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Spelunky |OT| With Fate Guiding My Every Move

D

dLMN8R

Member
Snowballo said:
Thanks mate.

I usually like challenges,
But, as you said, in this game every match is a new experience and you are forced to start from zero. You just have the experience from your previous matches.
From one side this thing is very fascinating, the other side of the medal is that this game is hard as fu*k, harder than all the other roguelikes I've tried.
I've reaced a maximum health of 5 hearts and it takes instants to die :)
Click to expand...

Once you play enough Spelunky you realize that there's nothing unfair about the game. Every single thing that can kill you or harm you is discoverable before you get to that thing, and every death can be attributed to something you personally did wrong.

There are no "power ups" to collect because the only thing "leveling up" is yourself as you learn more about its systems.


It's one of the most purely perfect game designs ever created.
 
S

Solaire of Astora

Death by black JPN
Bit of a necropost, but I just feel like venting after what happened today.

After 2+ years and more than 2000 runs, I got handed something on a silver platter today. An altar and present box on 4-2. "Surely I won't get an eggplant this easily so late in the game?", I thought to myself. But to my surprise, I did. Off to the city of Gold I went, feeling like the luckiest spelunker in history. After navigating the city of gold, I found myself up against Olmec, and I had a ton of bombs. I put the Eggplant somewhere safe, took care of the hawk man and took Olmec to the other side of the arena. So far, so good.

Then I bombed my way down to the lava, making sure to clear a complete path down so I wouldn't get screwed by Olmec's spawns. Perfect. Now time to get the eggplant down from its safe space and then lure Olmec over towards his doom. And then I blew it...

Instead of teetering on the edge, I fell into the hole I'd created, with Olmec hurtling down above my head. Fortunately, I managed to find my way into a gap, and Olmec plunged past into the lava below. Climbing as fast as I could, I grabbed the eggplant and jumped down the hole, using my cape periodically to prevent a hard fall.

I landed on Olmec, and the prompt to enter the door to hell briefly flashed up on screen, but I couldn't make it on time. Sadly, I had to take my eggplant back up and go through the regular door. On the bright side, I got a few screenshots of the end credits, with my spelunker carrying the eggplant, but I'm pretty disappointed in myself for throwing away an easy solo eggplant run.
 
J

Jack Scofield

Member
I see that this thread isn't very active, but I've recently become addicted to this game after initially not understanding the mechanics at all. I can feel myself getting better with each run, but the jungle is still the furthest area I've gotten, and I'm still getting a hang of this area.

In the mines, it was possible to get through the "main path" of each stage without using a single bomb or rope. Is this not true for the jungle and beyond? I feel like I've come across ledges that would definitely hurt me if I fall, or gone through a path where there's a pool of water guarded by a tiki trap on the far side, and the only way to get past is using a rope to jump over the tiki.

Is this not true, or am I somehow missing the "right" path in the jungle stages?
 
V

Voidguts

Member
Jack Scofield said:
I see that this thread isn't very active, but I've recently become addicted to this game after initially not understanding the mechanics at all. I can feel myself getting better with each run, but the jungle is still the furthest area I've gotten, and I'm still getting a hang of this area.

In the mines, it was possible to get through the "main path" of each stage without using a single bomb or rope. Is this not true for the jungle and beyond? I feel like I've come across ledges that would definitely hurt me if I fall, or gone through a path where there's a pool of water guarded by a tiki trap on the far side, and the only way to get past is using a rope to jump over the tiki.

Is this not true, or am I somehow missing the "right" path in the jungle stages?
Click to expand...

you can fall surprisingly far without taking damage if you hang off the ledge first. other than that, are you warping to the jungle? if not, you definitely should grab some spike boots, parachutes or something else to help. the area after it is ten times worse about random falls.
 
J

Jack Scofield

Member
Finally unlocked the Temple shortcut after about a week's worth of periodic attempts. Even just seeing that key gives me PTSD, haha.

I'm glad I finally did it. I really disliked the way it forced me to play the game.
 
J

Jack Scofield

Member
Yaboosh said:
The shortcuts tend to make the game harder.
Click to expand...

I'm still planning on playing the game from the beginning when attempting to beat it, but for completionists sake I knew that I had to unlock that last shortcut. It would bother me to no end if I didn't. Plus, now I have the opportunity to mess around in the Temple and get a feel for the enemies.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Shortcuts are good for practicing an area you're unfamiliar with to learn all the possibilities they might throw at you during a normal game.

Best part is when I first played, I ended up coincidentally beating Olmec for the first time on the same run where I was just playing to unlock the Temple. I had no plans on actually winning, nor did I expect to win, but before I knew it, I was entering 4-4.

Sadly since the shortcut unlock requires you to give away your key (Hence no Udjat Eye) I couldn't do a Hell run since I couldn't go to the Black Market to get the Ankh to kill myself to get the helmet to open the City of Gold. (Plus I didn't know enough about the logistics of the game yet) But I was excited and happy to get to, and defeat Olmec for the first time on my first try.

I recorded it and am pretty sure I posted it either in this thread or the other one at the time. But since I wasn't expecting it to be a normal run, I didn't record until it occurred to me what level I was entering.


One of these days I want to do a successful Lantern Run. Where you get a dark level in an early Mines level and dislodge a lantern and carry it all the way to the exit in Olmec's chamber. (Or if you're feeling batshit insane, try to take it through Hell in the same vein as an Eggplant Run - Either two players or creative use of a helper) I've tried and failed a few times and rarely get the right circumstances to do it.

I also need to get the No Gold and Speed achievements. They're all I have left.

I would give anything for a Switch port with achievements (Even if they're just built-into the game since I don't think Switch has an achievement system. I think Shovel Knight does this.) and a Daily Challenge that doesn't require the paid online service Nintendo's going to be introducing.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Jack Scofield said:
Finally unlocked the Temple shortcut after about a week's worth of periodic attempts. Even just seeing that key gives me PTSD, haha.

I'm glad I finally did it. I really disliked the way it forced me to play the game.
Click to expand...

It's a pain, but there's literally no better way to learn the essential skills of playing Spelunky than that. Item management is probably the most important thing you have to do in Spelunky and so babysitting a useless item all the way through the mines develops that skill so brilliantly with you barely realising. You'll thank them for it in the long run!

The Real Abed said:
Sadly since the shortcut unlock requires you to give away your key (Hence no Udjat Eye) I couldn't do a Hell run since I couldn't go to the Black Market to get the Ankh to kill myself to get the helmet to open the City of Gold. (Plus I didn't know enough about the logistics of the game yet) But I was excited and happy to get to, and defeat Olmec for the first time on my first try.
Click to expand...

You can definitely get to the black market without the Udjat Eye (with a bit of luck) and I'm almost certain you can get to Hell without it as well. It's the one part of the chain that is helpful but not essential.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
toythatkills said:
You can definitely get to the black market without the Udjat Eye (with a bit of luck) and I'm almost certain you can get to Hell without it as well. It's the one part of the chain that is helpful but not essential.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know that now. But really, since my only goal at that point was to get the key to the puffy haired shovel guy, I wasn't really looking for it. (Though might have still gone in if it had happened to spawn next to the surface and I saw it.)
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
It's a shame they never made shortcut guy a playable character. The original Game Maker version let you play as him. They could have made him unlock when you get all the shortcuts.

Maybe even made him start off with a Mattock or shovel (Which would act the same and break the same.) though that would probably change the game too much since it's not meant to have different abilities like Super Meat Boy was.
 
S

spineduke

Unconfirmed Member
LogicStep said:
Today I gave this game a try for the third time. Finally it clicked. I'm hooked. Any tips? The furthest I've gotten is mines lvl 3
Click to expand...

You can walk through spikes, just don't try jumping. You can also run across one space gaps. Watch out for the arrow traps, you can use rocks and any object to trigger the trap by dropping/throwing it in front of the trap. Hold up/down to look further ahead to make sure you can drop safely.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
LogicStep said:
Today I gave this game a try for the third time. Finally it clicked. I'm hooked. Any tips? The furthest I've gotten is mines lvl 3
Click to expand...

Set yourself small goals to work towards. Beating the mines, or unlocking a shortcut, or obtaining a certain achievement/trophy, or any other little thing you think of.

It gives you something specific to aim for, and the small victories can keep you motivated at the beginning when the game is very tough. Spelunky is one of those games you barely even notice yourself getting better at, and so hitting these targets is also a good indicator of how much you're improving. Work up to bigger and harder goals and don't worry that they seem impossible right now, because they won't always be.
 
J

Jack Scofield

Member
Man, I'm officially ADDICTED to this game. I've stayed away from the wiki so I've been discovering things by myself and it's a treat. I got to the City of Gold once but no further (I've only beaten the main game once in over 600 runs, haha).

Discovering the Kapala was amazing. Best item in the game, bar none. My favorite thing in this game is getting to the Temple with 20 lives, a jetpack, and a shotgun, only to immediately be killed in one hit by something, haha. Goddamn I'm in love with this game. Probably my second favorite game this gen (after Bloodborne). I'm so glad I have it a second shot a few months ago.

It's a shame I missed this game in it's heyday. But then again, I love discovering this game's secrets on my own. Believe it or not, I got the golden helmet (can't remember the name) by complete luck.
 
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