MistaAnderson
Terrarian
* Work in Progress *
Changelog/thread revision included in my second post here.
This idea was inspired by the desire to give Hell a proper facelift. Right now, Jungle is worse than Hell. Hardmode Hell is the same as Normal Mode hell, so you can just farm Souls by standing under Crimson and hitting bats.
I wanna make Hell what it truly should be; hell in all its glory, the worst and deepest and darkest place in Terraria. I want there to be hazards there that you don't have to go through, but would reward you with even more prowess if you do. Challenges that reminds us of how games used to be; actually difficult.
Here it is.
I wrote this in a hurry after my post on giving Hell a facelift. Kinda invented Marion on the fly here, as I had never actually gone this deeply into the idea.
Give me feedback if you're interested!
EDIT: Will separate parts into spoilers as requested.
Marion's Horror
Hell has many layers of progression; each is separated by a Barrier of Evil. This means that there are literally layers, not just debth levels. It's like descending from one floor to the other, and every floor has some sort of "staircase", and each staircase is a dungeon with its own unique challenges.
The entirety of these special layers can be found on the bottom of the currently-existing Hell. You will have to dive down into the lava, where the camera will stop moving like usual once you're on the bottom, meaning you can't see past the bottom of Hell.
But there's a door there, surrounded by an evil forcefield that holds lava away for a few blocks' radius.
The door leads downwards, and when you open it and fall into it, the screen fades to black quickly, and fades in to reveal that you are now in Marion's Horror. This is the name of the entire collection of layers, ultimately leading to Marion herself.
Each Barrier of Evil is different, and they are supposedly unbreakable, meaning you'll have to enter through the entrances. The first layers consist of solid blocks, some of the latter consist partially of vile creatures twined together that will wreck you if you attack them. Rod of Discord and Portal Gun will not work anywhere within these layers.
You also cannot see past a barrier. There is darkness behind the wall you face, you cannot see past it until you're inside it, and everyhing is shadowed when you enter, making it hard to see but not impossible. Torches and other light sources will fade out and vanish once you move away from them, and the ones you carry with you/get from potions will attract enemies and should be used with care.
Marion Encounter
The layers end in a Final Chamber, where you have to fight a boss that is both powerful, fast and intelligent. I can design the boss, and she won't be easy.
To fight her, you'll be forced to use an item that translates you into a different dimension so your environment won't be as hard.
Potentially, this dimension can become a new world entirely if you know how to unlock it.
The reason you have switch dimension, is that Marion has a Crest that retains her immortality until said Crest is destroyed. And it is a perfect creation, meaning you cannot destroy it with your level of magic. The only solution is to pull her into a world where her Crest doesn't exist.
But the scale of how complex this world is, depends. If Relogic is willing to make it very large and count as a new world, the Alternate World chapter of this post will become relevant.
Otherwise, you'll just end up in a dimension, fight her and come back right before her, continuing to destroy her Crest.
If this ends up as a large world, you will not be able to defeat Marion just yet. Here's a chapter describing it.
Alternate World
The Aftermath
Once you've defeated Marion, having her equipment will make future boss fights easier. You'll also be able to somewhat utilize the new Mirror equipment in the old world. Your upgraded mirror will not work as a regular Magic Mirror anymore.
Changelog/thread revision included in my second post here.
This idea was inspired by the desire to give Hell a proper facelift. Right now, Jungle is worse than Hell. Hardmode Hell is the same as Normal Mode hell, so you can just farm Souls by standing under Crimson and hitting bats.
I wanna make Hell what it truly should be; hell in all its glory, the worst and deepest and darkest place in Terraria. I want there to be hazards there that you don't have to go through, but would reward you with even more prowess if you do. Challenges that reminds us of how games used to be; actually difficult.
Here it is.
I wrote this in a hurry after my post on giving Hell a facelift. Kinda invented Marion on the fly here, as I had never actually gone this deeply into the idea.
Give me feedback if you're interested!
EDIT: Will separate parts into spoilers as requested.
Marion's Horror
Hell has many layers of progression; each is separated by a Barrier of Evil. This means that there are literally layers, not just debth levels. It's like descending from one floor to the other, and every floor has some sort of "staircase", and each staircase is a dungeon with its own unique challenges.
The entirety of these special layers can be found on the bottom of the currently-existing Hell. You will have to dive down into the lava, where the camera will stop moving like usual once you're on the bottom, meaning you can't see past the bottom of Hell.
But there's a door there, surrounded by an evil forcefield that holds lava away for a few blocks' radius.
The door leads downwards, and when you open it and fall into it, the screen fades to black quickly, and fades in to reveal that you are now in Marion's Horror. This is the name of the entire collection of layers, ultimately leading to Marion herself.
Each Barrier of Evil is different, and they are supposedly unbreakable, meaning you'll have to enter through the entrances. The first layers consist of solid blocks, some of the latter consist partially of vile creatures twined together that will wreck you if you attack them. Rod of Discord and Portal Gun will not work anywhere within these layers.
You also cannot see past a barrier. There is darkness behind the wall you face, you cannot see past it until you're inside it, and everyhing is shadowed when you enter, making it hard to see but not impossible. Torches and other light sources will fade out and vanish once you move away from them, and the ones you carry with you/get from potions will attract enemies and should be used with care.
Progression
These layers are a nightmare to get through, as you will face challenges in each layer that are incredibly hard. In addition, these layers get harder each time you try them, meaning the player realistically ends up thinking: "I have one go at this. Please don't
up. I can't afford to make this harder at my current level."
This also level up with the player, so they can't just bumrush the entire thing after obtaining the best gear pre-hardmode or whatever their plan is.
And yes, they will add your number of attempts ontop of their progression-matching. The more you die in here, the harder the enemies get. So you might wanna try this at very specific levels of progression, in order to get the most out of your current situation. If getting Hellstone means they become harder, try getting everything else than that. And don't die too much.
There may be ways to reset the level of these layers to only match your progression and not your failed attempts. Not sure about Expert Mode. If they exist in Expert Mode, they will only lessen their increased difficulty, not completely reset it, meaning it still gets harder and harder the more you try, reset or not. Just not to the same extent. Your enemies still learn a little.
Every layer will yield an item or ability that makes it easier to pass through it later, should you wanna leave and do the next layer later. Once you're past a layer, reentering the same layer will still yield more powerful enemies, but your given ability or item will still make it way easier, and definitely worth postponing the next layer, considering the difficulty difference between layers is extreme. You can move on to the next layer later when you are ready. But remember, the longer you wait and progress other places in the game, the harder they get.
This is why you'll end up thinking "This is a pre-hardmode tier layer. Doing it now will be difficult, but if I wait till hardmode, it'll be way worse. And the next layer? Good lord."
The layers always scale. If the first Layer is difficult, the next will always be much more difficult. This means that if you do Layer 1 post-plantera, you won't really make it far due to other layers having scaled far past endgame gear. Unless you're Yrimirnator 5.0, you wanna do the early layers early, and the other layers as early as possible after that.
This means that if you're smart, you'll make it to Hell early in the game, and despite being hardly able to fight Hell enemies, you'll enter the first layers and just do your best.
If you end up doing these layers when you're more capable of putting up a fight, you'll be able to do the first layers easily, and you'll more likely be able to get through them, but later layers will be a menace.
In other words, if you're like me, you'll advance to a certain level, and use tactical weapon combinations, rather than powerful weapons and boss loot, to fight the enemies while they are still weak.
Then later, you will return once you are able to, and steadily move past layer after layer, revisiting the place once you've reached certain "goals" and think you're good enough.
Players that aren't so skilled will wait till they're more powerful, and do the first Layers more easily, but as the layers are exponentially more difficult, not be able to get to the harder ones.
This is a conscious decision; due to respawning being a thing, you don't have to be "good" or at all combat proficient to progress in Terraria right now. You can just put your spawn in the Jungle and die a billion times, getting a stinger at a time until you eventually have enough for a Chakram.
This lack of consequence will not be present in Marion's Horror.
It also adds extensively to the replayability; the more you learn, the better you become at the game, the earlier you'll be able to do the layers, the further you will be able to progress in them, and the more rewards you will be able to reap every time you start a new character. You'll find amazing tactics for each layer, and people will post guides about it.
Each layer contains extremely rewarding items, but also extremely tough challenges.
These layers are a nightmare to get through, as you will face challenges in each layer that are incredibly hard. In addition, these layers get harder each time you try them, meaning the player realistically ends up thinking: "I have one go at this. Please don't
up. I can't afford to make this harder at my current level."This also level up with the player, so they can't just bumrush the entire thing after obtaining the best gear pre-hardmode or whatever their plan is.
And yes, they will add your number of attempts ontop of their progression-matching. The more you die in here, the harder the enemies get. So you might wanna try this at very specific levels of progression, in order to get the most out of your current situation. If getting Hellstone means they become harder, try getting everything else than that. And don't die too much.
There may be ways to reset the level of these layers to only match your progression and not your failed attempts. Not sure about Expert Mode. If they exist in Expert Mode, they will only lessen their increased difficulty, not completely reset it, meaning it still gets harder and harder the more you try, reset or not. Just not to the same extent. Your enemies still learn a little.
Every layer will yield an item or ability that makes it easier to pass through it later, should you wanna leave and do the next layer later. Once you're past a layer, reentering the same layer will still yield more powerful enemies, but your given ability or item will still make it way easier, and definitely worth postponing the next layer, considering the difficulty difference between layers is extreme. You can move on to the next layer later when you are ready. But remember, the longer you wait and progress other places in the game, the harder they get.
This is why you'll end up thinking "This is a pre-hardmode tier layer. Doing it now will be difficult, but if I wait till hardmode, it'll be way worse. And the next layer? Good lord."
The layers always scale. If the first Layer is difficult, the next will always be much more difficult. This means that if you do Layer 1 post-plantera, you won't really make it far due to other layers having scaled far past endgame gear. Unless you're Yrimirnator 5.0, you wanna do the early layers early, and the other layers as early as possible after that.
This means that if you're smart, you'll make it to Hell early in the game, and despite being hardly able to fight Hell enemies, you'll enter the first layers and just do your best.
If you end up doing these layers when you're more capable of putting up a fight, you'll be able to do the first layers easily, and you'll more likely be able to get through them, but later layers will be a menace.
In other words, if you're like me, you'll advance to a certain level, and use tactical weapon combinations, rather than powerful weapons and boss loot, to fight the enemies while they are still weak.
Then later, you will return once you are able to, and steadily move past layer after layer, revisiting the place once you've reached certain "goals" and think you're good enough.
Players that aren't so skilled will wait till they're more powerful, and do the first Layers more easily, but as the layers are exponentially more difficult, not be able to get to the harder ones.
This is a conscious decision; due to respawning being a thing, you don't have to be "good" or at all combat proficient to progress in Terraria right now. You can just put your spawn in the Jungle and die a billion times, getting a stinger at a time until you eventually have enough for a Chakram.
This lack of consequence will not be present in Marion's Horror.
It also adds extensively to the replayability; the more you learn, the better you become at the game, the earlier you'll be able to do the layers, the further you will be able to progress in them, and the more rewards you will be able to reap every time you start a new character. You'll find amazing tactics for each layer, and people will post guides about it.
Each layer contains extremely rewarding items, but also extremely tough challenges.
Enemies
The layers will have enemies that adopt to your tactics. What does this mean? It means they remember your attacks using very simple recipes.
For example, if you tend to fire flaming arrows at them, enemies will be able to react to them and dodge more easily. Each time you die or complete the layer, that enemy will be able to react faster, as well as dodge slightly faster and counter-attack after reacting.
This is done easily in the game code by increasing combat variables for "Arrows", "Fast-firing magical weapons" and so on. Different types of weapons have different approaches.
Alternatively, just store the weapon name/weapon category when they're used so you won't have to allocate disk space for it initially. The more weapons you use, the more variation, the better chance they haven't learned to counter you yet. Changing style helps a lot.
Additionally, the later layers will let them track your movement. If you spend a lot of time up close using melee weapons, they'll statistically realize you like melee, and will try keeping at a distance, or teleporting.
If you use magical weapons, they'll realize you're dependant on mana, and mana-draining/silencing mobs will be more prevalently rushing you, etc.
High-tier layer enemies will also be able to use one-time attack dodges (Like the Black Belt) that are 80% successful, but take a few seconds to half a second to use again. And they will counter-attack if you miss, by either trapping you so you're vulnerable, or simply hitting you way hard.
The layers will have enemies that adopt to your tactics. What does this mean? It means they remember your attacks using very simple recipes.
For example, if you tend to fire flaming arrows at them, enemies will be able to react to them and dodge more easily. Each time you die or complete the layer, that enemy will be able to react faster, as well as dodge slightly faster and counter-attack after reacting.
This is done easily in the game code by increasing combat variables for "Arrows", "Fast-firing magical weapons" and so on. Different types of weapons have different approaches.
Alternatively, just store the weapon name/weapon category when they're used so you won't have to allocate disk space for it initially. The more weapons you use, the more variation, the better chance they haven't learned to counter you yet. Changing style helps a lot.
Additionally, the later layers will let them track your movement. If you spend a lot of time up close using melee weapons, they'll statistically realize you like melee, and will try keeping at a distance, or teleporting.
If you use magical weapons, they'll realize you're dependant on mana, and mana-draining/silencing mobs will be more prevalently rushing you, etc.
High-tier layer enemies will also be able to use one-time attack dodges (Like the Black Belt) that are 80% successful, but take a few seconds to half a second to use again. And they will counter-attack if you miss, by either trapping you so you're vulnerable, or simply hitting you way hard.
Environmental Hazards
In order to make the environment fun again, and gravitation actually dangerous, I want accessories to punish the player. I'm tired of Terraria being all about comparing DPS stats versus healing.
What happened to the environment being dangerous? Once you have Wings, your only hazard is direct DPS. Once you have the Cross Necklace, the "amount" of enemies or hits you take doesn't matter as much as the DPS per hit. And healing kinda broke the game.
So I'm remedying this.
Dark magic will cause bonuses on your Accessories to cause debuffs, twisting your magical items to work against you as well.
They may not remove the effects of your item, but they will compensate by giving you disadvantages.
Every accessory you wear will be, depending on the curse, more or less troublesome than helping - meaning you might wanna leave the Wings at home unless you really need them.
In other words, your maneuverability in this dungeon is very important - you have to choose careful which accessories to use and when to enable them. If high-jumping accessories decrease your walking speed, make sure not to use this in a long hallway.
"You're gonna have to climb this, and you better not fall."
Use Wings and not only will the debuffs become unbareable, but there will be mobs attracted by your flapping that will simply snag you from high up and shred you. So use them with caution.
Tip: You don't wanna find out what happens or where you end up if you use the Magic Mirror.
In other words, when you start these layers, you have to tread lightly and read the environment. No wings, no hook, no bull.
In order to make the environment fun again, and gravitation actually dangerous, I want accessories to punish the player. I'm tired of Terraria being all about comparing DPS stats versus healing.
What happened to the environment being dangerous? Once you have Wings, your only hazard is direct DPS. Once you have the Cross Necklace, the "amount" of enemies or hits you take doesn't matter as much as the DPS per hit. And healing kinda broke the game.
So I'm remedying this.
Dark magic will cause bonuses on your Accessories to cause debuffs, twisting your magical items to work against you as well.
They may not remove the effects of your item, but they will compensate by giving you disadvantages.
Every accessory you wear will be, depending on the curse, more or less troublesome than helping - meaning you might wanna leave the Wings at home unless you really need them.
In other words, your maneuverability in this dungeon is very important - you have to choose careful which accessories to use and when to enable them. If high-jumping accessories decrease your walking speed, make sure not to use this in a long hallway.
"You're gonna have to climb this
, and you better not fall."Use Wings and not only will the debuffs become unbareable, but there will be mobs attracted by your flapping that will simply snag you from high up and shred you. So use them with caution.
Tip: You don't wanna find out what happens or where you end up if you use the Magic Mirror.
In other words, when you start these layers, you have to tread lightly and read the environment. No wings, no hook, no bull
.Interesting Loot
The unnerfed Rod of Discord would be a possible upgrade, by using ingredients from one of the layers with the original Rod of Discord to make its power infinite.
You use a powerful ingredient that infuses things with incredibly dark power, a power that does never wear out. Meaning, your Rod of Discord will never "wear out", things enhanced with it will never weaken, and weapons like the Beam Sword will not have to recharge and make a small beep before you can reuse their magic. Yes, you can also infuse your armor with this to make Broken Armor debuff not work on you.
But getting this ingredient is a ton harder than just waiting until you're hardmode and getting Ankh Shield. The only thing making it worth it, is that you can technically get this at any level if you're hardcore-good at this game.
This ingredient is found by seeking out and finding Dark Urns in one of the layers. They're randomly placed, and cannot be broken without equipment further down the line, which unlocks them as placeable objects that act much like Teleporters, but without having to be wired.
When you place them, you can adjust them to differently colored glows linking them together (multiple urns can be linked together, allowing you to teleport sequentially through them), by using powders on them (Vile powder for example) for every biome color.
The unnerfed Rod of Discord would be a possible upgrade, by using ingredients from one of the layers with the original Rod of Discord to make its power infinite.
You use a powerful ingredient that infuses things with incredibly dark power, a power that does never wear out. Meaning, your Rod of Discord will never "wear out", things enhanced with it will never weaken, and weapons like the Beam Sword will not have to recharge and make a small beep before you can reuse their magic. Yes, you can also infuse your armor with this to make Broken Armor debuff not work on you.
But getting this ingredient is a ton harder than just waiting until you're hardmode and getting Ankh Shield. The only thing making it worth it, is that you can technically get this at any level if you're hardcore-good at this game.
This ingredient is found by seeking out and finding Dark Urns in one of the layers. They're randomly placed, and cannot be broken without equipment further down the line, which unlocks them as placeable objects that act much like Teleporters, but without having to be wired.
When you place them, you can adjust them to differently colored glows linking them together (multiple urns can be linked together, allowing you to teleport sequentially through them), by using powders on them (Vile powder for example) for every biome color.
Marion Encounter
The layers end in a Final Chamber, where you have to fight a boss that is both powerful, fast and intelligent. I can design the boss, and she won't be easy.
To fight her, you'll be forced to use an item that translates you into a different dimension so your environment won't be as hard.
Potentially, this dimension can become a new world entirely if you know how to unlock it.
The reason you have switch dimension, is that Marion has a Crest that retains her immortality until said Crest is destroyed. And it is a perfect creation, meaning you cannot destroy it with your level of magic. The only solution is to pull her into a world where her Crest doesn't exist.
But the scale of how complex this world is, depends. If Relogic is willing to make it very large and count as a new world, the Alternate World chapter of this post will become relevant.
Otherwise, you'll just end up in a dimension, fight her and come back right before her, continuing to destroy her Crest.
If this ends up as a large world, you will not be able to defeat Marion just yet. Here's a chapter describing it.
Alternate World
Old Equipment
Your old items and accessories will burn up if you use them here, so you'll have to get special items from there to defeat the boss.
This dimension is like the cryptonite of your old world; Even the atmosphere will burn up your gear if you use it. If you value old gear, I recommend you unequip yourself right before the boss battle, leaving you vulnerable until you enter the fight, and then immediately switch dimension. Yikes!
The exception is your Magic Mirror. Its magic is so strange that any atmospheric effect will somehow end up not affecting it, as if the teleporting magic also sends away other stuff. You will later in the game realize that this is also key to your victory against Marion.
Your old items and accessories will burn up if you use them here, so you'll have to get special items from there to defeat the boss.
This dimension is like the cryptonite of your old world; Even the atmosphere will burn up your gear if you use it. If you value old gear, I recommend you unequip yourself right before the boss battle, leaving you vulnerable until you enter the fight, and then immediately switch dimension. Yikes!
The exception is your Magic Mirror. Its magic is so strange that any atmospheric effect will somehow end up not affecting it, as if the teleporting magic also sends away other stuff. You will later in the game realize that this is also key to your victory against Marion.
Introduction
You could compare Marion's form to a Floaty Gross, just a ton larger. You can't block her way, you can't defeat her, but you can hide.
Switching dimension allows you a chance to run like all hell, hiding from Marion. She will seek you out and try to find you in this world, and it will be your task to survive, hide and become powerful without attracting too much attention.
Marion here will know that you are weak because your gear is unequipped and doesn't work in this world. She will try to get up close and shred you with powerful magic to guarantee your death.
She can't see you as easily as Floaty Grosses can in your old world; if there's a large mound of blocks in the way, she can't see you, but she can hear your activity if she's anywhere nearby, especially if you're in a big fight.
In other words, a lewd battle with enemies will be discovered easier than if you hide in a dark place. She cannot see through the dark in this dimension, so it's wise to hide completely in the darkness and have your spawnpoint unlit until she passes by.
Marion will be looking for you at times, meaning she'll be in the vicinity at random. She will find you easier during night time if you are using light sources. You'll be able to see atmospheric changes in the air, because of her dark magic, to warn you before she's close enough to spot you directly.
In Expert Mode, she will remember your base if she finds it a "bed" equivalent there; so be sure to carry a "bed" with you at all times, and try to use portable containers (Piggy-bank kind of things) as much as possible! This also limits the amount of loot you can carry.
Otherwise she'll be appear a ton more often and head directly for your base in high speed!
If Marion appears while it's dark around you, hide completely still and hope that she goes away, or alternatively try to get away without having her be able to catch up to your speed.
If you're gonna run for it, be sure to change direction while you're not in sight, so she'll be unable to see where you went. Otherwise she can accelerate to catch up to you. It's wise to have tunnels to hop into.
You could compare Marion's form to a Floaty Gross, just a ton larger. You can't block her way, you can't defeat her, but you can hide.
Switching dimension allows you a chance to run like all hell, hiding from Marion. She will seek you out and try to find you in this world, and it will be your task to survive, hide and become powerful without attracting too much attention.
Marion here will know that you are weak because your gear is unequipped and doesn't work in this world. She will try to get up close and shred you with powerful magic to guarantee your death.
She can't see you as easily as Floaty Grosses can in your old world; if there's a large mound of blocks in the way, she can't see you, but she can hear your activity if she's anywhere nearby, especially if you're in a big fight.
In other words, a lewd battle with enemies will be discovered easier than if you hide in a dark place. She cannot see through the dark in this dimension, so it's wise to hide completely in the darkness and have your spawnpoint unlit until she passes by.
Marion will be looking for you at times, meaning she'll be in the vicinity at random. She will find you easier during night time if you are using light sources. You'll be able to see atmospheric changes in the air, because of her dark magic, to warn you before she's close enough to spot you directly.
In Expert Mode, she will remember your base if she finds it a "bed" equivalent there; so be sure to carry a "bed" with you at all times, and try to use portable containers (Piggy-bank kind of things) as much as possible! This also limits the amount of loot you can carry.
Otherwise she'll be appear a ton more often and head directly for your base in high speed!
If Marion appears while it's dark around you, hide completely still and hope that she goes away, or alternatively try to get away without having her be able to catch up to your speed.
If you're gonna run for it, be sure to change direction while you're not in sight, so she'll be unable to see where you went. Otherwise she can accelerate to catch up to you. It's wise to have tunnels to hop into.
Consequences
If you're playing Normal Mode, you can be found and caught by Marion, and still be able to respawn in that world as long as you have a bed.
When caught, you'll die and she will wreck any previously seen base and destroy everything in it, including storage containers. This only happens if she catches you, and have seen your base at some point while chasing you earlier.
You will then respawn where you originally did upon entering the world. If you revisit the broken base, you'll see that the place is absolutely ruined, with dark energies that glow stronger if you approach them. These will warn her about your location, so don't do that. Seriously. Also they drain your health if you're close.
If your base has been destroyed and you have no bed, Marion catching you means you return to the old world, and the new world will be deleted. It will be randomly generated again the next time you enter. But you will keep your items from it in your inventory.
If you're playing Expert Mode, you won't be able to respawn in the same world if Marion catches you, at all. So you better prepare that Magic Mirror for emergencies.
And if she finds your base in Expert Mode, she won't touch it. She'll occasionally check it out to see if you've returned, and if you have, charge at you really fast.
Getting caught by Marion in Expert Mode also means your ingredients from the new world will vanish. The new world will also be deleted, and a new one is created the next time you choose to enter.
This lets you partially select a world generation that suits your tastes, by losing to Marion on purpose. Doing so will NOT make the enemies in Marion's Chamber harder in either difficulty.
You can save your game in the new world, and don't worry; restarting the game will let you continue in the new world where you left after saving.
If you're playing Normal Mode, you can be found and caught by Marion, and still be able to respawn in that world as long as you have a bed.
When caught, you'll die and she will wreck any previously seen base and destroy everything in it, including storage containers. This only happens if she catches you, and have seen your base at some point while chasing you earlier.
You will then respawn where you originally did upon entering the world. If you revisit the broken base, you'll see that the place is absolutely ruined, with dark energies that glow stronger if you approach them. These will warn her about your location, so don't do that. Seriously. Also they drain your health if you're close.
If your base has been destroyed and you have no bed, Marion catching you means you return to the old world, and the new world will be deleted. It will be randomly generated again the next time you enter. But you will keep your items from it in your inventory.
If you're playing Expert Mode, you won't be able to respawn in the same world if Marion catches you, at all. So you better prepare that Magic Mirror for emergencies.
And if she finds your base in Expert Mode, she won't touch it. She'll occasionally check it out to see if you've returned, and if you have, charge at you really fast.
Getting caught by Marion in Expert Mode also means your ingredients from the new world will vanish. The new world will also be deleted, and a new one is created the next time you choose to enter.
This lets you partially select a world generation that suits your tastes, by losing to Marion on purpose. Doing so will NOT make the enemies in Marion's Chamber harder in either difficulty.
You can save your game in the new world, and don't worry; restarting the game will let you continue in the new world where you left after saving.
Advancing
You will also notice that even though Marion seems to track you pretty well some times, she's sometimes just absent for a longer time period. Interesting, isn't it? Explanation comes later.
Do you know how antiparticles work in real life? They're the opposite of positive particles that we know, and when they come into contact, they are so opposite in nature that they obliterate eachother.
Well, that's why this new dimension is perfect for our needs. Its magic opposes ours, while the Dimensional Key protects your physical form (anything that touches it, really) from obliteration. It acts as if you are neutral.
Now why does Marion survive this?
You got the Dimensional Key in your own world. Don't you think someone as powerful as Marion would know/have everything related to this and then some?
Exactly. While she can't draw energy from her own world and the Crest, she can still survive using similar magic to the Dimensional Key. She might even be using one.
And yes, this is also why she's able to follow you in there to begin with. She knows you got the key. And she's got enough knowledge to remain somewhat resourceful while in the new world.
Unfortunately, what you didn't know, is that once Marion got to the new world, she made plans of her own. You remember how she somehow seems great at tracking you, yet she's not always around at all times of day?
Well, she's already made a Crest once. Why not make one in the new world? Uh-oh.
While she can't make one the same way as she did in her own world, due to this one having different kinds (and often negating types) of magic, she's still going to figure out a way to do it.
You're assigned the task of preventing her from making a Crest.
Thankfully, you'll be receiving a new guide! A weird creature that you're not sure whether you love, find cute, or find outright unhelpful. He/she's got some weird tips and is not always correct, but at least they're trying.
You're not gonna get an equivalent to the Nurse, but you are going to be able to communicate with the creature that helps you, by having them in the Pet Slot.
Right-Clicking will potentially yield hints. Or mistakes.
There will also be magical cryptonite-esque elements in the world that will severely weaken you if you enter their vicinity. Equivalents to the Dungeon will definitely have you holding your breath as you realize you can't just use the Wings and Hook to ignore natural hazards. They'd burn up.
At some point, you will be getting an inscription tool, much like a paint brush but for creating magical enchantments. This tool will paint magical formulas onto entities, so you can right-click any entity to attempt to write magic to it, akin to the way Marion makes her Crests.
You have no idea what you're doing, so at best, you'll probably break whatever you're painting on!
In other words, you have another item that lets you right-click stuff to trigger weird effects. There are many hidden uses for this in other places too. Try it on the layer walls.
You will also notice that even though Marion seems to track you pretty well some times, she's sometimes just absent for a longer time period. Interesting, isn't it? Explanation comes later.
Do you know how antiparticles work in real life? They're the opposite of positive particles that we know, and when they come into contact, they are so opposite in nature that they obliterate eachother.
Well, that's why this new dimension is perfect for our needs. Its magic opposes ours, while the Dimensional Key protects your physical form (anything that touches it, really) from obliteration. It acts as if you are neutral.
Now why does Marion survive this?
You got the Dimensional Key in your own world. Don't you think someone as powerful as Marion would know/have everything related to this and then some?
Exactly. While she can't draw energy from her own world and the Crest, she can still survive using similar magic to the Dimensional Key. She might even be using one.
And yes, this is also why she's able to follow you in there to begin with. She knows you got the key. And she's got enough knowledge to remain somewhat resourceful while in the new world.
Unfortunately, what you didn't know, is that once Marion got to the new world, she made plans of her own. You remember how she somehow seems great at tracking you, yet she's not always around at all times of day?
Well, she's already made a Crest once. Why not make one in the new world? Uh-oh.
While she can't make one the same way as she did in her own world, due to this one having different kinds (and often negating types) of magic, she's still going to figure out a way to do it.
You're assigned the task of preventing her from making a Crest.
Thankfully, you'll be receiving a new guide! A weird creature that you're not sure whether you love, find cute, or find outright unhelpful. He/she's got some weird tips and is not always correct, but at least they're trying.
You're not gonna get an equivalent to the Nurse, but you are going to be able to communicate with the creature that helps you, by having them in the Pet Slot.
Right-Clicking will potentially yield hints. Or mistakes.
There will also be magical cryptonite-esque elements in the world that will severely weaken you if you enter their vicinity. Equivalents to the Dungeon will definitely have you holding your breath as you realize you can't just use the Wings and Hook to ignore natural hazards. They'd burn up.
At some point, you will be getting an inscription tool, much like a paint brush but for creating magical enchantments. This tool will paint magical formulas onto entities, so you can right-click any entity to attempt to write magic to it, akin to the way Marion makes her Crests.
You have no idea what you're doing, so at best, you'll probably break whatever you're painting on!
In other words, you have another item that lets you right-click stuff to trigger weird effects. There are many hidden uses for this in other places too. Try it on the layer walls.
The Mirror
Normal Mode lets you upgrade the mirror to Protective Mirror, which lets you absorb magical projectiles into the mirror to negate them.
You need to do this to avoid Marion's insanely powerful attacks. The mirror will be held like a shield while left-clicking, and you can change its angle with the mouse. It will absorb some of her attacks that are almost unavoidable otherwise.
Expert Mode lets you upgrade the mirror to Absorbant Mirror, which will absorb said projectiles and let you fire them back later.
In Expert Mode, this is the only way to defeat Marion when you return to your old world, as her own attacks are the only ones powerful enough.
You need to be careful when fighting Marion in Expert Mode, as sending back her attacks will only work with proper timing. If she's at proper dodging distance, she will evade the counter-attacks and use other attacks on you instead; ones that actually work, and cannot be absorbed. So you don't have too many shots at this.
Note: The Absorbant/Protective Mirror may have to be balanced in your home world if it's too powerful, so here it is:
The Mirror, being a new world upgrade, is not completely compatible with your own world and therefore will not yield complete protection. It consists of elements from both worlds, meaning it will only half-work in the regular world. The Magic Mirror is originally compatible with both worlds, having different effects on them, and this is why parts of its new powers still work.
Protective Mirror will attempt to absorb enemy projectiles, but will sometimes simply reduce damage taken. It will not guarantee protection.
Absorbant Mirror can only hold a certain amount of projectiles/energy at any given time. It also does not guarantee absorbance of enemy projectiles, and will work much less effectively when full.
Normal Mode lets you upgrade the mirror to Protective Mirror, which lets you absorb magical projectiles into the mirror to negate them.
You need to do this to avoid Marion's insanely powerful attacks. The mirror will be held like a shield while left-clicking, and you can change its angle with the mouse. It will absorb some of her attacks that are almost unavoidable otherwise.
Expert Mode lets you upgrade the mirror to Absorbant Mirror, which will absorb said projectiles and let you fire them back later.
In Expert Mode, this is the only way to defeat Marion when you return to your old world, as her own attacks are the only ones powerful enough.
You need to be careful when fighting Marion in Expert Mode, as sending back her attacks will only work with proper timing. If she's at proper dodging distance, she will evade the counter-attacks and use other attacks on you instead; ones that actually work, and cannot be absorbed. So you don't have too many shots at this.
Note: The Absorbant/Protective Mirror may have to be balanced in your home world if it's too powerful, so here it is:
The Mirror, being a new world upgrade, is not completely compatible with your own world and therefore will not yield complete protection. It consists of elements from both worlds, meaning it will only half-work in the regular world. The Magic Mirror is originally compatible with both worlds, having different effects on them, and this is why parts of its new powers still work.
Protective Mirror will attempt to absorb enemy projectiles, but will sometimes simply reduce damage taken. It will not guarantee protection.
Absorbant Mirror can only hold a certain amount of projectiles/energy at any given time. It also does not guarantee absorbance of enemy projectiles, and will work much less effectively when full.
Finding Marion
Finding Marion's lair is damn near impossible.
Getting access to her lair? Ha. That's also a challenge.
Your Guide seems to have noticed a strange new lair with activity at some point, and will guide you towards her lair, which is hidden underground.
Thankfully, in Normal Mode, her Crest is not complete yet at the time you find it to destroy it, as she doesn't exactly have access to the same kind of magic as she did in her own world. She'll have to relearn how to make a Crest.
She has put up fake lairs, though, by the time you're powerful enough to chase her. Multiple dungeons that contain nothing more than various monsters she quickly rounded up there. So you'll be dungeoning quite a bit.
There will be Crests in these, and you'll know if you're in the real lair or not, when your new guide tells you there's something odd about the Crest when you right-click it to paint on it.
That means it's not radiating magic in any way.
For experienced players, it's possible to tell the real lair from a false one by the fact that the false ones have wider entrances and are more visible. And that once you fall into the lair, you'll see that the inside is just a roughly carved cave, made to trap you.
Yes, you will have to destroy the new Crest. The problem is that it's as indestructible as Marion herself.. But you'll still have to do something!
Marion will be aggressive if she finds out you're snooping around her lair. She won't spend too long with her own progression outside her base before she returns to make sure you aren't around.
This is why she'll chase you when she sees you outside, but if she loses track of you, she'll quickly return to her lair for safety's sake.
While in her lair, you'll have to find her real crest. All you know is that it's inscribed.. somewhere. It could be on a wall, an urn, a block, anything. The game has textures for either of these, randomly chosen.
Spending too much time in there means Marion is gonna find you.
Finding Marion's lair is damn near impossible.
Getting access to her lair? Ha. That's also a challenge.
Your Guide seems to have noticed a strange new lair with activity at some point, and will guide you towards her lair, which is hidden underground.
Thankfully, in Normal Mode, her Crest is not complete yet at the time you find it to destroy it, as she doesn't exactly have access to the same kind of magic as she did in her own world. She'll have to relearn how to make a Crest.
She has put up fake lairs, though, by the time you're powerful enough to chase her. Multiple dungeons that contain nothing more than various monsters she quickly rounded up there. So you'll be dungeoning quite a bit.
There will be Crests in these, and you'll know if you're in the real lair or not, when your new guide tells you there's something odd about the Crest when you right-click it to paint on it.
That means it's not radiating magic in any way.
For experienced players, it's possible to tell the real lair from a false one by the fact that the false ones have wider entrances and are more visible. And that once you fall into the lair, you'll see that the inside is just a roughly carved cave, made to trap you.
Yes, you will have to destroy the new Crest. The problem is that it's as indestructible as Marion herself.. But you'll still have to do something!
Marion will be aggressive if she finds out you're snooping around her lair. She won't spend too long with her own progression outside her base before she returns to make sure you aren't around.
This is why she'll chase you when she sees you outside, but if she loses track of you, she'll quickly return to her lair for safety's sake.
While in her lair, you'll have to find her real crest. All you know is that it's inscribed.. somewhere. It could be on a wall, an urn, a block, anything. The game has textures for either of these, randomly chosen.
Spending too much time in there means Marion is gonna find you.
Normal vs Expert Mode
If you succeed in finding her Crest in Normal Mode, click it with the inscription tool to corrupt it by adding your own.. "magic" over it.
This will break her Crest and make her mortal again. Her Crest was not completely foolproof in the new world, but it worked somewhat in its current form. She was researching how to upgrade it.
After she becomes mortal, she will be aggressive as all hell and look for you everywhere. You better have the Protective Mirror ready. Due to her vulnerable state, she will attack you at a distance instead of going close for the kill, giving you a chance to use them.
Use the Protective Mirror to shield yourself from her attacks, corner her and attack with all you've got.
If you defeat her, she will drop ingredients that upgrade your inscription tool - with her own inscribing powers, able to control even her complete Crests. Like the one in Marion's Horror.
In Expert Mode, she has unfortunately already finished making her Crest in the new world. And it's impossible to reach it, as it's inscribed on.. herself.
She's been waiting for you to come to her lair all along so she could finish you off.
To prevent you from getting up close with the inscription tool, she will use ranged attacks. This is when you will need the Absorbant Mirror.
If you do not have the Protective/Absorbant Mirror within this time, you will likely die.
You know what happens if you die.
If you succeed in finding her Crest in Normal Mode, click it with the inscription tool to corrupt it by adding your own.. "magic" over it.
This will break her Crest and make her mortal again. Her Crest was not completely foolproof in the new world, but it worked somewhat in its current form. She was researching how to upgrade it.
After she becomes mortal, she will be aggressive as all hell and look for you everywhere. You better have the Protective Mirror ready. Due to her vulnerable state, she will attack you at a distance instead of going close for the kill, giving you a chance to use them.
Use the Protective Mirror to shield yourself from her attacks, corner her and attack with all you've got.
If you defeat her, she will drop ingredients that upgrade your inscription tool - with her own inscribing powers, able to control even her complete Crests. Like the one in Marion's Horror.
In Expert Mode, she has unfortunately already finished making her Crest in the new world. And it's impossible to reach it, as it's inscribed on.. herself.
She's been waiting for you to come to her lair all along so she could finish you off.
To prevent you from getting up close with the inscription tool, she will use ranged attacks. This is when you will need the Absorbant Mirror.
If you do not have the Protective/Absorbant Mirror within this time, you will likely die.
You know what happens if you die.
What happens next?
When Marion encounters you in the new world, use the Mirror to aid in her defeat.
Once she's defeated, you can roam the world freely.
You'll be able to return to the old world before she reincarnates there, and you can find her Crest. Inscribe on it with the new tool, and it will break, allowing access to some previously hidden rooms. This place is exciting and can contain a lot of fun stuff.
Corrupting the Crest means Marion no longer has a horcrux-equivalent horse advantage.
She is weakened heavily, meaning you can defeat her.
To defeat Marion in Normal Mode: Negate her attacks with your Protective Mirror, then counterattack.
To defeat Marion in Expert Mode: Use the Absorbing Mirror only on select attacks from her, and fire them back with right-click when she's the least prepared or has the least time to dodge. Otherwise she'll know to dodge them and you'll be screwed. She will also learn not to use attacks that you can absorb if you do it too much, so get her quickly.
If you do win against Marion, and haven't done the secret yet, the new dimension will vanish and be inaccessible like it always has until it's opened again in a boss fight.
If you did the easter egg, you can always unlock and open the dimension by using a Dimensional Key. You'll be able to roam there, but you should know one thing. Marion will still haunt the place in Expert Mode, given her Crest having been completed there already.
Sure, you "defeated" her once, but her Crest was in effect. That is.. unless you've done the easter egg..
I wonder what happens if you manage to get up close to her and use her own inscription tool on her crest in Expert Mode?
Let's just say this is borderline impossible.
When Marion encounters you in the new world, use the Mirror to aid in her defeat.
Once she's defeated, you can roam the world freely.
You'll be able to return to the old world before she reincarnates there, and you can find her Crest. Inscribe on it with the new tool, and it will break, allowing access to some previously hidden rooms. This place is exciting and can contain a lot of fun stuff.
Corrupting the Crest means Marion no longer has a horcrux-equivalent horse
advantage.She is weakened heavily, meaning you can defeat her.
To defeat Marion in Normal Mode: Negate her attacks with your Protective Mirror, then counterattack.
To defeat Marion in Expert Mode: Use the Absorbing Mirror only on select attacks from her, and fire them back with right-click when she's the least prepared or has the least time to dodge. Otherwise she'll know to dodge them and you'll be screwed. She will also learn not to use attacks that you can absorb if you do it too much, so get her quickly.
If you do win against Marion, and haven't done the secret yet, the new dimension will vanish and be inaccessible like it always has until it's opened again in a boss fight.
If you did the easter egg, you can always unlock and open the dimension by using a Dimensional Key. You'll be able to roam there, but you should know one thing. Marion will still haunt the place in Expert Mode, given her Crest having been completed there already.
Sure, you "defeated" her once, but her Crest was in effect. That is.. unless you've done the easter egg..
I wonder what happens if you manage to get up close to her and use her own inscription tool on her crest in Expert Mode?
Let's just say this is borderline impossible.
The Aftermath
Once you've defeated Marion, having her equipment will make future boss fights easier. You'll also be able to somewhat utilize the new Mirror equipment in the old world. Your upgraded mirror will not work as a regular Magic Mirror anymore.
Last edited:
