La-Mulana - Wishbringer

[Sebby19]

Woah that miniboss grew like 3 times it's size. If it's even the same miniboss.
In the original, it's boss room had a different layout, as it would jump straight out of the water, onto a random platform. I don't remember it having bouncy lasers. Either way, it looks like this is intentionally supposed to be the 1st miniboss you take down, since it has so little health.

Also, that 'Sacred Lake' room was depicted visually by a tablet in the Gate of Guidance. It's the only stretch of water you are required to swim through before getting the Scalesphere.

[CrappyBlueLuigi]

i'm so glad raocow just stumbled into the bronze mirror; this alone probably means we won't have another "i did everything the items i have/puzzles i've solved led me to do following them and now i don't know what to do" video for a long while

[Stink Terios]

I think the miniboss was a tiny centaur in the original instead of a claw cyclops.

By the way, big congrats on finding the bronze mirror by bumbling in the dark for a bit instead of instantly noping out, which would be the obvious reaction.

[thatguyif]

So, looks like a commenter noted this, but that's not Anunnaki in that draintub room. Anunnaki is more like a winged god rather than a god laying on wings. An example here.

The symbol on the wall is actually something completely different. That's a faravahar. It's the Zoroastrian equivalent of the Christian cross or Star of David, as it's meant to serve as a representation of Ahura Mazda, the creator god ascribed by Zoroaster. A huuuuuge difference.

[Voltgloss]

I've added the locations of Wall Seals (the "medallions") that raocow has seen so far to the second post of the thread.

The music for the Spring in the Sky is easily in my top 5, maybe top 3, tracks in the game. It's just so damn catchy!

"Curse of Ocean" (theme for the Spring in the Sky)

[Kleetus]

The miniboss today was Nuckelavee, the most feared of demons from the northern isles of Scotland. The Nuckelavee is sometimes depicted as a cycloptic centaur, which is what the developers were going for. It's the same creature in both the original and remake, but in the remake positioned in such away that you can't see the horse hindquarters, as Sebby19 pointed out, its way bigger in the remake.
In folklore, Nuckelavee is a demon that emerges from the ocean to terrorize Orkney Island and spread disease. The usual depiction is of a cycloptic horse, with a human torso coming out of it's back, the torso has arms that reach to the ground. The Nuckeleavee has no skin revealing all its tendons and other squishy bits, it has black blood. The weakness of Nuckelavee is that it cannot cross fresh water, so it probably isn't bothered by the poisoned waters of the Spring in the Sky

Douglas-Scottish_FFT(1901)-p162-Nuckalavee-illustr-J_Torrance_(cropped).jpg (36.48 KiB) Viewed 3048 times

All of this means that Nuckelavee is arguably a black Scottish cyclops.

thatdemo.PNG (28.9 KiB) Viewed 3048 times

[Filbi]

Fish Slap, Fish Slap, Dansk, What's That Staunch?

[Alice]

raocow, while the game does seem to reference the Bible with its mentions of Eden, I'm pretty sure that mentioning a great flood isn't a Bible specific reference. Great flood myths are actually extremely common for some reason. And considering the game tends to reference Nordic, Greek, Central American, and Eastern Asian mythologies most it's more likely that it's referencing the Gilgamesh flood myth if it's referencing a specific one.

The flood myth motif is found among many cultures as seen in the Mesopotamian flood stories, Deucalion and Pyrrha in Greek mythology, the Genesis flood narrative, Pralaya in Hinduism, the Gun-Yu in Chinese mythology, Bergelmir in Norse mythology, in the lore of the K'iche' and Maya peoples in Mesoamerica, the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa tribe of Native Americans in North America, the Muisca, and Cañari Confederation, in South America, Africa, and the Aboriginal tribes in southern Australia.

Though all four of those mythologies I mentioned the game focusing on appear to have some great flood myths anyways.

[KobaBeach]

Fish Slap, Fish Slap, Dansk, What's That Staunch?

thanks for putting that back in my brain

Edit:

I've added the locations of Wall Seals (the "medallions") that raocow has seen so far to the second post of the thread.

The music for the Spring in the Sky is easily in my top 5, maybe top 3, tracks in the game. It's just so damn catchy!

"Curse of Ocean" (theme for the Spring in the Sky)

And here's the original version.

Curse of IRON PIPE


It was based on the stage theme of Ashguine 2, thus the complete remake in the, well, remake

[Awoo]

All of this means that Nuckelavee is arguably a black Scottish cyclops.

thatdemo.PNG

[raocow]

1h27min recording session. the true la-mulana has started!!

[Crow]

How much is boss battle

The 4th boss is the first real big boy challenge imo

[ZephyrBurst]

So much opened up, here come the times of getting lost soon.

How much is boss battle :P

The 4th boss is the first real big boy challenge imo

Half-agreed, he's always felt very RNG based, though highly mitigated of course if you

hit him on his way down when he flops toward the raft.

Bahamut still feels leagues below the later ones by comparison. His walk back is also awful.

Pre-boss checkpoints in the sequel were highly appreciated.

[ztarwuff]

Unless, I'm misinterpreting (and mis-remembering things) I love how raocow stumbled across the solution to the red jewel puzzle by accident.

[Crow]

oh yeah later bosses are all a lot harder too, especially viy, who is pure trash, but the first three are all pretty basic and not too tough, whereas bahamut took me a bit

[Sebby19]

This game isn't really divided into 'chapters', but with the first 4 of 8 gaurdians down, thus concludes the 'beginning' of the game. You've moved into mid-game territory now!

Bahumat was more of a pain to fight in the original, since your boat didn't stay under you like the minecart. And strangely the water during the fight would still hurt you, even with the Scalephere equipped (which s kinda outrageous since it is found 2 rooms away.
Below the boat was a friendly fish you DID follow Lemeza, and acted like a platform.

After the original's fight, the boat did not reappear on the Surface.

[FPzero]

Bahamut is not the hardest boss in the game, but I would argue it's the worst, and also a huge stumbling block for new players. The window of opportunity to hit is really small, the 3D effects make it so you have a tough time holding the boat steady, and collision takes away a lot of health. Yet somehow I'd say he's easier here than in the original version, and not just because you have the Gun as a fallback. I just remember having so much trouble with Bahamut in the original version, probably because of the way bosses don't move across the screen smoothly since in many cases they use a "layer" as their body (since it's imitating limitations of the MSX). In fact, I hate fighting this boss so much that one time I played the game I decided to just do everything else I could possibly think of to give myself every advantage against it. Obviously I had to fight it eventually but man I just don't like fighting Bahamut.

Good on you for persevering through the fight. You should be able to breathe easy for a few episodes now.

[BobisOnlyBob]

Yeah, Bahamut is the definition of a boss that really feels like it should be saved for later, especially as the reward for beating it (besides "beating all the bosses") seems to be...

a hint about the location of the second seal...
which you got earlier this same episode. Well done!!

But no seriously well done, beating Bahamut is a pain in the cajones and then some and you managed to grill that fish with nowt but ye ol' trusty whip.

[Voltgloss]

(I know most of the comments are probably going to be about the Bahamut fight - including my own below - but man did I enjoy raocow's reaction to finding the hidden NPC's clue about the mirror.)

Fighting Bahamut as early as possible teaches a player one of two lessons: either to put off the fight until returning with more equipment, OR to learn and exhibit extraordinary patience. Both are good lessons. Today, raocow learned the latter. Even with the music trying to make him too aggro!

"Dangerous Raid" (Bahamut's theme)

[Draexzhan]

Fighting Bahamut as early as possible teaches a player one of two lessons: either to put off the fight until returning with more equipment, OR to learn and exhibit extraordinary patience. Both are good lessons. Today, raocow learned the latter. Even with the music trying to make him too aggro!

I was an unfortunate soul who learned both from this fight. Bahamut was the second or third boss I defeated, but like an absolute idiot I quit without saving after I beat him. I don't think I realized that until

I noticed I didn't have the Mobile X2 anymore.

and when I decided I absolutely needed it I begrudgingly went back and fought him a second time. By that point I think I had beaten like five other bosses. I was far better equipped for him, aaaaaaaand the fight was still really terrible. Bahamut is probably my least favorite boss in the game. The curving river, the cheese puffs, the large hurtbox but small hitbox, the waiting game with the lifts on the way to the boss fight... I also never knew you could damage him when he dives in from the background so the fight had a lot more waiting for me. The fact that raocow beat him without the gun though is rather impressive, IMO. I absolutely cracked and used it... both times.

[maou shoujo]

+1 for congrats on beating the boss without subweapons. I never had the patience for that, I always got too aggressive and jumped right in his face. I'm not good at controlling Lemeza. Bahamut though is a major reason why I never even tried for the achievements All I Need Is One Hand/One Finger (beat all bosses without subweapons, and without subweapons in HARD MODE respectively.)

Gotta say I never expected to see a raocow LP of La-Mulana but I'm loving this. Did a mutual little fistpump at the last hit of the boss; even with a lot of experience with the game he still takes a lot more hits than I expect.

[Zummorr]

Ahh yes, the elevator to Bahamut's room.

Image is from the La Mulana Manual.

Regarding the hint for the Bronze Mirror. This is one of the aspects I bite my thumb at La mulana for.

Bumbling into a solution with no regard as to what was going on. In this case, the hint for the puzzle is more difficult to get to than the puzzle itself.

[Awoo]

Boss fight totally reminds me of a 3D-esque version of the De Rol Le fight from PSO


Super neat. Good job not using the gun, raocow!

yes I know I've made the De Rol Le comparison before in other games but it's super relevant here now, too :3

[Crow]

after the zero series ended leviathan had to find work elsewhere and the years weren't too kind to her

so dang glad LM2 has you reload in front of ankhs when you die to a boss, omg

[Kleetus]

Bahamut debuted in Zakariya al-Qazwini's famous 13th century Arabic language cosmography,usually translated into English as; The Wonders of Creation. The book describes Bahamut as a giant fish that holds up the ox Kuyootha (or whichever of 76 ways you want to latinize it), who in turn holds up an angel, who holds up the Earth.

Bahamut sounds a bit like Behemoth, and (in the original Arabic) Kuyootha looks kind of like Leviathan. Looks like Mr Qazwini may have gotten some names mixed up when translating from Hebrew sources. Oops.

We'll be seeing some Behemoth action later.

I am surprised raocow is doing so well with out the axe.