Part 4: Update Four: A Tower For The Great Old One

Howdy, folks, and welcome back! Last time, on Cthulhu Saves The World, we hit the town of Miskatonia and rescued Shane, a boy's lost dog. Today, we're going to climb to the top of the Hero's Shrine in an attempt to become a true hero, so let's get crazy.





South of the town is this broken bridge, so that's not the way to the Shrine.



Instead, it's basically just east.



I suppose the challenge lies within getting through the shrine, not just to the shrine.









This is the Chat option for this area. It's also the only time I used Chat in here.



Since I don't feel like looking it all up, whoever can list all the references will win a prize.



The prize will be me editing you into the update, propelling you that much closer to internet stardom.







Will o' Wisps have pretty good physical defense, but magic will damage them normally.



Ghost Knights just have a lot of HP and do a bit of damage with their attacks.



I honestly wasn't sure how you would show that a Will o' Wisp has lost its goddamned mind, but I suppose that's a good way to show it.



They also have a skill to cut someone's Agility in half.



While Ghost Knights will just try and cut you to ribbons.



We drown the spirit balls and not question how that actually works.







Heading to the right would have nabbed me an easy treasure chest, but I went to the left and followed the carpet.



One nice thing about this dungeon is that it is fairly sizable, but without being a maze. It's just large.



You're not going to get lost wandering around; you always know the path you took and can follow it back.



I'd much rather go through a large, cavernous dungeon than a large labyrinth.



Necro Guard sounds like something that belongs in Warhammer 40k.







Unsurprisingly, Necro Guards do little more than hit you really hard. They have an attack called Wild Swing, which is just a harder hit.



Fairly profitable for a fight that isn't too difficult. It's one of those where if you make every enemy Insane, you'll probably get your ass beat in short order.



Curse would be good, just to make individual targets insane, but I can already do that with Insane Strike, as well as start the process of killing it.







This almost looks like it was full of water at one point. I know it wasn't, but I can kind of see it.



Well, hey, four new enemies here.



It's just so cute!



Gandalf the Purple over here is not cute, as he is a wizard, and wizards are dicks.



And now this game has made me sad. I miss Gargoyles.



When Wizards go batshit, they are easily startled, but they will soon be back, and in greater numbers.



Gargoyles do good damage, just as you'd expect a stone monster would.



Man, that heart now scares the shit out of me.





And down the staircase we go.





Man, they were real proud of that walking under bridges thing.





One detail I like, that I was fond of in the last game, was how you can see the character's weapons when they're running around. It's an utterly minor thing, but it's something they didn't have to do.





That's the way to the next floor, but we're not done exploring this floor just yet.





So let's scoot around.



I could see these areas being filled with water; it looks like these areas could have been drained, giving you access to more dungeons.



Or maybe I've just LP'd too many RPGs and can't help but look for things like that.





Truthfully, if I did LP something else, it'd have to be something a little different. I tried Yoshi's Island, but I found the pressure of having to 100% a level, all the time, was just too much for me. It was more of a pain than it was worth, and I stopped having fun with it real quick.



But I'd like to try something else in VLP format. But I'm not sure what I'd like to try.



When I do my occasional stream, I have a lot more fun with that, just because nobody is expecting it to be perfect. I'm there to have fun with it, just like the other goofs I bring along.





Maybe one of these days, I'll fire up the capture card and a console, see what I can figure out.





Oh, good, a level up is coming. I was out of things to say on that little spiel.





Hmm, yes, both important things.



But this is a touch more important for what I'm doing with Cthulhu.





This game features level ups that are either pure stat boosts or HP/MP boosts. As before, I'll be taking the stat boosts, since I think those will be more important in the long run.



Back at the beginning, we finally head right.





Had I come here to begin with, then this update would have flowed a bit smoother.



And I would have had an extra 250 Gold to...Have, since I'm not spending it on anything here.



With that done, let's move to the second floor.



Well, that's a big friggin'--



What the hell, Cthulhu? When did you get Superman's X-Ray vision?





Eh, I'll accept being able to see through walls as a function of coolness.





Those statues are pretty fuckin' metal.





Alright, almost the last new enemy of the dungeon.



They're tough assholes, but nothin' we can't handle.



This softens them up, but also makes them hit much harder.



That combined with this ability can make them pretty dangerous.



Especially when you factor in the extra 10% strength they get after each round; Lion Statues can seriously fuck your shit up if you aren't diligent in taking them out.



Blinding them helps a lot, but only if you get the Blind to stick. Sometimes it takes a few hits to get it to stick, and by that time, they're dead.



And since Blind Strike has a pretty good attack power, I recommend taking it over Blind. However, Kacie listed some solid logic in taking Blind over Blind Strike.


Being able to lock down entire groups would be handy, but at this stage of the game, where I don't have a ton of party members or super powerful attacks, I'd like to have another solid attack around, just in case I need it.







Some others have been posting what they took for levels, since I've apparently inspired one or two other people to play along, and I want to say, I really like people explaining why they took what they did. Not everyone is going to play this as I do, and I like seeing what others think on certain skills and why they felt that choice was better than this choice.



Once again, I take the wrong path to treasure and head through the bottom bridge.





We cross another bridge and go past another coffin.







I'm not sure what these columns are doing set up like this, but we can walk between them.



But I still took the long way around, just in case. And because that increases my chances of a fight, which means more EXP for me.



Are you ready for a legendary enemy to appear? A foe with such grace and strength, it's a treat to see them in combat.

Prepare yourself for the glory of



BELTMAN



I have no idea why he has a neon red cowboy hat, but I'm not about to question a motherfucker wearing a costume of belts.



And I know you're all eager to see what his Insane form is, so here you go.



Oh, yeah, Wizards have spells. I probably should mention these things before making shitty Star Wars jokes.



The Beltman's attacks aren't impressive right now, especially considering he's Insane, but he has one move to make him dangerous.



Yeah, if you let him go long enough, this combined with the Insanity and extra 10% per turn, Beltman can quickly become someone who will fucking ruin your shit.



Like so! That's a scary amount of damage.



But the rewards are juicy. Beltman might have a lot of power, but he can be Blinded and Flame Strike is pretty strong for this point in the game.



Alright, we want to end up there. But how the hell do we do that?





Well, I'm sure combat will help me figure that out.









This is before the Insanity boost. Orcs are another enemy that can get dangerous if they're not taken out quickly.







That staircase we passed earlier, the one that led to the lower parts of this area, is where we want to go. We basically just made a big loop, but now we can snag that treasure.



: automatically once you discover it.



This is a good way to do things. I understand the hoarder mentality when it comes to keeping stat boosting items.



Now then, back to these steps.



Well, not quite at this moment.



Umi, you go girl!



Oh, damn, her two most important stats.



But this is also important; without enough MP, Umi can't use those spells to wreak havoc like you want your mage to. With that said, Umi still gains a good bit of MP per level, so I take the Magic and Agility boost. The MP boost would have been good, too, but I like knowing my mage is fast enough to start things in a round, especially if I need a quick heal or to try and obliterate something off the face of the planet.







Heading the other way leads us where we can't go just yet.



As we don't have that big-ass gate open.





Surely you didn't think Cthulhu's level was far behind Umi's.



Three hits? Noice.



Oh, that whole group thing. I don't really like that, and I don't like the one hit, either. So I take the random hits, as there's three of them and for a good amount of damage.





Ooh, a save point. We're close to the end here.





This is near the point where I finished off the set encounters for the area, so I got to wander freely. That is one nice thing about these games. If you both doing most, or all, of the encounters in an area, you're practically guaranteed to be as strong as you need to be.





If you find a save point to hang out at, grinding is super easy in this game.



Are these heroes that died in the shrine, or are they heroes who died elsewhere, and are just entombed here?



Probably the latter, but this is the same world where Cthulhu can become a true hero, so I'm not going to count anything out.





And there, ladies and gentlemen, is our switch.





He's right, y'know. I'm not sure if I could have thought this up.



On the way back, there's a path leading to a chest.





I take the hit to Magic and Agility and trade up the extra Strength and Vitality.





With the gate out of the way, we can continue on ahead.









Winding through the path, we're presented with a choice; we head left, because there's treasure over that way.







And what a magnificent piece of treasure it is!



That boost to Water/Ice means I might never take it off. Seriously, that's such a good modifier, it's not even funny.



We now go the right path, which leads to the top of the shrine.



Hitting the save point first, of course. I was basically out of MP at this point.



Alright, we're here, are we heroes now?



Ah, crap, of course there's a test up top. It's just too easy to walk somewhere and just become a hero. Never mind that you got there, you've gotta be tested first.



That question mark can wait until after this boss fight. It's a bit of a spoiler.



Now that is a big-ass sword.





I dunno, I'm not sure if anyone believes Guts is a true hero.







I love this way of doing a cutscene.





I'm...I'm pretty sure he didn't move, game.



And to be entirely up front with you, I forgot to drive Sharpe Insane.



I beg your forgiveness by covering him in tentacles.



He resisted every attempt to Blind him. As far as I know, he's immune to it, or just has such a low success rate, he may as well be immune.



Feh, 30 damage.



Oh, shit, he can hit everyone. But that's pretty much his bag of tricks for this fight.



And so, I finish him in style.











For me, this is a no-brainer; Cthulhu gets the extra HP and Vitality.





I actually thought about what Kacie said when they talked about why they took Blind over Blind Strike. But, for two less MP, one hit, and a bunch of damage, Slow Strike seems like the better option. Not that crowd control is a bad thing, but I like having a few different flavors of a "Fuck You" button.





Hey, look, the heroics are the important part.



I think that's important, yeah. And Cthulhu is basically a good guy at this point.





Hello, living weapon!





Also, hello third party member!



Sharpe is a pretty great teammate, no two ways about it.





I'm starting to wonder if it's a bad thing that I often find myself thinking what Cthulhu is saying.



...Cafe? Ugh.



Now just to trek back through--



Oh, right, that's an option now. But before that, let's see what Sharpe can do.



Besides be so close to a level I'm obligated to let him have it before I end up this update. Anywho, Sharpe is another physical powerhouse; he's all about kicking the shit out of whatever is in his path. He's also a living sword, so he gets cool points for that.



Yeah, I delayed this just so you could be spoiled a couple of shots later, by the in-battle description.



After saving up, I use our Teleport function to get us back to town.



The list will fill in quite a bit by the end of the game.





We don't even have to walk into town; we're taken directly to the entrance.



But first, about that level for Sharpe...







The entire party having an Agility increase would be awesome, but there's one thing that pushes the self-target version to the spotlight for me; it offers +1 hits, which will stack when Sharpe has a couple of hits added from his regular levels later on. Combine that with some incredible speed and Sharpe will become a lean, mean, wrecking machine, slicing fools to shreds before they know what even hit them.



With that, I'm putting an end to this update. Next time, we'll hit that cafe and get a move on to our next heroic deed.

Stay tuned!