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Tempus Irae Volunteers - Il Spazio Pagano & ending
Posted By: Steve LevinsonDate: 12/28/03 7:09 a.m.

In Il Spazio Pagano - Pagan Space - we must upload the manuscript we obtained on Lather, Rinse, Repeat into the computer network of the Pfhor Dreadnought that is about to attack Alpha Centauri. But how do you upload a manuscript into a Pfhor network and how could it contain a virus that could kill S'bhuth and destroy the Pfhor ship? S'bhuth explains:


The text within was wrought by another of your kind, an individual named Cantor. His mind was not as strong as Leonardo's -- he became insane from my presence. I needed his talents, but I destroyed his mind while making use of them. I am no loftier in the balance now than any of the old ones.

His final vengance against me before he was truly broken was to create the contents of that manuscript, thinking I would read it and be destroyed with him. When I take this into myself, I will be destroyed -- but the slavers' nets, too, will be rent asunder. Your kind will then have a more desirable chance of defeating the Pfhor.

This Cantor that S'bhuth refers to is undoubtedly Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor, a Russian-born mathematician who lived most of his life in Germany during the middle and late 18th century and early 20th century. Cantor possessed what was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant mathematical minds of all time, his expertise was in number theory and some of his conjectures were controversial. Unfortunately, he sank into a severe depression, particularly in his later years - and now we know why ;^)

Il Spazio Pagano is perhaps one of the best levels ever created for the Marathon engine in any scenario, 3rd party or otherwise. Somewhat reminiscent of the M2 level Begging for Mercy Makes Me Angry, Spazio is significantly more complex and a lot less linear. Although built around a central core with 8 doors to open, the resemblance ends there. The areas off each door are more than mere alcoves with a switch to hit - each area serves a purpose and many of them are interconnected. There is much to explore here, as well as plenty of action to keep the player busy and there are a number of secrets to find - in short, there's something for everyone. The visuals are nicely done, too. I think that it's widely accepted that M2's texture set was too vivid and Moo's too muted. TI combines the best textures from both to provide a balanced appearance, while adding new textures that are much more interesting than anything devised by Bungie. Nowhere are these textures used more effectively than on this level. One particularly neat trick is using red textured platforms that nearly match the color of the surrounding plasma. The player needs to tread very carefully!

As with most other TI2-TLL levels, Spazio is a rebellion level. The player starts with only a magnum and 1X shields, and likely limited oxygen. There is a fusion pistol and some ammo for it close by, but this triggers a few souped-up drones. The drones on this level are particularly deadly and tough to kill. Between the drones and the three troopers in the "il nucleo" (why are the levels in Italian when we are on a space ship around Alpha Centauri?), the player is forced to use nearly all their ammo in the opening sequence. My one complaint is that that can easily leave the player without the means to open the first door, which requires two carefully aimed shots from the fusion pistol. However most players will die many times before finding the first pattern buffer anyway, so this may be a moot point. Armed with almost no ammo and faced with an array of major fighters, the player quickly finds that they need to just run like crazy to an elevator that will take them down to where a 2X shield recharger and pattern buffer can be found. Oh, and watch out for the enforcers - they fire a blue flame that is incredibly powerful - not only frying the player, but forcing them back. And they don't drop their weapons when they die. How rude of them! There's a Jugger here, too, but it's not generally worth taking him out.

All-in-all, this level is just plain cool with lots of places where the player just has to gape. It feels like a real spaceship - more than just the usual contrived series of monster-filled rooms that must be traversed in order to reach the objective. One of the joys is that you don't have to explore the entire ship, but you can if you want to. There are virtually no inaccessible places with the exception of the reactor core, and all visible ammo can be reached by one means or another. The final "room" is the landing hangar, which is filled with a group of super drones that fire S'pht'Kr-like guided bolts that are pretty lethal. They're hard as hell to kill, too. After you upload your "virus" containing manuscript, S'bhuth bids you farewell in his dyeing moment with some very interesting commentary:


My death is rending this ship asunder. Escape. Perhaps at a point you may even the reckoning between us. Perhaps you will pay this debt to my next avatar.

Perhaps more of this, my avatar, will survive than I understand.

S'bhuth's avitar? The concept of S'bhuth as an intelligence that transcends his physical form is a new one that is unique to this scenario. I will leave it to the other readers of the forum to discuss this further.

The level ...in fin dei conti... is simply a continuation of Spazio. The player simply reads a terminal and jumps into an escape pod as the dreadnought breaks up. The terminal, however, is a real surprise. The UESC is unable to complete setting your escape coordinates and an entity from outside sets them instead. And those coordinates are "Yrro" and the log-off pict is the Jjaro symbol from Infinity. Just as S'bhuth intimated when we were back on earth.

The final screen is perhaps the best of any scenario, and certainly the most chilling. The Jjaro were not the creators - they were the creators' master craftsman. But now they have gone mad and will unmake their handiwork. We must fight them, or all that we know will go to darkness. My conjecture, but could the W'rkncacnter be Jjaro that have gone mad? In any case, this screen sends chills up my spine every time I read it. I think it was Hamish who said that it would destroy their mystery were we ever to meet the Jjaro, but this sure sounds like an excellent starting point for another scenario.

Well, after everyone else has responded to this, that will put the TI Volunteers Series to bed. Mark, what do you say we wait a little while before beginning SoNK/Evil. I think we need some time to catch up with other things - at least I do.

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Replies:

Tempus Irae Volunteers - Il Spazio Pagano & endingSteve Levinson 12/28/03 7:09 a.m.
     Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Il Spazio Pagano & enMark Levin 12/28/03 8:39 a.m.
           Keep it up =)Todd 12/28/03 9:06 p.m.
                 Re: Keep it up =)Mista_B 12/28/03 10:22 p.m.
                       Re: Keep it up =)James Smith 12/30/03 5:51 p.m.
           Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Il Spazio Pagano & enNeoptolemus 12/28/03 9:45 p.m.
           Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Il Spazio Pagano & enD-M.A. 12/28/03 10:27 p.m.
           Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Il Spazio Pagano & enelliott 12/29/03 9:17 a.m.



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