Part 4: Into The Bugmuck

Welcome back, folks. Last time, we explored Fire Eyes' village and met the girl, Elizabeth, herself. Today, we're going to start our adventure into the Bugmuck, so let's boogie.



Looking at this shot now, it almost looks like Zach is preparing to eat York.



Dropping a piece of meat, York takes the time to run like hell.





We are going to see a shitload of levels coming up. Coming into the Bugmuck, if you take the time to make some cash to buy ingredients and armor, like I did, you'll rake in the EXP.



As we have new enemies coming up!



Like that guy right there. Just look at him.



This is a Skelesnail. With 30 HP, they'll take a few hits to down, but it takes longer than that to kill them. Every time you hit them, as you can sort of see in this shot, they go flying backward. They attack with gentle jumps, floating slowly to the ground, and smashing into you with their shells.



They drop 15 Talons and 20 EXP a piece. I've been consulting a GameFAQs guide for these monster stats, and apparently, there are some monsters that have properties that aren't immediately obvious. These guys, for instance, lower the Hit Rate of the non-controlled character by 30.



And here's a shot of a dog making an abomination explode.



I spend some time killing these Skelesnails, gaining some money for supplies and stuff.



Let's move along.



There's a whirlpool there, and they're kind of important.







And not just because they make the ground eat you. I mean, that's sort of cool, but it's where this pool takes us that's important.







And we get a great "HOOOOOLY CRAP" face outta York.





But not as good as the face Zach gives us.



Ugh. I'm sure you now have sand in places you didn't know sand could get into.



Well, there's a cave here, so may as well head inside.



I imagine this guy going to get groceries is probably a huge pain in the ass.



Hey, asshole, I'm trying to kill monsters using a bone. Don't judge me for being a little slow.



Or we could just do speed like a jaguar...





: It gives the wearer the ability to run with the speed of the fastest feline. And it's free with any purchase, today only!



This guy acts as a shop out in the field, letting you resupply without going the ten feet back to Fire Eyes' village.



He also sells Nectar, which the village shop doesn't have. I buy a single Petal, since I'm still not rolling in the dough.



And for 20 Talons, we get a free accessory!



We can now sprint around like a jackass, but it depends on our stamina bar. Once we hit 0%, we'll go back to walking.



We now have a pouch for holding accessories.



We don't have to equip any accessories, as they'll just automatically activate when we receive them. We can see their effects here. There's more on this later, when we get to some accessories (that just plain-ass don't work), but for now, we can run like a jaguar.



We also snag a bit of Clay and two parts Water. I'm hoping the offer to take from the gourds in the village extended out this far.



And this is what it looks like when we run around. Little jackassy, but much quicker than walking.



We can also run past whirlpools now. I'm not sure why York couldn't run before, but it might have something to do with him doing little besides watching movies and looking for vintage Marty McFly gear.



After this, if we get caught in a different whirlpool, we'll be thrown around this map randomly. Sometimes we go back, sometimes it's a lateral shift, but it's always annoying.



That's right; with that advice in mind, we'll never---



Son of a bitch.





Aww, shaddup, you.





Moving around the map, you'll see these pools pop up. As long as you're paying attention, and occasionally quick with the run button, you shouldn't fall prey to any more.



Though, if you're trying to murderize something, that doesn't work out quite so well.







The nice thing about level ups in this game is that they're a full restore to your HP. If things are getting bad and you're low on supplies, if you're careful, you might be able to save yourself by gaining a level. It won't solve all your problems, but it might give you the boost needed to get back to somewhere you can restock.





Crystals will be coming in handy soon. We could have bought some back in the village.



Over on this side is a set of steps that allow us up onto the rocks around the area.



Nothing down here, except for this mosquito. He was splattered soon after this.



Skelesnails are the most prominent enemy around here, which is fine by me.



Following the path is this gourd, which holds a Petal.



And we can come back to this first area.



Well, if nothing else, I suppose there was some Clay here.





Enemies can drop things upon death, and they'll have a different death animation for when they do.



These guys turn into a pile of pink dust.



This could have also been a small amount of money; enemies will normally drop money upon death, but when they drop it after death, like this could have been, you get that in addition to the money they already dropped.





And now we're coming into the Bugmuck proper. It's a tar pit.



With horrific monsters living inside of it!





OH GOD THEIR TEETH ARE HORRIFIC PAIN DAGGERS

oh, yeah, you can also see a maggot down at the bottom of the screen.



With 30 HP, they're not too tough, especially with the levels we've gained. They only drop 4 EXP and 4 Talons.





These assholes, however, have 50 HP, but drop just 22 EXP and 17 Talons. If you're grinding, the Skelesnails are a much better option.





Hey, look, another cave.



It's hard to read, but we got two Crystals out of this gourd.





Before entering the cave, I get my revenge.



I sincerely hope you're Strong Heart.



In all fairness, you do live in...How do I say this politely?



A shithole. You live in a shithole.





Strong Heart must have a set of brass balls.



I'll never turn down more magic. Magic is good. Especially when you throw some of this together and some of that and---



Well, yeah, basically.





Combine some Crystals and Clay, which we've found a good bit of, and we've got a new attack spell.





And this guy also sells ingredients.



I stock up on Oil for Flash, since I like it better than Hard Ball. I'm not sure which is better, though. From what I can tell, according to a GameFAQs topic about it, Flash will end up a little stronger than Hard Ball.

If anyone has a more definitive answer, I'd love to hear it. If we could get some good mechanics chat going on here, I'd be game for learning about it.



However, on that note, we're going to take a break. We've got some more Bugmuck to go through, and I couldn't find a good break point later on in my footage, so next time, let's see if we can finish off our first dungeon area!

Stay tuned!