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<EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v6.01 OUT

For public discussion of all things EXU2.

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User avatar Sat42
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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 30 Nov 2014, 18:38

THERE'S MORE!

You might think you deserve some rest after finally exiting the EMD, and in a way you do get some... no more flashing lights, less fighting, less noise... but it's not exactly soothing, either! Here comes NOTHINGNESS...

What a striking difference between this level and the previous one! UBerserker did say there'd be a few puzzles so that at least we won't be fighting 100% of the time, and sure enough, once you start making sense of your surroundings with the searchlight, you realise that this map begins with a puzzle.
It isn't too hard to figure out how to proceed, but there'll be some trial and error - and in my case, I had to reload a couple of times, because of those damned Shadow Mantas from the Void (once I accidently dodged on a red brick!), and also because the first time I activated the lever found on the iron planks I wasn't fast enough to pass the exit gate! Sly bastard :P it's quite hard the first time round and a nice feature to have in a map like this one.
It was only once I saw the Holy building and made out the outlines of the first valley that I recognised the place: this is a redux of Nagomi Passage, albeit the beta version, not the RTNP version we all know: this results in a few geographical differences, but in any case you'll be experiencing the map in a wholly different way as per usual.
So yeah, the main objective isn't so much to try and clear the map of everything (this is the Void we're talking about) but to find the Relic that'll open the door to the Holy Mausoleum of Exusia... apparently, the position of this key of sorts is randomised, which is a good idea for added replay value, but in my case, the key was in one of the most logically hidden places of the map: I had to gather my courage to go and fetch it where the beta entrance to Velora Temple is situated! Indeed, unsurprisingly, this is a scary map and it is amazing how much I wanted to huddle next to those saint candles! It's super dark, as ever in territories engulfed by the Shadows of the Void, and there are creepy sounds (seriously) and eerie wind to be heard - whilst the occasional ambush is always adequately brutal, and in one case I wondered whether it would ever end (the Squid wave near the entrance to what would have been Foundry Tarydium Plant). But with the benefit of hindsight, after reloading I decided to leave my translocator disk near the Holy building entrance, and went after the Hellgun and ammo on the bridge to the foundry's entrance before translocating back without having to fight the HUGE Squid wave (I also did a test trying to kill them all and saw that their numbers are finite - but it is a waste of ammo!). Of course, fall into that pit and the Void will consume you - there are also two red walls across the map that MUSTN'T be touched!
Eventually, I did explore everything - except the passage to the closed entrance to the Magatsu territory, which I later realised I had missed, somehow!
It's a short map for a change, although I still spent about half an hour in it, but it's still hard (although not very hard - I didn't have to reload multiple times at a same spot - and I guess I could have been "luckier" with the Relic's placement) and what makes this level really great is the way it manages to deliver frights, sometimes just because of a loud noise! The terrifying atmosphere just penetrates you no matter what - and that's hugely positive in my book. NOTHINGNESS may be more of a transition map, but it is indispensable.
Last edited by Sat42 on 01 Dec 2014, 16:35, edited 2 times in total.
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Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 30 Nov 2014, 18:53

You're going to shit your pants in Exusia, that much is for sure
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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 30 Nov 2014, 19:14

BUFF SKELETON wrote:You're going to shit your pants in Exusia, that much is for sure


Ahaha and you're right! (like I already told UB, I've actually already finished G59 a while ago - I have just yet to finish the commentary!)
Nali: Magic or Telekinesis
Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 30 Nov 2014, 19:19

Oh derp, that's right! Exusia was probably my favorite G59 map for theme. It was really well-executed.
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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 30 Nov 2014, 20:53

Hell yeah Exusia owns lol, hopefully tomorrow I can finally start recompiling Jigoku.u. Enough time has gone by now since v6's release.

As for NOTHINGNESS, yeah. I made the sky a little bit interesting since the earliest version. From green to gray/yellow, considering the EX Phase 1's theme color was yellow. Also the map was at first pitch-black (aside the sky), which was really awful because hellblasts caused too many decals and the whole map was literally even pitch-black if you used the Search Light.

None of the Shadow waves are infinite; triggering the Squid one activates the large-ass Skaarj one next to Exusia. I wanted to put respawning units of Big Shadow Skaarj once you would pick up the Relic but for some reasons it never worked and I eventually abandoned the idea.
And yeah, the Velora corridor is the worst place to get the Relic as you have to fight Big Shadow Skaarj there (three on Unreal difficulty and they show up suddenly).

The atmosphere of the map was based on Silent Hill 2's night city trips - no sounds whatsoever except random strange moans.
Perhaps I should make the first puzzle a bit less weird, the "blood" indications are hard to notice and TO READ.
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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 01 Dec 2014, 16:35

The first puzzle is alright as it is now, you don't want to make it easy, now, do you? ;)

I think I should clarify that the Relic was not in the Velora corridor where the Big Shadow Skaarj appear (I did go there too, mind), but was near the "new" entrance to Velora Temple as seen in the beta version of the map (blocked off by a red wall here, where the EXU2 Shield Belt is).
Nali: Magic or Telekinesis
Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 01 Dec 2014, 16:40

A dream or a nightmare? You decide.

Alright folks, it's about time I commented on this one: Holy Mausoleum of Exusia. This map is the last place referred to by "The Scanner of Elohim" and major developments to the story are found here. I believe it could be a contendent for the title of "best map" of G59; however, I will first detail my experience before drawing conclusions.

It was really a relief to arrive inside this holy refuge after traversing the previous map: bright, holy light, shiny surfaces, "magical lens flares" suspended in the air, mystical fog and soundscape - the latter being a bit ominous, really... it makes for an entirely new theme that relies a lot on skycity textures; it does feel like a refuge, and it would be ideal if it were not for the fact that the Saints, like all the others, are our enemies.
That last point isn't really explained by the way, but I guess the Hell Survivor, as an anomaly in the Universe, is regarded with high suspicion to say the least, and anyway he doesn't understand what the heck is going on himself - so yeah. There'll be some more info about him later, though.
The Saint pawns are tough bastards, but it's pretty standard fare here, I wasn't expecting anything less; the Virtues are probably the most dangerous Saints around, although there's also the Pope Queen, which made me reload on my first encounter - I just didn't expect that outburst of holy orbs!
Naturally, even where there's supposedly a ray of hope, things are fucked up - Demons are breaking in, and there are some really nasty ambushes - I think that's what made the journey through the Saint refuge actually hard. But there's a bigger problem...
The Demons are trying to allow the Black Knight (Berith, the biggest champion of BaalBerith no less) entry to the sanctuary, and the Saints - in a desperate bid to forestall the inevitable - have locked the door of the Great Hall with a key which they then threw away in a corrupted area that they themselves created in order to expel the effects of the Void into another dimension. The thing is, the portals remain open and there's no way to close them. Good job on the first translator message found inside that parallel dimension - together with the sick lighting (when there's actually any light) and decaying textures with blood and Shadow creep and the scary-as-ever soundscape, it really prepares the player for an immersion into horror; I began this map with a rather confident feeling, but I started to dread the journey when I understood that I had to regularly plunge into that corrupted dimension in order to further my progress in the holy mausoleum.
And it is that progression mechanic that is the best idea of the Holy Mausoleum of Exusia: it makes the gaming experience really interesting, far beyond what the sanctuary could have achieved by itself. It makes this a truly scary experience which alternates with more traditional EXU2 phases of mayhem. Within the corrupted dimension, you'll be facing Shadows that are stronger than ever before, and in my case I tried to avoid fighting as much as possible - particularly since, given previous experience with the Shadow theme, it's hard to tell whether the waves of Shadows are infinite or not. To tell you the truth, I cannot remember defeating a single Shadow wave: whenever I triggered one the first time, I'd fight a bit but it always looked so desperate that eventually I'd reload (sometimes even before actually dying) and try to see whether I could get to my objective without triggering the ambush (the translocator would be used a lot for this), and failing that, I'd simply run for my life while making a few blasts with that awesome Hellgun. I can say that the unease was such that I completely forgot that the light from those candles could protect me, and I never used them that way (unlike in the previous map, where they were a godsend).
Red versions of the Big Shadow Skaarj gave me frights on more than one occasion; Shadow Mothers are also HOLY SHIT inducing the first time you encounter one, but then you realise that they're not that problematic. Although I freaked out and had to reload more often than not, I did manage to explore the entirety of the corrupted dimension and found the Soul Ritual Chamber with the horrible statue of the unnamed Shadow God (and the weapon)! :)
Did I not mention this yet? Holy Mausoleum of Exusia is a (truly brilliant) conversion of the beta map Nexus, and as such appeared brand new to me (and will appear so to most players).
Once you get that key (which also triggers a completely crazy ambush - after reloading I used a coward's tactic and left my XLoc beacon outside that area, so the moment I got the key I just translocated out of harm's way!), you can make your way towards the exit - where the Black Knight awaits. Funnily enough, it felt like it had been a while since the last boss fight. Berith is tough alright (and I like the new skin!), I had to reload several times and eventually, I defeated him by perching myself on one of those beams at the entrance and shooting flares (BioHazard Flares FTW) from afar (if I stayed on the ground, I always ended up slaughtered - the trouble is, after losing half his health, he goes into berserker mode! Even the Belphegor/Sloth Sin Pillar couldn't help me much - probably because I'm not used to moving and shooting around when moving so fast!). A hard fight (not very hard like Morax or Tonatiuh IMO).
On your way to the exit, you find the Book of Faith which puts you under the same blessing that every Saint is born with; this will have some significance in the following levels. By the time I reached the exit, I had spent over three hours in this map! Which makes this the longest G59 map of v2.03. BUT I wasn't done with it completely! I had noticed those six bright lights inside doorways at the beginning of the boss area, but after trying them out and finding that one of them teleported me back in the middle of the room, I had given up and had turned my attention toward the boss. But now that I had completed the level once, I went to read the tips thread ;) and so I found out that I had missed a couple of important things, and hence I loaded my last save from just after defeating the boss: first, those six bright lights are teleports which need to be activated one after the other - a puzzle-like sequence that, when completed, brings you back to the parallel dimension where you can solve a puzzle similar to the one in NOTHINGNESS - only bigger and harder, because the coordinates are in a completely different area. When I realised that, I had to take a portal back to the sanctuary (and when you're in the boss area, this whole sequence is the only way to go back to previous areas of the mausoleum) and explore every nook and cranny of the place until I realised I had missed the chamber with the upside-down crucifix! And sure enough, the message with the coordinates is found inside the shiny pool (or rather you activate it by dipping in the pool). I dutifully noted them down on a piece of paper (yeah I wasn't going to be lazy to the point of just relying entirely on the tips thread!) and before making my way back to the puzzle, I went to check all the areas of the sanctuary where there had been translator events in order to check out what they now said... and the changed messages are IMO really cool as they confirm a crucial point about the Hell Survivor (the endless cycle of life and death - and there are many corpses of the Hell Survivor in Exusia) in addition to revealing disturbing plot elements ("...you can't stop Morax."; "The end is in the Void.") but they can also be easily missed, which is a shame in a way (again, the tips thread told me about the change - the change is mentioned at the start of the level but frankly by the time I got to the end I had completely forgotten about it). Apparently, you change something on this run - never before had the Hell Survivor been able to go beyond the mausoleum. And you are blessed at the end of the level. Also, yeah, I completed the puzzle and got the MegaBlast Flare and the Frost Armor :D

A fantastic experience overall, however for the first time I had performance issues in some specific areas: namely, in the huge cylinder room (Saint version) when looking up and toward the entrance from the bottom, and the ending area, when looking back toward the boss area after taking the lift. Luckily, the lag felt here (and it is significant, though still playable) never impends the action given the specific areas and fields of view to which it is limited. I guess you did struggle with making this level, as you stated in the tips thread.
Is it the best level in G59? I don't know, because all the other ones are consistently awesome as well. To each his own, I guess, but this map may get bonus points for originality. The switching between two radically different dimensions is great, and in case I forgot to mention this, it's not just Exusia itself which comes with a new theme, but the parallel dimension as well to an extent (new textures - I checked in the editor and it's the HourKraden package). I'd actually argue that this switching of themes is necessary to maintain the bar raised as high as it is, because the Exusia theme itself is nice but seems quite limited.
A very hard level, and if you count all the messing around I did to get the secrets after formally completing the map, then this level lasted for just about four hours!

EDIT: since setting UsePrecache to False for the EXUOpenGL renderer, there are no performance issues whatsoever in this (or any other) level. :tup:

EDIT2: one last note - this map is a crazy redux of Nexus, yet another Unreal beta map. Everyone can agree that the current result is far more ambitious and unique compared to what the original vision was aiming to achieve.
Last edited by Sat42 on 07 Dec 2014, 20:40, edited 6 times in total.
Nali: Magic or Telekinesis
Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 02 Dec 2014, 00:27

lol no I'm not going to make NOTHINGNESS' puzzle any easier, just improving the look of those two blood hints

Oh my god Exusia
Where do I start
Actually, I'll really make it quick because there's too much to talk about this conversion which probably took almost a year to make it reach the current status.

The real first thing I did on this map was testing my vision of the Saint theme which was basically using the more stone-y looking SkyTown textures and the lighting being totally white. Atmosphere was a lot like the churches from the Castlevania PS2 titles which wasn't a bad thing per se.

Looked horrible because this engine really sucks with bright stuff so I never worked on this map afterwards.

During the period when I was playing Fallout New Vegas and exploring the new vaults, one day I made one fucked up nightmare where I was supposedly playing Fallout New Vegas and I was in one of those brown / rusted gold decayed, irradiated vaults but this one really looked horrible; there were flickering orange lights, intermittent loud screams, shadows of weird figures appearing on the walls and other weird ass things. It was really shocking.

And this is where the big base idea for the double theme started. I had to recreate that nightmare into this map as best as I could. If it shocked somebody like me, I'm 100% sure it could have worked on almost everybody else.

HourKraden proven the best set for the dark part, and those few super clear SkyTown textures were perfect for the Saint part; had to edit the latter to make them look yellow - the lighting is still white/blue.

Developing and testing this conversion took 7 months. Fixing all the geometry bugs took more than 3 months because I kept finding invisible brushes HOLY SHIT I KEPT FINDING THEM EVERYWHERE to the point that I was seriously seeing invisible brushes in real life too. It was an obsession.
Just like Cryox, Nexus was one of Inoxx' first maps and he was unskilled when it came to geometry stability (as he simply went for more complex architecture and layouts). It gave me horrible issues with leaking water zones.
Bad, bad days.

The Red Shadows are barely any stronger than the regular ones but I made them and their terrain all red just to show how "powerful" and "corrupted" they became in the dark world. Exusia|Dark is pretty much supposed to be the ultimate Shadow map of EXU2 - the most difficult without going into dumb territory.
NONE of the Shadow battles in this map have infinite waves but they're even longer on higher difficulties.
I'm pretty sure a first-timer throughout Exusia on Unreal difficulty will likely take 6 hours to complete.

EXU2's regular Saints always looked weak to me honestly, they were like unlit moving statues. I decided to make them look more like ethereal ghosts there: bigger size, translucent skins, white fog and layered effects inside their bodies. There wasn't much else I could do with Saints; there's an unused Saint nuke projectile in EXU.u but it's mega strong so I couldn't touch it.

Demons are what they are, The Black Knight Berith is a cool guy. The last great thing this map could offer was, after all the massive trouble and mindfuckery with both worlds, an aggressive 1vs1 boss battle in a dark holy hallway against a powerhouse BRUTE pawn. Takes a while to figure out how to kill him easily; thanksfully Waffnuffly has added a tag which blocks Hyper Grenades from exploding on enemy contact (bounces off instead), which I'm totally going to use on this boss in the next version so Hyper Grenade spam won't work that well anymore.

I'll actually stop here talking in detail about this map. Not feel like spoiling one thing that I might ever add planning to Exusia because this is the kind of map which pulls you in, you see all this random weird things and after it you just can't forget about.

If this map is the greatest sleeper hit of EXU2 I wouldn't really care honestly. The more you proceed into G59 the more you descend into a world of fucking unknown because you simply can't expect what's going to come afterwards.
I don't know how many Unreal SP maps employ a double theme thing but I'm glad that in the Unreal universe of modding and mapping, Exusia exists and it's playable.
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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 07 Dec 2014, 15:24

UBerserker wrote:lol no I'm not going to make NOTHINGNESS' puzzle any easier, just improving the look of those two blood hints


It's true that I never noticed those blood stains to be hints until after completing the puzzle!

UBerserker wrote:Developing and testing this conversion took 7 months. Fixing all the geometry bugs took more than 3 months because I kept finding invisible brushes HOLY SHIT I KEPT FINDING THEM EVERYWHERE to the point that I was seriously seeing invisible brushes in real life too. It was an obsession.
Just like Cryox, Nexus was one of Inoxx' first maps and he was unskilled when it came to geometry stability (as he simply went for more complex architecture and layouts). It gave me horrible issues with leaking water zones.
Bad, bad days.


Heh, yeah, sounds like hell! but the effort paid off! :)

UBerserker wrote:I'll actually stop here talking in detail about this map. Not feel like spoiling one thing that I might ever add planning to Exusia because this is the kind of map which pulls you in, you see all this random weird things and after it you just can't forget about.


Yep, keep the surprises in store :)
Nali: Magic or Telekinesis
Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 07 Dec 2014, 16:09

SHADOWNESS is perhaps the first real transition map of G59: you're back in the Shadow version of the beta Nagomi Passage, the nature of your objective makes the gametime very short and the level is only quite hard, in that I only had to reload a few times (notably due to the huge Shadow Squid wave near the entrance to what would have been Foundry Tarydium Plant - it sent me plunging down to the Void).
It took me just over ten minutes (about a quarter of an hour) on my first playthrough and while the atmosphere is great and the gameplay delivered moments of tension, it wasn't scary.
But that's not saying it isn't great: as a transition map, it does its job perfectly. Since the previous map, the story has moved up a gear and I was super excited to make it to the Magatsu realm as fast as possible. The fact that you're blessed after going through tons of hard battles also makes you feel stronger than ever; however, the holy light from those candles only stops the worst effects of the Void...
Because the Shadow God is here. There is really one truly memorable thing about this map, and that is the oppressing and simultaneously awe-inspiring presence of the unnamed deity in the sky... honestly, upon emerging from the holy sanctuary and seeing it, for the first few seconds I wondered whether the Shadow God and its surrounding minions weren't going to attack me outright! (That would be an idea for an incredible boss fight, although admittedly not with this engine! :P ) It makes for a spectacularly dark scene.
It's funny how the narrative (for those like me who enjoy stories) can influence your state of mind beyond the actual action in the level: several messages refer to the power of being blessed, and that acts like a mental boost for the player and might explain why this wasn't a scary map; there was one tense encounter with the assassin from the EMD, the Shadow deity Ghatanothoa, but as was made clear, I could kill it - and the fight was only medium in terms of difficulty, as after the initial surprise (I didn't see it! and Ghatanothoa moves faster than you would initially expect!), I reloaded once and was able to destroy it with several Tachyon Driver beams without ever getting hit.
When you reach the entrance to the Magatsu realm, you learn that being blessed allows you to exist in that strange dimension, and so you make that final (aha! for now at least) step into the unknown...
Nali: Magic or Telekinesis
Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 07 Dec 2014, 18:58

And so we finally enter Phase 2: Deconstruction with the last map of v2.03: Nephesh Ruah. It's not a good ending for a pack, but as with BI v5.03, G59 isn't finished, so I can't really hold this against the campaign.
Nephesh Ruah (Nephesh = soul, Ruah = spirit; a fitting title for a map that portrays a realm that is other than material, and filled with beings that pray for your horrible defeat!) takes place within the Magatsu dimension which, apparently, is different from the traditional notion of a space and time planescape. Consequently, this level comes with its own brand new theme (again!). And together with the very developed storytelling by EXU2 standards, this allows the player to plunge into a world of twisted logic where the campaign's "real" villains are revealed to be motivated by their own sensible thoughts and beliefs - far more interesting and credible than the mindless idea of monsters being simply "evil" for the sake of it (as is often the case).
Sorry for going all over the place with my thoughts but this kind of reminds me of the way Warcraft 3 gave the Undead a reason to "unlive", so to speak!
The Magatsu are allied to the Shadow beings as they strive to create a Nirvana of imperturbable, "all-in-one" peace across the Universe. Actually, looking up the exact meaning of Nirvana and its original usage, I found it to be associated to a "stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished" - frankly, that sounds kind of like the end of history - reminds me of what UBerserker said: G59 is meant to be situated towards the end of time in the Unreal universe.
Nephesh Ruah isn't G59's best map for gameplay, but it's the most interesting one storywise. There are new revelations and the sequence in the Invisible Chamber is great: for the first time, I kind of felt like there was some character development for the Hell Survivor which goes beyond his "initial cycle state" to which we had been introduced to for a long time by now.
And these developments take place alongside the more immediate action, with Magatsu terminal messages that refer to your intrusion into their territory and which become increasingly alarmed. The "easing" into the level is great: there's a big intro without any fighting going on, which helps build up the foreboding atmosphere and the player's expectations - I have spent almost half an hour savouring the new environment before any shooting occurred during my first playthrough. The textures are essentially modified Skaarj and Queen themed textures, and together with the radiating glyphs and other luminescent arcane symbols, they achieve a suitably dark Magatsu theme. It feels like you're getting closer to the end of a fucked up nightmare :) Although I didn't get any frights here, the mood which permeates the entire level is sufficiently well executed that I felt that familiar chill go down my spine on a couple of occasions.
The fighting pits you against a whole new class of enemies: the Magatsu, naturally. It starts with just a couple of Magatsu Troopers, but then you initiate the vital training programme for Magatsu and Dactyls (just go and play this if you want to understand all the subtleties and distinctions in enemy types!) and Cybernetika's First Contact (how suitable!) kicks in and BAM we're back into traditional EXU2 gameplay, only with new pawns to fight. It is sufficiently challenging and hectic but I didn't expect anything less. I didn't immediately realise that I never actually killed the Magatsu Queens - but after battling Queen Eris#2, I noticed the carcass was never there.
Suffice to say, I had to reload more than once. I consider the level to be hard (lots of reloads), not very hard (I never had to resort to lots of repeated reloads in any one spot). The first major battle is the hardest one I believe.
Beyond a few nasty surprises and the generally tense battling throughout (to me the moment that was close to freaking me out was when I checked out the statues of the Magatsu Queens - I half expected them to come alive!), there's the realisation that the climactic battle to which you prepared yourself for does not happen in this level! That is not a fault, but a frustration inherently linked to the fact that this pack is not finished. To me, the frustration was greater here than in BI because G59 places more importance on the storyline.
Ah, and there's that crazy skybox too! Given the fact that we never go outside, we only get just enough windows to appreciate it - the wild, warped-like style of the sky was reminiscent of American McGee's Alice to me!
But dang - we'll just have to wait until the rest comes along! BaalBerith is waiting...

EDIT: it took me two and a half hours to finish this map, which thus becomes the average amount of time I needed to complete a level in G59. As a last note, Nephesh Ruah is a redux of the beta map Morose, played in reverse - and the result is, I daresay, better than what the original vision for the level could have achieved.
Last edited by Sat42 on 07 Dec 2014, 20:14, edited 2 times in total.
Nali: Magic or Telekinesis
Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 07 Dec 2014, 19:20

So, at the end of the day, I think I made it pretty clear that G59 v2.03 is an awesome mappack. Like Batshit Insane v5.03, it's not finished, but that is no reason not to play it now. Of course, EXU2 has now moved on to v6 so I guess newcomers will have to be patient before they can get there hands on this one.

Be warned that in a way, this campaign is even more uncompromising than BI. As UBerserker said: this is a niche project. But given my tendency to prefer story-driven games, I can say I slightly preferred G59 to BI. (My favourite EXU2 v5.03 map of all remains, however, Realm of Corruption!)
The general atmosphere is incredibly dark - at times this is like a horror game. But it's excellent at what it aims to achieve, and rather unique - and not just because a lot of the maps are conversions from Unreal beta maps, which will be entirely new to most people.

Given the long hours of fun I spent playing through this campaign, I'd like to thank UBerserker for making G59 a reality, with the hope that one day, we'll get to know the end of the story. :)

Cheers!
Nali: Magic or Telekinesis
Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

UB_
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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 07 Dec 2014, 21:27

TO POST#1 (NOTHINGNESS)
Yeah a simple story map. I think I took a day or so to make it. Its biggest feature was the Shadow God in the sky, he comes off as a surprise.

After Exusia you've seen the worst of Shadows; by that point they pretty much lost their mystery aura to the player AND to the main character. Their god has nothing to hide anymore and now shows itself in person to the survivor. The shadows themselves are now simply enemies to everything, as you've figured out what's the deal and that you're "stronger" after dealing with Exusia. And yeah killing Ghatanothoa was the best way to end the Shadow section, he's a very bad entity (and the ugliest of the Great Old Ones).

It's the last Shadow-related map and most likely the last map where you fight Shadows outside of optional secrets.


TO POST#2 (Nephesh Ruah)
Hell yeah, finally somebody says something about this map :)
Waffnuffly, from what I know, never had the time to check this one. He might enjoy it considering the whole Magatsu is 100% new to EXU2.

I don't remember how the Magatsu concept came up but definitely it didn't come from a dream this time. I think I was playing the Mass Effect series when I was working on the map. So yeah the second game in that series had a race called "Collectors" and this race was the main inspiration for the Magatsu (Magatsu stands for corrupt in Japanese); they were basically fully mindless insect-like drones stripped of any natural organs and were used as mind-controlled tools by the game's main destroyer villains, the Reapers. The main objective of these Collectors (more like the main objective of the Reapers since the Collectors were all mind-controlled) was basically capturing humans and other aliens in order to create some sort of human-reaper hybrid.

And then there are the Magatsu in G59. Unlike the Collectors I decided to actually give the Magatsu a conscience and an intelligence of their own, which is literally GLOBAL for all the Magatsu. All of them think the same, act the same, the objective they follow is the same regardless of their specific job, etc etc and spread this mentality to every life form in the universe (or what's left of it by that point). So they capture life forms and recreate them not to give birth to one big god but just to expand their population.
Shadows and Magatsu aren't properly allies. Shadows do not directly control Magatsu but are being the direct inspiration that has stridden the Magatsu to rise and eat everything. Magatsu just worship Shadows as ancient beings. The Shadows instead sees Magatsu entities as artificial beings (as of G59, for Shadows this is highly useless for them to "absorb") and are pleased that they're "worshipped" and that they follow a very similar objective. Basically the Shadows found their direct descendants. You know, worthy chosen ones. Even in Mass Effect the Reapers made few exceptions and actually chosen very valuable and intelligent humans and life forms to spread their agenda. Oh and yeah the Shadows cannot actually enter the Magatsu realm at all, except their strongest gods who are somehow impressed.

I remember Waff liked red and black being combined, so I decided to do that in something EXU2.
It became more like Red+Gray with a big of purple but still looked fine. The Queens basically control all the operations of the Magatsu. Nobody else in the faction is above them; you'll actually have to kill the Queens one after one in the last Magatsu map.
They aren't very numerous though, they take a big while to clone/recreate themselves and in the G59 story they haven't been for too long; when Shadows broke loose, a big bunch of the planet's monsters were pushed toward the Magatsu traps and in this way they managed to capture a lot of life forms. The traps are those three portals you see in the large room at the beginning of the map - one location from G59, one location from BI and another location from G59 which is not seen yet.
They also do missions outside of their "world"; they've been definitely spotted though which is why people like the Hypers (and Morax too) knew about them. They don't care about being spotted because they sure know they instill fear... like terrorists. I mean yeah, all the Nephesh Ruah messages about lectures and "JOIN US BROTHERS, ONE NATION ONE GOAL" stuff made them look like a bunch of nazi-like terrorists. I intentionally made them really serious when it came to this, the whole death Nirvana thing is their main purpose and I had to make it as convincing as possible. All the Magatsu maps (three of them) come with titles having Hebrew words, by the way.

Gameplay-wise I'll be quick. They are generally stronger than your regular demons and the Unreal difficulty-only Magatsu Gasbags can become insane but I decided not too make them TOO hard outside of the Queens (more like, the first Queen only) because they are proper new creatures to EXU2 and I didn't want to frustrate the players too much. Besides, they aren't fully developed yet, a lot of Magatsu pawns haven't been created yet. Being artificial creatures I never wanted them to have an element of their own - just a mix of several races' powers. Fits perfectly.
In the Magatsu maps you'll only fight Magatsu only. No Shadows as well. And you won't fight Magatsu anymore after you'll exit their world.

The map's development took a month, plus one additional week of fixing. Cliffy's geometry is stable so I didn't run into any kind of bug. I just converted the map room by room, from the start to the end. All the ideas about layout, visuals, sounds, gameplay and story were brainstormed and developed in real time as I proceeded throughout the rooms. The skybox is very curiously done - you'll see it fully in the next map which is set outside.

Magatsu is a sudden, super threatening force you find and fight through. They aren't the real villains of G59 either, there's still somebody else outside of them, the Shadows and Baalberith's royal demon empire.


TO POST#3 (end)
Well yeah, thanks a lot for having played G59, now that's "unplayable"! :)
Yeah I'd say G59 would count as a excessive action horror game at times but it's possibly one of the biggest and deepest story-driven experiences even when compared to other big mappacks. Literally something made out of all ideas and afterthoughts I'd generally wanted from other releases.
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User avatar Sat42
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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 22 Dec 2014, 01:43

Hey UB!

Great to read about the various influences/ideas/decisions which impacted the creative process, as usual. Gotta say, I love the dichotomy and dynamic between the Shadows and the Magatsu.

Actually, now that I'm on holiday, I wanted to say a little something about the secrets found in Nephesh Ruah - I kind of skipped this last time, probably because of urgent work at Uni preoccupying me:

- of course I found the messages that "hinted" at the sequence of secrets that must be unlocked progressively, but as per usual, it was only after first finishing the map then reading the tips thread that I found the actual secrets! Of course, after reading the relevant tips for this map once, I didn't constantly go back to the thread.
- I didn't know the original Morose, but I remember first seeing that button under the ledge - just a shame I hadn't thought to shoot it all by myself!
- the mirror room is really cool, it made me tense!
- finding the last secret was tough for some reason, despite the (admittedly long-forgotten) translator event that obviously hinted at it.

Probably one of the toughest sequence of secrets of the whole campaign :P even after reading the tips once, finding all the secrets added half an hour of gametime!
Nali: Magic or Telekinesis
Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

User avatar Sat42
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Subject: Re: [UT] <EXU2> "G59 - EXPANDED ROUTE Phase 2" v2.03 OUT [not-released]

Post Posted: 22 Dec 2014, 15:52

Also, I had meant to add that, on Medium difficulty, G59 is a bit harder than Batshit Insane on average; however, the difficulty spikes are more pronounced in BI and the hardest EXU2 maps are found in BI. That's how I experienced it, at least.
Nali: Magic or Telekinesis
Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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