Come to know fear as I have! Let's Play Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

I'm horrible at 3D navigation, so I had NO FUN AT ALL with that last bit.

Is it just me, or does this mean that Mike sees Edward's death before it actually happens?

Man, I love Ashes to Ashes. Michael's my favorite character with his relatability and competence, the OICW is my favorite weapon, and the dramatic escape set to haunting music (just before completely obliterating this labyrinth you've spent a great part of the game running around in) is the perfect cap to segue into the endgame.


In truth, you can hear the rope creaking as soon as you enter the room—if you have sound, that is. The corpse also whispers, "The darkness comes" before the screen flashes.

I always see the hanged man while getting the page from the piano after Paul's chapter (I'm pretty sure he's fixed to appear then), so this is the first time I've seen him lit up by the twilight. It's pretty neat!


Max actually kills four servants: two in bed with the flintlock, one in bed with the saber, and the one who tries to stop him. This is important because you can examine the burnt remains and find that there are only three sets of bones, proving he wasn't completely off-base to massacre everyone around him.

Pshaw, you haven't even gotten the Blue Screen of Death yet.

Yeah, but we haven't actually got many others aside from that left to see, have we?

I never quite understood what that area in the Middle Eastern setting is. Is it full of Mantorok's minions? Why, if the god himself is located in Cambodia? None of his guys look very mobile.

I thought it was somewhere around the Persian Gulf. Didn't Saddam set a lot of oil fields on fire after Desert Storm?

Yeah, Persian Gulf area. That correlates with Pious as a Roman centurion and Karim traveling on foot to the area.

The last update will probably be up this evening. Are you excited? I am!

After concluding the last chapter, Alex opens and reads the letter from Edward Roivas.



The ritual is starting right now. We don't have the time to come up with a plan, but we do have two Ancient's essences, which should give us a lot more magickal power to get around the strength of Ulyaoth's summoning. And if Michael's chapter is any indication, the third should be lying around the mansion somewhere.

Also, note our sanity meter. It starts at zero, so if you don't like getting your health drained just by a glance, you may want to refill. I didn't because I'm like that.



Don't think you'll get off easy just because it's the mansion, either. You'll have to fight enemies from here on out, although the makeup of Alex's chapter (that's what this is, after all!) is something like 90% Trappers.



Our first stop is the observatory, which Edward has calibrated for the planetary alignment.



As you can see, it's projecting a very powerful beam of light. There's a few mirrors and dials scattered about here, so you can probably hazard a guess as to what we need to do here.



The goal is that globe on the ground. We'll bounce the beam off of two walls and into a lens on the globe...



This hits a large vault-style door in the cellar...



It opens, revealing a ladder leading down to Ehn'gha.



On our way there, we're stopped in the mansion by a sudden ringing of the doorbell, followed by the door closing and someone's footsteps running off.



A package! I wonder what it contains?



Well, that clears that up. Now we have the three essences necessary to match Pious' ritual!



As an added bonus, Alex gets the Enchanted Gladius. Unlike Mike, she can actually wield it, which is good, because it packs a wallop. Despite being throwable, it still can't hit Trappers though. Dang!



In the basement, we find the door leading to the ladder vault on the wall with the well, which has been blocked up.



Into the depths of the city, where the nine towers are hopefully capable of one last spell.



The city of Ehn'gha is dark, and no sounds of activity can be heard. It is, in all respects, a ghost of its former self. However, the towers are still intact, so there may be hope yet.



A lot of the city is ruined, though.

Well, this is different. The entire entry hall is coated with a damage floor, and to top it off, the entryway to the ritual room is sealed with a seven-point damage field.



We cast two spells. One of Dispel Magick, for the barrier, and one for Shield, which we also dispelled with that casting. I am a skilled sorcerer!



The ritual room is completely dark. It's been sapped of all its magick since Edward's spell. We can probably fix that by fueling it with the three essences.



The claw of Chattur'gha, great worm of matter and might...



The sigil of Xel'lotath, mistress of insanity...



And the-- wait. Dang, it's busted.

Careful scrutiny of the area reveals that the pedestal has been broken in two. You can see one of the fragments in that picture.



We mix the two and enchant them, then set the repaired pedestal atop it's base.



And now we place the third artifact: the black heart of Mantorok, corpse god of chaos.



Bingo. The ritual site is now charged and ready for casting.



Of course, we still have to faff about with setting each of the runes in its spot. Which means six more Pargon runes.



On our way back to the ritual room, though, we find a sudden lack of floor in the area.



A quick casting of Reveal Invisible, however, fixes the problem.



Wait a minute. Where did Alex go? All I see is this zombie.



Alex? Is... that you?



No, Alex! NO!

THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!

This was actually the first sanity effect I ever got in the game on my first playthrough, back in Ellia's chapter.



Our plan for stopping the ritual is a rushed and desperate one. Since Ulyaoth's summoning is all but assured, we need something that can take down the master of time and space. The only thing that can possibly do that at this stage is another Ancient, so we calibrate the rune here to Aretak.



This room is just full of Trappers. We kill them with the Revolver and move on.



The next one is the hall of monsters. This time, there are three platforms set about the area, each bearing a depiction of a certain creature: a Xel'lotath Horror, a Chattur'gha Zombie, and an Ulyaoth Trapper. The same ones that broke free and attempted to kill Edward, actually.



To get out, we have to summon each of these creatures and place them on the proper platform.



This restores their prison to its proper state and allows us to leave.



The next area has a weird glowing purple floor.

The trick here is that if you move quickly on the floor, a worm attacks and your vision goes to sepia tone, just as it did in Edward's chapter. Also like with Edward, the only way to escape is to restore sanity, which deposits you back at the start.



The solution, therefore, is to move quietly.



If you can't figure this one out by this point in the game, give the controller back to your big brother and go stand in the corner.



This room has even more Trappers to it.



The following room has a twist on the Trapper-filled room:



They all turn invisible before Alex enters.

Which doesn't really matter at all, because we easily have enough magick to cast Reveal Invisible.



And despite being fully aware that this one was here and trying to aim at it, I still manage to get hit. I am a pro player.



My screwup does offer a chance to show off the range capability of the Enchanted Gladius, though. That Horror over there? Burnt toast with a side of sword to the face.



Also, here's the block Mike telprotted here.

The next room has three runestones to it, one of each alignment.



Alex smacks the Chattur'gha one with her Xel'lotath sword. I blame sanity loss. Either way, the other two runestones supply power to the first.



We also get a Horror of the runestone we hit to deal with.



The Enchanted Gladius chops them up like ground beef before they even get close enough to shake our hand.



The correct answer to destroying the runestones is a Magickal Attack, which hits all three at once and destroys them instantly.



The next room has us choosing the rune for our verb. Unfortunately for us, a Binding spell wouldn't be strong enough to deal with Pious' ritual, so we'll need to use a summoning spell. Xel'lotath and Ulyaoth will both be summoned into the world, and we can only hope they kill each other off before we all die.



To escape the next room, we do exactly the same thing that we did upon entering Ehn'gha.



We activate the last tower, and the summoning of Xel'lotath begins.



The portal in the ritual room opens up once more.



Our last challenge is the same one Mike had to deal with to get the Plastic Explosives, only now there are three Horrors.



The solution is the same as before.



However, rather than finishing off the survivor with an enchanted assault rifle? Magick flying gladius to the face.



Whatever happens through this portal, either we return victorious, or not at all.



Alex arrives in a place we (and she) have seen several times, but never been: the Hall of Communion, where Pious has spoken with Ulyaoth many times.



As it so happens, Pious is here, waiting.

His plan nears completion, and he knows there is precious little Alex can do to stop it, so he gloats to his heart's content.



Alex retorts with a speech about Pious' lost humanity, and how people have opposed him across all time. Due to their efforts, she now has three essences and the means to combat Pious, and she isn't going to back down for a second.



Cutscene: Darkness Comes...

Pious merely laughs, and with a wave of his staff, he concludes the eon-spanning ritual.



Across time and space...



In the void between worlds...



Ulyaoth, the sorcerous being of the planes, manifests into our world.



At the same time, the magic circle of Ehn'gha activates...



And the three essences conjure up the energy to summon Xel'lotath, the insane queen of the mind.



Meanwhile, Pious prepares a defense for the essence of Ulyaoth, using it as a shield for himself, and simultaneously guarding it from us.



Here it is, the final boss fight between Alex and Pious!

Pious' strategy for this fight is to advance fairly quickly towards Alex and wallop her with his enchanted staff. He has the full array of spells available to him, and is not shy about using them. In fact, unless our weapon is enchanted, we can't even dent him at all. If you haven't got the Enchanted Gladius, you'll probably have to rely on the Shotgun, which is useful, but requires reloading and enchanting, and Pious rarely gives you time to cast anything stronger than 3 point spells unless he is casting himself.



Landing a hit on Pious causes the protective spell on the essence to falter, allowing us to strike it.



A slight problem, considering it usually rematerializes across the map, but no big deal.



Each time we land a hit, the Hall of the Tome shimmers into view gradually, and Alex's sanity takes another hit. However, after three such hits...



A spirit materializes from one of the statues in the Hall of the Tome.



Ellia's soul lives on temporarily, moved from her resting place in the statue by an unknown force.

She moves to claim the phantom image of the tome...



And enters the Hall of Communion.

This is the real way to damage Pious. From here on out, hitting the essence of Ulyaoth causes a character from the Hall of the Tome to appear, melee weapon at the ready. They have to chase down the essence and land a solid blow on it. If Pious hits them first, they disappear and Alex must hit the essence herself to resummon the ghost.



If Pious manages to do enough damage to Alex, she'll start walking slowly, which makes it even harder to avoid him, much less heal yourself and hit the essence. This is very much a battle of attrition, since Pious' magick makes him a lot more durable, but his predictable movement gives you an advantage in mobility.



Anthony's spirit comes next and further damages the essence of Ulyaoth.



He is followed by Karim, sporting his Ram Dao. As he lands a blow...



Cutscene: The Grip of Insanity (three parts to it, but I'll just link it here).

Ulyaoth and Xel'lotath square off in the void of space.



Ulyaoth opens up by opening a portal above Xel'lotath, either to project energy through it or to consume her.



Xel'lotath reacts much more quickly than Ulyaoth, quickly drawing energy from the portal.



She directs this into a violent burst of energy that echoes across all reality as it strikes Ulyaoth.



Meanwhile, Maximillian's spirit joins the fray, sabre at the ready.



Pious catches him off guard with a Magickal Attack, leading to an annoying game of cat-and-mouse where I try to get a wounded Alex to recall Maximillian.



RUN, FAT BOY, RUUUUUUUN



Paul comes after Maximillian, ready to strike a blow against the corruption Pious heralds.



The last spirit to appear is Roberto.



As the architect strikes, the essence of Ulyaoth explodes into fragments, its power gone.

This doesn't stop Ulyaoth at all, however, from attempting to destroy Xel'lotath.



He now creates a portal behind Xel'lotath, but again, she is quicker on the draw, and this time rushes into the portal more quickly than Ulyaoth can close it.



While Ulyaoth takes the time to figure out what is going on, Xel'lotath sneaks up behind him...



And sends massive waves of madness through Ulyaoth with her touch.



Now that the essence is destroyed, we can fight Pious directly. I believe an enchanted weapon is still necessary to hurt him, though.



As you can see, he's attempting to cut off escape paths using Damage Fields. The most dangerous thing in this fight is to be cornered, because Alex only has average health and it's tricky to buy yourself the time to heal. Don't try using a Damage Field yourself, because Pious will dispel it out from under your feet.



Eventually, Pious starts limping. The magick of Xel'lotath and the weakening of Ulyaoth are taking a severe toll on his undead body.



Victory at last!



The Ancients continue their duel, but by this point, Ulyaoth is panicking.



He rapidly opens portals to fire magick at Xel'lotath, but she easily deflects it back to strike him.



Preparing for the coup de grace, she draws forth her energy...



A catastrophic blow annihilates Ulyaoth's boundless mind and ethereal form.



The charred corpse of the master of the planes falls through space as Xel'lotath's hysterical laughter echoes through our world.



Cutscene: The Darkness Vanquished

Pious cries out in an unfamiliar agony, while Alex approaches him, carrying his skeletal staff.



Even facing down death, with his master gone, he clings to his conviction that the Darkness will prevail.

Alex wastes little time listening to his parting words...



And strikes him down with the staff, ending Pious' long and cursed life.



Alex tosses the staff away in disgust, but a faint cackle causes her to turn skyward...



She may have killed Pious and stopped Ulyaoth...



But Xel'lotath is now in the world, with free reign to do what she will with humanity.



On Earth, her minions enslave the populations of the world...



Torturing, killing, driving humans to kill each other, whatever strikes her fancy at the time...



The world faces as much peril as Pious caused.



Alex collapses, her mind overwhelmed by what she has done.



However, Edward's spirit still lingers, as it was not expended in the fight against Pious.



He makes his way to the top of a tower in Ehn'gha, where Ulyaoth's death has caused a shift in the balance of magick towards Chattur'gha.



Here, you change the verb rune for the spell to stop Xel'lotath. The only one that can make another spell is Bankorok, which creates a binding spell.



Xel'lotath, though mighty, is still bound in her power to Ehn'gha.



With a screech, she is drawn back into the plane she came from.



Against all odds, the world has been spared the continued domination of either Ulyaoth or Xel'lotath.

Edward approaches Alex to comfort her and congratulate her on succeeding.



He tells her how happy he is that she rose to the challenge so admirably, and wholeheartedly apologizes for getting her into the situation, unavoidable though it was.



With these few kind words, he departs, and Alex is left alone...



With the Tome.





After beating Pious, you get the opportunity to save your clear data. This doesn't take up a file, but it does save the Ancient you cleared the game under. This changes save files played under a new game to bear runes from older cleared games, and it also removes that artifact from the list of choices Pious has at the end of his chapter. The autopsies and cutscenes collected are also saved and are viewable at any time. Beating the game once unlocks the credits, which you can view from the start menu. A second win in the game unlocks the ability to select any stage you like to play through. The third victory allows you to combine the above with Eternal Mode, which grants whoever you play as infinite health, magick, ammo, and I believe sanity.

So, this has been Let's Play Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. On the whole, it's a good game, even if it screws up a few times and tries to be Legend of Zelda. The sanity meter, while clearly lacking polish, is a pretty neat way to tweak the game experience, and the magick system, even if it also lacks polish, is pretty interesting as well. I give it my recommendation and suggest that you all play it under Xel'lotath or Chattur'gha to see what's different (and to get slightly different fights out of the zombies and Horrors and such).

Next Time: Nothing to see here, move along.

Everyone I know has gotten this as their first sanity effect (if they get their sanity low enough in Ellia's chapter) so I wonder if it might be fixed.

Also HOORAY FOR LET'S PLAY because this made me break out my copy, and it's still a good game. The combat is clunky and the game is obviously hampered by some technical limitations but daaaaamn it's good, and a product of a very particular time. Can you imagine any game being able to get away with the "ERASING ALL YOUR SAVES" message these days?

Nier.

Steel Battalion.

I was afraid that the sanity loss would be too much for you, but you managed to beat the LP! And I really did learn a lot about Eternal Darkness that I didn't know...

Great job!

I'm willing to bet it only happens in areas that are trapped, because the only way to end the effect is to get the zombie killed. I had to walk onto the damage floor here, but practically every room in Ellia's chapter is chock full of traps to allow for this effect.

Maybe I should actually fish this out of a bargain bin someday and play it, then.

Nier and Steel Battalion will actually delete your saves. The only games I can think of that just psych you out with it are this and the Japanese version of Gunstar Super Heroes (where it was deemed so mean that it was removed in localization).

Anyway, great LP, Kalir! You reminded just how great this game is.

It's not quite a save-deletion psych-out, but there is of course the programmer's ending of Chrono Trigger wherein Tetsuya Nomura pretends to hit the reset button without saving.... bastard.

I wonder if, on the 360, they could get away going to a black screen and making the system LED flash the Red Ring of Death for a second or so before going "psyche!" I know for certain that, on the original Xbox at least, the LED can be messed with at the software level.

That would be bastardry on a level I don't think Microsoft would ever allow. My god, though, would it be awesome.

Also: excellent LP! I haven't played this game in years and I sat here and read most of it, reliving my favorite parts of the game yet again (without having to play through the whole thing for like a fifth time or whatever).

Awesome LP, I really enjoyed reading it! Now I don't have to find a copy of the game and play it to completion AGAIN.

Mike's chapter is totally my favorite, assault rifle hell yeah.

Great LP. Up to the stalk-the-invisible-vampire section in my replay and, yup, it's still annoying.

Great jorb! This game is awesome and I loved following along.

I've always felt that plugging nine runes into nine magic boxes was a kind of boring way to end the game, though.