![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indigozealActually, there's not that much that's nightmarish in this installment, but I think we're probably going to be wrapping up this chapter next...chapter, so it's now or never for that title.
When we last left Mystic Ark: Blah de Blah de Blah, ridiculous story triggers had ground a halt to the action. Time to once again enter the world of survival horror.
We pick up where we left off: picking a touchily-triggered frog out of a bucket.
"The dead frog from the bucket. It stinks."
The item description specifies that it's a dead frog. Goody.
chomp chomp chomp
The door likes it just fine, though.
Beyond the door lies Monstrorum's office. He has a pixel-art portrait of himself hanging on the wall.
...Help me
It's also talking! Aaah!
"I am a Fairy of Wisdom."
Oh, here we go. Well, there ain't no Wilde Frau to help you here, unless you wanna travel back to the first world with me.
The Fairy tells us that in order to become an Ark, she needs to collect the eight pieces of the Triforce to enter Death Mountain. I mean, the six Books of Wisdom Monstrorum has. Apparently, when she arrived here, she simply asked the mad scientist to give her these precious books, whereupon he stashed her as his prisoner behind his portrait to use in his experiments. This is the least-qualified Fairy of Wisdom ever. (Better test for becoming an Ark: make her realize the flaw in her own plan.)
"You know the Doctor; could you ask him to give me the Books of Wisdom?
He already GAVE you an answer to that question! I have a feeling that the plot won't proceed unless I agree, though, so I say "yes." Yeah, let's go back and ask the maniac with 10 saws for a hand to give us his valuable books.
Or maybe he'll come to us. BUSTED.
"...My, you're a persistent thing! Very well. If you insist - I'll hide the Books of Wisdom...somewhere you'll never find them!"
You're going to hide them in the bookcase near the elevator. That really seems like the most likely place, what with the significant close-ups of the shelves & whatnot.
Monstrorum leaves with a laugh. The fairy follows after him, begging for the attention of the lunatic who imprisoned her to use her as a science experiment. Man, oh, man.
Anyhow, Remy's alone again.
I just like those blue bottles atop the bookcase.
SIGNIFICANCE.
Anyhow, remember that moon statue with the riddle she wouldn't pose because she thought Remy was too dumb? Talking to the Fairy of Wisdom triggers change of heart, or core metal, or whatever. As you can see above, the ineffable enigma she thought way beyond our ken was...the one with the wolf and the sheep and the bag of feed that need to be gotten across the river.
It says: "WARNING: If you make an aggressive move towardWeighty the Yeti, he'll get angry and throw things!"
ETA: "The Yeti." It says "YETI," you idiot.
OK, I messed up here for a good bit, and it was my fault. See, I was lazy and misread the sign, and I thought it was warning about the chimp ("Weighty" THE YETI) being aggressive instead of being an obvious clue to attack him (or her). See, there's a ledge with some books right below the chimp's cage, but he lashes out & damages you if you walk by, so I thought the challenge here was getting past the chimp to that lower platform.
Which isn't easy to do when ePSXe is glitching out on you.
It also isn't easy with the horrendous noise the chimp makes all throughout this scene. He is constantly emitting the worst hooting screech every couple seconds. It is a grating nightmare. These factors combined with my reading screw-up forced me to an FAQ for the second time, just to make sure I wasn't running into a weird trigger issue like I was before.
Anyhow, punching the chimp square in the face - which is tricky, since the bars make for some difficult positioning - causes him to fling a key at you that's stuck in the middle of his cage. Only once you descend the stairs to the lower level, though; he actually becomes docile for the immediate term if you punch him. So I guess I was dealing with a weird trigger situation.
Otherwise, besides more advertisements for "best cream," there's just another fairy who wants to play a card game waiting below. You don't want to do that, since the chimp voice sample doesn't turn off even during the match.
Here's the Fairy of Wisdom's card, BTW.
Anyhow: I kind of missed the description for what the Fairy of so-called Wisdom does when imbued, and the screenshot I took is no help. I open the casket just to see if I can imbue her in anything, and I discover...a book. So we're doing backtracking hide-and-seek, then.
Another book on top of this shelf.
(Note: You can't remove the ladder here after retrieving this book, so if you haven't memorized the red-blue-green bookshelf combination on the shelf here before doing so, you've screwed.)
Rearrange the books/Do nothing
While bookhunting, I discover that the books on the one of the shelves can now be rearranged. I try one of the combinations we've gotten so far, then the other. It does nothing.
Stymied as to a use for the fairy friend I've summoned, I remember something back in the hub world...
...Yep, these books. When you examine them, you're told that they're in a language indecipherable to Remy, so I thought that this was time for the Fairy of Wisdom to work her magic.
She can't do anything with them, though. I guess that's for her Ark form. What a gyp.
Back in the lab, solving the barrel puzzle yields another book. Three down, three to go.
Using the key the chimp threw unlocks a new area in the sewers. There's a spiderweb on the pipe I can examine but not interact with.
"So you want me to melt the ice with the power of my fire, I guess?"
Even with THE POWER OF FIRE, we can't get into Birkin's lab becauseClaire needs to provide her fingerprint data there's nothing amidst the metal & brick for the fire to catch on to. The Ark of Courage suggests we call after finding some kindling.
At the end, we have a computer console. Please provide your Umbrella user ID.
Actually, it's not running at all, and we need to lower that raised elevator on the left to get across the gap and continue exploring the sewer.
"The professher's ashkin' me to straight'n up hish bookshelfsh!"
After turning around and heading back, I meet Pickay again (oh, joy), who's supposed to be shoving crates of trash tothe Dead Factory Monstrorum's garbage room. The crates are too heavy for him to push all the way, though, so he's just leaving them in the corner of the sewer.
He also asks Remy to straighten up Monstrorum's bookshelves upstairs, but that's just referencing the rearrangeable bookshelf we've already discovered.
"It looks like it could fall into the sewer at any moment."
You're given the option to shove one of the crates. The game makes a "you screwed up!" noise if you take the opportunity, but it turns out that that's the right thing to do.
Shove another crate...and you have a handy bridge.
Between this and the bookshelf with the obvious spots with different textures, this is really Resident Evil. All we need is a valve handle.
But...
A Gillman appears! Command?
The monster is actually a boss. Yes, this game has bosses, of which this is the very first. No, it's not a very smart decision; because the combat controls are used so infrequently, the Gillman almost killed me while I faffed about trying to find which button combination was "attack."
Fortunately: While in the chimp room, I noticed that Remy has an "Equip weapon" command hidden in a submenu, through which he can actually use the silver sword Jack gave Remy back in the first world. It even draws blood. That's a little graphic for this game.
This game has a real Return to Oz vibe. It's clearly pitched at kids, but it's more macabre than wondrous. I have to say that my interest has been flagging during this last chapter.
In true Blue Stinger fashion, the monster was holding something - a key, to the other half of the graveyard beyond. It's hard to see (look at the top half of Remy's shirt), but the second half of the graveyard is home to these transparent ghosts that will latch on to Remy once he enters. They're strangely ineffectual, though. They don't attack, and Remy can't talk to them. They just slow down the game. It's awkward.
There's also a bottomless well, but no Sadako.
Finally, in the walled, grassy courtyard of the horror house we encounter...a rooster?! No, no, a shed. An old wooden shack that doesn't fit entirely onto one screen. And in the shed in the courtyard of the creepy manor, we meet...Simon Barrows?! Well, no. We'll just have to wait till next time.
.
When we last left Mystic Ark: Blah de Blah de Blah, ridiculous story triggers had ground a halt to the action. Time to once again enter the world of survival horror.
We pick up where we left off: picking a touchily-triggered frog out of a bucket.
"The dead frog from the bucket. It stinks."
The item description specifies that it's a dead frog. Goody.
chomp chomp chomp
The door likes it just fine, though.
Beyond the door lies Monstrorum's office. He has a pixel-art portrait of himself hanging on the wall.
...Help me
It's also talking! Aaah!
"I am a Fairy of Wisdom."
Oh, here we go. Well, there ain't no Wilde Frau to help you here, unless you wanna travel back to the first world with me.
The Fairy tells us that in order to become an Ark, she needs to collect the eight pieces of the Triforce to enter Death Mountain. I mean, the six Books of Wisdom Monstrorum has. Apparently, when she arrived here, she simply asked the mad scientist to give her these precious books, whereupon he stashed her as his prisoner behind his portrait to use in his experiments. This is the least-qualified Fairy of Wisdom ever. (Better test for becoming an Ark: make her realize the flaw in her own plan.)
"You know the Doctor; could you ask him to give me the Books of Wisdom?
He already GAVE you an answer to that question! I have a feeling that the plot won't proceed unless I agree, though, so I say "yes." Yeah, let's go back and ask the maniac with 10 saws for a hand to give us his valuable books.
Or maybe he'll come to us. BUSTED.
"...My, you're a persistent thing! Very well. If you insist - I'll hide the Books of Wisdom...somewhere you'll never find them!"
You're going to hide them in the bookcase near the elevator. That really seems like the most likely place, what with the significant close-ups of the shelves & whatnot.
Monstrorum leaves with a laugh. The fairy follows after him, begging for the attention of the lunatic who imprisoned her to use her as a science experiment. Man, oh, man.
Anyhow, Remy's alone again.
I just like those blue bottles atop the bookcase.
SIGNIFICANCE.
Anyhow, remember that moon statue with the riddle she wouldn't pose because she thought Remy was too dumb? Talking to the Fairy of Wisdom triggers change of heart, or core metal, or whatever. As you can see above, the ineffable enigma she thought way beyond our ken was...the one with the wolf and the sheep and the bag of feed that need to be gotten across the river.
It says: "WARNING: If you make an aggressive move toward
ETA: "The Yeti." It says "YETI," you idiot.
OK, I messed up here for a good bit, and it was my fault. See, I was lazy and misread the sign, and I thought it was warning about the chimp (
Which isn't easy to do when ePSXe is glitching out on you.
It also isn't easy with the horrendous noise the chimp makes all throughout this scene. He is constantly emitting the worst hooting screech every couple seconds. It is a grating nightmare. These factors combined with my reading screw-up forced me to an FAQ for the second time, just to make sure I wasn't running into a weird trigger issue like I was before.
Anyhow, punching the chimp square in the face - which is tricky, since the bars make for some difficult positioning - causes him to fling a key at you that's stuck in the middle of his cage. Only once you descend the stairs to the lower level, though; he actually becomes docile for the immediate term if you punch him. So I guess I was dealing with a weird trigger situation.
Otherwise, besides more advertisements for "best cream," there's just another fairy who wants to play a card game waiting below. You don't want to do that, since the chimp voice sample doesn't turn off even during the match.
Here's the Fairy of Wisdom's card, BTW.
Anyhow: I kind of missed the description for what the Fairy of so-called Wisdom does when imbued, and the screenshot I took is no help. I open the casket just to see if I can imbue her in anything, and I discover...a book. So we're doing backtracking hide-and-seek, then.
Another book on top of this shelf.
(Note: You can't remove the ladder here after retrieving this book, so if you haven't memorized the red-blue-green bookshelf combination on the shelf here before doing so, you've screwed.)
Rearrange the books/Do nothing
While bookhunting, I discover that the books on the one of the shelves can now be rearranged. I try one of the combinations we've gotten so far, then the other. It does nothing.
Stymied as to a use for the fairy friend I've summoned, I remember something back in the hub world...
...Yep, these books. When you examine them, you're told that they're in a language indecipherable to Remy, so I thought that this was time for the Fairy of Wisdom to work her magic.
She can't do anything with them, though. I guess that's for her Ark form. What a gyp.
Back in the lab, solving the barrel puzzle yields another book. Three down, three to go.
Using the key the chimp threw unlocks a new area in the sewers. There's a spiderweb on the pipe I can examine but not interact with.
"So you want me to melt the ice with the power of my fire, I guess?"
Even with THE POWER OF FIRE, we can't get into Birkin's lab because
At the end, we have a computer console. Please provide your Umbrella user ID.
Actually, it's not running at all, and we need to lower that raised elevator on the left to get across the gap and continue exploring the sewer.
"The professher's ashkin' me to straight'n up hish bookshelfsh!"
After turning around and heading back, I meet Pickay again (oh, joy), who's supposed to be shoving crates of trash to
He also asks Remy to straighten up Monstrorum's bookshelves upstairs, but that's just referencing the rearrangeable bookshelf we've already discovered.
"It looks like it could fall into the sewer at any moment."
You're given the option to shove one of the crates. The game makes a "you screwed up!" noise if you take the opportunity, but it turns out that that's the right thing to do.
Shove another crate...and you have a handy bridge.
Between this and the bookshelf with the obvious spots with different textures, this is really Resident Evil. All we need is a valve handle.
But...
A Gillman appears! Command?
The monster is actually a boss. Yes, this game has bosses, of which this is the very first. No, it's not a very smart decision; because the combat controls are used so infrequently, the Gillman almost killed me while I faffed about trying to find which button combination was "attack."
Fortunately: While in the chimp room, I noticed that Remy has an "Equip weapon" command hidden in a submenu, through which he can actually use the silver sword Jack gave Remy back in the first world. It even draws blood. That's a little graphic for this game.
This game has a real Return to Oz vibe. It's clearly pitched at kids, but it's more macabre than wondrous. I have to say that my interest has been flagging during this last chapter.
In true Blue Stinger fashion, the monster was holding something - a key, to the other half of the graveyard beyond. It's hard to see (look at the top half of Remy's shirt), but the second half of the graveyard is home to these transparent ghosts that will latch on to Remy once he enters. They're strangely ineffectual, though. They don't attack, and Remy can't talk to them. They just slow down the game. It's awkward.
There's also a bottomless well, but no Sadako.
Finally, in the walled, grassy courtyard of the horror house we encounter...a rooster?! No, no, a shed. An old wooden shack that doesn't fit entirely onto one screen. And in the shed in the courtyard of the creepy manor, we meet...Simon Barrows?! Well, no. We'll just have to wait till next time.
.
