12 steamworld dig - exploring cave iii of the old world

Dear Readers,

I dug deeper, fought more enemies and found more materials. Tired, I returned to town but on the way I was hit with a green drip and lost all my health! I had so much money and I had to pay over a thousand dollars in repairs! Sickening!

I made sure to break any of those green blocks that dripped in case I forgot about them again. That was an awful thing to happen now...

I unlocked Improved Hydraulics, which saves water when drilling.

I dug further and found even more of those annoying bottle throwers in tight spaces, stupidly throwing their bottles at exploding barrels, Still hard to deal with so I went back to town to get a Hard Armour and some more dynamite.

I burrowed further, finding more idiots throwing bottles and dynamite. Eventually I found a beacon leading me to cave III at 399m.

I ran out of space to store minerals, and the journey felt really long back, so I bought all of Cranky's pouch upgrades.

I explored cave III and it was full of enemies! There was a lever to open a door and even more enemies came out of it! I had to use dynamite as well as my own fists to get through them all.

After those enemies were lots of bouncy mushrooms. I kept pressing on and eventually reached another new ability, the Fall Dampeners. I'm not sure what they are, but I guess they help with fall damage?

I badly needed the storage upgrade I bought. I headed back to town and bought a teleporter. I was really fed up of going back and forth and badly needed one now. I also unlocked the Swift Pickaxe.

11 steamworld dig - fighting back with the steam punch

Dear Readers,

I continued to dig and dig and it was starting to feel like I didn't know what I was digging for. I just kept going down. I was also starting to see green pools of liquid. I was a bit shy of jumping into them though.

Eventually I got a mark on the map as I kept digging down. I followed it and came across a cave marked with "II". I used dynamite to get the bottle thrower and zombie out of the way and went in.

Lots of green pools that weren't good for me or for enemies were in here. I navigated until I ran out of light. I decided to upgrade my furnace to a Coal Lantern at last.

I explored the II cave bit by bit, finding blocks that got in the way. I found one that let the ladder drop and allowed me to drill upwards. I kept going and found another ability, a lovely one called the Steam Punch! I can now shoot these steam powered projectiles through my fists! This'll make fighting enemies much easier!

I headed back to town. Lola said Uncle Joe would sometimes spend weeks down in the mine. Now and again they started to think he was gonna stay down there for good, which was true in the end.

Dorothy said I'll be getting to the bottom of the Old World soon and then it'll be too hot for any Steambot to dig. Speaking of the Old World, I saw many things down there like expired tanks and cars and dwellings in the background. All kinds of weird stuff from an ancient civilization. Possibly human turned crazy.

Cranky said one invention enables another and he was fine with technology, but what I was finding below was something else altogether.

Biff said before the war he and his friends used to sneak down into the mine and play games of dare. Some would come back talking about glowing lights and scaring each other like they were telling ghost stories. He said I didn't seem scared of ghosts though.

With my Steam Punch I can be like the guy in the song Sixteen Tons. If the right one don't get you, then the left one will! I'm just glad I won't have to buy dynamite every time I have an awkward encounter with the bottle throwers.

10 steamworld dig - bouncy mushroom cave

Dear Readers,

I went inside the cave at 273m and found that it was full of these toxic dripping blocks that melted the ground underneath. I had to time many jumps just right to climb all the way to the top. I got some blue orbs and a zoisite for my efforts. I cashed in and levelled up Biff's inventory to have a Gigantic Pouch that allows an extra slot and a Water Seal that lets me absorb more water from the same sized pool.

Biff said Uncle Joe used to order strange stuff like copper pipes and things like that.

I went back to drilling down through some treacherous areas with explosives and enemies, finding minerals, backtracking to cash them in and eventually I found a cave at 307m with a sign that said 80 on it for some reason.

Inside this cave was lots of bouncy mushrooms! I had to take care of a dynamite crazy baddie first but it was lots of bouncing from then on. I felt a little nervous as to where I was being bounced but it was quite fun. There was an area I couldn't quite reach but I found some mineral in a secret passage to cash in for another level up. With a dashing jump I reached the out of reach area and found some orbs. I cashed in and this unlocked Hard Armour and Huge Tank upgrades in Biff's shop. I'll buy them later.

I did buy the Sturdy Armour and the Deep Tank upgrades from Cranky. About time I did since enemies were getting meaner. Bought some extra dynamite too.

9 steamworld dig - biff moves in, discovering bouncy mushrooms

Dear Readers,

Biff arrived in town with his new shop, Discount Custom. I had a chat with him and learned he was here before the hard times. His second name was Beacon and he said I brought a kind of renaissance with me to this town. He was here now because the dollars were here.

To start with he had a Tungsten Pickaxe, a DrillMaster upgrade for the drill and an unlockable Oil Lantern, which he told me was the future.

I still didn't feel a huge need to upgrade, so I continued digging.

I just noticed the cave I found the dynamite in was marked "I". There we go!

I drilled further down more and more and found more pockets of areas filled with enemies holding dynamite and other stuff they wanted to throw at me. The townspeople called them Shiners.

I also found some fun bouncy mushrooms that I could use to gain height whenever I wanted to leave. They're fun!

Those spectacled dudes that throw bottles aren't fun though and all the dynamite the others throw make me nervous.

I dug all the way down, defeating various baddies and found a teleporter at 272m. There was a cave here too just to the left. I blew the way open to it with some dynamite. I'll explore it next time.

8 steamworld dig - obtaining dynamite

Dear Readers,

I started exploring the Old World. I found lots of new materials and a new enemy that ran back and forth like some kind of zombie. It also seemed to snore before I unearthed it.

I unlocked for the shop a Damaging Pickaxe, which helps with enemies and a Pressurizer, which reduces the water requirement for steam jumps by half. They seem handy.

I continued exploring the Old World and found a cave at 209m. It's about time I started marking these this way. I also found these barrels with red skulls painted on them that shake when I go near them. I stopped going near them in case they exploded.

The cave at 209m had this little puzzle inside where I had to burrow underneath the huge boulders and have them make a path above to some glowing orbs. It was a fun puzzle.

I found another cave at 228m. This one was loaded with those exploding barrels and dangerous jumps! I came across a new enemy that threw stuff at me too. I drilled it to defeat and came across another ability. I was now able to use dynamite! I explored a bit more, obtaining materials and orbs and blasted my way back out of the cave.

I backtracked to town. Dorothy said she believed Uncle Joe left this stuff for me to find like a trail of breadcrumbs to follow, getting me ready for something, but for what? With the new minerals I found, I levelled up, which brought Biff into the town with his building. Cranky now sold dynamite too.

7 steamworld dig - drilling into the old world

Dear Readers,

Cave III was a very big cavern! It took a while to get here so I already felt a bit antsy when exploring it. I sought out three switches to unlock three doors. I eventually found them after some exploring and careful platforming and mining.

The doors unlocked and led the way to the drill upgrade! I was now able to drill through those blocks I couldn't pick at previously.

The map encouraged me to leave the cave and dig down even further, so I did. I found a cave marked with a skull this time! I was tempted to turn around but I went in instead.

I found myself at place called the "Old World" and there was a pipe here that allowed me to fast travel all the way back to the surface! Yay! I was just about to buy a teleporter but now I don't need to at the moment!

I returned to the surface and spoke to Cranky. He said it was a treacherous place and he said the tube was more reliable than the glowing whatchamacallits. 

Dorothy was impressed with the new drill ability and said there might be a gold rush now that the Old World was accessible again. Lola said Uncle Joe wasn't easy to get close to and spent all his remaining years down in the mine, not bringing up much.

6 steamworld dig - digging a long way to cave III

Dear Readers,

After some more digging I decided to upgrade to a Bronze Pickaxe before following the map on the napkin Lola gave me.

I dug until I found an unmarked cave. I went inside and there were these gaps where I had to stand on the edge of the platforms to tunnel through. I found a couple of large precious gems. I forget the name of them now but I was able to upgrade the shop to the point where I could now buy teleporters! That was pretty cool.

After digging for another while I came across parts where I couldn't dig anymore so I upgraded the pickaxe again to an iron one. Then I found materials I couldn't extract so I upgraded again to a steel one. It didn't solve the problem but I was able to dig faster at least. It seemed to be the maximum upgrade, at least for now.

I then lost all HP when fighting enemies! It was a fright and I had to pay a huge percentage for repairs! I gotta pay attention to the health meter.

I usually pay the most attention to the map on the bottom screen. I love having it there and I wouldn't like to be without it. Moving on from the DS series of systems is gonna have some drawbacks...

I found another unmarked cave which had a pyramid of those tough giant boulders inside. There has to be a way of breaking them...

I dug up enough to upgrade the shop to carry Plate Armour and a Deep Tank for more water. I bought the armour for more health.

After a lot more digging I eventually found the cave in the napkin, marked "III".

5 steamworld dig - obtaining the steam jump

Dear Readers,

Lola even complimented my new running boots I obtained from the cave. Not sure what she has to offer yet but I'll continue exploring the mine for caves and materials for now.

I found more materials as I dug deeper and deeper and eventually ran out of room! I went back to down to cash in what I had. I then bought the Medium Pouch from Cranky. Thankfully, the stuff I mined didn't despawn when I got back to pick it up!

I picked away until I found another cave, indicated by the map. It didn't have a marker on it. Inside I found water, which didn't hurt thankfully, and some weird blue glowing thing.

I mined up a bit more before returning to town to get another level up, unlocking the Coal Lantern for the shop. I'm able to trade the weird blue glowing thingies as well as money.

When I got to pickaxe level 5 I found a teleporter that takes me back and forth to town! Very handy!

Not long after, I found a cave marked with a "II". I went inside exploring and found some enemies, one of which was new and was like a turtle that shot stuff at me. I then found another weird machine that gave me the steam jump ability!

I was now able to load up on water and charge a jump like the one in Super Mario Bros. 2! I was able to store enough water to make two of these big jumps.

I found another part of the cave where there were these three levers and a locked door. I'll come back but for now I headed back to town.

Lola at last had something to say. She gave me a napkin Uncle Joe was scribbling on  which looked like a map of some kind. She said he spent his surface time in the saloon mostly. Dorothy said it was strange how the technology I was finding fit me perfectly. I suppose it's because Uncle Joe used it himself. Cranky seemed displeased he couldn't dissuade me from risking my life more but he still kept his shop open to help me.

This napkin was simply another red marker pointing to a further depth. More digging ahead.

4 steamworld dig - weird machine in a cave

Dear Readers,

I went back down the mine and in through this door marked "I". Inside I found what looked like something that was supposed to teach me about the falling boulders.

Then I saw a skull and crossbones sign next to some unsteady ground that crumbles when you walk on it. Then it regenerates. Good to learn about these things and nicely demonstrated here without wordy tutorials.

I learned some more stuff the hard way. Lamps can be broken accidentally and this game actually has fall damage! I better be very careful when I'm exploring more and more. I also run out of light so I better blog with the game paused!

I returned to the surface to recover light and health. Then I returned to the cave to keep exploring. I dropped into this chamber with a strange machine. I stepped into it and gained the ability to run faster. Then I was advised to return to town. I couldn't go out the way I came so I had to circle back through obstacles where I had to dash and jump dash to gain more height, using my new ability. I left the cave and backtracked to town.

Dorothy and Cranky noticed I had something new on my feet. Cranky said I found one of Uncle Joe's caves. He said Joe used to mess around with cogs and steam and Cranky would then let him store some of it in his place. He then mentioned Joe had more caves deeper down. Time for more exploring!

3 steamworld dig - new mining job for materials and upgrades

Dear Readers,

I went into the mine and started digging. I found Trashium and some strange creatures that were buried in the sand. I was able to beat them with a couple of hits from my pickaxe.

I was able to then bring the trashium back to Dorothy, which filled up a meter. When I got the meter full, Dorothy told me to talk to her daddy, which I learned was Cranky. He now had something to work with to upgrade my pickaxe. I bought the Sharp Pickaxe with the money I earned, which allowed me to dig into harder soil. He had another upgrade for later on when I had more money and ladder equipment, which would help me in sticky situations.

So we've got an economy going in this little mining exploration simulation. It all begins here.

Dorothy said I could use my new pickaxe to explore a cave that Uncle Joe used to bring all sorts of stuff from.

I got back to digging and found that I was able to dig through regular soil much faster and I could now also dig through the harder soil at a regular rate. I dug up some new stuff like citrine and copper. I took it back to Dorothy and this all filled up a meter towards the next level. Need to get more.

Cranky said the mine was dangerous and he lost his leg to a Shiner while fixing a pipe. He said some stuff about the old country I couldn't quite understand but it seems like he was from Scotland.

I dug deeper and hauled some more stuff will filled the meter to level 3 and unlocked the medium pouch and placeable lamps in Cranky's shop. I bought next pickaxe upgrade but I still couldn't break that speckled boulder I came across. Also found out those boulders fall when you dig underneath them.

I eventually found the entrance to the cave Dorothy was talking about. I hauled up what I had before I went in to explore.

2 steamworld dig - mingling in tumbletown, population: 3

Dear Readers,

I found myself in Tumbleton, standing at the entrance to Uncle Joe's mine. He had signs here that said "JOE'S MINING INC." and "KEEP OUT!"

There was also a pulley here for lifting stuff out.

Dorothy was up here too and I caught up with her. She said I handled the mine like a real pro and suggested I keep it open since I was the new owner. She said she'd give me a fair rate for any ore I'd find and that the town could sure use it.

I decided to mingle around the town. Dorothy herself stood in front of the trade shop. There was a saloon with a pink blonde robot waving and wiggling. She turned on the charm saying it was nice to see a new handsome face in town. Her name was Lola. She was sad to see Uncle Joe go and he hadn't been looking well for a while. She noticed I was quiet like he was, so she said to let her do the talking.

Over at the "Welcome to Tumbletown" sign, it said population was 3. This included Dorothy, Lola and Cranky. Cranky stood outside a place called Cranky's Upgrades. When I spoke to him he said his name was Hank McCrank and I could call him Mr. McCrank. He said I was gonna want a better pickaxe but they were fresh out of resources since the mine closed.

Wow. Not much to this town and they were wholly dependent on Uncle Joe's mine. I guess it's all up to me now. I went back into the mine.

1 steamworld dig - dropping in on uncle joe

Dear Readers,

I'm delighted to start playing this game! It's one of the most celebrated on the 3DS and it's known for featuring a blend between mining simulation and action when dealing with bad guys and stuff. It's made by Image & Form and is part of the SteamWorld fictional universe they created. Let's jump in.

The title screen has this gorgeous western desert parallax scrolling thing going on and it looks really intense with the 3D effect. It looks good though, all those layers of cacti...

In the credits this game is copyright 2013 so it's taken me quite a while to get around to it! Everyone I know just gushes about this game and it's time I got into it now.

I am Rusty the robot! Wandering through the desert on the title screen, I arrive at a town called Tumbleton, where I immediately feel the ground crack underneath me and I plunge down into a mine, a quarter of my health gone from the get go. All I have is my digging tools and my cowboy hat. My guess was this was part of my uncle's mine and so I decided to explore it before the rest of my light went out.

A girl robot came up to me asking what I was doing falling in like this. Her name was Dorothy. She knew my Uncle Joe and said he'd been gone a while and she'd been sneaking down here to mine what little she could. I recognise her from the cover of SteamWorld Dig 2, but that'll be later on...

Dorothy said she found him, my Uncle Joe and said she was sorry. She pointed out where to go and I hopped across some gaps, collecting light before I found his remains. He was holding his pickaxe and looked just like a skeleton, or as much as a robot can look like a skeleton anyway.

What a way to begin. I said I was sorry I didn't make it before he left us. I didn't understand why he left me the claim as I wasn't a miner at all. I asked to borrow his pickaxe and burrowed my way out back to Dorothy, who said the lever for the exit door was buried. I had to dig all the way down to get it and open the way back out. She left through the door and I climbed back up, where there was a ladder that took me back to the surface.

34 liberation maiden - a look at tech and kamui attacks in the gallery

Dear Readers,

Not much more to cover in the gallery now. 2 entries for technology and 4 entries for Kamui's attacks. The remaining 2 then are cut scenes. I'll cover them all here.

[23] Tech 1: The Liberator, "Kamui" - Features a design of Kamui holding its sword. Detailed is how the technology is purely based on natural mechanical engineering, using Earth's electromagnetic field to power itself. All that stuff about natural purification is built into its capabilities, making it a pretty cool robot.

[24] Tech 2: Parliamentary Battleship Nagata - A massive airship that houses a full parliamentary campus with buildings, monuments and even a landscaped garden planted by Shoko to give it a softer edge. She takes care of that huge garden by herself? It's mind boggling and pretty cool in concept. It's where Kira and the team give Shoko support while she's out battling as well.

[25] Kamui Attack 1: Deflector Nodes - Image shows Kamui's wing while Shoko pilots it. It has these floaty things and big green glowy line in the centre as focus. I'm guessing it's green because it's spiritual natural energy from nature and the Guardian Spirits and stuff. Nice explanation on how it's shielding but also ammunition at the same time and it just needs to recharge.

[26] Kamui Attack 2: Blade - Image shows Kamui from the front wielding the green blade thingy. Very descriptive about how this is like a bomb that builds up and can be unleashed. Also serves as a kind of desperation attack when Shoko is in danger like when you have to swipe the screen really quickly and everything's all red. It's cool how it says it's like it's made up of Japan's spirit and Shoko's desire to free her people and not something built into design. That's some cool anime writing right there.

[27] Kamui Attack 3: Sacrifice Drive - Image shows Kamui completely green and glowing. This is the attack that makes me nervous about the touch screen, though my fears are largely unfounded! I have to admit that to be fair. Description says it's a last-resort move. It's pretty much a kamikaze attack, though it doesn't use the word kamikaze here in the description. It's a nice dramatic moment and finish to the level when a boss is ready to be tucked away for good.

[28] Kamui Attack 4: Laser Attack - Image is a really cool scene of Kamui being worked on in some kind of factory. The lighting looks awesome. The scale of human to robot looks a bit grander than in the final game but that could be just me needing to check again. The description is all about the laser weapon and how it's a faster weapon. Like Shoko, I used the missiles most of the time but it is very handy for the stage 2 boss with all the rocks flying around.

That's it! Exhibits [29] and [30] are the opening and ending anime cutscenes, ready to watch at any time for fun. Glad to have access to them and it's a lot of fun to explore the art and lore for this game. That's it for now! I'm going on to a new game soon. Thanks for reading!

33 liberation maiden - reading up on the cool characters in the gallery

Dear Readers,

Now to check out the characters in the gallery. I was looking forward to Kira's one especially.

[20] Character 1: Shoko Ozora - The main character looking cool in her uniform as she appears on the touch screen during gameplay. She has her default expression here though she has a range of them. Love it when she smiles on achieving success in a mission. It says she's very direct and forthright and that's good for a game protagonist. Again, it's so cool how she's the president and she's taking on the enemy in battle directly. Also love her long flowing hair.

[21] Character 2: Kira - The main support character as he often appears in dialogue scenes, giving instruction to Shoko. I was looking forward to reading about him but it doesn't say an awful lot about him! Apart from the fact that he became Shoko's guardian after her father died. You learn a lot more about him during gameplay when he helps you by saying missiles are coming and stuff. It also feels really good to be praised by him and being addressed respectfully all the time as Madam President. A good character and well voiced. 

[22] Character 3: Yokuichiro Ozora - Shoko's father and first president of New Japan who was unfortunately assassinated while giving a speech. We only know of him in this portrait with his long hair, dressed in a suit. He was the first to stand up and call for a rebellion against the Dominion in the fight for independence.

That's it for the characters. The rest were support ones really or the ones coming through in messages of support and praise when winning missions.

32 liberation maiden - enemy showcase in the gallery

Dear Readers,

Now to look at the enemies and targets in the gallery.

[12] Enemy 1: Tank mk I - This is like an ordinary tank and it was made to go on water as well as land. It has spider-like legs, or in this case it's more like a pond skater.

[13] Enemy 3: Battleship - For some reason they put enemy 3 before enemy 2 but whatever. These look like big mobile phones with big old buttons. Lots of missiles coming from these things.

[14] Enemy 2: Gun Battery - These are the things that come out of the ground when you go near them, honing their laser sights on you. I like destroying them before they have a chance to come out by using the beam sword bomb thing or destroying a Spike nearby.

[15] Enemy 4: Submarine - Very sneaky enemies that hide underwater before surfacing to fire missiles at  you when you're distracted fighting something else.

[16] Enemy 5: Walkers - These annoying enemies have these big spider legs that let them jump into the air and float for a while, which makes them hard to aim for. They keep respawning in stage 3 for some reason. They do look cool and spidery/octoroky though.

[17] Enemy 6: Turret Train - Trains that have been retrofitted with tons and tons of missiles. The trains themselves don't take long to deal with but the missiles take a lot longer to fend off! The retrofitting seems to take up half of the space that could've been used for transporting goods. War can be so wasteful.

[18] Enemy 7: Lesser Conduit Spike - Nicely detailed here along with their weak points. Good explanation of them too serving as shield generators for the Greater Spike supplied through Energy Veins. It's taxing to whittle them down but very satisfying to beat them and seeing the ripples of purifying nature spread out.

[19] Enemy 8: Greater Conduit Spike - A slide show of all the end of stage bosses along with their weak points in a redundancy system that helps to stop them from being destroyed too quickly. Kind of amusing to see them all together in one entry and how similar they are.

31 liberation maiden - the stages in the gallery: tokyo, kagoshima, osaka, hokkaido and mount fuji

 Dear Readers,

With all the game played out and unlocked, it's time to look at the fully unlocked gallery! This time I'm gonna look at the levels and cities. I never referred to them by their place names, even though I probably should have. Japanese geography is interesting and lots of games like this and Mystical Ninja have it.

[7] Stage 1: Tokyo - This features a big metropolitan city area on an island. This is set in the distant future where most of the famous landmarks are gone and the city just floats on top of the sea. It's not the capital anymore, since the Dominion took over I suppose. It was a fun level with islands and bridges. Of course it had the good music too!

[8] Stage 2: Kagoshima - Features a nice image of the city on an island and bridges connecting it to another island. The Dominion took over this place and its space centre in order to use it for their intercontinental ballistic missiles. I like the nice clouds painted in here. It's prettier and greener than the previous city.

[9] Stage 3: Osaka - Features another island city and it's dense with buildings and industrial structures. This has a lot of industry and entertainment, which immediately makes me think this is where a lot of gaming happens. The Dominion made this place focus on building Walkers and other machines for war. Things don't look so clear and blue here.

[10] Stage 4: Hokkaido - Features a big snowy mountainous landscape with sparse constructions and a railway connecting them. This place became a snowy wasteland due to the environmental damage that drained the Guardian energy and blotted out the sun. It's very pretty with the auroras in the sky but it is like a place that's deep in hibernation. That is, apart from all the tanks and trains and missiles I had to deal with here.

[11] Stage 5: Mount Fuji - Features the erupting mountain with the Guardian Spirit flying above it. Shoko in her mech are about to face off with it in a huge battle. Looks spectacular with the stormy skies in the background. After all that was lost to the enemy, the mountain was still here standing proud and the Guardian Spirit was drawn to it like it was some kind of beacon.

30 liberation maiden - stage 4 hard: 11,630,490 points, gallery unlocked completely

Dear Readers,

Now to do stage 4 on hard a couple of times in stage attack to set scores and hopefully unlock the gallery fully.

The default score once again was 500,000.

This is a very long level to play because of the sheer amount of missiles being shot at you! Have to deal with them all. On my first attempt I scored 10,376,596 points. On my second attempt I lingered a bit more and took out more targets but still kept up the pace. I earned 11,630,490 points that time.

I accidentally went back into the level again and so I quit out of it straight away. It was then that I unlocked the final entry in the gallery! That's all it takes! Those 10 plays on normal or hard you just have to go in and quit out of them if you want to meet that goal quickly!

Still, it was fun to play for points for a little while.

Next time I'll explore the gallery more and have a look at entries I haven't read yet.

29 liberation maiden - stage 3 hard: 1,102,316 points

Dear Readers,

I continued into stage 3 of stage attack on hard in order to set some scores and make more plays toward earning the remaining gallery entry.

Again, the default top score was 500,000 points. On my first attempt I didn't even get to beat it! I died against the boss and only earned 361,990 points.

On my second run I wasn't sure if I was going to survive the boss so I lingered and hunted out more targets. The weird thing on this level is that those annoying walker thingies keep respawning. Also they don't walk all that much. I grinded out until I had above 500,000 points and after that I went in for the boss.

Then I defeated the boss! It was pretty satisfying to beat that assistant robot thing the boss has. It's very troublesome in this level.

I earned 1,102,316 points on this second run. I didn't need to linger around after all but all the same it was great to beat up the boss after losing to it.

28 liberation maiden - stage 2 hard: 2,015,430 points

Dear Readers,

I continued on to set a record in stage 2 on hard mode of stage attack.

I had to clear 500,000 points to get the top position. I lost against the boss but earned 1,266,220 points on my first run.

On my second run I lost against the boss again but I earned 2,015,430 points.

I really ought to use the laser weapon against those flying boulders. Anyway, on to the next level as I don't have to win, just setting points and clocking up attempts for now.

27 liberation maiden - stage 1 hard: 2,515,356 points

Dear Readers,

Since I had now unlocked gallery entry 27 by playing normal mode over 10 times, I decided to skip setting a record for stage 5 and went straight on to set records for stages in hard mode, with the new overall goal of unlocking gallery entry 28 by playing hard mode over 10 times.

Stage 1's default score was again 500,000. I did a run on stage attack and earned 1,957,630 points but failed to beat the boss.

On my second run I beat the boss and earned 2,515,356 points.

Ahh... level 1 is so short and snappy... I'm tempted to play more of it just to meet the gallery goal more quickly!

26 liberation maiden - stage 4 normal: 10,910,636 points

Dear Readers,

I continued to stage 4 to set a couple of scores and work on the gallery unlock.

I had to beat the default top score of 500,000.

I like the way Shoko smiles on the lower screen when I achieve something and she smiles after I do a Sacrifice Drive. I also like to wipe the screen after doing that move, so it's like she smiles when I'm wiping her face.

For my first run I beat the sub mission with the weird slice of cake thing and got 5,898,854 points. A lot of eights in that number and for a moment I thought it might have been zeroes because of the font being a little strange, but no, the font shows zeroes without that little stroke in the middle.

On my second run I took out more targets and everything else from the first mission, but also tried to not linger too much. I earned 10,910,636 points! A very high number!

Also I unlocked the gallery "10 times normal" entry after doing the second run! Weird thing was, I played the stage attack on normal 8 times and the regular story mode just the one playthrough. Maybe it counts that as two? I'm not sure. Anyway, doing stage attack really helps for the 10 times thing!

25 liberation maiden - stage 3 normal: 1,537,056 points

Dear Readers,

I continued my gig of setting stage attack scores in normal mode plays with stage 3.

I went leisurely enough, not trying to seek out extra targets. I did complete the sub mission though. I thought why not. I got a score of 1,537,056 for my first run, beating the top default score of 500,000.

I was more thorough on my second play, got 100% purification and all and earned 1,509,676 points. It took more time so I'm guessing it pays to finish more quickly.

24 liberation maiden - stage 2 normal: 2,086,272 points

Dear Readers,

Continuing on my journey to unlock the gallery fully by playing normal over 10 times, I went on to set a couple of stage attack scores for the second level on normal.

There's going to be a few of these more easy going posts like this until I can unlock the gallery fully. I like playing like this as well since I can just have a bit of fun without trying too hard to search for stuff.

I aimed to beat stage 2 on normal with over 500,000 points. For my first easy going attempt I lost to the boss and came short with 477,020 points. On my second attempt I came up on top with 2,086,272 points.

I know I can do better but I'll move on to the next stage now that I have a score set in first place.

23 liberation maiden - stage 1 normal: 1,522,460 points

Dear Readers,

Now to take on the "over 10 times play" tasks to unlock the gallery fully. I'm not sure how to do this exactly but I'll play the stage attack on normal and hard over 10 times each. To make things more interesting I'll aim to beat the default top scores set in each mode's individual high score tables. They're not really specific since they have the same scores, but it's something to aim for.

Let's start with beating the top score of 500,000 points in stage 1 of normal mode.

On my first attempt I cleared it with 942,210 points.

Since there are just 5 levels and I have to play over 10 times, I decided to play this stage again. I'm going to make my first attempts at each stage more fun and the second attempts more serious to beat the first attempts' records if they come out on top of their respective tables.

On my second attempt I failed the sub mission which was amusing but I scored 1,522,460 points, beating the first score. I passed my first score easily so I decided to be less serious and just clear the stage. I know I can get a better score but I'll just move on to the next stage for now.

22 liberation maiden - cleared a stage without taking damage

Dear Readers,

I aimed to clear a stage without taking any damage in order to unlock entry 26 in the gallery. I managed this easily enough by picking the first level on easy mode in the stage attack.

It didn't take long at all. I skipped the tutorial and cut scenes and made sure to dance around enemy fire carefully. In easy mode it doesn't fly at me too fast so it was very manageable. 

I tore through the Lesser Spikes quickly and through the Greater Spike just as fast, while also being careful of course.

I made sure to take out the ships and other enemies that could shoot at me. I didn't bother purifying any other targets this time.

Aside from having to skip the tutorial, it's fun to do it on this stage because it has really good music, though if you're quick enough, you won't get to hear much of it!

21 liberation maiden - finally cleared the story on hard mode! 100% approval!

Dear Readers,

I finally beat the Guardian Spirit on hard! I unlocked everything for stage attack now and got the 100% public approval too!

I don't know exactly what I had to do to achieve 100% public approval but I did get 100% in all the other stages before I took on the Guardian Spirit. This unlocks the ending movie in the gallery.

So how did I beat the Guardian Spirit at last? Well, I took a few days away from playing the game and that certainly helped. I kept note of every lesson I learned from my numerous failures and took my time with it. I kept my attack setting on missiles. Whenever it launched the wave attack I would fly away really far so I could avoid it easier. I would let my nodes build up and tried to keep them at a high level so I wouldn't get hurt. I defeated the smaller enemies to help build them up too. When my energy was at a high enough level I would charge in towards the Guardian Spirit just before the wave attack ended and tried to get an aim on the Spikes before firing at them and retreating to avoid more waves. I broke the centre Spike as soon as possible and didn't have to deal with the awkwardness of the shield at all. Other than that I engaged in a slow but sure process of keeping a safe distance before getting strong enough to go in for attacks. Little by little, I took down Spike by Spike until there was none left and it was defeated. It took a long time and a lot of tries but I finally beat it!

All I have left to do now is to unlock the three remaining entries in the gallery by doing the following:

-Clear a stage without taking damage

-Play normal mode 10 times

-Play hard mode 10 times

I'm not sure what it means by 10 times. Does it mean 10 full runs of the story mode or can it mean playing the stage attack 10 times? I guess I'll find out by playing.

20 liberation maiden - still struggling against the guardian spirit on hard

Dear Readers,

I'm still stuck on the Guardian Spirit. It feels like it's getting harder and I can't make sense of it.

The cutscenes and dialogue boxes I have to put up with again and again are getting very old. I can only skip the introductory narrative. I can't skip Shoko and Kira talking to each other.

Sometimes I'm dying in the pursuit stage again and it even feels like that part is getting more difficult. I can't figure out why though. It's weird.

I'm thinking, should I aim for the spike on the Guardian Sprit's chest? That's the one that does the shielding. Maybe if I take out the wings I can stop it from doing the waves? Between the waves and shield it's really hard to fight against this thing.

I'm developing a more evasive strategy that'll help me last more than half a minute against the boss. It'll be annoying to deal with the waves but they won't fly at me as sudden as they spread.

19 liberation maiden - guardian spirit on hard is hard

Dear Readers,

I failed again and again against the Guardian Sprit. It's mainly that dang fast wave move that keeps messing me up.

I die against that wave move most of the time. Sometimes I die before I even reach the Guardian Spirit and I always have to go back to the beginning of the pursuit since it's the only credit I have left.

When I switch to the laser I lose concentration on the wave and then lose very quickly. The laser demands a lot more concentration than the missiles do.

I've also learned that some voice cues like when I say "Think you can win?" mean that I have enough ammo to begin aiming and shooting again.

The Guardian Spirit gets close sometimes, like right up to me and I don't know why. It's distracting.

I was surprised on one attempt where the waves didn't come out constantly. Maybe it was because I was going close or maybe it was because I was circling it. I'm not sure.

Then there are attempts where I think I have something sussed out and I fail on the pursuit part again!

Sometimes I can interrupt the Guardian putting its shield up if I can destroy one of the Spike targets on its body.

Still trying to come up with a good strategy to defeat this thing in hard mode.

18 liberation maiden - scouting out how difficult stage 5 is on hard

Dear Readers,

Stage 5 on hard was very hard. I died quite a bit even on the pursuit portion of the Guardian Spirit fight.

I found that I had to be within a certain range when the time ran out in order to progress to the next part of the fight. I had to get a balance while also avoiding the shots coming at me.

The Guardian Spirit was faster and more difficult. The blast wave went out very quickly towards me and it does not leave much room for error. I was able to avoid some but I felt lucky. I think with some practice I can master it somehow.

For now though, I lost and lost again against the huge bird. I'll get some more practice in later and see if I can do anything at all with the one credit I have remaining. Every time I lose I have to go back to the chasing part again.

Also I have only four remaining gallery entries to unlock with these conditions:

-Play Normal 10 times

-Play Hard 10 times

-Finish a stage without getting damage

-Get 100% approval

I'll try to get the no damage one on an easier mode stage later. I don't know what the 10 times thing means. Does it mean I have to enter and exit? Does it mean I have to do a stage that many times? Do I have to beat the whole game 10 times? I'm puzzled. Finally, I have no idea what 100% approval means. It's different to 100% purification. Hopefully I can figure these out.

17 liberation maiden - beating stage 4 on hard and unlocking the trains in the gallery

Dear Readers,

Now for another crack at stage 4 on hard. This time I beat it.

I didn't spend as much time taking out missiles, because I didn't go after the newly spawned trains that appear when the Greater Spike is unlocked. I just went straight for that boss.

This time I took out the boss handily. I just wanted to get it done and over with. I thought I could always go after the train gallery unlock later.

After beating stage 4 it was on to stage 5. I never beat this before without losing a life in any difficulty so I wasn't going to on my first try. No harm in scouting it out at least.

I died while I was chasing the Guarding Spirit so it was pretty quick!

I then found that I had the train entry in the gallery unlocked. Woo! Just four more entries to go!

16 liberation maiden - stage 4 on hard has too many missiles!

Dear Readers,

At this point I was pretty happy to even reach stage 4 since stage 3 gave me such a hard time.

During stage 4 my new sub mission for the hard mode was to take out 30 tanks. Thankfully, I was able to find the 30 I needed to destroy. I had to fly around in the snow for a while.

Then there were the trains and there were lots of them. Lots more than I needed to destroy, though I still have to destroy 50 to unlock that entry in the gallery. This time the trains had a crazy amount of missiles that just wouldn't stop coming. They were big and split into smaller ones too. It made the trains take a while to destroy.

I made it to the boss and this is where I failed. I was near enough to finishing it off but it kept coming at me with very fast attacks and large numbers of rocks and glass-like panel thingies.

I had to begin the stage again because I ran out of credits. I was very close though. At least now I can destroy more trains for that gallery goal.