Shadowcaster: The People Mined Mud

By this point, I've triumphed over most of Veste and Melkor the Dark One's evil plot. However, the cluebook at this point explains something about the way I'm getting the forms that I don't quite explain, except that the way Veste did it, I can undue it quite easily. That explanation was needed 3/4ths of the way through.

Some cutscene that I suspect would explain me getting the Ssair form, except I only get the first part of it. In a way, its like old-fashioned film. Each shot is on a different roll of film and someone lost most of them.

Meanwhile, after something wonderful happens, I once again see the Dark Temple. The light crystal is apparently dead. Didn't need it the last two times, but its dark now. And I didn't regenerate mana properly the last time. As you may recall, the midi music doesn't work for me, so I've been listening to it over the internet. I'd listen to it on my computer, but whatever format the complete rip is in I don't understand and can't run. I'm sure not going to rip this off Youtube. And, frankly, I'm tired of it. So, something more appropriate is in order.

So this "introduction to the Ssair" section is something I really screwed up with. There are three things to note, it seems darker than it was before. The Ssair's fire attack EATS UP mana like nothing else. These guys seem to eat regular damage up like my fire attack eats up the mana. Add in a rope that doesn't seem to freaking cut, and this is a fun spell.

Right, Mud Mines. I hope that's just a description, or it isn't any wonder how the People lost. Once again, I'm on a slow burn. It takes a little while, but there are spiders, big ones, and then there are earth elementals. The earth elementals are a joke, getting torn to shreds by the Ssair's tail. I have to wonder about sending a Ssair against a earth elemental.

Lava men, but they're recolored earth elementals! Flying fire elementals. Mud geysers you can punch and kill! As soon as this level opens up, it opens up hard.  You've got a whole bunch of monsters you don't want to kill for once, bunched up against a wall fireball thrower. Whole lot of those now.

At the end of this level are a pair of pressure plates. At first, because there's a rock slightly further in, I assume I must find two rocks, put them on the plates, then go through whatever they open. So, I go back, and all I find is an obelisk tip. Okay, that's still good, but no other boulder. All the way returned, I pick up the boulder, assuming there's another boulder. It crashes on me. Thanks, guys.

The boulder, is of course, to the left as you enter the end. What do the plates do? Shoot lava out, which melts the ice above, revealing a chain. I'm impressed they could do that with the Wolfenstein engine. Its the teleport. Very undramatic here.

This one actually isn't destructible at all, unlike later ones

The next level does the same thing, start off slow. There's what seems to be a destructible wall and and a frog mouth. The wall is a trap, it does nothing, what you really need to do shoot the frog mouth full of the Caun's bugs.

In fact, this level really is more of the same as the last one. Fly around above the lava, although it truly is lava now. Its getting difficult to describe this in any meaningful manner. I do find a hourglass, that I presume will be useful for some puzzle.

The puzzle does not prove forthcoming right away, instead there are around 8 fire elementals and lavamen roaming around in a single small area. Got killed once because I got swarmed, but other than that, nothing too difficult.

The hourglass is related to a puzzle regarding the final obelisk. Its incredibly obvious. I have to say I miss Bram Stoker's Dracula a little. The final form is...Grost. A giant rock-man. A mythical rock-man. He is a tank. Slow, tough, hard-hitting, capable of tanking the damage from enviromental hazards. Starts with 300 health. He does six times the damage of Kirt.

The rest of the level, oddly, is trying out the Grost. Some of the walls from earlier were damagable, and in order to leave the level they must be destroyed. The rest of the level is just a joy. Switching between the Grost and the Ssair eliminating what little enemies remain. There's not much of the game left, and I don't know where the CD's new level goes in exactly, so there might be as many as two more entries before the review.