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Fan Mission: Ulysses: Genesis by Sotha (2014/07/24)


Sotha

Rate Ulysses: Genesis  

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  1. 1. Gameplay: Enjoyment. Fun duration. Smooth flow, ect. Versus Bugs. Frustration, Boredom, framelag

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  2. 2. Appearance: Visual pleasure, lighting, visual style, deduct bad texturing etc.

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  3. 3. Story & Text: Story. Text. Briefing. Graphic storytelling

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EDIT: two small bugs I have found...

 

 

 

Hah! Those are real bugs. There is a typo on the door snd_opens and the bell thingy was indeed an alarm test entity. The idea was to make the victrolas and instruments frobable, so that they would produce a minor alarm sound, attracting enemies at close proximity. Sadly, I could not control the alarm intensity and radius well enough so I ditched the idea. The entitywork apparently remained.

 

 

 

I will not make a new release to fix those. If something critical comes out that really warrants and update, I'll fix these too.

Clipper

-The mapper's best friend.

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Completed! A real example of "little but tough FM": there's no need of a huge scale level to entertain! Thanks Sotha, as always ;)

Task is not so much to see what no one has yet seen but to think what nobody has yet thought about that which everybody see. - E.S.

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This is a fantastic FM through and through. Completed on Ulysses difficulty. The atmosphere, mood, and audio put this FM in my top 5 for sure.

 

The experienced mappers around here keep raising the bar and never cease to amaze me with what they put together. Hats off to you Sotha!

 

 

 

Wow, where to start... the initial feeling after the excellent briefing, starting in the cell and hearing about automatons was one of dread. The briefing was masterfully worded and inspired this feeling from the outset. Brilliant.

 

I looked up and saw the squarish outline of a vent above the fan and once I saw that I could stack the crates and table, off we went! I was hoping once I got up there that I could jam the plate in the fan or break it and...surprise!

 

The dank, dark, cell area and guard patrols forced the player to tense up having no idea where they were, what was going on, etc. THEN finding the room with body parts, cadavers, and holding tanks just furthered this intent and drove it home. The beginning of this mission was truly exceptional and relayed emotion to the player I've not felt since grayman's, "William Steele 2: Home again".

 

The audio in particular was obviously familiar to those of us that have played many of these FMs however it disappeared in to the ambiance and detailed scenes you created in a way that made me think while I was playing, "This is so atmospheric". A spectacle of spooky. This is an extremely good example of how a mapper can take a small area and not only make it interesting, but make it almost real to the player.

 

The detail with which you build and the placement of items around the rooms and audio cues are just superb in this FM. It really struck a chord with me.

 

The readables, objectives, guard patrols, outdoor area, architecture, superb lighting - everything fit together so completely that the story was front and center to the player and everything else facilitated it seamlessly and melted away in to reality.

 

Everything was just soo fleshed out that I could write a story about my play-through as the character. Really cool.

 

Not only that but once I got out of the cellar, and had to target these three guys with gas mines, regular mines, and fire arrows, the fun started! Big fun factor after those objectives were updated and really played off the words in the briefing and tied everything together.

 

If I had 1 wish for this FM it would be, that I could steal some art :P At least 1 painting in this lush mansion must be worth something! Let me steal it! I love stealing art! :) Its a bummer to check all the paintings and not be able to snag at least one of them.

 

The only (1) thing that initially put me off was mispronunciation of a few words in the briefing, the main one being the characters name, "Ulysses". One would think this name is so well known around the world that this would be impossible. At least I did, and when I heard the name read aloud, I was like, wha? I don't know if the briefing was added at the end and not listened to by the beta testers but its the only ding in the armor of this really superb FM and gave it an amateurish feel right from the start. That is, until the player spawned. After that it was an amazing experience.

 

I'm not trying to be harsh to the voice actor here either, as I absolutely love the voice work he has done so far for the mod! Practice makes permanent and building is an iterative process. I make more mistakes than anyone I know and I appreciate when people shed light on things that I can do better so that I may elevate my own skill sets. I'm only extending that courtesy, so please don't take this the wrong way. I don't always present my words correctly either.

 

I absolutely loved this FM!

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Sotha!

Edited by Lux
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This mission did a good job of making me feel vulnerable and powerful.

At first, it was very intense to sneak around the automatons while I was unarmed. After I got a sword, I felt like a predator hunting my prey, but I still had to be careful since the building was brimming with life. I really liked the combinatin of a dark and creepy laboratory downstairs, and a fancy manor upstairs. It was nice to have an outdoor area too. Killing each target gave me satisfaction, since they were scum involved in human experimentation! The mission may have been smaller than I had hoped, but there was some good fun packed into it.

 

 

Thanks for this great mission Sotha :laugh:

Edited by SirGen
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I'm still only half way through -- been distracted by working on animated LOD today -- but I had to share a screenshot. This mission is a wonderful advert for your modular building technique. Just look at this quality and detail! It's not often that the walls in a map upstage the models, but they sure do in this mansion. Now I'm heading back in to assassinate my surviving targets :ph34r:

 

post-29566-0-20665800-1406432249_thumb.jpg

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Bikerdude asked for some screenshots from the mission for the webpage. Could someone take some on my behalf? Thanks!

 

I've added screenshots to the ingame downloader. :)

I've emailed Biker the images as well.

 

Thanks for another awesome mission!

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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Just starting this mission, it's looking very good, but I'm currently up against one of the most annoying features of the game engine.

 

 

It's pretty obvious what to do to get out of the cell, but how becomes an endless chain of frustration. Tell me if I've missed something. There are are three things to stack (two blocks and a table), and I'm nearly high enough to get out through the fan vent (after disposing of the fan) ... but I just can't do the jump. I tried stacking on the bed, but that takes me to the wrong side of the hole, so I have to jump from the middle of the room, and I'm jumping and jumping and jumping.

 

I have to say this one detail is really spoiling it for me. TDM has a lot of places where jumps are very borderline, and this seems to be one for me.

 

Ok, finally found the sweet spot, and the game just mantled me up. Crap.

 

I can see how it works, a millimetre to one side and you're bounced one way, a millimetre the other side, and you're bounced the other, but I didn't enjoy the search. Anyhow, onward!

 

 

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This is the antithesis of a stealth mission! Can't see any way to avoid a major commotion after my second hit ... pity, I was doing so nicely up to then. This is an excellent mission, and full of surprises and nice little details. Will see if I can do better later on in the week...

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Just starting this mission, it's looking very good, but I'm currently up against one of the most annoying features of the game engine.

 

Must admit that getting out of the cell took me a few tries too, but only till I figured out what I was doing wrong.

 

Detailed spoiler:

 

 

It's not hard to do the jump repeatedly once you figure out that you can stack the objects askew, leaning-tower-of-pisa style. Make a stack from the edge of the bed but leaning towards the centre of the room so that you have a clear view of the passage before you jump. Then the jump itself doesn't need much accuracy.

 

 

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[sarcasm Mode] Stealth is fairly easy - Ha Ha - [End sarcasm mode]

 

I carried the unconscious nobleman down to the laboratory and killed him there and gassed the captain and did the same with him then dropped a mine onto him and retreated rapidly

 

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Must admit that getting out of the cell took me a few tries too, but only till I figured out what I was doing wrong.

 

Detailed spoiler:

 

 

It's not hard to do the jump repeatedly once you figure out that you can stack the objects askew, leaning-tower-of-pisa style. Make a stack from the edge of the bed but leaning towards the centre of the room so that you have a clear view of the passage before you jump. Then the jump itself doesn't need much accuracy.

 

 

 

Detailed spoiler:

 

 

Haha, I would've thought they'd fall over! When I got to the top I didn't think I could make it but I tried and did (knock on wood) so I think Sotha thought about this and extended a lip or something a bit downward to allow the player to grab. I don't know but it seemed out of reach but wasn't just with the boxes on the floor. Nice ingenuity though for sure.

 

 

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I had a rather "interesting" approach of solving the first part. Playing on highest difficulty/hardcore, I put the crates on top of each other, put out the light and jumped on the metal part of the candle thingy. This created enough noise for the guard to come to the cell, open the door with the lever and take a look in. I hid behind the crates so the red light won´t detect me, waited for the alarmed guards to relax and then rushed out of the cell, to the room with the key, jumped on the big metal object next to the desk and waited in the dark for another short period of time for the guards to relax. Not how its meant to be, but rather tense and funny, I guess. :)

Edited by Cookie
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How do I set the mines? When I drop them the characters can dance all over them and nothing happens, and I couldn't find any way other than R to drop a mine -- neither left or right click did anything. Am sure I've used a mine once in a previous mission, but as I prefer to ghost it's not my style normally.

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Mines work the same way as flashbombs, select them in your inventory, and press the Use button, for me that's mouse 4. (I think the default is the Enter key).

What will happen is the mine will drop to your feet then activate.

Like the flashbomb, the longer you hold down the Use button, you will throw the flashbomb away.

I always assumed I'd taste like boot leather.

 

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Yep, if you're using the "drop inventory" key to place the mines, they will not be armed. They will not go off even if you dance the Macarena on them. "Use them" like you would use the lantern, or your lockpicks, or the health potion for them to be armed.

Edited by lost_soul

--- War does not decide who is right, war decides who is left.

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Really enjoyed this one, thanks Sotha, getting out of the cell was a real headscratcher, played on assassin as I really don't like restrictions on KO's

 

Only hiccup I found was this

 

I accidentally woke the lady of the house while rifling her bedside table, she got out of bed and fell through the floor, not sure where she went but she kept shouting for the guards

 

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I accidentally woke the lady of the house while rifling her bedside table, she got out of bed and fell through the floor, not sure where she went but she kept shouting for the guards

 

 

Hahaha!

 

I love when random things like this happen in TDM, it helps spice things up a bit

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I also had someone fall through the floor, downstairs, somebody dressed in heavy shielding and a face mask (he was sleeping in it!) Got out of bed to turn the record player on shortly after I entered the room and fell through the floor. Curously, he could still see me and got quite exercised about it, so I reloaded and the next time he walked around normally.

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Wow, just finished the mission and all I can say is THANK YOU Sotha! The intro made me feel uneasy already, but then the noises and finally seeing these... things with the red light! I was so surprised and terrified I almost forgot to hide. The whole mission was fascinating (though the backyard was a bit easy to cross, but maybe I was just lucky) and I found myself saving the game so often, sometimes I did not even move in between... Excellent, convincing story, good characters and a challenging architecture! Can't wait for Ulysses 2...

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After trying that new and shiny game they call "Thief", i really enjoyed playing the real thing again. This mission is not a consolified shadow of the past like what Square Enix and Eidos came up with. It truly extended my Darkmod experience again.

 

 

For them, who may find it hard to find places for stashing unconcious/dead people: First, secure the lab. Then clean the captain's room, knock out the steamworker and proceed to the first floor. There, be patient. Always wait by the entrance in the first room until someone enters through one of the three doors. Then knock em down, carry the body all the way down and store it in the lab. If for some long time no one dares to enter, search for prey in adjacent rooms.

If the captain enters, quickly drop a gas mine in his path (he will go straight towards the window), but far enough from the door to not interrupt his open/close routine, and wait for him to kiss the floor...

 

I had no problems past the lab. In the lab, it was quite hard to get the timing and mine throwing distances right, though.

I also experienced one (non-repeatable) safegame corruption and some lockups when dropping bodies in the lab in tight corridors.

 

And i also vote for stealable paintings!11

 

 

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