Part 1: Update One: Cthulhu Starts The Adventure

Howdy, folks, and welcome! Today, we'll be starting Cthulhu Saves The World, the second game from Zeboyd Games and the spiritual sequel. As this is the first update, I don't have much to say here, so let's get crazy.



Oh, yeah, we're playing the enhanced version. It's going to be fucking craaaaaazy.



In motion, that candle is actually flickering. It's extremely simple, but impresses the shit out of me for some reason.



Oh, holy Christ, we're playing as Lavos this time around.



Wait, I thought Cthulhu spent a shitload time of sleeping and dreaming around there. And being dead, too. I know there's something about that in there. Lemme check the quote...

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn." Well, that cleared up a lot of nothing. Does Google Translate have crazy squid-face language...Oh, it does.

In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. Okay, he's not sleeping, but he is dead. I'd reckon it's kind of hard to rule when you're dead. Or dreaming.



Wait, what happened to it?



Those goddamned legends!



Which is what we'll be doing in this game! The rising of Cthulhu. Uh, not raising him ourselves, as we'll be playing as him, but we'll be rising with him.



By saving the world.



Alright, let's get this ball rolling.



Okay, that sounds alright.



While adorable, I have some sort of reputation to maintain here. I think.



Eh, seems like too much work.



And that simply scares the shit out of me. Next option!



Nothing to do here quite yet.



Normal it is!



This is one of the features of the enhanced edition; we can find various question marks around the world that'll reveal a bit of the development process, which can be really interesting stuff. I'm not sure who the bearded fuck is, but he'll be our talking head for the commentary. But, let's finally start the game!





R'lyeh, where Cthulhu is dead or whatever, is one of those locations that was supposedly somewhere in the real world, even if Lovecraft never spelled it out. Some other writers did, and if I remember right, the Baltic Sea is where it was finally determined to be.




Never mind on that. It was determined, and quite exactly, even. I must have gotten a couple of locations confused, or heard some bad information somewhere.



One fun thing about Lovecraft was that he was friends with quite a few other writers, including August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith, and he actively encouraged them to use elements of his works, including the various mythos build around the Great Old Ones and alla that; this circle was known as the Lovecraft Circle and they helped build the mythos and stories.



Even if you know nothing of Lovecraft, I'm willing to bet you've heard of at least one New England town that he created; the town of Arkham. The Batman comics have the Arkham Asylum featuring prominently within them, and there's tens of thousands of other references to Lovecraft all around literature. Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Alan Moore have drawn inspiration from Lovecraft in their works, as well as writers like Brian Lumley and William S. Burroughs.



If you didn't already know, Lovecraft was a horror writer, and he wrote cosmic horror, featuring beings who were so far above human morality, we couldn't even begin to understand what their motivations are. It'd be along the same lines as expecting an ant to understand why men would fight over an unfaithful partner.



And these beings were so alien, so incredibly incomprehensible, just being around them had incredibly adverse affects on the human psyche; as mentioned in one of the previous screenshots, if you simply looked upon Cthulhu, you'd be driven irreversibly insane.



Anywho, things are about to happen, so I'll keep quiet about that for now. Besides, I'm sure someone else will know far more than I do, and put my little bit of knowledge to shame.



Alright, we're starting the game by getting our shit absolutely wrecked. Fantastic.



Ugh, now we need someone to come along and poke us with a stick before we'll do anything.



Oh, never mind, we're good. One thing to notice is the artwork for portraits; characters will actually have different facial expressions and emotions in this game!





I wonder what jackass is going to break that news to him. There's gotta be some Cthulhu groupie around here somewhere...



Urk. I should have guessed Cthulhu would be capable of listening to the narrator...



Don't worry about it, Narrator. Without that, we wouldn't have a game.



I'm sensing a bit of conflict between those two things...



Eh, I once saved the wasteland as a cannibal that murdered everyone. I've seen plenty of different heroes.



Hell yeah, free pointers. That's less I have to explain.



One thing I like about Cthulhu's personality in this game is that he's kind of a dick, and totally cool with it.





Another thing is just how fucking happy he looks in that portrait. Seriously, that's just gleeful.



Yeah, that trade-in value drops as soon as you've laid your greasy paws on the door leading into the building.



visited.

The Teleport feature is new, and it lets us pop back to cities we've already been. That's mighty handy, and beats the hell out of walking everywhere.



Hey, I've seen your FPS before, Cthulhu. I'm not sure if I'd be talking shit.



Here's another major feature of the game, one that's incredibly simple and totally awesome. We'll see more when we actually get to some combat, but for now, just know that we can make any enemy go completely fucking crazy.



Maybe not all of them, since there are some enemies that'll beat the living shit out of us if they're turned insane.



The combo count makes a triumphant return, and I like boosting that motherfucker just as much in this game as the last one.



At least you're not doing the LP!



Thanks!



...Squid-faced douchebag...



And we are in control! Let's rock this joint!



That textbox explains it pretty well, but in this game, if we die during battle, we can use a 1-Up to restart the fight, no questions asked.



The menu options are pretty standard. Let's check out our stats.



Much like Dem, Cthulhu is pretty good at giving and taking damage. That's also how I'll be building him in this run.



Oh, that's the Director. Still not sure who that is, but it's good he has a name (of sorts).





We'll learn about that later. For now, we have a beach to travel.



Quite a lot of beach.



...Alright, let's just skirt by that, I don't want to know what's going on.



Do you really think that's going to--



Yeah, what he said.



Hey, I'm not going to argue.



We get the same little box introduction to battle. I rather like it.



Holy Christ, there are battle backgrounds!



Our menu is the same as Breath of Death, so nothing to explain here. Cthulhu currently has two Techs and no Spells.





And there are battle animations in this game! Sometimes it's just a simple slash, sometimes it's some magic, but they are there! Finally, I can easily denote which enemy is being attacked!



This is the first fight, so there's an extremely small chance we're going to lose. We'd have to be actively trying to lose this fight, and even then, it might not work.



Enemies will get 10% stronger between turns, which can get very scary, very quickly.



Insane Strike is an attack that hits twice, while Deathblow is an attack that grows stronger the higher the combo count is.



If you inflict Insanity upon an enemy, their sprites will change. Each and every one. When they're turned Insane, enemies will not only deal more damage, but take more damage; it's a bit of a question about which enemies are worth turning batshit, since some of them get a whole hell of a lot more dangerous if you turn them Insane.



For a better look at the Insane Gooez, here's one that's not dying. Yet.



These guys don't get that much stronger, but what do you expect?



To show the power of hitting an Insane enemy, this was a regular, one-hit, attack from Cthulhu. The power boost can be incredibly worthwhile.



After battle, we'll always recover full HP and a small amount of MP. The faster we finish battles, the more MP we'll recover.







When you level up, there are two choices for what you can take as your level up bonus. As with Breath of Death, I'll be explaining which choice I made, and why.



Since I'll be making Cthulhu a physical ass-stomper in this game, we take the Insane Strength bonus. 10% might not sound like a lot, but if we can get two or three enemies Insane'd at the same time, then that's an appreciable boost.





Man, he really kicked the shit out of those guys...



...What?





How in the fuck is that possible? What the hell else does she see!?



Oh, crap, I just had to ask.



Well, at least he still has pants on.



Wrap it up, we're a hero!



My dog.



Dammit.



Fhtagn means something like along the lines of dreams, sleeps, or waits. It's also Cthulhu's favorite swear word, and about the only one we'll be seeing. The rest of the swearing around here will be provided by yours truly.



If you were going to get killed by those things, I'm not sure if we want you along.





I'm sorry, Aquagirl, but we'll be going a different direction with our party members and won't be requiring your services.



Alternatively, what he said.



Now you're speakin' my language.





Yuck.



...When you put it that way...









Umi, you scare the shit out of me.



In Japanese, "Umi" means sea or ocean. Google also tells me that in the Egyptian language, Umi means life. Which could also work, since she has healing magic.



We'll Chat later. Like next update later.



menu and select the Fight option.

Alright, let's take a look at our newest member.



Umi is essentially a less dumbass and annoying Sara from Breath of Death VII. She fills much the same role, including using watery spells and having healing magic.



Is that another question mark I spy?



: group of heroes to serve as an introduction to combat. Basically, let the player have fun being very overpowered right at the start of the game to give them a good demo experience. After the battle, a cut-scene where it sets up the premise of the game (loses his power, has to regain it). In the end, we scrapped this idea. With only 8 minutes for the trial experience (with the XBLIG version), we decided that it was more important to get the player into the main part of the game as soon as possible and so we created the opening that you can see in the game.



I got tired of transcribing.



Plus, this amuses me far too much for what he's actually saying.





The Miskatonic University is a school located within the city of Arkham. The library holds a true copy of the Necronomicon, while Dr. Herbert West, the Reanimator, hung around the medical school there.





Next update!



For now, we're taking a break. Next time, we'll get through this introductory dungeon and maybe even hit the town. Who knows?

Stay tuned to find out!