 | In Response To: Tempus Irae Volunteers - Ameseno, Italy (Steve Levinson)
: In any case, this is another memorable level. It's a
: lot of fun to play with many areas to explore. I know that Todd prefers
: the heart-thumping action of Gauntlet, but I like exploration and puzzles
: interspersed with occasional bouts of heart-thumping action. This is a
: great level on all accounts. My one gripe is the amount of retracing steps
: and exhaustive searching that the player has to do to find where to go
: next. It can be very frustrating the first time through, but a seasoned
: player will know how to pick up on the clues.
If you actually look at the pictures in the terminal at the start, you can tell exactly where to go and in which order. But you won't know till you find them I guess :) That being said, I just played back through the level and got completely and utterly lost.
: Note that at the beginning is a journal from a groundskeeper. There
: is a mention of strange flashes in the sky - and I don't think he's
: referring to lightening. Also, there are some references to strategic
: locations in the castle complex, so it's worth paying attention. This is
: the lone terminal on this level.
This terminal is actually very interesting. First of all, notice the blood stains. The Pfhor must have slaughtered this guy as he was writing his entry for August 27th. Nothing special about the date but it's a detail.
The writing on the terminal pictures is rather hard to make out but it seems to be related to the diagrams for the most part. Words such as porto, aqua, lock appear. The third screen is actually Petrarch's 269th Sonnet [scroll to the bottom], which translates as following:
Broken the column and the green bay tree
That lent a shade to my exhausted thought;
And I have lost what can nowhere be sought
In any distant wind or distant sea.
You took away from me my double treasure,
Death, which had made my life proud and secure;
What neither earth nor kingdom can allure,
Nor oriental gem, nor golden measure.
But if to accept this is destiny,
What can I do but wear eyes wet with
A sad soul and a face shut to all views?
O life that are so beautiful to see,
How quickly in one morning do we lose
What we gained with great pain in many years!
The lines are actually all bunched into a chunk of text in the terminal and it cuts off before the end so this is actually just another form of Lipsum and was actually used before on the Gates of Delirium terminal (the screen which shows the Vitruvian Man).
The Sonnet does sound very Marathony in theme though and I'm sure it could be interpreted in many different ways, most of which are obvious.
This level is also the first in the Salvo chapter and the artwork is again stunning. Interesting that the marine is carrying two Fusion pistols though.
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