19/11/2007 - "Stairway to Nali Heaven" by Gui

[Jethro]

Map Title: Moonspire part 2(3?) of 2(3?): Stairway to Nali Heaven
Author: Guilhem "Gui" Bedos
From: Nali Chronicles (both part 1 and final)
Filename: nclevel008b.unr
Video playthrough: http://www.dailymotion.com/MMAN2/video/5971402




Synopsis: You've nearly reached your goal, the top of the Moonspire. Time to face some final obstacles!

Discuss!

[Turboman]

its been ages since i played this one, infact i cannot remember at all that skaarj machinery in this level as shown in that screenshot.

i liked the moonspire levels though, if i remember it was split up into two levels, one the outdoor locale and the second the interior right? the interior wasn't so great if i remember, infact i hardly remember the interior at all in comparison to the outdoor which was more the conceptually grand part of these levels!

[Jethro]

its been ages since i played this one, infact i cannot remember at all that skaarj machinery in this level as shown in that screenshot.

There are two floors filled with Skaarj computers here. This is the level where you can actually see Skarrj computer being defragmentated

i liked the moonspire levels though, if i remember it was split up into two levels, one the outdoor locale and the second the interior right?

If we count outdoor as Moonspire then there are 3 parts - outdor, Catacombs (lower parts of the Moonspire, discussed before in motw >>here<<) and this map.

I liked this map, although it's probably the place where constant fighting pests starts to get iritating. It contains nice architecture and certain neat puzzles. Also, this level got (just like Sunspire) feel of defiled sanctuary. Another nice touch in this map was unusual way of ending it, really cool concept! On the other hand lighting could have been better here, light seems a bit unsourced.

[UB_]

Oh noes!

I remember clearly the Moonspire. The first part, in the basement, was full of pests. Mantas everywhere in a closed environment is truly a great experience.

In this one, Flies try everything to make it annoying. I recall some narrow corridors where those flying guys were hidden in the dark... near the roof, or just eating corpses with potentially useful and game-breaking stuff

Lots of elevators. Awesome too because Flies were still there. In the higher floors, the situation became more interesting. Krall groups and lots of Skaarj near the panels/computers.

And this seems to be until the end. The nice roof (which was satisfying only when you were ending the level because you were able to see the view of the valley around the building in that moment) was a cool part, thanks to the appearance of the Nali Priest you were supposed to call. Good idea.

Architecture is good, not ground-breaking, but nothing wrong about it. Lighting is good. Green where's green, azure where's azure, orange/red where's orange/red and white where's... azure. Whatever.

Gameplay-wise... hard to rate this field in NC. The Boulder spell was nice enough to delete groups of pushovers with staffs. Flies eat defeats with the Ice shards. Shield spells are useful against Skaarj, while you damage them with the Skaarj Pistol. Yes, this level has some obstacles

The worst thing overall, was the beginning. You look outside from the (locked) entrance doors of the Moonspire, and seeing again those 8/10 big Titans roaming the land. So damn bad because the view tells you that you wasted an incredible amount of time to go back in a cavern to regenerate Mana and use it for make the Titans getting eaten by giant worms, with about 30 cycles for the completition. Guess you aren't supposed to kill them in that level.

I would want to play NC again, if there's a way to activate the S3TC textures in the game.

And no, no more ratings from me

[Mick.B]

I've never played NC, thus I can't comment, sorry.

[Darkon]

Nice level.. grotesque rooms.. and a little frustrated when I got to the top and found out that I had to kill EVERY pest there was before I could call the priest..
Overall .. good archi, nothing too fancy; just right!

[Jethro]

Mantas everywhere in a closed environment is truly a great experience.

Yeah, and you with instagib, boucing spells. Realyl challenging

Lots of elevators. Awesome too because Flies were still there.

Lots of annoying elevators, find-the-damn-tiny-switch elevators, wait-10-minutes-before-it-moves elevators

Shield spells are useful against Skaarj, while you damage them with the Skaarj Pistol. Yes, this level has some obstacles

One of the most challenging fights in part 1, I died countless times before I realised that I need to use shielding spells In fact, I used shields rarely, as most of them got some annoying side effects (like cloud shield and smoke shield).

I would want to play NC again, if there's a way to activate the S3TC textures in the game.

What's the problem? Simply choose renderer that's capable of using S3TC and turn them on, nothing too complicated about that

I've never played NC, thus I can't comment, sorry.

Why many people don't even want to give this mappack a chance? It's piece of good work IMO, worth at least trying.

No more comments?

[UB_]

Actually, I had always OpenGL selected (in the normal UT game). Unless NC has the old DirectDraw render by default...

[Jethro]

Actually, I had always OpenGL selected (in the normal UT game). Unless NC has the old DirectDraw render by default...

Go to UnrealTournament\System directory, create text file and name it "Running.ini". Now when you start NC it'll say that last time game terminated abnormally and allow you to choose different rendering device. Select OpenGL, then in system console type "preferences" and activate S3TC usage. This *should* allow you yo play NC with high-res textures.

[Semfry]

The original version of NC had many problems with renderers, I've had none with the full version of NC (including using S3TC).

No NC video playthroughs, as the spells/level ups etc pretty much require the rest to be played through before (with the exception of the earliest levels).

Is this the level with the switch you can break by standing near it, or was that the last level? As that's a pretty major bug that wasn't changed between versions. The Moonspire is probably the architectural highlight of Nali Chronicles, and some of the rooms are vast, too bad the author of this one didn't touch up some of the weaker looking levels (or help their authors do so themselves).

The Gasbags so close to Skaarj seemed pretty odd (I think I mentioned it in the review). This is the level where the "pest" enemies finally start fading for the introduction of bigger enemies like Skaarj, which makes the gameplay in this one more interesting than the previous one (which was full of pests). It doesn't have the best gameplay in Nali Chronicles (that's the later parts), but it's pretty good.

The fight on the roof is kind of like a boss fight, but that thing in the next level is the real boss .

[WhirlWindWabbit]

Why many people don't even want to give this mappack a chance?

One word: FIlePlanet.

[Jethro]

The original version of NC had many problems with renderers, I've had none with the full version of NC (including using S3TC).

Now I see that NC Launcher allows you to change rendering device directly, so no need to mess with files. Again, it should work!

No NC video playthroughs, as the spells/level ups etc pretty much require the rest to be played through before (with the exception of the earliest levels).

open console and summon them

summon nalichronicles.x where x can be one of:

NCcompanionRabbit - annoying talking Nali Rabbit
NClogbook, NCDiary, NCAlchBook
NCLantern
NCHealthVial(Bottle), NCManaVial(Bottle), and various other potions, alchemic set, ingridiens and so on.

Weapons:
NCKrallStaff
NCNaliGun
NCProphetStaff (avaiable in both parts, but in fact you get it nrear the end)
NCQuadbow (same here)
NCRazorjack (same here)
NCShockRifle (same here)
NCSkaarjCannon (same here)
NCSkaarjGun
NCSkaarjRL (same here)
NCSword

Spells:
(AIR)
NCSpellAirRaincloud
NCSpellAirStorm
NCSpellAirWhirlwind
NCSpellAirLightning
NCSpellAirLightningMajor
NCSpellAirThunderCloud
NCSpellAirCloudShield
NCSpellAirWindShield

(EARTH)
NCSpellEarthSlow
NCSpellEarthWorms
NCSpellEarthBoulder
NCSpellEarthDeathfruit
NCSpellEarthMudball
NCSpellEarthMudstrike
NCSpellEarthMudSkin
NCSpellEarthStoneSkin

(WATER)
NCSpellWaterFreeze
NCSpellWaterLake
NCSpellWaterIceshard
NCSpellWaterIcestrike
NCSpellWaterSeablast (TEH WIN! )
NCSpellWaterIceSkin
NCSpellWaterSeaShield (TEH WIN! , but it's found in part two)
NCSpellWaterDripShield

(FIRE)
NCSpellFireBurn
NCSpellFireFlamegyser
NCSpellFireMeteorshower
NCSpellFireball
NCSpellFireFlamestrike
NCSpellFireMeteor
NCSpellFireFlameShield
NCSpellFireSmokeShield

(Holy)
NCSpellHolySanctuary
NCSpellHolyTalk (CRUCIAL IN THIS LEVEL!)
NCSpellHolyDivineBolt
NCSpellHolyBird (works with prophet staff only)
NCSpellHolyChainmail
NCSpellHolyDivineProtection

(Dark)
NCSpellMystLifedrain
NCSpellMystSkies
NCSpellMystFearBolt
NCSpellMystDragon (works with prophet staff only)
NCSpellMystShadowArmor


Now, you're "NaliMage" class player (you can check it by typing "set nalimage mana 120" in console). Spell Skills are stored in array SpellSkills, but no idea how to set it via the SET command

The Moonspire is probably the architectural highlight of Nali Chronicles, and some of the rooms are vast, too bad the author of this one didn't touch up some of the weaker looking levels (or help their authors do so themselves).

Probably true, while Moonspire maps are really high quality there are many others in this pack that aren't that brillant. I think they could use the delay time to improve orevall maps quality.

The fight on the roof is kind of like a boss fight, but that thing in the next level is the real boss .

Never thought three SkaarjAssassins could be that challenging, but let's face it, weaponary wasn't that powerfull and with spells you need some time to charge them properly.

One word: FIlePlanet.

I'll mirror it for you!

EDIT: You got no excuse now! Grab it here: NCFinal.zip (88,2 MB)

[Semfry]

No NC video playthroughs, as the spells/level ups etc pretty much require the rest to be played through before (with the exception of the earliest levels).

open console and summon them

summon nalichronicles.x where x can be one of:

NCcompanionRabbit - annoying talking Nali Rabbit
NClogbook, NCDiary, NCAlchBook
NCLantern
NCHealthVial(Bottle), NCManaVial(Bottle), and various other potions, alchemic set, ingridiens and so on.

Weapons:
NCKrallStaff
NCNaliGun
NCProphetStaff (avaiable in both parts, but in fact you get it nrear the end)
NCQuadbow (same here)
NCRazorjack (same here)
NCShockRifle (same here)
NCSkaarjCannon (same here)
NCSkaarjGun
NCSkaarjRL (same here)
NCSword

Spells:
(AIR)
NCSpellAirRaincloud
NCSpellAirStorm
NCSpellAirWhirlwind
NCSpellAirLightning
NCSpellAirLightningMajor
NCSpellAirThunderCloud
NCSpellAirCloudShield
NCSpellAirWindShield

(EARTH)
NCSpellEarthSlow
NCSpellEarthWorms
NCSpellEarthBoulder
NCSpellEarthDeathfruit
NCSpellEarthMudball
NCSpellEarthMudstrike
NCSpellEarthMudSkin
NCSpellEarthStoneSkin

(WATER)
NCSpellWaterFreeze
NCSpellWaterLake
NCSpellWaterIceshard
NCSpellWaterIcestrike
NCSpellWaterSeablast (TEH WIN! )
NCSpellWaterIceSkin
NCSpellWaterSeaShield (TEH WIN! , but it's found in part two)
NCSpellWaterDripShield

(FIRE)
NCSpellFireBurn
NCSpellFireFlamegyser
NCSpellFireMeteorshower
NCSpellFireball
NCSpellFireFlamestrike
NCSpellFireMeteor
NCSpellFireFlameShield
NCSpellFireSmokeShield

(Holy)
NCSpellHolySanctuary
NCSpellHolyTalk (CRUCIAL IN THIS LEVEL!)
NCSpellHolyDivineBolt
NCSpellHolyBird (works with prophet staff only)
NCSpellHolyChainmail
NCSpellHolyDivineProtection

(Dark)
NCSpellMystLifedrain
NCSpellMystSkies
NCSpellMystFearBolt
NCSpellMystDragon (works with prophet staff only)
NCSpellMystShadowArmor


Now, you're "NaliMage" class player (you can check it by typing "set nalimage mana 120" in console). Spell Skills are stored in array SpellSkills, but no idea how to set it via the SET command

One word: FIlePlanet.

I'll mirror it for you!

Thanks, if you've gone to all this trouble, I guess I'm obliged to play it now (time to make a cfg, or whatever it is) .

[Jethro]

Thanks, if you've gone to all this trouble, I guess I'm obliged to play it now (time to make a cfg, or whatever it is) .

Heh, it was 10 minutes of checking classes in nalichronicles.u via UnrealED and testing it with Unreal, nothing too fancy

[UB_]

Thanks for the all the stuff here, Jethro