It turns out beating Escue isn’t so hard. I was close to having it down, but the lack of enemy healthbars gives you a false impression of how tough the bosses are.
I hit it with missiles, and learn through a few fights that when Escue is electrified, don’t bother attacking, and just focus on dodging. When it’s not electrified, it’s vulnerable. It’s not just when the carapace is open. Dodging the black worms attack is hard, but if you jump and move you’ll only get hit by one or two of them, saving you a bunch of damage. Dodging the big black ball attack is more critical, and getting out of the way of the rush attack is also important. But mainly, pouring on missiles when you can is what gets the job done.
Escue has a second form, a large X-parasite blob, which takes a few more missiles to kill. Each time you hit it, it drops a bunch of X-pickups, which replenish your health some, which is important because it’s big enough that it’s tough to dodge or jump over, and you’re usually going to be close to death from the first phase of the Escue fight.
After defeating it, it drops an X-blob power-up, which turns out to be a multi-missile volley called the Storm Missile. You have to charge it by holding a button down, then sweep the area with your aim beam to target any available enemies in the room, and then it will unleash a volley of missiles at all of them. It’s a pretty neat ability. It also enables me to blow open those large blocks with the glowing green energy in them, which I previously haven’t been able to get past.
I find another missile container, a secret hidden one in the area just before the Escue fight, and then I go to the save point and save.
Looking at the map, there’s a large area of the map that I haven’t been to yet, and that’s where the Control Room is marked, and that’s obviously where I must go. I head in that direction, and before I get halfway there, I get locked into a large room, where I encounter two Chozo soldiers.
It feels like a Smash Bros. arena, as I run around trying to dodge their attacks. There’s a lot of room to move, but it’s tough to keep track of both enemies. Run, dodge, whip around and release a few missiles, but it’s not enough, and I go down again and again. I manage to deal out some damage but don’t have the moves to take even one of the pair out. But for all I know, I’m getting them close. But nah, they hand my ass to me repeatedly.
Finally, I manage to take them out. I just run and dodge, jumping over them and using the dash move to get extra distance, dodge, and to make sure my attempts to jump over them don’t result in me touching down on them and taking damage.
One of the most unfair feeling things about the boss fights in this game is that any touch at all, no matter how slight or incidental, with these bosses, seems to deal heavy damage. In this fight, in particular, the chozo’s attacks seem to have very generous hitboxes, such that if I touch even a tiny spark that flies off of their weapon, I’m dealt damage. I manage to run good in this last fight, and mostly avoid getting hit, and launch a lot of storm missiles into my foes, hitting them 3 at a time. Whenever I can, I turn back and fire as I run away, but I mostly am playing a defensive game, trying to avoid giving them an easy target. This works out pretty well, and when the first one dies, I’m surprised. I have enough time to glance at my life meter, and after picking up the drops from the first one, I’m in very good shape. With one down, it’s about 10 times easier to dodge and get around the room safely, and I have almost no problem taking down the second one. At one point I screw up a jump and end up toe to toe on the left side of the map. But I manage to hit him and then dump-dash out of there, turn around, and blast him for the final time on the top level, and watch him crumble into dust.
Fortunately, there’s a save room to the left of this chamber, and it’s one that I’ve been to before — previously the doorway connecting it to this boss fight room must have been blocked. I run in and save.
I have another look at the map, because I’m not sure where to go next. I see that nearby, through the area to the left that I’ve already been through, there was a storm missile block that prevented me from going into a room where the map shows there’s a power up ball. No hesitation, I head that way, and get the Space Jump ability. This is like the Spin Boost ability, but an infinite jump instead of a double jump; so it makes the Spin Boost obsolete, and effectively enables me to fly by jumping repeatedly.
Now the only areas left for me that are unexplored in Ferenia are both ice rooms, and I still don’t have an ability that will enable me to survive for more than a few seconds in these areas. The one to the right seems to be the path to take me to the Central Control room, where I know I’ll need to go in order to get the Omega Beam power up to deal with the EMMI from this zone. I think maybe if I run quickly I can get through it without dying, but the way is blocked by bomb blocks, and I can’t bomb fast enough to get through it. I don’t even know for sure that this is the right way.
I get up a full health charge and bomb through quickly, enter a door and get to the next room, which is also frozen, with almost no life left, and die. I’m not going to get through this area unless I can find a way to shut off the cold, or protect myself against it. And presently I know how to do neither.