|
|
 |
 |
 Walkthrough
Celestial Archives part 1
Celestial Gateway
There are a few objects to scan here. The computer beside the
ship will give you the Celestial Archives logbook entry. Samus’ ship should can
be scanned for its entry. The portals can be scanned, though they are currently
inactive and above the door straight ahead is Alimbic Prophecy 1. The
door also has an entry, so scan that. That’s it for here so head through the
door and along the corridor.
Helm Room
The pillars in the room, joined by a walkway have the Synergy
Processor, Port Helm and Starboard Helm scans. There are also two Synergy Drives
near the windows to scan. Scan the lock on the door, and then the switch to
unlock it. Head through and the door should lock behind you. Now you’ll face the
first enemies of the game. Scan the Psycho Bit v1.0’s then start shooting. They
will only take a few hits to destroy and then the door will unlock. There is
nothing else of interest here, so move on.
Meditation Room
You can use the charge shot, as instructed, to break the
crates if you need some health, now, otherwise, don’t bother with them. The
health orbs should be added to your logbook when you pick them up, anyway – you
won’t need to scan them. At the bottom of the ramp are two more scans. The
orange wall is an Alimbic Panel and the blue panel is a Navigational Chart. Turn
right into the larger room. Scan the Petrasyl then shoot it for some missile
ammo. The Petrasyl will respawn indefinitely, but it shouldn’t pose any threat,
they aren’t actively aggressive. The large blue panels are Synergy Struts and
the smaller one is a Tetra Trade Map, so scan both of those. DO NOT head through
the next door until you’ve scanned it. It is the only door in the game with a
missile lock on it and once you’ve removed it, it’s gone. Once you’ve scanned
it, hit it with a missile and it’ll open.
Data Shrine 01
Head to the left, once in here. You’ll run into a few more
Psycho Bit v1.0’s, but they’re no trouble. Keep going and you’ll get a gunship
transmission warning you of another hunter’s arrival. The door to the central
area of the shrine is on your right. It may look different, but it has the same
scan as the standard door. Inside, the doors will lock. The wall sticking out of
the ground has the Science Hub. The blue panel will inform you of the Alimbic
Artifacts. Then you can scan the blue thing in the centre, which is an Artifact
Shield, this will trigger a swarm of enemies to defeat. There are three batches
of Psycho Bit v1.0’s to defeat, the first has 12, with no more than 4 present at
once, they will respawn when you defeat them; the second has 14, with no more
than 5 at once; the third has about 20, with 6 at once. Once you’ve cleared that
mess up, grab any health you might need from whatever they’ve dropped then go
scan and pick up the Shield Key to remove the Artifact Shield. Scan the Artifact
itself to get the Cartograph Artifact entry, then go pick it up to unlock the
exits to the room. Head out the opposite side to the way you entered, use the
map to help if the battle disorientated you. Turn right immediately once outside
as you will be set upon by another three Psycho Bit v1.0’s. Head through the
small tunnel when prompted to enter morph ball mode to grab your first Energy
Tank Expansion. Leave the tunnel and continue the way you were headed before you
went in to be confronted by a Lesser Ithrak. Scan it and hit it with a lot of
power as it’s considerably tougher than the enemies so far. You can still defeat
it before it manages its first attack, a charging move, though. Otherwise keep
moving and you should dodge it fairly easily. Killing it will unlock the door,
so head through.
Fan Room Alpha
Scan the central pillar for Cooling Fans. That’s all there is
here, so climb up using the platforms and take the door at the top.
Data Shrine 02
There are two green doors here, so scan them for the Green
Blast Shield. You don’t have the equipment to remove it yet, so ignore them for
now. Head anticlockwise around and you should notice a Missile Expansion beneath
your feet. We’ll get that in a moment, just keep going around for now. You will
notice a figure stood in the distance, you should be able to scan him and
identify him as Kanden before he runs away in Stinglarva form. Shooting him will
do nothing, so don’t even bother trying it. Follow him through the tunnel,
though he’ll very quickly lose you as he’s a lot faster and has a head start.
When you get out the other side, keep going, taking out the Psycho Bits as you
do so, then take the next tunnel to get that missile expansion you saw earlier.
Head back, but take the top route, instead of the tunnel under the floor this
time and head through the door to your left.
Fan Room Beta
You’ll get another gunship transmission in here confirming
that the figure is Kanden (but we already knew that), that he followed your ship
and most likely has hostile intent. Nothing much in here, though. Head up using
the platforms again, and clear the few Petrasyls that might get in your way.
Take the door at the top.
Data Shrine 03
There are a couple of crates here, if you need anything,
otherwise, head to the left and through the door. The doors will lock and you’ll
enter your first Hunter Duel
Hunter Duel: Kanden
You should already have a scan of Kanden, but not of
Stinglarva, so scanning Stinglarva should be a high priority. When he enters
Stinglarva form, change to morph ball mode and run away, as his explosive stings
can deal some good damage if you’re not careful. Leave bombs in your wake
because he’ll follow you, still, and then you can damage him instead. Missiles
are a good bet to use on him, but they certainly won’t last you the battle, so
once you’re out, just pile on the damage with the power beam. Charge shots and
especially headshots whenever he stands still. If he fires a charge shot at you,
run away from it, weave about a bit, head through the gaps between the pillars
and stuff, just lose it, ‘cause it’ll follow you and if it hits, it’ll screw up
your visor for a couple of seconds, which is really annoying.
When he’s defeated, he’ll drop the next shield key, so head
through the morph ball door on the walkways to get a medium health orb and the
Attameter Artifact. Just remember to scan the Artifact, first. Head back out to
get the rest of the scans in the centre of the shrine. The two walls here are
the Anthropological Hub and the Political Hub. Head out via the opposite side,
again and head right. There are two Alimbic Turret v1.0s here, so scan one and
shoot them down, they’re not particularly powerful. Head through the door on the
left.
Synergy Core
Scan the switch to activate the Ship Deck Portal, and then the
portal itself. Scans in here are Lift Controls which are a dotted white square
panel and the Yellow Force Field, which also cannot be removed, yet. Go through
the portal if you want to go back to your ship to restock on supplies/save the
game. Portals are usually a good indicator of a boss coming up soon. Climb the
platforms to reach a corridor set into the wall above the blue panel and go
through the door, which will lock behind you. The four power conduits all have
separate scans, so make sure you get them all. They are projectile-sensitive
switches which basically means – shoot them! Shooting all four will generate the
Shield Key to open the shield to get to the Binary Subscripture Artifact, which
you’ll also need to scan. Collect it and you’ll be permitted to go. This will
bring you to the Stronghold Portal, which you should scan before using.
Stronghold Void
Switch to scan mode immediately and a blue thing will
materialise before you. Scan it for the Stronghold Void entry. Head over
the bridge and scan the huge Stronghold Door. Head through the second door and
watch the short cutscene for the first real boss.
Boss: Cretaphid v1
The Biodefence Chamber A scan is in here, too but it’ll
still be there when you’ve done the boss, so give scanning the boss priority,
after all this is your only chance to get it. The scan is a point right at the
very top of the tower.
The strategy to this is straightforward. Shoot all the blue
things on its side a couple of times to knock them out of action. Just make sure
to dodge the lasers while you’re doing it. When they’re all down, the lasers
will stop and a shining silver thing will emerge from the top of the tower. This
is the heart of the Cretaphid, and the bit you need to shoot to damage it. It
will shoot silver projectiles at you, so keep moving and shooting. A few
missiles will destroy it sufficiently to reach the next stage. You’ll know when
you’ve been successful, as it will appear to explode in a white ring. You
haven’t actually killed it, yet, though. You have to repeat the process three
times, and the lasers are at different heights at each stage. Each stage also
comprises a third of the Cretaphid’s health. You should also note that the heart
doesn’t appear for very long, and if you don’t remove a third of its health
before it disappears again, you’ll have to shoot all the blue things again to
make it reappear. Once you’ve defeated all three stages, you’ll get another
short cutscene and be rewarded with an Octolith and several health orbs. Scan
and collect the Octolith to get a gunship transmission. Your ship thinks that
Octoliths might the key to the “ultimate power”. Smart ship. Get the
Biodefence Chamber A scan if you didn’t already. It’s in another blue thing
you can only see with the scan visor. Now leave.
Escape
Back in the Stronghold Void, you’ll get another gunship
transmission. The security protocol has been initiated, and you must evacuate
immediately, whatever the security protocol might be. Put simply, you’ve got
eight minutes to escape in. Most of it should just be a matter of running back
the way you came as fast as you can, though. Head back through the portal across
the bridge. And you’ll run into a room full of Psycho Bit v1.0s. It’s a small
room, so they’re all close together and you can slaughter them all easily. Head
out and jump down to the Ship Deck Portal. It’s been switched off. Damn. That
would have been easy, wouldn’t it? You’ll have to take the long route. Head back
through Data Shrine 3 unhindered, except for another load of Psycho Bits as you
leave. Jump down Fan Room Beta, ignoring the Petrasyls, and head back into Data
Shrine 2. Head to the right, then turn around and go through the tunnel under
the floor. You’ll run into another Lesser Ithrak, but you know how to deal with
that, now. At the far side of the shrine you’ll run into yet another Lesser
Ithrak, backed up by a couple of Alimbic Turret v1.0s. Take them out quickly and
leave. Jump down Fan Room Alpha to Data Shrine 1, now. Watch what you’re doing
as you enter the shrine, or another Lesser Ithrak will drop down on your head.
Take out the Psycho Bits further round and enter the centre of the shrine. There
are a lot of Psycho Bits in here, and there are some green ones which fire
heavy-duty rounds at you, too. The green ones are still classed as v1.0, though,
so you don’t need to scan them. The Meditation Chamber will be swarming with
Petrasyls which respawn endlessly, now, so plough through and try not to get hit
by too many. You should have a good 4:00 left on the clock at this point, if
you’ve worked quickly, which is more than enough. Again, the crates are there if
you need them at the top of the ramp. The main part of the Helm Room will be
your first encounter with Guardians. They carry a variety of ammo throughout the
game, but these only carry standard power beams. Regardless of the ammo they
use, they all scan the same, so once you’ve scanned one, you’ve scanned them
all. They are powerful enough to warrant their own health meter and they nearly
always attack in packs, but don’t let that worry you, they aren’t overpowering.
There are three of them, here, and they’re likely to be the thing most likely to
hold up your escape. They take headshots like the hunters, so use that to your
advantage, too. After that, just jump in your ship and get out of there.
Alinos part 1
Your radar will search the Alimbic Cluster again and uncover
Alinos. You won’t be able to do Archives part 2 until you have the battlehammer,
so just land on Alinos.
Alinos Gateway
Again, there is a computer scan in front of your ship, this
time with the Alinos entry. At the base of the landing platform, to the rear is
a Magma Station to scan. Cross the stepping stones at the front, taking care not
to stand on any one too long as they will sink into the lava. Once across, enter
scan mode and look right, you will see two more of the blue floating things.
Scan them to reveal that they are, in fact, called Datashades. These two are
Alimbic Datashade 01 and 02. Head back past the doorway to a pile of rocks
on the other side. Climb the rocks and enter morph ball mode to enter the cut
away section of wall. Use bombs to climb the steps and get the Missile
Expansion. Head back to the doorway and above it is Alimbic Prophecy 02.
That’s it for here, so head on through the door.
Echo Hall
In this corridor there are damaged parts of the wall, scan
them for the Exposed Rebar. The enemies on the wall are Zoomers, so give them a
scan, too. The plants cannot be scanned but will deal a little damage if you
touch them. Shoot them for supplies. In the main chamber, there is another
datashade, History 01. Enter morph ball mode to get into the tunnel. This
area is a little complicated. Take the first right-hand junction you reach, then
turn down the left junction immediately after. Then go left again and you will
reach an area with two zoomers in. This area is big enough to stand up in. Kill
the Zoomers and you’ll get a Shield key which will also unlock a door. Head back
up the way you came and turn right at the t-junction. From there, head straight
on until you reach an area with different flooring. Follow that round and down a
ramp. There is the door here you unlocked. Open it with a bomb and head straight
on here to reach an Energy Tank. Head back and take the junction near the door.
Use a bomb to jump up to the tube leading out. There is the Cartograph Artifact
here to collect and a Sealed Force Field to scan. Head through the other door in
morph ball form. You will reach an area with three War Wasps. Scan one and shoot
them down as they pack a nasty attack. Alternatively you can get through the
door as quick as you can before they attack.
High Ground
Deal with the immediate collection of Zoomers to open the door
ahead. Take a moment to scan the Flow Regulator on the wall before going
through. Open the next door the same way, by dealing with the Zoomers. Through
here is the Interment Chamber datashade, and a Purple Force Field to
scan. The orange panel in the wall is another Flow Regulator. Follow the path
around to the centre of the area and scan the broken floor section for the Magma
Vent entry. Jump through the hole in the floor to be introduced to Spire.
Hunter Duel: Spire
By climbing up a little, you can get him scanned, but be
careful as he can hit you easier from here. There is a Blastcap in the area too,
which is actually in a safe area, if you want to scan that, too. Hit Spire with
a few missiles and he’ll run into a room. The door you need to take will be
shown to you, so take it. Once inside head right and spire will trap you in a
room with two generators. The two generators aren’t scannable, but the Voldrums
they spawn are. Get a scan and clear the area of Voldrums and generators as
quickly as possible because the Voldrum attacks don’t often miss. Clearing the
room will remove the shields locking you in and allow Spire to start shooting at
you from above. Hit him with a few more missiles and he’ll drop down to attack
in his Dialanche form. Make sure to scan this while you can. Once he’s taken
enough punishment in this form, hell run off again. Scan the orange device on
the wall to get the shield key for the nearby Attameter Artifact which in turn
unlocks the door back outside. Time to finish it with Spire. He’s already taken
a lot of damage. Shoot him from the doorway for a while since he can’t hit you
easily there. After that, just shoot him whenever you can get a shot. Dialanche
is also best countered in morph ball form. Most alt. forms work better at close
range, so hunters will often chase you down in their alt. forms. They will get
you easily unless you use the morph ball, which gives you equal speed and, by
leaving bombs behind you, you can hit them as they follow you. Spire shouldn’t
take long to defeat. He’ll drop the last shield key getting you the Binary
Subscripture Artifact.
Things to scan in High Ground are the datashades over the two
coffins on the ground, the Science Sarcophagus and Battle Sarcophagus.
There is also Alimbic Scripture on walls to scan. Once you collect the artefact
a platform will move down and the three generators on walls will become active,
spawning Psycho Bit v1.0s. Taking the first ramp you went up and heading right
will lead you to a Missile Expansion. Heading up from the last artefact, you can
cross the platforms to get to the first door Spire entered. Go in here to get to
the Ship Deck Portal and Stronghold Portal.
Boss: Slench 1
Slenches can catch you out on the scanning if you’re not
careful. They have three parts. Slench 1a can be scanned when it is attached to
the wall, Slench 1b is when it has detached from the wall and is vulnerable. The
Energy Blasters are the three guns it has on the wall around it.
On the wall, the Slench is invulnerable. All shots are merely
absorbed by its shield. It fires green homing blobs from the centre of the eye
which, though slow moving, home in pretty dang well. They can be shot down for
health and supplies, should you need them. The energy blasters are fuelled by
the synapses connected to the main eye. Shoot the synapses a few times and they
become temporarily disconnected. Break all three synapses and the Slench will
detach from the wall and float around the room. It becomes vulnerable now and
you should hit the exposed eye with missiles as quickly as possible. It will
continue to fire energy balls at you, so keep moving. After you deplete a third
of its health, you’ll get the silvery ring shaped explosion (as with the
Cretaphid) and it will return to the wall. Repeat the process a further twice
and it will die. The Slench will move more rapidly in the floating phase with
each round. If you find it hard to hit the eye with missiles on the third round,
switch to the power beam and hit it with that.
Escape
Again, you’ll get some health orbs with the Octolith. You’ll
also get a telepathic message saying “…the cannon holds the power…”. All right.
We’re looking for a cannon. The Slench room has a datashade, too: Biodefence
Chamber B. Give that a scan, then head out and you’ll get the gunship
transmission telling you to evacuate for no good reason again. This time you’ve
only got 4:30 to do it in. Head back out into High Ground. Due to the time
restrictions, I’d ignore the generators and their Psycho Bits. Just jump down
the hole in the centre and back around the underground corridors. Run straight
back past the War Wasps, again for reasons of time, and into the morph ball
sized hole. You’ll find yourself up against Weavel. Just what you needed,
pressed for time and you end up in a duel.
Hunter Duel: Weavel
It’s a small room, so he can hit you pretty easily here.
Fortunately, you can hit him just as easily. Get him scanned, then land a few
headshots on him. He’ll soon change tactics, switching to halfturret. The turret
will be in the centre, while his body will chase you around the room. His alt.
form is slow, so you don’t need to worry about him catching you. Just circle
strafe around the room with him following and shoot the turret in the centre.
Shooting the turret damages him as much as the body. After a bit he’ll run off
down the hole previously sealed by the force field. You can finish off the
turret if you haven’t done so yet, then follow him down the hole. It will bring
you out into another small room, where he’ll immediately start shooting at you.
Again, the potential for headshots is great in such a small space, so use this
to your advantage and he should go down soon. Now just run straight back to your
ship.
Vesper Defence Outpost part 1
This time, you’ll have a choice between the VDO and Arcterra.
You can’t do Alinos part 2 until you’ve got the judicator, but both of these
levels are feasible. If you want to do Arcterra, skip to that section, but VDO
is probably slightly easier.
VDO Gateway
For whatever reason, the glass bit you land on is slippery.
Frosted over, I guess, so watch your step on it. The computer, as always, has
the VDO entry to scan. Alimbic Prophecy 03 is above the door.
Bioweaponry Lab
This is filled with Petrasyls, so clear them out for a lot of
supplies you won’t need. Then there are a few scans. The device in the centre is
the Fuel Rod. On the walls are Spore Farm, Lab Equipment, Mixing Tanks and Clone
Engine. Nothing else interesting here, so head on out.
Weapons Complex
Head to the right passage and there will be a Frozen Fuel Line
on the floor to scan. A little further on is an Alimbic Turret v1.4 on the
ceiling, which fires battlehammer rounds. Scan and destroy it. There is a morph
ball door to the left and a room to the right. Head into the room first. Take
out the two generators and their Psycho Bit v1.0s to clear the force field in
the centre of the room. Before you jump down the gap, there are three
datashades, Octolith Safeguard, History 03 and 04. Down the gap
you can see two Lesser Ithraks, so destroy them from above to avoid an actual
fight when you get down there. Now you can go down. The shield key will activate
the elevator allowing you back up to get the Artifact. The Green Force Field
will want scanning now, too. Behind it you can see another enemy to scan, but
it’s out of range, so leave it for now. Head back to the morph ball door and
head through there.
Cortex CPU
This is a nice little morph ball maze. Use bombs to propel you
up the first set of steps. The green lasers damage you, so give them a miss.
There is nothing for you through the tunnel yet, so get the Missile Expansion
instead. It requires a double bomb jump which can be tricky. You place the first
bomb, then momentarily before it detonates, place a second. At the height of the
first jump, place a third. When the second detonates, you should reach the third
in time for it to go off, propelling you high enough to reach the Expansion. Got
that? Good. No, you can’t just jump once off the ledge, it’s not high enough.
Cross the elevator and take the jump pads up. There are a few lasers which might
get you here, if you’re unlucky. Follow the tube to a disturbingly biological
room. You can scan the red... thing… in the centre of the room to find out it’s
the Cortex Chamber. A sort of brain room, I think. There are 4 spectral locks
here which, like datashades, can only be seen in scan mode. Scan them all to get
the Battlehammer. Finally, a new weapon. This will break Green doors and Force
Fields, like the one which appeared behind you when you entered the room. Shoot
the guard node with it and head back into the maze. Drop back down from the tube
and enter the one you ignored earlier.
Compression Chamber
History 07 datashade is to your right, first off, and
the inactive portal can be scanned. Then remove the green shields to enter the
left-hand part of the room. Take out the Turret v1.4 from a safe distance, then
go in. Two generators on the ceiling will produce green Psycho Bit v1.0s so deal
with them. Now enter scan mode for a few datashades. History 06 in the
centre of the room and Alimbic War 10 higher up. Behind the right pillar
is History 05. Now there are two switches. One is one the wall between
the two main areas and one on the far wall opposite it. Stand on the box if you
can’t reach it. Head back out into the Cortex CPU and drop down to the ground
layer. To the far left is another tunnel which will bring you out into the lower
levels of the Compression Chamber.
Two generators here produce Psycho Bit v4.0s. These ones are
new and are the icy variant. If they hit you, you’ll be encased in ice briefly,
so try not to let that happen. Give your new weapon a whirl, if you want,
because the v4.0s can take a bit more punishment than the v1.0s. Just remember,
this one has limited ammo, so keep an eye on it. It’s okay, though, because you
should have removed the fields in the pillar now, getting you the UA (Universal
Ammo) Expansion which will give you an extra 30 shots and a refill to boot. Head
through the wall to be immediately set upon by a Lesser Ithrak. Killing it gets
you the next shield key, which lets you past another force field to a morph ball
tunnel. Outside it is a datashade first, though, Oubliette 08, which
mentions the cannon again. The tunnel brings you to a room higher up, where the
next artefact and the History 08 datashade are. Collecting the artefact
will open the gap in the floor back into the main chamber, and also set a
Guardian upon you. This has the Volt Driver, like Kanden, so counter this with
the Battlehammer. Defeat it to remove the final force field, between the floors.
There’s nothing more here, so head back through the Cortex CPU to the Weapons
Complex.
Weapons Complex
Head straight through the gap ahead to the main room.
Someone’s fixed the generators, so you’ll need to deal with them again. Now you
can remove the Green Force Field and get to that enemy you couldn’t scan
earlier, a Crash Pillar. This won’t do much until you get close to it, but you
need to do so to expose its weak point. If you get too close, though, it will
simply attack you directly, so a fine balance is required. Once you’ve figured
out the right distance, it will levitate in the air for an attack, the weak
point is underneath, so now is the time to attack it, before it smashes to the
floor to try and hit you. Lather, rinse and repeat until you beat it. Alimbic
Prophecy 07 is above the Red Blast Shield, so scan both. Take the elevator
up and activate the Ship Deck Portal. Grab a save and a restock if you need it,
then continue down the corridor and you’ll bump into Sylux.
Hunter Duel: Sylux
The key thing to remember her is not to let Sylux get too
close. The Shock Coil, while not extraordinarily powerful, can wear you down
with a lot of constant damage. It’s only a short-range weapon, though, so keep
your distance and he won’t be able to hit you. His Lockjaw form isn’t the most
powerful thing you’ve ever seen. Hit it with a couple of missiles and it’ll back
off. He’ll head into the central area after taking a bit of damage. When you
follow him in, you’ll get locked in with him, which makes putting the distance
between you a bit trickier. Sylux will get a hand from his ship, the Delano 7,
shortly, which I think is a little unfair. It’s not a big deal though, so scan
it and shoot it a few times to put the autocannon out of operation before
continuing with Sylux. The battlehammer does more damage than the power beam,
but missiles are still your best bet. The battlehammer is useful for disabling
the ship if the autocannon starts up again, but save the missiles for Sylux.
It’s a bit tougher than other duels you’ve done, but there are a few crates
scattered around, should you need health. When he eventually goes down, grab the
shield key he drops, then go get the artefact. There are Gestation Tanks around
the corridors which made up the first part of the battle to scan. It’s a bit
easier now that things have cooled off. The portal was all the way back in the
Compression Chamber, so get hiking.
Stronghold Void
Definitely a familiar cutscene. Familiar enemy, even. But this
is the Cretaphid v2, so get scanning.
Boss: Cretaphid v2
Same as before, really. Shoot the blue things to expose the
heart, and then shoot that to damage it. The main difference is its weaponry.
Instead of lasers, it will shoot homing green orbs, which are best just avoided.
When the blue spots turn red, they are also invulnerable, so wait for them to
turn blue again. Essentially, keep moving and shooting and it’ll go down soon
enough. I think this is actually easier than the first.
Escape
Another Octolith, another telepathic message. “…do not trust
your senses… they deceive you…”. Most helpful, thanks. Anyway, head out, and
your gunship will let you know you’ve only got 3:00 to get out, this time. VDO
isn’t a big place, though, and that should be plenty. In the Compression
chamber, there are Guardians, but the door isn’t actually locked, so you can
just head out, ignoring them. You won’t meet any resistance in the Weapons
Complex, and the Bioweaponry Lab still only has those Petrasyls. You can get out
in under 1:30, easily.
Arcterra part 1
Now that you have the battlehammer, you can return to do
Celestial Archives part 2, if you want. Otherwise, check out Arcterra, the only
place you haven’t been, yet.
Arcterra Gateway
The computer, as you should know by now, has the Arcterra
entry, so scan it. Also staring you in the face at the start is Alimbic
Prophecy 04. I hope you’re getting all the prophecies, you’ll need them
later. The quick way down here is obviously to jump, but you’ll take damage, and
miss a number of scans, so just follow the path around the edges of the shaft.
There are Geemers scuttling around. They’re impervious to power beam ammo, but a
single shot of anything else will see it off. There are Shriekbats hanging
around in the centre which you’ll want to shoot before they drop down to dive at
you. Not before scanning them first, obviously. On walls there are Alimbic
Crests. Make your way to the bottom and head through the door.
Sic Transit
Scan the Alimbic Emblem on the wall immediately in front of
you. Then head forward and you’ll hear some sort of gunshots. Look through the
door and you’ll see Noxus and Trace duking it out. Trace will turn invisible,
and Noxus will spot you. Since he can’t see Trace any more, you’ll have his full
attention.
Hunter Duel: Noxus
The interesting thing about this battle is that Trace is
actually still around, on the bridge, and you can still shoot him. If you shoot
him a lot, he’ll put a few sniper rounds in your head and that can hurt. Once
his health drops sufficiently, he’ll get out of there, although you can’t fully
defeat him. Noxus should definitely be your priority, though. This is a fairly
standard battle-to-the-death type thing. Noxus isn’t the most manoeuvrable of
characters, and he’s pretty easy to hit, though his judicator weapon can freeze
you, and the vhoscythe alt. form packs a punch. Missiles are still best, for
now. Pile a few of those on, especially when he’s in alt. form, and he won’t
last too long.
Sic Transit
Joy of joys, defeating Noxus will activate the local
generators, creating Voldrums. There’s also an Alimbic Turret v4.0 lurking in a
corner. Deal with those and then there’s plenty to find in here. There’s an
Orange Blast Shield, with an extra force field for extra security (why?). By the
blast shield is Proxy Lock 5, so scan it. This is no. 5 out of 6, so there’s
another 5 to find, somewhere. Neatly tucked away in the corridor section is the
elevator to the bridge, so hop on. Up here are Proxy Locks 2, 3 and 4. The
Damaged Bridge can also be scanned. Cross the bridge and turn left. Scan a
Purple Blast Shield as you go, but keep heading down to reach Proxy Lock 1.
Proxy Lock 6 is back down at ground level, near where the Alimbic Turret was.
Head back up the way you came to the top of the bridge to get the newly revealed
shield key then head back down to the ground. The room you want is opposite the
bridge elevator. In here is the Attameter Artifact, and to the untrained eye,
nothing else. But change into morph ball form and head under the bars at the far
side. The elevator in here will take you to an Energy Tank Expansion. Leave the
chamber and turn right to head to the door which was locked earlier.
Ice Hive
Head immediately right and you’ll find the Alimbic Pride 01
datashade. Head through the gap and drop down. You’ll have to get all the
machinery working around here, but first, some scans. The Disabled Jump Pad is
on the floor – SCAN THIS NOW, it’s the only one in the game, and it’ll be
working, soon - and the Vault Door should be obvious, as it dominates the room.
Now scan the one switch which is exposed, Energy Router B, to destroy the
shields on all the other switches. Scan these switches, Energy Routers A and
C-F, to wake up swarms of angry Barbed War Wasps. Different from the last lot
you met in Alinos, these fire projectiles at you. Scan one, but you can’t
destroy them yet as they regenerate. Where from? The nests on the walls, which
act like the generators you’ve already seen. You should know what to do now.
Once they’re all defeated, power will restore to the room. The working Jump Pad
doesn’t actually have a scan, which is a little odd, so just use it to get back
up. Scan the Door Controller Unit you saw activate to open the Vault.
(N.B: You can jump onto a ledge to the right from the ramp to
the vault. I swear to God this has to be an Easter egg, or secret passage or
something. There’s nothing here except for a really obvious square panel set
into the ice. It doesn’t scan or move, or react to anything I try, so if anybody
knows anything about what on Earth this is, please contact me about it ‘cause
I’d love to know. ~Icefox)
Inside the Vault you’ll get attacked by a Blue Barbed War
Wasp. This is the same as the ones you just fought, only icy and can freeze you.
Destroy the nest, then destroy it. Scans in this area are the Ammolite Shards,
which are the crystals growing out of the ground and the Witherite Shards, which
are the crystals on the ceiling. Head into the next room, where you’ll be shown
the judicator. On the wall in here is the Alimbic Insignia to scan. Take out the
Zoomer and cross over the small bridge to find a sweeping light. Scanning it
temporarily activates a morph ball puzzle. Jump up, take the elevator and head
along the passage, up another step and come to stop on a platform. It heads
across, then appears to stop. Stay on it. It moves again, towards the camera.
Cross the bridge that the switch activated and head to the left before dropping
down to claim your prize. The judicator can remove all those purple force fields
and blast doors you’ve seen. There’s one in this very room, so test it out on
that. This brings you out onto the ice bridge, which you can scan from here.
Across the bridge, past two Zoomers is the portal, with three datashades around
it, History 09, 10 and 11. From the bridge you can see another purple
force field, so clear that and jump the gap across. There is a UA Expansion in
here and an Alimbic Turret v1.0. Destroy the turret to get a shield key, which
will allow you access to the Cartograph Artifact below. Follow the path here
around to get to the Ship Deck Portal. Keep going past here to reach a morph
ball hole. On the other side is a Missile Expansion. Drop down and remove
another purple force field to get yet another UA Expansion. Back in the Sic
Transit was a purple door, so head there next.
Frost Labyrinth
In the maze, take the first right, then up then right again at
the junctions you meet to get to the shield key. It requires another awkward
double jump. Head back the way you came and you’ll pass the door you just
unlocked. In here is the third Artifact. Head back out into the maze. Somewhere
else in here is an Energy Tank Expansion, too, but I can’t give you directions
as it’s pretty complicated. It’s not too hard to find, though, so just keep
rolling and you’ll find it. Anyway, the portal was back at the Ice Bridge in the
Vault.
Stronghold Void
Again, appearances are deceptive, this is not the Slench you
know and love. This is the Slench 2. Don’t forget there are two parts to scan,
Slench 2a and Slench 2b. The Energy blasters are the same, though, so you don’t
need to scan those.
Boss: Slench 2
The only difference between this and the first one is its
ammo. This one fires magma at you, so destroy the synapses with the judicator.
The exposed eye may take a bit more damage with the judicator than other
weapons, but I’m not certain. For best results, just use the judicator all the
time. You don’t have absolutely loads of UA at the moment, so if you do run low,
switch to the power beam, back off, and just shoot the green homing orbs for a
while to stock up on stuff. Don’t forget to keep moving while restocking to
avoid the shots of magma. Again, if you have trouble hitting the third stage,
use faster moving ammo, the power beam. It’ll take longer to defeat, but you
should be able to hit it a lot easier.
Escape
The next telepathic message you’ll get for getting the
Octolith is a bit cryptic “…our people are gone, yet we remain…”. Ooh, creepy.
Leave, and be prepared to be told to evacuate again. How long this time? Less
than 3:00, surely? Actually, you’ll get 7:00. Don’t feel you’ll get to take it
at a leisurely pace, though, they give you 7:00 for a reason, so get running.
When you get back to Sic Transit, several force fields will have gone up. You
can only go outside, so go there. You’ll soon see why you got 7:00 as a Guardian
gets headshot by a sniper. You never finished off Trace, did you?
Hunter Duel: Trace
Even if you damaged him before, he’ll have full health here.
He starts on a ledge, sniping at you. Use some natural cover when he turns
invisible, as he’ll be lining up a shot. Shooting him will also break his
invisibility. Keep moving, and hit him when you can. Once he’s lost about a
quarter of his health he’ll jump down to give you a proper fight. His Triskelion
form is his most dangerous. He’s fast, agile, and pretty powerful. He’ll
sometimes stop to go invisible, though, so take this chance to get a missile in.
Move and jump constantly to avoid triskelion, but if you’re using missiles, be
careful as he likes to get up close and you can damage yourself if you’re not
wary. Take every chance you get, as his normal form is pretty weak, and he stops
to do his invisibility thing from time to time. Don’t overdo the caution,
either, though as you’re pressed for time and you’ll want to get out of there
soon.
I hope you saved some time after that because when you get
back into the Gateway, there will be a force field half way up and you’ll be
ambushed by Guardians armed with power beams. Defeat them to remove the force
field. Climb back up, taking care not to stand on any Zoomers/Geemers and get
outta there.
Celestial Archives part 2
Obtaining the judicator means Alinos part 2 is available to
you now, so that’s an alternative option. You should also note before you begin
levels now which hunters are present on that level. This is indicated to the
left on the level select map. You may encounter them randomly in the level and
you’ll have to fight them. This won’t be a structured fight, like the initial
duels, and it will be more akin to fighting an advanced Guardian. If multiple
hunters are present, it is entirely possible to have to fight two or three at
once. In such cases, they might fight amongst themselves, too, though, so that
will make the fights easier. They shouldn’t concern you too much, but you should
make a note nonetheless.
Celestial Gateway
Nothing you haven’t already seen here, so just hop in the left
portal.
Head back down to Data Shrine 02. Data Shrine 03 will give you
a Guardian with a power beam to play with before you can progress.
Data Shrine 02
This had its central area sealed off with green blast shields,
remember? Now you have the battlehammer, you can get in. And yes, that music
means there will be Guardians to deal with inside. Two of them, armed with Volt
Drivers. The battlehammer should prove a bit more effective against them, being
of the opposite alignment. The major problem is that having two of them, they’ll
probably hit you a lot and, as such, probably won’t be able to see much during
this fight. Take out one, and the other shouldn’t be too much hassle, though.
Afterwards, grab the UA Expansion in the centre of the room, then use the
platforms to get to the gap in the side of the room. You’ll find your very own
Volt Driver in here. Don’t forget to scan the two walls for the Medical and
Literary Hubs. Now head back up to the Synergy Core.
Synergy Core
Now you can use the Volt Driver get through the Yellow Force
Field to access the rest of this level. Take this new route to an elevator and a
jump pad bringing you to a Yellow Blast Shield and Alimbic Prophecy 05.
Scan both. Remove the shield with the Volt Driver again, head on through and
take the portal in front of you.
Transfer Lock
This bit is fun. It’s like a mission in its own right. First
drop down to your right and destroy the generator producing the Voldrums. Right
next to it is another UA Expansion. The outer doors on this area can be scanned.
One on each floor, Docking Bays L1, L2 and L3. Head through any one of the
doorways to the main area of the Transfer Lock. First thing you can scan is the
Photon Stabiliser, which is in the gaps in the bridge. Head far enough in and 3
generators will spring to life. Two on the floor at the sides spawning Voldrums,
and one on the bridge spawning Psycho Bit v1.0s. Two Guardians with power beams
will also spring from nowhere. Once you’ve dealt with all of this, head to the
very back of the room where there are three more generators, this time spawning
Psycho Bit v2.0s. These are new and are equipped with high-voltage weaponry
(Volt Drivers, then). Each generator you destroy will remove the force field
nearby. This will give you access to the three projectile-sensitive switches.
Shoot them to remove the force fields at the front of the structure, allowing
you to reach another three projectile-sensitive switches. Shoot all three of
these to gain access to the chamber at the top of the structure. In here is a
switch activating a portal near where you entered the Transfer Lock. Cross the
bridge to get to the portal.
Docking Bay
There is a Guardian with a Volt Driver here, so that’s your
first priority. Then grab the shield key in the centre of the walkway. At the
very ends here, tucked around the corners are the datashades Alimbic Order 02
and 03. Take the ground-level moving platform over to the Cartograph
Artifact. There’s also a datashade here, Alimbic Order 04. Head back and
climb up to the bridge with the four moving platforms. There’s yet another
datashade up here, Final Wish. Numbering the platforms 1-4 from left to
right, take platform 2 first to get to a UA Expansion and the Alimbic Order
01 datashade. Take platform 1, now to get into a horrible labyrinthine
section of portals.
Incubation Vaults 01, 02 and 03
You’ll arrive in Vault 01 and you’ll be in a sealed off area.
Take the only other portal in there to get out to fight the Guardians. There are
two of them, carrying missiles, and the Volt Driver seems to be pretty effective
against them. After that, scan the Blue Force Field and the Portal Control
computer. Take the portal next to the computer to get to the docking bay. Now
take platform 3 to get to Incubation Vault 03. There are guardians and Psycho
Bits in here, but there’s also a Missile Expansion, so grab that first. Do not
drop down off the walkway, yet. The Psycho Bits will respawn 5 times each, so
keep shooting them. The Guardians can also be taken out easily from the walkway
using the volt driver. From the walkway, scan Incubation Tank B. Now take the
portal on the walkway to get to Vault 02. In here is a Crash Pillar, which will
be followed by a number of generators when you defeat it. One will spawn Electro
Voldrums, so you’ll need a scan of that. There will also be Guardians appearing,
but they seem pretty weak. Of the to portals near each other, take the one
nearest the blue force field. This will bring you out on the walkway of Vault
01. From here, you can get inside the enclosed area to get the shield key which
will let you get the Attamatter Artifact. You can scan Incubation Tank A from up
here, too. Tke the portal which is near the walkway junction to come out on
Vault 02 walkway. Now you can get inside the enclosed area to get at the Shock
Coil. This will let you remove blue shields, so take out the one in front of
you. Take the far end portal back to the Docking Bay and take platform 3, again.
Make sure you’ve scanned the other Portal Control computer, here. Remove the
Blue Force Fields in here and step into the portal inside.
Terra Vista
Thank God we’re out of that mess. Follow the smashed corridor
around, taking care not to fall to your death. Scan the Shield Generator and
Gravity stabiliser on the inside wall. There will be a few Psycho Bit v2.0s
(high-voltage ones) to put you off.
New Arrival Registration
Strange that this should be the last place you visit. Anyway,
scan the Quatroids in the corridor and get shooting. If they attack you, you’ll
need to switch to morph ball form and lay bombs to remove it. It’s the closest
thing you’re going to get to an actual Metroid in this game. The judicator works
well, being one of your most powerful weapons. Clear them all to continue.
You’ll then be harassed by two Psycho Bit v2.0s and 7 green v1.0s higher up the
chamber. Activate the Ship Deck Portal and get some supplies if you need them.
Take the elevator up to get to the next chamber and take the elevators down that
one. Half way down is a rout off to the side with the last Artifact in. This
one’s very easy to get. There are 4 datashades in there: Gorea 06, 07, 08 and
09. Scan them all to get the shield key and artifact. You’ll then get
attacked by a Greater Ithrak. Scan it, as these are very rare. If you keep
moving, it doesn’t seem to attack much as it needs to line up its charge at you.
You can only damage it from behind, so get behind it and hit it with something
powerful, like the judicator. Jump down to the bottom of the chamber and head
through to the last one. Carefully jump across the platforms to get the Energy
Tank Expansion. Take the last elevator up to reach the Stronghold Portal.
Boss: Slench 3
The differences this time are that it fires high-voltage
ammunition, so you need to hit the synapses with the battlehammer. Also, the
Slench 3b can charge you, inflicting a lot of damage. You’ll know it’s going to
do this as it backs off and closes the eye. The best way to avoid the charge
attack, as it’s pretty big, is the morph ball. You likely won’t be fast enough,
otherwise. Aside from that, same old drill. Remember you can back off and shoot
the green orbs for supplies if you’re running low. The Shock Coil is a sure-fire
way of hitting it, but it’s a very slow way of actually dealing damage. The
battlehammer is probably best for the whole battle. The judicator, while
powerful, doesn’t seem to be quite as potent against this as it does against
other things.
Escape
Telepathic message time: “…the cancer tried…”. Helpful as
ever, eh? Oh well, head out to find out how long you’ve got this time. 8:30.
Sounds fair. It’s a big level.
Jumping down those New Arrival Registration chambers might be
faster than taking the elevator, just make sure you land on something solid. Try
not to let the Psycho Bits hold you up too much in Terra Vista. The judicator
will do the job well. In Incubation Vault 03, head straight to the portal by the
computer as it brings you back out in the Docking Bay. Take the portal you
entered here by and then drop down a floor to the portal below. There’s a
solitary Guardian in Data Shrine 03, as always, now. Two high-voltage Guardians
are in Data Shrine 02. After that, there’s not a lot else to stop you escaping.
Alinos part 2
If you’ve done everything else up to this point, you’ll have
to do Alinos part 2 next. Arcterra part 2 requires the Magmaul from this level,
and VDO part 2 requires the Imperialist from Arcterra part 2.
Alinos Gateway
Take the left portal to save yourself some shoe-leather.
High Ground
Head outside. If you’re going to run into hunters on this
level, it will almost always be in High Ground, so don’t be too surprised if any
show up here. There are a number of yellow force fields around which don’t serve
a lot of purpose. Removing them will simply make your movements around this area
much easier. In the underground bit, there’s a purple blast shield protecting a
yellow energy orb. You’ll want to head to the purple blast shield near where the
artefact was, though. This is where the second part of the level is. Through
here is an Alimbic turret v1.0 on the ceiling. The Thermal Regulator is the
orange panel on the wall, so scan that. The door, here, while accessible, is for
part 3 of Alinos. You won’t find much in here that’s useful, only another room
in this level where you can fight hunters, the Combat Hall. So keep going up the
path and there is a datashade just before you get back outside, History 02.
Outside, behind the wall is a switch which will activate a platform to take you
across to the other side. Hop on. Over here is Alimbic Prophecy 06, above
the door with a purple blast shield. Remove the shield, cross the gap and move
on through.
Alimbic Gardens
In here is a Red Barbed War Wasp, which is the fiery version
of the barbed war wasps. The judicator will deal with it easily. When you get to
the top, Sylux’s ship will fly overhead. I really don’t know what this purpose
this serves, because you won’t see Sylux later, unless you get him as a random
fight. Deal with the next War wasp, and the other few minor enemies about then
switch to scan mode. There are three datashades here: Gorea 01 on the
right platform, Alimbic War 02 on the left and Gorea 02 almost
immediately below you. The Alimbic Garden on the ground can also be scanned.
Climb up the other side and go through the door.
Thermal Vast
Head through the morph ball hole to emerge in a huge chamber
filled with magma, a few moving platforms and a handful of Petrasyls. Get on the
first platform immediately in front of you. There are two routes to take across
the platforms and they bothe end up in the same place, so it doesn’t matter
which route you take. Take whichever is available. The platforms aren’t in any
sort of synchronicity, so you might not always be able to jump to another one.
If you can, do it, otherwise, wait until you can. When you get to a side
platform, take the morph ball hole and you’ll be propelled into the next
section. Both routes bring you here, so it doesn’t matter which one you took.
Now there are two generators producing Psycho Bit v3.0s. These are the fire
variety, and like the red war wasps, you haven’t met them before, so scan one.
Like all these fire types, the judicator makes them ridiculously easy to defeat.
Just be careful, as their attacks knock you back a little, and you’re on a very
narrow walkway. The magma won’t kill you, but it hurts. Once you’ve dealt with
them, head up to the top. The jump pad is a great shortcut back across the room,
so we’ll save that for on the way out. Head through the morph ball hole and out.
Alinos Perch
Three Guardians with magmauls will attack you in here. A
charge shot from the judicator will almost destroy them in one. On the wall of
the path which is on the right as you enter are Cermonial Charms to scan.
They’re very easy to miss if you’re not in scan mode, because they look EXACTLY
the same as the surrounding walls. I don’t think there’s anything there, really,
just something the developers missed. Scanning all the switches in the room will
reveal them to be projectile-sensitive. You won’t need them yet, though. Just
head through the door which unlocked when you beat the Guardians.
Council Chamber
On the wall ahead are Glyph Patterns to scan, along with a
crate if you need anything. Turning right, there is a Wall Scroll and another
crate. From behind the shield thing, you can scan a point in the next room just
over the magma which tells you about the Council Chamber. Head past the shield
thing and a big fiery creature will erupt from the magma. Scan it to find it is
the Fire Spawn.
Sub-Boss: Fire Spawn
This thing will almost constantly hurl magma at you, which
burns. Fortunately there is a partly broken pillar you can hide behind when it’s
throwing it. Only use the judicator here, as if I needed to point that out. When
it throws magma hide behind the pillar and charge up a shot. It will dive back
into the magma after throwing a few magma balls, and re-emerge a few seconds
later. When it opens its mouth, shoot it in its mouth with your charged shot,
then get back behind the pillar. Sometimes the pillar seems to stop protecting
you, so if magma starts going through it, keep moving to avoid its attacks. If
you head up to the really big pillar near the inactive jump pad, it seems to
just dive back into the magma anyway and won’t re-emerge until you get closer
again. You can also use this for a tactical advantage. Defeating it will get you
the Magmaul. You can use this to remove the orange force fields in this area,
but not before you’ve scanned one.
Council Chamber
The force field nearest the magmaul itself is guarding an
Energy Tank Expansion, which is nice to refill your health after that fight.
Scan the switch near the jump pad to find it is projectile-sensitive, so shoot
it to restore the jump pad’s power. You don’t need it yet, but switch it on,
anyway. Behind the other two orange force fields are the exit and a chamber with
a Magmaul Guardian in it. It’s protecting a computer which open the nearby force
field, so scan it. Next to the computer is a datashade, too – Alimbic War 07.
Heading back to where the force field was are a couple more datashades, Gorea
05 and Alimbic War 03. Before you head on up via the jump pad, you
should head back out into Alinos Perch.
Alinos Perch
Go up the other path you didn’t look at before, where there
will be an Alimbic Turret v1.4 to your left. Two generators will also appear,
producing Magma Voldrums, which need scanning, at the top. Go through the orange
force field. Grab the Missile Expansion to the left, then deal with the two
Psycho Bit v3.0s. If you scan the switch, it’s also projectile-sensitive, so
shoot it. Go back out and shoot the other two switches you saw earlier. Now if
you climb back up to where the orange force field was, you can use the jump pads
to get to the computer on the very high ledge, which opens the door you’ll need
to use the other jump pads to get to.
Crash Site
There is Structural debris in here to scan which reveals that
something extraterrestrial crashed here. One can only assume that it’s this
Gorea you’ve been reading about in the datashades. Remove the Blast Cap, to get
to the shield key which will let you get the Artifact at the very bottom. Head
back to the Council Chamber and that jump pad I told you not to use, earlier.
Council Chamber
Up on the next floor are two Shriekbats ready to drop down to
attack if you’re not ready. Then there’s the Alimbic Pride 04 datashade
just at the top, too. In the big circular room are two generators. One produces
two Magma Voldrums and the other, two Ice Voldrums. Scan an icy one and then
dispose of them with the appropriate weapons, Magmaul for ice and Judicator for
Magma. Before you go through the door, look in the side chamber. There is the
Ship Deck Portal and a computer in a room with loads of Petrasyls. Activate
both, then get the shield key from next to the computer and use the jump pad you
activated below to get the Artifact, avoiding the Petrasyls, because they all
just respawn. Head back to your ship via the portal for supplies, if you like,
then head back into the big room and out the door.
Processor Core
The datashade Alimbic Pride 02 is right in front of
you, here. Jump to the middle walkway and then to the far side on the left for a
UA Expansion. On the bottom level, Lava Processors 01, 02 and the Backup
Processor are on the sides of the big cylinders to scan. Use the jump pad to get
up the left cylinder (viewed from room entrance) and cross over to the right
one. There is an elevator in the right one which takes you down to a morph ball
hole.
Piston Cave
This is a big morph ball puzzle. First, you have to cross the
bridges without being pushed off into the lava, though you won’t die if you do,
merely take damage, so just roll to some safe ground and get back on the
bridges. After that are several pistons slamming together. You WILL die if these
get you, so don’t go crazy. Pass the first piston, then the second two together,
then the last one. Next is a variety of different piston stuff. They all go up
and down and you’ve got to get between them. Some will slam repeatedly against
the floor or ceiling, and again, these WILL kill you, so be wary of them. Some
only go part way, though, and will be entirely safe to rest on or under. Some
you’ll need to use to get into the next section, too. The first is safe, the
next 4 aren’t though. Time your movements well, and move to the next gap when
the piston retreats before moving on again when the next one does, just before
the one you’re under slams again. Then there are two slamming together, which
you can get between just as the last of those four slams. You can get out to a
safe area just before those two crush you, too. The next one is safe and acts as
an elevator to the next section. The first three of the next bit are easy
enough. They are similar to the four you did before, but with a slightly
different rhythm. The gap you’ll need you jump into from there looks dangerous,
but the piston will never actually hit you. Drop down the next gap when the
piston retreats and roll under the gap before it slams down again. The last acts
as an elevator again. For whatever reason, you can’t stand up in this final
area, despite it being really open, so use bombs to jump up the steps to get the
shield key for the last Artifact. Head through the door at the top of the steps
and you’ll end up back in the Processor Core. Now take the Stronghold Portal to
the boss.
Boss: Cretaphid v3
This Cretaphid is an amalgamation of its two predecessors. One
layer of spots will fire lasers, while the rest fire homing green blobs. All the
spots need to be deactivated to get at the heart, even the laser spots. The
lasers will switch off temporarily, at certain intervals, which is when you can
hit them.
Escape
Your telepathic reward message this time is “…lost…we are
all…”. I fail to see the point in these, I really do. Right, you’ve got 5:00 to
escape, so get moving. There’s a Guardian in the Processor Core, but you don’t
need to fight it to get to leave. Hunters can be fought in the Council Chamber,
too, but I’m gonna assume only on the way out because of all the Fire Spawn
stuff on the way in. Bear that in mind, if you haven’t fought them all, yet.
There are also optional Guardians in Alinos Perch, which aren’t worth bothering
with. In the Thermal Vast, take the jump pad shortcut I mentioned and you’ll
pretty much skip that entire section. Not that there’s actually any other way
out because the way in was a one-way route. Drop down the gap in the centre of
High Ground and you can get out a tiny bit faster because you got rid of the
yellow force fields, earlier. Echo Hall has also been furnished with Guardians,
but you’ll need to take these ones out to progress. This is one escape where you
might actually be pressed for time, if you get held up a lot, so just deal with
stuff as fast as you can and skip what you don’t actually need to bother with.
Arcterra part 2
A common misconception is that VDO part 2 would come next. If
you go to VDO, you’ll quickly realise that you’d need a precision weapon with
zoom capabilities to progress. We are, of course, talking about the Imperialist,
and to pick up that little beauty, we’re headed back to Arcterra.
Arcterra Gateway
I don’t know that it’s quicker to take the portal in this
case. Take one giant leap for mankind off the edge and head into Sic Transit.
Sic Transit
Clear out any hostiles and go to the orange blast shield. For
whatever reason, it’s not behind a force field any more, so break out the
Magmaul and get in there.
Fault Line
Clear out the Quadtroids in here with something sufficiently
powerful that they won’t get to attack you, because you’ll need morph ball bombs
to break free if they do. This will remove the nearby force fields. There are
datashades here, too: Alimbic War 09 and Seal Sphere 01. You
should also be able to see an Artifact here, but it’s behind a force field and
protected by the Shock Barrier, which you should scan. Don’t go near it, though.
It looks dangerous, and it is. Keep going until you reach a huge chamber, you’ll
get sealed in and shown that the Fire Spawn has a sibling, the Arctic Spawn.
Sub-Boss: Arctic Spawn
This is pretty much the same as the last one, except that it
obviously throws ice, not magma. The ice freezes as well, to try not to get hit.
There is a huge chunk of rock you can hide behind for cover, again, so just use
the same hit-and-run tactics. Defeating it will get you the Imperialist.
Fault Line
You’ll be shown a glowing red thing high up. This is a switch
which is activated by shooting it with the Imperialist, so here’s your chance to
try it out. You won’t have used the zoom before, so I’ll just say that you press
R or double tap the Imperialist icon to toggle the zoom function on or off. The
zoom has an auto adjust thing on it, so it will decide for you how much
magnification you get, you don’t get a choice. The blast shield on the nearby
door can also be removed by the Imperialist. Not to mention Alimbic Prophecy
08 is above it. For now, leave the door and take the elevator up. Use the
jump pad to reach a ledge leading outside. From the ledge, looking back into the
room, you can hit another two Imperialist switches to remove the huge force
field blocking most of the room off. Continue outside, though. Three generators
producing mostly green Psycho Bit v1.0s, but also the icy v4.0s are here.
Destroy them all to be rewarded with a shield key. I think it’s fun to wipe them
all out with the new Imperialist, but you can use whatever has served you well
in the past. The computer in this area is the Gun Turret CPU, and scanning it
will disable the Shock Barrier below. Believe it or not, the free missile ammo
lying around there isn’t because the developers were feeling generous. It’s to
bail you out if you’ve used them all. If you climb to the top of the area,
scanning the base of the column reveals that you could easily destroy the base
of it with a missile. If you do just that, it creates a bridge. How handy! Now
you can get back into the inside area. The Ship Deck Portal is in here, so you
might as well activate it before you go. Jump down to return and get the first
Artifact you found. Take the elevator back up again and use the jump pad at the
opposite end of the room to the one you used previously. Take the door up here.
Drip Moat
Walk forward and the edge of this gap will reveal itself to be
a moving platform. It’s a rail-shooting section. You won’t be able to move
around until the platform stops at the far side. First, clear all the Petrasyls
straight ahead. Then you’ll get Shriekbats dropping from the roof of the cave,
unless you shoot them first. After that, a swarm of War Wasps will fly towards
you. They don’t attack directly, but contact will damage you. Lastly, you’ll
have another group of Petrasyls to clear.
Subterranean
This room is a bit awkward. There are a number of Imperialist
switched up high in this room. You must position yourself so that you can
actually shoot them without getting a force field in the way. In some locations,
the switches will close and you won’t be able to hit them at all. These are
usually just under them, where it would be easy to hit. You might find you need
to jump and shoot, too. After you hit all three, work your way around, clockwise
and you should be able to now reach the elevator in the centre of the room.
Straight ahead at the bottom is a Missile Expansion, and beyond that, the
Alimbic War 04 datashade. Half way along the icy path is another, Alimbic
War 11 and turning left at the end of it, another, Alimbic war 05.
Beyond that is an Alimbic Turret v2.7. This is the new Imperialist model, so
scan it and stand back because it packs more of a punch than the others. Your
own Imperialist will destroy it in a couple of shots, giving you the Shield Key.
Turn around and head the other way to reach the Artifact. Turn left here to
reach the elevator again. You’ll need to scan the Lift Control on the wall
nearby to bring it back down again, though. As you make your way out of the
force field maze, the fields will disappear and you’ll get ambushed by loads of
Guardians – about 6 or 7, I think. You’ll only fight about 3 at a time, but they
will be replaced by others. They have a variety of weapons, but they seem weak
compared to past ones. An ordinary Judicator shot nearly kills one; if it’s a
headshot, it will kill one. When you’ve dealt with those, head back into
the Drip Moat.
Drip Moat
The Petrasyls and Shriekbats have returned, but not the War
Wasps. As you approach the far side, you should notice something green down
below the rails. Closer inspection, i.e. jumping down there when it stops,
reveals it to be a UA expansion and a jump pad to get back up. If you fall,
don’t worry, the stuff down there isn’t fatal, just harmful. Just get out of it
quickly.
Fault Line
There’s only one door you haven’t been in, now: the one which
had the red blast shield on it, so go through it.
Frost Labyrinth
This place again. Last time you came here, there were two
tubes leading out to doors with red blast shields on them and were no use to
you. You’ve just arrived via one of them, so make your way to the other. Again,
giving directions here is nigh on impossible due to the complexity of some of
the junctions and I’d probably confuse matters more by trying to. I’ll just say
it’s at the top of the area, from the view you’re given.
Sanctorus
There are three routes from the door. Head left. There is a UA
Expansion round here, and right over the hole next to it is a datashade,
Alimbic War 01. Jump the gap and take the passage to your left. Near the
ceiling here is another datashade, Gorea 03. Follow the passage down and
at the bottom is yet another datashade, Alimbic War 12. In the main
chamber is a Greater Ithrak hanging from the ceiling. A well-placed Imperialist
shot will destroy it before it can even drop down. The wall on the opposite side
of the chamber to the Artifact has an Imperialist switch guarded by a force
field. If you go around the force field to get at it, it closes up, so you’ll
need to actually disable the field. Scanning the computer will tell you about
the Spectral Locks in the room. These can only be seen with the scan visor.
There is one higher up on the wall just to the right of the computer, one behind
that wall and one behind the pillar at the opposite side of the room to it.
While you have the scan mode on, get the datashades over the broken columns,
too, Alimbic War 06 and Gorea 04. Now stand far enough back and
activate the Imperialist switch to get the shield key to get the last Artifact.
Getting this will release two Guardians you’ll need to defeat to leave. Head
back to the Fault Line.
Fault Line
Inside, you can use the portal to swing by your ship if you
need anything, then head outside, where the Stronghold Portal is.
Boss: Cretaphid v4
This one is quite nasty. It’s attack methods are identical to
the v3. The only difference between the two? This one can move. It glides back
and forth somewhat randomly around the arena. The only difference this makes to
combat is that when its heart is exposed, if it moves near to you it can be
quite difficult to hit, meaning the battle tends to get a lot more drawn out and
you’ll take much more damage overall.
Escape
“…end was upon us all…”. Okay, now given what we’ve learned
from datashades, this message is a bit more logical. You’ll get 4:00 to escape
this time, but Arcterra is small, so it’ll be fine. In fact, I’m not even gonna
walk you through it. You should know the route: Fault line, Sic Transit,
Gateway. Nothing untoward even happens, no Guardians, no nothing. You can make
it out in 1:30.
Vesper Defence Outpost part 2
The only one left, so I guess you don’t have much choice in
the matter. VDO, it is!
VDO Gateway
Use the left jump pad to get to the portal, which will bring
you right out almost next to part 2. Drop down the hole you reappear next to and
you’re there.
Stasis Bunker
Ignore the computer near the door, you’re gonna have to clear
up the area before you use it. There are two generators spawning Magma Voldrums,
so break out the Judicator, again. There are some frozen Guardians here, if
you’ve managed to go all game without scanning one, so you can scan it at your
leisure. There’s also Dead Guardians jamming a doorway to scan. Go through the
jammed doorway and destroy the Alimbic Turret v2.7, the Imperialist one. Head up
the ramp and the corridor straight ahead has a generator on the wall producing
Ice Voldrums. Near the exit to this area is yet another producing ordinary
Voldrums. The room up here with more frozen Guardians has loads of datashades:
Seal Sphere 03 and 04, and Oubliette 02 to 07. The small corridor
off this room will bring you to another UA Expansion, hidden behind the
structure hanging from the ceiling. Head to the room nearest the exit. There is
an Alimbic Turret v4.0 above a computer. Destroy the turret, than scan the
computer and prepare to run. You’ll get 20s to get to the computer which was by
the entrance and scan that one, too. Prepare your scan visor while running.
Scanning this activates the shield key which is down the small corridor which
led you to the UA Expansion. You’ll get another 20s to get to this before it
disappears, too and you have to begin the process from scratch. Fortunately,
they don’t make you rush for the Artifact, too – you can collect that at your
leisure. This, of course, has its own consequences. It’ll bring a load of
Guardians down on you. Some of them aren’t completely frozen. You’ll get an
interesting blend of one with a Battlehammer, one with a Magmaul and one with a
Judicator. As a consequence there’s no one ‘weapon of choice’ for this battle.
Imperialist, Shock Coil and Volt Driver will work on them all, and one is weak
to the Volt Driver, so perhaps use that, or figure out which one is attacking
you at any point and switch in the field. Your choice. Defeating them gets you
the next shield key for the other Artifact nearby. With the exits unlocked you
can carry on up.
Ascension
All this is is an elevator. Wait for it to come down and take
it up to the top. Activate the Ship Deck Portal. If, like me, you took a bit of
damage in the last section, go get healed, if not, well done, I say.
Fuel Stack
Scan the Silo Levitator, the big shaft in the centre of here,
now, because you’ll be running again in a moment. As you head around the side of
it, part of the Silo Levitator will collapse and cause an energy overflow.
You’ll have to climb all the way up to the top of this area to shut it off or it
will explode. Oh, and you have 1 minute. Use the jump pad ahead to get to the
platforms which will lead you up to the first floor. Ignore the indigenous
wildlife for the moment, you don’t have time to deal with them. Take the next
jump pad up to another series of platforms. These aren’t neatly arranged like
the last ones, so be careful not to try jumping to the wrong platform. The big
ball of energy is likely to pass you here, but it doesn’t seem to do anything
other than scare the hell out of you. You think it’s gonna completely fry you,
but is passes harmlessly through you. Turn left, climb the steps and ride the
elevator up to the Emergency Shutdown computer. Make sure you’re ready with the
scan mode while on the elevator as it might be cutting it close. After this,
you’ll get the shield key and a bunch of Psycho Bit v3.0s to deal with. To get
to the shield key, you’ll need to drop down into the central shaft. There’s a
white stone area. You need to get onto that. Take out the Alimbic Turret v4.0
before you do, though. From here you can scan the Door Lock Override computer.
At the very bottom of this helical path is a Missile Expansion, too. The top
door out of the spiral takes you to the shield key and artefact, but there are
two Alimbic Turret v2.7s guarding the room, so pick them off with the
Imperialist, first. Before you enter, the Methane Pipeline on the ceiling of the
tunnel can be scanned, too. The datashade Seal Sphere 02 is on the
walkway leading to the Artifact. The shield key is down below it, so drop down
to get it. You’ll have to get back up to the Artifact the long way, though. As
you leave the Artifact chamber, there is another datashade, Alimbic Order 05.
At the top of the shaft joining the ground and first floors are Cryogenic
Storage and Cooling Vent scans on the walls. At the top of the first
floor-second floor shaft is the Alimbic War 08 datashade. Head back to
the Stronghold Portal. It was the room with the first computer you scanned in
the Stasis Bunker.
Boss: Slench 4
Samus looks a little confused when she enters, but all is
revealed why. This Slench has decided to take up residence on the roof of the
chamber, instead of the more traditional far wall. This Slench fires icy
projectiles, so you’ll want the Magmaul handy. Retaining that damned charge
attack, the 4b also has another manoeuvre. Before it does the floaty stage, it
rolls around the arena in a figure-of-eight pattern. It’s still invulnerable at
this stage, so don’t bother shooting it. Stand by the door and it won’t even
touch you. It’s all a bit pointless, it can’t get you, you can’t get it. As
always, there is plenty of ammo and health available, just by standing back and
shooting the green orbs for a while. Slenches really aren’t that much trouble.
Escape
“Alinos holds the key to Ultimate Power…”. Does it? Well, we’d
better head there, next, then. 3:00 to escape this time. But again, this isn’t a
huge level, so that should be fine. In fact, there are no more than the standard
enemies again. Okay, there’s actually a single extra Alimbic Turret v1.0 in the
Stasis Bunker, but that’s it, I swear.
Alinos part 3
The telepathic message told us to go to Alinos, so that’s what
we’ll do. Good job it said, really, because with 8 Octoliths out of 8 obtained,
you might have been wondering what to do next.
Alinos Gateway
Take the left-hand portal to the High Ground.
High Ground
Head up the corridor near the Artifact stand again, but this
time, take the door off to the left.
Combat Hall
To your immediate left is the Alimbic Pride 05
datashade. Jump down onto the ground. The wall with a hole in it in front of you
is a Blast Shield to scan, down the right-hand corridor is the Combat Hall
datashade, and the Blast Shield-like structure at the top of the far side is a
Sniper Shield to scan. Take the other door out of there.
Alimbic Cannon Control Room
So this is what we’ve been looking for. There are 4 datashades
in here, first: Alimbic Cannon 01 to 04 which tell you exactly what this
place is and what it does. Time to try it first-hand. Step into the light. The
big white circle in the centre, that it. You’ll get a sweet cutscene, and a
Gunship transmission. That’s it for Alinos, you can leave. You won’t even have
to rush, today, as there’s no time limit. Well, you might have a slight Guardian
issue in the Combat Hall, but it’s not like you haven’t fought a hundred of the
things already.
Oubliette
Well, it’s been a while since we had a new level, so this is
good. Let’s go see what this Gorea deal is all about. It looks like the other
six are already here, though.
Oubliette Gateway
Before you wander off anywhere, get back in your ship and have
a flick through your logbook. Read the Alimbic Prophecies. Here’s what
they have to say:
It is written that the Alimbic power shall materialise when
six frequencies shimmer in the divine spectral sequence
In the beginning shall darkness be torn asunder by a flash of
Yellow Lightning
Yellow Lightning shall strike with demonic fury upon the
Greenwood
With a voice of thunder shall the Greenwood burst into an
Orange blaze
The Orange Blaze shall die away to be reborn on wings of Blue
Smoke
Tendrils of Blue Smoke shall weave the geometry of Violet
Crystal
Violet Crystal shall shatter the heavens, leaving in its wake
a Red Stain
When the Red Stain shall vanish, so shall the ancient Alimbic
power be manifest.
Got that? It’s a very cryptic way of telling you to remember
the colours yellow, green, orange, blue, violet and red, in that order. The
pictures it creates in your mind should help remember the sequence. I think it’s
also very poetic, but that’s beside the point. Get out of your ship again (I
doubt you actually got in, since I gave you all the prophecies) and head through
the door. Take the elevator up and use the portal at the top.
Observation Room
Heh, I’m making these room names up, because they don’t
officially have a name. It looks like an observation room, though – lots of
windows. There are 5 datashades in here to scan: Sealing Gorea 01 to 05.
now you can leave.
Prison Approach
To your immediate right is a morph ball hole. Go in and follow
the path all the way to the end. Take the portal on the platform to get the last
Energy Tank Expansion. Leave that chamber again, and drop down to go through the
tunnel. Go through the Stronghold door to Gorea’s prison itself. The big light
in the centre is actually a hole, though it doesn’t look like one, so jump down
it and prepare for the big guy himself.
Final Boss: Gorea
Yay! Everyone’s here! It’s a party! Or not. The hunters will
release Gorea for you, only to have their powers consumed by it, leaving you to
fight Gorea alone. The first thing you want to do here involves the prophecies.
See the coloured triangles on the walls? Shoot them in the order established,
earlier with their respective weapons (e.g. yellow needs the Volt Driver). If
you do it right, you’ll get a Gunship transmission letting you know you did. The
yellow flooring is electrified and can be a potentially huge source of damage if
you don’t pay attention. Don’t step on it. Now we can begin the fight. Gorea’s
body and shoulders can be scanned, as well as the blue things at the edge of the
arena. The blue things will explode on contact, so don’t touch them. If you
shoot them open, though, you’ll get supplies. You will need to begin by shooting
both Gorea’s shoulders off. He changes alignment frequently and you’ll need to
shoot the shoulders with the weapon he’s weak to. His colour DOES NOT indicate
his alignment, it’s the alignment he’s weak to, so colour co-ordinate Gorea’s
body and your gun. If you destroy one shoulder and take too long over the other,
the first will regenerate and you’ll be back to square one. The Imperialist is
best as one shot destroys a shoulder instantly. The Shock Coil is also good.
Once you’ve taken off both his arms, he’ll change form. You then need to scan
his body again, and the Seal Sphere floating above him. He’ll produce the
tendrils he originally got the hunters with from the Seal Sphere and pick up the
blue things and hurl them at you. He’ll also try to pick up you from time to
time. Keep circle-strafing around him and he’ll never hit you once. You need to
shoot his Seal Sphere with the weapon you destroyed his shoulders with or the
power beam. Once you’ve depleted a third of his health, he’ll go back to his
original form. Repeat a further twice. The triangles you shot at the start will
regenerate him (why did you do that?) and transport you after him.
Final Boss: Gorea 2
I guess the last fight technically wasn’t the final
boss, because this is. Scan him to find out that you can’t hurt him at all with
what weapons you have. Head downstairs for a treat. Shortly, you’ll get a
Gunship transmission reiterating the point that you can’t hurt him but also that
there’s something on the bottom floor. There is what appears to be an Arifact
Shield at the bottom. As you approach, it will open up. What’s inside, though,
is not an Artifact, but the Omega Cannon. In a similar style to MP1, you need
the most über gun in all existence to beat the boss, and it just so happens that
the Alimbics built one. The rest of this is straightforward. Hammer Gorea 2 with
the Omega Cannon until he dies. You can use the jump pads to get about easier,
and there are a couple of yellow energy orbs. Gorea 2’s main attack is to hurl
flaming boulder things that pas through all obstacles at you. They’re slow, so
just shoot them down with the Omega Cannon. Right, like you had any choice of
weapon. He’s also got a big laser, but that’s easy enough to avoid.
Now sit back and watch the ending. Oh, you wanted to know why
you did the Gorea regeneration thing? It gets you the better ending. Simple as.
The place simply blows up and Samus flies away, otherwise. You don’t get zero
suit Samus and the Alimbics. Also, It’ll unlock you some extra stuff.
Authors Notes: I’m fully aware that this isn’t a 100% complete
walkthrough. It’s only 95%. I’m still missing a few datashades and other odds
and ends from the scan log. If anyone can fill me in on what they might be and
their whereabouts, I’ll add it to the walkthrough and give you some credit for
it. You can email me at GlaciesVulpes(at)aol(dot)com. Please put ‘Metroid Prime:
Hunters Walkthrough’ as the subject so I know it isn’t spam. Come on! Between
us, we can complete this thing totally!
Thanks for reading,
~Icefox
|
|
|
 |
Advent Children
