Part 21: Episode 20: Rube Goldberg Levant
I really don't enjoy this segment of the game. I would have gone into less detail, but I sort of want this LP to be usable as a kind of game guide, too. So it's at least detailed enough to show you where you ought to be going. But seriously, this part is full of typical crappy rpg dungeon elements.
If you do not want to read through the whole post, and are confident in my ability to get through the Levant, at least watch the end cinematic. This is a good one, and it's important to the plot too.
Episode 20: Rube Goldberg Levant
The abbot's threat of "These doors don't open from inside" was still echoing in the cave as the door slammed shut. I refused to believe that he had really just locked us in here. I approached the door, ready to do anything to get it back open.
As I drew near….
…it simply slid open.
Har har har.
There was a computer terminal that we couldn't activate. The screen gave some error message about the power distributor not being turned on, whatever that meant.
The initial path forked into three paths. We went down the left path first.
A computer screen down the leftmost path partially described the horrendous ordeal we'd have to go through to turn the main pump on.
Further down, we found another computer terminal. We pressed the button and…
Somewhere a bridge extended.
Having exhausted the left fork, we backtracked to the entrance hall and went down the middle fork where we were brutally assaulted by lava frogs!
Grumpos and Sera showed off their new weapons. The frogs died quickly. Nearby the spot where we were assaulted, I found a life flower and picked the petal.
Continuing down the path…
More fights! This golem was resistant to beat weapons.
He was not resistant to Freeze Mystech.
At the end of the middle path was a catwalk that bridged a lava pool. And what do you know, the bridge that we extended allowed us to cross!
And we found more enemies at the top. Like the lavafrogs, these too died quickly to the typical combination of physical attacks and Freeze MysTech.
There was yet another terminal on the platform.
There was some sort of power problem.
The wires from the terminal led to this pillar, which quite frankly looked interesting. I picked it easily.
I'm a private dick AND an electrical engineer.
The terminal now functioned properly and turned the auxiliary generator on. Which would allow us to enable the power distributor, which would let us turn on the access gate, which would….oh please make it stop.
So we backtracked and took a different fork of the middle path and, who would have guessed, found the terminal for the power distributor, which we could now activate because the aux. generator was on.
Some machinery turned in the background.
Now we could activate the terminal from the very beginning of the Levant.
The access door, which was down the rightmost fork that we hadn't explored yet opened…
…and allowed more monsters to attack us.
After clearing out the lava frogs, we noticed that once again the passageway forked!
The left path forked once again. We took the leftmost path and found another terminal. The sounds of machines turning on could be heard in the distance.
Backtracking and taking the right path of the left fork, we came to a storage area that was locked.
As usual, the lock was a joke and I broke in without difficulty.
Well if I ever find a terminal with a broken circuit breaker, I'm sure this will come in handy.
We backtracked to the main fork and took the right path.
Impossible. A terminal with a broken circuit breaker.
The Primer controls were now online. I guess that means we're one step closer.
Even though I didn't mention it. The right path that we took…yeah it forked into two other paths. So we backtracked to take the other path.
And found the terminal for the primer pump.
Which for no apparent reason activated a terminal in a nearby shack.
Which was able to turn MysTech Conveyance On.
Which activated this monorail looking thing.
Which eventually knocked some rocks loose at the end of its path.
Which revealed another open pathway.
Which led to more fights!
Yes, in case you were wondering, the process was long, boring, and tedious.
After going through more fights and descending deeper into the Levant, we found a chest with a Bogue Bangle.
There was a barely visible bug behind the chest.
Ok, now these cobalt crawlers were pretty neat. Putting one of them into one of the upper slots of an elementor host would make the MysTech hit all enemies in the area. Likewise, it would make healing MysTech aid all friends.
Being the most proficient at Freeze MysTech, and seeing as how we were in a fire cavern, Grumpos whipped up a Freeze Mystech with the cobalt crawler.
That was it! The main pump!
Three-headed fire dragons jumped out of the lava to attack us when we got near the pump.
My freeze MysTech killed them both instantly.
Something else was coming out of the lava…
Something big. Three more fire dragons jumped out with him.
Terminals nearby could be used to activate jets of frigid air that damaged the giant.
Still not as cool as my MysTech.
The giant's would slash at us with its monstrous claws.
But even its strongest attack was no match for healing.
We continued our attack, using the air jets and freeze MysTech until the beast was defeated.
It crumped over and fell back into the lava.
I hit the main pump lever.
An ominous figure watched from the distance. The same one Rho ran into while escaping Sunder! DUN DUN DUN!
We ran back to the surface to see the Abbot.
That's right, kneel before me!
An Audience with The Grand Mysterium! / Backup
End: I really…really don't like the Levant. Sorry if this seemed brief and half-hearted, but I really couldn't bring myself to go into any more detail. I just wanted you guys to get a feel for how tedious and repetitive it is. It's stuff like this that killed the game for many people. Luckily, these parts of the game are few.
Also, that ending cinematic is one of my favorites, probably even preferred over Lost in Space.