Legacy - This Will Never End

 Written by Morpheus Kitami

You know, for an adventure game, I don't feel like I'm actually playing an adventure game. I feel like I've mentioned that before, but its not really something I'm going back and checking. That's probably why this feels so long to me at this point. At this point I'm still technically at the stage where another reviewer's debut game is longer, Reiko and Timequest. But checking places where people say how long it took them to beat, I'm seeing 35 hours. To give an idea of what that means, ho ho ho.

I don't understand the need to specify when it's in the house...

At the end of the last session, I had a whole bunch of items that will probably not feature for some considerable amount of time, and replaced them with something more useful. Remember the flashlight. Yeah, well, you'll be remembering the flashlight in a second. Two zombies in here, but they're both the kind from earlier, with sword and shield they are nothing. One of them drops a medikit. Weird. There's some stone slabs in the walls, and a door to the center, containing shells, a pouch of grave dust, and a spell. Sight of the Dark Walker, not to be confused with Shadow Walker. If you haven't guessed, this is the nightvision spell. I repeat, a basic RPG spell is guarded by a shotgunner you have the first chance to effectively kill, some...when did I get the rifle? 15 hours in? Oh, but make no mistake, this is definitely 20 hour territory.

Pictured, fun and/or terror

The puzzle, if you can call it one, involves pressing two stone slabs in the wall and then the door opens. Inside is a long big area with a lot of pressure plates. One is strategically placed in front of a plaque, which says something about final death. Then a thousand skeletons pop out. I thought Marcus Roberts released everything from here? Why is this going on? Why are there so many dead bodies in this mausoleum? Isn't a mausoleum supposed to be for family members? To cut a long story short, the skeletons are different than most enemies. They sometimes drop items, which hasn't been a thing so far, how one has a gasoline can without me noticing, I dunno. And their bodies stay where they are. If you walk past them again, they rise and attack again. The puzzle is to drop them on the pressure plates, then exit via the one next to a plaque. Also, there's a chainsaw in here. I'm not going to use it since...well, I don't really need it. I can always walk back if I do. What's another hour of walking to me at this point?

I've never been happier to see a haunted chapel

There's one problem with this, beyond the obvious that I'm spending an hour of my life killing skeletons...The way things are set up the skeletons are inside little niches that open whenever you step on a plate. In one of these is another door. You have to check the automap to see it, since the walls and doors are the same. A chapel, with an altar, two unlit candles, and an organ. I don't have the matches, the music sheet or whatever else I need, but it's nice to know this is where some items have to go. I hope this isn't where I'm supposed to summon the Karcist. It's been hours and I might have merely assumed Carl wanted me to summon him there.

Twenty minutes of this, twenty minutes

Past the puzzle, is another room like the one near the beginning of the floor, only this time, no puzzle, three doors out, and two skeletons. My first choice was the smart choice, it eventually took me to the Golden Torc. The north was a maze, with more skeletons. It also felt more Dungeon Master-y at this point. No thinking, really, just fighting. It was here I realized what the grave dust was for, preventing the revival of skeletons. Funny, all this talk of zombies and it's the skeletons that come back from the dead. Lotta shotgun shells, to match that shotgun the shottie zombie dropped. I wonder if the plan was for me to use the shells on the skeletons. Bullets and shells seem like a stupid choice against such creatures, but what do I know?

I was expecting something impressive

Anyway, next to the Golden Torc...the long-awaited Golden Torc. There's also a note here:

Extract from the Parish Journal of Rev. Samuels

Nov. 1662

I knowe now that Winthrop lieth not in the grave, He hath become Karcist, undead warlock, corporeal servant of that astrall divill, Belthegor. He hath entered into a pact with Belthegor so that he and his may render service unto that divill.

The blood of Winthrop's blood and the Torc of Gothua will return every fifty years till the day the Beast walketh among men.

I would like to point out I did not alter the text in any way, shape or form with exception to formatting. What you see is what I saw. There's new info...I guess, but it could have been told oh, so, much better. As I drag the Golden Torc out, I find something useful regarding the skeletons on the ground, if you rush past their corpses, you'll be fine. Good.

How much is too much?

After dragging everything of value out, I have this stuff. Three medikits, two magic crystals, one food, holywater, sunglasses, fuel, chainsaw, sawed-off shotgun and two dozen shells. Probably. Somebody want to tell me if there's something specific I'm supposed to use the shotgun on or am I just supposed to cackle madly, yell "I'm Tom Savini, bitch!" and make some chunky salsa? You know, come to think of it, none of this solves any of my problems.

Great, and me without my idol

Well, I've got one more thing left to do this session before seeing if Alberoth can survive buckshot. The organ room. Using the music sheet on the organ opens up a portal. When it opens it plays Chopin's Sonata II. I like that song, but here it feels extremely cliche. You can't do anything to the candles. Far be it for me to complain, but that doesn't make any sense. I do find a hidden compartment on the altar, dunno if I missed it the first time. After some kind of trickery, I get a note. Its from Lawrence to Miles, talking about this accursed house, and to use of holy water on the demons and if the ghoul's ichor enters his veins. Gee, that would have been useful about twenty hours ago.

UMMM

I take advantage of the open portal, thinking I can at least take a shortcut to the 3rd floor...it doesn't quite work like that. Melchior wanders around the Ethereal Plane and I don't really enjoy dodging his magic. Thanks to the confusing nature of the realm...I jump into the first open portal...this...place...I won't say what it looks like to me, but you can draw your own conclusions. At least I have a sword and rifle.

The cubes, now moving

This seems to be...the lair of the Beast. I have some experience with lairs of the Beast, but not this one. It has moving portal cubes, which take me to various places in the house, it hasn't shown up with the regular portals because I can't use them. There's a door that requires a key of Agla. I'm pretty sure at this point either this game is hugely influential among metal bands or they've both cribbed from the same sources. There are more fire elementals here and they're invulnerable to physical damage...nice...At some point I accidentally walk into one of the cubes...

UMMM, UMMM

Well, I see we're continuing with that theme. Flesh door...yeah...that's it...Another gasoline can, c'mon...another mechanical tool kit (!?)...and what's that sound?

Nah, not going to make that joke

Its Hell with tentacles. This might be Hell, actually. They shoot fireballs, they can't be hit, they're effectively invincible killing machines. I've committed to this floor at this point, I've got no choice. Making a mad dash around...I find out that I have no way forward. The doors are all locked, if I force them I get hit with lightning. I do have stairs up, so at least I can escape.

Hmm...

Okay, that's the second basement...oh, there's another basement isn't there? Four basements. Four floors. Probably two mausoleums. Now, what's behind this door.

I'll give them one thing, these are some nice monsters

When you open a door and see someone jogging towards you, especially a non-human, it creates a very effective terror, I think. The sort of terror when you don't know what's going to happen. This happens in the opening fight of Elvira, to my knowledge. Someone taking a light jog is either treating this like a joke or not trying to tire himself out. A monster taking a jogging position almost always is the former. Well, they can't penetrate the shield very well, but they can wear me down eventually.

Another room full of furniture, just as terrifying as the others

As I explore this section of the 2nd basement, I come to a startling conclusion. There's no way south from here. I can't get back to the surface...unless Alberoth isn't guarding that third entrance. I'm not going to have much luck there, I suspect. Also at this time, I notice that I have full mana...and I didn't have full mana before. Something is giving me mana...The Golden Torc?

In my examination of the area, I come across a few items, a hand mirror, which shows my reflection because its text only...a dead squid, which I hope is not going to be used how I think its going to be used. An incense burner in the shape of some demon. Misc. ammo. And a spellbook, I dunno what it's supposed to do. Another shield maybe?

Your guess is as good as mine. Probably because I'm not going to use it

Then I come across a book, this one's very interesting:

The Book of Portents

hand-written by

Anton Wisniewski

June, 1915

Miriam betrayed the Children of Alberoth by giving the Golden Torc to Abigail, her daughter, and then sending her away. So we killed Miriam and fed her body to the inmates.

Now her brat, Abigail, has returned. But she is too late, the Dark Forces are on my side. I have been granted a vision of a cave that overlooks the sea. It is the Gateway to the Endless Void.

If you recall, Miriam was offended by Anton having ideas not befitting his class. Further, Miriam was clearly some shade of evil. This is an interesting development, since everyone else in the tree is either evil, insane or incompetent. Also, hey, we know about Abigail now.

Further items are, a M29...with six bullets, ruining the Dirty Harry joke I wanted to make. Its okay, man's got to know his limitations. And a note, which, upon reading, causes lightning to strike. Then the writer pleads with the reader to use the gun...on the reader. He hears them coming. I'm guessing the idea is that the writer killed himself...or failed to kill himself. When I close the note, two demons approach. Well, I could do that, but I don't think I have enough ammo. What a shame. I guess I'll have to fight these guys. The real problem is, what do I do next?

Inventory: Bullet-proof vest, circlet, Key of Abhomet, Zulu shield, spellbook, medikit (x2), keyring

Spellbook: Shroud of the Shadow Walker, Agatta's Iron Fist, Belgor's Mental Violation, Elixir of Health, Aura of Mystic Defense, Flames of Desolation, Dimensional Rift, Key of the Shadow Lord, Crimson Mysts of Myamoto, Xython's Guiding Eye, Wind of Destruction, Sight of the Dark Walker, Arcane Tower of Reason

This Session: 4 hours 00 minutes
Total Time: 24 hours 30 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There’s a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I haven't made any requests for assistance. Thanks