Game:

Counter-Strike: Source (2004)

Duration: 8:32

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10

Okay, that's better... the game really wanted to knock me for a loop with that previous stage's length. I'm sure that'll never happen again. Yep, Attack the Light will be curiously known for the interesting design choice of putting its longest stage somewhere arbitrarily in the middle of the first area.

... ... ...hmm. The asymmetry of this pile is really starting to bother me. You know... the "pile"... of stages... in progression... with... a missing star... indicating... gah!

I'm sure there's nothing at all ominous about a giant skull with crossed swords behind it, so let's go to the next stage!

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Indigo Caves
Stage 1-5:

Neat, a single scorpion. Yeah, I guess it COULD be a tiny one, but without a normal-sized one to compare, I'll have to take Steven's word for it. Hey, stop yelling so ...incredibly long! There's nothing that impressive to get all excited abo--oh.

BOSS: Indigo Light

Y'know, not to nitpick, but this "indigo" seems suspiciously purple to me... but what do I know? For that matter, if it was any indigo-er, I guess light creatures would blend into certain environmental features, so perhaps we got off lucky. It IS a little weird to start with indigo rather than either extreme end of the spectrum, though. Ha. Spectrum. (I'm sorry.)

That said, what exactly makes THIS for sure the boss of the indigo light creatures? It's big, sure, but... I mean... I'm not telling you guys how to do your job, saving us from untold light creature-based ruination and all, but aren't they ALL packets of the same light released from the prism? Wouldn't we need to suck ALL the things back up to be sure none of this fell into the wrong hands or hurt people who have no idea what the heck all these saturated silhouettes are doing here? (Maybe they stick to mostly-monochrome areas... somebody better warn the Emerald City, though.)

Actually, this is a pretty solid boss fight. It takes everything we've already learned about battle and packages it into one big ol' target for punching and other general physical abuse. It's a big beefy foe ripe for defense reduction. It has multiple destructible targets... though only the main body "counts" for its life meter. It has some targets that are beyond normal direct attack range and need appropriate attacks to reach. It has a variety of moves, including some clearly-telegraphed attacks that you can prepare for. Nothing seen here should feel at all overwhelming or unreasonable, as the game has made clear over the past four stages what its battles are like and how they're conducted. That said, it IS still a boss, so the challenge level will clearly be kicked up a notch. Bam!

The biggest source of challenge here is also something that the stages prepared us for... being attacked by multiple enemies in a group. That is to say, each of the scorpion tails gets to act independently... though it would appear that the main body doesn't get a turn itself, somewhat mercifully.

As with those lessons we learned about group combat in these caves, the obvious thing to do is cull the enemy's numbers as best you can... even though they're out of reach, and clearly not to be dispelled with a simple flick of the whip. Spear Throw has copious opportunity to shine, but the center tail is notably stronger than the smaller ones. Oh, and they regrow. Looks like at regular intervals from when they were most recently destroyed.

Your biggest enemy here will be... the Star Point economy, honestly. After that, those two-turn tail lasers, which I don't think you can time a better defense for. Economize your actions and Harmony well, and you'll PROBABLY avoid eating too many of those, which is obviously a plus.

As a side effect... and something I'm actually quite surprised we didn't see any of at all, much less from the very START of battle is... this guy's supposed to call for reinforcements! And I don't mean regenerating tails, I mean those tails can zap the ground and spontaneously generate... a regular scorpion enemy. Okay, fine, maybe the turns WERE better spent the way they went down, but it's still an odd thing to never see any of.

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As a minor aside... for a mobile game, the soundtrack is pretty nice. It's NOT made by series composers, aivi & surasshu, despite this kind of project being RIGHT up their alley like what they were doing BEFORE Steven Universe, but the Grumpyfolks at Grumpyface did a good job all the same. Although... every song consists of about minute-long loops. (That just ENHANCES the worminess of the listening, and I had the boss fight tune stuck in my head for weeks.)

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I'm going to warn you... that pseudo-"achievement" pop in is quite accurate... the so-called Gauntlet stages ARE intense. So intense, in fact, that you'd probably get wrecked upon entry even in non-Diamond Mode. So... hopefully your raised expectations don't take it too harshly that... we won't be seeing it for awhile.

Get ready, Steven. This is gonna be intense... whenever we get to it... eventually.

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