Annotated Appendix: The Abandoned Mine

Sorry for the break between episodes, but a nice chunk of freelance work has come in. Some of it was harrowing, all of it was awesome. Head over to USGamer.net and bask in its majesty.

Ok, then. The Abandoned Mine. Let's get to it.

This was a nice place to ease back into movie-making because it's the smallest section of the castle, except for maybe the Entrance. There's still a lot to say, though, and it even has a very cool. cleverly hidden reference to a mythic story of a Gothic king.

To get there, though, we needed to nab the Demon familiar, and have him hit the switch in the more mountainous-looking sections of the zone. Not that big of a deal to those in the know, but in practice, it's a finicky behavior for the little devil to take part in.

Here's why: whenever you summon a familiar from your Relic menu, they'll say a few words to you to sort of announce their presence as long as Alucard is standing still after you leave the submenu. This is a neat little extra feature that doesn't have any bearing on the game other than this one spot (and its counterpart in the Inverted Castle), because if you bring in the Demon while you're standing still, it will come down to your side and mumble something and not fly upward to hit the switch like its supposed to. The other weird quirk that I found with this is that it won't consistently press the button if you go from the Fairy familiar to the Demon, either, which has got to be some sort of weird bug. I can nearly always get it to behave the way I need it to when I start with the Sword familiar, though, which is why you see me equip it immediately as this episode starts. What you don't see is about 20 minutes of previous recordings as I try to get the little bastard to do what I want without starting with the Sword. This right here is why these Appendices exist. Inside baseball!

Anyway, as you work your way through the secret passage, you fight it out with a few random Thornweeds (Unes) and a Venus Weed (Alura Une), which is a pretty tough enemy if you don't come into the fight prepared. Notice the Venus Weed's shape, though, that of a giant rose (and, sure, the naked woman that sprouts within it). The next room is where Alucard finds the Ares Ring, which is called Laurin's Ring in the Japanese version. The video tells the story of Laurin the treacherous dwarf king and his rose garden. You just busted your way through a giant rose, and since half of this level looks more opulent than the more cavernous sections (like where you pick up the ring), the game sort of implies that this whole section is a representation of King Laurin's mountain palace. That's pretty cool.

The other thing (that I'm asking about in the comments) is the Peanuts room where the Power of Sire is found. This is a stretch, but I always sort of considered this room as something of a lament for Alucard. Follow me here: in the West, there's a certain cultural cliche of a father playing catch with his son, whether it be a bonding experience or a teaching exercise or whatever. Traditionally, professional baseball games sell peanuts by the truckload. Since the small room has a smattering of peanuts lying around next to one of only two Power of Sires found in the game (a bomb item that displays Dracula's image in two separate ways), I always connected these items as going to see a ballgame with your dad, and maybe it represents the strained relationship that Alucard and old Vlad have. Or, since it's a secret room within a secret room, it's more from Dracula's perspective that it represents a botched fatherhood. I wonder what you think. Talk about it in the video's comments, if you please.

Speaking of subtext, the whole next episode, the Catacombs, will make Alucard's descent into Hell complete. I honestly have no idea when I can put it together, but hopefully in the next two weeks or so.