Semfry wrote:Added a new video [...] In the process I also found a mod to fix the massive weapons in higher resolutions:
https://github.com/alexstrout/foxWSFix-UT99 (and apparently the next UT469 patch will provide a native solution).
Thank you for the new video, I'm glad you were able to fix the aspect ratio issue on ultra-wide resolutions! And it's pleasing to see
ONP's HUD fare so well in this day and age, I love it!
I just replayed
Prisoned myself and yeah, what a great start to the campaign this is
In fact I first rewatched the flyby map, replayed the tutorial, and rewatched the intro and I was reminded of first time impressions, how it all felt like a fully-fledged new game, between the better graphics, new gameplay elements (like how locked doors need to be opened by entering the right code in a keypad: I thought it was smartly implemented, particularly the way the code is randomised on each playthrough, so you have to go and find it every time) and a proper tutorial to introduce them, and tons of cinematics and scripted sequences. The more cinematic-driven approach - not always successful but done particularly well in this first map - necessitated some voice acting and at the end of the day it mostly works when it matters (during the main story moments, such as during the intro and outro cutscenes and here in the first level of the campaign where, as Semfry said, the initial monologue establishes a general goal right away), even if we also remember those other moments of the campaign when the script is poor and ONP Guy blurts out something inane (the audio mixing/quality is occasionally also an issue; the voice actor himself is usually fine). It all seems so distant nowadays but you have to remember that
ONP literally made it into some official video game articles at the time.
Aspide wrote:[...] there's a lot of attempts at jumpscares [...]
Indeed and landing in the Pupae chamber without a weapon is particularly unnerving as, on a first playthrough, you really feel like at any moment the little buggers will turn aggressive!
The really good use of sound tends to be taken for granted now but it also contributes strongly to building a serious atmosphere.
Semfry wrote:On that note I don't think ONP does anything special with Brutes later, so I wonder if the enhanced Brute experiments here were a plot/gameplay concept that got dropped later.
As Aspide said:
Aspide wrote:[...] the message about the experiments that the Skaarj are conducting on the Brutes which pays off later in the campaign.
It's brief but
ONP does bring back this point later during a cool moment. There's a LOT of cool moments to remember in this campaign which we will revisit in due time
Delacroix wrote:I like to think that the Brute experiments were just another example of Skaarj Empire's readiness to tweak the DNA of their victims until a desired goal is met. [...]
It's funny that you all mention this particular bit of lore because I too really like it along with the (eventually more impactful) storyline on Nali being fitted with "psychosis implants" and it feels like a natural extension on what was first introduced in
Unreal's
MotherShip Lab.
ONP would have benefited from being more focused on the overarching narrative throughout its massive campaign, but in many ways it feels like a proper successor to the mother game (also helped by this first level's partial reduxes of
Demon Crater and
MotherShip Basement, as already mentioned).
Aspide wrote:[...] as a first map I think it's a much more enjoyable level than Vortex Rikers because of the gameplay.
Agreed
.
