Elvira II - The Jaws of Cerberus - Introduction

It's kind of strange finally getting to this, a year after finishing the original. Elvira I was something I played very slowly, very deliberately, over the course of years, and that's something unique to it. Something I can't afford to give a game like this anymore. Unlike the original, I'm going to have to do a lot more looking things up. Simply because I like to keep a weekly schedule and that's not going to work if I let every thought stew.

The story is, after the events of the first Elvira game, the player and Elvira are now an item of some sort, and now own a horror movie studio in Hollywood. Because what you want to do after discovering magic is real and it nearly killed you a thousand times over is to make horror movies. Maybe it's just me, but I think if I nearly escaped getting killed by a battalion of ghost knights, I'd be cautious about making movies involving anything horrific. Maybe some musical comedies.

Like clockwork, strange things are going on at Black Widow Studios. On House of Horror, a stage hand got stuck in a revolving bookcase; On Kiss of the Spider, she says the spiders look so real that they should be issuing cans of Raid; On It Came From Beyond The Grave, a catering truck knocked over some tombstones and found an old catacomb. On top of it, she's lost her necklace in my car and there's a stray dog that looks like Leatherface wandering around. Little shock that this dog seems to have turned the place all upside down.

I started off with both the Amiga and DOS version, which both started off with immersion breaking soundtracks. The Amiga's like to some platformer, not...this. Since the Amiga version looks better, I'll be playing that one. I noticed, looking at the credits, that the musicians aren't the same as the ones for Elvira I, but hopefully it won't be this more electronic action game type stuff as I get further in.

The intro shows the company logos, then a scan of the box, and I'm at the front gates of Black Widow Studios, Elvira's in-game movie company. There's a selection of four classes, stuntman, private eye, programmer and knife thrower. I pick private eye, since that seems most fitting to the guy who plays shooters and adventure games. According to the manual, it's the balanced option, which, considering that the different between my balanced stats and the max you can start with is 1-2, may just be the best option period.

Stats are, Weapons Skill, ability to use equipment; Accuracy, self-explanatory; Will Power, some sort of way to avoid getting scared (Will this matter? I'd be pleasantly surprised); Magic Resist, resistance to supernatural charms, or possibly what it says; Strength, Constitution, Poison Resist and Intelligence, self-explanatory. Constitution makes up my health, while Intelligence makes up my power points, or spell points. Levels and experience are self-explanatory for anyone who's played a RPG before. Which I sincerely hope anyone picking up this game has.

The GUI is, counter-clockwise from the game screen, various health indicators, limb damage is important, current spell, radar, inventory, movement buttons for those who think the keyboard beneath them, save/load, adventure action buttons, and the important buttons. For lack of a better term. Right now, it's just combat stance and character inventory/room inventory. For combat stance, I'm picking standard, because I don't know what I'm doing yet.

Click anywhere and Elvira pops up. The first couple times it actually made me jump a little, simply because I wasn't expecting it. She tells me what I already figured out, I need to go and save her from the...humanoid dog creature that's after her? Whatever, it doesn't matter what it is, what matters is that I'm going to have to kill it. She gives me her spellbook, which is added to my starting inventory.

The opening area is surprisingly large and surprisingly empty. It's the entrance to the film studio and there's nothing except a door I can't open, because I don't have the key. The answer is to find a rock on one screen you probably won't notice until Elvira contacts you and tells you to find a rock. By calling you one. I get the feeling that there are some serious downsides to this relationship in-universe.

 

Inside the office, there's a jacket and cap I can wear, if I wanted to. Not sure it does anything. The stuff on the wall looks important, but beyond a nice drawing of a girlie calendar, it's just red herrings. Behind the desk is a computer, a filing cabinet and a breaker, all useless. The real task here is to open the door, and when the guy falls out, take the key off him. Keep that in mind for later. The key is used on a nearby numberpad, which requires a code from the codewheel. SCUMMVM makes it so you can use any code, apparently. 

Past the gate is the parking lot, which is completely empty save for Elvira's car. In the trunk is a set of pliers and a wrench. Both very convenient tools. I wonder how the game is going to think up a puzzle solution with those in my hands? Further on is the office. There's not a lot to actually do, but there's a lot to look at. I spot a fire extinguisher, and in the lady's bathroom, there's a coin-operated tampon dispenser along with another kind of dispenser which I think is for condoms. There's also a gentleman's bathroom and an elevator. The former has nothing, but the latter is locked, apparently.

Past that, there's a fork in the road. Each door, locked by another code. I messed around with these a bit at first, but I'm going to start with door number 2. Door number 1 has monsters I can't really fight just yet. Not sure which of the movies it corresponds to. Door 2 is a more traditional adventure game haunted house experience, which corresponds to, what else, House of Horror.

Each studio has a set of cameras in front of it, then the disconnected area which represents what that section's supposed to be. It's obviously magical, and I suspect that anything inside cannot chase me outside. I imagine, at some point I'll have to test it, though running rarely worked in the last game. The direct inside of the place is a foyer with a staircase and two doors left and right of me. I pick the right. 

This leads to a dining room with no other entrance. If you open the serving platter, there's a severed head inside, and you faint and die. Now, at the risk of sounding like an internet tough guy, this is silly. Remember, a corpse just fell on me and I didn't have this reaction. And I'm also the same person who, in Elvira 1, beat up a horde of people, took maggots off a corpse, and did other disgusting things which escape my memory right now. By this point I should not be losing my stuff over a severed head. At this point I should be wondering what the police are going to do when I have to explain it to them and what's going to happen to my insurance premiums. It's so cliche that I knew it was coming. I'm not even sure I'd find it that shocking.

This time around I explore the place. There's not a lot to actually see, unfortunately, it all seems to be flavor, nothing that actually serves a purpose. Perhaps what there is is just well-hidden, but I can't spot it, what I do spot is a thing for a dumbwaiter. This is interesting, and when I click on it, I find another severed head and loss consciousness. When I return to consciousness, I'm in a larder full of corpses. Very effective, except the door out is locked and I'm trapped here. The only clue, short of unlocking the door from the other side, is that there's a temperature gauge attached to an alarm. I'm getting a bad feeling about this game.

Right, well, let's try something else. I note that this is a reasonable sign that the whole willpower aspect works, though I find it extremely annoying, bordering on obnoxious. One place is so far unusable thanks to monsters I can't fight, and this place is dead ends galore. I go back to check the alien set, and it turns out that so far I just suck at fighting. That's a great sign, I can't do anything simply because my stats suck.

There's another area I can't enter under the staircase, every time I try a corpse pops up. I'm already level 2 from simply walking around, and I'm not doing any better than I was. Left at the staircase is the living room. Oh, yeah, two suits of armor in front of a door with halberds. This is going to go well. There's seemingly nothing in here except a cabinet with more flavor items, and a door guarded by a ghost. The most likable character so far. He doesn't do anything to me, just guards the door. I'm going to be sad when I have to get rid of him.

Just before I enter the door, Elvira pops up to talk to me. She tells me the ghost is just a kid who wants something to play with. Gee...thanks. Honestly, first thing you've done that's useful. The door isn't trapped, but it leads to an office. Portrait of a Confederate officer on the wall. What's with '90s horror games set in haunted mansion having connections to the Confederacy? Can't this be in New England or something? On one side is a fish tank with a key in it. I've heard of this before, it's a piranha, I need to both feed it and open the fish tank. On the other is a desk. Inside the drawers are a prayer book and a padlock. Watch me forget that there's a padlock in there until I check a walkthrough and find out it's important, somehow.

Upstairs seems to have a whole set of doors, going all around the area, so I decide on clockwise. First, is a room that's on fire. I can't escape, and I die. That's the fourth option that automatically kills me, but this time there's actually a solution, a fire extinguisher. I hope. Oh, I'm sorry, I can't actually USE it. That's another death. Past then, then left leads to a hallway with more doors. Left there leads to a children's room with nothing but flavor, and right leads to a room where you get knocked asleep by a succubus and then killed. That's five.

Back in the central area, the next door leads to an empty bedroom. Nothing in there at all. Next room seems like it has nothing despite being bigger, until I spot a corpse on a bed. Now this is interesting. I remove the bedsheet, and he has the script on him. I try to take it...and his ghost attacks me. I try to fight, but between the combat being new, different and weird from the last game and likely him being a ghost, I die. That's sixth, but in this case I appreciate what it did.

Rounding out the rooms are a bathroom. It doesn't seem like there's anything in there, but the game draws attention to the stage blood in the sink and the various bath-related objects above the tub. Then it's down the right hallway, first to an unused room with some stuff. Checking objects is annoying, because you can't just click on them and then click look-in, you have to either pick them up and then look-in them, or switch to the room inventory on the upper right. There's a box of matches in one of the boxes though, and a stepladder I'll keep a note of.

Finally, there's the attic. It has a coffin and a vampire pops out. This is done exactly the same as with Personal Nightmare two years ago company time and I forget when my time. Only there's no escape and there's no using a mirror to take him out. Surprised he isn't out at night rather than waiting for me. That's everything in the place for now, I just need to figure out what to do next.

Given that I have a children's room and a child ghost...allegedly, I can take stuff from that room and try to use it on the child. I haven't talked about the way you take/move/use objects, because if you remember the first game, this goes the same way. Click on something, hold it down, then move it when it turns to an open hand. You can do this when it's on-screen, in the room inventory (because not everything will show up) or in your own inventory. In the room inventory, you just move it slightly, otherwise you move it into your inventory or onto the screen. Because you don't actually use things, you just drop them and the magic happens. In the case of the ghost, the blocks from the children's room can be used, but the books, bear and even cradle do nothing. He still hangs out there, so I need more.

Eventually, I figure out that based on how he jumps in front of me when I use the blocks, if I use it one tile away, I can rush the door and enter the library. What's inside? Books which are flying around. The first time around, I only read one before Timmy kicks me out, but after a second try, I figure out that I must have accidentally gone out. It's not exactly a scavenger hunt, since each shelf seems to have its own book that you can read. If you can read it. The only thing I can find is a note for a very strong poison inside a handbook on poisons.

I should clarify what's going on in the other studios so far. The alien picture has three paths. There's an elevator with a locked door. I don't have the key, but I can call it down. Then there are two paths leading to giant worms with nasty teeth which kill me. I can try to fight back, but I'm not really doing anything to them.

Then there's the It Came From Beyond the Grave studio. There's a long path I have to run down in order to reach a chapel. I can't examine the path there, but I suspect there's nothing there anyway. Inside is church with a murdered priest and a door on one end and a pulpit on the other. There's a prayer book in the pulpit, but otherwise, this is just for experience gathering, because the door is locked. There's also a holy water basin I'll need a container for. I'm sure I can think of something I can do with it.

Time to try to get some holy water and throw it at the vampire. That's how things work, at least, that's how they should. Unfortunately, the pitcher I take from the mansion set proves to not be the item the game wants. Hey, maybe the prayer book or the golden cross I found on top of the altar can do something to the vampire? No, no, alas, but no. Presumably, there's some item to get the holy water and I just have to find it. I do try a random bowl I found in the bedroom with the corpse, but it too, doesn't work.

I screw around for a bit in vain around various areas, looking for something, anything I can do to get more progress. I head back to the lobby and screw around with the elevator I thought I needed a key to use. Since my keyset didn't work, I can't use it. Right? Right? No, it's always been unlocked, I just never figured that bit out. Since there isn't one of those firefighter settings on it, I just assumed. This is turning out to be a great session.

I go to the second floor first. There are seven doors here. First on the left is the cafeteria, there's a lot of stuff to click on, but not a lot I can use. The computer room on the right has even less to do. Second on the left is costumes. There's a witch in there who keeps casting a lightning spell. It's a fight, one I can flee from at any moment. Which at this point I pretty much have to do. I keep trying to attack her and I'm not even sure I'm hitting her. This knife I have is the worst thing I've used in a video game in recent memory.

Second on the right is the make-up room, in which there is a lot of stuff I can attach to my face for what I presume will be a good reason later. Right now, it's just a novelty room I've already lost interest in. Third on the left is director's room. My room? Doesn't matter, there's some booze I drink right away and nothing else. Third on the right is Elvira's room, in which I can find dozens of articles of Elvira's clothing, as well as some other stuff. None of which seems useful. At the end is the typist pool, another office, with nothing much of value in it.

In the basement, there's a guy sitting on the ground in the dark. I...can talk to him. There's an improvement this game didn't need, but whatever. He's the stereotypical magical Indian who we have for some reason employed as a janitor. He tells me that he warned us, that the studio was built on an ancient Indian burial ground. Either me and Elvira took all leave of our senses when we bought this place, or real estate prices in California was so bad that potentially dealing with this was worth the amount we saved by not building on uncursed ground. Anyway, he wants his magic spear, magic bag, and ancient tomahawk. I'm not sure if that's the bag behind him, it doesn't seem to be and he doesn't care if I take it. Behind him is a frozen boiler and to my left is a janitors closet.

What about the spells, you may ask? I have been neglecting these, but for the most part it seems like I need to exploit the way you get more XP for exploring tiles to use them. Resist Fire makes me immune to fire damage, but it requires me to be at level 5 and requires a fire extinguisher. I've gotten up to level 4 so far, so I can put the fire room as a future idea. The vampire can be dealt with via a combination of turn undead and unholy barrier. For the former, I need a brain, which my player character lacks. For the latter, just a prayer book. And if absolutely need be, the spell Holy Blast, which needs "two good religious items" and level 5. There's also a spell for courage, which may help the situations I keep finding myself in. It just needs alcohol. There's so much of it around.

I exploit the game's per tile XP mechanics to get as much as possible, then, after getting a bottle of wine from the dining room, make my spell of courage. There are a good three options I can use this on, but my first choice is the hallway with the ghoul in it. This works, but then the ghoul tears open my throat and I'm dead. No option to fight him, just getting killed. So I try the dining room. The severed head on the platter is still alive, but there's nothing I can actually do. The divider between the dining room and the kitchen still causes me to faint, so that's an automatic thing. What else can I do? There's gotta be something I can use the courage spell on.

It turns out, after sheer "try everything and hope something has changed", that the answer was to enter the succubus's room. Technically, she turned from a beautiful woman into some weird-looking monster before killing me, but I didn't think that was the part I had to worry about. I thought I needed something to resist her sleep spell. Guess not. Since I'm not afraid, she just leaves and I can search the room. There's a pillow, and under it, which you might not notice without clicking, is a tuning fork. The former I don't know yet what I'll need it for, but the latter is for a lightning bolt spell.

Time to try the vampire again, this time I cast Unholy Barrier to prevent him from biting my neck. Gee, that makes things annoying to look at, but as long as it works. It doesn't. It kills me again. I go back after reloading to check the room. I can't actually interact with anything. So...do I need a use of Holy Blast or do I need something else? Because I'm not sure I have two good religious items.

I break down and check a walkthrough. That tuning fork? It's the solution. Which I might have been able to figure out if I could have bothered to check if the use function shows up when I click on it. Since I didn't, I never would have figured that out. You know why? Because the game has been training me to not treat the examine function as something useful, because so far it hasn't. I'm not even sure I would have figured that out except via sheer randomness considering that it's an in-door film set, at night.

The tuning fork breaks open the skylight and in comes sunlight. So after I kill the vampire with sunlight, I then can't do anything in here. Figuring this is what the ladder is for, I take that then come back. Behold, the roof, and what I just had to look up a walkthrough for to find out. No, despite the spots which seem like they might have something, there's nothing there. There's nothing here. I have just done all this for nothing.

That's where I'll leave off this session. I'm getting the feeling this is going to be shorter and more frustrating than I expected it to be. Considering that I don't feel like I've actually done anything, yet I've gone through most of one studio, I'm not sure how long this one is going to be. It really depends on how much is going on in the rest of the game.

This Session: 1 hour 50 minutes

Star Cruiser (Sharp X68000) - Once More Around the Sun

Now that I've gotten the plot of this game done for a while, it's time to do what's the most enjoyable part of the game, combat. Or two of them, at the end of which is a guy who doesn't want to talk to me. Fair enough...but now the only paths forward are blocked by people and doors, and there are no more switches to pull. I can't leave either, so I must be missing something.

Eventually I end up back with Kirk, who suggests that Brian bribes the guard guarding the gate to Fowl. He spouts this line, making me realize that I may have been treating the protagonist differently to how he really is, and providing much needed plot advancement. I head over to the teleport, and nothing has changed in his dialog. Okay, maybe I misread the text and I was supposed to go back to the spaceport. Nope. Nothing has changed. Eventually, after resolving to try everything, I return to the guy who doesn't want to talk to me.

The random guy tells me that in order to get through, I can pay the "toll" to someone at the government office or directly to the officer. Uh-uh, sure. The guy at the office asks if I really thought it was that easy, but after some negotiation, tells me that he "lost" $1500. Sure, lost. I give the fine upstanding government official his dough, and he distracts the teleport guard for me.

On Fowl, there are two paths, each blocked by a guy. Much like the people on Egg, the guards on Fowl don't care about VOID, they just care about Egg. Brian asks his why they attacked Egg, at which point the Guard does the reverse of Egg's story. Egg attacked them, they valiantly fought them off, but Egg and a mysterious third force was helping them. They currently occupy the satellite in orbit between them. So, I'll have to figure out how to get there.

Fowl itself is the mirror image of Egg. Which I suspect is a subtle political statement. The buildings are the same and they do the same things. There are people wandering around in the rubble of the city, at which point I find another Lorne Green, who tells me that someone kidnapped a Meister and some scientists. Anyway, that's enough story, time to kill some more dudes who spin around in a small arena like they've just had a sugar rush. And by that, I mean one encounter after another.

After about four encounters and eight tiles, I meet a guy who absolutely does not work for VOID, who is a member of the Egg Elite Army. Remember kids, when you give your planet a funny name, at some point, someone's going to introduce themselves as the military from that planet. The fun never ends! He exposes himself as a VOID agent, and then I have to fight four guys at once. It's worse than you think, their shots do some decent damage.

That's just how you do things. If there's a little human, you have to interact with him, because it could be someone important. Then again, this game has me tricked into thinking that an enemy against a wall on the map is a sign that there's a secret there. It isn't, it's behind where the little guy was, which is also the path forward to VOID's secret moon base. Where I find myself doing more of the same fights I've tired of two entries ago.

Behind a gate switch, I find the kidnapped Meister. They were forcing him to improve their ships, so now he's real eager to work on Brian's. I just have to go back to his factory on Fowl. Sure, okay, I'll stop in the middle of freeing two planets from a deadly war to get my ship improved. Considering this game, it may even be wise. Only, when I get to his factory, he tells me he needs stuff from Egg. Do this, no, don't do this, do that.

It turns out I cleared out the moon base and I guess...I should find something to advance the plot? I can repeat the process that got me to Fowl by bringing the government official. For $2000 this time. Really hope you came prepared for this section, because there's been no leaving this place since I got here. Back on Egg, more wandering until I find a switch which has popped up out of nowhere and leads to more enemies I can deal with.

At the end of this series of enemies, I find a building containing the President of Egg. I repeat, I have fought my way to the President of Egg, all the while getting bounty money from his guards. That says something about the state of galactic politics, but what, I don't know. For reaching this lofty height, Brian asks him for permission to go to Fowl freely. He refuses to give it to me, because it's beneath him. Okay...what about the parts then? In a random secret wall? Okay.

The Meister, who thankfully does the work for free, then upgrades my ship. Now I can use Gravity Wave Gun 2, H-Shot 2, Radar 3, and Analyzer 3. I'll be sure to look for those when I head for the final star. I'll probably need them...well, who knows with the radar. He then tells me to find the path to the satellite from Egg. Apparently I wasn't at it? It's behind a door next to the teleport to Fowl, which can now be opened by a switch which has mysteriously appeared.

They have some sort of Tie Fighter now. You know how it goes by now. There's another mandatory secret passage, but at least there's some random sacks of cash lying around. I clear out the first floor, go back, and then head to recharge, then return to go up...only the place I thought lead to another floor just teleports me back to the entrance...because there's another secret path you have to hunt for. This leads to the boss.

After killing him, I get this, which is a bit creepy out of nowhere. He's the Crimson Scorpion and he brings Brian's attention to the VOID commander he just took out. It was a robot. Were they all robots? This one is a distraction so that VOID can complete their next project, which the guy says Brian will be able to find out on Hurricane. With this, the war is over, and I can leave the planet. Also, I'm pretty sure that's Daniel Gibson's portrait, just blacked out.

Hurricane is the first planet from the first sun, and a direct shot from Fowl/Egg. The soundtrack sounds like it's from a Sonic game, and the second I walk a tile, Crimson Scorpion talks to me again, telling me that I need to kill his former partners before going to Slender. Then I'm teleported in front of some weird alien monsters. This game has gotten a bit creepy, but the gameplay is still the same.

Oh, no, sorry, they're not dashing around like kids on a sugar rush, they're...normal? I never thought the game would get easier, but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. Sure, there are dozens of respawn points, but at the same time, every fight is not some mad dash to hit a target that won't stay still. It's actually fun again. Though this does have the rather annoying thought that there's a secret passage I need to find somewhere. To the point that I'm actually taking out enemies at the end of dead ends in case that's what's happening.

Eventually, I find a path leading back to my ship. Well, that was a nice, pleasant little diversion. I'm sure next dungeon won't be as easy. Whoops, that's not true, because Crimson Scorpion calls me up and tells me I need to kill all the monsters before I can leave. That might be possible...if they didn't respawn. I was looking for secret passages, but I guess I didn't look hard enough.

After a few tries, I start to wonder if there really is a secret path somewhere. He did say I needed to kill all monsters, perhaps I just need to kill all of them in a certain section? That was they won't respawn? Or...are the tiles placed in such a way that there's a path forward without landing on a respawn tile and kill all the enemies. I put that theory to the test. It seems like the path forward...until I find the generator creating the monsters past a card telling me about it. Whoops.

Slender is the one planet outside the strange shield guarding the second star here. Which means another long trip around the system. The nearest safe planet is Axis 3, which was that weird dungeon/town combination where you have to enter the dungeon to get out, meaning the slightly further away Cherry Shuffle is the better option. And it doesn't matter because it's a town planet. There's even a bar.

There's a secret passage leading to a door with the switch in front of it. Since I've been here before, I suspect that just appeared. At the end is a figure that looks like a C64 imitation of Darth Vader. It's Crimson Scorpion, whom Brian immediately recognizes as Daniel Gibson. What's his motivation? Money, apparently they make faster money. He's a pretty decent boss, doesn't move around to an unreasonable degree and his damaging shots take two of mine to take out.

Once I've killed him and Brian makes a speech mourning the man Daniel used to be, I spot a figure behind me. It's the not-Luke Skywalker guy...David Gede? He has a rather la-de-da way of saying Gibson was an agent of VOID. He tries to reassure Brian that Daniel didn't go completely evil and didn't mean to betray him. Then he says they should to where he lived and search his house, on station Cherry Shuffle. Another trip around the star.

Daniel's house is obvious, but once inside the text goes slowly and there's moody music. Well, the game might be messing up the mood a lot of the time, but when it wants to, it nails it. There's a message on his answering machine from the guy who was standing around on Egg. Uh-oh. Then some woman he went on a date with and then a message for Brian. Daniel tells Brian to take a card, then warns him that there's something about Joshua. Exact quote, it cuts off after that.

There are actually two cards. Daniel, it seems, was working inside to sabotage VOID. Firstly, he messed with their weapons data, they won't be able to use the new stuff for a while. The remaining weapons development division is in the Barnard star system. They're called the Amazons of Twilight, and to find them I need to find a Mr. Sudo. Star Trek or Linux reference? You decide. The Amazons are very powerful, and if I attack them directly, I'll lose. I don't understand why he went to all this trouble when he could have just...not attacked me on Slender.

Given the way the game works, that I haven't had permission to go there seems like no trouble. Now that it's important, someone will pop up. Like Diana before I leave Cherry Shuffle. She has info on the factory where the Star Cruiser was produced. Brian, apparently, doesn't want to hear it. He's genuinely upset that he had to kill Daniel. Diana reminds him that VOID corrupted him. After she's done giving him a pep talk, she tells him that the factory is on Pluto 2 in Barnard, then asks if he has a pass. When he says no, she gives him hers. She warns him that the system is swarming with dangerous enemies.

The Gravity Catapult sends me to a floating space station called D2D. There's only one new piece of fancy equipment, an Ore Converter 3, which costs $35000, which actually brings me just under the 200k I cheated for at the start. The bartender tells me that he doesn't know a Mr. Sudo, but then mysteriously transforms into a new portrait and when pressed, says there's no information market there.

Random encounters here are somehow less tedious than the worst ones in Sirius yet offer more money. They look like X-wings and just sort of circle me. Not really a problem. Then the second group is an absolute pain to keep track of. Still, I'm up above the cheat line again. I stop off at Gargantua, a town planet on the way to Pluto 2. The shop only sells ammo, but there's signs of ruins further in. Just blocked by someone telling me that it's too dangerous.

Pluto 2 is not very new, but it has new enemies. I've figured out that you can scan enemies and get their stats plus name. So these fly things are called Katerinas. My gun is too underpowered for these guys, because after five of them total, I'm nearly down an energy tank. I decide it's best to just explore the rest of the system for the next gun instead of trying this out first.

I take the planets on the left side, which don't have anything I can do right now, but one did have an Analyzer 3. Which I'm sure I'll need eventually. Then I head for the center of the system and all hell breaks loose. Heading for the first planet from the sun, Dry Rock, I end up fighting some dude that Brian is really angry at. Then it's a boss battle against another Star Cruiser. It's as hard as I was warned, but less because the enemy ship is tough, and more because the guy has like five guys with him. After killing him, Mr. Sudo calls me and acts as if I know who he is. I actually reload because I think I did something in the wrong order. Which means no Analyzer 3 for the moment.

My last save was on Gargantua, and as I head for the second planet from the sun, Adam 3 I get a random message. Apparently a space caravan is selling goods in the middle of the map? The only new thing they're selling is a Wall Sensor. Which I buy, seems like it might be important in the adventure game sense. Adam 3 itself is quite an impressive place for 1987. It actually feels like a real space town as opposed to the local shops. There's a shop here which sells the Gravity Gun 2, Gravity Shield, which I can't use yet, and Radar 3. Some guy wants a Beam Booster 2 in exchange for information, which is a terrible deal in my book.

My next stop is Old New York. Actually, looking at my map screen, I finally spot what the Radar upgrades are doing, increasing the size of my map screen. This means I can see this entire star system and likely most of the others. Which means I don't really need to check the map much anymore. The new weapon does what you expect, more damage.

Old New York is a strange town, full of one way conveyors. This means you have to move carefully to find the building you want. By chance, I find the Meister, who upgrades my ship for a cool $8000. Now I can use the Gravity Shield, along with a Gravity Gun 3 and a Beam Booster 3. Which will be useful when I can find those things. The shield, meanwhile, seems to double my current defense power. This whole thing actually sets me back about 40k beyond the cheat threshold. At which point I have to say, I understand, that's about twenty fliers, but compared to a lot of games, that's not bad.

However, the guy I was supposed to meet? Nowhere, and strangely enough, there's a repair shop but no fuel depot. Even considering the layout of the place, I did check everywhere. So I head back to Gargantua to refuel and plan my second attempt on Pluto II, the next time I play this. However, first, we'll see, Elvira II - The Jaws of Cerberus, because what I need after a long, difficult game is another long, difficult game.

This Session: 4 hours 10 minutes

Total Time: 21 hours 50 minutes

Star Cruiser (Sharp X68000) - The Better Part of Valor

I've checked that I can go to Gothic, and discovering that it's just a dungeon, have decided not to give Gaby Todd $3000 for information. If she wants to lock her business behind an insurmountable barrier, she can suffer the consequences. Meanwhile, I plan on finding where an ore processing unit is. Which means doing something I done since I left Sol. Explore the planetary bodies. First, I head for Ghost.

Ghost is a strange shell of a planet. There's someone blocking my path at the entrance. Or rather, it's a heavy ore I can pick up. it's another dungeon. Figuring that I should come back to this, I leave and head for the next planet, Salamander. If memory serves, this is important to the plot at some point. It's another dungeon. Is this entire system just a dungeon?

Continuing through to the next reachable planet, I head to Colony 3. Which just has recharge stations and a bar. Oh, and a building where Brian asks if they know about any black markets, because word on the street is that there's one here. The guy knows nothing about it. Oh, well. That's everything around the one star, and it's a long way to the other one. But this does give me a chance to find out something I haven't gotten about space combat.

Up until this point, I've been assuming when I point at the guys on the radar, I'm facing that guy and the issue is I'm not up or down enough for it. Not so. I don't know how well it'll come off in the screenshots I have, but you can see that the direction I'm pointing and where the enemy is in relation to me are not as well coordinated as they should be. Hence my trouble finding enemies lately.

The first planet around the second star is Atlantis. Glad we found it, I wonder how Shepard is doing. Jokes aside, there is a store that sells actual equipment, but it just sells analyzers, both ones I already have. There's an ammo shop and the usual buildings, but nothing that helps me. Interestingly, there's another location nearby labeled ????, which I don't need a hint to figure out is a dungeon. This leaves Riechen (Probably spelled wrong) a dungeon-looking planet and the Bermuda.

Bermuda is a prison planet, and contacting the control tower causes the guy there to say I likely don't want to be here, but if I want to land they could always use more laborers. And that's this system. I could go to Rigel Kent, but I'm going to hold off on that until I have reason to go back. For now, it's time to clear out Gothic.

Gothic is what looks to be another dungeon full of dozens of encounters with groups of three enemies who bounce around like they're on a sugar rush, but at least dead is dead. I'm not dealing with it all very efficiently, but the space ships surrounding the planet are over a grand a pop, for less effort than the ones I was previously dealing with. Things could be a lot worse.

Like manna from heaven, I find another energy tank. It's at this point that it occurs to me that I've been treating this game wrong. I've been treating it like I would a standard JRPG. Follow the signposting, do what the game asks, when this is actually more of a western-style experience and I've just been too stupid to realize it. Chalk up another one to Morpheus believing the old adage about Japanese players preferring linear experiences.

The way this level works is that there are a lot of locked doors and one lever, that's behind a hidden passageway. Unfortunately, once you get that open you need to find the elevator up, every other door has 1000 energy fuel tank or a repair unit. I've never used a repair unit yet and I doubt I will. The second is that once you reach it, a trap activates. A new group of enemies spawns all over the entire level. It's just the once, not a repeatable one, so small mercies.

Unfortunately, once you get off the first floor it's more or less a straight shot through corridors with only small items in sidepaths and enough encounters to make you question what's going on. It's more tedium at a stage where this game is really feeling it's length. Fortunately, what we then get is a boss fight against the guy who ran away before. His shots take two blasts to take, which is annoying, but not more than the usual enemies.
 

This leads to a scientist and a door switch. He's a hostage, judging by how he cowered before I entered. He's Kenny Jones, space archaeologist. They were having him analyze a stone slab taken from the ruins on Unicorn, in Rigel Kent. There's nothing special about it, save that it's from an ancient alien civilization. Which I presume means a powerful one, rather than finding something from Ancient Egypt. The door back opens the path back, which is the only one back. This respawns all enemies again, great...

I end up using missiles in one encounter, and you know something? Outside of not costing energy, they suck. They ignore enemy shots, and you can't swap to a regular weapon. You need to activate the menu, switch weapons and while it pauses, you still need to be fast on the draw. Still, it helps me get out of this mess intact, so there's that.

Back on Hollywood...nothing has changed. Well...you know what? I'm still not paying. Off to Rigel Kent. Maybe I can find an ore processor there. So I head there and there's a guy at the gate. He tells me I can't use the Gravity Catapult because there are too many people in my starship. I...wasn't aware that was a concern...but wait, I have two, max. Oh, you're going to make me pay, you jerks.

Going back and paying Gaby her blood money, I notice something this time around that I didn't before. She tells me about the black market on Colony 3. Afterwards, Gaby and Kenneth are introduced, with Kenneth being able to stay here for a moment before going back to his house in Old New York in the Barnard system. Brian asks them if they know about any VOID presence in alien ruins, and Gabby says that her brother was headed to Kai in Rigel Kent. Two locations I should examine there.

The method to enter the black market is annoying. First, go to the bar, where Gaby's contact is. He'll then allow you to enter the actual building, where you can buy incredible items. Oh, I'm sorry, did I say that? I meant it's another dungeon, because screw you. More trash cans, signifying thematically the level of quality this part of the game has sunk to. And this is not just some small group of enemies, there are individual paths each leading to a shop.

But you know what? It's actually worth it. I don't mean that metaphorically, it really is. Because I find an ore converter. It converts ores into energy, fuel. This is something of a game changer, because there are a lot of asteroid fields around, and each asteroid gives you an ore. In theory, this means you can handle more than you normally could...but it also means more grinding for asteroids. 

Now that I've done that, it's time to head to Rigel Kent, first off, after recharging, Kai. Don't be fooled by the enemies there, they're about 23 down from the planet. I'll just go there and...there's an invisible barrier. Hmm...would have been nice of the game to warn me, but I did remember that bit. Since one planet at the edge of that star is outside this seeming barrier, maybe I can go there? I can, but outside of a secret passage leading to a locked door, there's nothing I can do here. Better go off to Unicorn...but I'll take the long way around, since I should see what's going on with the rest of this area.

There's nothing else I can reach around the second star, so I go up around it. Cherry Shuffle's off in the upper right corner of the map, but it's nothing special. There's a locked building which may become useful later...but that's later. There are a few $1000 ships wandering around, which is nice for my wallet, but at the same time, I'm not in danger of running out of money I've earned legitimately, let alone via the translation's cheat option. Foul/Egg is engulfed in a civil war, which means I'm not there anytime soon. It's also two planets locked together, which is weird.

After that, I check my map to find out where Unicorn is...it isn't there. If it isn't around Sirius, which I know it isn't, and it isn't around Rigel Kent...where the hell is it? Oh, it's some settlement I have to find, which means checking every single planet again. After I travel to Hurricane, and realizing it's a dungeon I already cleared out, then head to Colony 2, I find the bar there and discover the game knew I was going to be stupid.

Brian somehow knows that someone came back from Kai here, and the bartender knows who it is. There's a drunk who apparently went there. He talks about barbarians and Praid. I'm out 3k for this information, because that was his bar tab. Fine, at least this isn't the mess that was the Hollywood death march. Barbarian is a clue, because that's one of the planets around here. Then Praid must be another planet. Pride. Is it between the two? Well, let's check Pride first.

Exploring around, one of the stores sells an ore processor 2, meaning my earlier trip to that black market would have been completely pointless if I actually explored this system. That alone made this trip worth it, but there's a research institute here, hidden behind some moveable trees, where the guy tells me that the Feds are doing some sort of experiment and they've moved the device to Barbarian.

The area between Pride and Barbarian is pretty dense with enemies, but since they're all below $1000 bounty, this is just busywork. There's a guy at the entrance, and it's Joshua. Who is chasing a suspicious person and asks me if I've seen one. Brian says he isn't, but I am reminded of that little traitor suggestion. Barbarian itself is not a town or a dungeon, it's a puzzle planet. Where you really just wander around moving rocks and trees until you find a strange device and move that. Now you've changed locations.

For some reason, Daniel is now blocking my way out. That's funny, I seem to remember thinking that if Diana isn't the traitor, he's the best possibility...and now he shows up here. He asks Brian why he's here, which is to find Max. Daniel tells us that he's in the planet with the old ruins, but I shouldn't go there since VOID is also there.

Once I'm out into space again, I see that I've been warped to the second star. I should point out that while the impression is that Barbarian teleported to the second star, in actuality, it's another planet called Transporter. Kai is, as you've probably guessed, a dungeon. No respawning tiles at the entrance, no special enemies and freedom to go to and from. Just a lot of fighting guys I tired of fighting last entry and a long trip back. I'm not sure being non-linear is doing it any favors. 

Eventually, I find Max, and he's not doing well. VOID apparently has spies everywhere and they found out that he and Gaby have something important. He says something about a Gibb, obviously Gibson. Which means the game is leaning us towards Gibson being the spy, because he is or is being implied to be the one. He tells me something is in a place called Kirk on planet Egg. The question is, do I go there first or do I see if Gaby needs help? Yeah, her business sense is terrible, but that doesn't mean she deserves to get murdered. Fortunately, that's what making a save is for. Save at Pride, then make the five minute (real-time) trip to Hollywood. When her home is empty, reload.

Planet Egg and Planet Fowl are two neighboring planets which are currently at war. The guy at the gate tells Brian that there's no VOID here, just a civil war. When Brian asks what caused the hostilities, he mentions a surprise attack from Planet Fowl, and how a mysterious third force is helping them occupy a satellite between the two planets. I think I know who that is. Egg is mostly a mundane town, no bar and some guy just hanging around, but it has all top of the line equipment at this point, and H-Shot 2s. Which I'm sure will completely change the way I fight if I ever buy them.

On the south end of the town is a governmental building I can't enter, a locked door, and a teleport with a guy who's blocking my path. There's no hidden path, so I keep checking around. The guy just hanging around asks for money the second time, so I give it to him. Nothing seems to happen, so I talk to him again, nothing. It turns out that mysteriously, the switch to the gate has appeared.

Inside is quite the scene. Destroyed buildings and some black dude got really hurt...and then it turns out that Brian has been staring at the guy for a while and he's not actually dying. He's actually drunk and trying to push a building. A subtle hint that these things can be pushed. Okay. This is actually a strange area in how you explore it, it's like Barbarian, except more exploration than just wandering around.

There's a building in the middle of the place, containing Lean Kirk and a mystical new music track. He has the Lorne Green portrait like a lot of guys seem to have. Brian asks him why Max Todd was here. Kirk tells me that he comes by sometimes, and asks if I'm an unsatisfied customer. I laughed. After Brian tells him that Max is dead, he reveals that Max was his best friend, and he's horrified by the news. Whoever killed him is now after him too.

Brian asks what he was last doing. Max's last task was exploring some ruins related to VOID. "Related"? As in, connected to or they're hiding in? A hunter was spotted, which causes Kirk to freak out. After Brian calms him down, Kirk talks about how Max had some files, which he was going to give to someone. There's a person in his schedule he mentions, only known by his initials, D.G., Daniel Gibson. I believe we have our traitor.

And we'll find out if I'm right next time, in what I sincerely hope is the final conclusion to the game, because otherwise I'm going to put it on hold until after the Halloween season.

This Session: 3 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 17 hours 40 minutes 

 

Star Cruiser (X68000) - Cleaning Up The Galaxy For Not Much Profit

It turns out I was supposed to go to Colony 2, not Station 2, as there's no Station 2. There's no Colony 1 here either, but that's okay. No random encounters, even though at one point I'm right on top of an enemy pixel on the map. The local shop has some H-bullets, which sound powerful. Unfortunately, my ship needs to be remodeled before I can use it. I get it and a Gravity Gun 1 anyway, since the second I upgrade my ship it can be improved.

Right, since the Meister isn't in town, I just have to...check the dungeon. That doesn't exist. I'm supposed to have tone to Station 2 back in Sol, wasn't I? Well, it's an excuse to get some money, since the Gravity Catapult here is all the way down from Rigel Kent A. I take a short stop at Fantasia, which is currently too dangerous to enter. I need a reason to do so, which I obviously lack at this moment.

The Catapult deposits me on Saturn. Finally getting back to Sol, I can get my funds back up from a little dealing with the local pirates, and find my way to Station 2. Which was my stop between Mars and Venus back when I was going around here regularly. It's nice taking things a bit slower and just clearing out the randoms, brings my money back up to where it was before I started getting charged for traveling between stars.

Now that I'm actually paying attention to Station 2, there's not a lot here. Just the refueling station and a bar. The bar tells me a rumor about something in the orbit of Saturn, which I heard earlier. There are some trees here, so I try what I did on Mars, move some trees because something is hidden behind them. This doesn't work, but next up I check the walls...and find a cache of fuel. Okay, what gives? A wrong statement on where to go next or I got it wrong at some point? Maybe...maybe I should head to Station 4, where the enemies I couldn't really fight were? No.

After an embarrassing amount of time, I find out that I was supposed to head to Axis 2. Because the full name is Axis Station 2, a fact which is not mentioned anywhere but the station itself. Last time the bar wasn't open, but now it is, and apparently it's glorious even if it looks the same as every other bar. Come to think of it, are those bottles of wine next to the giant keg? They look like dynamite. After Brian finishes discussing the quality of the joint with the lady bartender, a blond man comes in looking for a hiding place. He doesn't say who's after him, but the portrait of the guy who comes in asking for him looks like a VOID commander. Brian picks a fight with them.

After taking out the four guys, yes, that was difficult to deal with, I reenter the bar. The guy is someone who sells information, and seems to have underestimated how valuable his latest bit is. He doesn't offer the information though, but does tell me his name is Max Todd and that he's in the Sirius system. Well, now I just have to find where the Meister is.

It's one with the portrait of the apprentices, who doesn't even pretend Brian is worth his time before getting the card. I can get my ship upgraded for the steep price of $3000. Since I just dealt with the issue at the bar, the ship is upgraded in a snap. Now I can use the Gravity Gun 1, but not the missiles, oddly enough. Diana then calls me and tells me to meet her at the bar on Colony 2. A short jaunt left from Axis Station 2 later...

Thanks to their successes elsewhere, VOID has been able to build a base on Fantasia's moon, Unicorn. Another terrorist organization, White Wolves is involved somehow. Their concern there are alien ruins, where they've found something special. Interesting. Diana suggests bringing good equipment. Well, I think I've got the best I can get for now. Off to Fantasia.
 

The dungeon on Fantasia is dead simple. So simple that it fails to occur to me that it might be a trap until I reach the boss. Uh-oh. He informs me that the White Wolves are already taking action, but after Brian asks, he says he'll refrain from cliches and just kill me...or have his underlings kill me, because he leaves and I'm teleported to a place I need to go through before going back to my ship.

This place is now thick with dozens of groups of two, who, while they don't take that much damage, do move around a lot, and while I'm being reasonably efficient, I'm still getting worn down. Both in-game and physically. You'd think after the thousandth guy I'd be better at this, but I'm constantly making mistakes against this one group which I should be able to get around by now. Enough that despite the odd 5000 recharge, I still run out of fuel long before getting back to my ship. So, I reload and try to do things more efficiently, starting with clearing out the area before the teleport, going out for a recharge, then going through the rest of the area.

And it's still too much. It doesn't help that there are various dead ends and multiple paths, which, while normally pretty cool, are here a trick to make you lose energy. If I'm at my best, I'm getting five guys a tank, if they're getting shots on me or I'm wasting my shots, it can get down to three. It's mostly the former, because recharging shields costs a lot. Some of these are me getting too focused on one guy, but in some cases it's me being too close and having zero chance of getting away.

I make it through the third time by sheer accident. Lo and behold, I get nothing for making it through but a call from Joshua. VOID has attacked a weapons research lab on Metal Dune in Sirius. Better get there fast. I'm sure I have the ability to recharge first, but I head to the Catapult first, deciding that I can recharge there. This game hasn't been that cruel. Joshua meets me at the Catapult, and gives me the pass to Sirius and $8000. Now that makes...well, it doesn't make up for the frustration, but it's nice.

The Catapult deposits me on Atlantis, nice name for a planet, where I meet Gede. Who I at first confuse for Max Todd, but turns out to be a hunter I met back in the Solar System, when I had to find evidence to free Masashi Clark, the head of the newly formed Hunter Guild. He's been working for the feds lately, and when I need some information, he'll give me a freebie. Not counting towards that is him mentioning that Daniel has been acting strange lately. Foreshadowing that he's been replaced by a VOID member, or just depressed? I explore the town and recharge, getting an Analyzer 2 I can't yet use.

Like Rigel Kent, Sirius is a two star system with fewer ships wandering around. Unfortunately, this system really likes the Z axis. Enemy ships tend to fly away rather than toward me, but hey, $800 a pop is a sweet deal. I'll just clear all of them out around Metal Dune, avoid all the asteroids, then go there to recharge my energy before...

Oh, it's another dungeon. Oh, good, it's the exact fight against an enemy which takes just a few shots more. Just as I fear I'm through another tedious set of fights with the odd trip back to a place with a recharge station, I spot change; More variety in enemies and buildings. It's not always easier, but the variety doesn't drive me to tears and I can go back to the town and get a recharge. Sure, there's an interior area, and when I leave it the enemies just outside it respawn, but otherwise everything's okay.

I return after getting a recharge and find that the entire place has respawned. Fortunately, while I was clearing the place out, I also noticed that there was a second path leading to a different area. This leads to a bunch of one-way paths and annoying fights, but I should be able to easily get out. If not, I can reload. It's annoying, but I'm starting to suspect that's going to be this last part of the game.

Then, I meet this guy, and he says he's going to overload the nuclear reactor. Okay, fine...wait, a timer? That's not going down once a second, that's going down fast. Even during the fights. I start worrying, because this sounds like it's going to be one tight timer...until I realize that all the enemies are gone. I just need to find the right switch for this door, then return and enter it to stop the meltdown.

Diana calls me. Sure, why not? At least it's stopping the timer. The way out is trapped, so we need to stop the meltdown. Or rather, she will, Brian can focus on hostages. Since there's nothing stopping me but my own navigational skills, this is rather straight-forward. The hostages, as it turns out...are the plant workers, and they stop the meltdown. The terrorists here were the White Wolves, and they fled to Margarita. Diana calls again, relaying that the traps are gone, and while she'd love to come with to Margarita, she needs to deal with the remains of VOID there.

As I'm getting out of the plant, Joshua calls me. To give me $5000. Kind of small for saving an entire city, but at this point I don't need money. Brian tells him where he's headed and to ask Diana for the details. Joshua then tells me that Diana actually defected to VOID, which Brian responses with disbelief. He followed Brian into Sirius, but most of his troops were killed. I don't remember if there was a traitor, but at this point, I'd be surprised if it was Diana, since...you know, we'd be dead if it wasn't for her. What other option is there? Daniel? Gede?

Margarita is surprisingly ungreen for a planet named after a famously green drink. Sure, the ground in the town is, but the planet's blue and red from the exterior. In the bar, I meet Masashi again. Brian asks for any info he has on the White Wolves, and he asks for money to jog his memory. I'd be offended if there was a chance of running out of money. He tells me to head to planet Hollywood and find Gaby Todd, who is likely Max Todd's sister.

Hollywood is on the other side of the star I was around, so I take a small detour to Dry Canyon, taking out a few hostile ships on the way. Some of them are now worth $1000, but they also are hard as heck to actually target. That radar can be hard to read. Here, in addition to a shop selling a Radar 2 and a recharge station, there's a random house I can enter and a Meister. Who is currently servicing Max Todd's ship. Todd tells me to go to his sister, while I get the Meister to upgrade my ship ahead of schedule, even if it is for $8000.

The new radar...uh...I'm not sure what it does, actually. What I do know is that these 1k bounty ships are a pain to fight. Before landing on Dry Canyon I was not aware of the full scope of what these things could do. They turn faster than I do and love to dive and climb. Both of which makes keeping them in your sights extremely difficult. God help you if you get close, because that's just giving them a free hit. For some of them, the amount of time you spend dealing with them isn't worth the payday.

Hollywood is your typical planet at this point. Recharge station, shop and bar. I recharge, pick up a Beam Booster 3, and then head to the bar, where Gaby isn't. The bartender is adamant that he knows nothing about anything. So, there's a secret passage...where my passage is blocked by flying trash cans which shoot at me. I wasn't aware Moraff knew Japanese. I joke, but there's like a dozen of these and some really small guys who are just as annoying to fight, and both seem to slow the game down immensely. There's no pretense of a dungeon, it's just gun down a dozen of these dudes.

Oh, and it gets better. There's a trap afterwards, over a long hallway. Despite how annoying the seven fights were, they were still better than having to recharge your shields twice over unavoidable damage. This opens a gate. A gate to where? I don't know, but the enemies in the hallway have respawned and I'm not happy about that. Especially since it's all of them and I don't have the energy to get back. I'll reload, clear them out the first time, then return later after getting a recharge...and they respawn when I leave. Screw you too game.

Fine, one final push this session. I make it through the first spawn on a bit less than a full tank, with the shield recharge costing me the rest of it. That's just okay enough, because being prepared for the trap means it only costs me one shield recharge this time. I have one tank in reserve and a third of one left for the final trip back. You'd think this would be enough, but the damn trash cans have become some sort of nightmarish game ruining experience where their mere presence is enough to ruin my hopes of getting out. I lose twice.

Aha, you might think, Morpheus, you've forgotten your missiles. Because I did. Turns out that really doesn't matter, because said missiles are only functional as an energy saving measure. They don't home in on enemies, they don't do any special amount of damage. All they do is seemingly act as shots which don't cost me energy. Costly shots, considering they each cost $100 if memory serves. And unless I bought a hundred of them, it wouldn't be enough to get me back out. I'm in the best possible shape I could be right now and the game is still not letting me through. Short of checking every single wall in every single dungeon I've been to for hidden energy tanks, I guess I need to burn all the money I can on missiles and hope that's enough.

But, rather than do that, I decide that this is just putting a bandaid on it. Okay, I'm having trouble with the speed, maybe I change the CPU the system is using? No, because increasing it so that the trash cans can be fought at a reasonable speed, but everything else is too fast. Fine. If there's no real other option, I'll savescum the hell out of this. It seems likely that burning my money on missiles still requires luck on my part and if I need that, screw it. Over a hundred reloads later, and I've done it. No hyperbole. By the time I make it back to the recharge station, I have no shields and 988 energy. Out of 30k possible energy. WITH SAVESCUMMING.

The door it opens is behind another secret passage, because screw you. Brian asks if the lady there is Gaby Todd like we didn't just waste over an hour figuring that one out. She looks like a classic Hollywood star, not quite Marilyn Monroe, but I suspect they used an image of her to start with. She knows where the White Wolves hideout is and it's mine for $3000. I have just gone through something that's seemingly impossible to do without being perfect and now the game expects me to pay for the privilege of getting the next plot development. Genuinely, I wonder if the game would allow me to go through without paying this, just exploring the galaxy. Because going through what I just did was not fun. NOT FUN AT ALL. It's not that I don't have the money or that I couldn't get the money, it's the principle. Of not getting screwed over.

So I decide to screw over the game. You screw me, I screw you at this point. This is very funny. First, she tells me to go to Dry Canyon to get my ship upgraded, fine, whatever. Brian says he already did that. Then she tells him to get a Gravity Gun 1, Beam Booster 3, and a Nuclear Shield. LADY, IF I DIDN'T HAVE THAT I WOULDN'T BE HERE! Then she tells me that the White Wolves HQ is on Gothic, but I should go by Ghost first because there's some ore there I can process into H-bullets. Since I don't have an ore processing device nor know how to get one...I should probably figure that out.

Next time, I'll deal with the White Wolves. Assuming, of course, that this game doesn't give me a brain aneurysm from something even more obnoxious than what I just dealt with. Though you'll have to forgive me if I make a detour to planet Disaronno.

This Session: 5 hours 15 minutes

Total Time: 14 hours 10 minutes