The Devil Will Find Work

Tuesday, January 30, 2007 7:58:11 PM

A couple points of curiosity.

I've read that there is a character to be found near a campfire somewhere in 巨人墓場 (Graveyard of the Giants) and although I've located a file in the directory to confirm this, I've never actually met this character. Where is he?

Also, I'm quite certain that there was not a floor here...

...when I was playing through the Japanese language La-Mulana. Was I playing an older version of the game, or was this added for the English patch? Mind you, I'm not exactly complaining, as the addition of that floor makes one of the most frustrating points in Hell a great deal easier, but I am rather curious.

With A Fountain PenCeiling Shadows Shimmy

Comments

Unregistered user Tuesday, January 30, 2007 9:52:58 PM

tyler writes: Is this what you're looking for? It's at A-2, and IIRC you can reveal it with the throwing sword. But he doesn't seem to do anything. How do I get through the room in the middle of Hell with a tablet in the middle, a lava pool on the left, and a water pool on the right?

White Knell Tuesday, January 30, 2007 10:32:58 PM

That is, thanks! I should've known it was hidden in a wall. I always miss the obvious things. smile

In that room you need to stand in the lava pool for a short time. After a few seconds the tablet in the center will turn red. From there leap across and jump into the water to break open the walls surrounding the tablet. After you read the tablet a bridge will appear elsewhere.

Unregistered user Thursday, February 1, 2007 4:14:16 AM

Ian Kelley writes: Oh, CRAP. Thanks for pointing out the thing with the floor. I stuck that in while testing Hell because I was fed up with that area. Somehow that managed to slip into the patch. (Damn, and I thought I checked it three times to make sure that didn't happen) Oh well, guess it's time to create a new one...

Unregistered user Thursday, February 1, 2007 4:36:52 AM

tyler writes: Oh god, without the floor there I would have had to put my fist through the monitor :( Any suggestions for this one?

White Knell Thursday, February 1, 2007 6:36:18 AM

It has something to do with the Container item... smile

Ian Kelley: Thanks. I have a question, too. Should the labels on the gates in this puzzle be translated?

http://files.myopera.com/White%20Knell/blog/endless01.PNG -
http://files.myopera.com/White%20Knell/blog/endless02.PNG -

Unregistered user Thursday, February 1, 2007 12:01:51 PM

klez writes: One thing for sure, that floor make the last part of hell a lot easier and less frustrating :P I hate falling into holes and not going ANYWHERE for 30 mins T_T I suck so badly @ platformer >_

White Knell Thursday, February 1, 2007 3:31:28 PM

You know, I've never managed to reach that weighing machine. Is there some fancy trick to it or am I just terrible at jumping?

Unregistered user Thursday, February 1, 2007 4:00:02 PM

Ian Kelley writes: No, not there. That's not Japanese, that's La-Mulana's ancient writing, corresponding to numbers. There's a tablet elsewhere with the numbers; if you look at it translated and then untranslated with the Glyph Reader you can find out what each symbol means.

Unregistered user Thursday, February 1, 2007 4:03:33 PM

Ian Kelley writes: Oh, and the weighing thing works the same way. It displays La Mulana's numbers--you have to figure out which corresponds to which through that tablet. Also, as a hint, you'll notice that the four Seals are numbered 1-4 in La Mulana numbers respectively...

Unregistered user Thursday, February 1, 2007 5:14:58 PM

Anonymous writes: Cool, I've never thought about reading that tablet without the Glypah Reader (I knew that tablet means somthing!). Thanks Lan. And Knell, the floor on top of the weighing machine will collaspe when you stand on it; once it is collpased you can use the claw to wall jump to the machine.

Unregistered user Thursday, February 1, 2007 9:20:00 PM

tyler writes: "It has something to do with the Container item..." You have GOT to be kidding me. :( :( :(

White Knell Friday, February 2, 2007 1:21:25 AM

It turns out that the answer was indeed, "I am just terrible at jumping." I had never been able to reach that scale in the past and today I make it on my first attempt... p

Ian Kelley: That is really extremely clever. Thanks again.

Other minor issues:

At one point in time a friendly visitor pointed out to me that the Ten Slot Cartridges are actually The Game Master 1 and The Game Master 2 respectively, which could be used with an MSX or MSX2 to, among other things, save your game.

In the English patch cartridge #83 has the same name as cartridge #55 — both are called "Gradius 2". I believe that cartridge #83 is actually the "Gradius 2 Beta" cartridge, which had different levels than the final release.

There are a few other discrepancies between the cartridge names used in the patch and those that I use here. While I can't claim mine to be absolutely correct, I believe that in some cases they more accurately represent the official English cartridge names (I collected them from the various MSX game lists strewn about the Internet).

Also, the "Hand Scanner" is usually called the "Handy Scanner". It was an actual MSX peripheral you know.

Another thing, I noticed slight disparities between the English field names given on the map screen and those written on the transfer monuments. Is this intentional?

Oh, and tyler, I said the same thing. Take heart, you're near to the end (I can't even figure out how to reach room 28, bah!). smile

Unregistered user Friday, February 2, 2007 2:30:29 AM

klez writes: Room 28? Sleep within the three LANDS (remember the tablet in room 21), literally. And Tyler, be glad the extra floor is there now, finish hell before that gets patched :P

White Knell Friday, February 2, 2007 2:50:27 AM

Oh man, it seems so obvious now. sad

Unregistered user Friday, February 2, 2007 9:46:43 AM

Anonymous writes: Now I can't figure out if you're being sarcastic or just plain mad @ me spoiling the fun :P Anyways has anyone figures out all the rom combinations yet? I think I've gotten them all (the manual lists 23 combinations) but I'm still trying to figure out what Shalom + fairy rom does. All I know is it works like a lone fairy rom (which heals you) but the fairy will appear on you instead of the shining point so you don't need to wait for the fairy to come close. And the fairy is blue instead of pink. Is that it?

Unregistered user Friday, February 2, 2007 3:52:53 PM

Anonymous writes: Didn't you have directions to unlock Hell Temple at some point? It's kind of cruel to remove them so abruptly like that.

Unregistered user Friday, February 2, 2007 4:06:36 PM

Anonymous writes: I'm fairly certain you had instructions on how to unlock Hell Temple. Could you please repost them? It seems kind of sadistic to remove them like that.

Unregistered user Friday, February 2, 2007 4:40:08 PM

Ian Kelley writes: The Game Master 1 & 2 things Naramura wrote to me recently about, I'm changing that for the next part of the patch. Dunno how I missed tacking on that Beta for the Gradius 2 Beta though. For the most part I collected English names from the net myself, but some of them had to be changed, mostly due to space issues. Without completely rehacking the font subroutines (which is next to impossible since I don't have the source code of the original exe) some of the ROMs are simply going to have to be truncated and/or renamed. For example "Konami Game Collection" is just too many letters. Also for those games never released overseas I didn't romanize but actually translated, e.g. "Firebird" instead of "Hi no Tori" and "Diviner Sensation" instead of "Uranai Sensation." In the latter instance that's actually critical to one of the clues. The Hand Scanner is ハンディスキャンナー (Handy Scanner) in one section of the manual but ハンドスキャンナー (Hand Scanner) everywhere else, so I went with the latter. As for the disparities in field names vs. what is said on the tablets, can you be more specific as to where you're seeing it? I can sort of see how that might have gotten in--initially when I was working with the map graphics I was going to use the in-game font for the area names, but the font was large so I had to truncate and/or translate area names differently to squeeze the text in. At some point along the line I decided to scrap that font and draw my own so I could get more text in and translate the names more appropriately. If there are disparities in the script it may be left over from the "old" translations.

Unregistered user Friday, February 2, 2007 4:41:41 PM

Ian Kelley writes: Oh, and if you all like that new floor in Hell, save your copy of map33.dat, since that's where it's stored. It's going bye-bye in the next update of the patch.

Unregistered user Friday, February 2, 2007 8:32:12 PM

tyler writes: "Akumajou Dracula" for the MSX was actually released in Europe as "Vampire Killer" but never as "Castlevania": http://castlevania.classicgaming.gamespy.com/Games/vk.html

Unregistered user Friday, February 2, 2007 8:57:05 PM

Ian Kelley writes: Castlevania is a more recognizable name than Vampire Killer to Western audiences, which is why I used it. It's the same game, same series.

White Knell Friday, February 2, 2007 10:42:01 PM

Directions to the Hell Temple are still online, at http://files.myopera.com/White%20Knell/lamulana_guide/map0x.html . I'd rather offer a translation of the Japanese hints page ( http://arcmage.mydns.jp/la-mulana/hint/woh.html ) in place of it, but despite my requests I've never managed to actually get a proper translation. Anyone?

Ian Kelley:

243: This is the Mausoleum of
Giants｡ The sad memory of
the race of Giants｡

It appears as "Mausoleum of the Giants" in eveg02.BMP.

579: Walk down the infinite
corridor｡ Beyond it lies
everything｡

"Endless Corridor" in eveg07.BMP.

580: The Sky Spring lies above
the sun｡

"Spring of the Sky" in eveg04.BMP.

771: This is the Tower of the
Goddess｡ A place to grant
the wish of the Mother｡

"Goddess Tower" in eveg13.BMP. (I prefer the former)

738: This is the Chamber of Life｡The place where all life wasborn｡

"Chamber of Birth" in eveg16.BMP.

Oh, and have you considered translating the La-Mulana Editor and (more importantly) the help files that accompany it?

Unregistered user Saturday, February 3, 2007 1:37:35 AM

tyler writes: Ok, how about a hint for this room in Hell:

Unregistered user Saturday, February 3, 2007 2:20:36 AM

klez writes: If you don't have a door there tyler, that means you're probably missing a room or didn't solve the puzzle in that room. Remember to "sleep within the three LANDs" in room 21...

Unregistered user Sunday, February 4, 2007 6:25:43 AM

klez writes: Patch updated to 1.01, fix a few bugs (including the extra floor). Few things though since Ian checks the comments here. One is the update seems to be bother with "file corrupt or unreadable: La-mulana english patch.D01". Game is still playable; I think that's for patching the manual but since manual don't get a patch the data is not there... Another thing is the sound test seems...bugged on the last few songs; it picks up some of the tablet scripts (and weapon scripts) there, so they display as song titles but don't play any songs. It looks like it exists in the previous patch also since I go back and test it in 1.00.

Unregistered user Thursday, February 8, 2007 6:29:12 AM

Anonymous writes: wha? there's a hell level too? damn, and i'm still stuck with the final boss. is there a pattern to hit the 4th form's eyes or should i stick with my original tactic and get hit by the fish first, then hack away at it? stupid lightning bolts.

Unregistered user Thursday, February 8, 2007 7:38:19 AM

klez writes: Remember, "the left eye sees kindness" and "the right eye sees Charity"... ps. clue is in the Chamber of Birth, the tablet is block by something...

Unregistered user Thursday, February 8, 2007 1:26:17 PM

Anonymous writes: Wow, what a frustratingly interesting game. I'm glued to La-Mulana, even if the controls infuriate me to no end. (I wish 'Up' and 'Jump' were assigned to two different keys rather than the same thing.) I'm stuck at the Chamber of Birth, right where I'm supposed to "Dance here, Praise life." The only clue I have is the tablet that repeats the words 'Kindness' and 'Charity' in a pattern, much like what I'm supposed to be 'dancing' to, I suppose. Anyone else have any insight on this?

Unregistered user Thursday, February 8, 2007 5:23:40 PM

klez writes: Have you been to Twin Labyrinths? There's a dance of life writen in one of the tablets...

Unregistered user Friday, February 9, 2007 2:14:58 AM

Anonymous writes: wow, now that's cryptic indeed...then again, wat isn't in this game? thanks klez! oh, and thanks anonymous, believe it or not, u helped too :D with regards to the dancing thing: two of the actions you need to do are attack and jump...there's a bit more to it than that though.

Unregistered user Saturday, February 10, 2007 4:48:09 AM

Anonymous writes: Okay, I've got it. I have to attack three times to the left using three different weapons and three to the right using another three weapons. Only problem is that the picture on the tablet itself makes it somewhat hard to distinguish what those weapons are (I do see the keysword, dagger and mace among them.)

Unregistered user Saturday, February 10, 2007 6:04:07 AM

Anonymous writes: you're forgetting the last part...and i'm pretty sure i didn't have to change my weapon with that puzzle. anyway, i'm finally in hell, but i was only able to reach room 10. after killing that green thing with my bombs i made the stupid mistake of falling through the hole in the bottomleft...which took me back to the beginning!! any clues on wat to do in the room? and are there any save points in hell?

Unregistered user Saturday, February 10, 2007 7:41:11 AM

Anonymous writes: Oh, d'oh. I should've recognized those things the first time around. Well, scrape past one more puzzle and on to more adventuring!

Unregistered user Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:52:17 PM

Anonymous writes: The guide says the gauntlet only requires the birth seal and grapple claw, but the birth seal only shuts off the barrier, without actually opening the chest to allow the gauntlet to be picked up. I climbed the wall, and also tried destroying both the 'soul' enemies (pretty tough with no place to stand and hit them) but that didn't open the chest either.

White Knell Wednesday, February 14, 2007 2:22:19 AM

Have you destroyed the eye of the giant at D-6 and placed a weight at C-5?

Unregistered user Wednesday, February 14, 2007 6:46:47 PM

Anonymous writes: Yeah, that worked - thanks. Wow, the faster attack speed really rocks.

Unregistered user Sunday, February 18, 2007 8:14:32 PM

Kha writes: Ok, so how do you get into hell? I can't figure this puzzle out. "Meet the fairy beyond the corpse that watches the birth. That's all I know." I can't read the Japanese spoiler.

Unregistered user Tuesday, February 20, 2007 11:14:57 PM

TFMurphy writes: All the riddles to get into Hell are tough. For this one, think a little literally. It helps if you remember where you got all your items.

Unregistered user Sunday, February 25, 2007 12:27:49 AM

Kha writes: ARrrgh I need a bigger hint.

Unregistered user Sunday, February 25, 2007 2:06:39 AM

Anonymous writes: One of the items you collected has a rather big literal link with one of the thing mentioned in the riddle. Figure out which, then try and remember where you found it.

Unregistered user Sunday, February 25, 2007 3:40:36 PM

Anonymous writes: You can throw shuriken twice at that blue guy, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Did anyone else find the little girl in the dimensional corridor? [img]http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/5267/lahuhrm6.png[/img] I'm kinda stuck getting to hell, can't find a way to get to the Inferno Cavern boss room without using gates.

Unregistered user Monday, February 26, 2007 5:57:12 PM

a_j writes: Good evening(?) from Tokyo.... > [41]Anonymous > The Minmei Doll at Dimension Corridor Yes, I've already found her. > The blue guy (= Naramura) Sometimes he looks back when a shuriken hits him. > Can't find a way to get to the Inferno Cavern boss room without using gates Use the grail first. The way to find Duracuets will be long.... Now, here are some info about ROM, and points to be improved in translation: * Another way to reveal the treasure box of A1 Spirit ROM: The arm of a goddess above the ROM is a switch to reveal the treasure box. Ride on a certain place of the arm for about 1 second. Her arm will point downward, and the box will open. ---------- * A translation little too far...?: > duplex's MSX says "Wait." ([ja] " Naramura's MSX says that Samieru hates F1 Spirit Samieru hates F1 Spirit 3D Special, not the original one. This relates to the patterns of [Contra] - [F1 Spirit 3D Special] ROM combination traps, and the cheap price of [-3D Sp.] ROM at the shop. ---------- * Tune name mistranslation: [ja] "Densetsu-no ki-no shita-de taiman" incorrect) "Below the legendary tree Taiman" -> [ja] "Densetsu-no ki Taiman-no shita-de" correct) "A Brawl under the Legendary Tree" The word "taiman" is a slang word for a one-on-one brawl.

Unregistered user Monday, February 26, 2007 9:38:28 PM

Anonymous writes: Whoops, thought the no-gate included the grail. I made it through without it, but don't ask how. Thanks anyway! (Also discovered that you can jump infront of ladders when you hold the shield up, wish I knew that earlier..) I've got another question though. It was pretty much answered above, but I still have some problems with room 20. No matter how long I stay in the lava on the left, the gravestone won't turn red. Did I miss something? I got as far as room 22, have all items in my inventory (the cup's empty) and the patch version is 1.1 (the one that fails to translate the manual). Here's a screenshot. http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/8906/fuckmulanagg3.jpg

Unregistered user Tuesday, February 27, 2007 3:12:17 AM

a_j writes: >[43]Anonymous The horizontal position of the professor is causing the problem. Remember that the sleeping position in front of a statue in the village was not so close to it....

White Knell Wednesday, February 28, 2007 2:00:50 AM

a_j: Thanks for pointing that out! I've added it to the listing.

I'm not certain that Ian Kelley reads these comments anymore. You should consider sending those translation corrections to his e-mail address, which is listed in the patch readme as "masakadokou [at] yahoo [dot] com".

Unregistered user Tuesday, March 6, 2007 12:35:15 PM

Anonymous writes: I'm stuck in exactly that room for days, but without the floor to stand on.. would anyone mind sharing the previous patch or the corresponding map .dat file (30 or 33 I think)? I doubt I'll ever make it across with those atrocious controls :/.

Unregistered user Thursday, March 22, 2007 3:10:43 PM

Nottingham writes: Hello everyone! Just finished La-MuLana and it was the best gaming experience I've had in a long time! I've heard (and read on this forum) that there is a super secret level called Hell. I've trolled the internet and have had little luck finding any additional information on it. Would someone be willing to point me in the right direction? It seems there are a series of things I must do to access Hell, the completion of each leading to the next hint. If someone could get me pointed in the right direction, I may be able to figure it out on my own. The link posted before (http://files.myopera.com/White%20Knell/lamulana_guide/map0x.html) doesn't work, and I can't make heads or tails of the Japanese page (http://arcmage.mydns.jp/la-mulana/hint/woh.html) when it's translated.

White Knell Thursday, March 22, 2007 9:36:12 PM

It's truly a great game, isn't it?

I've just posted a hint that should help you out here. The brief quest to unlock the Hell Temple is extremely nasty (but it hardly compares to what awaits you inside the temple itself!).

Unregistered user Monday, March 26, 2007 10:24:39 PM

Anonymous writes: Any help on a "gigantic coffin"? First obvious thought I had would be in the Giant Mausoleum/Cemetary, but I haven't found anything. And do I need a key fairy for it? Its so irritating to have to wait after trying one spot.

White Knell Tuesday, March 27, 2007 6:07:25 PM

Wasn't there a certain field in which a massive battle took place in the past? I would imagine that there were many casualties there...

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