You might like it: La-Mulana

 

Today we'll be doing something different. We're gonna look into a game that was once a freeware game but then turned out to have a remake and a sequel. We're gonna look today at La-Mulana. 

Before we begin, this review will focus purely on the original and less on the remake because while I've played the original and the remake, the remake couldn't exist without the original and honestly is doubtful if the remake's quality of life changes can make you get it rather than the original...I will explain why later on.

La-Mulana

Platform: PC
Release date: 2005
Type of Platformer: Platform-Adventure
Developed by: GR3 Project(Later on known as Nigoro)
Collectibles?: Yes. You get MSX cartridges that have a load of things to do and the effects depend on what cartridges are used. Apart from that, there's money which helps to buy stuff and weights which helps to solve puzzles. Life jewels just increase your health.
Difficulty: Tough
Total number of levels: 21(Including secret levels)

The story of La-Mulana takes place in a world where humans did not exist. After a bolt of lightning strikes to the ground, a being came from the sky and returned as the mother who was waiting for the day of her return.

Lemeza Kosugi gets a letter from his father Shorn Kosugi. Shorn Kosugi tells his son that he has found the ruins of La-Mulana, a place where civilizations existed and have found the secret treasure of life. Lemeza Kosugi attempts to go to the ruins and search for his father by getting permission from Elder Xelpud to access the ruins.

Ghee...I wonder what he means by adventures...

As he ventures into the ruins, he begins to understand the truth of La-Mulana and its actual purpose and I'll stop from there.

You won't see much of cutscenes from the game but the tablets that you can read(more on that in a sec) should give you a clue about the whole story. I found it rather confusing because I was busy figuring out how to solve puzzles and sometimes I thought that those were puzzle hints instead of story sections.

So let's get into the game here and what you have here is a unique game that no other can be like. You start off with nothing but your whip and right at the beginning, you come to know the importance of its main items that you will be using throughout...once you get them of course!

The Shell horn plays tunes based on how you solved or didn't solve the puzzles accordingly. The hand scanner is used to scan the tablets throughout the entire ruins. The glyph reader is used to translate the text of the ruins and lastly, the grail..a damn needed one which helps you to teleport to places you've already visited(and sends you back to the first level). Oh and make sure you get the game master rom as its the only way to save the game!

Now I will take a moment to say that the overall level themes of the game are very immersive as the overall level design is well structured..almost like feeling actual ruins! Levels are generally big and it honestly been a while since I've played a Journey game this big since Super Metroid. 

There is a level about giants, an ocean-based level, a fire level, temples you name it, its themes are centered with ancient mythology in mind and it works rather well. And in terms of length, I've never played a journey type of game that lasts for more than 20 hours!

Once you get the basic equipment, it's then time to get the whole gist of what La-Mulana is about which is exploring areas and getting every bit of information through tablets and dead bodies. 

You'll be going to various one-screen rooms that contain enemies, traps, and puzzles which you have to solve. Solve them right and you can be rewarded with upgrades and other main items that will help you in your progress. 

But you can't solve puzzles all the time as the levels are filled with traps and consequences if you do anything foolish. Like hitting a sacred wall can sap a large chunk of your health with a bolt of lightning or solving what seems like a puzzle can set a bobby trap. 

So then what kind of puzzles should be solved and what shouldn't? Well, that is where you deal with the trial and error concept and this is going to be done frequently for every time you experience a trap the first time so you don't do it the next time. Tablets won't even help you in such cases so your own curiosity is your own asset and weapon.

Speaking of tablets...well, remember how the people at Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was useless the entire time? Well, the tablets are somewhat like that. When you get the hand scanner and the glyph reader(after some tedious grinding), you can read the tablets which give you information. Some are useless for puzzles but instead give you clues on the story, while others give you information but aren't very obvious because most of them give you clues for other levels instead of the one that you're in.

As a result, this can be confusing because the game wants you to understand the layouts of the overall level design. Because the way some of the tablets are written, it is cryptic and can pretty much make you want to refer to the guide, as you're likely to never be able to solve a lot of them on your first playthrough. 

Even outside of referring to the tablets, The old man and some other NPCs won't help you at all in your progress mostly because they tell you stuff that you're already aware of(like how the old man tells you to make preparations) And he just tells you stuff that isn't helpful at times. While other NPCs tell you about things that can leave you rather clueless. Oh, and by the way, you can't record these hints that you get on the tablets as you instead have to get your own notebook and note them down!

 

What's that supposed to mean?

And because some of these puzzles can drag the process of solving other ones so you can get some of the best equipment and gear, it can lead to a rather obtuse experience. For example, at some point, you'll come across a fairy who tells you that she needs a specific Rom for a symbol so she can send her fairies to help you. When you do get the symbol, she then tells you that her fairies will help you and one of them heals you. But to do that, you must get a specific item, and to get that one, you need another specific item and to get that one, you have to find a specific level on where it is and so on and on. 

By the time you do this, you have already reached the late game and the point of doing such puzzles to get the needed equipment is rather bizarre. Now you would ask me, why would I ever want a fairy to heal me when the enemies can give health points for that? Simple..because enemies don't drop items other than gold.

Every time you die, you start with this level always

That's right, there are only two ways to heal here. Kill enemies to max out the exp gauge or find a life jewel that increases your health(but are limited). And this is the second issue with the game as well because you will be forced to find spots to grind to get your health restored unless you get the fairy. There are shops all over which sell you ammo and other gear so why can't they sell food or potions so you can heal at any point?

And this makes fighting bosses even harder than the bosses themselves since you don't get to teleport right next to the boss room as you're always teleported to where the teleported tablet is so you're forced to come all the way to the boss area while taking hits from enemies and such and when facing these bosses, they are tough and they can easily kill you if you aren't being very careful. But luckily, since you can defeat most of them in any order, you can get better equipment to face the tough ones in case you can't handle it.

The collectibles however are unpleasant, as you have to like grind a lot which involves destroying pots and enemies. The only collectibles as mentioned earlier are coins that you need to buy stuff, weights which you need to place pedestals on to solve puzzles, and MSX ROMs which give different results. But the items are expensive and the number of coins you get from destroying pots and enemies is very less. 

When do you get pots that give you 100 gold coins, they are gone for good which makes it all the more tedious to get the ones that only give 10 gold coins. 

As for equipment, a lot of them are not useful but for progression...which ok, you have puzzles in the game so its only natural to have specific items related to them. But most of them are just one time uses and only a few of them benefit you in terms of easier progress like the feather which gives you a double jump.

If you think the whip is all you need to beat him, think again!

And speaking of jumps...its again like Castlevania where you can't control your jump while in midair and this can be very problematic for reaching certain types of platforms that can be small in size and the lack of control adds more to the frustration. And since this is a 2D one, you are bound to do some level of platforming here and there...even the whip attack is on the same level of lag as it is in Castlevania! 

Good luck making that jump there!

Outside of the cryptic puzzles, lack of recovery items and wonky controls, the enemies are at least fine and not terrible...except the bats who are your worst offender as since you are pushed away when enemies touch you(again like Castlevania)  you will fall down to several rooms away or perhaps even face death. 

But how are the graphics here? You know I can't complain about them because its a freeware game at that so for a game that has a lot to do, its at least passable and honestly, I like the MSX type graphics here. It even has the MSX logo displayed before you play the game!

The music is nice and catchy too while matching the ancient theme of the game. There are some of my favorites played here that I can't help but listen in glorious 8-bit composition!

Before we wrap this up, I'll talk briefly about the remake. So shortly after the free version was released, the game soon had a remake which was released after a long seven-year development hell. 

Now if you expect the remake to like address all the issues that the original has...well...its a mix-bag.

The good is that the difficulty of some puzzles is decreased and added new rooms. Hot springs while rare are another way of healing. And instead of enemies giving out Exp, now they give orbs which make filling out for health faster as some give in large quantities. And now money is the least of the problems as it comes in gold, silver, and bronze...and you even have chests that give you large amounts of them(but only once!) So at least buying items is less of a problem.

Sadly...this still doesn't fix the obtuse experiences that the original has as the puzzles still drag on and are still cryptic. And while the whip is slightly faster, the jump control isn't fixed and you can't record all the information that you have here beyond 20.

It's for these issues alone that the game is very hard and is recommended if exploring areas and solving puzzles are of your interest. Or...if you want something like Castlevania..but not like Simon's Quest...and would perhaps like a Castlevania that is similar to Simon's quest...but not like Simon's quest, then you can try out La-Mulana.

As pretty as it looks...I still like the original's look better...

  

If you are interested in the game, I suggest trying out the original one. Because with the changes made in the remake, you might not get the most authentic experience of the game. And besides... it's free so you can click here to get it!

So if at any point you didn't like the game, you could just give it up. But if you do end up liking it and would want something probably better, then get the remake. I'm not saying that because the original is free that you should try that out first... it's just that this game isn't for everyone in mind and its to make you like try it out in the easiest possible way.

As for me, I didn't enjoy it overall simply because of what issues I pointed out already. Had it been a game with cryptic moments on par with that of Zelda 2, then I might have liked it more...and I really wanted to like the game because I admire the level design here and there should be games like La-Mulana around...but who knows? Maybe the sequel that I have bought already might change that for me?

Well, that's all for today's...thing. Until next time, this is SPG saying...

                                            QUIT RUNNING AND START JUMPING!