Aquaria playthrough log

Just started a new game on this today... I'm really enjoying it.

Naija, the Zora-like character, narrates the story to you as you progress... She lives in this isolated underwater cave area and has never thought about trying to leave... she says that she can hear the "verse" that calls out to her in this area... After some really chill exploration, I found a new verse, which teaches Naija the ability to lift rocks with her mind.

Now, all over this first area there have been rocks that could have cooking materials or new recipes hidden under them... but in order to go back and find them all again I'd need to re-explore the whole first area, and I'd have to remember which parts of the map I've re-explored, which is kind of annoying.

I also found a large stone tablet thing, which was connected to a statue of Zora people in another area that showed a four-note verse. Playing that verse at the stone tablet thing, opened up a portal to a small alternate world type area, with nothing much in it... wtf

I explored a bit deeper, and found the 2nd verse which transformed Naija into a being of pure energy... in this form, you can shoot homing fire shots at enemies, and charge up a really strong attack that can also light up those orbs which unlock certain doors. The door closed behind me after I got this ability, and I was stuck in the Energy Temple. I explored every nook and cranny of this area, but all I found was a single white orb that I could light up with energy, and I don't know what that opened up.... I retraced through the whole area, and didn't find any new passageways opened up...

So now I'm at the first point where I'm stuck and don't know what to do... just over 1 and a half hours in. I kept my old save file from when I first tried this game a long time ago, and that file is only a bit farther than this, and just over 3 and a half hours... I must've gotten stuck at that part too, and that is what convinced me to stop playing back then...

4/23/2015

Just got the Nature form, it doesn't do much except let me teleport between those blue orbs... also went to another area I missed, and defeated this really annoying boss to get beast form, so now I can finally fight against currents.

7/10/2015

I was kind of worried about getting back into this, because of how complex the map system is... but actually now that I can fight currents, exploring the map is much, MUCH easier. I don't have to worry about 1-way paths anymore, and beast form lets me run past most enemies.

I made a lot of progress in about 3 hours or so of playing. Got to this seahorse area where you have to complete 3 laps in under 1:30. I'm not sure if I actually can do this or not at this point.. found an easy crab boss and defeated it for a treasure...

The game is SO much more opened up now... I was just scouting around this new part of the map looking at all the possible ways to go... There's a section that seems to be closer to the ocean's surface than Naija is used to.. she's afraid about how warm it is getting... and there's also a deep dark abyss area where she warns about going further without a light source.

7/11/2015

I think I played for like 4 hours or so today. Really getting into this now... I completed the Sun Temple. This place actually has some platforming above water. You can only cling to the ground and walls for a split second and have to move by pouncing.

I have to admit I'm using the guide on gamefaqs just to make sure I'm not missing anything... Now I have all the songs in the game except for the useless Duel song, which I get near the end. I'm not using a guide to explore the new areas, but I've started going back through all the previous areas and using a guide to locate all the treasures/optional bosses that I missed.

Some of these treasures I wouldn't have needed a guide for and would've found on my own anyway after re-exploring everything... but I'm pretty sure some of these I would never have found. Like, there's some fake go-through walls in non-conspicuous areas that you're supposed to use Sun form to find.. but I'd never roam around in Sun form because I'm defenseless in that. Also some of the treasures kind of blend in with the normal background decorations. You really gotta keep an eye open for anything that looks odd/unique.

I've pretty much cleared out all areas of the map that I can get to without heading down into the Abyss... except for the upper skies of the Veil area which I'm pretty sure is impossible to access.

7/14/2015

I finished the game today. That last section with swarms of tough enemies was harder than I expected. I found the best strategy was to just stay in song form with the jellyfish costume on which regenerates my health, and then just running past all the enemy swarms. I had to switch to dual form a few times to take down an enemy that was blocking the way, those were the only parts where it got really close... but I managed to make it all the way through without using healing items.

That 5-phase final boss... the first phase is easy, but the 2nd I needed to use up a bunch of healing items. The 3rd phase he started running away from me in a dark cave area, and I had to keep chasing him down...

The 4th phase was really easy but would've been really hard to figure out on my own. it was basically a simon says game where you have to sing the same notes in the same order as him before the notes attack you.

The 5th phase... this was the hardest by far... I think this would've been literally IMPOSSIBLE to figure out on my own.

- You have to destroy the eye, then when the eye socket pops out, you have to use a charged sun shot on it (when has that EVER been used for attacking?), and then shoot it some more with energy form, then when it turns black, you have to bind it.
- then there's part 2 of the 5th phase. at least the attack patterns here aren't hard to dodge once you know what to expect. by the time I had used up the last of my healing/defense items, I could avoid his attacks pretty easily from then on. Anyway, what you have to do here is use a dual mode charge shot on his bottom mouth right before it shoots a giant laser. then use dual mode charge shots on the small enemies that come out until you've killed 3 of them, enough to use the other dual mode charge shot on his upper head. did that 3 times, and that's the end of the game.

That final boss was actually the little ghost kid I met in the sunken city... his whole town got destroyed and sunk into the ocean... but then for some reason he was reborn and gained the spirit of the god that protected his people.. he could now do anything with these god powers, but only within this isolated water area... He then tried to re-create his mother from his memories.. he could only remember a verse of the song his mother used to sing to him.. and that verse flowed through all of his creations. But all of his recreations had minds of their own, and eventually abandoned him and started their own civilizations... Naija is the daughter of the recreation that he finally perfected, which also abandoned him... so he's still alone despite his powers.. Naija's sense of being alone was from her connection to the verse that her mother was created from...

Then, after the credits, after Naija starts a family with Li.. and stops adventuring.. now you're in a spiral cave, and in the middle is Naija's mother... she tells Naija that she orchestrated this whole thing and took her memories away so that she'd explore and rediscover her memories and kill the boy with the god powers... and now Naija's mother declares that she wants to rule both the waters and the land, so she makes Naija unconscious and seals away her memories again... then a scene shows a new girl (Naija's daughter grown up maybe?) and a guy on a flying boat.. and a "To Be Continued"

That was hella confusing.. I liked this game for the most part, but the story is very vague and hard to understand, and some of the bosses are ridiculously hard and unfun due to how non-obvious the intended strategy is. I liked the exploration puzzles, and I the action/shooting elements outside of boss battles was really fun. The cooking aspect was okay, but gets annoying after a while and there's too many recipes with uncommon uncommon ingredients that are way not worth the effort.

I pretty much 100%'d the game, but used a guide to help me through most of it. Also I didn't fill all the pages of the recipe book somehow even though I'm sure I got like every song plant... So I guess I'll consider this to be enough for 100% completion but not enough for OCD mode 100% completion.