Chapter 5: From the Eldritch Depths
Manor of Despair – The Sewers
-What a pair of titles! I only know the chapter title because it was on the saved game file. I wish DoC would give them more explicitly, because it’s pretty awesome.
-I guess I’m trying to access the Shinra Manor by sneaking in through the sewers.
-Some Sahagins attack.
In the context of the chapter title though, I feel like I should refer to them as “Deep Ones.”
-Swapping the materia on my Griffon (the machine gun I use for short range) from Thunder to Power Cross, one that increases my melee power.
-Found DoC’s version of “Monster-in-a-box” when I broke open a supply crate and a Sahagin popped out.
-There are items around in what seem like impossible to reach places. Near the ceiling, behind sewer grates, etc.
My best guess is that these are for challenge/bonus points perhaps. I shot it and destroyed it, but didn’t notice anything happen as a result.
-Minor issue with the game is that the camera can be difficult to use when in close melee combat against a fast enemy.
Believe it or not, this screenshot is me fighting against a Sahagin.
Still better than Crisis Core in this regard since I can control the camera.
-I love the feature on the map that highlights the exit for a particular dungeon. When there’s a fork in the road and I have to choose which way to explore, I want to have the option to backtrack and explore the other route too.
Moving towards the exit in an orderly fashion.
My pet peeve (as I’ve written about before) is choosing one option and having the dungeon end because that’s the exit or the trigger for the next segment. The exit marker on the map avoids this.
-Made it out of the sewer portion and into what looks more like a warehouse. Populated by soldiers rather than Sahagin.
-I reached a part of this sewer that was basically a shooting gallery, where enemy soldiers kept coming around my side. I kept killing them but they kept respawning. I died before I learned it might be infinite.
-OH SHIT. Real tension here. I was crossing a bridge and the door in front of me slammed shut. I turned around to go back the way I came, and THAT door slammed shut. A voice: “We got him!” Another shooting gallery. Ruh-roh, Raggy.
Taking cover.
-YESSSSSS!!! I just had one of those moments that’s probably second nature to people used to this game but feels great to discover anyway. When I have cover and an enemy is firing at me, I can crouch, wait for them to run out of bullet and reload, and pop out of cover and headshot them WHILE they’re reloading! The damage is avoidable. This is awesome.
-Also a neat trick: I can use my Limit Break as an extra heal.
-My wolf form (I know it’s probably not a wolf, but it looks sort of like one) does have a range attack – ty for the tip! – but it’s pretty inaccurate. No target lock, just have to face the right way. Still better than nothing by a long shot.
-Victory! Made it past the shooting gallery, and onto a new elevator. Going up.
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Flashback
-While in the elevator, Vincent gets lost in a flashback. It’s the first time he met Lucrecia, the scientist and woman now encased in crystal.
-Vincent is a Turk here, assigned to protect Lucrecia.
-Hm. She’s SUPER freaked out meeting him. “Why would they send…?” etc. She clearly knows of him, and is unsettled to be around him. Maybe she knows she has to experiment on him – or perhaps knows she already experimented on him and didn’t want to meet the lab rat in danger?
-In either case, she tries to play it cool.
-Btw, her name pronunciation is unusual. It’s not “loo-KREE-shuh” like I thought at first on reading it, but rather “loo-KREHT-see-uh.”
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Next time: kitty!!
Quick note on how I do the “next time” section in these blind plays. It varies. Sometimes, I stop the session and have to purely guess at what’s next. Other times (like now), I keep playing because I don’t know if it’s a good stopping point. When I see that there’s a change of scenery, I stop and have a taste of what’s coming.
Occasionally I’ll marathon two or three sessions if it’s a really long zone and I want to get ahead. The “next time” for those are much more accurate because I already played the next part, but they’re pretty rare for me to do. Usually I’ll do those with longer final dungeons that lack clear saves and stopping points. (I’m looking at you, FFIII and FFVII.)
