Lone Mudokon in Scrab temple

[syzygian]

I need help saving one last Mudokon in Abe’s Oddysee. Here’s the one I can’t save: Scrab temple, from the screen with all the doors, go to the bottom row and the second door from the right. The Mudokon is in the secret area. There are three secret areas in the Scrab temple, and this is the only one with exactly one Mudokon, so I hope this is enough to explain where the problem is.

When you show up, you’re supposed to lead the Mudokon to the left, have him wait there, then go back to the right, jump down and roll left to avoid the scrab. When you roll left, you’re in the same room as the Mudokon, but you’re crouched so you can’t chant. But there’s a sequence of platforms on the left (along with a mine) that basically tells you that you need to get all the way to the upper left to get a safe place to chant.

According to the FAQs I’ve seen, once you’ve rolled to the left screen, you’re supposed to drop down, jump to the platform to avoid the scrab, and then climb up the left side, avoiding the mine. Makes sense. But every time I roll out of the pipe, I get squashed flat from the fall. There doesn’t seem to be any safe way to get down out of that pipe so I can climb up the left side. The FAQs I’ve seen make it sound as though there’s nothing to it, but every time I roll left out of the pipe I die. I figure that either I’m cursed, there’s a bug in my game (PS1), or I’m missing something. I hope I’m missing something. Any suggestions?

[Mojo]

As soon you roll past the obstacle, you are safe for the Scrab. Now why don't you try to stand up, and lower yourself down? I'm not sure if it works, but it is a possibility. (Haven't played AO for a while, so I'm a bit rusty)

[syzygian]

I'll check again to make sure, but I think that once I roll left to get into the pipe, I can't stand up again. At one end of the pipe is a Scrab that kills me. At the other end of the pipe is a sudden fall that also kills me. So if I roll right then the Scrab gets me. If I roll left then I die in the fall. Being able to lower myself down would be a solution, but I can't find the place to do it. Help!

[Wil]

You should roll to the left and land safely, albiet requiring urgent fleeing motions to avoid become Scrab Chow. It sounds like you're just cursed. I don't know for certain whether you holding the move button down or not is enough to change anything, but sometimes when I've finished rescuing the last 3 Mudokons in Escape from RuptureFarms, I roll to grab the ledge and lower myself down, and end up not grabbing it and falling to my death, so presumably sometimes there is something to it. Experiment - try just tapping the move button when you've at the very edge of the ledge/tunnel, then try getting a good 'roll up' (run up) and seeing if that works. That's all I can suggest, except possibly just keep doing it over and over, shouting obsenities at the TV until it gets the point and stops mucking about with you.

[syzygian]

You may have something there. I've been rolling by pressing X and then going right. It seemed easier to avoid the first scrab that way. Maybe it might make a difference if I rolled by running and then tapping X just before I get to the pipe. The point you made about the end of rupture farms makes sense. If you sometimes crash and sometimes don't, then maybe there's something that might make a difference in the scrab temple case. It would be kind of ridiculous if that made any difference, but hey, at least it's a different thing to try.

I don't think I'll go for the "Try it again and again until obscenities stream out" approach. I've been down that road and the game has been remarkably callous and resistant to intimidation.

Thanks for the idea. If it doesn't work, then "cursed" will become the leading explanation.