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	Volunteers: Poor Yorick
	Posted By: Mark Levin	Date: 11/9/01 11:42 a.m.
	Random stranger-than-fiction moment: Guess how much my lunch cost today... I'm back in the demo again, but now they are all screaming at me... Poor Yorick is the second level in the MI demo. But this time, it looks very, very different thanks to the overhauled water textures and new, gorgeous L'howon sky. The textures look far more mechanical than they used to, which I think is a huge improvement (although even the Jjaro set doesn't come close to the industrial-metal look of Marathon 1). This level is featured in one of the demo films that MI plays if you leave it running; this film shows off some secrets we will get to later. It also features in an amusing film posted by Gary "the Battlecat" Simmons, entitled Gorbel Dacking. The first thing you will see upon entering this level is a river running around a bend, watched by Troopers. The terminal has a large ammo collection to give you, and some instructions on finding panels and smashing them. If you look down from the ledge, you will probably catch a glimpse of another new MI feature: Ambient life. The small blue animal before you is the Potato Anus; they are slow, harmless, and nearly indestructible. It is possible to kill them, but only at a very high ammo cost, and you'll need those grenades. This level is huge and very spread out, and it will take you several passes to complete. Use your M-75, the flamethrower, any Alien Weapon you brought with you from the previous level whenever possible, you should already be hoarding vacuum-enabled ammo for Acme Station and Post Naval Trauma. The Hunters are friendly (unless you shoot them), Troopers, Flick'ta, and Drones are not. Your first stop is at the western end of the level, past some more combat and up into a small room. In here is a few collections of ammo hidden in nooks and crannies, the M-75 in case you haven't found one yet, an extra pistol, and the second species of ambient life, a hopping creature called Grendel. A cool-looking piece of architecture contains a terminal and a pattern buffer. Nearby, a small slit in the wall can be opened to reveal a glowing light. What was this supposed to do originally? Don't forget to hit the nearby switch, it opens the rest of the path. Exiting the room, you are ambushed by Drones as you jump to the highest ledge. Diving into the water will cost you some time and inconvenience, but gives you some ammo and an oxygen canister hidden in the waterfall. Once you're back on the high path, head around the level back to the terminal, and then through it to the eastern area. Don't forget to check out the small ledge (accessible through the "lookout post") that used to hold some ammo in the MI demo, and the secret area that holds a pattern buffer, 2x health, some extra napalm, and the KKV-7 SMG, Infinity's new weapon. Don't use it yet, you'll need it in the vacuum of space. In this secret is also a set of untextured walls; watch the inside of the KKV's door as it descends. Eventually, you reach the eastern area. Beware of teleporting Troopers. The switch here opens a door in the western room with the M-75. But that's not all: Find the low pool near the pattern buffer (converted from a redundant terminal in the demo) and swim to the ledge beyond it. Head down the corridor and through the door at the end, then double back to pick up the shotgun that has teleported onto the ledge you just left. The best way to get back on track is to make a flying leap off the mid-river stairs (this is demonstrated in the included film) and head west. Back in the room, a door has opened that leads to the second half of the level. Take out the troopers, and look around. A nearby terminal offers more information about "the durable S'pht hardware". Mmm... durability. This terminal also reveals the location of the access point for the Carnage Break level Two for the Price of One. For some reason, that area of the level has no ambient sound. Oversight? Moving right along, we find a chasm full of Flick'ta hurling poop at us. Kill them (flame and grenades work well) and head on to an outdoor area where Hunters beat up on Troopers (on low difficulties ;) ). This general area is full of little cracks and windows which reveal vistas of earlier in the level. The Pfhor transmitter is here, patched into a pulsating thing near a small well or something (don't go diving, there's a Water Flick'ta and some sticky walls down there). Also nearby are two chip insertion points. Ideally, two players would have gone to Robot World Arena, each picked up a chip, brought them to here, and plugged them both in ("ideally" will be elaborated on later). Go back a bit and dive into the Flick'ta's chasm. This will lead you into an underground network of caves, full of Flick'ta. Clear them out and take the eastern exit for a fun optional area. In here is a terminal featuring a fairly major inconsistency ("Remember, the Enforcers are not vacuum-enabled"), some extra shotgun ammo, and a place to watch some Hunters literally shooting fish in a barrel. There's also a nook that lets you dive down to a pool near the second switch we pushed earlier in the level. If you jump in there, you can open a door which leads to the exit terminal for Two for the Price of One. However, doing that level would cost us Confound Delivery, so I won't. That level is not supposed to be accessible unless two players are present to plug chips into the sockets we found earlier, but a bug allows anyone to open it and waltz right in. Back through the other exit of the underground chamber is lots of other Flick'ta and the exit terminal, in a small blue room that also has a pattern buffer and used to contain a 1x health canister in the demo. Tycho tells us that the trap is set, and moves us to the next level. This terminal is cloned in the terminal near (not in) the western room we visited earlier. Also, the first terminal in the level now has some final instructions from Tycho to his troops, referring to you as "slave unit". Hmph. (P.S. My lunch cost $8.19 :P )

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Replies:

	Volunteers: Poor Yorick	Mark Levin	11/9/01 11:42 a.m.
	Re: Volunteers: Poor Yorick	Hamish Sinclair	11/10/01 6:30 a.m.
	Re: Volunteers: Poor Yorick	Speaker-To-Animals	11/12/01 6:31 p.m.
	Re: Volunteers: Poor Yorick	Ernie TMBM	11/29/01 5:07 a.m.

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