Part 32: Episode 31: Whistling in the Dark

Last time, we ventured into an abandoned mine and discovered that abandoned mines are boring as fuck. Also, our path is blocked by this collapsed bridge. What can we do about that?


Time to head back, I suppose.




I thought this was another one of those trick statements, where you search the cart a second time and find OH THERE ACTUALLY IS SOMETHING HERE!


I was wrong.


There's actually some stuff to investigate scattered around, but it's easy to miss if you're in a hurry to get back to the good parts of the game.

: From the looks of that mining car, this place is quite old.





Curiouser and curiouser.


Anyway, remember this board from last update? Yeah, we need it to gap the bridge. We couldn't pick it up before finding the bridge broken because that would've been convenient.


I'd also like to point out that neither finding the hole in the bridge or picking up the board cause any enemies to respawn. This is just busy work.


Let's get this shit sorted, shall we?






Shit status: Soundly Sorted.


Oh no! Bats!





Across the bridge, we find two doors. The gate is locked, so let's scope out that room Aya is facing.


Looks like some sort of supply closet/workspace? Either way, there's the first and only save point in the mines. Honestly, there's only one more room in the joint we haven't seen. At least it's brief!


Hmmm, something's definitely up with this place.


On this side of the room, we find another infinite box of handgun ammo and some sort of power console. First, we'd better call HQ and let them know how much we hate mines.



: It looks old... I wonder if it works?


Yup, it works.

: An NMC pack? Are you sure? I see... Thanks for the information.


C'mon Baldwin, we both know there are no other hunters. Except for Rupert, and he's sidelined with...a broken arm, I think? Man, it's been a while since we've seen Rupert.

: Until then, explore those mines.


Yeah, I'll get right on that, chief.


Alright, let's mess around with this electronic shit. This place is ancient, so how complicated could it be?


uh... what the fuck it this



: They must represent power lines.


The TRON-machine apparently operates two gates, labeled "Gate 1" and "Gate 2" for reasons that escape me. So, let's throw the switch here and see what happens!


Well, that half worked. Apparently, the power grid was designed with little side currents that do nothing to detour the actual electricity away for anything needing power. That seems counterproductive, but you get what you pay for with Umbrella brand construction, I guess.

Looks like there's some sort of plug in the board...


Right, I said that already. So, let's just pull it out and see if we can't...


...okay, let's turn the power off first, I guess.


Right, so the basic puzzle here is that the power line starts where ever you place the plug, so you need to find the right place to start that will activate Gate 1.


You can look at the path of the power-lines to determine the right spot, or just plug it in wherever and use process of elimination. Or just look at this screenshot, that works too.

: I heard a faint sound of a motor outside the gate...


The point of all that was to open this gate, which is Gate 1. Not sure where Gate 2 is yet.


We enter into the darkest room in the game.


Look how dark it is in here! It's stupid dark!




Aya, it's been a straight line from the car to here. The only other way to go was plummeting into a bottomless chasm.


...Yeah, let's hope he went a different way.




I don't think Madigan was 12 feet tall or had a glowing red eye the last time we saw him, but I dunno, I wasn't really paying attention.




Nope, it's not Madigan. It's...what the hell is it? Well, welcome to the annoying gimmick of this boss: the room is dark as fuck. That's it. That's the whole trick.


What we're actually fighting is this charming fellow from the FMV last update: The Blizzard Chaser. The Blizzard Chaser is dumb and boring, and ultimately not only the worst boss fight in the game, but one of the worst in the genre. He doesn't even get his own boss music!

It's just this again!


So, let's break down what's wrong with this fight. First off, it's super dark. I understand the attempt to make the boss atmospheric and spooky, but it only serves to make it boring to look at. Aya can lock on to enemies anyway, so it's not like it adds any challenge.


The boss's only attack, or at least the only one he ever bother to use, is to run around to the other side of the room and pounce on Aya. This can be dodged by moving in any direction, even if its just a few steps. If he does it you, it does about 20 damage or less. That may seem like a lot, but for a boss, that's crap damage.


The room we're fighting in is basically a large square with an impassable rock excavator in the middle. So, a ring with corners, pretty much. If the Blizzard Chaser is one the other side of the excavator, you can't target him or even hit him, but he can leap over to do his pounce attack. You can avoid almost all damage by tapping the lock-on button and then moving if it doesn't catch anything.


There are four explosive barrels scattered around the corners of the room that you can theoretically use to damage the boss. Unfortunately, they had a set amount of HP, so you won't be able to just blow one up without several shots from a gun or one grenade. Both of which would be more effective if you just shot them into the boss itself. Still, you may want to blow up the barrels anyway, since their burning remains add at least a little light to the room.


So, here's how the fight plays out. Aya and the Blizzard Chaser run around the room in circles, occasionally stopping to attack each other. The boss does shit for damage, so you're in no real danger, but has loads of HP. So this goes on for quite some time.


The room itself is hiding a few interesting things in the darkness, but we can't do anything about that until the boss is dead.


I didn't record a video of the Burner boss because, despite escaping relatively unscathed in my test run, I couldn't get a recording where I didn't get my shit stomped. The attempted videos were long and boring, and also a little embarrassing.

I didn't record a video of the Blizzard Chaser battle because you wouldn't be able to see anything anyway, which is kind of the point of video.


But here's a picture of its ass. Thanks for that, game.


If you get a clear shot, Necrosis isn't a bad idea, since the Blizzard Chaser is vulnerable to poison. As you can see in the above shot, Plasma is less effective due to how mobile the bastard is.


Jesus, fucking finally.




oh gross






Oh. That's Kyle's gun.



That's a shame. I mean, yeah he was a goofy idiot that never really helped, but still. No one deserves to get eaten by a horse-man.


Oh, hey, also a puzzle item! Cool, we can just go back and








OH FUCK YOU, GAME!