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16/09/2014 - "Alshar2" by VerMoorD

Each week a single map is discussed here in detail.

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UB_
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Subject: 16/09/2014 - "Alshar2" by VerMoorD

Post Posted: 16 Sep 2014, 10:26

Map Title: Alshar2
Author: VerMoorD
From: Valley of Alshar
Filename: Alshar2.unr
Music Files: Seti.umx




Video Playthrough:

Youtube Playthrough

Synopsis: Never take the Skaarj lightly when walking throughout ruins.

Discuss!

Doublez-Down
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Subject: Re: 16/09/2014 - "Alshar2" by VerMoorD

Post Posted: 16 Sep 2014, 15:39

For some reason never played this one. Love me some Nalicast themed maps though, so I'm gonna have to give it a whirl.
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Subject: Re: 16/09/2014 - "Alshar2" by VerMoorD

Post Posted: 16 Sep 2014, 22:43

Doublez-Down wrote:For some reason never played this one. Love me some Nalicast themed maps though, so I'm gonna have to give it a whirl.


Go for it. Nothing über-awesome, but it's still great stuff and historically it's quite significant too.

Alshar2 (the author could have named this a bit better) isn't as ambitious as the first level, but it's still quite impressive, with some gruesome atmosphere like that bit with the torture cells, and gameplay-wise it's quite hard. I don't think I got any frights from it, unlike in the first map, despite some Skaarj ambushes and the dark ambience.
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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: 16/09/2014 - "Alshar2" by VerMoorD

Post Posted: 19 Sep 2014, 19:21

My first custom map pack. I was blown away at the time. Back when this was released, there wasn't nearly so much great stuff out there, and the others I tried out just didn't measure up (Crescent Moon Squad, I'm looking at you...).
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Subject: Re: 16/09/2014 - "Alshar2" by VerMoorD

Post Posted: 20 Sep 2014, 03:04

Decent enough, but the progression feels kind of obscure (I'm not sure if that trapdoor in the central area is supposed to open straight away or if it only opens later), and it's pretty random structurally although the torture chamber style gives it some theming. It mostly looks okay though, especially considering this was one of the first Unreal sets ever.
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Subject: Re: 16/09/2014 - "Alshar2" by VerMoorD

Post Posted: 21 Sep 2014, 01:07

When it comes to Valley of Alshar and obscure progression, nothing beats the first level: that one was actually very hard if only due to the puzzling manner in which you're meant to make your way through the map. I actually had to ask for help here on UnrealSP.org!
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: 16/09/2014 - "Alshar2" by VerMoorD

Post Posted: 21 Sep 2014, 13:49

Sat42 wrote:When it comes to Valley of Alshar and obscure progression, nothing beats the first level


UMS Solaris.
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Subject: Re: 16/09/2014 - "Alshar2" by VerMoorD

Post Posted: 21 Sep 2014, 15:42

UBerserker wrote:
Sat42 wrote:When it comes to Valley of Alshar and obscure progression, nothing beats the first level


UMS Solaris.


Haha, I'm glad you're bringing that one up, UBerserker! :)
I'm gonna delve on the comparison but just to be clear, originally my remark was meant to be restricted to maps within Valley of Alshar. I would not have dared say which map has the most obscure progression in the whole of the Unreal and UT universe, given that I haven't played through everything yet :)
Obscure progression in Alshar1 and UMS Solaris: to be honest with you, and while I can imagine there'd be some people who will have experienced things differently, I consider the first map of Valley of Alshar to be very hard while UMS Solaris is just hard, because the former made me look for outside help whereas the latter, tough as it may be, didn't require me to get out of the game to search for a solution. Of course, it's a bit artificial, because Alshar1 really contains only ONE sticking point (where there was just no indication as to what you're meant to do), and in contrast, UMS Solaris is continuously difficult. But still, the latter "made sense", if you really paid attention to all the messages, so you're given what you need in order to make further progress in the level (it still is pretty obscure, of course). Alshar1 was artificially harder because of that one sticking point where you basically have to figure out a mechanism that would usually be considered acceptable only for accessing a secret area. That map would've taken over an hour to complete on my first playthrough, but because of that one "puzzle", I spent over an extra hour trying to figure out what the hell I had to do, and to no avail, until I got an answer from the forums here. So, because of how I experienced it, I consider Alshar1 to have more obscure progression than UMS Solaris.
Finally, I'll just say that UMS Solaris is indeed a bigger, longer, and better map than Alshar1 in every way. But I still find the latter and the whole of Valley of Alshar to be awesome!
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: 16/09/2014 - "Alshar2" by VerMoorD

Post Posted: 21 Sep 2014, 22:56

No kidding about the obscure progression! As I recall, in those bad old days before UnrealSP.Org existed, I actually e-mailed VerMoorD to ask his advice on how to complete the level! He replied, which was nice of him, and I was able to proceed.
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