Map Title: Alshar3
Author: Mick "VerMoorD" Beard
From: Valley of Alshar
Filename: Alshar3.unr
Music Files:: Nali.umx




Video Playthrough:


Synopsis: After falling down some waterfalls, and maybe an elevator shaft, you end up in a....valley

Discuss!

I thought the pack itself was okay, especially for its age. But this map left a lot to be desired imo. I thought the water "current" was more annoying than anything, and it kept me from being able to get into the valley for a bit. I was also knocked down the elevator shaft in the beginning (yeah clumsy) and got stuck in the mover and had to ghost out. Visually it was okay, again for its age.

Does the skybox not line up for others, as seen in the screenshots?

I thought it was an okay end to the pack. The last time I played through it, I was low on health, and when the Warlord popped up, I tried to swim away through the cave river. It didn't work.



I don't remember it looking like that, but I haven't played the map in a while.

That skybox error has to be a game-related bug. I had the same problem with Teridax' map for the contest as I played it in UT and not in U227.
Alshar is a classic, I played it a lot in the early years. This level is the weakest of the bunch but having to fight the Warlord with Nali.umx 2nd songsection was badass.

What render do you use? I don't think I had that problem with either map, and I played both in UT. I think this is a good map for its age. The warlord fight is more memorable than others for me, probably because of the music.

blimy, i only remember the opening part of this one. top notch intro, and then it's all blank for me

It was pretty ironic how the ending teleporter was right next to where you started

I could swear that I had played the Valley of Alshar years ago, but the screenshots didn't ring a bell and nothing written here triggered any memories.
Turns out that it has been sitting on my HD for ages and I had forgotten about it altogether. So I played yesterday and I'm glad I did.
I played first on Medium which I felt was a bit too easy, especially the first map, the second map being slightly more troublesome. But this third map is a pain, moreso if you didn't jump into the water in the first map, because it's not that simple to get out of the pool when a Warlord is roaming around. In fact I just cannot get out the water on the righthand side, which is the side most players (I think) will try to go to immediately since the first time this third map is played it takes some time to realise it is the same setting as in the first map (which BTW is a nice touch). I'm sure it must be possible to jump over the corner on the righthandside but I just can't make it. Luckily I had tested that area before and managed to get onto dry land on the left. And that's when the Warlord pushed be back into the water: end of story.

Ok, now that we've got some knowledge about what's to come, the Warlord is dead meat even though he doesn't know it yet.

Next objective, replay the whole thing on Unreal. Now, that's when the mappack shows its full potential. Even though ammo and health is never excessive but exactly sufficient (use the DP to save heavier ammo for close encounters), the enemies are stronger and faster and this makes this relatively simple map a pleasure to, play (simple? there's quite nice use of the z-axis in the first map). Basically everything is fun.... but for the Warlord section where I had the impression that the Warlord knew I was dead meat before I even knew it. I have to admit, on Unreal difficulty I haven't been able to kill the Warlord yet (but, my excuse is that I'm rusty due to lack of time to play - a situation which unfortunately will continue for a couple of months).

Visually the maps aren't spectacular (but not bad either) but gameplay is well designed and the button searching isn't too hard/too easy, with a tricky jumping puzzle (don't show off by trying to do it without saving)
Yes the Nali making the tree fall was a surprise and a nice touch. (I didn't see that one coming).

The Valley of Alshar is now classified under "Keepers".

Funny how salsaskaarj talked about the tree falling. Then I checked the screenies again and 'oh yeah...., now i remember!'. That's about it though. I think it got kinda tricky after that, but can't remember anything about it unfortunately. I thought it was a keeper though...

A pretty short and simple boss map. The design is okay although nothing special, and there's nothing too distinctive about the boss fight (if anything, it heavily lacks build-up), but it does it's job.

In 227 the skybox seems completely broken, but it worked in UT.

Haha, I LOLed looking at the video. It seems I'm not the only one who has some problems getting out of the pool (and, as I mentioned, the player went for the right hand side, which is the "easier" side).

What render are you using? The skybox is really messed up for me in both UT and 227. I'm using OpenGL for both.

In Unreal I'm using OpenGL, while in UT I'm using DirectX 10. So I guess that might be the difference.

I think the map is a major letdown, the first two maps offer some unique designs and some interesting gameplay, but this one is just a cheap finale put inside the starting area (and ironically the exit teleporter is just near the start)

The warlord fight isn't that hard or special, but in coop its hilarious, someone tends to wander off early on and die, and the other players have the impossible task of trying to get out of the pool while being pulled down by currents AND being shelled by warlord missiles.

.... bid retracted. I just watched the vid, and it was not familiar at all, altho i'm sure I've played Alshar...
As for the tree falling... hm.. missed that I guess. I had a different level in mind I think..