Let's Talk - Spelunky 2 Spoilers Galore

hotseatgames wrote: The method with the most consistent success is to stand directly on the shopkeeper and use a rope. This will knock him down for a SPLIT second, and he drops his shotgun. During this time, you can:

1. Kill him: quickly pick up the shotgun and blast him 3 times. This is easier said than done. If grenades are part of his offering, they may explode. If you kill him, all shopkeepers will be angry for the remainder of the game. Depending on how good his gear was, you may not care.

And don’t forget you are allowed to MOVE things in the shop to set yourself up a little more. You can pick up all the stuff and lay it over by the door, and then nudge him back to a corner before things get hairy, or vice versa. You can actually move him over by the door and set up ropes and what not for escape and all that and set a bomb outside to get him quick.

I don't play the game, just watch some streams, but if the shield is in the shop you can just push him into the wall by moving at him after you pick it up. It auto kills him.

Gary's right, that is probably the easiest way. Make sure to move things away so you don't crush those items too (ESPECIALLY BOMBS). They all items get pushed by the shield. Including gold/jewels if you are using the shield later.

Based on my immediate field research, I can tell you that shooting the shopkeeper with the bow and arrow will NOT instant kill him.

It does, however, send him into a murderous rage.

Been focusing on trying to get to Vlad’s Castle. I started out using the shortcut to Volcana but the likelihood of getting enough bombs to blast my way down was not good, so I’ve been starting fresh to get the Eye to use the drill. I can reliably get through the first world (assuming I don’t get gibbed by Quillback). I’ve gotten in the door twice but died to the ghost both times before I could actually get into the level.

I saw my son get to Vlad's today. He is really great at the game. As he was going into the final boss encounter, I think he had 35 health or something crazy.

I play a couple of rounds, get frustrated, and quit. I am so sick of the Asian-themed world... it just saps my will to play. It's not even like it's all that different from other worlds, but I find it just not fun. I've only played the Egyptian world a couple of times, and have never even passed a single section of it.

If I make it to 2-1, I make it to Vlad's. I die there, but hey, baby steps. I have a lot more trouble getting out of 1.x than I do in 2.1 to 2.3.

SO: Quillback strategies.

• Stickybombs make quick work of him, one is enough. Not likely though.
• You can see how he moves, so you can get lucky with a bomb that he almost walks into, usually bouncing it off the wall from the ladders.
• If you touch him with a bomb, of course, he goes nuts with the jump and roll. Spring shoes, good timing, &c, and he'll cruise right under you. Follow him over there and set him off again with a stick or whatever and you can use the doorway he cleared a path towards to head down to jungle or volcana
• I think two shotgun blasts does him in. Maybe three.
• Spike shoes is like 5 hops I think.
• Freeze Ray him and he need one hit or stomp

You need to pile up bodies on Kali's altar for the blood drinking thing (Kapala Skull). Living, stunned bodies are worth more than dead ones. NPCs (shopkeeper, turkey guy, manfred, damsel) are worth more than critters/cavemen/turkeys. If you play 2p, you can put your (stunned) teammate on there. Two stunned NPCs is enough for Kapala. If they are dead, well, it's more. Could be a lot. I don't really know, it's hard to even find enough bodies sometimes.

Speaking of 2p, if you get killed, you become a ghost who flies around immaterially while your teammate keeps playing. You can puff little bits of air to knock things/enemies around, and you can charge up a puff to fire a freeze ray which makes Quillback a one hit easy win if you hustle to hit him when frozen.

I never even try to kill Quillback, I just have him open up the passage and I leave.

I thought Vlad's Castle was a whole world section, not just a part of the existing level. Makes sense since the black market is the same. If you talk to/rescue Van Helsing, he'll one-shot Vlad for you. I think my next goal will be to kill Olmec, or at least get him to his third form.

I finished the shortcut to World 3 last night. Took some doing, Mama Tunnel needed a mount, and it is TOUGH getting a mount through Volcana. I lost them so many times double-hopping some magma pool only to bump some bat or whatever and lose it.

Getting the hang of the Tidal Pools now. I've only made it to Ice Caves once

So: How do I pick up the sword in the stone? I tried bombing it, picking it up, &c.

I just completed all the shortcuts recently as well. The mount is nothing compared to the next one of getting a Hired Hand all the way past the Tide Pools. Those bastards are the worst. I’d start on 1-4, grab the Hired Hand, then go to Volcana. Because they more often than not cause you to die, I had two strategies:
1. I would find a safe little divot to drop him in and when he fell asleep I’d take off toward the exit. Occasionally he wouldn’t show up on the clear screen because apparently he woke up at some point and got himself killed.
2. Carry them the entire way. But you have to constantly drop them and pick them back up because they will wriggle out of your hands at the most inopportune times if you don’t.

Then there’s the other task of getting the gold key all the way past the Tide Pools...

Hired Hands, lord. We always call ours "Manfred" because one was named that once, so we just say, "should we get the Manfred or not?" They are great to have around for Kapala sacrifices, but they just do the stupidest shit sometimes and can be infuriating, especially in Volcana.

Ok folks, here's how to Spelunk if you're an aging Dad:

• Starting on 1-1, find the exit, collecting gold and jewels, robbing the storekeeper (rope stun) if there is a lot of stuff to just run over, especially bombs. You can pick up one (1) thing if you need to and still get away unmolested. Things I recommend picking up from a store: Jetpack > Power Pack > Teleport Pack > Shotgun > Presents > Hover Pack > everything else
• Spend money at the Store(s) to get Ropes, Bombs, &c.
• Whip the boxes and collect the Damsel if possible (don't spend bombs for a box or a damsel, but do spend a rope.)
• Get the Ghost Urn and break it before the end for an easy $5k (diamond).
• Turkeys are great. Double-jumping is great, slow falls,
  
• In 1-2 or 1-3, find the golden key (spend bombs/ropes to get it) and unlock the chest to get the Udjat Eye.
• Sacrifice everything you can* on Kali's altar, you want the Kapala. (Not the Idol, it's worth more out the door. Not the Present unless you want an Eggplant.)
• Kill or get around Quillback. If we're juiced with bombs, we'll spend one on just shortcutting to him from the doorway at 1-4. We'll kill him with a bomb, or Spike Shoes, or Shotgun, or freeze ray (or Ghost Breath), or we just go around him if he's opting to not die.
• Volcana or Jungle, I'm ecumenical. Udjat unlocks the drill in Volcana to get to Vlad's castle and get cool shit like the Cape and Crown, and tons of blood if you have the Kapala. Udjat "pings" when you get close to the Black Market in Jungle, and you can buy lots of stuff for cheap in there. You can get the Hedjet crown in here if you're rich.
• In Jungle 2-x, look for the Hive (bees). You can kill the Queen pretty easily with bombs if she's near the doorway, abusing i-frames and bombing "from the outside," bombs effect both inside and outside of the level. That gets you Royal Jelly (12 Hearts). Machetes and Fire (Power pack whip, jet pack, Torch) can burn the vines to access areas.
• In Volcana 2-x, you can bomb down to Vlad's if you have enough bombs and the explosive boxes are in good spots. Sometimes this is safer than dropping down with the Drill! If only because the lava can kill you as you descend the chain.

Been getting back into this pretty heavily lately. I still haven't beat it. I get tooled up with all the neat gear, wielding Excalibur with 20 HP and then get insta-killed by some bullshit bear trap hiding behind some foreground coral. Or one of the myriad Neo-Babylon chain reaction explosions from off screen. Guess I get too cocky when I'm having a good run.

Anyone playing on Steam want to try out co-op?

I'm on PS4, sadly, but I have done co-op with a friend. It's pretty fun! I hope someone can help you out. Make sure you can actually talk to each other though, or you are guaranteed to die.

I had a couple of really great starts, but like you said, sometimes that's not enough. Kapala/Jet Pack went bad when some lava went the wrong way after some shenanigans. Hedjet/Jet Pack went south when I misjumped and landed on some spikes.

I usually stick with Vlad’s wings and will usually ditch a jetpack for them. There’s too much risk of the jetpack exploding.