Never Satisfied is a secret level that's a lot of fun to play. It's too bad that it's so well concealed. What's worse is that it's a penalty level. I have a real problem with this. To me a secret should provide a reward. I'm not talking about the fun of playing a hidden level, but you should be able to take away something from a secret level that you wouldn't have if you'd skipped it. At minimum you should leave a secret level with no less ammo and no fewer weapons than when you started. The reason for this is quite simple - if you are better off from not playing a secret level, then it's just too tempting to keep a saved game around and revert to it after playing the secret level. This really wrecks the flow of a scenario. Never satisfied is a rebellion level - you start out with virtually no weapons and no health. Although you quickly are able to start to restock, there is no where near enough ammo on Never Satisfied to restock completely. Much worse than that, there is barely enough ammo on the level to play it in the first place. This means that even a good player will finish Never Satisfied with little to show for it and a fair player may have difficulty making it through. If you're the latter, you should definitely keep a saved game from Theater of Pain, as You Gotta Sin to be Saved is a real bitch to play without ammo. Don't get me wrong - it can be done, even on TC, as I've done many times now, but unless you have the skills, keep that saved game around.
Now with that out of the way, let's talk about this game of puzzles that don't really fit into the scenario. The player starts out with nothing and must quickly pick up a small supply of weapons and a 3X power-up that may not last long, thanks to the "greeters" at the beginning of the level. After using an odd rock formation to scale a wall, the player next has to get inside and enter two bedrooms, take out the enforcer inside each and climb onto the bed to reveal a switch that must be flipped to proceed. Once the back entrance is open, the player must then avoid another onslaught to reach the central hub of the level - a swimming pool with a column in the center and a series of rooms around the perimeter and, oh yes, the only pattern buffer on the level (I'm pretty sure this time). The first perimeter room is open and filled with troopers. Fortunately, many of them can be taken out from a distance. On entering the room, the player comes to first of four Cosimo terminals. All of these use a graphic that reminds me a lot of the one used for the vidmaster levels of Infinity. In this case, we have a grey projectile fighter standing in front of a TI super-jugger.
Leonardo took great joy in all things mechanical. We used to tease him about it, about how he could stand fascinated by the works of a drover's cart, or a bricklayer's winch. I'm sure that he would appreciate the intricacies of this puzzle I have devised. After all, I created it with him in mind.
And with that, we're whisked away to Switch Bitch. As per the Spoiler Guide, this is a pretty easy puzzle, particularly if you look in map mode as any seasoned player would. The tough part for novices is taking aim fast enough to trigger the switches in sequence before they close. Once the sequence is completed, a hoard of enemies is unleashed on the player, but they're pretty easy to avoid. Be sure to pick up the extra ammo in the alcoves from which they come on your way to the exit teleporter - you'll need it later. The next room contains the following Cosimo terminal:
Of course, Leonardo's genius was not confined to the mechanical and the artistic. That's what made Leo so choice a companion, that he could grasp our teachers' lessons faster than they themselves could explain them, turn around, demonstrate an opposite lesson to the poor old greybeard, and later, run about skylarking, wrestling and shouting like any common peasant boy. Leo could run quite swiftly. He might not appreciate this puzzle these days, being old and bent as I, too, have become, but I'm sure it will bring back happy memories of the days he could outrun us all.
And with that - it's off to the races with And They're Off. Once you get the layout of the maze, it's trivial to complete. Don't forget to check out the alcoves off to the sides from which the monsters come - they contain some much needed ammo. The third perimeter room contains yet another Cosimo terminal"
This puzzle is something of a private affair, a joke, if you will. Between me and Leonardo.
Some joke! Climb To The Highest Mountain is undoubtedly the most frustrating of the puzzles. Even if you're very good, chances are you'll fall at some point while trying to avoid a drone - and have to start over. I hate pillar climbing puzzles - even if I'm fairly good at them now. My one complaint is the relative lack of goodies to collect. Sure, there are some goodies on the ground level and in the first alcoves, but you would think that there would have been some ammo in the higher alcoves as well - the ones that force you to start over if you try to explore them. No such luck. This is the sort of exploration that begs for a reward. The fourth and final perimeter room contains the last Cosimo terminal:
The only problem with Leonardo was that he was sometimes a little too decorous, in my opinion; he wanted to be tasteful, restrained. He never dared sign his name in enormous blocks of stone, so I have done it for him.
You got it - you're going to explore a maze in the shape of Leonardo DaVinci's name - What's in a Name? Be sure to look at it in map mode when you're done. There are a lot of monsters here, but also the best supply of ammo and power-ups in the entire level, which isn't saying much. Once you finish the maze and return to the pool area, you'll have access to four switches on the central pillar that need to be activated to grant access to the exit teleporter. Be careful, though, as there are some cloaked enforcers in the central pillar that will be firing on you (and probably already have between puzzles). If I'm not mistaken, TI is the first and only scenario to have cloaked enforcers. Don't worry, though, we'll be seeing them again in a later level.
