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Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et F
Posted By: Steve LevinsonDate: 11/29/03 2:18 p.m.

In Response To: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et Fa... (Gholsbane)

: Sordidae, Turpes Et Faetidae - Literally means Filthy, Foul and Fetid and is
: presumably a reference to the state of Milan in the 15th century.

[Cool Tempus Irae Pict] I would also note that this is the first level in the second chapter, Umbra. As you may recall the umbra is the central dark area of a shadow, most commonly associated with the area of totality in a solar eclipse. The chapter screen for Umbra is exceptionally beautiful, a small portion of which appears at left.

: The map consists of six large quads and a central
: building which houses the manuscript and a terminal. The entrance to the
: secret level Beyond the Black is also found here. Several switches must be
: activated to reach the treatise and some are pretty tricky to find.
: Working your way through the other
: courtyards, one of which contains a very sneakily concealed staircase at
: it's far end, you eventually come to the mansion.

I love the layout of this level, but I absolutely hated the difficulty involved in finding the switches need to succeed. That hidden staircase really threw me - I missed it the first time through and ultimately had to go to the spoiler guide for the first time in the scenario. Once I found that switch, the rest was fairly straight-forward.

: Leonardo's perception and paranoia shine in his journal and his comments back
: up the level name. It also appears that he is receiving a bit more help at
: this stage from S'bhuth who seems to be getting the ball rolling on the
: space race. Flight, electricity (or is it explosives) and chemisty... This
: meddling seems to be inconsistent with the S'Pht attitude of extra caution
: against altering history. Or has S'bhuth always been the catalyst of
: Earth's technological revolution and not just in this timeline? I may be a
: bit confused on this matter, feel free to liberally administer
: enlightenment...

This is an interesting comment - I always wondered about it myself, but never gave it much heed. Clearly S'bhuth wouldn't help Leorardo without reason, but I have a real problem with the paradox of knowledge being gained from the future, which could potentially alter the very kowledge on which it's based. I expect that in this case S'bhuth is doing more to help Leonardo apply his geneous to problems he would have solved anyway rather than to provide him with shortcuts to the future. Still, why would he do this?

: Beyond the Black - This level is effectively a glorified netmap with added
: things-that-go-bumb-in-the-dark. Anyone found any deep meaning to it's
: black simplicity? And is there an explanation for why we're treated to
: seemingly-infinite 2x cans? Can you die on this level?

A really good player can indeed survive indefinitely. I personally have limited patience and tend to just pick up as much ammon as I can before I get board, then hed to the center to teleport out. It is only in exiting the level that the player need take any risk at all. Even on TC, I basically don't take any real damage until then, so the 2X power-ups are irrelevant to me - I still leave with more than 2X strength.

: PS: Sorry Steve :)

Hey, this wasn't supposed to be my volunteers series anyway. And while you picked up the ball, my wife and I had a great time on the town celebrating our anniversary, which is actually tomorrow. Not sure if I'll be writing anything tomorrow either, under the circumstances, so feel free to continue without me.

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Replies:

Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et Fa...Gholsbane 11/29/03 7:51 a.m.
     Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et FMark Levin 11/29/03 9:37 a.m.
           Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et FMark Levin 11/29/03 9:47 a.m.
           Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et FGholsbane 11/29/03 10:20 a.m.
                 Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et FTodd 11/29/03 2:41 p.m.
           Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et FSteve Levinson 11/29/03 2:47 p.m.
     Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et FSteve Levinson 11/29/03 2:18 p.m.
           Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et FD-M.A. 11/29/03 10:31 p.m.
           Re: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Sordidae, Turpes Et FGholsbane 11/30/03 1:59 a.m.



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