Hour 15 of playing (including like 5 hours of running around with no single clue what to do next)
And I'm still suffering.
As rewarding as the game is when you finally DO manage to figure some stuff out- it's pretty much equally frustrating when you get thrown back into the pit of cluelessness.
Found Isis' pendant, took it to the girl, now all I got is a bunch of fairies that don't seem to have any effect on game's very progress.
Beat the creature that I think is called Zu (the one in the twin's labyrinth throwing feathers) after 100 failed attempts. That was the most satisfying victory so far, but WTH... the path just led me into a room full of witches. 5 witches.
What the .... does this tablet's text saying 5 PLUS 1 mean??? I even took a fairy into this room, just to display how despaired I am.
The mirror gate in the western corner of the giant's mausoleum is closed and there's a ledge up above. Why does it make strange sounds, as if a chain was moved, when stepped upon slightly? Why does it show symbols that disappear when touched? And why doesn't it have the slightlest effect on the damn door??
Why does a tablet read "the fish master holds the red jewel" when there's nothing to gain but a life orb after beating the great fish in the spring in the sky?
Why does the giant next to Sakit (Ledo isnt it?) kneel down one day just to be standing tall again the other one (he's down again lately)??
Where is this skull that leads to the "E...........r (which I strongly assume is supposed to mean Endless Corridor). And why would I want to go there when I already found a way from the MoG?
What's it with this woman at the Temple of Moonlight? I'd love to "rest in the woman" or something, but I just can't reach up there.
Why does the elder email me "come back if you want to know about inventory" when he has plain nothing of use to say, no matter how often I go there (in fact I'd love to take the lousy jokes he makes and shove it up his....)? I mean I spent quite some time wasting time on this game. Walked the same rooms over and over again, tried foolish things just because every reasonable solution I could think of failed long ago.

WHY DO I PONDER FOR HOURS AND ALL I GET FROM THE GAME IN EXCHANGE IS A FULLBLOWN ..|. ???

Feeling so bugged.

I know I must be overlooking something quite essential.
But I don't want to look it up in a walkthrough.
But I'm beyond desperation now.

Give me an answer... no, don't.... yes please... no...

;(

Its part of the new additions to the. You bring it back to the Fairy Queen in the Endless Corridor. The Zu is not needed to be beaten until MUCH later, at that point of the game its a very tough mini-boss that gives no rewards. It only serves to open the way to those room sofr later. 5 plus 1, I believe that refers to this room's puzzle later, in which you need to beat the 4 witches and spare the black one that appears afterwards, but you defeat the white one in another room under similar conditions. Or it could refer to something else that I don't remember. That part puzzles me as well, I think the symbols are to be written down for later, as they represent the answer to a puzzle, but the 'weight sensor' itself doesn't do anything. The great fish in the sky they talk about is the smaller one you need to beat in the lower section of the map. The treasure chest nearby doesn't open until its beaten, and it contains an Ankh Jewel (the red jewel) that lets you battle one of the 8 major bosses. If you read the tablets, some of them will talk about 'this giant sleeping under the stars' and another 'kneeling with the moon's rising'. The Nebra Disk at the VERY lowest point of the elevator, that you jump on to make move is the reason. When the 'moon' is at the highest point, that statue will kneel. But since you didn't solve the rest of the puzzle, you don't know why yet. he actually gives you a ledge that reaches the boss's Ankh. Skull? I think this might refer to another puzzle entirely, not a way to get there. There are not many ways to get to the Corridor actually. This is also something you do MUCH later in the game, once you find the 'Statue of Woman'. Think about it. He's actually talking about 'usable' items. You see the area of your inventory that has the hand scanner in it? It will fill with more things later, and that's what the Elder tells you about when you walk in with them equipped. I think he also has things to say about certain sub-weapons or main-weapons. But outside of an achivement on Steam I don't think those are necessary at all for progression. There's only 1 or 2 items that requires you talking to Xelpud (hint, its the very lowest right item in your list when you get it).

And as for where to go next, you quite obviously need 2 things :
-Obtain the Bronze Mirror :
For this you need to flood the area in the Temple of the Sun, by opening the 'plug' in the lower part of the Spring in the Sky. Break the sort of 'ledge' that holds the chain, then go over it and strike the mechanism until it pulls the chain up. This will open up a new area right of the Temple of the Sun (under the Sphinx shooting at you), called the Chamber of Extinction. A tablet will clue you where to go, but I don't remember where it is.

Take the 'lower' entrance to the CoE (don't break the pots near it yet! you can't open the way to the chests and coins yet), through the water here. See the sort of 'shield' on the wall? Remember that shape.

Inside of the CoE, its dark, but you won't be there long. Just go down to the lowest part of the screen, and then jump up around a bit. You'll eventually see there's another of the 'shield' like the one outside. Attack it a few times until it doesn't do anything anymore, and go back outside. Ah-HA! Now you can get the chest, and the Bronze Mirror.

-Defeat the first 4 bosses of the game. They are in Temple of the Sun, Gate of Guidance, Mausoleum of Giants and Spring in the Sky. You might have noticed those weird structures in Mausoleum of Giant (left of the big statue holding up the ceiling) or in Temple of the Sun (near the ladder that goes up into the pyramid).

After getting the Bronze Mirror these will reveal to be doors. But the doors will be closed until you beat the boss of that area. So start by beating the 4 bosses (find 4 Ankhs for that obviously) and then you can access the 'back side' of areas, which will lead you to more items and more puzzles to solve. If you don't have 4 Ankhs, that should be your first task, each section should have one.

Hope that helps kickstart you! If you need a hand finding things, I made maps that you can find on the Wikia's forums at the moment in a zip file. I can't link to it here, sadly.

Hey, thanks for your answer!

You gave some very helpful hints (some of which I already knew)

Stupid me didn't think of putting the giants and the nebra sky disk into context. That explains many things.
As for the bosses: I think I killed all mini bosses so far, plus the GoG, sun temple and sky spring ankh bosses.
Only problem's that I'm completely out of Ankh Jewels for quite some time now. And really can't imagine where those damn things could possibly be hiding.

I also found the mirror and cleared the moonlight temple (took off the pyramid's top, beat the underground palace mini boss, obtained the book of death from mulbruk).

Well anyway, gotta keep looking around. What's even worse than wasting hours on the game is having to return to la mulana time and again. This game just triggers some weird masochistic urges :)

Thanks again man!

Btw: sounds like you didn't finish the game yet, so skills and luck may be with you too :)

Edit: where's this smaller boss in sky spring located? I kicked this laser shooting cyclops thing and took the first seal, but no jewel.
Is this probably connected to the hiden hole with this guy inside talking about "take mirror, enter darkness, descent, proceed, ascent, jump up and strike" (geez, I seriously memorized many of those tablet lines D:)? Guess he's referring to the CoE.

Actually, that one relates to finding the Bronze Mirror, so you can ignore it now.

The fish is in a very small "box" of water in the lower areas of the Spring in the Sky. Its a room with a chest without any visible wayto openit. The fish is right under the chest. Its not a mini-boss.


And no, I have beaten the game and made full maps of the game now. Look at the thread titled 'game maps now availabe' :-)

Okay, that's the fish I killed pretty much at the beginning. I thought that's the one that leads to the scalesphere, but might be wrong.
Solving this giant's puzzle unraveled a huge knot of questions, I'm proceeding quite well at the moment (chances are this won't last for long :). And FINALLY obtained the game software that allows warping to "back side" areas. Improves the situation in many ways.

Your maps might come in handy, gonna have a look, thanks!