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	Message: : : We start out having to run around a main set of corridors in a swasticka : pattern full of teleporting enemies until we get to a lava room that we : just have to run out of the area with the enemies flanking us (I lobbed a : rocket at some of the suckers); both doors loop around to the same area, : where we have to fall down a pit and move fast into the maze so we don't : get annoyingly teleported back out (unless you want to go back for a : shield recharge). This maze must be the aforementioned "experiment : chamber" full of the "other aliens," which are flickta, and : this maze sucks. I use up all my shotgun shells and barely scrape my way : to the pattern buffer. : Now I'm taking a break on this writeup until further notice. : Later… : That break was much longer than I thought, and I’m sure you guys felt that. : Making writeups for this scenario burned me out quickly, as you can see in : the above paragraph, because these levels are showing the telltale signs : of sadists. : Cheap tricks like filling the maps with sucker punches disguised as “traps” : and making them drag on too long by using gimmicky and unintuitive : solutions to progress (but mostly just unintuitive; the gimmicky parts are : using the bobs, and I’m impressed they got it to work so well) and : sprawling, nondescript labyrinths (like the one I’m in now) are all common : tactics deployed by amateur level makers. I’m sure what they’re going : for is “challenging” and “big,” but what they got instead is frustration : that’s full of inane padding, and the “errand boy plot” doesn’t help : alleviate that feeling. Or it could be that what works in the M1 engine : doesn’t translate well to M2. But they’re almost practically identical : aside from textures, right? The biggest difference is shotguns and : swapping out hulks for f’lickta… those hateful thorns in my side. Maybe : they’re the ones ruining it, running fast and flinging their poo and : fireballs all over the place. I don’t even recall if I’m playing on total : Carnage, Major Damage, or that one in the middle, but its’ the maps’ : structure and arrangement of items and enemies that’s making it hard; the : scaling modifiers have little to do with it. The sequel, Excalibur is when : it really hits its stride in quality, and that’s still a ways off. : So, here's the map, in post-editing as I usually do just because this part is : mandatory: : Eh, what's that isolated place in the top left corner? Other than that, it : doesn't look like I missed any big secrets in my playthrough. Now back to : the pre-edited time of writing. : So, by going to one unexplored corner of the map, we find some punchable : wires here. : : I don’t know what it did yet, but all the other unexplored corners are hiding : f’licta guarding ammo, and all these moments are heartstoppers with my low : health. The very last corner with an Azure f’licta and some AR rounds : triggered a teleporting noise, which jump-starts my tension the moment I : thought I relieved it. I need to rely on the map to get back to the : pattern buffer, but I have to keep an eye out for whatever’s wandering : around here now. Say… am I suddenly playing Minotaur? ‘Cuz this makes me : feel like I’m in the labyrinth of Crete. : I don’t enounter anything, so I don’t know what exactly teleported in or : where, but one big square of a room has a drop in it: : It's not so apparently a hole in a static image, is it? I guess it's one of : those optical illusions. : We drop down and the ambient wind noise is at the bottom of this pit somehow : (must be a drafty vent), and we get teleported back to that white room at : the start of this map. Ah… at least I can sort of breathe, but my health : is at its breaking point. : : It’s been so long I forgot what path I should be looking for. But I : rediscovered a 2x charger I forgot was there. Yummy! I found my way back : to the lava area, and I still don’t know where to go, so I drop back into : the maze (ah, the wind sound is because of the open roof at the top of : this drop! Gotta be careful to grab the ledge and not drop to the bottom). : I think I see some part of the maze under the lava I haven’t been to yet. : It was hard to catch before because lava+overlapping makes it look like : chicken scratch. : : (see the unexplored path in the red there? I didn't bother circling it.) : A lava f’licta confirms I’m on a new path, and… it’s just another ammo : corner! : But wait! Those punchable wires lowered a concealed lift over in this corner. : : Just looking at the map before finding it would show a dead end; you HAVE to : comb this whole place to find it! And so we have a button. : : So, do I teleport out, or are there more hidden doors in this maze? Oh yes, : here we are. : : In this narrow hallway, some pfhor fighters teleport in. A nice change from : those annoying f’licta. I mean… Pirates teleported in, yeah… And in the : next room, it looks like low walls are used to create a scenic skywall : effect. : : There are drones floating about to shoot down, and when we fall in, a : kilometric pfhuckload of baddies teleport on top of us in this enclosed : space for another unfair sucker-punching “trap” and I’m so close to : ragequitting again. Serioiusly, this is bulls’pht. Even using the SPNKR is : dangerous because of how compact everything is, but with some running : around, we can successfully blow up the area without killing themselves, : but the one invisible s’pht that shoots tracking projectiles is the most : annoying part of it. A button in the room opens a door to the only : terminal in the map. Err… maybe I just should’ve smacked it and made a run : for it? But that’s forgetting that the M2 engine doesn’t freeze time when : reading terminals… another glaring setback to the conversion for this : scenario. : : : : : This is the weirdest exit terminal we’ve gotten in this scenario. Is this : supposed to be some rapping gansta version of Thoth? He was bad enough to : try to comprehend as he was already. Well, tune in next time when we get : sent to… somewhere, and do… something. We clearly have no choice in where : this AI is leading us. Apparently, it’s a med lab. : Oh, I didn't give a proper introduction to what we did last time before we : got to this map. : *searches for the previous entry* : Okay, we grabbed some chips and got out of the pit and... Oh... oh my. : Mithrandir said he "may not be 100% successful in bringing you : exactly where you are needed next," but "will attempt to : transport you to the medical facility." So the med lab coming next is : supposed to be where we were going, and this ordeal was just an unhappy : accident? Well, I want to say it's enough to bring a tear to my eye, but : all I can muster is a stony face with a sigh. Jerks. Blaspheme : Quarantine this aint. And... it's nearly in the same position BQ is in the : level order, just off by 1. It's almost like they were reaching for all : the ways they could emulate M1.
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