: After you complete Un-Wired you're sent to Core Done Blew to destroy
: Durandal's core. This map is very unique. It consists of a big, big area
: around Durandal's core, one half of which is significantly higher than the
: other. There are numerous elevators in this area, not to mention numerous
: enemies. The Pfhor are respawning on the higher half, but you'll still
: have to deal with a few hunters and invisible compilers on the lower half.
I would add that this level has bilateral symmetry - there are two halves that must be visited in exactly the same way, using an initially activated platform to reach a teleporter to access a room with a switch, an info terminal, a PB and an exit teleporter. Note that the windows are open and although the enemies can't enter, the compiler bolts can still reach you. I also find that the narrow stairway leading to these rooms is often blocked by a bob, necessitating killing him. With the elevators now active to reach the upper terrace, the player can now reach the chip insertion tower and a small room with a PB and shield recharger. Switches in the chip insertion tower open access to a pair of long corridors with switches, both of which must be flipped to grant access to the chip room. Access to these corridors is momentary, but the elevators leading to them, fortunately, are player-activated. Unfortunately, I found that they are also monster activated and occasionally a monster will have triggered one, forcing the player to go back and start over. Once obtained, insertion of the chip into the chip insertion tower finally opens access to Durandal's core. All of these contrivances were supposedly Bernard Strauss' convoluted way of making sure no mere mortal could access Durandal's core. Of course, we're not a mere mortal
: Now to sum it up. This level is fun, but it gets irritating to run back and
: forth to the tower, especially with those elevators being non-player
: activated - doing that would really, really, really help this level. I
: didn't encounter many problems with monster regeneration, but others did,
: so I'll let them relate their experiences in this thread. The platform
: idea in the core is cool, but it's just too slow - I have to wait for a
: LONG time for it to get back down, and even when it does I have to get on
: it quickly or it starts going up again. All in all a good, fun level.
The monster regeneration problem is not nearly as bad as it was in Mark I, where the player could find the exit from the chip insertion tower blocked by an impossible number of monsters when playing on TC. By the time the player cleared them out, it was too late to reach the chip room switches. The regenerating invisible compilers, however, are another problem. Perhaps Forrest made some changes in Mark V (I avoided the failure branches this time through), but in Mark IV the compilers would come after the player while they were on the elevators and they would follow the player into the core itself. Using the central platform in the core room is a matter of luck - if a compiler sees you and follows you in, you can forget about it. And the big problem is that the compilers regenerate instantaneously - there are always 2 on the level no matter how many times you kill them.
: Now on to Inti Omega. I've never really liked this level. It's confusing, and
: it doesn't make up for that with anything really. There are too many areas
: to enter and not enough to see. Things like the elevator hall are
: downright stupid. The storyline bits of this level, however, are very
: good. Yoss has some EXCELLENT writing skills. I also like the idea of
: being sent continually to this station everytime we fail to see what
: effect we had. Not such a fan of the "try again" bit, but again,
: that's just me. Overall, this level has great potential, and when I remake
: this one I'm going to spend a long time beforehand thinking about how to
: best use that potential.
As Adam said, we come back here at the end of every failure branch. Although the level may not meet his expectations, it does have its good points and nice views of the sun. Speaking of which, you enter the level via a weird, hovering in space between suns effect, before teleporting in. In earlier marks this entire level was played in fish-eye view, just as with Comfortably Numb in Rubicon, but I think Forrest may have removed this effect. The most important aspect of Inti Omega, however, is what this level represents. In helping Durandal to escape the Universe, the Pfhor invasion of the Marathon was never repulsed, the S'pht never rebelled and we never fought the Pfhor on Lh'owon. As a result, the Pfhor did exactly what Durandal said they would in M2 - they attacked Earth without warning at a time when humankind was ill-prepared to defend itself. Initi Omega represents that disasterous future - in this dream sequence, we are on a near-solar space station witnessing the enslavement of humanity. Note that this is the only time we will visit this station and find it free of aliens. Still, there are a couple of crushing platforms to watch out for. Also, there is no PB near the end, so if you die before saving in the next level, you have to repeat the entire level - not a real problem this time through, but a major problem in subsequent chapters.
