Messages

1

Gameplay / Re: Eaten by a fish in the Kelp Forest

« on: June 05, 2010, 06:34:51 am »

Thanks, all - I have indeed now defeated Mother Nature. I went off to Mithalas for a bit, accidentally blundered into some sort of boss there, got killed pretty much instantly, and then made my way back to the Kelp Forest, found the Fish Cave, and finally back to Mother Nature, where after several more tries, and judiciously combining Toughness Cakes and Spicy Rolls (I think that was it? The one that makes your energy shot better), I finally did it! :-D

Now, to figure out if there's anything else useful I can do before going back to confront Mithalas-Instadeath again. But I am starting to feel a bit more confident about all this.

2

Gameplay / Re: Eaten by a fish in the Kelp Forest

« on: May 25, 2010, 05:21:33 am »

Thanks so much for all your help! I've decided to take a bit of a breather from Mother Nature, and explore a bit further - and in so doing, found my way into the Fish Cave, which was pretty straightforward, so now I have the fish form, and can spend some time exploring all the itty-bitty tunnels I couldn't fit into before. Once I'm feeling brave again, I'll either go back to Mother Nature or maybe take a a detour to Mithalas for a bit. I figure with the fish form I should maybe be able to get into some parts of that... Anyway, thanks again!

3

Gameplay / Another Kelp Forest-related question (was: Eaten by a fish)

« on: May 24, 2010, 11:56:30 pm »

Well, I ended up managing to slip past one of those fish completely by accident, somewhat to my surprise. Found my way into someplace that was completely dark, although it didn't seem too close to the other dark place I'd wandered into from somewhere in the Open Waters, so maybe there's two different dark areas?

Anyway, I think now I've been through most of the Kelp Forest, or at least I've found my way to the nature goddess, who has been reliably killing me every time I go up against her. Although that's partly because it took me a while to figure out that just singing the notes she was making wasn't going to be enough... But really, even now that I've gotten the general idea of what I'm supposed to be doing (trying to avoid spoilers here), and can injure her to the point where she goes ballistic and throws everything at you at once, I never seem to be able to survive that final onslaught.

A couple of you said going right might have been easier than going to the Kelp Forest - does that mean Mithalas? Because I did find my way there at one point. I'd been in the Kelp Forest briefly, and then somehow ended up outside of it by accident and couldn't find my way back in at first, so I started exploring elsewhere, and found the entrance to Mithalas... But I'd heard that was supposed to be harder than the Kelp Forest, so I backed out again and kept wandering until I eventually found my way back to the Kelp Forest (the world map seems to be of limited use in that respect, or maybe I'm just not good at reading it).

Anyway, I'm just wondering if maybe I was wrong and Mithalas would have been easier, or if maybe there's somewhere else I should have gone before either of those? Because I seem to be out my league with the nature goddess...

4

Gameplay / Re: Eaten by a fish in the Kelp Forest

« on: May 24, 2010, 06:34:27 am »

Er... So basically, anywhere I see one of those is somewhere I'm not supposed to go yet?

The Kelp Forest is the first area I've been to from the Open Waters, and the only form I have (other than the starting one, obviously) is the energy form, if that's a factor...

5

Gameplay / Eaten by a fish in the Kelp Forest

« on: May 24, 2010, 05:30:53 am »

Hello all,

I'm in the Kelp Forest, and I've come to a spot where a big white fish is guarding a tunnel, and if I come close, it eats me. Doing a big energy blast (i.e. holding down the right mouse button and then releasing it, while in energy form) makes it spit me out, but it doesn't seem to do any damage to the fish, although it certainly does damage to me (I always seem to be smouldering when I get out). Shooting energy bolts at it doesn't seem to have any effect. I've let it eat me and tried to blow it up from inside several times over, but it doesn't seem to have done any major damage, probably because it spits me out before I can get the blast off. I'm not sure what else to try... Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance...

6

Gameplay / Re: stuck at the boss in the energy temple

« on: December 16, 2008, 06:17:25 am »

Something hilarious happened to me the second time I played the demo: I lured the boss past the energy-wall and set it alight, and the boss died in one hit. WTF!. I think he died because I hit him in the privates 

Ooh ooh - so it's actually possible to kill him in fewer than three hits if you target them right? That might conceivably let me actually get past this encounter one of these days.

I've fought that damn creature about 15 times now (at least -- maybe more) and can never manage to get him in the beam a third time. I can lure him right into where it should be, but even if I'm holding down the right button while I'm swimming to tempt him, so that theoretically I should be able to blast the pearl instantly by letting him go, it's not fast enough. He can pull back faster than the energy blast can go off. It's so frustrating. I think the only way to kill him is to know when he's going to strike before he actually does it, or makes any move toward doing it, or thinks about doing it.

But since my psychic abilities are not that advanced yet, maybe I'll just try hitting him in the privates.

7

Support / Re: A few beginner questions

« on: December 05, 2008, 09:06:11 am »

I think it was more just not being used to the type of movement the game uses, where there's a certain amount of inertia and water movement and what not to cope with. I'm getting more used to it now and crash into walls and giant crabs much less frequently than I did initially.

It is also possible that some of my slowness at figuring out what the hell I'm doing in this game stems from having averaged 3-4 hours sleep a night for the past two weeks due to a massive work crunch, meaning that I am probably not mentally at my best these days. Though why I find troubleshooting PHP and CSS on no sleep easier than steering a seahorse is anyone's guess...

8

Support / Re: A few beginner questions

« on: December 05, 2008, 07:40:24 am »

Yeah, not sure what Ambrosia included in the Mac release!

Just the game file, nothing else.

Yep! there are BIG arrows on the left that you should be able to use to scroll the text. You can also use the cursor keys. If there's a problem getting those to work, let us know./quote]
OK, this is a little strange -- I'm pretty sure I had no arrows, scroll bars or any other navigation in the help before. But when I went back in a third time just now, not only were the arrows  there but it didn't do the flashing-by-in-a-split-second thing at all! The text just showed up and stayed put. So I guess I just stumbled across some weird glitch the first time I played. I don't think I tried to access help at all the second time I went through...

Uh, there shouldn't be any way to die before you get to one. After Naija wakes up, you have a very chill path down to the first save crystal. There is really no way to die there unless you decide that you really want to die and stand in front of enemies that fire like 1 shot every 30 seconds. So I can't see how you're dying before getting to the first crystal which pops up a huge hint saying "Right Click to Save!". /quote]
Er... Maybe I'm just specially talented at dying? 

The first time, those little octopus-ish things kept shooting pink blobs at me while I was trying (and failing) to activate the shield song. Apparently they got in enough shots to kill me before I could find a way to make the song work. The second time, I was marginally better at evading them (probably due to not standing there trying to sing), but still didn't really have good enough control of my movement to get away from them completely and kept running into walls and the like. Eventually I did a speed burst to try and get clear of them -- and went careening right into the big crab, which apparently was the last bit of damage I needed to die.

However, I am pleased to say that the third time through I managed to not die until much later (got swarmed while trying to figure out how to make the seahorse I'd ended up on the back of move, and figured it out a second too late to survive the experience). And I was somewhat chagrined to eventually discover the first save crystal -- just past the area where I died the first two times. I also finally got the hang of the shield song -- I think I was doing it too fast before or something (out of panic due to being bombarded with little pink blobs of death). So I think I'm finding my (webbed) feet, at last, and hopefully shouldn't have too many more embarrassing newbie questions.

Anyway, thanks for the reply. I really do like the game thus far -- I was just finding it frustrating at first due to my apparent unique talent for getting killed in unexpected ways.

9

Support / A few beginner questions

« on: December 05, 2008, 05:38:56 am »

Hi there,

I recently downloaded the Mac demo of Aquaria, and tried it out for the first time this evening, but I have a few questions. They're probably really basic, but I've looked around through the forums a bit and not found answers yet, so here goes... Try not to laugh if this all sounds really stupid to those of you who've been playing for a while.

1. I guess the most basic, which could render the others irrelevant, is: is there any sort of manual or other documentation available? I did see a few posts making references to an HTML walkthrough file that was supposed to come with the download, but it didn't. I suppose it only comes with the Windows version or maybe with the full version rather than the demo? I don't actually want a walkthrough as such - I hate spoilers - I'd just like to be able to find my way around and hopefully survive for more than 10 minutes.

2. There does seem to be some kind of help text available when you click on the question mark in the menu that has the songs and things, but it flashes by pretty much instantaneously, and there doesn't seem to be any way to make it slow down or back up, so I've only ever seen the last screen of text. Is there some trick to getting it to slow down or scroll backwards so that you can see the first part?

3. I was going to ask whether there was any way to save, but I've seen a few references to some kind of special crystals you apparently use to save. So my revised question is: how far to you have to go (read: how long do you have to manage to stay alive) before you find one? I seem to generally get killed as soon as I encounter anything hostile, and theres 's been no sort of save point that I can recognize in the parts I've seen so far.

4. I have not been able to figure out how to  get songs to work. I apparently learned one called the Shield Song, but I haven't been able to use it. I saw what the notes were supposed to be in the menu, but playing them doesn't seem to do anything. Does the timing of them have to be exactly right, or is there a certain minimum number of repetitions before it takes effect, or what? And how will I know if it does (other than possibly not dying)?

5. Likewise with recipes. I apparently have some which are supposed to be able to heal me, but I'm not sure how to use them. It says something about dragging ingredients around, but nothing about what ingredients you need or where you're supposed to get them.

I expect #3-5 might be answered if I could find a manual, or access the help text, and might even become apparent later in the game if I survive long enough. It's just that survival thing I'm having trouble with at the moment.