PS2 Backlog Committee

Yeah, argyle, as crim said, the only souls necessary for progression should be obtained via available mandatory progression (not grinding for drops). At least that's what I remember. Maybe you've missed a reachable area somehow. I think I remember there being a spot with the "flying" ability that was needed, but I can't remember the exact order of everything. I just played and things kind of unfolded. There's also a walk on water ability that gets you atop a fountain and up some stairs that I remember. Again, I couldn't tell you the exact order of everything because that kind of gets lost and muddled while exploring and criss-crossing the map while adventuring. I sympathize with your frustrations though. I hate feeling like I'm making no progress and can't work out what to do next. And I don't like using guides if I can avoid it, so in my stubbornness I often just make myself *more* frustrated, lol.

argyle wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 10:51 pm <rant>
This game is infuriating for me. I recognize that I'm the only moron here who either can't figure it out or, as I'm starting to suspect, has just been unlucky enough to not have whatever vital ability I need to progress drop. I am **NOT** a fan of the "soul" system. This is not the first Igavania to use it, so it must have been popular (heck, Bloodstained uses it too) but I don't remember it being this egregious in other games. Putting necessary abilities as rare drops from enemies is NOT fun. Going in & out of the same room for 10-15 mins at a time farming an enemy just to get a useless ability and have to move on to the next to do it again is NOT fun. The past 4-5 play sessions of this game I have made absolutely no progress other than collecting a few of these useless abilities. I have scoured the map from top to bottom multiple times. I have no clue what I'm missing, and I'm a hair away from saying "screw it" and putting it down.
</rant>

I haven't finished the game yet but I don't think any farming is involved for key souls. The abilities you need to proceed seem to come after boss fights for the most part.

I'm guessing you need Undine (which you can reach after beating Headhunter, I believe) or Skula (reachable after beating Death).

Maybe I'm remembering wrong, I thought I got the walk on water & flying armor abilities from enemy drops, but maybe not.

I keep tellin' you guys, I HAVE the walk on water ability. It ain't that.

I haven't seen Death TO beat him, but I'm so buffed from all the pointless grinding I've done at this point that I can't imagine him being much of a challenge if I ever find him. Maybe he's hiding from me?

Death is at the top of an area on the right of the map. Not the farthest right, the one before that. Skula is just past him.

argyle wrote: ↑Fri Apr 21, 2023 11:41 am Maybe I'm remembering wrong, I thought I got the walk on water & flying armor abilities from enemy drops, but maybe not.

I keep tellin' you guys, I HAVE the walk on water ability. It ain't that.

I haven't seen Death TO beat him, but I'm so buffed from all the pointless grinding I've done at this point that I can't imagine him being much of a challenge if I ever find him. Maybe he's hiding from me?

Lol, that would be funny (and cool) if games implemented a mechanic where bosses shrank from overpowered players. Of course, you'd have to communicate that to the player in some way, but that would be interesting, if optional.

canedaddy wrote: ↑Fri Apr 21, 2023 11:45 am Death is at the top of an area on the right of the map. Not the farthest right, the one before that. Skula is just past him.

Here's my map. I explored the rooms to the right of where I am (the white blip) - the two top-most rooms on the right just below the floating rooms. There's nothing there, those are the bell towers.

Oh, I think that those hanging rooms at the top of the map are the key. I just tried backtracking to find the clock tower entrance to help you. The clock tower (where you need to go to fight Death and get the underwater thing to get through to the next area) is off the second hanging room from the right of your screen. Keep going through those rooms and you should get there. I am surprised you found the black stuff blocking you before getting to the clock tower. Wish I could be more help, sorry. I just don't remember exactly how I got there.

Also, I just beat Balore in the Arena area. That was obnoxious. But rewind though ! Old man, you use rewind by holding down R2 and pressing left on the d pad. I probably would've stopped playing without rewind on Balore. I did not like that boss...but his intro was cool .

So I beat it? I think? I don't know. I might load from my last save and scour for anymore of these ancient books. I found 2 and 3 but not 1 so that tells me I at least need that one. I might not do it anytime soon but I didn't like the way the game stopped after a certain boss. Something is sus fam...

crimson_tide wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 7:55 pm Oh, I think that those hanging rooms at the top of the map are the key. I just tried backtracking to find the clock tower entrance to help you. The clock tower (where you need to go to fight Death and get the underwater thing to get through to the next area) is off the second hanging room from the right of your screen. Keep going through those rooms and you should get there. I am surprised you found the black stuff blocking you before getting to the clock tower. Wish I could be more help, sorry. I just don't remember exactly how I got there.

Thank you, that was it. That particular room is weird - you can only get to it going from one direction out of one of the rooms (I think left). If you just go right you'll go to all of the floating rooms EXCEPT for that one. And obviously, at some point I had done that because it was on my map. But then you have to go left out of it - I guess I figured it was just going to take me to one of the other rooms, and/or that I had already done that at some point. It was very weird at any rate.

Back on track now - and yes, I murdered Death first try (thanks in large part to the Disc Armor soul that dropped just before his fight, that thing tore him up).

Great! Glad that's sorted argyle.

Btw, did any of you guys ever find your way into the tiny single cube room up there. I've continued exploring the castle but haven't ever found my way in.

Also, I've collected 3 books that the girl mentioned, but haven't found any use for them. I'm thinking maybe there are 4. I'm at about 94% castle and 74% soul completion. I haven't been playing as much after I beat the game and returned to a prior save, but I still want to unlock some of the tasty secrets.

I will say that some of those soul drops have been very stubborn, even with the "soul ring" or whatever it's called - i forget. The poison worm almost made me lose my mind. I had killed that bug countless times and decided to give up on it, and as I left that room for the final time on my way permanently *out*, it dropped, lol. Cruel joker.

Beat it tonight w/ the regular/bad/whatever ending. Looked up how to get the good ending (izzy, those books - there are only 3 - are hints to what you need for the good ending) and will do that next. Don't think I'm gonna grind out the rest of the souls.

Very good game, I'll sort my thoughts & post more on that later. Pretty good first run of the game club I'd say!