Spelunky Bonus #5: Smuggling the Plasma Cannon into Hell (Long Version) IGIPNP 2013-10-22 | Here's the full run (from the Steam version, not the XBLA version) in which I show precisely how you can smuggle the Plasma Cannon into the City of Gold and Hell. If you don't want to watch it all, a summary of the steps is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3DF4bzvwn4Though this is unfortunately not one of my highest scoring runs, it is, IMO, one of my most amazing/lucky. Let me list why:* The main thing is that I actually pulled off and recorded this long-desired run. I was confident it was possible, in a theoretical sense, but to actually make it a reality, especially after many hours of earlier attempts, is quite satisfying.* I managed to grab an unlockable character in a run I actually uploaded. These characters don't appear in Daily Challenges, and most of the unlocks I got in both the XBLA and Steam versions of the game were part of fairly mundane runs that I didn't upload.* Even just finding one slave can be tough, but somehow I managed to turn up five in this run.* I didn't get killed by a Dark Jungle level (even when not using a torch), and they're awful normally but doubly awful when having to carry and protect a slave.* I didn't get killed by the angry shopkeeper in the Mothership, which is one of the game's hardest obstacles in the hardest level overall.* I was able to complete the Mothership without any vertical navigation aid (other than a Cape, which isn't all that helpful in that level really). This is another one of those things that's "possible", but it's quite hard to do in practice when the level is still hard even with the powerful shotgun and jetpack combo.* Same goes for Hell. It's possible, perhaps even a bit easier to manage than the Mothership, but no jetpack or climbing gloves there still makes for a challenging time. I suppose carving away a good portion of each level with the Cannon helped a lot though.* I even managed to keep a parachute for the little bonus at the win screen. Didn't plan on it, but yet another victory.* There were multiple times where I very nearly died, but ultimately didn't. One of the most notable was when the slave Cannon-blasted a yeti near the exit of the second 3-4. I was very surprised that it didn't kill me or him.* I managed to pull of invigoration, which is challenging normally but very hard when doing this kind of run as you're unlikely to be able to sacrifice all that many corpses.* Believe it or not, this was my first Adventure Mode run in quite some time. (The little intro cutscene backs up the fact that it's at least the first run upon loading the game at that particular time.) I've been mostly sticking to the Daily Challenges in order to still play the game without being as involved as I used to be in it, which is why I haven't unlocked many characters beyond the initial set I got near the Steam release of the game.* I very nearly lost Anubis' Sceptre to a crush block (twice) after succeeding at the rest of the steps leading up to that point. In fact, in the heat of the moment, the first time I reacted like it actually happened, but I quickly realized I was wrong and the run was still viable.* On a related note, Anubis ended up in basically the best place possible. Sometimes Anubis can spawn closer to the beginning of a level, which means lots of danger as you try to get two weapons with massive killing power to the exit without killing the slave or yourself.* I ran out of ropes (my main method of vertical ascent due to lacking any other aid), but fortuitous crates eventually increased my supply again.* The music theme randomly chosen for this run was theme B (classic Spelunky music), later transitioning into theme C (custom chosen tracks) after the Mothership. I could not have asked for a better selection. (Also, one random rare track appeared on the first 3-4.)Other notes:2:31 - Unlike my usual procedure, I skipped a lot of level summaries because at the time I didn't believe I'd actually get the run, and skipping saved me some time and let me remain in a focused playing mode.10:20 - This is right around the point where the run transitions from a normal CoG / Hell run into a run specifically meant to smuggle the Cannon. Amazingly enough, two slaves escaped completely without harm, evening nabbing the shopkeeper's shotgun in the process.11:23 - I couldn't believe an extra slave had the audacity to throw my sticky bomb, but it actually amazingly worked out to my benefit.18:21 - Very frightening close call.20:43 - One of the more inexplicable bugs (?) in this game involves duplicate slaves appearing if at least one is still alive when using the Ankh and exiting a level. It actually seems somewhat useful because I'm unsure of whether slaves can regain health, so using the Ankh provides an opportunity to get a fully healed one late in the Ice Caves.34:34 - It begins...48:18 - Time for the true reward...57:39 - A blasted cape saved me from injury here. Crazy.
Mark of the Ninja (720p HD) NK, NA, NSC, NG+ Walkthrough - Part 3: The Trail of Shadow IGIPNP 2014-06-19 | Here's another level ripe for stealth. A select few sections are tough to get by without killing or item usage, but you can basically speedrun a large chunk of the early part of this level by just not bothering with killing. Many of the artifacts and scrolls are more or less along the way so you don't even have to explore and expose yourself that much.1:00 - If you notice me moving more aggressively, well, I guess I'm just getting a better hang of the game's boundaries. My first time through the game, I tended to move slowly and carefully and almost never ran, instead trying my hardest to be absolutely stealthy and making sure I explored every corner of each map. But if you experiment a bit, you realize the AI is not that sharp if you stay undetected or even if you get detected but you move quickly, so you can almost speedrun certain levels without much effort once you get a good feel for the paths, enemy patrols, etc. That might seem like what intentionally speedrunning would entail, but even when going for scrolls and artifacts you can minimize a fair amount of exploration if you don't care about maximizing score with kills, repeated distraction, traps, etc.2:28 - This is a good example of what I'm talking about. I was spotted, but since I was at the edge of the flashlight beam, it didn't immediately raise an alarm but rather further NPC suspicion. I darted out of the way quickly, and I was fine.2:45 - Another good example. I was very close to a guard while making noise, but also very quickly got to a safe spot and no alarm was raised.2:57 - Scroll #1. I recommend running and closing the door behind you to avoid the laser beam that'd trigger an alarm.3:14 - There is a guard and some other things to the left of here, but unless you want to kill him for points there is no reason to go over there, not even for a hidden collectible.4:16 - Remember, there are never living enemies in challenge rooms, so you can run to your heart's content.4:27 - You never need to activate this lever, but I thought I'd demonstrate that the solution for Scroll #2 isn't to just simply hit everything here. Only the top left and bottom right levers are necessary.7:54 - Though the guard is sleeping and not paying much attention, walking, running, or jumping past him could still wake him up, so better that you just go back from where you came if you're not killing.8:26 - Whether you run or not, if you don't kill these birds they will attract the attention of the nearby guard, so move fast.9:01 - Can't avoid using an item here, and it has to be a smoke bomb as nothing else would work. Fortunately, I prefer them as my distraction item besides the bamboo darts, so all is well.9:45 - It is totally unnecessary, but unlocking doors like this will net you a few bonus points if you are fast. 10:17 - Did you even catch that there was a transition around here? I know splices can be annoying, so I tried for as much stuff as possible within a single clip, and this particular splice ended up very smooth (minus the music differences I guess) without me explicitly setting it up to be that good.11:32 - This part of the level is actually much harder to do if you are killing (e.g. for the optional objective to get rid of at least six guards here), because if you're not you can actually get far ahead of the slow-moving courier.11:55 - Another optional objective in this level is to put five guards in dumpsters. This is a bit trickier as there are five and only five dumpsters in the entire level, in contrast to there being more than six targets for the other optional objective. You'll have to be on the lookout during the entire level to fulfill this objective.14:45 - This was the hardest part of the level for me to stealth through, as the guard to the right can end up in just the wrong positions when trying to sneak by, and the guard to the left means it's hard to do that much AI manipulation of the right one either. A noise maker could probably work a little more stealthily here, but since I had smoke bombs I just ended up using one of those instead.16:24 - The courier becomes suspicious as soon as you lift the device off of him, so I recommend quickly grappling away to avoid an alarm.18:00 - If it's possible to get Scroll #3 without a smoke bomb, I have no idea how. I think it's set up to teach you that smoke bombs are good for blocking not just kill lasers but also alarm lasers too.18:45 - No idea why the recording glitched out here.19:03 - It's important to note that the smell radii of dogs do not trigger from below. Quite handy in cases like this.
Mark of the Ninja (720p HD) NK, NA, NSC, NG+ Walkthrough - Part 2: Breaching the Perimeter IGIPNP 2014-06-02 | So this second level is one of the instances where a stealth focus can be a superior option. Often killing will be easier, making a non-lethal approach part of a deliberate challenge, but there are times where you might be well-advised to go for a subtler approach even if you don't mind killing to get things done.0:14 - It's interesting to note that I didn't use a single item (other than the standard and unlimited bamboo darts) for the entire level, but there were three times where I kind of exploited the AI to avoid doing so. Those times would coincide nicely with the three smoke bomb default limit.2:37 - If you've memorized the general locations of a level's guards, you can create distractions in advance of you actually arriving to capitalize on them. If I would allow lethal options, it'd be a great way of quickly getting the guard into position under the platform.2:53 - Being able to drag dead guards to ping the alarm lasers is one of my favorite conveniences of the game. Unfortunately, I won't be able to use that much in this particular guide.4:37 - There's an optional objective here to get to the transformer in less than a minute, and as shown it's not that hard if you keep your pace up. There are no hidden scrolls or artifacts along the way to your objective, so you don't even need to double back and explore if you felt you rushed by.5:35 - One of the optional objectives in this level is to break 20 lights. I didn't pay attention to whether or not I hit that limit by this run's end, but it's not particularly hard to do, especially if you hang back during the sections with timed lighting and break everything you can.6:00 - If you're low on items and a checkpoint isn't nearby / didn't restock enough, entering and exiting one of these upgrade spots will refill you to maximum supplies. Handy in the tougher levels if you use a lot of items.8:00 - Skip to 10:00 if you don't care about the challenge room's solution.9:00 - One of the reasons I'm not fond of this first challenge room as that it doesn't really feel obvious that the switch controls the topmost laser because its blurry and out of view from the only point you can activate the switch. Seems like less-than-ideal puzzle design.10:00 - This is a difficult guard to bypass without the use of some limited quantity distraction item. Had I not broke the lights earlier I might have been able to use those to better effect now, but I ended up exploiting the AI a bit with bamboo darts and hiding spots to slip past. No shame in using a noise maker or smoke bomb to pass if you need to.10:57 - It's probably best not to snap to the vent here with your hook as it makes noise when doing so and can attract nearby guards.12:40 - The tight space here makes retrieving the artifact non-lethally quite fussy. It is possible to use a dart and just hightail it out of there, but it definitely feels like an AI exploit. Again, another spot where a smoke bomb could be fine.14:16 - It's possible to sneak by when using the other light in this room, but if you're quick you only would need to break the rightmost one.15:04 - I checked my map quickly since it's very easy to miss the scroll #2 in this level. It's at an isolated location at 15:33.15:46 - You don't get undetected bonuses on lampposts if you're too high, so dangling behind enemies is an easy way to be safe while still getting the bonus.16:36 - In my opinion, it's generally much easier to get through this section by stealthing around in the dark rather than killing and having the timed lights come on. It's a great place to break lights for the optional objective and it definitely is possible to get through all floors with no alerts even if the lights come on, but I don't recommend it as it's far slower and trickier.17:00 - Rather amusingly, you can get undetected bonuses by sailing over enemy heads during a grapple. It can make the guards appear oblivious in situations like this.17:24 - This is another potentially tough guard to circumvent non-lethally, and distraction items are less useful here as another nearby guard may flank you if they notice one. Other than this odd bamboo dart combo or killing, I'm not sure how you'd get by without raising an alert.19:23 - I've never had much luck with a same platform height jump over the stationary guard here, so a mid-air grapple seems better.20:28 - Scroll #3, not too hidden but can be missed if you rush.
Mark of the Ninja (720p HD) NK, NA, NSC, NG+ Walkthrough - Part 1: Ink & Dreams IGIPNP 2014-05-26 | Hello and welcome to my first new guide in a while! Since I'm a fan of stealth games and indie games, it's no surprise that Mark of the Ninja would hit my radar eventually.So what exactly is this guide? Specifically, I'm primarily aiming for No Kills, No Alerts, No Special Costume, and New Game Plus Difficulty on every level. What this means is that I'm basically going for maximum stealth on each level, while also making it harder on myself by avoiding or at least minimizing the most powerful options the game provides you. There is no reason to limit yourself like this if you're just looking to maximize point or honor score, but it's more challenging to play the game this way and that's how I like it.Now, if you're just looking to go for 100% stealth rankings with less difficulty, the Path of Silence costume is pretty handy for that. It offers no sword, but who cares when you can run to your heart's content and can carry two sets of distraction items? That costume allows you to clear levels stealthily faster than I will in this guide, but I opted for the default Path of the Ninja costume to make things harder. Picking a costume that offers no distraction items whatsoever is even more difficult, but I feel it's impossible (or nearly so) to get past certain sections non-lethally without at least SOME distraction items. The Path of Wisdom DLC offers other non-lethal options, but I scoff at that as I consider those tools nearly cheating. The challenge of non-lethality lies in not using your sword, but things like melee knockouts and very effective dusk moths let you get through many sections "stealthily" without hassle. It defeats the purpose IMO, and that's why I definitely won't be using that!1:10 - One of New Game +'s annoyances is that anything not in your direct line of sight is obfuscated. Since it is easy to change your view at a moment's notice, even when hidden, this is a rather silly restriction, and it makes most of the levels look like crap as a consequence.1:31 - Removing noise markers is a more legitimately challenging addition, but since the game was designed around providing the player with lots of information in order to make good decisions (and since various other markers remain in the game even in New Game +), it seems weird to omit them here.2:13 - While I'm not in this to maximize score (especially because certain lethal options are more valuable), I will often distract enemies even when not strictly necessary as that helps boost score for the score "star" requirements. You probably won't have to do it as often as I do to meet the bare minimum, but I figure it probably doesn't hurt to do so when I can. Since I'm not using the Path of Silence, this is definitely not a speedrun.4:45 - Though I've already collected all of them in my earlier run-through of the game, I'll show how to get all three scrolls per level anyway (with this being #1 for this level). It's a bit of a score boost and can be challenging to do non-lethally at times, so that's good enough incentive for me.7:10 - I've always found this room interesting because it's the only time you see this kind of locked-door setup in the entire game, at least if you're stealthy anyway.8:17 - You could use a Cardboard Box, Dusk Moth, or Smoke Bomb here, but I wanted to show a maneuver that's feasible though less trivial: the same height jump in which you just barely avoid enemy detection. It's never strictly necessary, but it can be handy in a pinch if you're low on items.9:24 - Scroll #2, easy to miss.9:32 - This is the first room of the game where it is tricky to proceed non-lethally, so that's why I opted for a smoke bomb. The gong will only distract one guard, and the wide light makes it difficult to sneak by even if you can distract both guards with a bamboo dart or something. For situations where you'd have to otherwise really exploit the enemy AI, I grant myself the use of the occasional distraction item.9:53 - In regards to the dev commentary: And yet you decided to take away the ever important sound markers in NG+...10:22 - Since many of the optional objectives (AKA "seals") in this game involve killing, I'm going to avoid showing how to do those to preserve my no kill bonus for each level. However, since I've already completed them in my normal difficulty run-through of the game, I can still provide tips on how I accomplished them. That said, I will try to cover most other objectives that can be done stealthily and/or that involve an extra bit of challenge. I'll be more specific in the relevant videos about letting you know what I did and did not visually cover. Here, I didn't bother with the four wooden frame gongs you need to hit for the first seal of the game. You should have no trouble spotting all four throughout the level.11:23 - Scroll #3, take out the lights for an easier time recovering it.16:37 - I could've tossed another smoke bomb for an easier time, but it's not necessary if you move fast.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 16th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-05-03 | Posting this quite late, but whatever. Got pretty lucky this run, but wasted it all due to a silly mistake in the Ice Caves. (~55 videos to go before the final run.)Spelunky Lesson of the Day: While proximity mines are generally not that dangerous if you stay on the move, getting stunned near one can be a death sentence.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 14th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-03-27 | Nothing special, just a short run with a quick death. (~56 videos to go before the final run.)Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Shopkeeper stuns last a very short time, so if you want to steal their Shotgun after a stun you better hurry!
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 13th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-03-22 | Caught quite a few lucky breaks in this run, but threw it away when I got greedy with a vault. (~57 videos to go before the final run.)Spelunky Lesson of the Day: If you're not confident you can kill a vault-dwelling shopkeeper soon after releasing them, it might not be a good idea to release them in the first place. Also, beware mantraps while you're rushing to get away from the Ghost.1:53 - Always nice to find one of these. To be honest, this is the main reason I spend a fair bit of time hunting down crates. Good held items and equipment are somewhat rare from crates, but 12 bomb boxes are reasonably common and among the most valuable (IMO) crate rewards in the game (excluding super rare stuff like Jetpacks and Plasma Cannons).4:54 - Not easy to pull off, but cool when you can. Unfortunately because the exit was on that side it meant I had to either bomb or mine out that block to get out of the level. Had a few bombs to spare though.7:22 - An excellent shop. Had I not robbed already earlier, I still could have easily used the freeze ray to effortlessly kill the shopkeeper to get the wonderfully useful Climbing Gloves and Jetpack. Even the Teleporter can be quite useful if you respect its limitations.10:56 - Another lucky find. Really caught a lot of breaks in this run thus far!12:41 - Excellent ankh store clearing here.17:23 - I think this might be my first ever recorded death to a mantrap.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 12th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-03-20 | Short run this time. (~58 videos to go before the final run.)Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Capes and arrow traps are often a very bad mix. Better off trying to drop down fast and potentially avoid rather than float down and almost certainly get hit.0:47 - Nearly dead in less than one minute!0:47 - Nearly dead in less than one minute!
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 11th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-03-18 | A longer run than last time, mostly because this seed is a rehash of a seed I had dealt with in the recent past, and my memories of where I went wrong in that one helped me go right (or at least less wrong) in this one. (~59 videos to go before the final run.)Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Though the Psychic Presence Jetpack can be handled easily, if you're not careful it can just as easily be totally fatal for you.28:23 - This was a unique death for me, and I don't think I ever experienced it before this. I didn't even know precisely what killed me at the time, but if you look closely it looks like the treasure chest that was on the terrain that got zapped jumped up just enough to knock out the UFO and cause it to explode in the claustrophobic environment.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 10th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-03-16 | Been letting these files rot for a while, so I really should get them out and about to basically be done with my many Spelunky videos. About sixty already recorded runs remain before the "final" daily run I recorded (barring any significant future content updates) to be content with capping the series off. I'm not sure whether I'll show everything including the failures, or just the better runs, but we'll see.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: If you can't kill a Shopkeeper enclosed in a claustrophobic area, going for his Shotgun after a stun can be very dangerous as he can easily stunlock you if you're not quick enough.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 9th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-02-06 | Due to some fortuitous luck in the early part of this run, this one ended up being fairly long and good.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: While you might see fit to drag out the Olmec fight in order to gain more treasure, beware that it increases the chances of deadly mistakes at the same time.1:55 - For reference, I consider this shop setup more or less the "perfect" shop. A Freeze Ray to kill the shopkeeper with (easily traded for his Shotgun, if you wish), a Jetpack for maneuverability, Climbing Gloves to enhance the Jetpack and general vertical movement, and a box of 12 bombs to top it off to help dig through terrain.20:58 - Boy, that was a hell of a chance to have the physics work out just right from that failed shopkeeper bomb. Might have died if that didn't happen.36:33 - Super close call. Amazed I escaped, especially considering the number of times I didn't in other runs.36:44 - It is super satisfying to ice Anubis like that. The Freeze Ray is troublesome for its short range, but can be a lot of fun if you're good at handling it.37:26 - It's interesting to point out that the Sceptre didn't get crushed here. I'm not sure if that's good luck or if it's actually coded not to be crushable so that it can always be recovered. (As you may know, it's one of the few things that can survive lava if you drain it after it sinks.) Never really dared to test out whether the Sceptre definitively can or cannot be crushed.44:27 - If I felt like it, I technically could've grinded for health from the vomit of the lower mummy here since it was in a position where the vomit could be collected without worry of getting hit by flies. However, since certain hazards are deadly even with 99 HP, it wouldn't really make you invulnerable, and I'd have to dodge the ghost while grinding anyways.49:42 - Ah, this was a nasty surprise. Olmec triggered just before landing, but it was hard to tell visually, and that's what led to me getting crushed. Easily had enough bombs to get to Hell, but I screwed up.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 8th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-02-06 | Short run today, nothing too special.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Getting thrown by a shopkeeper is basically a death sentence no matter how much health and supplies you have. Far too easy to get stunlocked, or to not be able to escape even if you do get out of the stunlock.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 7th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-01-24 | Pretty decent run today, though an unavoidable bit of bad luck soured things up a bit.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Crush traps move very fast, and trying to outrun them in the direction that they are moving is quite likely to fail.4:17 - Surprising that I made it as far as I did considering I was down to 1 HP through various mistakes here.9:18 - If you uncover the market early in a Jungle level, it can still be valuable to explore further. In this case, I would've missed a free jetpack and shotgun had I not spend the time to explore to the point of reaching this shop.11:46 - It just so happens that my earlier jetpack find didn't matter so much since two additional jetpacks were available in the market, but that's a pretty rare occurrence and you shouldn't rely on the game generating multiple jetpacks per run. If you see one, try to acquire it.21:38 - Now this sucked. Totally fucked up getting a Kapala during that level (and possible invigoration later), and there was absolutely nothing I could do to prevent it. It doesn't happen often, but you have to be prepared to get screwed over this way from time to time. The random placement of yetis and proximity mines can destroy Ice Caves altars without your input if you're unlucky.35:41 - I was lucky enough with this altar and many high-value enemies to still be able to get a Kapala, but it was rather late in the run, meaning I hadn't built up a lot of health and invigoration past this point would've be damn near impossible. Had the bad luck with the altar not happened earlier, I probably would've got invigoration here.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 6th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-01-16 | Did pretty decently until an exit-guarding shopkeeper with terrain on his side did me in.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Though terrain-destroying actions like releasing boulders may give you more room to move, remember that the new paths can be used by deadly shopkeepers as well.2:48 - If you don't time it right, throwing stuff like rocks can backfire. Not only did I take damage, I ended up having to waste a rope to get back up too.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 5th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-01-15 | Died in early darkness.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: If you're not cautious in the dark, you can easy kill yourself, especially if you lose your footing and land somewhere dangerous.
Rogue Legacy Clip - Botis Ground Strategy IGIPNP 2014-01-14 | Short clip for this guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=213943327Alright, so what can you do if you can't use vaults or flight against Botis much? Even on the ground, he's not too bad so long as you can repeatedly dodge his sharp wind. Full details at: /?id=213943327#209521Note: This video was recorded on New Game Plus 2 with one Grace Rune to reduce difficulty somewhat. Still, the principles used in this fight remain the same regardless of your level and progress through the game. I did actually have plenty of vault and flight capabilities when fighting this particular Botis, but I opted not to use them to their full capability in order to show how it's still possible to defeat him without them or with only minimal use of them.
Rogue Legacy Clip - Stolas and Focalor Knockback Strategy IGIPNP 2014-01-14 | Short clip for this guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=213943327The plants stop moving or get knocked back slightly upon each melee hit, so if you're careful to avoid collision damage you can even use weak characters like the Spelunker to manage this challenging mini-boss. Full details at: /?id=213943327#209526Note: This video was recorded on New Game Plus 2 with one Grace Rune to reduce difficulty somewhat. Still, the principles used in this fight remain the same regardless of your level and progress through the game.
Rogue Legacy Clip - Barbatos and Amon Frequent Dodging Strategy IGIPNP 2014-01-14 | Short clip for this guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=213943327This is similar to the strategy I showed before, but it shows how you can safely travel around the room if you need to frequently dodge the heavy and screen-covering attacks these guys have. Full details at: /?id=213943327#209529Note: This video was recorded on New Game Plus 2 with one Grace Rune to reduce difficulty somewhat. Still, the principles used in this fight remain the same regardless of your level and progress through the game. I didn't need a Death Defy this time like last time since I had better dodging and some lucky health pickups.
Rogue Legacy Clip - Berith and Halphas Ranged Ending Strategy IGIPNP 2014-01-14 | Short clip for this guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=213943327The remaining enraged skeleton is easy to handle if you have a long range spell like the knife or chakram as they won't be able to hit you with their arcing bones from that far away. Obviously, high mana and spell cost reductions help. Full details at: /?id=213943327#209504Note: This video was recorded on New Game Plus 2 with one Grace Rune to reduce difficulty somewhat. Still, the principles used in this fight remain the same regardless of your level and progress through the game.
Rogue Legacy Clip - Stolas and Focalor Barbarian King/Queen Strategy IGIPNP 2014-01-14 | Short clip for this guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=213943327While I personally consider Barbatos and Amon harder, this pair can be challenging too. If you have good spells (like the Chakram) those can be handy, but careful melee can work as well. The Barbarian King/Queen is particularly good against these guys since they can tank some hits and shout away the spit if it gets too close. Full details at: /?id=213943327#209526Note: This video was recorded on New Game Plus 2 with one Grace Rune to reduce difficulty somewhat. Still, the principles used in this fight remain the same regardless of your level and progress through the game.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 4th, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-01-11 | Pretty decent run up until I died.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Well, this is a hint I certainly never gave before. If you're unfortunate and reckless enough, it's possible for a frog to knock you off of a tree and into instant kill spikes.3:04 - Killing this Giant Spider allowed me to more easily recover the Udjat Eye chest key up near the top of the level. I'd have to use bomb cooking otherwise (something I'm not that good at). This level also happened to afford us the option of the web cannon in the shop if no Giant Spider was present, but that necessitates purchase or robbery.16:56 - Lucky number thirteen.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 3rd, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-01-11 | Promising run ended rather quickly.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Once again, it is a bad idea to trigger Giant Spiders unless you plan to stomp them to death with the spike shoes. Otherwise, a bomb or shotgun is your best bet, though sometimes they can be safely ignored too (as was the case in the level I died on).5:16 - This was a rather risky robbery, but I still managed to acquire a jetpack so it was worth it.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 2nd, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-01-10 | In contrast to the previous crappy run, this is a pretty good and long one. Maybe even a great run considering I beat Olmec an even exited the Mothership with the Plasma Cannon.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: No death this time, so what should I say? Well, I guess I can remind you that the game will not always reasonably hint where the entrance is, especially if it's hidden behind so much terrain that the eye isn't even close enough to blink. As such, if you're really concerned about getting into the market (and CoG / Hell by extension), you have to make sure to thoroughly search each Jungle level until you do, even the areas totally blocked off by a lot of terrain, necessitating either a mattock or lots of bombs to clear it out during your search.6:58 - That was a very close call. Surprised I managed to avoid that ghost, I was off by a few pixels at most.13:14 - Pretty sweet shot if I do say so myself.17:45 - Free jetpacks are always a nice find.22:25 - I don't know how it happened, but I missed the black market entrance completely this time around. I totally had the bombs to get to it if need be, I just didn't even see a single Udjat blink to help me out. Rather frustratingly actually, because it's not always clear which level you're even supposed to look for the hidden entrance, doubly irritating because I'm pretty sure the original version of Spelunky didn't have this issue.23:33 - Another sweet find!30:58 - Pretty cool bit of physics there: the UFO knocked a proximity mine away but not before triggering its countdown. After it exploded, it propelled the nearby falling gold upward. Don't usually see interactions like that all that much.49:47 - I'm not exactly sure what I was going for there. I didn't mean to lose the idol and damsel, but it happened anyway because I was careless. I think I was trigger-happy with the cannon since I don't get to use it all that often...
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - December 1st, 2013 IGIPNP 2014-01-10 | Short one this time.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: If the ghost is nearby, getting hit with an arrow trap can be a death sentence. Better to be cautious and lose a few but still be alive rather than hurry and carelessly get killed.
Rogue Legacy Clip - Barbatos and Amon Melee + Knife Spell Strategy IGIPNP 2014-01-08 | Short clip for this guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=213943327These guys are some bastards, the hardest mini-boss IMO. Still, with enough maneuvering it's manageable so long as they don't both use the same screen-covering attack at the same time. Spells can be useful, but melee is just fine too. Full details at: /?id=213943327#209529Note: This video was recorded on New Game Plus 2 with one Grace Rune to reduce difficulty somewhat. Still, the principles used in this fight remain the same regardless of your level and progress through the game. I ended up using my Hyperion Ring in this fight, but that's because I came into this tough fight with low health. I could have used mist form because I was an Assassin, but I didn't think to use it in time and thought I could just dodge that ice shard.
Rogue Legacy Clip - Botis Vault and Down Attack Pogo Strategy IGIPNP 2014-01-08 | Short clip for this guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=213943327Since Botis is limited in his ability to attack upwards like other Corrupt Knights, pogo-ing down attacks can be quite useful, though the smaller amount of damage they do is slower than calculated melee swings or spells. Full details at: /?id=213943327#209521Note: This video was recorded on New Game Plus 2 with one Grace Rune to reduce difficulty somewhat. Still, the principles used in this fight remain the same regardless of your level and progress through the game. Some flight was used in this recording, but it's not necessary as vault runes / equipment pieces can be sufficient.
Rogue Legacy Clip - Botis Vault and Melee Strategy IGIPNP 2014-01-08 | Short clip for this guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=213943327This mini-boss fight benefits greatly from vault runes, as Botis is mostly limited to the ground. Full details at: /?id=213943327#209521Note: This video was recorded on New Game Plus 2 with one Grace Rune to reduce difficulty somewhat. Still, the principles used in this fight remain the same regardless of your level and progress through the game. A normally damaging sharp wind attack from Botis was avoided by using the Assassin's mist form.
Rogue Legacy Clip - Berith and Halphas Melee Strategy IGIPNP 2014-01-08 | Short clip for this guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=213943327In my opinion, this mini-boss is best handled in close range, though things like the knife and chakram can help too. Full details at: /?id=213943327#209504Note: This video was recorded on New Game Plus 2 with one Grace Rune to reduce difficulty somewhat. Still, the principles used in this fight remain the same regardless of your level and progress through the game. (And yes, I am playing as the Traitor class after all the Obol bosses, though I don't use the multi-knife or multi-axes as part of the strategy here.)
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 30th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-31 | Quite a fortuitous run today, though it ended abruptly due to a rather silly error.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: If you're going for one of the Temple golden idols with the crushing ceiling, make sure you've cleared out a path in advance as you only have a few seconds to recover if you screw up. I almost saved myself, but I panicked and was a tad too late.3:00 - Given how far away that was and the fact that it was going for a moving target, that was a pretty good shot. It was also neat how I nailed an out of range bat with an arrow trap a few seconds earlier too.6:46 - I'd just like to add that this was a pretty amazingly lucky find. Not only did a shopkeeper kill himself to give me an easy shotgun, and not only did I find a Jetpack in his store about as early as you realistically can, but I also found a Mattock while at zero bombs that allowed me to regain access to the key necessary for the Udjat Eye and continued City of Gold progress. Luck was in my favor and it felt good.7:30 - I also got pretty lucky that the shopkeeper got restunned after recovering from his stun (I was waiting for the damsel to get up and go in the door) instead of just throwing me and possibly end the run right there.9:38 - I really am too used to Sticky Bombs, though fortunately I had some bombs to spare after that mistake.10:30 - Quite a landing. I don't think I ever killed two enemies so far apart with a single stomp attack before.11:40 - After having very low bombs for a while, I sure was happy to see this hearty supply of them in the black market. I'm glad I stuck this run out, and you should take it as a lesson that you never know when your luck with turn for the better (or worse), so try to give it your best effort anyway unless you're certain you're irreversible screwed.14:01 - Nice bomb usage right there. Instead of needing two bombs like usual to retrieve the damsel and access the altar, one well-placed bombs overlapped the terrain seams enough to be an efficient entrance. You should definitely use this whenever you have the opportunity to do so, because it allows your bombs (especially sticky bombs with more precise placement) to be even more valuable.21:35 - Close call! I totally thought I had him and I totally didn't. That's why it's risky to ever put yourself on a close and direct horizontal line with an angry shopkeeper, because you might be wrong in your belief about killing them before they reach you.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 29th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-20 | This is an interesting run. I got pretty far and even dismantled the City of Gold to a more satisfactory degree than I usually have the opportunity for, but I still didn't quite make it to Hell due to a rather silly mistake. Had I actually made it this might have been the "final" Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge video I did, but since I wasn't successful I carried on with my initial plan to end somewhere around the turn of the new year.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Whenever Olmec is moving, try to avoid being too close. Though his bottom is the main crushing danger, you can certainly be crushed by his sides or top too if you're not careful.4:08 - Once again, if you can pull this off this is a pretty great way to effortlessly get a free shotgun as well as some robbery in.24:51 - If you're wondering why I'm randomly bombing stuff, it's because I have the extremely rare problem of too MANY bombs. I saw 12 bomb box in the shop, so in order to make the most of it, I had to dip my bomb supply down to 87 (as 99 is the max).29:45 - 24 extra bombs! Man, I wish other runs were as generous as this one, as I'm drowning in bombs here when I'm usually starving for them in many other runs.32:30 - 99 bombs, nice! Fantastic turn of events for the shortly upcoming City of Gold.33:23 - Very cool rebound with the rock and UFO going on there.43:06 - So entering the City with less than 99 bombs wasn't really my plan, but 75 is still a pretty good amount if you know how to utilize seams and placement and stuff to get the most out of your bombs.51:05 - If you were patient enough to convert all gems into diamonds with the ghost you could've done even better than I did, but I think I had a pretty good haul for less than 7 minutes and 60 bombs.53:18 - Shy of a million, but not bad.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 28th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-15 | Decent early game jetpack but I squandered it.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: When dealing with shopkeepers, it is best to avoid any areas where there is only one exit. If you're unfortunate like I was, you can end up completely cornered and unable to dodge the keeper's deadly bullets.4:00 - This is an ideal situation where you can quickly kill an unalerted shopkeeper with no hassle. If you don't have a fortuitously placed spider web, sometimes a webcannon or simply laying a bomb down on a nearby tile is all that's necessary.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 27th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-14 | Not too good of a run, especially since I was on low health fairly often.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: If you rob, you are in danger of starting a level next to a shopkeeper and not having enough time to prepare. One of the risks associated with robbery, especially when done early in the Mines. (However, if I had I barely missed shotgun I might've survived...)6:43 - Wish I stayed a little longer, could've gotten an easy shotgun.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 26th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-14 | Really short and crappy run.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: The shopkeepers are more maneuverable than you might think, and the can close the gap on many terrain advantages if they hop in the right place.2:46 - Pretty damn hard to see this one in time, so that was a bit unfair.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 25th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-11 | Some decent early game mattock footage in this run. Also, though I didn't make it that far in the run, I still feel like this is one of the better (or at least more memorable) runs in recent memory.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: I really fucked myself over a simple mistake in the Jungle. When around instant death spikes pits, never make the situation more risky than it already is. My lack of caution caused me to lose my Ankh early and very stupidly. As for my final death, beware the dangerous combination of climbing gloves and flip-hangs. Trying to get out of a narrow pathway while an explosive is ticking down is very risky.5:48 - Couldn't see a good means to continually dodge the ghost while hoping to get the shopkeeper to die on spikes, so I cut my losses and left the level worse for the wear.10:54 - If my calculations are correct, I'm just 3 favor points short of invigoration at this point. It's rare to be able to get that close so early in the game, but I just set myself up now in case I had a hard time finding altars later in the run (and I often do).12:25 - Rare track, nice!13:12 - Nice throw! The mattock against the skeleton just before was pretty good too.15:33 - Close dodge.16:14 - I don't think I've ever actually killed a shopkeeper with the force of the bomb throw itself rather than the explosion.16:43 - This is one place non-sticky bombs can be really useful if you still don't have Paste. The vertical shaft and enclosed space of the Ankh shop makes it ideal for quickly taking out many keepers with one bomb.20:31 - Boy I wish I killed that goddamn bat earlier. Probably one of the worst early Ankh losses I've ever had.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 24th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-10 | Another short run, though it does end in an amusingly embarrassing death.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: If it is possible for a boulder to crush you, you probably shouldn't risk it. I thought the boulder would drop down and damage the shop, but it actually continued along its merry way and crushed me. Not that it would've done any good had I survived, as it would've angered Kali for the rest of the run!
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 23rd, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-10 | Short, crap run.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: It is generally only ever worth risking a fight against a Giant Spider if you can kill it quickly. Jump attacks with no spike shoes is not a quick method, and it is very dangerous as two hits from the unpredictable spider will likely end your run.0:46 - Recording snagged here randomly, and it was not fun to have that happen right as I laid down a bomb!2:28 - Really not sure why that killed me when I was clearly above it, but maybe it was moving too fast and the collision checking messed up since I was going down fast while it was going up fast.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 22nd, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-10 | I'm really not one to throw around the "Oh, the game generated a bad run for me" excuse, but I feel it has at least SOME validity in this case. While my death was foreseeable after the fact, I feel it was kind of unfair too. After all, my killer was trapped behind terrain that I thought was inaccessible, but apparently it wasn't impenetrable.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Sometimes, deaths will be unfair. Most are not though, so learn the difference between a rare event that you can't do anything about and the more common mistakes that can be rectified with enough practice and observation.2:31 - It seems quite a few people might have fallen for exactly the same devious trap if the leaderboards are anything to go by.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 21st, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-10 | Lost a lot of health early on and it didn't put me in a good position to succeed for the rest of the run.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: If going for City of Gold / Hell, remember that each area requires you to do certain actions in order to further your goal. You can get through many levels quickly if you wish, but accomplishing those area-spanning tasks can take time, and if you take too much time you're quite likely to run into a ghost who will pressure you and potentially cause you to hasten your demise.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 20th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-08 | Lost an Ankh early and botched the City of Gold because of it, but what an interesting loss it was! The rest of the run is alright, but nothing too exciting either.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Two lesson today! 1) Remember that mantraps are not fatal to shopkeepers unless they are severely weakened first. 2) Even if you feel you've put the shopkeeper in a situation where it can't harm you, don't approach him until you're damn near sure your trap worked. Otherwise, he can still take you out.3:20 - Five golden scarabs in a dark level can go a long way towards helping you to afford shop items if you wish to forgo robbery. Dark levels aren't ALL bad...4:36 - If you must trigger powder boxes in close quarters, using a corpse as a thrown item is a good choice because they won't hurt you upon rebound like a rock or arrow would.6:35 - Ack, what a waste! Remember, if there is a Giant Spider on the same level as an altar for your first reward, get the Paste first because otherwise you can potentially waste your reward as was the case here.7:08 - If you can time it just right, you can use a single sticky bomb to take out a shop's shopkeeper like this. The shopkeeper will bounce around in his shop so long as you are above him, but once you are on the same height as him he will aim for the running out of the entrance of his shop. Accordingly, quickly transitioning from above him to below him while the sticky bomb is about to explode can have him caught in the blast.17:19 - Damn, what a devious Rube Goldberg machine of death just to take my Ankh! By opening up the wall between the exit and the room with the mantrap, I allowed the shopkeeper to jump into that room. And while he was bouncing around in there, he got eaten by the trap (which, unlike for most characters, is not fatal to shopkeepers if they go in uninjured). And while the keeper and trap were temporarily stunned, I entered the room at just the right time to have the keeper burst out and gun me down by surprise. I should've been pissed for having a decent run screwed up like that, but it was so unpredictable (yet still partially my fault) that I'm glad I was able to catch it in this recording. 20:07 - If you lose your Ankh at the wrong time and are still aiming for Olmec completion at least, feel free to get invigoration whenever you want as delaying it only matters for Hell runs.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 19th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-07 | Simple mistake caused an early death this time around.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: While killed enemies can trigger black powder boxes with their blood, make sure you are nowhere near them when the blast happens. Those boxes are as possible as bombs, almost always meaning instant death if you're caught in the blast as you're unlikely to have more than 10 HP in the Mines.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 18th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-07 | Short and crappy run, nothing special.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: I hated the parachute in the original version of Spelunky and (even though I hate it less in this version due to additional tweaks) I still hate the parachute in this one too. 9 times out of 10 the parachute will only hinder you when automatically deployed and if it screws up your timing at a critical moment it can even lead to death.7:03 - A bit ridiculous with the mattock count there, eh?7:54 - YASD indeed. Fucking parachute.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 17th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-06 | Pretty darn good run all around up until a brief but deadly mistake the Ice Caves.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Although the Cape is very useful, you're as good as dead if you don't time it right in dangerous situations.3:52 - Thought I had sticky bombs, but I didn't, which caused me to accidentally throw a bomb against the wall. Caused me to waste some bombs to recover the damsel for the altar.9:40 - Nice recovery! Ripe for taking to the altar for the Kapala too!10:25 - It was quite satisfying to be able to kill two shopkeepers in a row with the boulder. I don't often get to do that, and as a bonus I didn't even lose the vault gems!10:40 - I could've converted those to diamonds, of course, but I wasn't sure how far the boulder carved through the level. If I was a little more cautious I would've realized I did have an escape route after the diamonds, but in my haste I just grabbed what I could.14:39 - I never knew, but apparently exploding frogs can be converted into regular frogs even when they are in the countdown phase. That one just happened to be punted by the tiki trap into the nearby water to cool off.15:10 - Apologies for the brief pause, had to take care of something.30:20 - Ack, what a frustratingly stupid mistake! I undid the cape when I shouldn't have, and it resulted in an instant kill on spikes. It's particularly bad because I likely could've recovered a shotgun as well as invigoration (from the damsel and many nearby yetis) on this level, likely nicely setting me up for the Temples and beyond...
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 16th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-06 | Did quite good in this run until running into a snag in the last level before the Temple.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: One of the hardest parts of a City of Gold / Hell run is immediately after sacrificing the Ankh for the Hedjet. While you retain any worn equipment, you lose your held item and any health bonuses you had. Being weaponless caused me to attempt something suicidal within the game, as a lack of bombs and no shotgun in 3-4 meant Anubis in 4-1 would be significantly harder / dangerously time-consuming to kill.0:48 - Bit of a random recording snag there. No idea what happened.5:37 - Of course, extracting blood from enemies over multiple hits instead of one instant kill is valuable, it just comes with the risk of pushing the ghost ever closer while you dawdle. I decided to spend the time since I was low on health and near the exit anyway if I needed to quickly escape.10:47 - Took quite a bit of puzzling since the entrance wasn't anywhere obvious, but I managed to figure out how to get to it with a single bomb, so that's cool.20:31 - Nice shot!22:30 - It was surprising just how long the very useful Cape evaded my grasp in this level.24:33 - Another very random hiccup.25:18 - Interestingly enough, UFO laser beams stop ropes in their track. This foiled my plan to take down that UFO with my excessive amount of ropes.28:39 - VERY close call there. In fact, I'm amazed it wasn't deadly.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 15th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-02 | Did pretty good while the run lasted.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Darkness and 1 HP is basically a near guaranteed recipe for disaster because it is quite hard to complete darkness levels without injury.1:19 - The recording hanged for a bit here for some mysterious reason, sorry about that.12:32 - If you can get a shopkeeper stuck in a worm tongue, you can basically keep them stuck there, giving you an easily kill so long as they don't shoot you first.13:37 - I wonder what the chances of two jetpacks spawning in shops in one run is. Don't see it all that often.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 14th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-02 | Nothing really worth seeing here.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Aggroed Giant Spiders are already pretty damn dangerous, but they're doubly awful in the dark, especially in cramped rooms. I lost all my starting health in a matter of seconds due to these very unfavorable conditions.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 13th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-02 | A decent bit of early game teleporter work here, but that's about it.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: While it is still technically possible to continue playing the game with 1 HP, you're at a high risk of dying from something stupid. Here I slipped and died due to fall damage, a rather unusual circumstance.2:50 - The Spectacles and Machete were a nice turn of events, but clumsily getting myself to 1 HP wasn't.4:38 - As clever as I felt for teleporting into the closed area with the damsel, I didn't feel very clever afterwards for having to spend all three of my remaining bombs just to recover the damsel for the altar. Remember, teleporting is useful but you can't carry anything other than the teleporter out with you.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 12th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-12-01 | Couple of neat tricks here, but nothing too special.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Once again I screwed myself out of the Black Market by not carrying enough bombs into the Jungle. Also, I rather carelessly hit my head on a low ceiling and that resulted in my early death.7:26 - Wasn't really intentional, but it was pretty cool how that arrow hit the Giant Spider in mid-air after it was briefly stunned by the shotgun.12:53 - I was pretty proud of this maneuver. Quick thinking on my part allowed me to avoid getting knocked off a small ledge while simultaneously killing an enemy and using the resulting height bounce to reach a crate without a rope.14:29 - Barely avoided being skewered there!
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 11th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-11-26 | Got pretty far today, but couldn't quite make it all the way through Hell.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Even though you're likely to come into Hell well-equipped, don't underestimate the danger of stuff like tike traps. You may have invigoration, but a well-placed trap can rapidly knock off 4 HP or more, even possibly knocking you into ball and chain traps or spike pits.13:48 - This is one of those examples of why you have to be really thorough when searching for the Black Market entrance. Had I not messed with this shop, I likely would've never realized the market was hidden there. Was basically pure luck that I even noticed since the Udjat Eye range is so small.30:43 - Close call with that explosive UFO there. Nearly ended the run right after Ankh usage, a particularly vulnerable time.37:16 - Inches away from death, and you can clearly see I would not have reacted in time anyway if it was closer. Once again, best not to mess with croc men at all.39:26 - Entering the City of Gold with no shotgun is obviously non-ideal (especially since I obtained one fairly easy from the vault dweller in 4-2), but I really wanted to take the opportunity to get invigoration, as I might not have had another chance to do so for this run.42:43 - Left the City of Gold with plenty of bombs to spare, but since I didn't have a jetpack, saving many bombs for Hell can be a sound strategy.47:59 - I decided to try to brave Hell once more with Vlad's Cape, because now I felt I had enough experience with this area to make use of it over the generic Cape. (I wouldn't have traded if I had a jetpack, but I didn't so I thought: what the hell?) I decided against also using the Camera (even though I was tempted since it was found so early in Hell) because I figured I had enough on my plate already with trying to use the special cape I was somewhat inexperienced with.49:54 - Jeez, what a clusterfuck right at the end. Really should've used the shotgun instead of the idol as a weapon, I don't know what I was thinking there, and I damn near ended the run there.52:34 - What a mistake to die from...
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 10th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-11-23 | Wasted an Ankh that I probably didn't need to, which caused me to be more careless for the rest of the run.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Close-quarters combat with shopkeepers is a bad idea, and the lack of stunning with my pellets caused me to stupidly lose my Ankh early. Furthermore, my final death was caused by not fleeing when I should've, and I ended up in a nasty bind with very limited room to move.8:07 - The ghost was such a pressing concern that I didn't even notice the arrow trap I narrowly avoided.12:27 - Glad I had extra bombs and paste, damn near impossible to get there otherwise. I hate it when the market entrance generates like that.13:22 - Close to being accidentally sacrificed again.16:59 - Nice two throws in a row!
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 9th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-11-22 | Some mattock play here, but otherwise nothing too special.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Robbing without having the weaponry or bombs to defend yourself from angry shopkeepers in later levels is a bad idea, and it among other factors makes robbery in the Mines an especially risky proposition.4:54 - Had the rare opportunity to sacrifice a scorpion! They're worth a decent amount of favor, but hard to get to an altar without killing them.
Spelunky Steam Daily Challenge - November 8th, 2013 IGIPNP 2013-11-13 | The previous run ended within Hell, but today's made it all the way to the end. SUCCESS! I even managed to pull off something I never did before in Hell, so that made this run extra cool.Spelunky Lesson of the Day: Didn't die, so what lesson should I impart? I guess it should be that entering Hell without invigoration or a shotgun is generally a bad idea. I somehow managed to scrape by with 1 HP by the end, but I was very close to death a couple of times.3:10 - Just couldn't get the damn timing down, and ended up wasting many of bombs in that valuable box I just got recently.9:24 - Sure wish I got that first so I could've gotten a better item from the altar...11:42 - I probably could've gone for the Haunted Castle, but I wanted to save my bombs in case I really needed them. Sometimes one bomb is just not enough for the market entrance.12:44 - I couldn't think of a better way to handle this with what I had. If I had a rock or still had the golden idol I just got, I might've been able to throw an item at him, but he was in an awful spot to damage without bombs or some other thrown item. Sometimes the random spawns are just that much of a bastard.17:00 - Now THIS is a great shop! 24 bombs and a jetpack made it my lucky day.41:16 - The reason I'm taking the Freeze Ray into Hell instead of the shotgun is that it's excellent for filling up the Kapala. Hell's many flying enemies make the ray pretty good already, but the ability to farm more blood out of corpses with the ray is an advantage you shouldn't overlook...49:03 - Although magma men are normally invulnerable, they actually can be killed with the Freeze Ray! (Which makes some sort of sense, I guess.) However, with Vlad's Amulet it doesn't really matter, I was just showing off.51:12 - It's cool that magma men even show up on the kill screen considering how rare it is that you're actually going to ever see that.52:22 - This is a tricky passage with no bombs, but even this can be bested with a little ingenuity!53:05 - I thought about trading my ray for a shotgun for Yama due to never having faced Yama's Chamber with a ray before, but I decided against it and said it was now or never to determine whether I actually could succeed with it there.56:00 - Ha ha, holy shit I did it! It's a hell of an inefficient method, but apparently it is possible to kill Yama with a Freeze Ray!57:49 - This made me nervous. 1 HP in Yama's Chamber is dangerous even after the fight because other things like the spike balls can still kill you if you're not careful.
