Board 8 > La Mulana 2 would be one of my favorite games if you knew if you had enough info

(+) Yeah! (+)

Driving me crazy passing by puzzles that seem to indicate I need an item only to get frustrated hours later, consult a guide, and realize that puzzle was solveable. The intermixing of solveable and non solveable puzzles is maddening

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That mix of solveable and unsolveable puzzles is the greatest strength of those games IMO

Makes all the parts of the ruins feel truly connected in a way most Metroidvania games only superficially are

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I ended up having a notebook and writing/drawing a whole bunch of stuff. I ended up solving a few puzzles by re-reading all my notes and finally piecing something together.

The gloves might've been most frustrating though. I just felt stupid once I found those.

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Someone in the metroidvania discord strongly suggested I keep a notepad handy and write shit down when playing the La Mulana games and it's easily the best advice possible. I remember playing La Mulana 1 and the puzzles floored me. Sometimes it's as simple as a false wall, other times its a ridiculous puzzle sprawling the entire map.

NISA just released the physical double pack btw incase anyone wants it (there is no "standard edition for the release its only available in the collectors edition).

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+1 on the opinion that the La-Mulana games make the whole game world feel connected in a way that no other roguelike I've ever played does

DireKrow posted...

+1 on the opinion that the La-Mulana games make the whole game world feel connected in a way that no other roguelike I've ever played does

I really do suggest everyone try them and give them a few hours to get going / get comfortable. Prepare to die a lot

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Maybe younger me would be more tolerant, but several times I have passed by a chest assuming it was impossible to grab at the time and later came back to it and realized I was dumb. It feels like a giant waste of time randomly walking around whipping walls for hours.

The Anchor by far the worst example so far.

I actually think the best part of the game is the completely unapologetic instant deaths. I think it really adds to the experience

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that does sound like bs. i guess if you let go of the idea of collecting everything it'll be more palatable

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That was my biggest problem with the first. The puzzles just seem so obtuse that solvable ones dont seem solvable, and ones you cant do yet have no indication you need to come back later.

And the whipping every wall...

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masterplum posted...

The Anchor by far the worst example so far.

the anchor puzzle isn't usually solvable the first time you enter that room, and it's actually quite explicitly hinted at

the block only appears after talking to the dwarves in Divine Fortress about the boat, at which point one of them tells you about a useful item in his home... which a careful reading of the glossary reveals is actually the Gate of the Dead, where there happens to be a Blacksmith's Room with a newly-present push block to open the chest

La-Mulana's puzzles may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the game gives you every bit of information you need to solve everything you come across provided that you pay attention to everything and take thorough notes

random wall whipping is generally not a thing unless hinted anyway - most of the important stuff in 1 that's behind walls is either unimportant... or actually easy to find if you bother to read the manual
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I never quite understand why I seem to see so many comments about LM along the lines of "I would like this so much more if it wasn't really La-Mulana anymore."

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The only LM2 puzzle that I felt was way too obtuse was the Dinosaur Figurine. Unless there was a hint somewhere and I missed it.

Aside from that, I don't like how the Rock of the Stars or whatever it's called just amounts to "run really fast and mash knife". They really should have made it so the lamp works. Also the Brahma puzzle is really cool so I'm sad it's technically completely optional... and potentially completely useless if you already got all the skulls and/or played the game before. They should have made the thing it relates to ("Where is this?") locked until you solved the puzzle, imo.

Got frustrated and stuck again trying to find a 5th guardian to kill. Looked it up and realized I could have made it to ancient chaos 10 hours ago if I whipped a wall.

This game is so frustrating. I love the instant deaths you have to avoid after you kill bosses. I love that you have to be constantly on your toes because you could die at any point. But man, It seems like they tried their hardest to make you wander around aimlessly.

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only the most suspicious wall in the game
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I'd been holding off on LM2 since I was waiting for a Vita version that never came. Bought the double pack and a Switch Lite, since that's the most Vita-like console available.

I popped into La-Mulana 1 just to check it out and apparently it's the regular Steam version and not EX? That's a disappointment

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Holy crap, Ancient Chaos doesn't mess around. Quite the difficulty spike from the rest of the game so far. "hey what if we took one of the most notoriously difficult sections from the first game and made it even WORSE"

oh hey, the boss is up here. That's fun. I don't know if I'll be able to cheese it with a health fairy, since it takes so long to get up here

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