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	Message: : : Last time on Tour of Duty we treaded through some sludge, read about pfhor : demotions, found a s'pht card key and saw some s'pht subjects to st'ngr's : experiments. : This map has a strange beginning. Sometimes you'll spawn outside the window : at a height far above the sludge and fall into the green goop. There's a : teleporter at the bottom that brings you to the room you're supposed to : start in. Why bungie did this instead of placing all player spawns in the : very large, empty starting room? I don't know. Moving on. : The music I have chosen for this map is gravity from the resurrection album : , but due to the music not working the way I expect it to, we listen to : Norach once before gravity starts playing. Then norach plays again and it : keeps cycling between the two. Weird. Well, norach is a relaxing track =) : We start in the building on the other end of the slime pool that we couldn't : get to before. We can see where we teleported from when we look out the : window. The terminal: : : So Durandal has activated Thoth and is planning on teleporting us to the : citatel of antiquity when we finish here. Which is odd, because if you : know how this plays out, the Citatel maps are not the next area in this : timeline. : Durandal shows us that full map, so let's whip out the half we can explore: : Another big map, with some of the largest bodies of water we've seen so far. : The mappers were really taking advantage of the increased 1024 polygon : limit. But over the years of playing fanmade maps for fps games and trying : my hand at making them myself, I have come to the conclusion that the size : and complexity of maps is not congruent with their playability and : enjoyment. To restate that briefly: bigger is not always better. : When I was asked to join the ToD crew for infinity, this map was my first : choice to review. I'm sorry to say it's not for positive reasons. : I've been anticipating this since the beginning, and now that we're finally : here, I'm going to inform you that this is the first map in the official : marathon trilogy that was a game stopper for me. I didn't get stuck on : Colony Ship for Sale, I didn't give up at acme station. Nay, it was this : that had me stumped for hours. But we'll get to that when we get to that. : We run down the hall and see some pfhor in the room to the left of us. We gun : them down as well as the one coming up the stairs at us and decide to go : in and jump over the slime put to the terminal. We are ambushed by drones : and there's seemingly no immediate way back up, but I want to read this : terminal so badly: : : : : : It's quite interesting to see a Nar without his armor. His face looks like : lotsa spaghetti. There's also the Narsh and Pfhorric languages to : consider. In M1 we could only read messages left by humans and human AIs, : with Durandal and Leela relaying to us things they learned from the pfhor : and s'pht. Ever since M2, when we read s'pht terminals, we saw a : "s'pht translator active" header, which more or less tells that : the terminals are somehow being transcribed to english for us, either by : our own cybernetic implants or the terminal itself understands we are : earthlings and conjures characters that were not natively built into their : systems (that's some crazy hi-tech computer technology, there. Human : computers circa 2014 still rely on multiple fonts built in by human : artists to display characters in different styles or glyphs from other : languages). The same kind of translation occurs for all these pfhor : terminals, obviously. I think we can conclude that, in the past 17 years, : the s'pht had a hand in informing Durandal and augmenting our technology : to translate these languages for us, meaning the s'pht have an : understanding of pfhorric. : Yet the pfhor are having so much trouble transcribing a simple Narsh quote. : Think back to the beginning of M2 and how oblivious battle group 5 were to : everything that was revealed to us in s'pht terminals. If the pfhor : conquered the s'pht roughly one thousand years ago and the ancient : terminals have been there all this time, then why don't they know about : the mythos involving S'bbuth, Jrro, K'lia, and the W'rkncacncter? The most : simple excuse is they can't read in s'pht. After a thousand years of being : dependent on s'pht cyborgs they still don't know their language? Does that : make sense? They're just slaves and as we've seen, pfhor don't seem : concerned for diplomacy with low-technology races. : Trying to understand a spaghetti-faced alien monster under interrogation is : probably way different from translating ancient glyphs, though. Anyway, : the word Drinniol is familiar. It first appeared in M1 on DEFEND THIS in : this message from Leela: The Hulk is an enormous and rather slow : creature, but it is : incredibly strong. The science report indicated that it had : no body fat, and therefore had to be fed often to keep it : active. One crew member reported seeing one of these : creatures pointing to itself and mumbling "Drinniol" right : before it "picked Johnny up by the shirt and crushed him : against a pillar". : It appeared again in M2 in a terminal from Tycho: The Jjaro were a : mysterious race that : disappeared from our galaxy millions of : years ago, leaving behind military and : civilian outposts on the moons of many : habitable worlds. Most of the Pfhor's : technology was plundered from sites : abandoned by the Jjaro. : But the Pfhor found much that they were : unable to exploit, and they destroyed all : known traces of these technologies after a : foolhardy Pfhor scientist implanted a Jjaro : cybernetic junction into a Drinniol, : causing the most terrible and destructive : slave revolt in Pfhor history. : And here we see the word Drinniol again, identifying a creature that's strong : enough to crush nebulons. If we were really overanalytical and keen on : jumping to asuumptions, the first terminal would be enough for us to : connect the dots, but these two supporting terminals only boost our : confidence in making the conclusion that Drinniol is the native name for : the Hulk Species. Facsinating. The story Tycho told us will later be : explored in Eternal in a map called "The Incredible Hulk" where : we get to meet the Drinniol cyborg in the slave revolt. It's amazing that : one run-on sentance can result in such an ambitious fan creation. : We find Re'eer downstairs near a green platform which I'll assume he's using : as his bed (even though RRR suggests they sleep standing up and plugged : into walls). A button next to the terminal we read raises a temporary : bridge. It's a strange one to cross because it's a staircase and the : middle step raises first, so we have to swim over to the middle one and : wait for the rest to raise in order to cross. Otherwise, the middle one : will sink by the time we can cross the first step. The rest of the slimy : pool isn't worth exploring. There's nothing but o2 consuming dead ends in : those crevices. : Down the stairs and around the corner we'll find an opening to one of the : deepest slime pits we ever saw, and if we stand around and shoot at the : drones for too long, two of these guys will randomly teleport in: : HOLY S'PHT! If we had chosen to bypass Aie Mak Sicur (and not counting those : dormant and outside wandering 'nauts in post naval trauma), this is our : first encounter with Juggernauts in a casual map that's not at the endgame : climax. If we have been attentive, we know these guys are the map's : namesake. They blow me up and I have to restart from S'tngr's laboratory : =( : I usually play on Major Damage or Total carnage, and I've now taken notice : that on normal difficulty, there are no Juggernaut Majors. The editor (at : least what they were using at the time) must have only had one spawn : object for juggernauts that could only spawn majors on the higher : difficulties. All other creatures have spawns for minors and majors, : transforming randomly at each difficulty except Normal, so playing on : normal is seeing the map creatures in an unaltered state. : Even with SSM missiles in tow, it's best to just run past them. The next area : is confusing to navigate, let alone describe. It's a bunch of smaller : corridors with oddly shaped staircases. I look for a pattern buffer, only : to find the shield charger first. This is the first time I decide to : forego randomly bumbling about to look up the pattern buffer's location on : the ToD map. : Back at the shield charger is a unusual phenomenon unique to this map. : : That's not what that's supposed to look like... uh.. wait. Yes it is? That's : weird. Ingame I saw a hard orange block texture in place of where the : slime is, but the slime is rendered correctly in a screenshot. Huh? Well, : anyway, Let me turn the graphics settings to software mode just so I can : see it right. : : kinda forgot the original had no liquid translucency, but that's how it's : supposed to look. This slime defies gravity and doesn't flood into the : area we're in... somehow. Jjaro technology? We can walk into it and swim : around, but if we surface we will be greeted by another Juggernaut! : Here's one of those confusing parts beginners complain about. It's similar to : Kill Your Television where you have to do some weird vertical underwater : navigation. That kind of stuff never bothered me (I guess those are : players who were introduced to swimming in these games and not used to it : from quake and duke nukem already), but I have to talk about it. : There's a surface here with some buttons and a terminal that's just barely : too high for us to get up to, but just low enough to tease us into : thinking we can if we keep trying. It's a cruel tease, especially for the : new player. What we're supposed to do is dive under and find an opening : under the dam to swim up from. It's another one of those weird differing : heights of liquid on the inside from the outside, which doesn't really : make sense since the dam water outside should be just as high or higher. : But whatever, we're in. : There is a pattern buffer and a terminal: : Riveting. : Here we see two buttons. They both have an embedded platform in the wall next : to them that rises to reveal another button (why?), and these rise and : lower the middle platforms when you push them. One appears to do nothing : and I have a huge rant for that later. The other button will open a door : with a pfhor fighter waiting for us. : The door will close if we don't unpress the button while the middle platform : is delayed at the top. Take note of this for later. Inside we run into a : terminal - OH S'PHT WILD PFHOR AMBUSH FROM THE ALCOVE ABOVE! Ahem, sorry : for that interruption: : So we need to smash some circuits. Interesting that Durandal insinuates the : commender is probably that common pfhor fighter we killed by the entrance. : I would think a commander unit would be something more special, or a : hunter at the very least. Meh. Pretty crazy he was sent here for : punishment because he was a threat to society. I thought the commanders : were just sent here for being lazy and stupid, but I get the vibe this guy : was neither, but all sorts of crazy. It almost seems as if Durandal : admires him for not being a complete idiot, which isn't saying much when : we're talking about battle group five, but it works as a supplement to the : much less informative terminal earlier explaining that he locked us out. : Maybe he and Durandal both think they are The God Of The Universe. : A new biology lesson: pfhor have chitin. : From here there are a couple of places we can jump down. I'll pass up the : narrow corridor of slime I didn't mention on the way here and go down : where the game expects us to by the terminal. A drone lies in wait behind : one of the pillars and some ammo teleports in the corner by an odd spiral : staircase. At the top of this staircase we'll be at the elevated area : where the orange fighter ambushed us, so at least we know we can get back : up here easily. What is the use of these elevated areas that you can only : travel one way through for the pfhor, anyway? Ambush spots in case an : AI-directed human cyborg ever happened to pop in? I guess that's what they : were thinking at the time (15 years ago). The only reason they're here is : to capture Durandal and the bobs, anyway. It seems smarter than a : button-activated bridge that raises and lowers the middle section earlier : than the rest, anyway. : So we go back the other way and SWEET MOTHER OF S'BBUTH, A drone rises out of : the slime pool to catch us off guard and alert his buddies. This looks : like where we'd end up if we jumped down into the slime pit from above : earlier. : Going up the stairs here, we'll see a certain door that will be a big part of : my upcoming rant. It doesn't open. We'll see another raised platform and : if we jump to it we'll be supplied with some ammo. Jumping down again, we : go up another staircase into the "dam" that is the core of the : map, and guess who's waiting for us here: : Good thing he's still waiting there stupidly for me to come back to that : ledge and let myself get killed. If these guys were competent, he might : *gasp* turn around! (I'm sure this is a different story on Total : Carnage) : Anyway, I walk out and am met by fire from other juggernauts. By my count, : there's three of them. Dang floaty things what kicks our arses. How am I : gonna sneak past without being forced to kill them? I only have so many : SSM missiles and I apparently forgot to grab a Zeuss when I used level : select a few maps back. : We'll just make a mad dash for it and climb up the stairs to the other side : of the game and findÉ fusion batteries. Thanks, game. If we run to the : other side of the dam, we'll find ourselves in a section of confusing : corridors we've already been before. We explored everything, so where is : there to go now? Well, actually, there's some places I haven't bothered to : explore before, like this weird room that's directly adjacent to a : staircase, but the ceiling makes an opening that just barely connects the : two rooms. There's also a couple of areas with ammo that I missed. : Okay, now it's rant time. Remember that button? : : And that door? : : Well, this is a weird puzzle that's reminiscent of Colony ship for sale, only : to me, it's worse. What you're supposed to do is press the button, then : press it again when the... uh... I guess I'll call it a tumbler, reaches : the peak, like so: : : : The door in the dam moves in unison with the tumbler: : The idea might not sound so aggravating on paper. It's just one button, and : the timing to release it isn't a guessign game. But what makes this an : atrocious decision of game design, and the difference between this and : colony ship, is that in colony ship, you can see the platforms you're : moving. Not here. It gets abstracted by that weird tumbler. The idea is : you're supposed to stop that other door in the same area and guess you're : supposed to do that, too. But if you were like me, you didn't think to : even push that other button again and the door locked behind you as you : went in. You assume the map is supposed to be like this without even : guessing that you can stop the door when it's open. : As for the other door, it's far out of sight from the button that activates : it, leaving the first time player wandering and confused for hours not : knowing what to do. This level even has juggernauts, so you'd think you're : supposed to kill them to proceed. Nope. That's just a waste of time. Jason : Jones apologized for Colony Ship in the Bungie terminal in M2 and then : they let this map get greenlighted for infinity? This and Where Some : Rarely go is even among the first maps that were made! There are actually : some fans who took this as a good idea and implemented more button puzzles : like this in their scenarios. It's a good thing some of these scenarios : are covered in the spoiler guide, but for those that aren't, it was more : boring roadblocks. : There isn't even a passing hint to tell you how that door opens. Couldn't : durandal have mentioned that one of the buttons near that pfhor terminal : opened the door to the panels we need to smash? Oh pfhor'f'sake, I hate : this map. : Anyway, the door is open, and I already killed the pfhor inside before taking : that screenshot. I ranted about that elevated alcove before that only : served as an ambush point for that projectile fighter, but the shape of : this room has really weird geometry and doesn't have any point whatsoever. : Where the architects smoking some heavy pfhorric drugs? : : At least there's a pattern buffer. We eventually find ourselves back where we : teleported out of Where Some Rarely Go (the door to the rest of WSRG is : inactive) and Durandal has this to say: : Psychotronic profile? I swear whoever wrote this just made that up on the : spot. I'm curious about Durandal's psychotronic profile, though. Is that : what we were reading in Where Monsters are In Dreams, as Hokuto suggests? : Nah, I bet something monikered "psychotronic profile" is more : akin to Durandal gloating about his big ego. Well, time to smash. : If we go back down the stairs and down the last corridor we haven't been : through, we'll be met by a juggernaut shooting at us through the window by : the panels we're supposed to smash. Great. This part is always annoying. : There's a shield recharger and a button revealing an o2 recharger, too. Geez, : can't this juggernaut leave us alone? I guess I have to use my last SSM : missiles on him. Oh no, it's not enough, but hey, I somehow got a zeuss : fusion pistol from somewhere! *PEW!* Beeeep beep beep... BANG! : Another thing players complain about is it isn't too obvious that these : textures that the o2 charger is wedged between are the panels we're meant : to smash. They kinda just look like generic wall texture, so I can see : where they're coming from. Okay, smash smash. This deactivates the : chargers, by the way, so I hope you used them. Back to Durandal: : : Well well, whaddya know. Those crazy compilers from Where Some Rarely Go were : on our side all along, but it appears the pfhor are bringing more of their : controller cyborgs to turn the s'pht into their obedient (if not loyal) : servants. And for the observant players who are feeling a heavy dose of : deja vu- yes, that's a model of Waterloo Waterpark, and Durandal is : sending us on the same mission to install two uplink chips. : Alas, the road to success is paved with failed attempts. Since events are : turning out to repeat themselves and Thoth does not appear cooperative, : we'll have to take a trip into dreamland to get our bearings (or rather, : just get confused some more) and try again.
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