Nefarious - Part 3 - Winterdown Is Coming

Channel:

Overhazard

Subscribers:

37,300

Published on October 29, 2019 9:30:00 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2A3C5P5vh0

Game:

Nefarious (2017)

Duration: 16:33

151 views

6

Princess Mayapple is kind of used to Crow's company and being on the Sovereign. Princess Apoidea, on the other hand, is not, and she is used to royal company and royal accomodations, which Crow is not able to do--and while he doesn't care much for that aspect of keeping hostages, you'll see he keeps them pretty well, able to roam around the Sovereign as they please as long as they remain out of trouble. But Crow needs three more princesses, and two kingdoms are now available for him to invade: Winterdown and Sukochi, two countries currently at war with each other. Winterdown's on the left, and the world map has had a general leftward progression, so that's where we're going in this video. (As is made obvious in this video's title. And the thumbnail.)

Winterdown is a cold place, where one has to be tough to survive. Combining various tropes about cold climates, Winterdown has architecture based on St. Peter's Cathedral and the Kremlin with yaks apparently singing the Winterdown National Anthem. The dwarves here are not as diminutive as you might imagine, but rather, they're bulky and masculine. This extends to Princess Ariella, who's energetic, brash, and loves violence. Winterdown's dynamic is Ariella getting kidnapped by Dr. Mechano, fellow machine-building mad scientist and the one not-brawny character we see in this kingdom, and it falls to Guryon the Righteous to save her. Mechano, once you see him here, is obviously based on Dr. Eggman (though the Sonic counterpart lives in a different kingdom), while Guryon, with his preference for throwing axes and breakable armor, appears to be the Nefarious world's counterpart to Arthur from Ghosts 'n' Ghouls.

Ariella's skill is arguably a hindrance. She is not afraid of Crow and knows how to defend herself, but she lets herself get kidnapped largely to mess with Crow: when she is on Crow's shoulder, Crow can run faster, but he is unable to stop. Consequently, the cavern making up most of the rest of this stage is built with that in mind. Still kind of annoying when, late in this segment, you start seeing enemies you cannot avoid by the time you see them onscreen.

Now, one thing I want to point out: the dialogue that appears mid-stage, without it being a cutscene, normally progresses on its own. I didn't know yet that you can progress on your own (which must explain why the button to move to the next text box is not tied to any other inputs, not even jumping). There were two points where the dialogue did not advance on its own, which are the fight against Dr.Mechano (both when you meet him and when you defeat him) and the boss battle, in which Guryon just would not appear. To that extent, I fast-forwarded through these segments, and I stumbled across a roundabout, awkward solution by pausing and unpausing. Sometimes.

Crow jumps into a machine that punches the ground, the one you saw in the Sovereign's armory. I didn't get it at first, but I realized later that Guryon flashes blue for a few moments before throwing an axe, which is your signal to get out of the way as fast as you can! Throwing an axe causes Guryon to stop moving for a few secons. This would be room to squish him repeatedly, but getting hit by that axe causes a stun effect that allows him to keep moving again. As a result, in this boss battle, watching that signal is the key to defeating him, because either you get a lot of hits on him or he will slice off about one-third of the machine's HP by that insane axe.

We got three princesses now. We'll head off to Sukochi, where Princess Tephra of the Ogre Kingdom awaits.