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	Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy
	Posted By: Mark Levin	Date: 12/4/03 11:33 p.m.
	In Response To: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy (Steve Levinson) : Ameseno, Italy. Where is Ameseno, Italy? Do a Google search and the vast : majority of references to Ameseno that you'll find will be Tempus Irae : links. There are a handful of historical references and there is a : reference to the Ameseno river. Try searching on Yahoo and even Yahoo maps : for Italy (not that I could read the Italian) and you'll come up blank. : Repeat the procedure with National Geographic's map site. I know when I've : been licked! In any case, I'm sure that there is some relevance to Ameseno : more than it simply being a place visited by the mapmaker as suggested in : the Spoiler Guide. In any case, this is another memorable level. It's a : lot of fun to play with many areas to explore. I know that Todd prefers : the heart-thumping action of Gauntlet, but I like exploration and puzzles : interspersed with occasional bouts of heart-thumping action. This is a : great level on all accounts. My one gripe is the amount of retracing steps : and exhaustive searching that the player has to do to find where to go : next. It can be very frustrating the first time through, but a seasoned : player will know how to pick up on the clues. This is one of my favorite levels in TI. The dark ambience is unusual for the scenario; even the Earth levels set at night have been relatively bright. This dimness, and the near-constant combat punctuated with the occasional foray into a newly opened area, makes the level a very tense experience. It's true there's a lot of backtracking and unguided exploration, but it's a nice place to explore- small enough to run across in a matter of seconds, yet somehow spacious enough to feel like a small town. It's connected enough to not really have any dead ends or paths you'll take over and over again, and full of new things to trigger (even if they are just rooms full of ammo and monsters). The most unusual thing about the mapmaking is how "messy" it is. There are hardly any right angles, rectangular rooms, or walls running perfectly north/south or east/west. Most of the rooms are featureless and empty beyond gameplay items. The puzzles are fairly contrived compared to similar hunt-the-switch puzzles in other levels (a loose flagstone? Underwater switches? Smashable gears in a cornfield? (and why bother to explicitly point this out in the terminal? It's not like the cornfield is inconspicuous or hard to find...)). This level is credit to Kain Osterholt, and the read me confirms that these are some of his first maps ever released. Sorry, Kain, but it shows :/ However, none of this should be read as contradicting the praise above; let it instead show that the elements that make a level fun to play are not the same as those that make it pretty or make it a convincing Renaissance design. : There's a lot of ammo scattered throughout the level and it's fairly easy to : pick up without having to use too much of it to take out the Pfhor : guarding it. 2X and 3X power-ups are plentiful, so there is little risk of : dying unless you're careless. Still, there is plenty of action to keep the : level enjoyable. After picking up the manuscript, the underground passage : will flood. There are two ways out, one of which is much easier than the : other. If you've scouted things out in advance in map mode, you'll know : which route to take. There's a pretty big secret in this level, but it used to be even bigger. After finding the second underwater switch, climb onto the pillar with the yellow health and jump to the western waterfall. Tab the falling water, and after a moment it will sink into the floor, revealing a secret passage. Back here is a switch which opens a teleporter. Through this teleporter is an oddly shaped room containing 3x health, an invincibility powerup, and a teleporter back to the beginning of the level- if you're playing Tempus Irae 1.1. In TI 1.0, this room had something else in it. Anyone who played Missed Island will remember the "target practice" trick in which a monster is made to trigger a switch by shooting a tick on a moving platform; a version of that trick used to be in this room, but with an invisible bob in place of the Enforcer normally used. Since TI 1.0 seems to no longer be available from anywhere, and I was never able to get a straight answer from Nardo on what the old secret was meant to do, it looks like the tru7h will never be known. A mystery for the ages. There are also a number of rockets on this level for the SPNKR the S'pht haven't finished making yet, but which you'll have anyway if you visited Beyond the Black or Towel Boy.

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Replies:

	Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy	Steve Levinson	12/4/03 2:37 p.m.
	Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy	thermoplyae	12/4/03 4:55 p.m.
	Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy	ukimalefu	12/4/03 8:16 p.m.
	Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy	Mark Levin	12/4/03 11:33 p.m.
	Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy	Keith Palmer	12/5/03 11:45 a.m.
	Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy	Todd	12/5/03 4:32 p.m.
	Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy	Gholsbane	12/6/03 12:15 a.m.
	Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy	Steve Levinson	12/7/03 9:04 a.m.

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