La-Mulana 2 Kickstarter: We'll Show That You Don't Need Big Names To Make Money

Morrigan Targaryen said:
Shout-outs to GAF are always nice. :)
Click to expand...

You can thank BudokaiMR2 and myself for bringing that to Naramura-san's attention.

Odrion said:
Ducxvpl.png


Hah! Someone is a They Bleed Pixels fan.
Click to expand...

SpookySquid Games works with us, and Miguel was in town for TGS. There was some great exchange going on between Miguel and Naramura.
 
I would like to back this but I don't want to create a playism account. When they offer an option to distribute over Humble I'll be in for $40/$45.
 
kadotsu said:
I would like to back this but I don't want to create a playism account. When they offer an option to distribute over Humble I'll be in for $40/$45.
Click to expand...
A Playism account isn't a big deal, especially as it looks like they offer Steam keys too similar to Humble. Though I can understand keeping this down to a minimum.
 
Morrigan Targaryen said:
Truth. I can play Dark Souls with my eyes closed now, but I weep in frustration at La-Mulana, and I'm tempted to cave in and use a damn guide because the game has no mercy. ;_;
Click to expand...
Ain't no shame in using a players guide. Be happy that for the first time since something like Ocarina of Time that you get to do so.

...Hmm...

Make a La-Mulana 1 and/or 2 Players Guide as a $250 Backer reward and I'll up my donation!
 
Morrigan Targaryen said:
Truth. I can play Dark Souls with my eyes closed now, but I weep in frustration at La-Mulana, and I'm tempted to cave in and use a damn guide because the game has no mercy. ;_;
Click to expand...

I used a guide to play through the whole game. I still have no idea how most of it worked.

But... I still enjoyed it, if not because I found the whole experience so interesting from a game design perspective.

I'll probably back this accordingly.
 
Well I'm stubborn. I hate losing the sense of discovery and the reward for figuring things out yourself. But at the same time, those damn puzzles are so obtuse, I can never tell if I can't progress because I'm missing an item, or if the solution is within my reach and I have all the clues I need.
But anyway, I'm currently stuck on a boss, not a puzzle (Oannes? the fish thing in the water), can't defeat him for the life of me. Maybe I should explore elsewhere but I always felt like I couldn't progress because I'm missing an item. Maybe I'm wrong...
 
Yeah, after completing the initial free version? I owe Naramura. Simple as that.

Now, the only question is, which tier?

Edit: Initial excitement over, now more pragmatic: I'm not convinced it's a good idea to detail a full range of stretch goals this far in advance. By all means, plan them, but focus on the initial offerings first; as you near the main goal, start to reveal a few attainable stretch goals. One thing about stretch goals, I feel, is that they're only really effective when they feel *attainable*, and a $2.5M stretch goal when you're just starting out... doesn't, really. I'd go for the first (serious!) stretch goal being at 150%, and work from there.

One advantage of doing that, too, is that it keeps people from making assumptions. Things are going to change internally frequently, and you might prioritise different things based on fan feedback - an absolutely sensible approach - but as soon as you change anything that's announced, some people are going to feel cheated if they did pledge towards a stretch that has to be moved further away.
 
Considering all the metroidvania's and doujins I've played I'm ashamed to admit I've yet to play the original.

I'm off to rectify that sharpish.
 
Basileus777 said:
The idea is to play it on a portable.
Click to expand...

SPOILERISH: It's not really plot-spoilery, but it's about a game mechanic that isn't immediately apparent:

I've only played the original-original; how does the console version of the remake handle situations where you need to type?
 
I feel like the stretch goal pricepoints are grossly overestimating the popularity of LaMualana and the campaign will have the same problems reaching them as Shantae did.

The whole concept of absurd stretch goals is confusing. If the game is popular enough they'll be reached, if it isn't they won't. I doubt they'll make a significant number of individuals more likely to back, since one's own impact is so small. Don't get it. I believe you'd get a much bigger reaction overall if you just promised the things that people actually want (console ports) from the start.

Still gonna back for $15, La Mulana is cool.
 
So how far is it possible to go on the first game without looking at a guide?

From what I understand some of the puzzles are just so obscure that it's almost not possible without a guide.
I like hard games and I like puzzles, but I like puzzles where they actually give you the means to beat them and not just make them extremely obscure just for the sake of it ( that's what I hated about FEZ -.- )

I have the game but have been postponing it due to this issue :(
 
Blinck said:
So how far is it possible to go on the first game without looking at a guide?
Click to expand...

It's very open; you can explore a fair amount of the temple without assistance. That said, there's one item that you're expected to get early on which makes traversal much simpler, and if you were to miss it it'd make much of that exploration for naught. I think it's explicitly pointed out in the manual as worthy of note, too.

I'm rather curious how much the remake simplified things, because while I found the wiki and DeceasedCrab's Let's Play essential, I did do a fair amount on my own. I'd say use a guide to get as far as that useful item and then explore at your own pace, and only look again once you're out of ideas.
 
Blinck said:
So how far is it possible to go on the first game without looking at a guide?

From what I understand some of the puzzles are just so obscure that it's almost not possible without a guide.
I like hard games and I like puzzles, but I like puzzles where they actually give you the means to beat them and not just make them extremely obscure just for the sake of it ( that's what I hated about FEZ -.- )

I have the game but have been postponing it due to this issue :(
Click to expand...

Until the end.

There are hints for every puzzle, the reason everyone ends up using a guide is that those hints are not where the puzzle itself is they might actually be miles away from it and you have to remember where they are. You could find hints of one of the final puzzles in the first areas you explore easily.
 
Amazon Payments is sending all the receipts to my old e-mail address for some reason. I somehow got a email verification email and it sent it to my old one and the one I currently use right now.

What.
 
Persona7 said:
Amazon Payments is sending all the receipts to my old e-mail address for some reason. I somehow got a email verification email and it sent it to my old one and the one I currently use right now.

What.
Click to expand...

Does Kickstarter support Paypal, or are people without credit cards stuck waiting for proper game release?
 
Blinck said:
So how far is it possible to go on the first game without looking at a guide?

From what I understand some of the puzzles are just so obscure that it's almost not possible without a guide.
I like hard games and I like puzzles, but I like puzzles where they actually give you the means to beat them and not just make them extremely obscure just for the sake of it ( that's what I hated about FEZ -.- )

I have the game but have been postponing it due to this issue :(
Click to expand...
As others said, as long as you read the manual you're good to go, read every tablet you come accross and stuff like symbols and statues on the background, write down stuff that sounds like riddles and don't be afraid to take risks - though if it something looks like it can overwhelm you it probably will lol

The only things that are legit hard are boss battles if you don't have a specific weapon that makes them easy, but that's part of the fun. The puzzles are well made, if it sounds obtuse you're probably missing a clue or two.
 
LeleSocho said:
Until the end.

There are hints for every puzzle, the reason everyone ends up using a guide is that those hints are not where the puzzle itself is and might actually be miles away from it and you have to remember where they are. You could even find hints of one of the final puzzles in the first areas you explore.
Click to expand...

I'd say that possibly the biggest difficulty is realising *that* a given hint relates to a given puzzle. In many cases that does require a leap of intuition. The sheer quantity of information does make it hard to understand what relates to what.

Making relentless numbers of notes is a good place to start.
 
I'm glad to see that there are finally small Japanese developers who are starting to get it: you don't necessarily need to be extremely insular or to give up on what makes your product unique.
There are new ways of distribution now, and there is a worldwide audience potentially interested in what you are offering.
 
Knurek said:
Does Kickstarter support Paypal, or are people without credit cards stuck waiting for proper game release?
Click to expand...

Once a project hit's it's goal or is near the goal, then it's safe for the people organizing it to take paypal donations outside of kickstarter itself. Since those are taken right away instead of only if the goal is reached.
 
I was able to reset my amazon password using a email address that is not linked to my account anymore. The hell is going on


I am going to wait for amazon to contact me before updating my pledge to add the extra shipping costs.
 
Blinck said:
So how far is it possible to go on the first game without looking at a guide?

From what I understand some of the puzzles are just so obscure that it's almost not possible without a guide.
I like hard games and I like puzzles, but I like puzzles where they actually give you the means to beat them and not just make them extremely obscure just for the sake of it ( that's what I hated about FEZ -.- )

I have the game but have been postponing it due to this issue :(
Click to expand...
You can beat it, it just may take a verrrrry long time (100h+) to do so. It's not that the puzzles themselves are too out there, but like LeleSocho says, hints are often found far from their relevant puzzles and long before you encounter the actual puzzle. So you'll likely to bang your head against the wall (sometimes literally) trying to apply a hint to the wrong puzzle, for hours on end. This is the one area I hope they can refine greatly for the sequel, to not overwhelm you with too many puzzles / hints at once.
 
Tagyhag said:
That seems like a bad idea.

The former would mean the initial goal would be huge (Porting isn't just pushing a button), and the latter means we wouldn't get the ports at all. It doesn't hurt for them to have it there, if someone is unsure, they just shouldn't pledge. You can also cancel your pledge, but that's a bit jerkish.
Click to expand...

I don't think so. There are Kickstarters for games I have backed whose goals were $100,000 and included within that the full scope of the game and other platforms. Like I said if the stretch goal for other platforms is million dollars more than the original goal it tells people a couple of things. 1: they haven't even begun to investigate other platforms and 2: they wouldn't even know where to begin on calculating the cost. So why include it? To give this sense of hope that of people give more and more money then it may, subject to negotiations, come to other platforms. I'm sorry, but that is a little disingenuous. Which is why I said they shouldn't even have listed the other platforms as stretch goals. It comes across as a pretty transparent ploy to get more out the people that are backing the project.
 
Ahh, the Mulbruk figure is so expensive...

I'll at least go for Professor tier, or possibly Boxer tier. I'd like to get something physical for this game.
 
I will pledge to this game, but I will never play it personally.

I'll admit it, I'm a huge wimp when it came to the first game, I actually watched an LPer named Deceased Crab play through the first one... twice. Then the remake for a total of 3 times I watched him play the game. I tried it myself, just couldn't get into it and I didn't want to play it with my nose stuck in a guide.

DC already said he'll play La Mulana 2 when it's out, so I know my pledge will go to my enjoyment of the game, just indirectly.
 
I backed it! I hope they hit their goal because I really want this game to be made (and made well). Most of the stretch goals don’t interest me except for the Vita one, but that dollar amount seems a little unrealistic.

Nitpicking for just a minute, I really don’t like the pitch video. It seems way too much like one Mighty 9 did with the theme of “Japanese developers have lost focus, this will be like the classics you remember, but with a modern feel”. That bit about 2D games not progressing after the 3D boom is lame too, especially using La Mulana as an example. I love La Mulana but there are plenty of 2D games that have well surpassed what it does.

That out of the way, I’m very very excited. I think it’s cool to see Mulbruk cut loose now that she’s free from the original temple. A Norse themed temple sounds really great and I can’t wait to see what they come up with. It may sound silly but I really got into the lore of the first one and thought the loose historical tie-ins were awesome (Mayan Astronaut was my favorite). While I’m sure they are going to add some of the obscure puzzles the original had, I hope it’s not too difficult to figure out. The original had a ton of satisfying puzzles but towards the end I had to use a guide.
 
Backed. I want it on Vita, but I'll accept it on PC too if they can't reach Vita goal.

Well, I really hope they cancel the Skeleton Key bullshit though (or at least have then as obtainable playing the game normally). That's simply bullshit. =/
 
The stretch goals for this game are insane. No way it's going to make it all the way up to the console versions. It's just crazy.
 
The hints can be pretty damn cryptic. As I discussed in the LaMulana thread, I hate puzzle-solving when it is not clear to me if I have all the tools necessary to solve the puzzle. LaMulana gets pretty brutal in the sense that it is open world and there are a dozen puzzles open to you, but you only have the tools at the moment to solve one of them. So you end up wasting a lot of time on puzzles that you are supposed to come back to later.

Anyways I'd be happy to play a sequel even if it means using a guide again. I found the combat and boss battles fun.
 
TheRagnCajun said:
LaMulana gets pretty brutal in the sense that it is open world and there are a dozen puzzles open to you, but you only have the tools at the moment to solve one of them. So you end up wasting a lot of time on puzzles that you are supposed to come back to later.
Click to expand...
That was my experience too. I got to a point where when I found puzzles, if I couldn't figure it out withing a couple minutes I figured I didn't have the right tools and move on. Only after would I read in a guide I could have easily solved it with what I had. That's all part of the fun to a point though.
Stone Ocean said:
The only acceptable thing to make La Mulana more accessible IMO would be giving you the Grail right from the start, nothing else.
Click to expand...
When I played through I made it all the way to obtaining the grail without any help.
 
Stone Ocean said:
The only acceptable thing to make La Mulana more accessible IMO would be giving you the Grail right from the start, nothing else.
Click to expand...

I'd say: Don't give you the grail right from the start, but make hints to get there a bit more explicit and general, perhaps frame it as an explicit 'first quest', just to break the player in a bit more gently.

The grail's too important to risk missing, I feel.

Anyhow: 25% of the way there!
 
Oh boy, this needs to blow up, not sure if that can happen, but La-Mulana will hopefully soon be on Vita, so I want 2 also on there.

The soundtrack of La-Mulana is fantastic, so I need to grab this one as well.
 
kuppy said:
Oh boy, this needs to blow up, not sure if that can happen, but La-Mulana will hopefully soon be on Vita, so I want 2 also on there.

The soundtrack of La-Mulana is fantastic, so I need to grab this one as well.
Click to expand...

Remember that kickstarter goals aren't the end of the story. Even if they don't reach a goal initially, there will be sales of the game after kickstarter and that may generate enough funding/interest at a later date for a port.
 
KojiKnight said:
Remember that kickstarter goals aren't the end of the story. Even if they don't reach a goal initially, there will be sales of the game after kickstarter and that may generate enough funding/interest at a later date for a port.
Click to expand...
Sure, let's just hope for the best outcome first :)
 
KojiKnight said:
Remember that kickstarter goals aren't the end of the story. Even if they don't reach a goal initially, there will be sales of the game after kickstarter and that may generate enough funding/interest at a later date for a port.
Click to expand...

One thing that's worth bearing in mind: it's much easier to port an existing game than it is to fully-integrate (and this is La Mulana, things *need* to be fully-integrated!) new content into an existing game.

That is: I'm more comfortable with the notion that the stretch goals add content first and promises of ports later - resulting in a more fleshed-out base title - than by focussing on ports first with a vague intent of adding content later. There's a good chance that if it doesn't reach the formal port stretch goals, we'll still see ports in due course - but if it doesn't reach the extra content stretch goals, we'll probably never see that content.
 
RuneFactoryFanboy said:
When I played through I made it all the way to obtaining the grail without any help.
Click to expand...

My first file had me fall into the temple of the sun and flounder for roughly two hours before I looked online to see "oh you should probably get the grail first". Attempted to find a way back out of the temple for another full hour. Gave up and started a new file.

The game gets more rewarding the longer you can make it without a guide, but the grail is so integral to exploration that missing it initially can ruin a first playthrough.

I will likely keep a physical journal of all the engravings for this one, though. Fuck the chain whip puzzle. Fuck it right in the scales.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Does Sony (Playstation) waste money when they don't have to?
16
222
Guardian Monkey replied
Remasters or Remakes that still need to make it to Switch 1 or Switch 2
2
55
3K
Mibu no ookami replied
  • Locked
Don't use names of Nintendo characters in your Switch ID apparently, or you'll get banned (well, just one name)
9
94
Power Pro replied
Games that Make Great First Impressions part 2
Opinion Analysis Platform 
19
75
amigastar replied
Moving from Switch to Switch 2, what you need to know.
47
3K
LakeOf9 replied
Top Bottom