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Boba Fett: Assassination on Nar Shaddaa (* * * * *)

 
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Matt H
Dark Trooper Phase 1

Joined: 24 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Apr 17, 2004 18:43    Post subject: Boba Fett: Assassination on Nar Shaddaa (* * * * *) View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

Boba Fett: Assassination on Nar Shaddaa by Barry Brien (* * * * *)

Hall of Fame

DOWNLOAD
Barry Brien wrote:
Finally after many false starts and rooster-ups it's here.


Geoffrey Simpson wrote:
Four stars? Good grief, this is easily HoF material. Beautiful architecture, excellent plot, many new files, and great INF used for tiny details that in other levels was a main feature (the ladder).
And the false starts and rooster-ups don't count. I hope my nitpicking helped a bit!

------------------
Incredible! One of the worst performances of my career and they never doubted it for a second. -Ferris Bueller


Jackson wrote:
Actually, playing through it again, I'm realizing my mistake in leaving it as 4 (Death) Stars... AoNS deserves to be up there with the likes of Star's End, TIE Defender and Kurek.

...and, if you check the front page and the Missions A-L section, it is!


Ceryn wrote:
Oi...
well, I dunno if for me this is a 5 D-star level, but it certainly is unique. And damn if the author didn't push the engine to the limit here. He did a LOT of things that should have been outright impossible.
Anyway, I figgure I'll toss my 2k into the lot, and see how much this dregs up.

This is certainly not one of the easist levels out there, even on easy mode.
Whenever you see the name Nar Shadda in a level, expect to have to watch out for long arse drops. I'll tell you though, when they say arcitecture is good, they ain't just whistlin dixie buster. This thing is more remincent of the Nar Shadda from JK, then from the original Dark Forces. The envirnment is as much your enemy as the guys takeing pot shots at you. Are you SURE you saw everything? Go back once more and look down that alleyway. Maybe you missed something.
I swear, there was so much, I had to turn on LACDS to make sure I was going everywhere I needed to.
Ok, impressions of it? well, here's good and bad things as I can remember.
Goodstuff: Doing 'impossible' things like the angeled panels, that was impressive. Just little details like that make things interesting. Only bitch is, the DF engine doesn't like 3dos, so when you get close, they start to warp. Go fig.
Use of credits for stuff, and actually getting said stuff, and keeping people from just jumping over the counter and getting stuff. THAT was innovative. Only thing is, I'm trying to figure out how to keep track of how much you have. usually I only use credits for the repeater, and for revive. The first time I accidently bought a bunch of power cells I really didn't need.
Another nifty thing was use of walking civilians. And not just whiney ones like in JK and MotS. To bad you can't mug anyone for cash.
Oh yeah, the holo-Jabba was a nifty addition. Only problem was I kept missing it, and couldn't figure out where he was talking from. Maybe next time, lock the room untill transmission is complete, and darken room, and lighten holo for the duration of message?

There was almost a non linear feel to this level, but you do have to get certain things in a certain order... somewhat...
But I sorta cheated on the imperial section, where you need passkey, I just went through the series of codes, and found the RRX code, and just remembered it from thereon. Also, for some reason, maybe I got lucky, but I didn't have a problem getting the red key from the imps after blasting them. I did notice I was haveing problems with getting the game to work after the first time, so I deleted the entire Dark dir, and reinstalled it all, and put assasination back in, and it worked fine. I might suggest that to others who are haveing problems with that, it seems a few to many gobs have worked thier magic on the files there to the point that the engine just gave up.
In all, there's tons of places to go, and some places you should just avoid cause you'll get shot up in. One thing that bugged me, was the various doors that were locked. I actually kept checking with LACDS to make sure they were dead ends, and not something that I may need to go back to or whatever.
Another point that bugged the heck out of me, was a side room area that had some extra shielding in. The problem with this location was you had to jump down, go into the room, get the shields, and jump back up. Problem was, I apparently couldn't jump high or far enough, and kept getting killed. what really bugged me then was I kept reappearing back at the platform, and ended up looseing that game. I basicly chalked it up as a trap, and avoided it from then on. If there's a way to get the shielding without looseing life, someone let me know.
Another problem I was haveing, and this one was more critical, was the room in the upper level that had the two grenade throwing guys, that connected to the treatment section. This part bugged me because except for one spot, there doesn't seem to be any way to jump up to the other holes. I had to use the pogo trick to get there. Again, if anyone knows the proper way to deal with that, post it, please. The final bits you need to watch out cause there's lots of wall guns. The end 'boss' battle drove me nuts because being so low on lives and health, and the first time, I missed the elevator, and was stuck and had to reset and play it all over again.

IN all, for me, I gave this one a 3+1/2, to 4 D-stars, but that's cause of various problems I had. It's still worth the play and DL time. This level had so much stuff to it, it felt more like a JK, or MotS level then a DF level.


DarthDoctor wrote:
I disagree. Although I have not finished it, I plan to. But...

The storage area with two grans: This isn't all that bad. Crouch down in the doorway, bring up the concussion rifle, and let 'er rip! Then, look carefully around the room. Maybe it's just I was so close to having Priga boxed up that I was so pushy...

Alas, it is crashy. But I just really like the atmosphere. One thing that leads to this is locked doors and parts of the level you must not go into. Consider: Where were all the spaceports? How about the Imperial armories? And the planetary shield? Doors that you can't use are great, because they tell you, "hey, you're in a city. Explore, but don't deaviate too much"

I really like the credit based system. Basically, I buy a repeater and some more stuff, and burn myself out, knowing preciesly where to get more.

Out of ten: 9.9 (Fix the crashes, Barry)

------------------
"Goin' out west where the alligators fight;
They duel all day and they duel all nite;
Afterwards it's all all right;
Out where the alligators fight."

Charles Rigby


Geoffrey Simpson wrote:
The enemy placement is fine. A bit much, possibly, but if you keep strafing from behind corners you can easily mow down even the biggest groups if you couple that with some well-timed grenades.

------------------
Incredible! One of the worst performances of my career and they never doubted it for a second. -Ferris Bueller


Barry Brien wrote:
Ceryn, I think some of your criticisms are unfair. The thing you are talking about with the shields and having to jump back up to the platform - I can do this fine on my machine, there's no trick to it, just timing.
The locked doors are there for a reason, I didn't want to build the entire city, and it's not like every door is going to be open to you any way. Think about real life, do you walk around opening any door you feel like. There are no holes in this level. The crate area has a puzzle element that really seems to stump a lot of people. It's really very simple. Read what the good Doctor said, and if you still can't figure it out, play some tomb raider.
The difficulty setting is attuned to my df skill. Hard is exactly that, hard. It's supposed to be. I can finish it on hard wihtout cheats, so there you go, it's not impossible. If people consider it too hard, go play it on medium, it's not a fair criticism that the level is tough on the hard difficulty setting.

As for the crashes, I dunno what to do, maybe release some sort of patch.


Ceryn wrote:
OI...
sorry if I offended. Didn't mean to.
I'm just stateing my impressions on this. It's certainly one of the better levels out there. Not my fav, but one of the better ones. The tricks here are innovateive.
Makes me wish Lucasarts had at some point or another, later versions of DF, and not just the Direct X, jedi k'nigit.
As far as trying for locked rooms, I only did that after I hit the third try on this, simply because I was wondering if doing something, or going somewhere would trigger one of the doors to open, or a key gotten later on would open a room of suprises.
I did find the extra life because of that, and it was VERY needed.
Mainly this is something I've gotten into a habit of doing just so I can get a 100% secrets taken care of. Sort of a holdover from the Doom days.
That reminds me though, something I noticed, when CDS is on, there's all the extra goodies in little trangle slots just out of reach. Is this where these places store those goods?
Still, I will admit, I'm haveing to go over it again JUST to finish it, and finish it GOOD.

Oi, maybe I just better shut up before I really start pissing off the dark troopers around here.


Barry Brien wrote:
Ah Ceryn, you didn't offend me, you're entitled to your opinion and I'm not going to deny you that. I was just defending my level.
First of all, there are a good few extra lives and other secrets scattered around the place, of course, they are hard to find, but that's the fun.
The triangular rooms with goodies are dummy sectors that contain the good you buy in the shops. You can't enter these sectors.


Ceryn wrote:
Nods
That's what I figgured.
In any case, I went through again, and did it with NO cheats, on hard, with various advice given.
Yep, I got those extra shielding, found all extra lives (3 of them total that I could find), and actually ended up with 150 credits total near the end of the level.
Interestingly enough, one of the hardest things is to shoot the airgun wielding robot that's hideing behind the shops, WITHOUT him dropping his damn gun umpteen million stories down the shafts there. (nononoNO! don't drop it... you MORON!)
I'd have to agree with others that the creative use of sounds makes the difference as well.

One final thing, yeah, I got through near to the end, made it to priggy's throneroom, tossed a bunch of grenades down the sides before entering so to soften the piggys up,
I like his defiant "You can't outsmart me Fett"
'because I'm to stupid!'

But one thing, I would have to agree with everyone else, and this has been happening a lot, right as I'm at the end, the damn thing keeps crashing out on me. I've gotten as far as the spaceport thing, but no further.
Is the current version that's on the FTP the fixed version?


Barry Brien wrote:
No! The final version is the one available here.


.


Last edited by Matt H on Apr 18, 2004 16:10; edited 1 time in total

Matt H
Dark Trooper Phase 1

Joined: 24 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Apr 17, 2004 18:43    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

Patrick Haslow wrote:
I also love this. I got over the difficulty-after reflecting, I realized that there were actually LEC levels as hard, I.E. Sewers was a bitch!

My only complaint is that this level is too long. I guess I only have a limited attention span, but there are 2.5 LEC levels worth of stuff here- not counting Arc Hammer of course.


Barry Brien wrote:
It is a bit large, but I wanted to put across a city feel, I wanted it to be huge. Next one will be smaller, I promise.


Ceryn wrote:
So how large is to large?
I liked this, as it gave us plenty to do.

I mean, consider the original LEC levels, most of them had several sections you had to go through to get to the final objective.
Not counting secbase, which was incredibly short, but for just starting out, it was perfect.

Say... the mountain level.
You have the mountainous area, with a few hidden spots. Then you have the vent as the way to get in, then the insides of the base, which seemed to have around... 3 or 4 distinct sections.
Sewers was a bitch cause you had to go over certain areas over and over and OVER again to get to the inner santum. That and kill I dunno HOW many Diagnas...
Basicly... from what I can tell, doing a level is not unlike plotting out a movie.
(without opening credits...hopefully)
You can, and probably should have semi boreing area at the begining, something interesting soon after, something intregeing, then the puzzles, something interesting, maybe a puzzle with something interesting, some action, (heavy action), at which point you need to start speeding along, as people by this point will be wanting to finish and move onto something else. So it's best to get the wiz bang stuff going with not long after.
Big battle, then the conclusion, followed by (possibly) a hint of a sequel.

OOooof course there's allways the independant artsy films section, or
the DF eqivalant of blair witch
(I.E. Imperial Mines. eeesh, and I thought people were jokeing with that one... It's so bad, it made coober look like ironfort. Definitly worth some sort of infamous award).
[shot of stormtrooper helmet, only the top of it
trooper:kssst TK821 to base, we're lost, it's dark, and we ran out of batteries...]


Jackson wrote:
Ceryn wrote:
Imperial Mines. eeesh, and I thought people were jokeing with that one... It's so bad, it made coober look like ironfort. Definitly worth some sort of infamous award


Indeed!

------------------
The "mastermind" behind Armed & Dangerous,
one of [/url]!


Barry Brien wrote:
Which reminds me...
I asked Paul before the changeover, but with everything else happening at the time he must have forgotten, so I'll ask you.
I forgot my password for uploading to xxii.df-21.org. I have loads of updates for the site, so do you think you could mail me with the password Jackson? Cheers.


Jackson wrote:
Barry Brien wrote:
I forgot my password for uploading to xxii.df-21.org. I have loads of updates for the site, so do you think you could mail me with the password Jackson? Cheers.


Wow... I just noticed this!
I believe Fenwar still has all the passwords for the DF-21.org-hosted sites; if you're still having trouble, you may want to contact him.

Wow! I'm sorry for this really ridiculous delay!



Patrick Haslow wrote:
P.S. I hate this damn levvel!


Barry Brien wrote:
up yours!


Darth Oosha wrote:
yeah, up with dt-iii already!


Jackson wrote:
Well THAT was certainly unexpected!


Barry Brien wrote:
Ok I've just started work on AoNS Special Edition. It won't me as much a sepcial edition as a non-buggy edition.
I'm gonna fix up a few bugs, and errors, and things that were just bugging me.
I remember the fiasco that happened the first time I released this level, and I'm hopefully gonna avoid that this time.
I may change the end a bit also.
I'm open to suggestions from anybody. Should I make it smaller, easier etc. Is there anything I should get rid of, or is there anything that some feel was left out?
Thanks.


DarthDoctor wrote:
My only complaint was that at one of the ammo stores, ran out of TDs before I ran out of credits.

------------------
'Why do I need *your* help?! *I'm* the one with the gun...'
--Parker, Red Faction

'What are you waitin' for? A one-liner?'
--"Serious" Sam


Barry Brien wrote:
Really? Well I'll have to order in some more Smile


Matt H wrote:
I'm thinking some cutscenes might be nice. (More than just the textcrawl and credits.) Smile

[Message edited by Matt H on March 12, 2003]


Fenwar wrote:
The crash when you shoot Priga: dodgy 3DO? Dodgy VUE?

It didn't happen for me on the test versions of the level when that [url=http://df-21.net/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000846-2.html]bizarre map bug
was happening; however it did in the "final" version (I couldn't be bothered mentioning it at that time, as others already had Wink - but if you're fixing stuff, thought I'd make sure that one got raised again Smile )


Geoffrey Simpson wrote:
Cutscenes would certainly be nice. And it'd be good if the ending was revised a bit, so the player doesn't have to backtrack through such a large area devoid of enemies. There was the climax, and then a couple of minutes before you got back to your ship. It didn't feel quite right.


James Milne wrote:
YARG!!! Level won't load completely! Even when I increase the memory (A lot by the way. Over 200000k)!


Jeff 42 wrote:
I've never gotten very far into this mission because it always crashes. Sad


jackyfrost wrote:
Textured Slave I is a must for the SE.


James Milne wrote:
Hey! What about me? But before I event think of tampering with the memory output or DF once more, is it even worth playing?


Tom Manning wrote:
Uh, Yes?!

------------------
Tom Manning
"No one asks to be a hero, sometimes it just turns out that way."
Sergeant Eversmen: Black Hawk Down


Taylor Carr wrote:
Wow, this has never crashed once for me and I've played it atleast three times already. I think the best solution for those of you who it does crash on is... get a competent computer!

---------------
"Apes" he said with that demented look on his face. "No, monkeys" she replied with
the beast ripping at her hair.


James Milne wrote:
::Leaps with joy to see the Slave 1 take off::

Ha Ha Ha!!! I got it to work and it is really cool! Great job, Barry (even though I'm stuck in an area)!


James Milne wrote:
OK.....anyone want to tell me how to open the stupid code door (and I did get the code key)?


DarthDoctor wrote:
Press F1 for your inventory screen.

Look at the symbols on the code.

Nudge the sysmbols by the door until they match the code key.


James Milne wrote:
Uh....I already knew that. But the door didn't open.


DarthDoctor wrote:
Sounds like you're just being an Eloni.


Barry Brien wrote:
Hmmm that's rather odd. Did you use the code X A A?


James Milne wrote:
Uhh... no. The code came up as the default. Maybe that was what the problem was.

Hey Darth Doctor....What in hells name is an Eloni?


Barry Brien wrote:
Make sure you don't have any lfd files in your dark dir apart from assassin.lfd.


Tom Manning wrote:
Ahh, those pesky false LFDs...

------------------
Tom Manning
"No one asks to be a hero, sometimes it just turns out that way."
Sergeant Eversmen: Black Hawk Down


.

Matt H
Dark Trooper Phase 1

Joined: 24 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Apr 17, 2004 18:47    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

James Milne wrote:
Oops. I should probably download that again 'cause I could never get them to work anyway.

But the door still didn't work. Just so you know.


Barry Brien wrote:
I'll have to take a look at it.


James Milne wrote:
It could just be a glitch that occured when I downloaded it, or maybe I'm just stupid and doing it wrong. I can get there with a combination of the height check toggle and invincibility to get passed it (Turning it off afterward of course Smile ). But it's kind of annoying anyway. The same thing happened to me in the level Stars End and that code didn't work either.


Barry Brien wrote:
Oops sorry, the code is actually R, R, Delta.
That should work.


Tom Manning wrote:
Yeah the code in Stars End never worked for me, I never tried to redownload it though. In the end I just used LANTFH to get past it.


Speaking of not working, I tired downloading Assassinate Darth Vader several times and it never worked!

------------------
Tom Manning
"No one asks to be a hero, sometimes it just turns out that way."
Sergeant Eversmen: Black Hawk Down


James Milne wrote:
If you're a mac user like me, It doesn't work Period. I know, it's really stupid and I wanted to play it, but the read me said it was impossible for mac users for some reason. Maybe you should give them a buzz to see if they can't solve that.

::Looks to Barry::

Oh, that was the code? Okay, I'll try that one then. Thanks.


Geoffrey Simpson wrote:
Rename assassin.lfd to dfbrief.lfd and the code will work. I'm a mac user, too, and I've never had that problem.
Assassinate Darth Vader does work on a mac, you just have to mess around with jedi.lvl.

------------------
--I'm only wearing black until they make something darker.--


James Milne wrote:
Alright! the code worked this time. Excellent game full of special effects. I think it's better than Prelude to Harkov's Defection for a few reasons:

1: You get to play as bad boy Fett

2: There's a lot more side options(i.e. the shops)

3: Plenty of special effects to add to the eye candy.

This is definately my favorite next to DaI. Excellent job, Barry! old skool grin


Barry Brien wrote:
Why thank you! And it didn't crash?
Smile Smile Smile Smile

old skool grin old skool grin old skool grin Surprised


James Milne wrote:
Not so far. I haven't finished yet. But it's good anyway. old skool grin

By the way, how were you able to make those bright red sector ambiences?


Barry Brien wrote:
By ripping off Condition Red :)By using pacmut, but you could also use cmped to do it (and it'd be much easier).

I opened op AoNS today and it's still crashing for me, though I was able to get rid of a few bugs. I'll release a patch soon, and then maybe an SE (I'm not sure if I want to do an SE any more, I'd rather concentrate on other levels for the moment).


James Milne wrote:
You have bugs? Mine works just fine. Oh and just to remind you, I'm a MAC user. But I'll figure out how to do it at some point or another.


Barry Brien wrote:
I didn't have any when I released it, but now I'm noticing a few here and there. I'll get 'em.


James Milne wrote:
Are you talking about HOM's? I did find a couple, but I din't really care about it that much. It makes it look like Boba's on drugs old skool grin.

That was just a joke. I still fully enjoy it.


Barry Brien wrote:
There are a few HOMS. Why did I leave them in?
No, I'm talking about a few instances where the level just crashes. It happens sometimes up in the Imperial watchtower and sometimes down on the lowest residential level, though I'm sure there are many more I haven't found yet.


James Milne wrote:
Oh, wait. I'm thinking of Prelude to Harkov's Defection. No, there weren't any HOM's in yours. An I just realized that there is a bug because after I killed some idiot with a blaster, a message came up saying there was too much on stack or something and that it lied on wall blah blah blah. But that's only happened to me on hard.


Barry Brien wrote:
There is the occasional HOM, but I'm glad you didn't see any Smile


Jeff 42 wrote:
I spent quite a bit of time playing this level yesterday, and was quite impressed with what I saw, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't be completing the level until a new version comes out due to the frequent crashing. The farthest I ever made it was to the front entrance of the Hutt's stronghold; it crashed shortly after. I've tried the level on two different computers and experienced crashes on both.


James Milne wrote:
I've only found it to crash on hard.


James Milne wrote:
old skool grin old skool grin old skool grin

Finally beat the level! This should definitely be in the hall of fame (although I already voted for Beyond Glory 2).

Doesn't hurt to vote again though Smile


Tom Manning wrote:
James Milne wrote:
Doesn't hurt to vote again though Smile



I tried that once, no one was very happy. old skool grin

------------------
Tom Manning
"No one asks to be a hero, sometimes it just turns out that way."
Sergeant Eversmen: Black Hawk Down


Barry Brien wrote:
Yeah, that was pretty funny.


James Milne wrote:
Damn, should have waited a little longer to vote. When do the poles close?

If Beyond Glory 2 wins (an I doubt it will after playing this level) by one vote, that's not me.

I still stand by this one.


Barry Brien wrote:
Thank for saying so James, but something tells me BG2 will win. I'd be pissed off if asteroid won though.

[Message edited by Barry Brien on May 19, 2003]


James Milne wrote:
True. Beyond Glory 2 was pretty good. I still play it over and over again, savoring the incredibly good GMD (Wish there was a fight GMD though because the stalk GMD just went on and on). I also loved the coloring and design, especially the the laser cannon rooms. But I must admit, That doctor dude was kind of a wuss.

Now. What I liked about your level, Barry, is that like I said before, you get to PLAY as Boba Fett and not get tired over the countless levels where you have to beat him again and again. I also liked the fact that you could buy things from shield to revives. The ramps and slanted wall 3DO's were a great touch too. So when you say Beyond Glory 2 is going to win, Be in for a close tie or close win. They're both great.


Barry Brien wrote:
Funnily enough I thought that the music in BG2 really brough it down. I didn't like the music itself, and the fact that it was in no way Star Wars-like kinda affected the level in a bad way, also though the level was brilliantly designed, some of the bright colours really put me off.


James Milne wrote:
You know, coming to think of it, the music is kind of bad. It just gets annoying after a while, that's all.


James Milne wrote:
I think I liked it because it was different. It made me want to finish the mission faster because it had that sense of "Hurry up or die painfully" kind of feeling.

Or it could have been hurry up to stop the GMD old skool grin


Barry Brien wrote:
If I do release a Special Edition I'm going to either compose new music based around Fett's theme from ESB, or drastically alter the existing one.


James Milne wrote:
In my opinion, I think the GMD for your level worked out pretty well. It had a very brooding atmosphere like something should if you're going to do something evil old skool grin

I wouldn't change it


James Milne wrote:
HA! Told you it would win! old skool grin


Barry Brien wrote:
Dammit! Smile


Geoffrey Simpson wrote:
Congrats!

------------------
--I'm only wearing black until they make something darker.--


James Milne wrote:
old skool eek

:: Stares at Barry in utter amazement ::

Someones level gets into the hall of fame and they're not very proud about it? I'm amazed!

WHATS THE WORLD COMING TO!?


.

Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon

Joined: 28 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Apr 19, 2004 02:18    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Reply with quote

I mentioned a lot about how much I liked this level (See any post by me, James above). But now that time has passed and I've played AoNS enough times (although you can never play it enough Wink ) to write a full review.

For one, this level is way beyond awsome, and worthy of its position in the Hall of Fame, and this is mainly for the following reasons.

1. It's HUGE!

2. You PLAY as Boba Fett.

3. Architecture fit the atmosphere of Nar Shaddaa perfectly, even better than Prelude to Harkov's Defection in some respects.

4. The shopping system was an interesting touch.

5. It never seems to get boring or repetitive anywhere in the city.

6. The plot and story was interesting and built up throughout the level.

7. I got the feeling a few times that I was really in Nar Shaddaa, and that's a very interesting feeling.

I couldn't really find any fatal errors besides the occassional HOMs and little bugs that people fail to notice. However, there was one little thing that annoyed me, and that was the absence of the headlamp that would have been useful in some areas. But with its absence came authenticity because I'm sure Boba Fett didn't have a headlamp.

Excellent level on all boundries and one of my favorite levels to play. 9.99 out of 10

_________________
I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

Nottheking
Kell Dragon

Joined: 29 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Apr 19, 2004 17:51    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

Quite easily the most "Impressive" level, in my opinion, anyway. I'm scratching my head as to why I didn't make any posts on it earlier...

For arcitecture, it easily is the greatest DF level to be seen yet. Monstrous in size, it makes the thing feel like Nar Shaada. Playing as Boba Fett is also cool. Adding to it is the fact that ammo is so scarce in the first parts, a thing that I would have liked to see kept through the whole mission. Moving civilians is also a brilliant addition, as is the invisible, deadly "Poltergeist" that's on one of the landing platforms in the distance.Wink

Although the level doesn't contain all the spectacular, individual sights that were expected in previous great levels, it instead took those specialties, then made them commonplace. Instead of being a string of showcases, the whole thing is focused on being a level, and the special effects (ladders, malfunctioning doors, etc) were merely there to add to things, and by no means any real focus.

The only real problem I see with it is that it crashes at a certian point. Once I've entered Priga's ship, it will lcok up DF and crash before I finish and leave. It is for that reason alone I have not completed the level without cheating; I don't like spending 2-3 hours working through the level, only for it to crash near the end. However, even counting that, AoNS is an amazing level, and well worth the time to play through it, even if it crashes.

_________________
Wake up, George Lucas... The Matrix has you..


Last edited by Nottheking on Jul 12, 2004 04:29; edited 1 time in total

Barry Brien
Dark Trooper Phase 1

Joined: 26 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Apr 20, 2004 14:35    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Reply with quote

It's a nice level, but it's too buggy. The architecture is good, but the homming is really a pain in the arse. I can't believe I left it in.
It's something I've noticed only recently, but the vast majority of my df work seems to be city based. There's this, DTIV, Anchor Hed and The Rock 2. I just lurve building cities. What'll I build next? Maybe the definitive Cloud City level. Be watching this space in 2008!

Burning Gundam
Kell Dragon

Joined: 28 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Apr 21, 2004 00:56    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Reply with quote

You're saying that your own level is bad? Man you're harsh. But I guess it's the ol' saying.

"You are your biggest critic."

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Nottheking
Kell Dragon

Joined: 29 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Apr 21, 2004 17:30    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

I primarily presumed that the bugs were a result of pushing the engine a bit too hard... Most of the (aside from the one I mentioned) are fairly easy to ignore. After all, I don't think the Jedi engine was built to accurately portray Nar Shadda: Prelude to Harkov's Defection was also full of bugs, and the HOMing was much more noticable in there.

Perhaps one of the things that I give your level extra credit for is texturing. I have yet to notice a significant error in the texturing, either by selection or stitching. EVERY other level I've played has had errors that I could consider "glaring", especially DT II, where almost all of the ceiling textures are mis-aligned to some degree.

Of course, it was also the new elements that I liked: I like missions that don't give you your blaster pistol. It completely eliminates your headlight (whereas in Condition Red, you could still use it to drain your "Oxygen"). Plus, ammunition was so scarce, it actually had considerable value, and I found myself punching many enemies earlier in the level.

As for the settings, I like city-based levels more than the old-fassioned Imperial base. In fact, the second level in my series is a city... Although I only have the first section complete.

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Patrick Haslow
Trandoshan

Joined: 25 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Apr 23, 2004 04:16    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

Yeah, AoNS convinced me that I wanted Barry working on Coruscant for DTIV, since he and Matt are so keen on building a city and since I have no interest- Voila!

Nottheking
Kell Dragon

Joined: 29 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Apr 23, 2004 17:02    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

Patrick Haslow wrote:
Yeah, AoNS convinced me that I wanted Barry working on Coruscant for DTIV, since he and Matt are so keen on building a city and since I have no interest- Voila!


Too bad Coruscant had to be part VI... With Barry working on it, I estimate that it would be completed at least two months before Episode III... Wink

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Fish
Gamorrean

Joined: 29 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Jul 08, 2004 15:26    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

AoNS is a truly fantastic level. It's really long and interesting from beginning to the end.
I'd agree it is maybe too buggy; it used sometimes to crash on my computer, but it's the only weakness I could find.

It's not the Condition Red-type dynamic level that hardly lets you blink your eyes. It has many "sightseeing" areas as well as possibilities to just relax and go pick a sandwich in the kitchen, and such levels I mostly prefer.

This level is a modern evolution of a Mt.Kurek-style level. Stellar.

Finally, I guess girls like this level the most of all. Why? Because you can go shopping!

Fish
Gamorrean

Joined: 29 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Dec 13, 2005 13:18    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

I've played this level several times recently, and I think I found out when does it crash. It seems to happen near the beginning - after you go down with the elevator (that cool transparent one) and down there, behind the double sliding door, are several grans and a trandoshan.
The game seems to crash if one of the grans goes back and enters the hangar area - there where those pipes are and a speeder parks itself. Now, I didn't analyze everything so deep, but it always happened when the gran was roaming around that area; otherwise not.
Now, this was a nice bit of useless information, but in case there will be AoNS 1.1, here you go.

Nottheking
Kell Dragon

Joined: 29 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Jan 06, 2006 20:08    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

Fish wrote:
The game seems to crash if one of the grans goes back and enters the hangar area - there where those pipes are and a speeder parks itself. Now, I didn't analyze everything so deep, but it always happened when the gran was roaming around that area; otherwise not.
Now, this was a nice bit of useless information, but in case there will be AoNS 1.1, here you go.


Oddly enough, it never crashed at either point for me, (only on board Prigga's ship) but in the Speeder parking space, the game often considerably cut in framerate for me, for no odd reason. DF uses a portal-based rendering engine, so the arcitecture of sectors you can't see shouldn't matter at all when it comes to performance.

_________________
Wake up, George Lucas... The Matrix has you..

Barry Brien
Dark Trooper Phase 1

Joined: 26 Sep 2003

PostPosted: May 04, 2006 14:32    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Reply with quote

I think I might have found out what was causing the crashing. It was either excessive use of multiple logics, too many obejects for one level, or the gigantic kell dragon wax (over 1 mb!) that was in the gob but not even used in the level. I tested the new version on windows 98 and xp and it didn't crash for me so hopefully it won't crash for anybody else.

Nottheking
Kell Dragon

Joined: 29 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Sep 01, 2006 02:29    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

Barry Brien wrote:
I think I might have found out what was causing the crashing. It was either excessive use of multiple logics, too many obejects for one level, or the gigantic kell dragon wax (over 1 mb!) that was in the gob but not even used in the level. I tested the new version on windows 98 and xp and it didn't crash for me so hopefully it won't crash for anybody else.

Thanks, I'll have to check it out, and I'll let you know how it turns out for me...

_________________
Wake up, George Lucas... The Matrix has you..

dark tide
Dianoga

Joined: 31 Jan 2007

PostPosted: Feb 01, 2007 19:22    Post subject: nar shaddaar View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

i cant download the level nar shaddaar it says 404
not found.

Jackson
Dark Trooper Phase 2

Joined: 24 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Feb 01, 2007 20:28    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Reply with quote

My bad! I had it as "assassin15.zip" (to indicate version 1.5) on the FTP but all the links pointed to plain ol' "assassin.zip."

It's fixed now, though -- I'm sorry about that.
http://df-21.net/downloads/missions/assassin.zip

dark tide
Dianoga

Joined: 31 Jan 2007

PostPosted: Feb 01, 2007 21:02    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

thanks.

Nottheking
Kell Dragon

Joined: 29 Sep 2003

PostPosted: Aug 01, 2008 12:21    Post subject: View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote

Oh, and since I forgot to give this level a rating treatment...
  • Quality: 99%
  • Atmosphere: 100%
  • Innovation: 93%
  • Gameplay: 95%
  • OVERALL: 97% (A)


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Wake up, George Lucas... The Matrix has you..

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