Saturday, March 14, 2020

Shadowcaster: The Seaking Suckered the Ssair into a Sorry State

The level transition video states that the Sea King is poisoning the People's old allies, the Ssair. Seeing as they've been attacking me, I guess that's a brainwashing kind of poisoning? I'm sure that's a definition of it, but its a weird choice of word. As happened at the end of the castle, I am returned to the Temple of the Dark God, where another obelisk will have risen and a new portal opened.
I try out the Kapha form, which may or may not have been a mistake. Getting some experience for him is good, but he gets crushed in close combat with a Rice Snake or a Ssair. Creating an unnecessary delay for my entering the waterworld.
The "Flooded Caverns" are really another temple, except its surprisingly empty. Feels a lot like a Tomb Raider level in parts. I encounter an acid pit, but nothing enemy related for a good chunk of time. Protip: The Kapha is not immune to acid. The only water I see is behind a locked door. I guess this level will be dedicated to getting the key to that door.
More mines? I thought I was done with mines in the mines! These mines shoot you, because they can do that. Unfortunately, this means more waiting because these things eat up magic blasts like candy. Since they're over acid, that means I have to use the Opsis again. I've had more reason to use the Opsis than the actual form I'm supposed to.
Then there are chests, they contain some items for the Kopha, a water cannon, I assume this will be useful underwater, and water armor. Not an actual weapon yet, unless the water cannon has unlimited charges. Later, I find a trident, making his collection of weaponry complete.
The rest of the ground level is nothing special, just a bunch of tar creaturess that aren't all that tough and a single ball of something. Dunno what the ball is, but the guide calls it a "Morpsphere".
Then, the only thing left is going underwater. There are three enemies down there, a kind of manta ray called...Manta. They aren't that hard to kill. The real problem child are the Skull Mines, they eat damage like nothing else so far. One legitimately took over 150 strikes to take down. There's no reason for that, it only has 100 HP. Blue Ssairs, which are underwater. They're less difficult to kill than the other ones. I put that down to the trident, its a dream to fight with.
The level starts to drag here. Or should I say, levels. This consists of two levels stuck together, an above water and an underwater level. To add to this, underwater, its hard to tell where you're supposed to surface at times, and there are traps with this. A few red Ssairs are hiding in some surface areas. Keep in mind, these bad boys are flying when you're halfway in water. Is it any wonder this game gets a bad rap sometimes?
Going through the underwater tunnels is mostly a matter of going to and from the surface, reaching the next enemy. Eventually, I just reach the Seaking. Just hanging out with a couple of Ssairs. He goes out with the entire supply of the water cannon. He doesn't even seem to drop anything. There's nothing around him. This is lame-o. And the teleporter out is just over his throne. Quality.
Thus, the final level of this section starts off with a giant hallway full of more Ssairs. Yep, that's good. I swear some of them respawned. That's just great. There are two side corridors. They don't have anything, they just exist. At the end? Well...
Now I can be a Ssair. They fly, they have a tail and they shoot fire.

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