Hey everyone, thanks for all of the kind words and criticism! The team is ecstatic over the feedback we’ve received, every critique and analysis is appreciated greatly. We’ve been group-watching streams and vods every few days, it’s a great time seeing people’s reactions to everything.
Thought I’d make a big ole reply post to things that stood out here:
On the topic of things being non-serious, I totally agree. You can probably tell from projects I’ve helmed in the past (CTSJ2, Snack Pack 1/2, Bored) that I’m personally not super indebted to making everything super serious, but I hope that difference in outlook doesn’t detract too hard from the rest of the pack’s qualities! I’ve been quite surprised at the (puzzling, honestly) positive reactions to the Kamikaze, so it’s good to hear at least some other people find that shit annoying! At least you can sleep well knowing that Kamikaze are going to be around a might less in D3, I am hearing that fucking AAAAAAAAA loop in my sleep.
On the horizon in D2M4, it’s done using a banded set of circular water textured func_illusionary brushes that fade out from the center, and a fog colour + density that fades well with the skybox’s solid colour at the bottom, along with a decently low value of skyfog. Hope that is a solid enough explanation to help mappers who wanna try it out. The actual water volume is a waterskip brush.
On the comment by “mellotronworker” on the damage output… nope! Nothing’s been changed on our end. We just generally use a lot more monsters in more challenging locations, so it ends up ‘doing more damage’ in reality, while keeping the same values.
And one last special-thanks to Comfy for the detailed reviews of her favourite maps, it’s well appreciated.
It’s hard to detract from those qualities due to how pronounced they are. The soundtrack in particular is surprising. Once again, it gets a little somber for what the rest of the mod is trying to do, but it’s hard to complain about something being high-quality and evocative.
I’ve been a fan of this since the first episode was released, and I’m even more so now.
It really is difficult to say just what a treat it was to play both episodes and also the bonus maps. Every aspect of these levels including the music is epic.
My hat’s off to everyone involved in this project. Your efforts are greatly appreciated! Bravo!
It’s almost Impossible not to give this a 5/5. The amount of work is unthinkable, and the quality and ambition are legendary.
Yet I still think some maps are indeed so big and ambitious that they somehow lack a bit of balance and tend to feel too repetitive and monotonous. Especially in episode 2 later maps I find too many monster traps and some fight arenas, despite their gorgeous looks and breathtaking scenery, are too simplistic and just throw tons of monsters at you.
I will give this release a solid 5/5 in pretty much all categories except in gameplay. Putting a bit more care in combat balance and relying less on monster hoards will have made this release sublime and stand in its own league.
Of course overall it is way better than most entry level maps here so maybe we need a different scoring scale for epic releases like this one.
I’m having a little trouble on D1M7 Darkstar Triumvirate.
At the blue key area I can’t seem to find a way out, I have collected the key and grenade launcher, but the metal grid that blocks the elevator will not disappear…
I feel mixed about this. If we’re going by general art design and music, then it’s easily one of the best mapsets I’ve played, no small feat considering how good the average Quake map is these days. D2M4 was especially beautiful with the sunset illuminating the ruins and the cliffside passages.
I loved the new weapons, the auto shotgun is fantastic and a lot of fun to use, and the crystal lance is a satisfying railgun analogue that packs the kind of hefty punch you’d want and expect from such a weapon. It makes a real mess of monsters and it brought a big smile to my face every time I was allowed to let loose with it.
But the real issue lies with the maps themselves. Most of them are fine, brilliant in fact. But both episodes feature a map 8 that’s an absolute slog to get through, containing a ridiculous number of enemies and are chore to play due to the insane length and endless ambushes. These kinds of levels are perfectly fine for hubs or standalone releases because you know what you’re getting into, but for an episodic structure it kills the pacing stone dead. I also wasn’t a fan of D1M7 because the teleports got a bit confusing, even though I liked the concept of the level itself.
I’m also so-so on the new enemies. The Construct isn’t much fun to fight, with the worst part being its introduction. Putting one underwater in a tight space is fine, but you did this for the very first encounter with it. The player has no idea what it is or how it acts and they need to handle this new monster with impaired movement on top of all this, which doesn’t give a good first impression. The beefier Ogre also feels a bit overkill, but I must admit whoever modeled it did an astounding job. He looks incredible.
I can see a lot of promise in Dwell, you’ve captured the Lovecraftian atmosphere better than most releases (hell, even more so than Arcane Dimensions and I don’t say this lightly) but I think maybe some of the later maps could do with some serious trimming for the set to be at its best.