The Let's Play Archive

Cthulhu Saves The World

by Leavemywife

Part 12: Update Twelve: Magic Water: Sounds Like Water Mixed With LSD

Howdy, folks, and welcome back! Last time, on Cthulhu Saves The World, we explored Kingsport and discovered that the people there needed a cure for their terrible disease and that said cure was located in the Water Shrine to the southeast. Today, in a big update, we're going to tackle the entire Water Shrine, so let's get crazy.



This party was the winning party; Dacre and Umi had no friggin' chance of getting into the party.



I'm totally cool with this party, too, since it's my preferred and favorite party.



Oh, yeah, this is one of those dungeons. We'll be switching water levels to grab treasures and progress.





Thankfully, it's nothing complicated and there are no obtuse timings needed to get through.



It's not a bullshit water temple, is what I'm saying. Which is more than I can say for most Legend of Zelda water areas.



There are a few different dead ends and long paths through this area. It's kind of odd, since I don't think it's really that big of an area, but the winding paths just tack on extra traveling time.



It's kind of frustrating, but I suppose that's the nature of this kind of area.





Being a Water Shrine, there are a fair few different water and ice themed enemies, so leaving Umi out was a good idea.



Lightning and Fireball, from October, are both very solid choices here. I prefer Fireball, honestly, but that's only because it hits all the enemies and the Fire Tome adds that 50% boost to it.





Jesus, that's rough. Looks like he burst a blood vessel.



Yeah, that's pretty much the same from the beginning. Then again, maybe it's harder to figure out what an Insane sprite looks like than I think.



Unsurprisingly, the Octopi attack with their Tentacles.



And you just know that something like that would poison you.



It can also slap you around a bit, too.





We'll be doing a fair amount of bridge crossing coming this update.



This next bit here, you can either go up and around or down and over.



I started by going up, then decided to go down for...Some reason.



On the way down, I encountered a new enemy.



No Insane sprite right now, but there will be one later in the update.



Just by looking at them, you probably already can figure out what type of enemy they are.



Small, weak and fast, more of an annoyance than a threat. Except when coming in high numbers, like this; if they focused fire on one member, they could drop nearly any of them.



However, a liberal application of fire quickly improves the situation.





Dacre gained a level! Maybe, one of these days, he'll get into the party and we'll see something of his skills.



Hey, a free source of healing for Dacre. His attack power isn't all that great, but that's still a nice boost to his health.



While this sounds good, I end up going with the Drain passive. If Dacre needs a quick boost, he can smack something and get some HP back. This would be fantastic if I could get this on Cthulhu, Sharpe or Paws, they would be effectively immortal.





I think I might cut out a travel shot or two during this update. I took 280 screenshots for this update.



Plus, if I cut out a shot or two, I don't think any of you will be heartbroken.



Yet, here I am, including Chat dialog.



Sharpe, are you a living sword or some kind of sword robot?



That's a vaguely creepy insinuation.



Quiet you.







You might think I've cut out some encounter shots, but I haven't. We just haven't seen anything new for a couple of minutes.





I wish I had more to say about the area, but just look at it. I can't do much with that.





That is a staircase leading down into the water. Despite being an octopus man, Cthulhu can't go into the water. I'd think that Sharpe could make the trip, too, but I understand why the others can't.



I definitely understand why Paws doesn't want to hop in there.







Why did I go left at the fork? I don't know!



But it does lead to an interesting new encounter.



If nothing else, these guys have a cool design.



Not to mention, getting punched in the face with a truckload of water would hurt like hell.



Other than that, they aren't very impressive enemies to deal with. Lightning will fuck up their shit, but that's to be expected. They don't seem to resist Fireball, though, but maybe I just didn't notice.



I'm not sure how else to show off a hand losing its mind.







However, that just leads to a dead end, so let's head the other way.





Where we take a long hallway to an assload of cash.



The way back isn't uneventful, however.



...These sons of bitches...



They're not overly terrible or anything.



I just saw them all the fucking time and I got tired of seeing them and blowing penguin heads off.



That's kind of an odd statement to make.





'course, that's exactly how I picture an Insane penguin.





Let's continue.



Straight to this switch, which expels the water from before.



Where we can take the staircase down and head through more dungeon.





I think the bridges becoming parts of the floor is a really neat detail. Completely expected and should be there, yes, but kind of neat all the same.





Well, hello, new clothes!







We'll go to the right this time. Or the left, again, from their perspective.





I think it all leads to the same area at the end of the day.



I recorded this last night during a bad bout of insomnia, so my memory of it is fuzzy. It's mostly just "Fuck penguins" and that's about it.



But, I refreshed my melatonin supplies, so I'll be able to snooze well tonight.



I've found that 20-30 mg does it just right for me.





Plenty of little drains around here; I'm not sure if all that water would disappear quite that quickly. I mean, I've seen my bathtub drain and it's not that efficient.



But, onto the next area!



Okay, there's one taunting treasure chest.





Looks like we'll be raising some water soon enough.



Just wait until water puzzles start requiring densities and fluid ounces to solve.







Now that is one big son of a bitch.



Even though the hand is most of its size...



From what I've seen, they mostly just slap the shit out of you.



Chalk this one up to another Fireball and some slicing and dicing.



If we did some teamwork, we could boost someone up to that treasure.





And there are some steps.



This is where we came in, so no use being around here.



Except for some new enemies.



I'm not sure what the Mirror has to do with the other watery enemies around here, but I'm not going to question it.





Yeah, you thought I'd forgotten that, eh?



Since I hadn't gotten it before, here's what the Snowman can do in battle in addition to a regular physical. This can make battles with them extremely dangerous.





Ooof.



There will eventually be other levels in this update, I promise.





Which we won't be finding over here.





But we will find some over here.



Five hits?



I'm going with the hits, just to help boost that combo count.





While you might be expecting me to give Umi the Agility boost, I actually give her the Strength and Magic buff. She's quite speedy already and when she is in my party, she's doing a lot of attacking.





For Paws here, I'm trying to keep his magical abilities useful as well as his physical ones. Freeze could definitely come in handy, so Paws gets a little better at that.





South of here is where we need to go to get some more water action going on.







And with that, we can continue forward.



Holy Christ, I'm only halfway through my shots.





I only have 20 minutes of footage!



Oh, well, let's get 'er done. There's no good breaking points in here.





I think someone was lacking a little bit of inspiration when they came up with this enemy.



Ugh.



They hit fairly hard.



But they also have Pierce, which will ignore your defenses to wreck your ass.







And now, for something really exciting!



Despite me not liking Sharpe's personality, I'll be damned if I don't love having him around for combat.







Bwahahaha, yeah, no, we're going with the five random hits.





October, you don't need Strength. Take the powered up Quake and let's move on.



We just have to snag the chest and then hit the steps.



Ah, a new weapon for Sharpe.



I don't use this. The Muiti-Blade, with its extra hit, ends up stronger in battle. While this adds some extra Strength (a +40 boost over his current blade) and a buncha Magic, I'm not using Sharpe for his magic skills. I'm using him to split skulls.







We're nearing the end.



Thinking about it now, I have a lot of shots because I'm also covering what happens after this dungeon.





This is another path to treasure.



Which I won't turn down. This will come in handy in a pinch.



Heading back down and to the right, we can continue forward.



Straight into an encounter.



What the fuck is that horrid creature?



THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT ANY BETTER



WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED IT HAS TENTACLES AND IS WILLING TO USE THEM











That could have gotten messy.







Can't we just find a way to make this a raft and sail through the Water Shrine?



Ooh, treasure.



Up and left leads us here. Going right is another dead end.







Hey, it's like we jumped right across the water!





And this time, we phased through the wall!







Heading right leads us to this treasure chest, which is the same weapon that Umi already has equipped.



I've not seen a compelling reason to switch out her weapon since we got the Aqua Trident. It might affect her physical damage a bit, but for her magic skills, it's top-notch.





I only showed off this entire room just because it looked very fancy. I thought it would fake you out if I showed the whole room.







And back to the trenches.







If nothing else, I can show off some Insane sprites.



Meow is pretty great for situations like this.



Especially when it's followed by a fuck-you Fireball.







This is another item I can't see the reason to switch to; Fireball is still doing an excellent job at what it does, so why take away the thing that helps make it so great?



Honestly, if you can think of a reason why I should switch them out, let me know.







And here's the boss room!



Oh, guess we're fighting a Shoggoth.







That cannot be healthy.





Not Umi! Who else will drown my foes on command!?





Oh, good goin', Cthulhu.



You've gotta protect them groupies. A good one is hard to find.



Umi, you've been a good groupie.



Just give him a battle aura and he'd look DBZ as fuck.





He's got a fair chunk of HP, but he is the only target here.



Which leads to some big issues on his part.







Needless to say, he's not going to fare well in this fight.



He can poison you, but I've got a plan for that.



We'll still be losing about ten HP a round, but that's very manageable.



That, however, is not quite as manageable and easily dealt with.



However...



You know what all of that EXP means?



Level ups all around!



Uh-huh...



Ergh. I'm not crazy about either of these options, but I end up going with Taunt. Cthulhu has enough HP that he can take a few extra hits here and there, plus it'll keep the heat off of October and whoever else fragile enters our party.







Were I building an attack Umi, Thor's Call would be the shit.





And since we're building a shit-stomping Sharpe, he gets the Strength and Agility.





While October gets a hefty boost to Magic.





Well, fuck all that; Paws, you're getting +1 to your Hits.





For Dacre, I go with the all ally Shield Hymn; if I'm in a situation where I think I need it, I'd rather boost the entire party than just one person.



I do like that I don't have to backtrack through dungeons very much.





Yeah, I"m sure some magic water is going to do just great--



--Well, I'll be damned.















One of these days, Cthulhu, we're going to kick that guy's ass. I promise you.



We're going to get a boat!



At least, we're going to get on a boat.



Oh, God, don't tell me we're doing this.



...Oh, God, are we doing this?





Oh, for the love of fuck...Shut your yap, Sharpe.







This is an opinion I can agree with.





This is another area, but I...I forgot that until right about now.



There's another building on the other side, with the same guy and dialog.





Nothing else interesting to see around here, so let's talk to the boatman.





What adventures indeed? Will we save the world? Will Cthulhu become a true hero? Will we gain another party member?

All of these questions, and more, answered in (probably not) the next update! Stay tuned!