02/08/2011 - "To the surface" by JazzyB

[salsaSkaarj]

...
On a sidenote.. it would be possible if someone made something that when you avoid Skaarj attack by going on an elevator, that they would still be smart enough to create the "go thru door, jump on top of elevator, break ceiling open and enter" scenario. Even with a trigger to drop a skaarj like that on top of the elevator, instead of "oh pfff.. got on the elevator.. luckily those Skaarj give up then.... they're dumb!".

I'm quite sure that can be done but then the game blocks the avoidance strategy. And what if you blast the Skaarj off the elevator with a rocket or the ASMD, he can't reach you again. The whole point of the game is to provide a pleasurable experience to the player and if every single enemy has to be killed, it could become boring (ans the same applies if every single fight is avoidable.

But the idea has merits and perhaps a couple of those fights should have that - seemingly avoidable and then surprise, the game outsmarted the player

[Mark Gecko]

Huh, I can't seem to get this working. I installed it and Operation Na Pali, Na Pali works fine (Which is quite a shame because frankly it is awful.) but this one doesn't.

[integration]

Hm, ONP is one of the best costum made content, so if you don't like it, you won't find many other map packs, which you like.

Have you tried to open it from outside OldSkool (or didn't you hit the refresh button)? A double click in windows on onp-map09Surfacex.unr or start UT and type into console (TAB key): open onp-map09Surfacex.unr

Do you get an error message like can't find package blabla or so? Perhaps you are missing a texture package or a music file (like crater.umx).

[Mark Gecko]

My main problem with ONP is that the writing is awful and the protagonist just won't shut his gob. I mean, the enviroments are really pretty.

I'll try that, I might like this one, who knows.

[UB_]

ONP is bad, and there are lots of mappacks better than it (like Xenome).

[salsaSkaarj]

ONP is bad, and there are lots of mappacks better than it (like Xenome).

ONP is bad = a personal opinion (UB's).

As usual, I'll disagree stating that ONP has its faults and its high moments. Comparing it to Xenome isn't really fair. ONP was produced much much earlier and consisted of maps produced by different mappers, therefore there will be differences in quality and map transitions aren't always up to par. But in the whole I (and others) thoroughly enjoyed it, just like we did Xenome. Gameplay in ONP is completely different and the Nali helpers are usually considered a pain, whereas in Xenome they serve their purpose well.

Try to play the game without any prejudice and I'm sure there will be sections you really like

Huh, I can't seem to get this working. I installed it and Operation Na Pali, Na Pali works fine (Which is quite a shame because frankly it is awful.) but this one doesn't.

I don't get your point here. You installed ONP and Na Pali works fine but ONP doesn't? which Na Pali is that?

ONP is for UT and needs olskool (which is in the installation files) and the bonuspacks. Also make sure you have ONP 130. (BTW Xenome also needs ONP to be installed).

[UB_]

Doesn't mean anything if ONP was produced before Xenome. Shrakith'a (an exaggeration but I picked up the easiest choice for comparison) is way older and in four maps it does everything better than ONP.
ONP is just a long curiosity and shows stuff that you shouldn't replicate in your maps.

[Semfry]

ONP is bad = a personal opinion

Needs to be restated.

This is okay for a final level. I enjoy the concept of the last battle but it relies a bit too much on knowing what to do (with one slightly unintuitive step I mentioned in the review), and once you do it's trivial, although the warehouse place before it can be quite difficult. The ending itself is also kind of abrupt, especially as no light is shed on the glowy Skaarj at all. Beyond that the environment is standard Xenome with great environmental design, and I like the small cutscene at the start showing what your actions in the last level accomplished.

[Legendslayer222]

One thing I forgot to mention, the credits are broken for me, as in the images were just the default bubble texture. Anyone else had that? I'm sure it was working fine for me before...

[Semfry]

I had issues with bubble textures when I did the video for the second map a bit ago. It seems you have to reinstall Xenome to fix it; apparently some texture files can get overwritten or something.

[UB_]

Xenome being much better than ONP is also worth being restated

I wish it could be possible playing NP-Script mappacks without having to download ONP.

[Semfry]

Xenome being much better than ONP is also worth being restated

Woosh

[salsaSkaarj]

Xenome being much better than ONP is also worth being restated

Oh well, at least we're back on topic

BTW the video playthrough makes it seem so simple. Was that on Medium or on Hard? I kind of remember 4 Skaarj when the elevator reaches the top (on Hard and on Unreal). On Medium (when I last played this map), I also encountered only 3.

[Semfry]

It's on medium. A Skaarj that was there when I was replaying to remember the path didn't seem to be there when I was doing the playthrough; maybe there's a bit of randomisation.