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Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

For gameplay advice and broader discussion of single-player Unreal including custom maps, mods and mutations that alter the game.

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User avatar Xanious
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 27 Apr 2017, 03:04

Will there be any brand new (to unreal 1) weapons or monsters/locales? Like made up, not in the beta's/alpha's or anything. Or like weapons from UT (would be kinda neat to have UT's extra weapons like pulse/redeemer as maybe secrets in the game or something). I'm okay with just greatly revamped or expanded old stuff though, that's just as good.

UB_
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 27 Apr 2017, 12:53

Nightmare Kitteh wrote:Will there be any brand new (to unreal 1) weapons or monsters/locales? Like made up, not in the beta's/alpha's or anything. Or like weapons from UT (would be kinda neat to have UT's extra weapons like pulse/redeemer as maybe secrets in the game or something). I'm okay with just greatly revamped or expanded old stuff though, that's just as good.


The Skaarj shuttle fighters being enemies is pretty much completely new to Unreal I guess, so that's something, same with the AVRiL turrets. I guess as enemies go there's definitely something new, location probably a new filler one. For weapons there's one re-used concept plus the Quadshot.

EDIT: Moved the first two map entries to the second post and now the first post has ID lists of maps, weapons, items and enemies that's been located so far.


Gateway To Na Pali Haven
MUSIC: Surface.umx
Surface could probably be slightly remixed to sound closer to that Elisha remix (Surfacing), maybe at least with an extended intro of sorts that's only played when the music turns on as you get out of the Skypod - now you're so far above in the sky, that all the fog and the clouds you've seen in the previous maps is now gone.
It's completely clear view now, of the massive and tall Sky Island you're on: you start on the balcony (re-designed to look better and more beautiful to whoever comes to visit this place) where in the original game the Krall would throw the Nali down (there's nobody here instead); the Island is riddled with Tarydium crystals and with floating rocks, a bright lighting coming from the very top of the Haven and a skybox that feels out of Kaka's maps - as in very colorful, a great view of the space like straight out of the best NASA pics, 3D islands that can be spotted in the distance, a bank of clouds below (you can barely see the Fortress island, let alone what's below on the planet maybe except the Sunspire). Also, birds. Lots of.
Overall a refreshing, dreamy space-themed feel, a bit still gloomy probably for the lighting being blue/greenish but with the music it's obviously a change of pace from the dark shit you've seen so far.

The map of course will have a pretty big high-poly rework, same with the rest of the Sky Island locations, due to Jeremy's stuff lacking in detail. GTNPH is still going to be a cave, a pretty detailed one with some vegetation and Tarydium placed around.
Death when you fall to the earth is similar to the original game, except the player will forcibly look below and there's going to be more visual effects alongside the increasing white brightness (think of like yourself becoming a meteor - you might see probably similar things if any other pawn falls down). The scream is also retained! And everyone will somehow hear it. And it'll also depend on whoever falls down.

So the door to the next area is closed and you can only go to the place that was the starting point of the original GTNPH (the truly original starting point was still that balcony). Looks like it's a much more detailed cave! The large hole is still there but there's also one at the top and goes further up until a Skypod in seen in some hi-tech looking place. However, the Nali that's being thrown down below is there and you can save him this time from the Krall.
The regular Krall come with 210 HP this time and their movement animations are vastly improved (they should look also more threatening with an improved model, and with a better-looking Concussion Staff). They have a more natural dodge system as it's now based on decision rather than on time. They fight overall the same but now the projectiles are slightly faster and leave smoke on impact, possibly causing visibility issues on the long run. Also, the staff rotation animation does something this time - it's a powered-up bolt charge-up animation and it's used often. A Concussion Staff's charged bolt fires out like a rocket flare so it's more noticeable but the bolts themselves deal double the damage and have splash damage properties as well. This is a big buff that makes them stronger indoor and when they are in group. Similar to the Skaarj, Krall are unaffected by their own bolts for balance reasons.
Legless Krall happens randomly but the last blow must be a strong one landed on the creature's lower part of the body; Legless Krall now lose a lot of blood and die after a certain time set but on the other hand they have proper HP instead of just 1.

When you kill these Krall, other ones will come from the locked door that's now open. The level will proceed like usual now, with areas vastly improved and with possibly magical sparkling shit around caused by the Tarydium or by something related to the Sky Islands that you may never know. The water also looks unnaturally brighter, and there are more holes through the rocks where you can see the sky. Enemy placement isn't going to change at all, probably with less Skaarj and everyone assuming a more ambushing position because they know you're there. There is also an occasional Manta hiding around.
Rifle is not a thing yet in this map, you'll get it much later in the adventure.

Regarding the river, you see broken boats around, explaining how the Nali travel from cave to cave in this place; the way to the waterfall is open still for trolling people in year 20XX and the waterfall itself will finally continue down to the planet.

There will be two Skaarj Infantries protecting the Haven's entrance door now, instead of two Officers, and the corridors directly beyond it have been turned into some sort of grand, bright hall (the last area also has a visual bump as well).

When you access Na Pali Haven, you can return down to the GTNPH area anytime but it'll now count as part of NPH and the music won't change back to Surface.umx.

User avatar J-Rts
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 28 Apr 2017, 06:53

This is amazing and interesting stuff. If Epic had made the game like this from the start, Unreal would probably be the only game in the world. And I have to say, Uberserker , that I'm in deep awe over the dedication and love that you and many others on this site, show for this game. I can't think of any other game, that has the same impact.

UB_
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 29 Apr 2017, 00:09

J-Rts wrote:This is amazing and interesting stuff. If Epic had made the game like this from the start, Unreal would probably be the only game in the world. And I have to say, Uberserker , that I'm in deep awe over the dedication and love that you and many others on this site, show for this game. I can't think of any other game, that has the same impact.


Thanks man! Thank also everyone!


The Kira subplot is, by the way, still in, untouched. More survivor logs around to describe better their situation would be likely a great thing.




Na Pali Haven
MUSIC: SkyTown.umx
The action songsection will be likely made more aggressive and electronic? The original seems overly dramatic and it's only used for a creepy-wannabe ambush (evidently more creepy in this version), it didn't fit too well. It'll be used for something else here, also, which will force the remix decision.
The main song starts up in the same spot as in the original game. It'll still stick even if you go back to GTNPH (which now counts as just Na Pali Haven too).

With Na Pali Haven you have a better view of the 3d islands in the background, mostly covered by the clouds below, and also the entire view on the nebulas, moons, planets and whatever cool shit you can see in the sky. Around the island you can still see various Tarydium crystals sticking out of the rocks, plus the "sparkling" particle effects described in GTNPH that you'll usually see everywhere (probably related to the floating properties of the island you are on).
The global lighting is darker (well, realistic because it's night), giving instead emphasis on the town's own illumination which is much more noticeable. The water here also shines and the obelisk has also an abnormal glow around it; plus, the obelisk itself has a new articulated, re-designed shape. Regarding the waterfall, it is still retained and you can't legitimately see where the water comes from (strange particle effects are also floating rapidly around the waterfall's top). The entire mountain is way bigger compared to before (to fit the Outpost3J in realistically) and taller too.
The part of the mountain below the church has now an opening leading to a closed church door that you can't open. Above, where the church is, you can see now the walls around the structure having archway passages for going through, and just on the edge of the cliff there are now rails (it's a balcony now, of sorts). However, giving a closer look to the church area, you can see Skaarj tech lying around including their lamps.

So as you can tell, NPH will receive a massive visual bump just like GTNPH, fixing also all the rushed decisions that plagued the original version of the map. More detailed sewers, buildings having more doors, all the buildings are now accessible (speaking especially for the ones around the town square), a better town square, more connectivity between areas, a terrain that isn't plain with lots of vegetation around (grass and flowers, nothing too out of place), anything to fill all the very empty spots that were before. Likely the island in result will be definitely bigger (the mountain already is, so that's definitely certain).
Your objective is to find a way to climb over the church area (various precautions have been taken to avoid the player rocket jumping into it), with the map overall retaining the original location progression; you'll quickly begin to assume that a Skaarj installation is inside a mountain, as this time you'll actually see a Skaarj Fighter flying out of it, actually going to temporarily harass you at one point, to then going away. The waterfall effects, being better this time, will do a greater job covering the secret Outpost 3J entrance, so unless you know the game already you won't probably guess the entrance is there (there's also a current which makes swimming to the grate a bit annoying).

The general theme here is like in the original game, though much more emphasized: the Skaarj/Krall are making sure that for the Nali everything is normal. The Nali are free to do anything they want with just these creatures patrolling around and besides the usual hidden spots, you won't see any Skaarj tech lying around in public. However, things will start to shake up when the player will visit more areas and when the Skaarj Fighter is heard flying: Nali will start to move around or run hiding into places. If the Skaarj or Krall start to see Nali acting weirdly they'll begin threatening them - if this happens for too much, the Nali will be either harassed or killed. If a Nali is found in a spot where the Skaarj and Krall don't want, he'll be outright hunted and killed down. Nali changing their mindset happens when they see a fight, aside from certain events like the Skaarj Fighter flying around, and there will be a lot of Nali; so they must be saved ASAP because Krall (who have a bigger presence here, while there are much less Skaarj) will constantly patrol everywhere in groups and won't waste a second killing Nali they don't like. What wasn't covered before: Krall's melees have crazy range, and their "throw" melee attack will completely incapacitate their targets until they are being thrown in the air - against heavier enemies, this attack will become a stab, which still hurts for the same damage.

The Krall Elite is introduced here. He's never found with another Elite but either alone or with regular Krall. At least for now.
Krall Elites have 260 HP, move faster and they are able to shoot charged-up bolts in succession (Elites' bolts are yellow-ish and stronger just like in the original game); unlike the standard Krall, Elites know very well how to dodge and take cover, almost even better than how Skaarj Troopers do. Their legless mode happens more frequently and they can stay alive with it for longer, able also to shoot more aggressively and needing more fatal punishment before death. Krall Elites also have an additional melee attack that's practically a bunch of repeated direct stabs that deal 15 HP each hit, and the Elites can stab repeatedly without stopping as long as their target is close. Lastly, they hardly talk during battle (standard Krall shout quite a fucking lot).
You'll deal with Elites quite frequently from there on until the end of Outpost 3J, most of them replacing Skaarj.

Levers to open certain doors (aside the one to open the gate to the town square) are no more a thing, replaced with whichever decoration fits the place. If there's a locked door, it's just opened on the opposite side or through a panel if Skaarj tech is involved.
The floor crashing event of the barn is still a thing and the Nali is still there. Now, other Nali won't hate you if you trigger the event while leaving the Nali in the middle of the area; if you interact with the Nali to go away though, you'll be ambushed by a group of Krall from above.
The secret room of the barn now has the balcony that was missing from the original version of the map. The Dispersion Pistol Power Up is missing from this map in any difficulty now, also.
The Skaarj fight under the barn will pit you against a Skaarj Officer this time, and the area itself is also much devoid of light. Pupae won't be encountered and won't be replaced.

Regarding town ambushes, there are Krall hiding on the buildings' roofs, usually coming into attack if you reach a certain spot or if you ever interact with Nali (their ambush decision might be delayed). This is to follow the ambush idea that was done for the Super Health secret - which is still a thing here.
Indeed so the player may expect harassment (sometimes deadly) from the Skaarj Fighter seen flying out of the mountain (the infamous "nightstalker" mentioned in one of the Nali notes). The Skaarj Fighter is currently pretty impossible to beat due to it flying very far away and almost never going for a direct confrontation. He'll attack you with a set of rockets plus a mortar, and then go away. The ship will do this away from any Nali and up to three times at random; the Super Health secret 99% of the time will trigger this.
Every time a Skaarj Fighter encounter occurs, the action songsection plays until the thing is gone.

Regarding story-related stuff, you won't get to know how the Sky Islands are a thing - you'll sure get to know that Na Pali Haven is the most important Sky Island and the other ones are completely conquered (but not destroyed) by the Skaarj but almost all the Skaarj left because they are dealing with Mercenaries on the planet below.
Kira and the gang was ambushed in the Sunspire, her gang was killed except Kira and another solider - kidnapped by the Skaarj and taken somewhere else on the planet, not on the islands.

The wine cellar will get another Skaarj Officer ambush - teleports in once you reach the exit door. Action songsection plays here too.
Most of the other new areas will server as hideouts for Nali or ambush points for Krall. They generally contain items.

Now, when the way to Outpost 3J is open, the music stops but as you go out, the Skaarj Fighter will actively hunt you down, pretty much forcing you to enter the outpost itself; unless you really want to face the ship, then good luck.
Entering the underwater tunnel will not lock down the entrance this time. However the Skaarj Fighter will still roam around.

UB_
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 29 Apr 2017, 14:44

Outpost 3J
MUSIC: Isotoxin.umx
Isotoxin is remastered and works with a dynamic music system. When there aren't battles, an ambient mix of Isotoxin plays (think of like its intro that was never used in-game). When a battle is going on, the song will transition into its regular variant. Action version playing for the whole level is overkill nowadays in gaming and doesn't really work anymore here. The song will keep playing always, even if you go back exploring Na Pali Haven.
Outpost 3J refers to the Skaarj outpost inside the mountain; anything outside counts as Na Pali Haven.

The outpost part is filled of Skaarj Troopers/Infantries/Gunners and the occasional Skaarj Warrior or Assassin. In big numbers - making the map the hardest so far since Terraniux. Prepare to meet a Skaarj Officer as well.
The location has gone even further hi-tech based. The lighting inside the outpost is very bright, like if you're into some sort of rave party. This is the first show of the Skaarj theme; their walls are filled of flowing green energy, the metallic brush shapes appear completely unrealistic to the point you just can't figure out how the Skaarj build their stuff; it's much more standing out compared to the generic alien metal theme of the original game - it's still absolutely metallic, green and with raving lights, just expect to be yourself very disoriented by the massive amount of details around.

Outpost 3J's first part plays the same but now that third closed door in the entrance area connects to the outpost's exit area (can be only unlocked from there); it's a mandatory shortcut that contains certain areas and one of them has the panel to deactivate the forcefield that blocks the access to the church valley (the original panel is now gone). This panel will be guarded by a Skaarj Officer who will prove extremely tough in a very small, indoor chamber.
The hangar area now has another Skaarj Fighter ambush; if you enter it, a bunch of seconds later the Skaarj Fighter will enter it from outside and will crazily shoot everywhere with rockets until you get into the room with the hangar door controls - the ship will then fly away. You can also turn on the hangar forcefield (deactivated by default) before the ship arrives.
There are no Skaarj Snipers with GES here, just Skaarj Infantries with ASMD.

The church area has a lot of Skaarj tech lying around including two AVRiL Turrets; the Skaarj Fighter will be fought here finally but watch out at the Krall and Krall Elites sticking around the church. You can run inside the church if you don't want to fight the flying ship, but the Fighter may be able to break the building's roof and attack you into the main hall, unless you escape underground or into the side corridors.
Outside the church, there's a passage going underground which contains a door leading to the church's underground passage (locked and can be opened only on the church side - you may know this door from the original game that you see locked when going into the catacombs). This passage also leads to the new door you saw at the beginning of Na Pali Haven, below the church mountain. This works as a more safe escape route against the Skaarj Fighter if you want to outrun the thing or if you want to take the fight in the middle of Na Pali Haven. At this point, all Nali are gone but Krall patrolling groups have been dispatched so you're still not alone when fighting the Fighter. Together with Isotoxin and the visual showcase around you, it should be quite the experience.

The church contains the first two Krall Elites fighting together; the statue secret is preserved completely, though now the monk statues break realistically, showing the items hidden inside them; this is hinted by a Nali textbook.

The catacombs contain Pupae, finally.
Pupae in this game will always wait in hidden spots that the creatures themselves can randomly choose; you will never see them in clear sight. Pupae fight like always and even more aggressively this time around. Even worse, Pupae won't stop at anything: they'll walk on walls, walk on ceiling, scattering around when in groups, also having some dodging skills against obvious incoming projectiles. This makes them very relentless when they chase. Their "low ground" bug is also completely gone. If the victim manages to run away (which is rare), the Pupae will return to their hiding spots. A Pupae can also attach onto victims if it lands on their heads; for the human player, one max Pupae can do this at a time, and the player will be constantly damaged and its vision covered by the Pupae. You have to jump and dodge around quickly in order to take it off. Bigger enemies are more unfortunate as multiple Pupae can leech on their bodies (Brutes in particular) and not all of them can get them the fuck off easily.
You'll fight up to six Pupae here, and they prove unexpectedly difficult for first-timers.

The last area has the Skaarj Berserker, once again, and the first thing he does when you enter the area is literally leaping onto you from the opposite side. The Razorjack is the best weapon at the moment against the Berserker, as he'll hardly dodge the blades plus the headshot damage can be devastating.

And that's it. The last area, instead of the teleport, will contain another Skypod with a hole below - the same one you've seen at the beginning of GTNPH. If you're completely done with the Sky Island, use it to go back to the planet.

Music will stop and after a long ride you'll reach an unknown place; for those who played the Unreal Beta, they'll know this is the entry point of FHub4 which is the tunnel inside the mountain descending to ground level. It's night still and the tunnel has a massive visual bump and contains a window where you can see the canyon (it's very dark and the only thing you see it's a massive flash light coming from what appears to be a BIG mercenary ship). There's also some sort of dinner room here, which contains the first Rifle Round you pick in the game.

Everything is silent until you get out - something like a forceblast will knock you out and in a small cutscene you see that Mercenaries were definitely waiting for someone. You are taken prisoner and this ends the first third of the game.

Finally the fun shit begins from now onward! Updated a bit the content lists in the first page.

UB_
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 03 May 2017, 23:23

α62
MUSIC: StarOne.umx
StarshipOne will be remastered or have a sound clean-up, whichever's better. The song comes with all its songsections of course: the regular ambient one that's used when there aren't any enemies around, the tension one which plays when enemies are around but not attacking you, and the battle songsection for any fight that occurs. The song works with a dynamic music system considering how the map stands out for its modern gaming stealth approach (think of Deus Ex) compared to the rest of the game.

So a group of Mercenaries that's different from the one you met in Terraniux has taken you prisoner in their massive battle ship that has crash-landed in the canyon you reached throughout the Skypod. You're seen as a threat and as known, Mercenaries do not like any of their opponents stepping in their conquered territories.
You are now in some sort of high-tech cell closed with a green forcefield, your inventory is completely reset except your health, armors, the Translator, the Flashlight and the VoiceBox. Welcome back to a new game beginning of sorts!

α62 (aka ALFA62) is a quite massive place; it's a dreadnought star ship first and foremost, therefore its layout will be based upon that concept in mind (and well, on whatever Myscha ever did on this map if he ever completed it but apparently it was indeed a thing), while Terraniux was more of a resource carrier ship in comparison. ALFA62 will use a cleaner and more white variant of the DecayedS.utx set and the areas will be generally large, all connected around through corridors; various weaponry-related chambers are a thing, some crew berths, lots of vent shafts and so on. You start from the very rear of the ship and you have to make your way all to the opposite side, to the main bridge. Along the way you have to find some weapons and items, opting for either a battle route or a (more recommended) stealth route, and then finding the exit.

You start in the cell. A Mercenary, who comes with a different suit and no arm-cannon - he is armed with a DP instead - walks in front of it and stares at you. You can't see much beyond the forcefield. The Mercenary then walks to the next cell, apparently entering it; suddenly, you hear a pretty defining Skaarj melee attack which supposedly kills the Mercenary.
Indeed, a Skaarj Warrior walks out of the cell and then in front of you, with him carrying the dead Mercenary by keeping one of its razik claws stabbed onto the dead Mercenary's chest. The Skaarj is recognizable from his shape: he has a Kevlar Suit and some sort of horn on his shoulder. It's the Skaarj from the Vortex Rikers that you have last seen at the end of Dark Arena! Who knows how he ended up here.
The cell forcefield is opened through a panel that only works with the dead Mercenary's hand fingerprint - something that the Skaarj himself already seems to know, and he'll do it gently with the dead Mercenary body; after he's done, he'll rip the alien in half and before the forcefield turns off, he will dash at incredible speed away. Now you are free, nobody seems to be around and no alarm is on. The Skaarj won't be seen until the rest of the level but he'll make sure to unlock vent shafts for you and to kill some few Mercenaries guarding key areas that contain items. The dead Mercenary has a DP you can pick up, and its level will depend on the one that your DP had before this map (maximum so far is level 3 aka green bolts).
If you check the Skaarj cell, you will find an Invisibility and a Dampener. Mercenaries are of course strong and are pretty numerous in this ship, so until you get some useful weapons you'll have to resort to these two items in order to not be spotted. Music songsection is a thermometer of the situation around you.

Going to the bridge is your main objective and only signs and panels can help you to reach the destination, and in the meanwhile you have to make sure nobody spots you. If one enemy spots you and if it's not killed or stunned under two seconds, the alarm will go on. Two or three platoons of Mercenaries will come to your position and will patrol around the area for a certain period of time. Your really good option then is to escape somewhere as fast as shit, either using the Invisibility in a sensible spot to hide yourself or crawl behind something or into a vent shaft. Mind you that the Mercs aren't dumb: if they see you entering a vent shaft, they'll crawl in too. And they might also ambush you on the opposite way. Don't be greedy with the Invisibility - this one is more of an escape item, the Dampener is more of a stealth item. If you ever got the VoiceBox from the Vortex Rikers, this might be the one time where it can save your life if it's truly necessary.

And here comes the enemy rundown in this map:
  • The regular Mercenary type you find here is the Alfa Merc. Alfa Mercs are Mercenaries that have a gray-greenish, more metallic suit, and lack the arm cannon and the backpack. AI and stats are the exact same as the regular Mercenaries from Terraniux aside being more tempted to run toward you for a melee attack; what changes is their equipment: they're like Skaarj Troopers in the sense that they use regular weapons. These can be the DP, the Stinger, the ASMD, the Eightball, the Minigun and later in the game (they appear in another late map) the Flak Cannon and the GES BioRifle. Minigun is the preferred weapon, more on that weapon later here. The weapon usage is standard; they mostly make use of the primary fire only. They will fire either by standing still (most common) or by running but not by walking.
    Alfa Mercs don't have the TRANCE STATE or the GODMODE SHIELD; they'll come instead with a green rechargable Shield Belt which works exactly like the one from the Halo games, with same timings (basically, it's an extra amount of health that can regen). The other feature is the power fist - aka "explosive" punches. It's basically a gauntlet of sorts, if you played Fallout games you'll know what I'm talking about; overall this makes them way tougher melee-wise compared to the regular Mercenaries. Plus, this can be done as a dash attack of sorts.
    Alfa Mercs are always in group and never alone. They don't like other races, including the regular Mercenary clan. Also, all their stats and size are always the same. Even if they use regular weapons, they aren't dropped upon death as they are self-destroyed. You just get their ammo though.
    Alfa Mercs use all their weapons with one hand and shoot always gangster style; they have more human-like postures, due mostly to the lack of a backpack. Their melee punches also look closer to proper straight fists. They are much more confident and ruthless, in general.
  • The Alfa Merc Elite is the elite variant of the Alfa Mercs. Compared to the regular ones, they are larger, their suit is gray and yellow, are faster, have 400 HP and are immune to corrosive damage - this is because their weapon is choice is always the GES BioRifle (which you can't have now because it's self-destroyed AND ALSO its ammo with it, upon death). Very few of them are found in ALFA62 and until the end of the map they are only found alongside other regular Alfa Mercs. Their power fists are stronger to the point of blowing you away, and the blast can go throughout thin walls so watch out where you hide; they can see you behind walls and beyond invisibility (during battle only, though). They self-destruct when they die and its damage is corrosive.
    Their use of the GES BioRifle is special as they shoot the primary fire at a faster ROF, and can shoot fully charged bio orbs instantly. Also, it's not the GES BioRifle as the weapon itself but a completely unique variant that only the Alfa Merc Elites can use: it's larger, it's strapped on the alien's arm and it connects to a slime tank that's placed over the shoulder. This tank has the slime bomb that sets off once the Merc dies.
    Alfa Merc Elites' unique ability is the use of the Force Field, with the same effects that the item of the same name does. If it goes on, don't shoot. They'll always be able to use it once in battle but there will be a long cooldown before they can use it again.
  • Turret Ξ and Turret Π (xi and pi). Alfa Mercs make use of these turrets, and decided to put them in their ships. Turret Ξ uses a machinegun that works like the regular Mercenaries' one, except it's constant firing. Turret Π shoots very fast flame orbs that explode on impact and leave burning flames around that last for few seconds. Basically what changes between the two is that the machinegun hardly misses targets but can't do anything if they hide behind walls, while the flame orbs are easier to dodge but you need to stay afar from the explosion radius and it hurts and the flames themselves do damage-over-time burn damage.
    Both turrets are sentient stationary cannons placed on ground that can only aim almost anywhere around at a moderate speed. They are big in size (like the unused Cannons from the original Unreal), have a slightly different model depending on the turret type and their texture is based on the Alfa Mercs' ones. These turrets come with a visible field of view (cone radius) which is helpful when you sneak BUT does detect invisible units; they cannot hear but if something else spots you all the turrets in the area go after you.
    Turrets have 150 HP and have 75% resistance against regular bullets (i.e. Automag, Minigun and Rifle) and Razorjack blades. If you can sneak next to them, you can turn them off (and only that), however a Merc can turn them on again.

The first key event you will come across is an Alfa Merc group leaving a chamber as soon as you get close to it. When they are gone, you can enter this chamber and finally you find the Minigun, which is the second weapon you'll probably hold alongside the DP this level. Not only that though.
The Minigun is the second weapon in the inventory, replacing the Automags. Indeed, you won't get to hear about the mags anymore from now and on. The Minigun still uses the original Unreal 1 model (a bit more dramatically improved, visual-wise), it can hold the beauty of 600 max ammo (which you'll have from the moment you pick the weapon up) and the primary fire deals 13 HP per bullet (which is the same of this game version's Automag).
Muzzle flash and bullets have a steel blue-ish color, and while shooting the gun also glows of this bright blue color. The sounds have a big, alien bass to them, based on the Minigun's vanilla ones.
Primary fire remains the same, only exception is that the bullets do not cause anymore the bug of fast enemies going even faster when hit - it will slightly slow them down instead. There's a 50% chance that a bullet shot can pierce any target it bumps on. While ammo still goes down fast, you have overall much more capacity and the thing can now effectively kill group of enemies better than ever.
The secondary fire is different. The Minigun appears to have some sort of side cannon where 20 bullets are recycled to create a small grenade that works similar to the RTNP's Grenade Launcher primary fire: travels fast and explodes on impact dealing 30 damage and can blow targets away, even heavier ones. The grenade damage becomes higher if the grenade itself hits multiple enemies at once, which is +5 for every target hit (so if you hit three enemies at once, the grenade deals 45 damage to them). If you are able to, you can hit the grenades mid-air with the Minigun's primary fire. You can shoot a grenade every two seconds.
Primary and secondary fire modes can be used simultaneously without any drawbacks. If your ammo is less than 20, the secondary fire won't work.
From now and on, Bullet Boxes will be more common than Clips. You can't miss the Minigun anyway (and the nearby SCUBA Gear) as the chamber contains a keycard that's necessary for you to proceed.

Regarding the exploration, there's no underwater section of any sort and Z-axis is mostly minimal aside one part where you can go through the first floor of the second. I can't explain the whole layout but you get the idea it's a giant ship and you are eventually going to a single direction, toward the main bridge. Everything will be very detailed and a lot of the illumination will come from the sunlight outside - it's early morning now and the ship itself has various large windows, on the walls or on the ceilings.
There is one or two areas with no enemies inside and a lot of information messages that tell about Alfa Mercs from a major battle ship named HΔL (that has also landed on the planet in a nearby place) requesting help against the Skaarj, information about the Cryox (the "enemy" Mercenary ship which is a massive dreadnought disguised as a resource transport ship which might be able to leave the planet before anyone else), info about the Skaarj camping in industrial areas, presence of weird cryptic structures and alien ships of unknown origins, the fact that you are sitting in a small volcanic area and the aliens around are trying their best not to gather the attention of Gasbags, and so on.
The story here is that the Alfa Mercs of ALFA62 are trying to reuniting with the ones of HAL by killing the Skaarj in the Foundry Tarydium Plant, and then plan an infiltration of the Cryox to figure out how to leave the planet's atmosphere, and then eventually glass Na Pali to bits with ALFA62's massive weaponry in order to take out a huge amount of threats. The player character is briefly mentioned once, as with the rogue Skaarj of the Vortex Rikers - both are basically killing anybody they encounter.
ALFA62 contains a self-destruct mechanism for emergency purposes that only the commander knows how to turn on and off. This is for not letting enemies know about the ship's weapons.

Some of the key areas are mandatory and contain items, others are optional. The Razorjack and the ASMD are in mandatory areas, so is an Amplifier. Pretty much anything else you got before can be found, except the Flak Cannon, the Seed and the Toxin Shield.
The map is overall pretty difficult, on par with Outpost 3J (which is leagues harder than anything original Unreal, we're looking at Xidia for closest comparisons). Will become easier with multiple playthrough as you'll memorize the place and the enemy patrolling patterns.

Now quick forward to the end - P849 eventually reaches the main bridge which has three Alfa Merc Elites. A small cutscene plays where the Alfa Merc Elite that commands the ship turns on the self-destruct mechanism! Alarm goes on all over the ship which calls all the Mercenaries at the bridge for you; in reality, Skaarj Fighters are actually ambushing ALFA62 in the meanwhile. Chaos occurs and while you can kill shit for fun, your main objective is to escape and you have five minutes to do so (a timer is on).
Before the main bridge there were two massive red doors leading to emergency escape sections - elevators to the floor above - and they are open now. Running along the way where you see some Alfa Mercs fighting out a Skaarj Fighter coming out of a ceiling window, you'll eventually reach the end and see the rouge Skaarj insta-killing an Alfa Merc Elite and opening the emergency exit where he then escapes to. You'll do the same: you'll slide down through a passageway similar to Cryox's entrance in FHub6 from the UBeta, and you make it outside, falling in a canyon.

Run away and be sure to stay as far as possible from the ALFA62 - the current location of FHub4 is where the landed Mercenary ship was, except the canyon is deeper and ALFA62 towers over the mountain (it's a MASSIVE ship). It will go boom in the most exciting way and fall down in the canyon. All the Skaarj Fighters around are either destroyed or have retreat away. The rogue Skaarj escaped again.

Welcome back to Unreal.


(ID lists updated accordingly)
Last edited by UB_ on 07 May 2017, 14:12, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar Xanious
Skaarj Assassin Skaarj Assassin
Posts: 105
Joined: 23 Jan 2014, 04:45
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 04 May 2017, 06:21

Goddammit now I REALLY wish someone would remake Unreal 1 well and take notes from this. Or just work with the oldschool Unreal community or... Something, i don't know. I just want this to exist now. \o/

UB_
Nali Priest Nali Priest
Posts: 7960
Joined: 11 Nov 2007, 21:00

Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 04 May 2017, 20:24

:tup:


Resistance Lake
MUSIC: Blossom.umx
Since there's no Neve, Neve.umx has been renamed to its original Blossom.umx name.
When it comes to this song, it's one of the most remixable among Unreal 1's music tracks. Checking the two remixes of it I found on Youtube, I noticed the artists had the bright idea to fuse the "ambient" and the "action" songsections into one consistent song that fits a transition or hub level of sorts. Considering this ongoing level is a full-blown hub with barely any action in it, it will have a reduxxed Blossom that balances the two song sections into something that's far away from the bipolar nature of the original theme.

So here's FHub4, aka the Resistance Lake (name taken from a very similar location mentioned in the novels). You begin outside the fallen ALFA62 which is now in pieces after the self-destruction and the consequent fall into the canyon; of course you can't access the ship anymore.
Resistance Lake, compared to the original version, is a full blown desert canyon that's very large in scale (much larger than the original FHub4 and with the mountains being taller too) and with the surrounding having detailed and crazy striped shapes (pretty much the best-looking canyons on Earth that you can imagine of; I guess search on Google to get an idea, we're talking about American-style canyons here) of orange and red colors, and sometimes even gray/black; the ground part retains the dry, white color. It's early morning and both suns are rising near the direction of the Sunspire - which you can still see but it's in a different spot, clearly to the direction of the FHub4/SpireValley entrance mountain side - which can blind you if you look straight at them; there are hardly any clouds and the sky has a cyan and water-green coloration to it. Always in the sky, you can easily spot the two Sky Islands you've been on, another two Sky Islands seen far away in the borders of the skybox, the moon, some other planet and stars. If you've seen that certain game named No Man's Sky which had similar canyon environments, that's probably what I'm trying to describe - except Unreal will have proper photo-realistic qualities to its visuals instead of a semi-cartoonish and oversaturated art style.
The lake is super clear, reflective and very transparent, with a cyan/green coloration to it; pretty much the cleanest shit you'd ever see for a while. It seems also to be pretty hot as you can see subtle smoke coming out of the water (it's a volcanic area and it's pretty active as there's a fiery volcano near the Morose entrance).

Due to the nature of the lake, there aren't any water lifeforms in it; however, at one point in the water you will see a very large and strong glow which what appears to be Tarydium. If you swim close to it, it turns out that's all a bait from a Tarydium Slith; this is the Nitrogen Slith replacement and these are Slith artificially enhanced throughout massive Tarydium exposition. They are exactly like the regular Slith but have the Nitrogen Slith's cyan Slith color, lacking however the armor part; their bodies slightly glow bright blue and when they are underwater and standing still they'll fill the surrounding with this eye-piercing shining light that normal eyes can't see through. You can always also see a pointy crystal sticking out from the inside of its mouth.
Tarydium Slith differ from Slith in battle solely for the ranged projectiles: they shoot large Tarydium shards very accurately and travel so fast that if the Slith is close you have to dodge or jump away with a very good timing in order to dodge said crystal. The shard deals 25 HP and heavily slows down the ground/swimming speed of the victim for two seconds. Rate of fire is double the speed of the Unreal 1's Slith ranged fire one. Tarydium Slith, unlike the standard Slith in this game, can shoot shards underwater without any drawbacks. There's no splash damage or any similar thing on impact. These creatures still take no damage from corrosive damage, take also no damage from STINGER PROJECTILES and their blood is still green.

There is only one Tarydium Slith in the lake. The part of the canyon that in RTNP it was the entry for Spire Valley, has now rocky platforms with never-seen-before vegetation having fruits and a Seed; be careful however that now beyond these rocks there's a large fall leading to another part of the canyon (instant death if you fall, like in Nyleve). The bridges that connect the ground to the Nali hideout (beginning of FHub4) and the Soledad entrance are now old-style wooden bridges that connect islands after islands on the lake. Soledad entrance is now found inside a big hole in the canyon mountain with a bit of crypt-themed decorations around it. Of the Soledad sewer exit in the river there's however no sight this time.
Continuing to explore the land next to the lake (at this point it's more of a river) you will encounter a group of patrolling Gasbags. Temperature around is of course pretty hot, there are magma zones around the land and a ship just exploded - no wonder these monsters are around. The point still stands: they don't attack you as long as you don't shoot anything when they are around. They patrol only part of the river but never truly go inside the canyon part where ALFA62 is located (or next to Soledad's entrance for that matter).
Continue more and you see one big change: the lake zone which has that ancient temple is now unreachable. This part of the river is now an upper lake separated by a waterfall that you can't climb (the whole part is placed in a higher position than before, not sure how to explain). And that part of the lake appears to be even larger from what you can see from below: the temple is there, and so is a really weird, red and black/brown LONG cylinder-shaped ship with a broken top (it looks like a broken hitech alien tower almost) that has apparently crashed in the lake, in front of the temple itself (replacing the sunken shuttle seen in FHub4). At the end of the lake there's another waterfall that goes even more above the canyon mountains but that's background detail - plus, over the mountains where in Spire Valley there was the Sunspire, there are now very tall mountains that extend far away from the playable area of the level (typical canyon terrain but with these unique red/orange/black stripe rock formations).

You can't climb to this upper lake, so take the (now larger) pathway that goes up to the ALFA62 zone and Morose. Across the way, you'll find an Alfa Merc outpost with actual Alfa Mercs inside, including an Elite one. If you want, you can lure these guys to the patrolling group of Gasbags so both races attack each other while you run away (or you can go battle anything you want but remember that outside two or three ASMD Cores found in the Alfa Merc outpost there are no offensive items in this map).

The Morose valley is a bit different. It's much longer now: after going all up to the valley, from there it goes a bit down again to a courtyard and with the classic Morose entrance in front of you. However, before this entrance, there's this large part of the courtyard that's basically burning magma floor (not a lava sheet, the lava is below the floor), which you wouldn't even dare to cross. On your right hand side, over the courtyard mountains, you can see the aforementioned volcano in all of its glory (the position has been moved from the original one of FHub4, yeah); it's just a gray broken cone which stands definitely out from the rest of the canyon.

You can't cross this land either. The Merc outpost has a message about finding a possible workaround throughout the "fire temple" that lies over the river - the same temple you saw in the inaccessible part of the lake, the one that in the UBeta didn't lead anywhere. The only possible option left is Soledad, so go there. The crypt entrance room has the same shape but now every single crypt texture detail comes to life throughout brush polys - the theme is more organic, there are a lot more webs hanging around and the majority of the bricks are leaking black/purple substance, sometimes you see liquid dripping out of the walls. Evil faces and devil stars have now a red glow coming out of their eyes/fissures, including doors (the stronger satanic stuff will be anyway kept for Nexus only); there's more texture variety, a constant semi-visible gray fog in every area you enter, doors themselves come with more complex brushes and the overall lighting is much less lighthearted and closer to realism - expect some crypt corridors to look like something straight out of Amnesia (the horror game).
Blossom.umx stops whenever you step in the Soledad entrance. The door in front of you is closed (it's a door now instead of a wall) and instead of the crumbling floor there's a wooden elevator that lets you go down (and you can climb up too if you want but the bars in the very first underwater tunnel of Soledad can only be opened from the entrance side).
Last edited by UB_ on 07 May 2017, 13:00, edited 1 time in total.

UB_
Nali Priest Nali Priest
Posts: 7960
Joined: 11 Nov 2007, 21:00

Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 07 May 2017, 01:14

Soledad - Skaarj Breeding Lair
MUSIC: Soledad.umx
Soledad.umx will sound more like dance tribal or something, check out that remix of it on Youtube to get the idea. Extend also the action songsection with a part based on the regular ambient theme, it is is too short for how good it is.

Soledad will retain the original layout, essential changes will be mentioned in order. This map will capitalize on the inclusion of various new enemies and it will focus on an oldschool-style FPS gameplay - a different style of pace compared to ALFA62 which was all about modern-type gaming.
The tar here won't be "tar" anymore but water with some black/purple liquid floating around. The majority of this liquid is seen coming out of the Pupae nests that are pretty common in this location, like in the original game - FULLY DYNAMIC LIQUID LEAKS DEVELOPED IN: you'll actually see here Pupae breaking out of their enclosed purple nests and the purple substance coming out of it will fall down and mix with water (if there's) and it'll also be leaking through nearby bricks.
There's a good deal of vegetation around, generally next to windows or in the "outdoor" areas (the ones that have the open roof); the trees are still there (not outside the windows though) but are looking very dead and dry. Outside of the windows, whose glass are now using more different textures instead of the red/black devil church one only, you'll see canyon mountains - as you progress through the map, the illumination becomes brighter as midday approaches. The whole crypt structure is found in an enclosed mountain chain, out in the open and visible from outside. Indeed this time, near the end of the level, you'll be unlocking some few large doors scattered around Soledad that lead in this small canyon zone outside the building that serves as a shortcut hub throughout the whole map.

Now let's go in order.
The first chamber has the "Spawning pool of Droth" now appearing as a proper fountain of... purple liquid. The fountain design is based on a creature never-seen yet - some sort of Titan-size tall gargoyle statue with the liquid coming out of its mouth.
Nothing in this room yet until you walk on the upper floor (there's no Rifle in this map). The sarcophagi are locked down and you can't break them... then suddenly, after a bunch of seconds walking around in this room and these tombs open up violently: from both of them, black mist containing subtle red lights like eyes come out and fly around. This happens without warning and you may not even realize what is going on.

Then, the black smoke comes in the form of two Kraal, dark demonic Krall with a red concussion staff and a voice that's just echoed repeated roars based on the Call4 sound. These guys are very serious and relentless in killing you and are comparable to Skaarj enemies in term of difficulty: their movement speed is equal to the Skaarj Scouts' one and their dodge-dashes are fast and long, capable also of double dashing back to their original position to resume attacking after dodging a projectile. If they want to melee attack you, instead of going front they can quickly dodge next to you and attack (or even going behind if possible). They use the same Krall melee attacks (not the Krall Elite stabbing one though) but will have one new melee type that consists with the Kraal continuously rotating their staff onto their enemies - 8HP per hit, very VERY fast strikes and can slow down the opponent's animation speed (unless it's a boss-type creature and in the case of the player, you'll shoot way slower until you get out of the melee range).
When it comes to their ranged attacks, Kraal shoot red flickering bolts: faster than regular Krall's ones, deal 25 HP (Krall and Krall Elite ones dealt 15 and 19, respectively) and upon hit the player's camera will be temporarily semi-blinded (two seconds) by an overlay showing something like eye veins; the blinding effects become worse if you're hit by these bolts multiple times. Kraal shoot these bolts faster than how Krall do, and have unique animations for this. The charged-up version of the red bolt doesn't change damage but travels a bit faster and can bounce off walls for one time - something that Kraal know how to exploit very well.
The special skill that Kraal have however, is this black smoke form. They can use this in battle to retreat away or move to a more desired position (they can fly around anywhere); the transformation from body-to-mist and viceversa is quick and allows resuming to attacking instantly. The mist form is black and sometimes it becomes wide enough to the point of separating which, alongside the super high movement speed, make the Kraal very hard to follow, especially if there are multiple Kraal in this mist mode, confusing the shit out of the players. Expect this mist form to be used rarely offensively, if the Kraal has high health, if they want to chase you (and they'll hardly think twice). If you try to shoot something like a flak shell or six rockets onto a Kraal that's about to turn into solid form, they'll very likely decide to go instantly back to mist form. The way to balance this out in order for the Kraal to not spam this smoke form to dodge everything: when they turn into solid form COMPLETELY they have to wait 7 seconds before they can go back to smoke. During the smoke-to-solid transformation they have the option to cancel it and keep being mist - not possible viceversa however.
Through scripted sequences solely, Kraal can rapidly ambush you from unexplored areas throughout smoke form, sometimes in group (unlike the Krall, Kraal are found lonely most of the time). They can also be set to stay in smoke form on a certain spot, usually hidden in the darkness (and Soledad's reworked lighting has a lot of really dark, horror style lighting in transition chambers), only to ambush you whenever they feel like - if you look at the dark spot where the Kraal is supposedly hiding, there's less chances that the ambush is going to happen, if not at all. These ambush spots will be random. Very rarely, it may happen that a Kraal who's about to die will just retreat away and stay cornered in one spot in smoke form forever until the player leaves the whole location. There's ONE GLARING WEAKNESS to this smoke form: it cannot be hit by any projectile except an amplified ASMD combo, which greatly damages the Kraal if not outright killing him. You need to hit precisely though which is hard when the Kraal moves fast around in smoke form - unless you memorize the scripted ambushes. This is more of a counter to hiding ambushing Kraal or if you truly want to kill the ones that decide to permanently retreat somewhere.
In terms of looks, Kraal appear taller and thinner than Krall, their bulkiness mostly inflated by their rough spiky armor. Their animations are edited to appear demented/psychotic in a way, the medal on their chests has a orange/pink glowing symbol and their veins are seen glowing red/orange. Their blood is black and when they die, their body turns into black liquid that consequently evaporates. I already mentioned that they have a different voiceset but they are the ones who do the Call4 sound (they'll do, rarely). Story-wise, Kraal are the predecessors of Krall, a race who was full-blown allied with the Skaarj hellbent on planet domination, and the ones you encounter are remnants from the old Skaarj invasion that occurred on Na Pali. The Kraal themselves had superior technology but an unknown cataclysm on their planet happened and what's left of it are the primitive Krall who know ZERO of the Kraal themselves and of their technology (including the smoke form) and who are semi-reluctant to join the current Skaarj - the Skaarj themselves are keeping these crypt secrets as best as possible and do not want their ancestors who still live there to die. Kraal will be indeed exclusive to the crypt locations only.
Finally, Kraal have 260 HP and have a 50% resistance against Burned damage only in their solid form. Last clarification: the smoke form itself is completely harmless.

And these are the Kraal and are very painful overall. Regarding the Gasbags, they are now only located outside the crypt and won't bother with what's happening inside (unless you decide to go outside and shoot shit); most of the Gasbags found inside the crypt will be replaced by Tentacles or Kraal. From one of the sarcophagi where the first Kraal popped out, you can get the first Flak Cannon post-ALFA62.
Soledad.umx begins like always and the action pace from the original map won't change. Literally, the map doesn't waste time: in the very first Pupae breeding nest you find (the one on the wall in the first section of the level), you'll see a bunch of Pupae themselves coming out of the holes and chasing the fuck out of you anywhere but below in the flooded floor you'll encounter a complete new enemy whose screams were likely heard since you started this map: the Brood.
Broods are exactly modeled after the concept image of the Queens seen on one of the Crypt textures - they are very grown-up Pupae living in these crypts for a crapload of years waiting for their chance to evolve into Queens one day... or much more commonly, to die but it's still a legit reason for the Skaarj to protect these Broods found in crypts from death. Broods are rather wide (think of the landed shuttle in Bounds of Foundry's helipad) and a bit taller than the player; their skin is greenish and silver white and they have a very developed abdomen full of hard pointy shapes (more noticeably spiky than what's seen in the crypt concept image). Broods are stationary and very rarely will move around, and if they want to do that is only for escaping purposes or to place themselves in a better spot (their walking speed is quite high). Their completely-new sounds will resemble a mix of low-pitched Pupae sounds and a bit of few high pitched Queen ones - they will whine/scream a lot and you can always hear them from afar so you'll know if there's one nearby; they'll scream even more when they are damaged or when a nearby Pupae dies.
Broods have 1200 HP and their armored abdomen will make them hard to kill: bolts, bullets, shards and blades will hardly do any damage unless you hit the legs or the neck (Brood's posture will make it annoyingly hard for the player to decapitate her), forcing the lazier players to go with the Eightball and Flak Cannon route, or using the amplified ASMD.
Broods attack you with very accurate groups of 12 Skaarj/Queen projectiles shot at you with an arc trajectory; they travel fast so taking cover is a safe choice (make sure which cover you use because the Brood will definitely try attacking if your position can be reached by her projectiles, and 12 of them are insanely damaging, much more than enough to kill somebody with 100 HP). When they are shooting though, the Broods' abdomen resistance slightly decreases - good chance to time your charged Eightball grenades onto her. In terms of melee attacks, the Brood stabs you with her face claws or use her (REALLY LONG) blade-tail depending where you are around her; these melee attacks are fast and deal 40 HP each, so you don't want to stay close. Plus, one might decide to move to a different spot and quickly wash you with projectiles up-close which is the last thing you'd want.
A special attack they can do is to go full SpiderMan and shoot web from their mouth; the attack animation, which happens at random and with no particular sound, can be clearly telegraphed and depending on the distance you'll have to dodge or jump to avoid it. If the attack connects on you, you'll be immediately slowed down until being completely stuck for a while as the Brood will finish her job spitting web all over your body; when you are stuck, all you can do is tapping movement directions and jumping until you are free (if you don't press anything YOU WON'T BE FREE) and the monsters around will go full-on trying to kill you, including the Brood herself with her projectiles (the attack is more dangerous if she isn't alone fighting you). The web attack's efficiency depends on the target's mass: more or less amount of web is required to completely lock down a target, more or less time is required for the target to break out of the web; something like a Behemoth or a Skaarj Berserker are very resistant to this attack, while on bosses it doesn't work. It perfectly works underwater and caught flying creatures will be brought down to land level. There will be rare chances that the Brood will pull caught targets closer to her after she completes the web attack.
The web attack DOES NO DAMAGE.
Her tail melee attack can decapitate enemies (not the player); when a Brood dies, all nearby Pupae will escape to random spots (be careful as you may meet them afterward), though this is very rare to happen outside of coop as in single player, you'll be already disposing of all Pupae before the Brood is killed. Jumping on the Brood's abdomen that's spiky as fuck, hurts you for 10 HP; you'll be thrown to the ground immediately after.

The section before the corridors that go down to the Skaarj tombs has the first door that leads outside (on the upper floor, where you have to use the lever to proceed forward) which is of course locked. You will face Kraal and Skaarj Warriors for the most part. Every hidden wall chamber outside of the real secret ones will be retained because reasons but you won't ever find enemies inside (they'll ambush you from somewhere else); the walls though will be opened through newly added buttons and there are visible clues that the wall is fake and it's a door instead (something like a visible mechanism, etc...).
Regarding the secrets in this section:
  • The infamous one with the small courtyard that can be accessed by breaking part of the wall with a precise flak shell thrown through the window. it's been dumbed down here: the wall can be destroyed from any side and you can spot its weak point. In the courtyard there are some grouped Flak Shells and a Razorpack.
  • The secret where you have to open the wall by standing inside the sarcophagus - the sarcophagus in question now has a visible button, so stay on it and take a look at the purple glow coming out of the secret area; if it's bright enough, you can run in the opened passage (the wall moves more slowly). You can find bullets and an Assault Vest inside.

The corridors going down to the two Skaarj tombs will be the first ones where you experience the hiding Kraal in the darkness (music also stops). In the tomb room, the whole mover sequence is completely gone (there will be just a big gargoyle face) and the next door is currently closed. However, you'll be hearing loud noises from inside the two sarcophagi. After a while, the two Skaarj break out in pieces the door of their tombs, jump out and the battle music commences.

These Skaarj are called Skaarj Hunters and story-wise they're basically just like the Kraal who are remnants of the old Skaarj invasion on the planet that are hiding forever in crypts.
Skaarj Hunters are based on the alpha design of the Skaarj, the one with the white pale skin. They have purple dead eyes, claws always sticking out and are only able to express themselves with syllable voices.
Skaarj Hunters have 300 HP and overall they do not really differ from the regular ones that much. The main thing about them is their fighting stance, which is unique, something with their arms standing on the height level of their face. They appear more focused onto their target without looking away from it. Most of the time indeed, they'll strafe around and try to dodge anything, doing a better job than any other enemy found so far. Their ranged attack is not a damaging one - instead it shoots some sort of purple crystallized blobs that upon impact they'll create a purple stain that becomes larger until a certain radius on any solid brush. Running close to this substance will slow ALL your movements by 70% (even dodging/jumping is affected) until you get out of it. These projectiles are generally always shot on the ground under/near the opponent, and the stain will disappear after half a minute. If you end up on one of these purple blobs, hope you're lucky enough to get out before the Skaarj attempts a melee attack on you. Any type of Skaarj, Pupae, Kraal, Broods and bosses are not affected by the slowing effects. The downside is that the ranged attack is not used often; you only feel it's being spammed when you face multiple Skaarj Hunters simultaneously and when the space around is not very large (just like in this first battle against them). The shooting sound will be unique, resembling the BioRifle shooting noise.
Melee-wise, they're exactly like the Scouts but with slightly more damaging attacks. They have however a unique melee attack, a "mystical-art-looking" move where the Skaarj Hunters use both its claws to stab the enemy at once. This ancient move that only these elder Skaarj know is capable of dealing damage equal to 50% of the enemy's CURRENT HP (so it gets progressively weaker) and works against everyone except turret-type of enemies and non-Titan bosses. They'll hardly use it twice against the same enemy though (the decision is per Skaarj Hunter though). During the attack, the Hunter's claws glow violet and the slash particle effect is also uniquely purple.
Similar to the Skaarj Berserkers, Skaarj Hunters can insta-kill opponents who are left with less than 10% of their health with a "grabbing" melee attack finisher (doesn't happen with human characters). Their lunge leaps are longer and so their air speed, plus they are capable of moon jumps and are immune to fall damage (except forced deaths). Skaarj Hunters don't have blood whatsoever.
Skaarj Hunters have one particular ancestral skill they know since the ancient times: if they accidentally attack an ally that eventually becomes an enemy, the Skaarj Hunter will do some kind of hypnotizing move on said ally to calm him down instantly - the target in question will remain still for some seconds (with a special animation) unaware of what's happening around (so you can shoot them in the meanwhile) before they fully return to normal. If this is done on Skaarj Berserkers, they'll still stop for 2 seconds or so with a calmed-down fighting stance but afterwards they'll resume fighting as nothing absolutely happened. Skaarj Hunters can also use this skill on grudge matches he had no involvement with.
Just like Kraal, don't expect to fight Skaarj Hunters outside the crypt maps.

The next door is unlocked by pressing secret buttons located inside the Hunters' sarcophagi. Enjoy fighting Kraal and Skaarj Warriors. On top of the elevator, there's that chamber with the Shield Belt from the old Soledad, you remember? It's still there and the room has been modified a little to become some sort of old armory which includes Kraal armors and staves, with a different, green and bulkier Shield Belt right in front of you, put over an armor.
This is the Power Shield. This one works like this: it's an inventory item at first. If you activate it, it will become an armory item in the form of a second Shield Belt with 500 HP which loses 1 HP every second (lasts over eight minutes barring damage). Activation is permanent of course and the Power Shield takes priority over the Shield Belt. You can carry multiple Power Shields in your inventory and only one can be activated at a time.
Watch out that once you get the Power Shield, a Skaarj Assassin will ambush you, something that you can possibly sense happening when the door mysteriously opens. Another Brood will be waiting in the chamber where you have to hold the lever down until the door is opened (there's also an elevator to go up now but it doesn't work at the moment).
The underwater section in the area immediately after won't contain fish school and any sort of seaweeds but there will still be some Devilfish and a single Tarydium Slith. The hidden cove will have the Nali sleeping: you wake him up, he'll give you a Super Health (the one previously found in the exit of this water area) and you can tell him to teleport away (also enjoy the super realistic firepit effects).

Fast-forward few rooms: the blade traps are removed and some of the passages that you have to unlock that are just about activating a ramp, they're now just doors.
Regarding the first passage that had blade traps in the original level, there's now a proper opening that leads to the nearby coutryard and there, an elevator which goes to a never-seen before upper floor, which has another one of those locked doors leading to the canyon outside.
The Pupae ambush chamber after the second corridor that had blade traps in the original game version has now a Brood sitting in the flooded portion.
The bridge that has to be activated by destroying the iron brushes holding both ramps is now already down (however there's no separating wall for the area below).
The pit with the Shield Belt and the Pupae has the Shield Belt replaced with a Brood; there's also an elevator (currently not working) that's used to return on the upper floor.
The chamber which has the Skaarj patrolling a bridge on the second floor (which leads to the section which leads to the crushing ceiling trap chamber) has now a corridor with an elevator that leads to a completely new room having a Kraal and another one of those canyon doors.
The room with the crucifix has now the Skaarj Hunter already inside and ready to cut the crucified Nali in half when you enter in (action is scripted and cannot be stopped); when that happens, you'll be ambushed by two Kraal behind, so be careful (action music plays).
The crushing ceiling trap chamber works the same as before: you enter the room, door closes behind you and the Kraal activate the trap UNLESS you managed to stop them with well-aimed flak shells (almost impossible for one player as you have to kill both Kraal in time). The ceiling goes down slowly - you have to press the two ground buttons that are glowing somewhere in the room (their position is randomized) to open the door in front of you and escape.
On top of the circular platform in the successive area (Nali secret is the exact same, without Pupae at least), you'll be dealing with a Skaarj Officer who'll teleport in - this one also got the action songsection playing on.
These are the main map changes, without mentioning much of the enemy differences; all the Brood locations have been mentioned aside from the one in the last area (in total, you fight 5 Broods in Soledad). Expect a lot of massive detail rework in various areas, with some of them being larger than before, and making sure to fix any illogical/game-ish layout issue that plagued the original map (which compared to Cliff's non-crypt maps, it's actually not that bad at all!).

Note that, compared to the original game, Soledad is directed toward the right (which means it should be pointing almost to the direction of the large lake that's in front of the fire temple outside). Making sure the entrance/exit points fit within the Resistance Lake terrain - you can't really see Soledad from the Resistance Lake location as there are massive mountains covering the crypt structure. Technically, only part of the structure is visible outside, as more than half of Soledad is located underground.

The last area has another Brood and a Pupae nest located on the upper floor, above the pool below which is quite filled of purple liquid. The sewer hole at the bottom is gone though - this time the real exit is the underwater cave in this pool that was suspiciously never used in the original map (apparently it was for a cut Queen event). To unlock this gate, you have to go in the nearby cave that contains a specific new chamber with levers that open all of Soledad's doors/gates: it includes a lever to permanently open all trap doors in Soledad and all doors that lead in the structure's canyon found outside (you are basically free to go anywhere in the map and there are even new unlocked elevators when required). Be careful that once you exit the area after just unlocking the underwater gate to the exit, you'll be facing a Skaarj Hunter... who's killed by a Skaarj Berserker that the Hunter himself was trying to calm down. Kill the Berserker.

The area above, in the original game, had a small room with a Shield Belt. Now it's been replaced by a complete new set of areas that go above on ground level, with another door leading outside.
About this outdoor canyon, there isn't much aside Gasbags flying around and a dead Nali holding a Kevlar Suit.
There's also a small crystal clear pool just there for decoration. Lastly, there's an underground tunnel going into another new small area of Soledad that leads directly to the entrance of the location from Resistance Lake, just where you used the elevator to go down.
In the outdoor canyon, the crypt structure is standing with the help of "anchor" pillar and huge chains attached to the nearby mountains; in some parts you clearly see bricks coming out from the ground, that are part of the Soledad's chambers located underground.

That said, you still have to take the underwater tunnel (no music there). It's a long ass cave and inside you'll fight some Tentacles, some Cave Mantas and an occasional Skaarj Assassin. You'll then have to swim again.
You'll eventually find a large opening which leads to the big lake in front of the fire temple, finally! Blossom.umx begins playing again and this lake is pretty large and incredibly deep, so deep that you can hardly reach the bottom before you drown together with the SCUBA Gear.
If you're dumb enough, you can fall down into the main part of Resistance Lake, forcing you to go back to Soledad and make all your way back to the big lake (even worse if you never opened all the doors in the crypt, lol).
You can now have a closer look at the crashed alien ship here which truly looks like a tower; its textures are the DecayedS' insect ones (there you go) but it seems like you have no way to access it and the blasted-apart top of the ship is completely out of reach.
Good thing you can at least go for this fire temple. It looks better on the outside, there are some plants, some Nali statue and over the entrance there's a Gasbag statue sticking out. The message reads "Temple of the Nali god of Fire, Acerack". You enter it and as soon as you do it, a door closes behind you.





Ya it's long as shit and written confusingly, I had to cut some paragraphs down but key changes in the rest of the map are pretty simple for anyone to do. You get the idea.
This would be a perfect map for a demo as there's basically a bit of everything: new enemies, lots of actions, traps, secrets, underwater, an outdoor canyon, a sleeping Nali and what else.
Last edited by UB_ on 07 May 2017, 13:34, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar Sat42
Skaarj Warlord Skaarj Warlord
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 07 May 2017, 11:29

@UB:
Just wanted to chime in and say this is almost unbelievable, I know you can be passionate and write a huge amount on this site but now I wonder - wouldn't it be at all possible for you to take this and attempt to engage with Epic or modders for UT4 and you know, get the ball rolling? I am not much around these parts due to other commitments, so I have a limited understanding of what's going on, but in my opinion you should attempt entering the industry :tup:
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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Posts: 7960
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 07 May 2017, 14:07

Edited:
-Tarydium Slith are now immune to Stinger projectiles
-Added few more details to the Soledad descriptions, mostly regarding the canyon and all Brood locations.
-Added song ID list in the first post; titles are official except the songs that never had a proper one and were named after their filenames


Sat42 wrote:@UB:
Just wanted to chime in and say this is almost unbelievable, I know you can be passionate and write a huge amount on this site but now I wonder - wouldn't it be at all possible for you to take this and attempt to engage with Epic or modders for UT4 and you know, get the ball rolling? I am not much around these parts due to other commitments, so I have a limited understanding of what's going on, but in my opinion you should attempt entering the industry :tup:


I'm fairly sure though that if Epic would have the idea, they'd commission another (hopefully really decent) gaming company to do the job. But yeah I'd really want a seat in something gaming-related, it's not an easy industry to get in though and especially not a stable one.

Nothing new today since it's JJ2's release birthday so I'll play JJ2, lol.
ImageImage

UB_
Nali Priest Nali Priest
Posts: 7960
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 09 May 2017, 21:28

Acerack - Nali Fire God Temple
MUSIC: Cyrene.umx
Cyrene.umx will get a sound remaster/clean-up and a short action songsection based on the darkest sounding part of the ambient song (the one with the bell sounds). The music will always play throughout the map and it transitions to the action songsection when you're being attacked by enemies.

Acerack is the fire counterpart to Chizra. You can't exit from it because the door behind you is closed; and by closed, it means it's closed PERMANENTLY. You can only visit this location (and the successive one) once in the whole game, so be sure to collect anything you can before you go.
With Acerack being a temple related to the Gasbags, any sort of harm is forbidden. Indeed the level will focus on the player going through challenges without the use of weapons; sadly, the presence of Gasbags in this place is only confined in the area directly after the entrance, due to the rest of the temple overrun by something that the Gasbags don't have much power against.
In the entrance, you will be greeted by a Nali Ghost. These are ancient Nali who traded their solid form to become ethereal immortal ghosts; they've been living for knows how much and they will live forever - god forbid how would they feel seeing the infinite future. They are rare now and the ghost spell has been long forgotten.
The Nali Ghost will brief you the deal with the temple: put all your weapons and items (except your current armory items - you will find also a Shield Belt here) on a pedestral to unlock the next room. All your items will be sent through a mechanism right in the final area of Acerack. That's the gist of the map.

The enemies who will harass you from the hell and back are the Fire Slith.
Fire Slith are based on their looks from the UBeta and do have the armor - they look brownish, fiery orange eyes, have firey veins and are overall burning internally (their bodies practically smoke). They aren't really scary demonic beings (the fact that Acerack is really bright place doesn't help) but for sure they love to suddenly appear and are powerful, combined with the fact that they're bigger and are immune to the lava (and will jump out of it unexpectedly).
One of the Fire Slith's moves is to pick you and throw you into the lava. This happens when the player's health is really low (<25) so it counts as a possible finisher move (only if there's magma nearby). And compared to some finisher moves, this one only works on the player and is never used against monsters.
Fire Slith have 400 HP and are slightly faster on land than the other Slith (which is still to say, about as fast as the player character); they have higher mass and their melee attacks will apply a 3-seconds burning status effect (2HP per second) and it stacks multiplicatively. Their ranged attack is an enhanced version of the regular Slith one (which is different, go check Chizra): the damage is Burned instead of Corroded and does huge extra splash damage on impact (on anything it touches, once).
What makes Fire Slith annoying with their immunity to Burned damage, it's them being very resistant to explosive weapons such as the Eightball, Flak Cannon, DP, and the ASMD's explosive attacks. This will matter in later levels.

Fire Slith will be practically in every area of the map, be it alone or in small groups. You'll have them harassing you almost all the time, however they can't travel through chambers (the map is basically a set of large chambers one after another).

There will be no items in any of the challenge areas except for few fruits that won't regenerate this time around due to the poor state of the vegetation inside the temple (look at the temperature, duh).
Your secondary objective will be, however, finding special switches. These hidden switches will unlock in the very last area of the temple (where you will obtain all your equipment), a bunch of secret rooms containing items. Since you can open all of them and the only difficult part of the matter counts for the first timers through the map, the items in question won't be that super exceptional: it's a Force Field, a Power Shield and the Peacemaker.
The Peacemaker works like in the UBeta: throw the item on the ground and it shoots a crapload of really strong mini-missiles toward the targets. Really good against single targets and the total damage amount is almost higher than 12 Eightball rockets put together. The player of course has to stay afar from the thrown Peacemaker if he doesn't want to be killed by his own missiles - watch out at the splash damage. The Peacemaker is mostly reserved for bosses given their rarity.

Regarding the map itself, if you saw those Acerack tidbits in one of the Unreal trailers you'll get an idea of how the visuals will be: Ancient.utx focused on the brighter textures, bright lighting overall, of course a lot of decay near the fiery pits. Acerack is seen as a good God who wants to test his followers for the brightest future; the place contains one of the core spots where the Gasbags are believed to be born and Gasbags in this game are technically decent guys if you COMPLETELY RESPECT their rules without a single mistake. It's a dangerously bright gray/gold ancient stone location with a lot of lava. A sun temple of sorts.

Regarding the challenges P849 will have to go through:
  • Raising some platforms by using the right levers in order to cross a lava lake.
  • A gauntlet - a series of corridors where you have to outrun some Fire Slith and to dodge flamethrower and pit traps along the way.
  • A series of pathways where you have to dodge rolling giant wheels (like seen in that old Unreal trailer).
  • A large room where you have to kill Fire Slith by using traps like crushers, giant axes, etc...
  • One area that doesn't really contain a challenge but it's just the player trying to find a way to climb a big wall throughout hard-to-see platforms (basically large bricks edging out of walls and the sorts).
  • An underground cave area where you have to jump precisely on platforms; temperature appears way too hot and you take damage over time.
  • Some sort of mini-maze with Fire Slith lurking around.
  • Another "filler" section where you have to stay on a platforming moving over a magma river, and you have to dodge Fire Slith's stuff and jumping through obstacles or on other platforms.
  • A corridor with a lot of Fire Slith at large in front of you, you have to basically run through them and dodge shit as much as you can.
  • Last large chamber with a weird puzzle where you have to figure out, across 20 levers, a set of events that occurred in Na Pali's ancient eras (with NEW big Ancient.utx style images to boot on the walls). You'll have a message only to help figuring out stuff and most of the story bits are new even for Unreal veterans. You do this while a Fire Slith is up your ass.

After the challenges, you'll end up in the last area where the Nali Ghost comes from a wall and greets you, telling you that one big challenge is left outside, in a courtyard. You pick up all the old equipment (with all ammo forced up to max except the Razorjack), and the three special items that you could unlock access to by finding three levers in the temple. You cannot go back anymore, so exit the place. Direction-wise, you're heading parallel to the Resistance Lake location - to the left hand side of the Morose's entrance terrain. There's still this courtyard location before it though.




Tonatiuh - Ancient Proving Grounds
MUSIC: Magnus.umx
Cyrene.umx ends as you go outside. Magnus.umx will be probably remastered and made a bit faster and to have even more "oomph" effects to it.

Tonatiuh, the parent Sun god to Acerack, had a courtyard built for him by Nali in ancient times. This set of two large gardens in the middle of a canyon has never seen decay somehow, still keeping the white/gold coloration on the structures around. Direction-wise, it's only pointing forward.
Visual-wise there isn't much to imagine: think about a Greek/Roman/SPARTAN royal battle training courtyard with walls and columns around, gray/gold being the main colors used. It's all outdoor so you'll see the canyon mountains beyond the big walls. There's also a lot of plants and fruits to replenish health. Finally, it's midday now, and the two Suns are pretty much centered above you in the sky.

The first garden is mostly a sight-seeing tour with a lot of fancy visuals (this part of the garden is highly decorated with just about anything you can think of in an ancient-style setting).
The second garden is the challenge zone - however you can still go back to the first garden but not inside the temple which is closed now.
This part of the garden has a circular pit with massive flames coming out of it, including a massive smoke column which could be spotted beyond the mountains in the Resistance Lake (near the pathway that leads to Morose). The place seems to greet you with more flames coming from the pit, which also seem to leak into parts of the floor/wall bricks as some sort of ritual. Magnus.umx begins and you'll be now fighting the Fire Slith: 12 of them in total and up to 3 in the field at a time. They'll be more aggressive this time around unlike how it was in the fire temple.

After all the Fire Slith are dead, you'll be fighting the guardian of the location, a Giant Gasbag coming out from the pit which is believed to be one of the birthplace locations on the planet for these creatures. HP bar in.
Compared to the regular Gasbags, Giant Gasbags are dark gray (kinda like having a burned skin), have a reddish shade in their eyes and some sort of a burned web-like substance is hanging out from the entirety of their bottom body parts. They're also really FUCKING big this time, and you can actually see Gasbags being spitted out from the mother's mouth. Giant Gasbag's voice is also rougher, low-pitched.
Giant Gasbags are not considered boss-type creatures, rather instead they are really strong regular monsters and you might meet them more than twice.
Giant Gasbags have 2100 HP, immunity to Burned damage, cannot be stunned unless you load in 6 rockets in its face.
His strikes can be either him pounding on the ground or just punching a very big target (e.g. Titan); these are only animation differences, as the strikes, upon hit, come with some sort of splash force damage. Each strike deals 100 HP (direct hit, splash damage can deal maximum 30 HP) but luckily their animations are so slow that you can safely run away the moment he's preparing for a melee. In terms of ranged attacks, Giant Gasbags have a super powered form of the titular belch, now looking like a proper meteor; it doesn't need to be charged up and it's insanely damaging (around 150 HP on direct hit, that's excluding the burning effects which last 5 seconds more). They will also disintegrate any projectiles they bump on, including those six rockets you shot in unison at the thing.
They have also two new skills, used separately and that share the same cooldown that needs to end until one of the two can be re-used again:
  • One happens when you are close to the Giant Gasbag - the monster will shoot flames from its mouth like a flamethrower and only the closest surfaces that are being affected will be burned for many seconds. Damaging to the point of instakilling if you don't even try to dodge. Damage of this skill is however lowered depending on how high is the default HP of the Giant Gasbag's opponent (this is to prevent an easy win against big guys such as the Behemoths or the Titans). The big problem is that the long burning effects may take a lot of arena space, which makes dodging other attacks harder as a result.
  • This happens instead when you are far away from the Giant Gasbag - the monster will engulf his hands full of flame (by putting them close to its mouth) and afterwards several flaming mortar orbs will be shot from its arms, targetting at random locations close to where P849 is. While it's highly inaccurate as attacks go (much better against enemy groups rather than single targets) you can't exactly tell where the mortars will land. Five/six of them are thrown in total. They deal a maximum of 60 HP excluding burning effects and of course the spots where the mortars fell will be burning for many seconds. The splash damage radius isn't exactly large however, so you could easily dodge out of the way.
Giant Gasbags will always attack intelligent alien lifeforms regardless of the "rules" - so it'll hate from the getgo humans, Skaarj, Mercenaries, Krall, Brutes, Warlords, mechanical units, Skaarj Fighters and Titans (latter is more of a "hate" thing). If other Gasbags will see this, they'll join the Giant one in attacking the enemy. Giant Gasbags and Gasbags won't fight each other this time around.
Gasbags spawned from the Giant's mouth are nerfed on the go: smaller, 160 HP, melee damage doing half damage and belches doing half damage with no burning effect. They will also be covered by the same web-like substance the Giant Gasbag has. Giant Gasbag will never spam-spawn little ones and besides, he can only let two Gasbags on the battlefield at a time (THIS IS PER GIANT GASBAG, NOT GLOBAL).
Giant Gasbags won't bother picking grenades and throwing them back at you but they will instead grab all the lighter things thrown by Titans and put them away (something to make them stand off against the Titans in a much better way). Giant Gasbags are ultra slow at moving; they aren't made to float in the sky but just to defend their home spots because all they want to do is give birth to more Gasbags and protect themselves from enemies. They are still capable of using their arms to move faster on the ground, albeit not as good as the regular Gasbags do.
This however will be the game of this fight: the Giant Gasbag every now and then will proceed through the gardens with this "walking" method, until the player is cornered below the temple, where it becomes pretty much impossible to dodge the flaming attacks. It's still possible for P849 to run past the Giant Gasbag if there's a lot of space behind it but the monster isn't dumb enough and will quickly cancel whatever he was doing just to strike you.
Since the enemy's immunity to Burned damage will greatly affects explosive weapons from dealing heavy damage, the Razorjack will finally shine 100% with the ability of doing more damage if shot in the Giant Gasbag's eyes, and the creature just won't attempt to dodge anything. Testing the Peacemaker now, if you got it, wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Few seconds after death, the Giant Gasbag will self-combustion and explode, so be careful (this is also a general feature of this monster). Magnus.umx stops, the fire pit closes and the door behind it opens. You'll go through a chamber with a lot of fruits, Seeds and your reward which you will be forced to take throughout a mini-cutscene: Tonatiuh's Boots.
Tonatiuh's Boots is an item that works exactly like the Toxin Shield in terms of use type and regeneration system, except it makes you immune to the burning damage from burning floors (like what any of the Gasbag/Giant Gasbag flaming attacks do on the surfaces that aren't walls) and small magma sheets. This is the item that will let you pass through the magma-filled courtyard in front of Morose.
Lore-wise, it is said that these ancient magical boots was a result of another spell casted with the "help" of the Sun god and they were once wielded by a savior.
Note that the item is a replacement for the Asbestos Suit which is removed.

Afterwards, there's a long staircase in a cave that leads over a canyon mountain in Resistance Lake, just near the Morose land (Blossom.umx starts now). From this point you can see much of the location around from a good spot, including a better view of the Sunspire and of the fallen ALFA62. If you fall you can't go back anymore and that is permanent as Acerack/Tonatiuh are blocked forever (there's no reason for you to return in, even if it was possible).

Since there's still no way for you to access the weird alien ship crashed in the large lake, all you have to do is to use the Tonatiuh's Booths to cross the magma floor in order to reach the new crypt-looking location. An unrecognizable winged monster can be seen flying beyond the Morose mountains as you proceed.
When you get close to the entrance, an earthquake occurs and the nearby obelisks fall down, potentially deadly if you don't be careful. This time however there's no underwater secret, so you'll head straight to the next location. You can always return to the Resistance Lake any time you want.

User avatar Xanious
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 10 May 2017, 00:56

Nexus Time! :B

UB_
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Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 13 May 2017, 00:09

Morose - Temple of Jrath
MUSIC: SETI.umx
SETI will get a strong, malignant sound overhaul. It's one of the oldest songs made for the game and the aging shows with some sounds being really basic (sometimes it feels like there's something missing) and the overall progression of the latter part of the song being kinda random; it should be a defining villain-themed song that should never be boring. As for the action songsection, keep it running at fast speed.

Morose, as a Crypt.utx map, will come with major differences compared to Soledad. Here are the main features:
  • The Kraal will be the main regular enemies here. Elite ones will not appear yet but this time, unlike in Soledad, Kraal will not retreat somewhere in smoke form and will fight till the end. There will be a lot of more scripted ambushes of Kraal coming to your area in smoke form rapidly; hidden ones will be only located in the U-shaped corridor illuminated by the mini-windows, early in the map (just after the first section).
  • Fire Slith will be hiding in all the lava pools you encounter in the map (some of these pools are redesigned to be more visceral, some look more like oil pools in flame). There will be many of them.
  • This place was built by the Nali under the order of the Skaarj solely for the deity Jrath. Jrath's myth will be based on the one from Unreal PSX: a false god, a mysterious old guidance for the Skaarj that was in reality an artificial alien built by the Dranoel race. So, this is no crypt or breeding ground for Skaarj Hunters and Broods respectively and you won't find these enemies. Instead you'll face Skaarj Warriors and Skaarj Assassins, as well as two Skaarj Berserkers (the first map so far to contain more than one Berserker).
  • No Pupae.
  • Gasbags will be around, hiding in random tricky positions (only in specific areas) that make them hard to spot. This is bad news for both the enemies and you, because you can very much accidentally get them to attack you.
  • Tentacles and Cave Mantas will be hiding in non-magma caves.
  • No living Nali inside; the one that was in the original version will be found dead. Its secret area is removed.
  • Due to no breeding nests and the like, the purple liquid you saw in Soledad is not here. Overall the place looks cleaner.
  • The structure is located more near the next HUB map which, compared to the Resistance Lake, is more in line with an African desert theme. From all the windows or outdoor openings contained in Morose, you can see sands flying in; in short, it's done in the style of Shrakith'a fourth map's temple which had all the sand in, though Morose is way more gloomy due to the darker reddish lighting (not as dark as Soledad but close), presence of some really evil-looking areas, the lava and fires and suddenly outside it's sorta cloudy (before entering Morose, the sky was already getting filled of clouds).
  • Morose won't follow Soledad's architecture style. This is a temple for an alien god and the architecture will reflect that: everything is reduxed in the classic evil alien ancient sci-fi style, massively organic, complex incomprehensible brushes - basically the crypt counterpart to what was seen in Outpost 3J. The doors in particular will be also unique, something you'd expect from a Queen/Drakk place, and they contain grates within the brushes where you can see what's beyond. Expect a lot of use of dark gray metal instead of the brown brick textures being used everywhere. Also, of torches you'll hardly see any: sources of lighting will be outdoor illumination, burning oil pools, lava, and shining orange/red/yellow lights put behind wall.grates (like how it's done for the Drakk theme or pretty much every new futuristic game today, like the lights on the Mass Effect's Reaper model, etc...). This overall sounds like some evil place you'd see out of Stargate but that's indeed what I'm describing. Besides, SETI is the theme of this map and that song was originally made with Egyptian stuff in mind (SETI -> SET as in the Egyptian chaos god), so everything would fit.
    You'll get to know however that Skaarj still forced Nali to restructure the temple for all the past years, explaining how come Morose feels more hi-tech looking than it what'd realistically be.
  • All messages about Jrath will be extended to mention more of his "tales".
  • Like Soledad, Morose is a partly-underground structure found inside an enclosed canyon pit. Even this canyon is explorable but like in Soledad, it's something that is unlocked end-level and it's used for shortcut purposes only. More on this: there's only one canyon access and is located in a completely new area of the temple; however from the canyon you can drop into few of the map's areas throughout holes/windows.
  • Again, like in Soledad (I really didn't mention this though back then), items will be found grouped together in sensible, logical positions.

Reminder that you can go back to Resistance Lake any time you want.
Immediately at the beginning there's another set of stairs that go to a never-seen before area (and goes above, not down), however for now it's just a corridor to a locked door.
In a first playthrough through the level, SETI will be used in the same exact way as it was in the UBeta version. When you reach the next location and go back to Morose instead, SETI will be constantly playing everywhere. Action songsection will be used for the two Skaarj Berserker fights.

The secret area in the little chamber between the first and second areas of the first section of the level (the one where you had to shoot the wall to open it) is removed; this whole interconnection corridor is now an enclosed chamber which extends beyond the walls that were present in the old version, ending with glowing grate windows where beyond them you see massive underground lava caves. Note that there's a Skaarj Assassin hiding in this area and might bother with you randomly.
The first lever you have to use works this time like the one in Soledad, where you have to hold it down to open the door when you are ambushed by Pupae; here instead you'll do the same (hold G to move the lever, and if you don't the lever will slowly move back to its original place) while being ambushed by Fire Slith that now decide to come out from the lava pools on the floor below (these pools appear to be very deep and connect with the caves below, which is why the Slith keep coming).

The gong itself mostly does nothing, aside being completely redesigned and looking more like some sort of monument on the wall (the gong is also shaped like a star). When you enter, the Kraal immediately dashes near it, bang the gong, and two Fire Slith from the lava pathway in front of you come out (and yeah, the pathway there to unlock the door to the elevator is now all wooden bridges in larger corridors full of lava.
Hitting the gargoyle faces on the upper floor of the gong chamber (which are now proper buttons) will still cause an earthquake, and this time it actually serves a purpose for a certain secret area found a bit later in the map.

Jrath area.
Now remember those fire pits in the corners? Yeah, that's burning oil there now, basically flames over a sheet of black liquid. While full-blown lava is instant kill here, this burning liquid will be instead as dangerous damage-wise as lava was in the original Unreal (damage type is still Burned, so if it's just a sheet, the Tonatiuh's Boots will still help). The Jrath chamber is uniquely overdetailed and out of the bridge leading to the shrine, the rest of the floor will be flooded by this burning liquid as well (though the flame intensity is not strong here). Jrath's image will be larger, showing more of the green Skaarj with his custom black armor and emerald Razik. Note that this time, when you fight the Skaarj Berserker, the door to return in the previous area will not lock down. For the (re-designed) gate to the successive area you still have to press the hidden lever found in the Jrath shrine.
The center portion of the area with the opening on the ceiling has the opening itself look like a hole now, so you are indeed much more underground this time around. The Shield Belt is just hanging on the floor, presumably dropped from the hole itself.

The cup secret area is a thing again and the way to unlock the door (which has a unique design with a shining bio sludge tank built within it) has been changed. The four cups are indestructible but you can shoot them around, so what do you do? You can grab the cups this time and move them around; now the four spots are easy to figure out but the problem lies which cup x needs to be put in spot y and also they need to be put in the correct rotation.
Messages in the Jrath shrine will hint you about this "code" that's about four Na Pali animal species description and the amount of them mentioned in said hint. The cups are represented by these animal species, the spots in which you have to put them represent the species' habitat, and then on the spots themselves you can rotate the cups so they can point from number 1 to 10 (through some secondary leg attached to the cup). This code is universal and never randomized, so as long as you know it, it will work in every playthrough.
Once the code is done, the door is unlocked (the cups cannot be moved anymore in any way); inside there's a set of really eerie green chambers, with the final one containing three extremely vague messages about who Jrath really is, and a dead Nali with the first few Tarydium Sludge ammo packs and the GES BioRifle itself, finally. If you don't get the weapon now, you'll find another one later in Bounds of Foundry.

The GES BioRifle's model will be based on the U1 variant - the player character will actually hold the weapon with the slime tank on his back. Primary fire is essentially the same but with a buff: all the slimeballs on the ground (from primary fire only) will be homing directly to the enemy target you hit with either the primary or secondary fire - yes, like raging sentient bloblets! This is actually something that UT4's BioRifle had, so I didn't invent this myself. For balancing this new feature: bio globs can't travel for too far, they explode if they impact with each other and their damage is halved.
Secondary fire charges extremely fast and now you can hold it forever like in the UT games. When used as mines, max charged blobs will do the same damage but the less they are charged the much less they do damage now (uncharged mines are practically shit at this point). When used to directly attack the enemy, the secondary fire will work like the UT3's one where the big blob sticks on the target and continuously deals damage to it, for a period of time that depends on how much you charged for the shot. If this happens when there are primary fire blobs shot on the ground, all these ones will home on the target and will add up to this charged blob sticking on the enemy body, dealing damage for additional seconds (which always depends on how many blobs were on the ground). Very strong weapon, especially if you use it in combination with the Dampener which can easily secure an instant kill against most major enemies.

The successive area is redesigned: it's built over a magma cave pit and there are wooden bridges connecting the entrance to the area on the left (now completely locked), to the front (just a platform with some items) and to the right (where the gate is now permanently open).
If you caused the earthquake by shooting the gargoyle faces in the gong room, the floor in the successive corridors will crumble (in the UBeta it crumbled regardless of what you did) as soon as you step on the broken bricks. The secret area here is completely redesigned: you find yourself in a large, underground magma lake with Fire Slith (which is the same cave you've seen in the previous area, except you found a zone where you can actually walk in). The pathway to the exit will be based on the UBeta's version one and all you have to do is running because the Fire Slith will keep appearing. At the end there's an elevator which leads to the locked chamber from the previous area where you'll find Razorpacks, the third Dispersion Pistol power up and a lever to unlock the door.

The next areas mostly share the same progression, though they are redesigned to look more grand and for the rooms to feel more connected between each other. The axe traps are gone, the Nali and his secret are gone, no more small rooms inside the walls with enemies inside, etc... This is where Gasbags try to hide around, and to make it worse there are several Skaarj Assassins roaming around.
The cave trap is still there, however like in the UBeta it's small and enclosed and just has hot water pools.

The most important incoming key area will be the one where you have to walk on the invisible bridges over the pit which has... a vortex of fire below. It will look nightmarish and if you fall in it you're treated with a unique death scene where your character will not scream and the flames will surround you like if they are sentient.
The area itself has also a massive gray/white fog (smoke from the fire below) which is so heavy and weird that you can't see the outer walls, so it'll feel like you're inside a massive area with no bounds. The only things you'll see outside of the floor platforms are the Jrath portraits scattered around - AND YOU HAVE to look at the portraits when walking on the invisible bridges (just like in Chizra with the mirror in this game), otherwise you'll fall down. Gasbags will still be around to just fuck with you (simply ignore them and nothing happens), while the Amplifier is now placed over one of the platforms since the secret itself has been obviously removed.
The last invisible bridge (access to the next cave) has been replaced with a visible wooden one.

The final cave, which is just bigger compared to the UBeta version one, will have Tentacles and Cave Mantas. Other than the final elevator (which doesn't have a Skaarj Berserker, yet), the cave will actually continue to an even bigger one.
This complete new set of areas is this map's shortcut: the cave has no magma whatsoever, some Kraal, outdoor illumination, a ceiling door which leads to the canyon portion around Morose and another set of corridors which leads to that locked door (which you can unlock from behind) that you saw at the beginning of the level.
The canyon part has Gasbags, burning ground (e.g. the type of floor which blocked you from accessing Morose without the Tonatiuh's Boots), dead Nali, an Assault Vest, and holes/windows all over the place that lead back to some of the map's previous chambers.

The final area of Morose will pit you against four Krall again but this time a random Skaarj Berserker joins the fray! He will focus against the Kraal first and foremost so exploit that. Once everyone is dead, you can proceed to the next map. You can return to Morose (and to Resistance Lake) any time.



Overall a massive visual overhaul with this hellish cybernetik crypt theme mixed with a massive magma cave, plus tales from a Skaarj deity and a nightmarish room with a hypnotizing fire vortex. A graphical showcase - the original map's concept was just already great enough.

UB_
Nali Priest Nali Priest
Posts: 7960
Joined: 11 Nov 2007, 21:00

Subject: Re: Myself imagining a HD Unreal 1 remake

Post Posted: 15 May 2017, 00:41

Nagomi Passage
MUSIC: Newmca16.umx
Newmca16.umx will get a minor sound rehaul or remix. It's probably the least popular Unreal 1 songs among the regular ones, so I don't think it'd matter much at the end of the day.

Nagomi Passage, based on the FHub5 iteration, is designed after the Sahara canyons (compared to Resistance Lake which is based more on the American ones). An arid place, there seems to be constantly a sandstorm (a light one though but still impacts vision), the lighting is gold/yellow-ish and the sky is full of smoke with the sunlight hardly getting through it. It's not supposed to look like a malevolent place - just an unfriendly, foggy alien desert, and Newmca16.umx isn't an evil-sounding song either. It's a HUB location, first and foremost.
There is no vegetation whatsoever here, so don't expect to find fruits or Seeds.
The lakes are dark green but this time around there are lifeforms inside - just Devilfish. The lake under Foundry's entrance will be much deeper.
The overall layout will be the same (obviously logical/technical terrain changes are at work, various new details etc etc), with the only major difference being the underground passage that was exclusive to FHub5: it's now a Tarydium cave which contains Tarydium Slith and an item or so; anything Mine.utx related is no more a thing inside, so you just swim in this river, you can go out of the river to this cave, then swim to an underwater cave which leads back to the pool next to Nexus' entrance. You aren't supposed to go there anyway since it's just an escape route in case you fall down from the Foundry bridge (the pit is larger and deeper, and like in FHub5 there's no elevator).

Nagomi is more dangerous than Resistance Lake; other than the already mentioned Devilfish and Tarydium Slith in lakes and caves respectively, you will meet few patrolling Brutes that are usually paired with Skaarj Assassins. There are also some hiding Skaarj Scouts, two Gasbags minding their own business under the wooden bridge which leads to Aztec's exit and a Titan.
However the Titan appears to be dead in front of the Nexus entrance and all other enemies seem to stay away from that valley.

Going around there and you'll finally spot for the first time a Predator. These small green-ish alien raptors with very defining spiky/punk looks and weird trembling animations, have a more defining way to fight now, a fully developed version of what they were supposed to do back then with RTNP.
Predators have a special property codenamed "Packleader". A packleader Predator will be larger, more monstrous looking (almost looking like black skeleton dinosaurs) and deal much more damage per bite. For the record, regular Predators deal 10 HP per bite (which is a lot if you consider many of them attack you simultaneously with their high biting speed) while the packleaders deal 40 with a halved biting speed. Packleader Predators have their own home spot, and the small Predators follow the packleaders. Predator groups can have multiple packleaders (generally no more than three).
Their AI system works like this: some regular Predators of the group (and never all of them in one go) will scout the nearby surroundings. When one Predator spots an enemy - they consider enemies the same ones that the Giant Gasbag see as - all the scouts will let out a scream and retreat to where the group is located (p.s. where the Packleaders are and therefore their home). Quickly after, the entire group will rush to the location where you were seen; unless you get what's going on and run away, you'll suddenly have all the Predators just about to run onto you. Besides, they'll only be screaming when they get close. If the Predators don't find you, they'll go back home. If they find you but you're way too far from home, they'll go back too.
Predators, fighting-wise, are the same and still like to dodge a lot (slightly more realistically this time around, and they won't dodge into pits anymore). The Minigun will shine greatly against these monsters. Just don't let them get close or you'll be dead in seconds (mind you, they're able to put a fight against Titans of all things). These Predator's home point will be a mini cave located next to the Nexus' entrance.

In the map you'll find ammo of all sorts (nothing about the Rifle yet). Like in RTNP, Foundry is locked and you have to wait a Brute to come out, who isn't currently there. By the way, Foundry's entrance is heavily re-designed and now it feels like you're entering a massive industrial complex sticking out of the mountain; there's a lot of black smoke coming from beyond, which contributes to the ugly air around the location.
Your only option is to go to Aztec. The entrance seen from FHub5 has been redesigned into an underwater cave which goes much further in the direction of the mountain; it then follows with the same stairs chamber which is now filled of plants and vegetation (in dissonance with the rest of Nagomi) and the rotating room has got a complete visual redux with golden walls, sounds, effects, etc... (the rotation effect will "confuse" the player as something weird is happening, like if you're entering a new world).




Tezcatlipoca - Secret Ancient Ruins
MUSIC: Suspense.umx
Suspense.umx, which will be used in the level in the same way as in the UBeta, will get a light sound cleanup; this map should feel oldschool with a music that feels very oldschool. It will also get a more aggressive version as a second songsection for the boss fight at the end of the map.
Tezcatlipoca is named after the Aztec god of death. Since deities similar to Tonatiuh and Tezcatlipoca are represented in Ancient.utx, this is a legitimate choice for a rather dangerous place to be named after a death god.

This map, like Acerack/Tonatiuh, will be playable only once (the entrance mechanism is not reverted, so here's to that), with some of its areas becoming inaccessible at specific points throughout the level, so make sure you get everything you need here.

The desert canyon is just going to look really good -> based this time on South African canyons (something more on the lines of Blyde River one, with less vegetation). The lighting is still yellow-ish and the sky is clear aside few gray/brown clouds; the suns are still visible but the canyon goes overall deeper, so the illumination is darker and torches will have to do the job. There will be also orange fireflies.
There are some Flies around, while the river has fish schools (and a Tarydium Slith hiding in the waterfall lake). Gasbags will be in the cave so don't shoot.
However, things seem to go weird when you reach the lake, as you are attacked by two creatures that look exactly like the winged one seen before entering Morose. Yes, something that looks like dragons.

The Skaarj Hawks are the "flying" cousins of the Skaarj. They look like a cross between a dragon and a t-rex (like they were supposed to be - except with a model that's actually DECENT), they have enormous nails and teeth, a brown/yellow skin and a Skaarj-made helmet with some sort of glowing gold stone - a third eye connected to Skaarj's networks where the Skaarj themselves can direct these dragons' actions.
Skaarj Hawks are as big as Skaarj Berserkers, and do actions on fly or on land; they can dodge about as good as Skaarj do (at least in terms of reflexes, their dodge movements are kinda clunky), can dive while flying, can run while on land and can also jump if necessary. They aren't really that different compared to Skaarj in terms of movements/AI/fightingstyle.
They have 850 HP, have 25% resistance against Burned and Corroded damage, never really lose traces of their targets, their melee attacks deal 25 HP per hit, their flying dive deals 65 HP if it hits you (and that will be combined with the likely flamethrower attack). Their ranged attack is not flame, actually, it's toxic/acid substance; this was originally what they were intended to breath out in early development, not flames. Plus, this fits due to the regular Slith also being slime-based enemies, and cousins of the Skaarj at the same time.
Skaarj Hawks have two ranged attacks:
  • The "flamethrower" classic dragon attack style, a toxic cloud breath. This one is mostly used with their front dives, in which the Skaarj Hawk can try shooting it in the direction of the player. Generally preferred during flight than on land. It deals 12 HP every half-second and has a rather large radius, requiring dodges or jumps to avoid as running just doesn't cut it.
  • Acid saliva orbs that are quickly charged-up and shot, travelling a bit like mortars (but have insane range). Upon landing on any solid surface they create a toxic boiling puddle that will last for few seconds; if they land on regular liquids that isn't acid or lava, they'll make that part of the liquid surface harmful too. The full orb itself deals 40 HP and has splash damage, while the puddle deals 5 HP per second (10 HP on water surface) and heavily slows down the target. Skaarj Hawks use these on both land and air pretty frequently.
Ranged attacks don't slow flying Skaarj Hawks, while on land they'll be forced to walk-fire if they're running. The acid is yellow colored.
Melee-wise on ground, Skaarj Hawks like to run on enemies and constantly attack them with hand-claw slashes; their running speed is on par with the regular Skaarj and they suddenly become faster if they come closer to the target. They are also very resilient to being stunned.
Skaarj Hawks like to fly around their targets a lot and to change direction unpredictably; in general, they move very randomly similar to Mantas, and are able to outmaneuver every fly-based enemies in the game. To add more trouble in, they're never alone, always found with one or two companions. Considering the toxic puddles stay on the ground for quite a lot, it gets frustrating when three Skaarj Hawks decide to spam acid orbs all the fucking time.
Skaarj Hawks can swim at a rather fast speed but cannot shoot underwater, while instead they melee-attack with their t-rex-shaped head which deals 40 HP per bite; whenever it's possible, they get out of deep pools as fast as possible.
Skaarj Hawks instakill regular Mantas with a special animation and curbstomp fights against Giant Mantas and non-Giant Gasbags (multiple Hawks can still put up a fight against Giant Gasbags). They have also an all-unique sound set: whereas Slith sounds are reptilian-like, Pupae sounds are insect-like, Skaarj Hawk sounds are bird-like - they are supposedly the ones behind the Call3 sound (which is heard multiple times in the Resistance Lake and Nagomi Passage).
Skaarj Hawks are better to be dealt with fast weapons like the Minigun or the ASMD. Razorjack cannot decapitate them but instead it can do something different (and same with the Rifle): if you manage to hit the third eye and destroy it, the Skaarj Hawk will fall into a rage and will be constantly in attack mode, killing everything in sight including their companions (who will fight back). In terms of affinity with other enemies, Skaarj Hawks are like the Slith and will hate Nali on sight; Mantas and Gasbags hate them though - which is bad for them as they can't really do much against Skaarj Hawks (well you can use at least the Gasbags you encounter at the beginning of the map as some form of aid).
Story-wise, this is one of the few animal races that live in the Skaarj homeworld, and probably the most dangerous. Unlike the Slith, what you see of the Skaarj Hawk is what they really are - the only thing is that the Skaarj put these "mind helmet" on them in order to calm them down and to program their actions.

Regarding the temple entrance, the Hawks replace the Skaarj Scout and the dead Nali body (yeah not human, you won't find one until Bluff) will be shown to be melted instead of being gibbed in blood'n pieces. The stone doors are opened with a secret button found outside - from inside, there's nothing, so you'll be stuck in.
Around the lake there's an opening in the mountain that leads to a dead Nali with a Super Health.
This map overall will be massive in terms of details, including its own enormous entrance. There really isn't much to say, nowadays in gaming there are many great examples of temples and Unreal has to follow the standards; while the overall layout won't change, expect a lot of differences due to the reduxxed architecture. The one crucial thing to mention is that everything will be based on the UBeta version of Aztec, not the RTNP one.

Well, one thing that carries over from the RTNP version are the Spinners. Their models are changed to be more based on the Araknids from Unreal 2 and are overall bigger and have a more horrific appearance.
Spinners here don't have ranged attacks which is already a big change; besides, Skaarj Hawks have an improved version of the Spinners' ranged attacks, and you've just fought those things a while ago. Making up for this, Spinners are instead pure stealth assassins compared to the Pupae's rushdown tactics; they have 200 HP and their bites deal 30 HP (half the biting speed as they did in Unreal) and like the Pupae, they always position themselves out of sight in the darkness. When you get close to wherever they are, the Spinners jump down and quickly attack you; if you spot them, they'll shoot a web from their backs, flying directly in a far away spot and then retreat. This gets unnerving when many Spinners are around because if you try to catch one that's escaping, the others go in and hit you, rinse and repeat. A well-aimed Flak Cannon primary fire can destroy a Spinner, provided you anticipate their movements (they let out a sound when they're about to attack so that's your sign to do something - including dodging so you don't get caught). Spinners' positions are never randomly placed, so it's all about memorization. Don't bother chasing retreating Spinners as they're insanely fast travelling around with the spiderman-style web skill.
Spinners are always found in groups, alone from any other enemy (they don't like anyone, and they are pretty capable fighters), plus they're generally rare in the game.
Hit and run strategy is all they can do but until you figure their gameplay out, they'll be definitely threatening. For sure one of the enemies that eventually get easier as you more play the game.

Tezcatlipoca's traps will remain the same, with the ones from the UBeta made better (you'll see the Skaarj Berserker pushing down the large broken pillar, the room with all the platforms have the platforms themselves moving and more). The rest of the changes are all logical-related and aren't worth the time describing them.
You'll find the same enemies but in lesser quantities compared to the original Unreal versions - regular Krall and Krall Elites, Skaarj Scouts and Warriors and Berserkers, Devilfish, Tarydium Slith, more Spinners, Tentacles and Lesser Brutes. Large group of items are kept in certain boxes that Skaarj brought over in certain locations of the level, otherwise you may find a Seed.

The boss battle, together with Suspense.umx's new action songsection, will pit you even here against a Titan and a Giant Gasbag, on any difficulty. The latter doesn't move around that much while the Titan does; what you may notice is that they never attack each other when normally they should - this is a unique case and through a message you read in this map you'll know that these two tamed creatures have been together for so many years to the point that all the hate is settled.
Razorjack beats the Giant Gasbag, GES BioRifle (if you got it from Morose, though) beats the Titan. A rather difficult fight where you have to use the (very large) environment a lot, including the great pillars around the area.

The pyramid event, re-designed to a more shocking/surprise degree, now gives you instead of the DP Powerup an item called the Artifact. This item is inspired after the mind-controlling weapon that Unreal PSX was going to have: upon activation, the screen will weirdly zoom-in (with an overlay of sort) for a while and then goes back to normal as if nothing happened. If this happens when you are aiming at a creature who is minding its own business (e.g. NOT ATTACKING ANYONE), the Artifact will let you take control of its mind permanently, until you decide to turn the thing off with the item action button or you do something that causes your creature to be killed.
When you control a creature, your actions are limited to only walking, running, crawling, jumping and pressing buttons. This Artifact created by ancient Nali requires a strong mindpower that humans don't have. A creature that has been mind-controlled won't remember anything; in any other case they'll get angry and roam around for a while.
Artifact is an infinite item but one successful mind-control action uses the entire item charge, and it takes a while for the thing to recharge (over one minute). It's a curious tool that lets you play around with the creatures, like getting them out of their patrol routes so you can sneak in their territory or even better, moving a Skaarj Berserker next to any other creature and then turn off the Artifact in order to trigger automatically a fight.
Mind-controlled enemies cannot access another location/level (you lose control) but otherwise the range within a level is infinite; you cannot use the item while swimming, you are completely vulnerable while using the item so mind where you use it, can't use it against enemies that are in "attack" mode. It doesn't work on bosses, mechanical units, flying creatures, flock pawns and Nali. The item itself is shaped like a green and golden talisman egg. You have a Skaarj Berserker right in the next room after the pyramid one - you can control him to go in the final area of the level which has some Spinners. Turn off the thing and most likely by the time you reach him all the Spinners will be dead, and you can finish the Skaarj off.

Tezcatlipoca's exit can only be opened from inside, of course. BACK TO NAGOMI PASSAGE.

Now, in Nagomi Passage, three Skaarj Berserkers will be patrolling various pathways of the location. You can either fight all of them, use Invisibility to sneak to Foundry, or mind-control one to fight another Skaarj Berserker.
Any monster that were in Nagomi before you went to Tezcatlipoca are no more, except the Predator group (very easily that a Berserker will meet them - or you can let him meet them, assuming you didn't kill the Predators already).

Foundry's gate is now open and the Brute is waiting outside. Kill him, or let him fall in the lake below through mind-control - probably the only case here where you see a Brute drowning, and this time it's fast, together with new animations.

Now you can enter Foundry. If you enter it, you can go back to Nagomi anytime.
From Nagomi instead, you can also go back to Morose and therefore Resistance Lake. Tezcatlipoca cannot be accessed anymore... and Nexus?
Nexus entrance appears different this time; it's something like from Diablo 1 - a structure of crypt bricks and large bones that go very far underground, in the direction of the Resistance Lake (much further than it ever did compared to the original Unreal). The indoor entrance is also different and fully open, however descending in this dark tunnel with unpleasant sounds and red torches, will end up with a large locked door that requires some sort of key; Newmca16.umx also stops when you're inside this thing. The game doesn't hint you anything and it doesn't seem like you can enter the place. So it's for later.

Foundry here we come.

-Vandora has been renamed to "Vandora - Nali Sky Goddess Temple" for consistency purposes. ID lists updated.

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