Lost and don't know where to go next.

[soultpp]

Okay, I was at an impasse before so stopped playing for a bit. I tried to pick up playing again tonight and have not made much more progress. The only new thing I found was a boss that tends to kill me before I can react: Brandr. And I have another boss: Valo that I was having trouble with earlier that isn't beaten. Everywhere else I look, it seems like I need some ability I don't have. Can't get to the Field of Pyro because I don't have the item needed to survive the Collosus.

I like the game, even if parts of it frustrate me a bit, but I feel like I'm walking around in a dark cellar with a blindfold on at times.

Update: Did end up killing Valo. I think I'm supposed to have gone to/through Whispering Forest for Wall Climb, but I can't figure out how to get access to most of it. I've been in from the world map, and I run into a spot too high to double jump up. And I was in from Forest Forgone and likewise, I run into places that I can't past. I'm currently Lv 70 and the only movement abilities I've gotten are double jump, slide, & Crimson Cloak.

[Lightbearer]

Unfortunately, you likely sequence broke the game via The Columns at some point. Do you have the Manta? Gotten the Clammy Whistle? Opened up the world map? The wall climb is in the bottom-right area of Whispering Forest after defeating the Failure boss. Go look up Demajen's map so you can see the location.

Once you've gotten the wall climb you can access the other half of Forest Foregone by talking to the giant doll "00" in Whispering Forest and exhausting their dialogue. By the time you reach the Archives (Holy Ground) you should have gained access to wall climb, ground slam, and underwater diving. I'm seriously impressed you made it this far since you're like ~30 levels higher than you should be. Happy to give you better directions if you're still stuck.

And on a side note:

To survive the Colossus you need to go back to Rainbow Fields. At the top of the castle there is an area you can wall climb and there is a firebird boss who drops a feather that allows you to survive its attacks. You know that long elevator that takes you to Goliath Fall. Starting at that doorway go all the way left, you'll see a treasure chest, climb the wall.

[soultpp]

I think I finally figured it out. There are plants that open into temporary platforms by hitting a bulb that let you up. Somehow in all of my trials (which did include a lot of random attacking of scenery) I never was able to do that before. I had definitely noticed the plants before, and was suspicious of them after the mushrooms in the Field of Geo, but somehow never managed to hit the switch bulbs.

And no, I didn't sequence break. As I said, I had come in from the world map and the Forest Forgone both, but never The Columns. It was the flower platforms that I somehow missed, I guess.

But really, you don't need wall climb to reach The Holy Ground. In fact, it's far more obvious a place to land once you reach the world map than Whispering Woods is, being that it's immediately through the gates, and hence closer than the Whispering Wood. It's also one of the most blatant landmarks on the world map, being a giant circular city and all.

I also definitely don't have ground slam or swimming yet since they're in areas I hadn't figured out how to get to yet, I'm assuming that they probably needed wall climb in some fashion.

Oh well, I have figured out what I missed now to be able to reach wall climb so all is well. Thanks for helping to steer me in the right direction.

[Lightbearer]

I'm glad you figured it all out. In terms of Holy Grounds, while you can explore parts of it immediately after getting the Manta your progression will be blocked until you've gotten more traversal abilities and completed the plot requirements at Field of Hydro.

It's been several weeks since I last played, but I had always been under the assumption you can't access the golden "city" or Archives (library) and Valo without the wall jump. I'm looking at the map now and I have no idea how you accessed the rest of the area. Honestly, I think they should have made it more obvious that "you're not supposed to be here" to avoid getting lost.

Finally, I've helped out several people on the board who described your exact situation and they all sequence broke, so that was my default assumption.

[soultpp]

Yeah I noticed a few of the posts that ended up with the sequence break. I think I could have fallen for that too if I hadn't been lucky, I'm often looking for shortcuts like down jumping off enemies in games like this.

For Holy Grounds, I think the only area that I can't reach without wall jump is the very top level with the Archive of Soul and Owl. Everything else has platforms that get you where you need to go, pretty sure I didn't even need to down jump off any enemies to reach anything.

Of course Loss isn't at the entrance down to Sunken Sanctum, and obviously since I don't have swimming I can't really go anywhere down there. :D