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	Message: : TOUR OF DUTY : 28 - All Roads Lead To Sol... : Last time on Tour of Duty, Martin led us through a strange and rather : difficult level filled with Hunters, Cyborgs, and S'pht'Kr, Durandal : informed us that Thoth has switched sides, and is now trying to assist the : Pfhor, even though they "continue to ignore him", and requested : we eliminate one of the Pfhor's "finest armor units", the 723rd : Aggressor Squadron. : So this is the last level of Marathon 2. After everything we've been through : - the gauntlet of If I Had A Rocket Launcher , the hectic combat of : Sorry Don't Make It So , the ambushes of Begging For Mercy , the paranoia : of God Will Sort The Dead , the puzzles of Kill Your Television , and : the confusion and irritation of Feel the Noise - surely this must be : worse than all of those. After all, we're up against a Pfhor armor unit, : and we remember how much trouble they caused us way back in the original : Marathon on Try Again . : If you want the ultimate challenge in Marathon, go back to Ingue Ferroque , : or even Begging For Mercy , because this really isn't a massively : challenging level. Indeed, the way it operates is really mostly built on : the premise of moving forward, clearing the next area, falling back, : recharging and stocking up on ammo, and then moving forward again, several : times over. The final room certainly isn't easy (indeed, I died at least : once in my Normal playthrough), but everything up until that point is : pretty straight-forward. Foreknowledge of the level certainly helps, but : this isn't the kind of level where you will die a thousand deaths until : you know the layout of the map like the back of your hand. : We start atop a ledge with two lava pits on either side, one so deep that it : nearly reaches the ledge, and the other very shallow. There's two Rocket : Launchers here, along with a lot of infinitely-reappearing ammo for them. : Heading through a little door past these Launchers is a small room with a : Pattern Buffer, a 2x Shield Charger, two ARs, and eight grenade packs. : There's also some unusual niches in the walls that have lava in them. : Strangely, no terminal here. Indeed, you won't have a terminal available : to you until the very end of the level. This is very unusual for any : Marathon level, but if you finished the last level, you should already : understand your goal - you're here to humiliate the 723rd. Heading out the : door again, at the far end of the ledge is a staircase heading down to : about the height of the shallow lava pool, with a door at the end. Before : we go that way, let's look at the map: : Right now we're at the northernmost part of the level. While we're thinking : of maps, it's worth noting that this is one of the few Marathon 2 levels : that has Map Writing on it, to the effect of: 723rd KICKS WUSSY NAR : BUTT! : Evidently the 723rd was involved in the subjugation and/or destruction of the : Nar, a species we were introduced to way back on Curiouser and Curiouser : : Our little trick with the Pfhor's defense : drones didn't work as well as I had hoped. : Apparently when the #%*@!ng Nar attempted : to retake Epsilon Euobea from the Pfhor two : decades ago they used similar tactics, and : our friends here were prepared for it. : Interesting to note how recent that event is supposed to have been - two : decades ago, just three years before the events of the original Marathon : , and apparently the same year we had to face down Chockisens that were : harrassing the work teams on Tau Ceti. : Heading southwest, at point A we encounter a lovely stash of two Fusion : Pistols and a bunch of infinitely-reappearing Fusion Batteries. This is : quite a nice feature, as the Fusion Pistols is a great all-around weapon, : and it actually does a pretty good job at handling the Juggernauts on this : level, provided you use the overcharge feature liberally. At any given : time, you should have at least 16 batteries in hand, as that is the number : of batteries provided at a given time by this infinite supply. If you keep : returning to this spot, though, you should be able to get a full supply of : 25 batteries. Combined with the infinite supply of rockets at the very : start, the 2x Shield Charger from earlier, and a 3x Shield Charger in the : very next room, it's pretty close to impossible to lose this level unless : you make some really insane mistake, at least until you get to the final : room. This is very different from Ingue Ferroque , which could easily : kill you even if you played flawlessly. : In the next room, you'll encounter some Hunters and a couple of Fighters : teleporting in on a ledge around a pool of lava. This is nothing terrible, : and the Fusion Pistol makes short work of all of them. Just be careful to : not get caught out by one particular Hunter who teleports in sort of : behind you on the same ledge. Heading further along the ledge, you'll see : something rather large and blue (or brown, if you're playing on Total : Carnage) teleport in out above the pool of lava. This is the Juggernaut : : This new kind of Juggernaut is a bit different from the last one we saw. : Instead of bullets, they now have two Alien Weapons, and their missiles : now lock onto you and follow you, making dodging a bit more difficult. : Also, we now have proper names for these weapons, based on the terminal : picture from the end of the last level: : Apparently, the missiles are called Warpedoes (or is it Warpeados, because : that's the spelling the picture provides), while the Alien Weapons are : called N-Cannons, a name I mentioned way back when we first encountered : that gun back on Come and Take Your Medicine , but until just now, I did : not know the true source of the name. Also in that picture, one can barely : make out this text: In the rather unwieldy : language of the Nar it : is called 'Gaze in Stunned : Disbelief at the Tool of Our : Destruction'. In Nebulonese : it is known as 'The Big : Floaty Thing What Kicks Our : Asses'. I believe the [illegible, perhaps Pfhor?] : call them Juggernauts. : We've already been introduced to the Nar, but what about this other species, : the Nebulonese? Or is it Nebulons? More on them later in the level, but : for now, we need to kill this Juggernaut. There are several ways to go : about this. If you have an Alien Weapon left over from earlier in the : game, you may want to put it to use now, as it works fairly well against : the Juggernauts. The Shotguns can dish out a lot of damage pretty quickly, : but unfortunately, there's not much ammo for them on this level. The : Fusion Pistol's overcharge feature does a surprisingly good job as well, : as each shot deals the same amount of damage as a rocket (fusion damage is : doubled for mechanical enemies). Lastly, the Rocket Launcher works pretty : well too, and you have plenty of ammo for both of the latter, so why not : use them? In any case, you want to keep moving around on the ledge, or at : least stand close to the door so you can duck back once the Juggernaut : fires off a volley of missiles or fire rings. Eventually the Juggernaut : will begin to fall slowly into the lava, emitting a loud alarm to suggest : that it's about to blow. Eventually, the Juggernaut will hit the floor : beneath the lava, exploding and causing the screen to flash a bright : white. With the transparent liquids provided by OpenGL, you can actually : make out the shape of the falling Jugger underneath the lava. : Having just destroyed our first Juggernaut, we move along the ledge, leaving : the next door alone for the moment, and find, to our delight, a 3x Shield : Charger. With this, and an infinitely-supplied Rocket-Fusion combo, it : should be a piece of cake to fight through to the end. It certainly feels : that way on Normal, though I bet it's still a little tricky on Total : Carnage - I wouldn't know, because I've only played through on Normal or : below. Now at full shields, and probably after having gone back and : grabbed a bit more Fusion ammo, and perhaps even having saved again, we : move on to the next room, where we find a stash of Magnum Pistols and ammo : for them. Not the most useful thing in the world, considering we now have : some of the deadliest equipment in the sector in our hands. Passing : through, we find another open lava pit area. This time, though, there's a : gap in the walkway that is filled with lava. We could swim across, but : there's a switch up on the wall (point B on the map above), so we might as : well shoot it and see if it alleviates our troubles. Firing a grenade at : it, we realize we not only caused a platform to raise up from below and : fill the gap in the walkway, but also caused a Juggernaut to teleport in : above the lava. Nothing we can't deal with, though, now that we know how : to kill Juggers! : Curving around the promenade (which should be red hot, perhaps to the point : of melting, considering all the lava around here - makes you wonder how : those Fighters earlier didn't just get incinerated the moment they : teleported in, but then again I've already complained too much about that : kind of thing, so I'll just leave that whole thing alone), we find a small : room, empty except for three Hunters, one of whom is in fact a MoaH! : Liberal application of rockets, with perhaps a small helping of fusion for : the lesser Hunters, should sort this lot out nicely. Passing on, perhaps : after having returned to the earlier parts to stock up on ammo and : shields, we encounter yet another lava pit, with yet another Jugger, who : once again receives a large dose of overcharged fusion bolts to the face, : and who once again falls through the lava into oblivion, capping it all : off with a nice white flash. Just past this third tin can, we encounter a : Pattern Buffer (just south of point D on the map), which to some may be : quite valuable. Of course, I rarely save my game on here, simply because I : have complete confidence that the only part I should be worried about is : the final room - everything else is easy. : The room just after the Pattern Buffer is filled with Fighters and a couple : of Hunters, but really this shouldn't be a problem at all. The Fusion : Pistol sorts them all out very quickly. Past here, you'll find yet more : enemies teleporting in further along the walkway (though strangely I don't : remember them much at all), along with a Juggernaut out above the lava. : Luckily, there's a rather low ceiling above the walkway this time, which : has the fortunate side-effect of blocking a good portion of the Warpedoes : that get launched your way, making it easier to deal with this fourth : Jugger. Now, unfortunately, the door ahead is locked. To solve this : problem, you'll have to do a bit of swimming... in lava! There's two : places you can do it, but it's a shorter swim to do it at point C. Note : that we will also be returning to this spot later on when we cover the : Secret™. For now, though, we're just trying to get to the end of the : level. Taking a brief dip in the lava, we swim across to a ledge with a : door. This door leads to a corridor, and in this corridor is both a carrot : and a stick - dual Shotguns, guarded by Pfhor Fighters. In truth, though, : these Fighters, while somewhat numerous, are very easy to deal with - : they're inherently bottlenecked by their environment, so even Fists will : work nicely here, and if you have a Flamethrower handy from either the : last level or Kill Your Television , you can just run through the Pfhor : with the trigger held down, toasting them as you go. At the end of the : corridor is a 2x Shield Charger (Bungie apparently doesn't want any more : suicide traps at this stage), a switch that opens the door we spotted : earlier, and a little bit of Shotgun ammo on another ledge looking out : into the lava. : Taking the dip again back at point C, we can return to the earlier parts of : the level to recharge and fill up on ammo before we press on. Heading : through the now open door, we go up a staircase to find ourselves in a : room with four breakable panels (point D on the map) and a locked exit : that opens out above the room with the infinite fusion batteries (point A : on the map). Instinct tells us we should break all the panels, but in fact : this is a sore mistake. Right now you only want to break three of the : switches, and you want to break them in order. First let's label them all. : One is directly in front of you when you first enter the room. This is : panel #1. Another is directly to the right of the locked exit door. This : is panel #2. Another is to the left of the locked exit door. This is panel : #3. The last panel is on the wall to your right when you first enter the : room. This is panel #4. You want to ignore panel 3, as it will deactivate : the chargers and Pattern Buffers you've passed thus far. First you break : panels 1 and 2. This opens the exit door. Then, standing inside the exit : door, shoot panel 4 and jump down. As you do so, lava will fill the area. : You want to quickly run through the door on the right and up the staircase : to reach the very start of the level (cue Martin line). : After saving the game and filling up on rocket ammo, we realize that the lava : that was once filling one of the pools has somehow been moved over to the : other side, and so now the lava height has reversed. This allows us to : proceed through the level. The room at the bottom of the staircase has a : number of Hunters in it, including, I think, another MoaH. This is why we : have an infinite supply of rockets! Moving further along, we encounter a : massive area full of lava, with no other way forward in sight, and with : not one, but two Juggernauts floating around in the distance, shooting : Warpedoes and rings of fire at us. Luckily, there's a 3x Shield Charger : here to replace the one that went under the lava earlier. After a good bit : of long-distance shooting at the Juggers, they should eventually both go : under the lava, where they will explode brilliantly. From there, we just : need to save our game, charge up to full shields, and then swim quickly : through the lava to reach another ledge around the corner. This may sound : easy, but it's not. On Normal you should have a little bit of purple left : in your shield bar, but on Total Carnage you'll probably invariably end up : with less than 2x Shields. For this reason, Bungie kindly provided us a 2x : Shield Charger to fill up with after completing the long swim. : Heading through the door, and up a staircase, we come to a small room with a : glowy panel in the floor. Stepping onto this, we are taken to... quick, : we're drowning in lava! Swim up, swim up! So much for 2x Shields, and at : the worst possible time, too - there's a lot of Pfhor in this final room : (point G on the map), including a Juggernaut, some Hunters, a bunch of : Fighters, and a MoaH, all of whom are out to get you. This is probably : very difficult on Total Carnage, but on Normal, you just need to follow a : simple pattern. Keep moving, alternating between the different corners and : firing rockets into the Juggernaut in the middle. As long as you keep : moving from corner to corner, the Juggernaut should stay far enough away : that when it finally does blow, you'll be far enough away to avoid : catching any of the blast. Meanwhile, the other Pfhor receive a blasting : and then some . The MoaH usually survives this, but any rockets or fusion : ammo or shotgun shells you have left should be enough to bring him down. : So, you've survived the final room. Now what? You'll notice some switches : above lava that's sitting under pillars. Shooting either one will raise a : platform in the southern lava pool, which will provide access to the final : terminal. Getting goosebumps? Let's read: : : : Seems almost like Bungie was setting itself up for a sequel to this game. As : a matter of fact, that may well be what's in the works right now, provided : the information in the leaked Bungie-Activision contract is still : accurate. : As soon as we finish reading the terminal, we are given a lovely ending : screen. However, I won't show this yet, because we still have not covered : this level's secret. And what an odd secret it is - get to the final room : and you can't go back to find it, find it and you can't survive the final : room. This means going through the level twice, once to find the secret, : again to get to the end. Some have said it's almost as though Jason Jones : (who made this level) replaced the sin of Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap : with the sin of All Roads Lead To Sol . I'm not sure I agree with the : first part of that statement (which assumes Colony Ship was a mapmaking : sin), but I'll admit it was evil of JJ to throw in that caveat. He : certainly seems to have an interest in irritating the Vidmasters. : So, remember back when you took that dip through lava at point C on the map? : Look under the lava there, and you'll find a switch. It looks something : like this: : (Picture kindly provided by the Marathon Story Page itself, specifically the : page about the Switch on Sol .) : Hit this switch. It opens a door at the bottom of a lava pool at point H on : the map. To get to this room, however, you'll need to do something else. : Remember that panel I told you not to break because it would deactivate : the chargers and Pattern Buffers you had passed along the way? Break it. : It will open a door that leads into the lava pool room. Of course, you : will want to have already charged up and saved your game, but this should : be obvious. Now head to point H, where you will find the lava pool guarded : by one or two Hunters. Drop down into the lava, and swim north and out. : You'll find a narrow corridor, at the end of which is a 3x Shield Charger, : a switch, and a bright panel on the floor. The switch causes part of the : wall to drop down, revealing a nice window to one of the earlier : Juggernaut areas. This 'window', if you'll recall, was actually a Pattern : Buffer you encountered earlier in the level. : Nothing much to do here except use the shield charger. Why don't we try : standing on the panel, see if it teleports us anywhere? Sure enough, it : teleports you to point I on the map. You'll want to hit the ground : running, though, not only because there's a load of Pfhor around you, but : also because you teleport in directly on-top of another teleporter, which : will take you to the still-full-of-lava final room, where you will most : surely die. Assuming you do manage to get moving before the teleporter can : beam you out, you'll want to whip out those Shotguns you grabbed earlier : and mow down the Pfhor here - there's a good number of them. Once they're : all dead, you'll probably realize something's not quite right here... : Something feels funny about this place... : : Curiouser and Curiouser... not to mention the floating Terminal and Shield : Charger: : Let's read, shall we? : : A strange tale... kind of reminds me of the M1A1 credits terminal. : : This must be Mark Bernal, one of the people in Art & Graphics. : : Alas, 'tis gjk , Designer of Levels for both Marathon 2 and Marathon : Infinity. : : This would be Ryan Martell, one of the programmers for Marathon 2. Strangely, : there are two puzzling references in here. The first is Vulcan2, which : sounds suspiciously like the name of an application, if you ask me. The : second is Moria, which only reminds me of StarCraft, a game that came out : three years later, and thus could not possibly be the source of the : reference. : : Ah ha, Jason Jones, master of Marathon map-making sin. Note the confirmation : that the creatures in that picture are Nebulons, the very beings who : described the Juggernauts as 'The Big Floaty Thing What Kicks Our Asses'. : It would seem that the 723rd was involved in helping defeat the Nebulons : as well as the Nar. : : Doug Zartman, the infamous voice of BoB. All else is self-evident. : : Alex Seropian, sound designer for Marathon 2, giving us a lovely : [?poem?riddle] about life, control, peace, love, balance, etc. : So, aside from reading this credit terminal, there isn't much to do here. We : can always step on the teleporter at point I and let ourselves get : roasted, but that isn't much fun. On the other hand, on Kindergarten, you : could have also broken the panel that changes the lava levels and then : run/swim all the way to the secret teleporter so that when you got there, : the final room wouldn't be full of lava and you could finish the level. : However, this is probably pretty tricky, and only possible on Kindergarten : - the lava kills you faster on harder difficulties, making it impossible : to get to the teleporter in time. At least this is the impression I get : from the Vidmaster page . Speaking of the Vidmaster page, there's a : number of really lovely films to watch for this level, fortunately : provided in zip format for newer Mac users (I've never been able to use : the sit format, oddly). The first is a pack of two films by Nicholas : Head that show both how to complete the level and how to get to the : secret, along with showing that there are actually two secret Juggernauts : at the very start of the level that you can get to teleport in. The : second is called 'A Short Road To Sol...', wherein Todd Keating completes : the level in 4 minutes by using a series of fast grenade/rocket jumps to : get across the lava lakes quickly. The third is a no-ammo run of the : level (!) done by John Sumner. : So we have completed the final level of Marathon 2. Bit of a let-down if you : were expecting Ingue Ferroque 2.0 , but still interesting none-the-less, : with lots to explore. It's a bit like a brighter, more straight-forward : version of Try Again , with Juggernauts above lava pools and lots of ammo : and Shield Chargers. However, I think it's actually better than Try : Again , both because it's easier to understand where you are in the level, : and because it has more interesting secrets and story tid-bits in it. : Durandal tells us we've saved Earth, and that the Pfhor are retreating in : every way except one; they have activated the trih xeem , an early nova : device that will turn Lh'owon into nothing more than an ever-expanding : cloud of superheated gases, which probably looks something like this: : Needless to say, I think we'll want to take up Durandal's offer to leave this : place and go searching for this "rogue star" he's on about. And : thus we are teleported off this world, and into an uncertain future... : : So, Durandal somehow gets a Jjaro dreadnought in the next ten thousand years, : the phrase 'UESG' may refer to 'United Earth Space Guard' (see the : UESC/UESG section), the Vylae are now in possession of a rampant Leela, : there are a number of Tycho clones out there somewhere, and Robert Blake : is a real person. Lots to learn here, but then again, is any of it true? : This next game Martin's going to be taking us through suggests that : perhaps not everything is as it seems{}. seems{}. seems{}. What is the : real Tru 7 h? Will we ever know? : What is real, what is not? Who do we trust, who do we not? And why does Jjaro : architecture feel very... human? : Will any of our questions be answered? : ... : Should I even ask that? : For now, Goodbye. : Vale, : Perseus
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