai!

I just watched the original Django, it was pretty rad. The characters aren't really related beyond the coffin thing though. I'm going to see Sukiyaki Western Django this week, I wonder if it'll have any connection...

Dear Boktai,

Even though it's winter, I still think about you! It's pretty cold outside so I'm waiting for spring.

-nunix