For new players

[GeminiSaint]

La-Mulana is not like any other game. If you don't approach it the right way, you are doomed, simple as that. So, here are some basic tips for any new players:

1) Read the manual. No, seriously, read it, read all of it: http://cdn4.steampowered.com/Manuals/230700/lmlnpc_manual_en.pdf?t=1387533819
2) Watch the official Beginner's Guide video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCjHHALcL2I
3) Be prepared to take lots of notes, and I mean LOTS of notes. Drawing your own maps also helps.
4) The first area of the ruins is called "Gate of Guidance". Don't enter any other area of the ruins until you've found an item called "Holy Grail", which is hidden somewhere in Gate of Guidance.
5) In one of the early areas of the game you will find a tablet that says something like "Thou are forbidden from again laying eyes on this marker". Do as it says and DON'T read it again. If you read it a second time, the game activates Hard Mode, and that's something you definitely don't want on your first playthrough.
6) When you jump left or right you can't change directions in midair. You are committed to your jump. But when you jump vertically, you can freely steer your fall. Always remember that!
7) Many of the puzzles and riddles need lateral thinking, so be ready for that too.

I think that pretty much covers it. Good luck!

[Conan, Cimmerian]

Thanks for the informative post. One question though:
What the ♥♥♥♥ is wrong with the manual?
Half the text is garbled nonsense and the font and grammar for the text that is actually English are like a bad joke. Hell some of the pages are upside down!
With a manual like that I have no high hopes for the game... oh well

[Vil]

None of the pages are upside-down. Font for the item list is a *little* bit funky, but not too bad, and everywhere else it's fine. So I'm really not sure where those two criticisms are coming from, unless you have a really, really outdated copy of Acrobat Reader (or browser plugin for PDFs) or something.

On the other hand, the grammar is indeed Engrish-y. The game developers are Japanese and it's obvious they didn't put as much effort into localizing the manual as they put into localizing the game itself (the game is not Engrish-y - confusing, yes, but not Engrish-y). You can still very much get the point of what it's saying, though.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Question for a somewhat-experienced player:

I beat the original La-Mulana, on hardmode, but with the help of a guide showing all the puzzles (specifically, DeceasedCrab's famous first LP of this game).

Should I activate hardmode in La-Mulana new version?

[Traysandor]

Originally posted by QuintSakugarne:

Question for a somewhat-experienced player:

Should I activate hardmode in La-Mulana new version?

Hard Mode is significantly harder in the La-Mulana Remake. whereas Hard mode in the original was pretty much a joke, the Hard Mode in the Remake is far more serious about itself. While most of the fields themselves don't see too much changes in terms of enemies besides the Mausoleum of the Giants, the big difference are the Guardians.

The Guardians are much deadlier and have more HP in Hard Mode, making them a real challenge to take down, whereas I don't think there was any difference in the original..Probably the biggest difference as far as the Guardians go in Hard Mode is Ellmac. His charge attack on Hard Mode does a LOT of damage, and he's very unpredictable. You could legitimitely go into the fight with 200+ HP and still get wasted by Ellmac.

Bottom line, I would recommend completing the game once normally before you go back and read the special tablet of doom...

Note: For best results, if you decide to play on Hard the second time around, do it before you go kill off any of the Guardians. Not only is that an achievement, but you get a special character to show up in the credits sequence at the end of the game.

[TheMotherMachine]

Originally posted by Traysandor:

Originally posted by QuintSakugarne:

Question for a somewhat-experienced player:

Should I activate hardmode in La-Mulana new version?

Hard Mode is significantly harder in the La-Mulana Remake. whereas Hard mode in the original was pretty much a joke, the Hard Mode in the Remake is far more serious about itself. While most of the fields themselves don't see too much changes in terms of enemies besides the Mausoleum of the Giants, the big difference are the Guardians.

The Guardians are much deadlier and have more HP in Hard Mode, making them a real challenge to take down, whereas I don't think there was any difference in the original..Probably the biggest difference as far as the Guardians go in Hard Mode is Ellmac. His charge attack on Hard Mode does a LOT of damage, and he's very unpredictable. You could legitimitely go into the fight with 200+ HP and still get wasted by Ellmac.

Bottom line, I would recommend completing the game once normally before you go back and read the special tablet of doom...

Oh crap! Better stay away from that tablet until I feel comfortable with the game then. I haven't beaten it yet but I have found the hardmode tablet.

[Traysandor]

The good news is on Hard Mode, there's actually quite a lot of stuff you can actualy collect before you have to go back to kill a Guardian to progress the game. You can go around and level up to 256 HP, and it's possible to haul in the Fairy Clothes (though rather longwinded) without having to face off against a Guardian.

As far as Hard Mode and achievements are concerned, the only things that count are killing all the guardians, beating Hell Temple, and getting the All Characters Ending (Which requires all Guardians to die on Hard Mode anyways). You can collect as much as you want beforehand, as long as it doesn't involve killing a Guardian, you're free to take what you want.

[Delete]

Lol i already activated hardmode -__-. Dam, i don'r really want to start this game again -_____-.

[Dentorhedge]

This information is contained in my guide along with a walkthrough of the begginning and tips to carry somebody to the end of the game.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

So I activated hard mode and promptly got killed by an anubis. By promptly I mean immediately.

There should be a chieve for that.

[ecko]

Thanks for the info. I'll have a look at that manual.