“Realm of the Lost”, is a pack of most impressive, professional grade maps, that in particular suffer from relentless lack of sympathy or understanding for casual gamers.
Difficulty level setup, should be considered +1 at least, meaning that the “normal”, equals conventional “hard”, while the “hard”, equals conventional “nightmare”. Do not forget that ‘Copper’ - which the map pack does employ - is also a difficulty level mod, cranking things up; maybe the “Realm of the Lost”, would actually appear more friendly without it? Even though, due to wackiness of the original ‘Quake’ design in some cases, elegance or even doability of certain levels, would suffer without the ‘Copper’ gameplay polish.
Anyhow, I played through all the maps save for the last one - it simply looked like too much; by then, I already felt it all becomes too much of a struggle for me. I like some challenge, but I do not like a homework. Otherwise than that, excellence.
Interesting campaign. The first level in the base is probably the most impressive scifi map I have ever played, architecturally speaking. Was not a fan of the puzzles though
Favourite level was w1m4 - beautiful level, very haunting.
Unfortunately, the final level (w1m7) doesnt load on the remastered/kex engine variant of the game Array index exception - I thought it might be the monster count but dropping difficulty and attempting to reload it still fails. Oh well.
Not to sound like echoes of everyone else but: map 1 is both lovely in terms of design and complexity… and also an exercise in frustration by mixing puzzles with still hard combat. The puzzles start out fine (on skill 0), but seem to become increasingly punitive, even when they’re not actually complex (the first silver key puzzle is easy to understand, but the punishments for making mistakes are significant, for example).
[I’m glad that the Lions puzzle is apparently not worth solving, since I found 1 Lion, and can’t work out how to platform well enough to get even the second obvious one - I get the *idea* of the puzzle, but some of us aren’t good at jumping in Quake!]
More on the rest of the pack when I get bored of failing to progress on map 1…
So, I got bored of map 1’s impossible challenges, and skipped ahead to map 2…
Map 2 was recently “revamped” as part of 2021’s smejjam, so was a bit more familar to me than it might have been before 1 Oct 2021… it’s still a good map (and, in fact, it’s probably better in this version, with mines and without pointless lightning spawns).
Map 3… has a cackling trickster laugh thing, and I just decided to god-mode past the most annoying bit (spike-shooters when I was on 5 health)… and I’m not entirely sure how I actually finished the level. It didn’t feel like I was going to go to the next map at the point I hit the exit - I still had stuff left to do!
Map 4 meanwhile, has a lovely sandy-caverns feel… but sans-grenade launcher (did I mention that there’s one on map 3, but the exit is so unexpected that I never got to go back and solve the puzzle to get it…), the zombies are a constant hassle… and I really do not understand how I’m supposed to progress at the point I have gotten to, post-picking-up-silver-key. Also, instant-death-pits everywhere are unfun, honestly.
Maps 5,6,7 are… okay. Map 6, in particular, has this weird change of pace leading into a not at all fun “final encounter” before you get to the exit.
Map 7… well, it has instant death void to fall into, and I really didn’t ever have much idea as to what I was supposed to be doing. Eventually I got fed up of falling into the void hopping around trying to work out where I was supposed to go next.
Was stuck at the first map in the room with the 3 pillars where you have to shoot in moving “beams” to unlock what looked like a blue keycard.
After 50 or so failed attempt due to my platforming skills, quick aim and movement with their best, I rage quited and deleted the mod. Forever. If this was a taste of things to come, I will not miss it.
hard puzzles and hard platforming, this is a real challenge. Too hard casual gamers like me but worth a try. Really good looking and thought of maps. You will quick save and load a lot!
Honestly I could not get thru 1 map puzzle. So I turned on god and flew to the exit. And godamn it was a right decision! Because maps are SOOO different. If you don’t like this one then try next one and be happy. 1 particular map out of Smej1 is one of my all time personal favs - it’s uKKo’s map with derelict city. It’s SOOO atmospheric and even scary at times. Immersive to the top. 11 out of 10! Hey!!!
Loved the puzzles and the platforming. The first map is absolutely the hardest map… But I don’t think it was unfair, you just have to learn the tricks. I can’t do circle jumps or bunny hops or other fancy tricks and managed to finish the whole episode without cheats on medium difficulty.
Small nitbits:
There’s a big difference on map length, some are done in 15 minutes and some take almost an hour, would be better to make them all the same length, so the player knows what to expect. But maybe thats a personal preference.
The last map is a little confusing sometimes, I don’t mind but I can see other players would. And the secrets are way too tough in most of the maps, I found almost none. Also a personal preference.
There’s a small non gamebreaking bug in the third map in my version of QSS. The blue key doesn’t fall down, however that key isn’t needed to complete the map.
Other than that I’m surprised about the polish of everything. I loved the button hunts and the puzzles. Amazing combat too, even with only the vanilla Quake monsters.
Absolute a 5 out of 5 for me, play this if you’re in for a fair challenge.
I don’t play 1.13 version because qss doesn’t support w1m7
General - Good atmospheres. Secrets are too difficult. Very big potential for possible remixes.
1 - I don’t play it.
2 - 4/5. The map was remixed in SMEJ Jam, but I prefer this version with mines and without lava. It would be great if the use of the chess knight (at the end of the map in smejjam) was developed ; the horse can very easily be avoided, so the final room could be more epic.
3 - The lack of weapons is very heavy. I like how the players have to follow the platforms, but it’s underexploited and their sound design irritates me.
S1 - Low gravity slows the pace and increases the repetitiveness of the route. Two Shamblers appear at the end when the player may need help.
4 - 3.5/5. Would be great if extended.
5 - Knight Smasher could be a good point, but I discovered it once I defeated the horde with grenades. The weak points are the route, the lack of ammo, the Shamblers.
6 - 3.5/5. Would be great if extended. 3/4 of the keys are obtained without the course extending. A hallway with saws slows progress without interest.
There are 3 quads in the big room. They are decorative to me because when I try to get 1 of them I fail miserably and anyway all the monsters are long dead.
7 - 4.5/5. Already great. Would be ultimate with more accomplished ambient textures and better access to some secrets.
Array index exception - I thought it might be the monster count but dropping difficulty and attempting to reload it still fails. Oh well.