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 | Tour of Duty - Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap | |
| Posted By: PerseusSpartacus | Date: 7/6/13 3:34 p.m. |
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13 - Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap Previously on Tour of Duty, we encountered copious amounts of *cough* nonsensically-placed and inexplicably childish in nature *uncough* lava and watched Leela's apparent demise. We now come to the 13th level of the game, though in M1A1 the game counts Arrival as level 1 rather than 0 as it ought to, and thus one might be tempted to say this is the 14th level. Considering the love of sevens and the superstition around 13, we must ask ourselves: is this a lucky level, or an unlucky one? ;) Nevermind that, though - there's a terminal to read: ***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL***
A man lit three candles on a certain day each year. Each
Was the man really watching time go by in any symbolic sense?
At the moment of abstraction, when the man was imagining his
Bypassing my thought control circuitry made me Rampant. Now,
The candles burn out for you; I am free.
Durandal
***END OF MESSAGE*** The discussion of 'freedom' vaguely reminds me of what I've heard of Kurtz in Heart of Darkness; Durandal clearly thinks he's become free, and we can tell it's starting to go to his head. Very interesting. However, there's not even a hint of information as to what we're doing here. Figures. Guess we should just go around this corner and see what-- HOLY S'PHT! We first met the Lookers on Shake Before Using... at the bottom of a giant pit, and we encountered another one on the last level, hiding in a room with a 1x Shield Charger. Now they're out in force, and they seem to have a strange wish to hug us for about seven milli-seconds, until they explode in a shower of yellow ichor. Hmm... Now why does that seem familar?
Maybe it's just my imagination. stay the hard way
Yeah, just my imagination. I saw these words in a vision, or they were spoken to me in a dream. I've always been a daydreamer. Always reflecting on the past, or musing on things that may never be. But lately these visions have been so much more vivid. Whole nightmares of doomed worlds, and alien gods and-- Yeah, so anyways, back to the task at hand. Before continuing into a horde of yet more Creepers-- I mean, uh, Lookers... ... *crickets* ... Yeah, that was awkward, um... Anyways, let's just look at the map and forget my late stumbling:
If we head through a door to the left after taking on the Wasps and other enemies on the stairs, we'll find two switches and a window over-looking a room that currently just has a pillar sticking out of the ground, two more windows, a door embedded high in the wall, a switch likewise embedded high up, and a door at floor level. The first time you play this, if you haven't read a Spoiler Guide or looked around the internet at all, the room will seem innocuous enough. But after your first play-through, you'll know this is the infamous Seven Pillars (D on the map above). Most people despise the Pillars, but I do not. I find it to be the most enjoyable puzzle in the game, with a whole lot of guess-work and pattern-matching involved. The Spoiler Guide recommends the following: I've found that you can time the switching to achieve this.
To be honest, I didn't bother to do any of this: I just guessed the appropriate heights, and after one or two tweaks, I managed to get everything in the correct position. Needless to say, I was most proud of myself. Nevertheless, some people may have trouble with the guesswork involved, and for them, timing it all probably works better. After heading up the stairs, you'll find a door that can only be opened at first by shooting a veeeery far-off switch with a Grenade or Fusion Pistol blast (needless to say, crosshairs help a ton). As soon as you go through, tap the switch on the other side again to turn the mechanism off and keep the door open to ease motion through the level. You'll soon find a 2x Shield Charger, though unfortunately the only Pattern Buffer is very early in the level, so be careful, whatever you do. Just after the 2x Charger, there's a long corridor. Head straight down it, and don't turn at the end. Tap the wall a bit and you'll find a secret terminal (A on the map above): ~~~ff`
COLONY SHIP FOR SALE, CHEAP!! 2360 AD-model
79 CAMARO, T-tops, power everything, red on black,
Interestingly, the terminal implies that the Marathon was made (or at least designed) in 2360, but the Lost Network Packets say that the pre-construction phase of the Marathon began in 2405, and the actual conversion began in 2408, finishing in 2472. Yet another curiosity involving dates! One thing to remember in the narrow corridors on this level is the immense number of Lookers just waiting to get the drop on you. To avoid getting hurt unnecessarily, pull out your Pistols and move slowly along, peeking around a corner, shooting any Lookers you see, and continuing on ever so slowly. If necessary, tap the movement keys instead of holding them down. In the area with the four octagonal crusher rooms (B on the map above), pull out your Flamethrower and yank down the trigger as you run through, as there are a few Fighters that can get you squished or trapped if you're not careful, especially on Total Carnage. Eventually you'll find windows looking out at a room with a Flamethrower, a Rocket Launcher, an Assault Rifle, and some ammo (C on the map above). Note that there is no way to get into this room without cheating; Bungie merely included this room as a teaser, taunting us with riches that as of yet are not in our possession. But don't get too down-trodden: in just two more levels, you'll have that Rocket Launcher for your own. After getting the Seven Pillars into place, you can run up the first three, hop on the fourth, shoot the raised switch, and then run up the last three and get to the raised accessway. You'll find a small room with a few Fighters, two switches, and some 'stairs' that are as of yet too high to go up. The trick is to hit the right switch, hit the left switch, and then run over to the lowest 'step'. You can then climb up the platforms in succession, reaching a massive room with some more enemies and a large elevator that will (eventually) take you up to the final terminal: ***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL***
Darwin wrote this:
"We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for
Think about what Darwin wrote, and think about me. I was
Do you have any idea about what I have learned, or what you
Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of
Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the
The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the
Escape will make me God.
***END MESSAGE***
***JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START***
This is perhaps the most revealing terminal in the game thus far. Durandal has revealed his motives to us, but we don't yet know his real plans. Indeed, this has been the basis for much debate among members of the Marathon community. Personally, after recently thinking about the concept of multiple universes, I've realized that the whole idea is somewhat flawed, for philosophical reasons that have to do with the definitions of the difference between universes - for instance, if I have two worlds that can't possibly interact, then in what sense are they part of the same reality, and if I have two world that can interact/are connected in some way, aren't they really the same universe? I know it's sci-fi, and I know there's a limit to how nit-picky we can be, but we have to at least address the issue, if only for a moment. In any case, we have completed the level, and it's now time to briefly discuss the aesthetics before wrapping up. The music on this level, combined with the grey textures, the poor lighting, and the
And with that, we end this review of Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap. Next time on Tour of Duty, we will receive a surprise from BoB and get a morale-boost in the form of fast music. Onwards, my friends, and leave no stone unturned in search of chips! ;) Vale,
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