Able to finish without a guide?

[Ruldra]

Apologies if this has been asked before.

I'm a big fan of the original game but I don't think it was really possible to finish without checking a guide at some point. I genuinely tried to finish it without spoilers, but after reaching the 100h mark and doing zero progress for 20+ hours, I just had to give up and spoiled myself. And glad I did, because some stuff I'd never figure out on my own. The hints to open Mushussu's room for instance were just too obscure.

So how is it like in this game? Is stuff still just as obscure? I'd like to finish this one without a guide.

[AvoidTheMeadow]

I would say that things are a bit better this time around. There are still some puzzles that might give you some trouble, but not in a way that seems too unfair. I got good and stuck about 5 times, but when I would come back to the game the next day with a fresh mind the puzzle would click and I would feel silly for not getting it earlier. I would say you have a pretty decent chance of being able to finish the game without a guide, provided you take VERY thorough notes on the usual things (Room names, NPC messages, Tablets, etc.).

I will warn you that the current build of the game has a pretty nasty softlocking issue that hasn't been fixed yet. I don't want to spoil anything for you so I won't go into details, but rotating your save slots is recommended just in case.

[Yung BladerJoe-]

I would say the early- to midgame is very solvable without using guides. Just explore each area until you stop making progress, then go somewhere else. The lategame, when you have to use multiple hints from across several areas to make progress may require the use of guides if you get stuck. That point is usually around the time you unlock the underworld area. But in my opinion most of the puzzles in this game are a bit easier than in the first game, though there are some exceptions.

The first area teaches you basic puzzle solving skills and you can buy the software to record tablets in the starting village which helps A LOT. In the first game you had to find this software deep inside the ruins iirc.

[Cryten]

Its worth noting that on the current patch if you decide to fight a boss straight away you get stuck permanently. Its for that reason I would say you cant without a guide.

[AvoidTheMeadow]

Originally posted by Cryten:

Its worth noting that on the current patch if you decide to fight a boss straight away you get stuck permanently. Its for that reason I would say you cant without a guide.

That's true, though this is definitely the kind of game you want to have multiple save files for. Returning players will probably know that, but I could see it screwing over someone new to the series. Hopefully they fix it soon.

[pseucrose]

I beat it without using any guides (and streamed/youtubed it). What made it possible is that I took screenshots of every tablet and made a map. It still took me something like 80 hours.

[Syraniss]

Yea the first game was overly difficult due largely to a faulty english translation. I completed this one with no (or relatively few) issues. There were only a few bad translations at release when I played it and I think (hope?) they fixed them in the patches that came later.

[GauRocks]

Playing through the game, I got five spoilers.

• One of them was something I thought was a bug, and it was. It's patched now.
  
• Two of them I saw accidentally while looking up the other bug. Both were things that I had already tried, but not quite in the right place, so I probably would have ended up looking those two up.
  
• One of them was a clue that I knew for sure I had seen, but didn't save. Rather than reread every tablet in the game, I just looked up the text based on the half I wrote down.
  
• For the last one, I found an alternate solution that should have worked, but was a bug. I got upset when it didn't work and looked up the answer. That bug is patched now, so I probably would have done the right thing.

So in conclusion, if you take good notes and keep trying the solutions that you think are right, you should be able to beat the game without hints.

BUT (It's a pretty big but)

The game is broken right now in a pretty major way that you are very likely to run into. And it's been three months without a patch. If you're hit by the bug, you will need to load your save file on an earlier version of the game, or more likely, ask someone else to do it for you. I highly recommend avoiding this game at least until the developers fix the bug.

And given that the fix is being delayed indefinitely so that Nigoro can push out the console versions of their broken game, I also recommend that you forget this game exists at all and don't support their business decisions at any point in the future.

[Gekko]

Yes, it's possible to finish without a guide. I'd like to say I managed it, but I had to look up two riddles and finished the game after 150 hours or so. For one puzzle, I hadn't written down something that happened and forgot where it was, then had to go look it up. In addition, I had to ask for hints and was informed I was softlocked, so there's that sort of risks as well.

Good notes, maps, writing down every dialogue. If only the game automated some of this.

[Cryten]

There is no need to resurrect a post from months ago if you have no new points to make.

[Naewyng]

Originally posted by GauRocks:

Playing through the game, I got five spoilers.

• One of them was something I thought was a bug, and it was. It's patched now.
  
• Two of them I saw accidentally while looking up the other bug. Both were things that I had already tried, but not quite in the right place, so I probably would have ended up looking those two up.
  
• One of them was a clue that I knew for sure I had seen, but didn't save. Rather than reread every tablet in the game, I just looked up the text based on the half I wrote down.
  
• For the last one, I found an alternate solution that should have worked, but was a bug. I got upset when it didn't work and looked up the answer. That bug is patched now, so I probably would have done the right thing.

So in conclusion, if you take good notes and keep trying the solutions that you think are right, you should be able to beat the game without hints.

BUT (It's a pretty big but)

The game is broken right now in a pretty major way that you are very likely to run into. And it's been three months without a patch. If you're hit by the bug, you will need to load your save file on an earlier version of the game, or more likely, ask someone else to do it for you. I highly recommend avoiding this game at least until the developers fix the bug.

And given that the fix is being delayed indefinitely so that Nigoro can push out the console versions of their broken game, I also recommend that you forget this game exists at all and don't support their business decisions at any point in the future.

What bug is this?

[Yung BladerJoe-]

There was a softlock in one of the late game areas but it is fixed on the current patch.
You were unable to leave the Eternal Prison after solving the Gates of the Underworld puzzle because the grail was disabled and all doors that would lead out were closed

[BananaJane]

How are you supposed to figure out how to open hell temple without a guide, I remember there not being any hints about it

[Cryten]

The hint is the one which mentions opening the last gate with overwhelming power. It oblique but there you go. Also nice necro.

[BananaJane]

What necro, this topic was on the first few pages

[Cryten]

Well yes that because this game is dead but it is a thread originating from January and last posted in May.