10/31/2016 - "Hexephet" by Grayson Edge

[Jigoku]

Map Title: Hexephet
Author: Grayson Edge
From: Hexephet
Filename: hexephet.unr
Music Files: none




Video Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKYiL9HxJvc

Synopsis: The player enters a Skaarj outpost on an unknown planet...

Discuss!

[UBerserker]

Amazing build, terrible TERRIBLE gameplay.

[salsaSkaarj]

Amazing build, terrible TERRIBLE gameplay.

Concerning build : I tend to agree. The areas are thought out, look good, and I can't remember any hitches anywhere.
Concerning gameplay : the map Hexephet itself has interesting and challenging gameplay (actually really fun) (I especially loved the beginning). AFAIR gameplay became unfair once the player goes into some underwater entrance to find himself in cramped corridors where resistance becomes overwhelming (I think that's where the second map starts).

Still, even though I can't remember all that much, I saved this in an unrealmapfolder with the maps I considered good and worth replaying (which, to my surprise, I seem to have forgotten to do).

[UBerserker]

Amazing build, terrible TERRIBLE gameplay.

Concerning build : I tend to agree. The areas are thought out, look good, and I can't remember any hitches anywhere.
Concerning gameplay : the map Hexephet itself has interesting and challenging gameplay (actually really fun) (I especially loved the beginning). AFAIR gameplay became unfair once the player goes into some underwater entrance to find himself in cramped corridors where resistance becomes overwhelming (I think that's where the second map starts).

Still, even though I can't remember all that much, I saved this in an unrealmapfolder with the maps I considered good and worth replaying (which, to my surprise, I seem to have forgotten to do).

Even the first map is a mess with gameplay. Spawn ambushes that occur when you turn your back to the spawnpoints, Skaarj with incredible groundspeed and unfair situations where you are teleported right in front of a Gunner. Both Hexephet maps are just unreplayable.

[watcher_of_the_skies]

One of the best experiences out there. Loved every bit of it.

[Sat42]

I haven't played this yet - but I'm looking forward to it, though I do take note of UB's remarks - knowing myself, I'll probably love it, seeing how it's by and large considered a community classic. I actually remember keeping this "for later" when I saw its review rating - as I generally wanted to play lesser maps and sets first.

[salsaSkaarj]

Even the first map is a mess with gameplay. Spawn ambushes that occur when you turn your back to the spawnpoints, Skaarj with incredible groundspeed and unfair situations where you are teleported right in front of a Gunner. Both Hexephet maps are just unreplayable.

I agree the gameplay is unpolished (I replayed it last night on Hard) but apart from the corridors everything should be doable for medium players (which I am now again )
Still, my classification of the map was/is correct. The beginning, the translator messages, the surprise assaults and the puzzle with the opening of the valve and a couple of other things add to the replayfactor.
Yes, enemy speed is higher than expected but on the whole if I can beat the map on Hard (and no DP spamming, but clever retreat and careful selection of weapons) considering that I haven't played in a while and am quite (very) rusty, should make this an interesting (probably pleasurable) experience for most players.

[UBerserker]

Even the first map is a mess with gameplay. Spawn ambushes that occur when you turn your back to the spawnpoints, Skaarj with incredible groundspeed and unfair situations where you are teleported right in front of a Gunner. Both Hexephet maps are just unreplayable.

I agree the gameplay is unpolished (I replayed it last night on Hard) but apart from the corridors everything should be doable for medium players (which I am now again )
Still, my classification of the map was/is correct. The beginning, the translator messages, the surprise assaults and the puzzle with the opening of the valve and a couple of other things add to the replayfactor.
Yes, enemy speed is higher than expected but on the whole if I can beat the map on Hard (and no DP spamming, but clever retreat and careful selection of weapons) considering that I haven't played in a while and am quite (very) rusty, should make this an interesting (probably pleasurable) experience for most players.

Nah, I would just suggest people to go God mode on this or outright play on Easy. I played it several months ago and I thought the mappack (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3692) was never tested on Unreal difficulty. It's extremely flawed.

[Doublez-Down]

Been a looong time since I played this one, but I seem to remember getting stuck in some teleporter situation and couldn't figure out what to do next. Looked great though.

[wwof]

It's one of my all time favorites.

[Semfry]

Beyond one or two tricky parts I never recalled having many issues with this set gameplay wise, so I decided take the dive and do the playthrough on Unreal, which confirmed that. Some of the ambushes can be tricky, but most of them are a non-issue when you know about them, and the ones that spawn behind are noisy and have projectile weapons which means they rarely get you if you're listening. You also get a bunch of health and ammo (although a lot of it is semi-hidden, and I find something new almost every time I replay the map), to the point you can screw up completely in a few fights and still have enough to get by. Not to mention you get an amp very early to delete anything you have a major issue with. While I'm not a fan of randomly boosted enemies without new models or other signs, I don't find this set particularly offensive in that regard.

This was my first attempt after doing a test run of the level to work out where everything was, and I only died once (cut out. I didn't die much in the test run either), which was my fault as I had the Most Awkward Razorjack Skaarj Fight Ever followed by doing horribly against a random Skaarj Assassin. The only fights I think are a bit cheap are the Eightball Skaarj in the tight corridor (and you can turn that against it when you know where they are), the Stinger Skaarj in the water room (which I amped to death here) and the sniper at the end, who's still relatively inoffensive as far as sniper use goes (although in the playthrough it somehow got alerted early and lead to a really nasty fight above the water). The invisible Skaarj is sort of cheap, but I give it a pass for being a really memorable set-piece. It's on the tougher side for an early set, but even at it's nastiest it's about on par with the easier parts of Xidia, let alone a broken mess like pre-patch Zephon in Single Player.

unfair situations where you are teleported right in front of a Gunner.

Also, this never happens, unless it's something in the second map? I guess you might have just got really unlucky as the AI does roam a little.

Playing it now just reinforces how ahead of it's time it was; it's full of little touches and effects that wouldn't become normal until years laters (and, in some cases, never did), has relatively simple geometry but has a constant sense of style that gives it some of my favourite visuals in an Unreal set (the textures are occasionally a little oversized, but I think even that mostly works). It also has pitch shifted sounds, and pulls off the ambience so effortlessly I have a hard time thinking of any music that could fit it despite normally considering music pretty important to the Unreal experience. Then there's all the non-standard movers and other little things, like this being one of the only levels to make legitimate use of a nitrogen zone (at the jump over slime in the underwater base, which is much more dangerous to get out of). Finally, the AI is handled really well, and they can pursue in ways they can't in many other levels, and there's also lots of scripted moments with them too. A masterpiece.

[UBerserker]

unfair situations where you are teleported right in front of a Gunner.

Also, this never happens, unless it's something in the second map? I guess you might have just got really unlucky as the AI does roam a little.

Pretty sure it was the first map inside that bunker, I remember teleporting in and having one or more troopers in front of my face and died a lot of times until I did some insane Eightball or Razorjack strat to make it through. The issue is that I probably did never visit that bunker before so the Skaarj were still there. One flaw of the pack aside the constant no-vision-no-alert spawning and the confusing navigation.

[Kajgue]

Hexephet = my favourite small pack of all time.

Personally I never had a problem with the gameplay, though I'm not sure what the last difficulty setting I played it on was.