- This game is extremely metal, I have to play it.
- Oh, this game is clearly made for me: precise, deliberate combat, nightmarishly dark Christian mythology, body horror, moody music, effect sound design, and above all - gorgeous pixel art, in a style that seems founded in old Amiga games. I see hints of Another World in here, and the characters remind me a bit of classic Lucasfilm adventure games. Very, very good so far.
- I have slowly been traversing Mercy Dreams, an area full of traps and annoying enemies. I encountered the boss creature Ten Piedad. It had an enormous health bar, and I tried to parry its attacks, but couldn't. I'm saving that thing for later.
- I defeated Ten Piedad which apparently was the first Humiliation of Penance, allowing me to meet the Visage of Attrition (a big horrible hovering face). I guess I need to meet two more Holy Visages. A huge lady penetrated by many swords increased my max health. I found the Mountains of The Endless Dusk, leading back to the town of Albero, and to Jondo, a spooky place full of spikes, traps, and tricky platforming.
- Jondo was a terrible hellhole of traps, spike pits, ranged enemies, and enemies that makes you lose grip on walls, often resulting in spiky deaths. After getting out of that place, I reached a new Mea Culpa shrine, which ascended my Mea Culpa Virtue. According to the The Blasphemous wiki, Mea Culpa is my sword, which means that my sword has become level 2. Does the sword's power increase every time you find a new Mea Culpa shrine?
- Graveyard of the Peaks was a difficult area, tricky platforming and enemies are complicated by the wind affecting your jumps. It's all deterministic, though, so I almost feel like it's my own fault when I die. When I found the shrine after getting through this area, I was very relieved.
- The lady that asks if I need help (Assent/Dissent) seems to be a Dark Souls-style NPC coop character, except that she only seems to help with healing me. I defeated Our Lady of the Charred Visage on my first try, a horrible floating half-melted head and floating hands. I found a new Mea Culpa shrine and increased my sword power. Now I'm not sure where to go.
- After researching a bit, I learned that the area Grievance Ascends which is connected to Jondo, gives you an upgrade that allows traversing toxic gas.
- I reached Grievance Ascends and found the item that allows me to ignore the toxic gas. It looks like a boss fight is coming up.
- I defeated the boss Tres Angustias and the door at the end of the bridge was open. However, it was guarded by Esdras, which was a tricky boss fight.
- The area beyond the gate was a treacherous spike-filled area, Patio of the Silent Steps, leading to Mother of Mothers, and the Library of the Negated Words, which was annoying in a way that reminds me of Duke's Archives. I found three anatomy books with illustrations of bones. Don't know what to do with those. In the next area, The Sleeping Canvases, I found a big picture of a cow surrounded by angels. Don't know what to do with that. I also found the boss Exposito, Scion of Abjuration. I *do* know what to do with that, but it seemed pretty difficult. Saving that thing for later.
- I travelled around the world, upgrading everything I could.
- I think I have the Key to the Chamber of the Eldest Brother, which I should use for a door in the Brotherhood of Silent Sorrow.
- I made a shopping list:
Blood Perpetuated in Sand - Get from door in Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow - Requires Key to the Chamber of the Eldest Brother - Buy from merchant in Mercy Dreams Nail Uprooted from Dirt: Swampwalk - Statue next to Redento in Mother of Mothers - Requires equipped: - Fourth Toe made of Limestone (given by Redento) - Little Toe made of Limestone (given by Redento) - Big Toe made of Limestone (given by Redento) Incorrupt Hand of the Fraternal Master: Detect secrets - Severed Hand: - Requires: Nail Uprooted from Dirt - Find in Desecrated Cistern before door to fountain (slide under door) - Give to frozen lake statue in Albero Linen of Golden Thread: Descend into abyss - Rescue 20 Children of Moonlight (angel babies) - Talk to Bull painting in Sleeping Canvases Three Gnarled Tongues: Awaken sleeping roots - Hatched Egg of Deformity: - Egg of Deformity: - Get from Altasgracias in Grievance Ascends - Place items on plates: - Black Grieving Veil: - Find in Desecrated Cistern - Torn Bridal Ribbon - Sold by merchant in Graveyard of the Peaks - Melted Golden Coins - Found above Ceremony Room in Grievance Ascends - Put into tree in Mountains of the Endless Dusk - Leave and return - Give to frozen lake statue in Albero - Return to Altasgracias and find hair (strength bonus item) Shroud of Dreamt Sins: Read memories of corpses - Linen Cloth: - Get from Tirso in Albero - Give to frozen lake statue in Albero - I got the Blood Perpetuated in Sand, which creates weird blood platforms. They disappear after you leave them, but seem to remain as long as you step on them. I then met Redento the Pilgrim again in the Patio of the Silent Steps, and apparently I helped him, because he gave me the third Toe made of Limestone. To equip the three toes, I needed to figure out how to increase the number of beads in my Rosary. I went to the Brotherhood of the Silent Sorrow and 'talked' to the jailed ghost for that.
- I found the pilgrim and got the Nail Uprooted from Dirt.
- The big ball of hair unfurled into Altasgracias, a deformed nightmare creature with three faces grown into one. I retrieved the Egg of Deformity, and turned it into the Three Gnarled Tongues. Now I can summon root columns.
- I went back to the Library, and while searching for secrets, I was stuck in a horrible loop of climbing ladders and getting hit by books for what felt like an eternity (actually, it was more like 5 minutes). I was embarassed enough to remove it from the video recording. I hate this place.
- Went around and searched for more upgrades.
- I should go to the left of middle of the elevator shaft in the Descrated Cistern, and try using the Linen of Golden Thread.
- With great difficulty, I beat Exposito, Scion of Abjuration yesterday, but had ran out of hard drive space, and I didn't have the recording of the boss fight. I saved the PS4 rollback buffer, but couldn't upload it to YouTube on my new PS4 Pro. After logging in to YouTube again and rebooting the PS4, I managed to upload it to YouTube and download it to my computer. After that, I wanted to concatenate it with the half-finished recording on my computer (which was in higher quality), but that also turned out to be a big problem. Nothing is easy today. I had to reencode all the files, and *then* concatenating with ffmpeg.
- The Wall of the Holy Prohibitions is a spooky prison where you unlock cell doors using keys. It actually reminds me of another Amiga game: Barbarian II: The Dungeon Of Drax.
- Quirce, Returned By The Flames was a classic 16-bit style boss fight, and satisfying to finish.
- I started jumping into abysses using the Linen of Golden Thread, and found new interesting areas.
- I searched through Mother of Mothers to find the boss, and found Melquiades, The Exhumed Archbishop, which was an easy fight, in my powered up state.
- Crisanta of the Wrapped Agony was difficult, and I kept making mistakes, so I ended up fighting her for an hour before beating her.
- Completed the game. Last Son of the Miracle was the final boss. Difficult, but not unreasonably so. I definitely got the bad ending.
I found the hidden arcade machine and played a tiny bit of a difficult 8-bit-style minigame called 'Alcazar of Grief'.
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