: As Durandal told us in Rozinante IX , we’re here for a bit of subterfuge.
: Ostensibly, we’re still helping Tycho by clearing out a Pfhor vessel for
: his own personal use. In reality we’re helping Durandal to eliminate
: Tycho whenever he so chooses. All we have to do is to install a chip,
: which will upload a virus to do Durandal’s dirty work. Of course we don’t
: want Tycho to suspect a thing, so we must do both - what fun!
:Actually, I didn’t have much fun with this level. Is it just me, or did everyone else
: find this level laborious. First of all, you are under attack from the
: moment you land. Before you can even orient yourself, you are under
: assault by troopers, hunters and lookers. True, the S’pht’Kr are there to
: help, but on TC it tends to be too little too late. There is a pattern
: buffer and a shield regenerator nearby, but it’s very hard to survive long
: enough to reach it, and there are still enemies – fighters, lookers and
: wasps – that will try to take you out in the process. Durandal has a
: terminal near your entry point, but even if you do manage to clear out the
: area, there are troopers overhead that will still be after you, so it’s
: almost impossible to read it until much later in the game. I hate to admit
: it, but this just isn’t good level design (sorry Rubicon Team).
I don't particuarly like this level either. For me it's just a case of same old, same old. There's nothing new in it. Not being stupid enough to try and vid it, I haven't.
:Once you
: do finally manage to read the terminal, Durandal tells you:
:
: Tycho has begun releasing portions of the Pfhor network, and I plan on
: assuming full control of their homeworld shortly. . . Strive to kill more
: now than you have ever before . . . Make your existence justified.
:
: Make our existence justified? That’s a pretty tall order! And what would
: Durandal do if we failed? The interesting thing is that this is not an
: extermination level. You don’t have to kill everything – you only have to
: visit the bridge and insert the chip. It’s hard to imagine not killing
: everything just to survive, but it is possible to avoid some carnage if
: you so desire – nutcase. One of the most difficult things that you need to
: do is to pillar hop from one platform to another in order to get to the
: bridge. This is one of the more difficult maneuvers in Rubicon, and it
: stretches the limits of what ordinary players should be expected to do –
: it can be done with simple jumps, but strafe-running is almost essential.
Yes Durandal is being a little God-like here. I mean come on, make your existence justified? Is he making his existence justified? No. He's chasing Tycho around the galaxy. Seems like a stupid thing to say if you ask me. I don't know, this is something like the 15th level so I'd say any beginners would be getting the hang of it by now. Maybe I'm just biased, I love jumping puzzles.
: There are a couple of important secrets on this level, so if you need to,
: do check out my Rubicon Secrets Guide , which will tell you how to get to
: that tantalizing 2X recharger. There is also a hidden 3X power-up, but
: don’t use it on this level! Wait until the end and save it for the
: Ascension Factor – you’ll need it!
: Tycho has a surprise for us in the final act, however:
:
: origin: far, far away from here
: destin: unintelligent recon unit
: ref: deceptively smart and good looking
: 686F6E6573746C792C20796F75206D7573742776652
: 07365656E207468697320636F6D696E672E
:
: Note the origin – Durandal will explain that to us later. Suffice it to say
: that we’ve been duped and Tycho isn’t here. By the way, the hex code here
: translates to “honestly, you must've”, followed by some gibberish. Tycho
: then continues:
:
: It's a shame things had to work out the way they did. . . you foolishly
: insisted in devoutly following that foul creature Durandal. . . Not that
: it matters now. I have what I wanted from the start, no thanks to you.
: This is my grand farewell . . .Durandal thought he buried Tycho on one of
: Lho'won's moons so many years ago. Would a simplistic clone have been able
: to outsmart him some 49 . . . Check and mate. Hand me my victor's crown.
: The one and only, Tycho.
:
: The logo that Tycho uses for his sign-off is a solid red Marathon logo,
: symbolizing I presume his freedom from the Pfhor. The fact that Tycho
: found a way to outsmart Durandal shouldn’t be a surprise – after all,
: they’ve been at this game for a long, long time. What’s particularly
: uninteresting is that he claims not to be a clone, as Durandal had
: thought, but the real original Tycho. This is uninteresting because one
: would have presumed that the original Tycho was installed on Pfhor prime.
: But why would Tycho say that Durandal only thought he had buried Tycho
: on one of Lh’won’s moons? Remember, that was in the M2 time line – the
: time line that lead to the W’rcacnter’s release and the destruction of the
: universe. That time line was a dead end. In the time line that allowed the
: successful conclusion of Infinity, Tycho had abducted us and we served him
: before we ended up helping Durandal. Tycho even alludes to this earlier in
: Rubicon. So why did the Rubicon team resurrect the previous destruction of
: Tycho? Is Tycho playing mind games with us, since he knows that we are
: aware of the existence of the other time lines? And whatever happened to
: the chance Tycho told us about in the Frog levels when he would allow us
: to abandon Durandal to join him? It would have been interesting if the
: Rubicon team had afforded us such a chance – a decision that would have
: undoubtedly lead to our destruction. But we will never know these things.
: Well, it’s time to dream again. After another Things May Happen level,
: it’s off to the Ascension Factor .
I always thought that the red marathon logo was 'proof' that he was the real Tycho. Tycho claims that he is not a clone as a clone would hardly be able to outsmart Durandal. I always thought that clones (barring environmental differences) were the same, so why couldn't a clone outsmart Durandal?
I'm hardly a marathon expert, but this does seem to be a pretty big plot hole. But most people would have missed it so I guess it depends on whether you are fanatical on details or want a good story.
By the way I love the way Tycho signs off.
