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[Jackson]

Cloudspear: Part I - The Ghosts of Takyr by Kevin Buscemi (* * * * *)

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[Jackson]

[Fish]

The Restore default settings switch does have a purpose, because without it one might get jammed, that is not be able to finish the level if you did the puzzle sequence wrong in a certain case (happened to me once).

I can't say I'm disappointed with the level as Nottheking did, although I do admit there are one or two things that could be better. But I still think that the level is generally well done. Especially I give compliments for some cleverly hidden secrets and logical architecture. And, this is one of the levels that has used dianogas well.

[Burning Gundam]

Meh, I agree. Cloudspear 1 was good, but not great. While it excels in creating the illusion of an abandoned city (the part with the flooded area I thought was really cool), there is just something that seems to be missing. It could be that some parts of it just looked too bland. I was mainly dissappointed in the fact that one of the areas (being a tester) that I thought had some of the best detail had been cut out from the final design. While a lot of the area was relatively unimportant, it actually expanded the level a little bit more.

I do disagree with the comments made about the crate & crane puzzle. Although simple to do (after getting it right one time through) I thought it was really innovative. It actually took me a half hour for me to figure out how everything worked . It was creative enough for me .

Enemy placement was reasonable, especially the dianogas. I had those things freak the hell out of me on more than one occassion when I played it the first time.

Plotwise, I thought it had some potential (since it is part of a series). The part with the archives was pretty neat, I have to admit. The security droids and the system looked so diabolical and it reminded me a little bit of the alien enemies in DaI.

Overall, it was fun to play, but there was just something that was missing. I can't quite put my finger on it though. But since it is the first part of the series, I can't really make a final conclusion so for now, I rate this level 8.5 of 10. Not Scapegoat's best work, but certainly not the worst.

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

[Scape Goat]

No surprises here. More or less the expected response. (Bunch of malcontents... ) Keep in mind that it is only the first third of a much larger project, where as levels like DaI and BG2 were intended to stand alone by themselves.

I had all kinds of crazy ideas for what I was going to do with this level. Pretty much ran out of time in the end, though. Couldn't work on it forever.

[Patrick Haslow]

I thought this was a well-planned level, and a partly submerged part of the level maintained a nice atmosphere. I thought enemy placement was good (enemies at high vantage points is always challenging) with good use of dianogas and grans, and the crane puzzle was logical and rewarding. I can't give it a total review, because I am stuck looking for the red key right now.

And of course, kudos for just releasing the damn thing! This is the first new level in 8 months, people!

Did nobody notice the sweet cutscene?

[alkaline888]

I have to give my kudos as well, I can see the amount of skilled work that's gone into designing and texturing what I think is one of the slickest-looking city settings in DF. The architecture and setting are excellent.

I especially liked the long, open spaces that made me feel I was in a truly big place -- very difficult to do successfully in DF 'cause of its limited engine. And the spaces were so cleverly broken up -- floors different heights, lots of stairs, alcoves, great lighting, and those amazing girders creating a varied skyline...

One of my favourite things is seeing places like balconies above me and later having the chance to scale them and look at where I've been. Or rooms into which I can look but can't walk, until I find the right path. Bravo!

And those guys that just say, "DIE!" LOL!!

_________________
Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.
—Kurt Vonnegut

[Nottheking]

Well, first I'd like to thank Jackson for copying over my review of the level, so I didn't have to re-post it myself.

Yes, about 5 minutes after I had posted that, I realized what the "resotoring default settings" switch did; that was rather good thinking to make sure it was included, given how the system worked. However, I realize I did forget to mention the level of innovation it required; now that I think of it, that's pretty impressive to get the lifter to be "programmable" like it is in that level. I better get back and working faster on my projects, else their innovations won't be as impressive anymore! (and I need to find more than two major, absolutely new functions for INF, aside from my elevators and security cameras)

Personally, I get bored with dianogas. Although they aren't any more difficult than the stormtroopers, (or any enemy using the same logic) it gets anooying to find that I thought I'd disposed of them all, only to see a fourth of fifth one pop up right in front of me, and get a hit in before I finish blowing it away. Really, the level itself was quite good for the most part, as is reflected in the first three categories I rated; it's just the fact that the non-puzzle gameplay elements relied on being a stretched-out course of hidden enemy after hidden enemy, with a lot of monotony throughout the whole thing, kinda sagged down everything. It deserves all five stars, (I translate letter grades directly to star ratings) but just barely. If the level had many of the sections shortened quite a bit, with more instances of the enemy being more cleverly placed than being simply out-of-sight, (and items simply placed on the ground next to walls) then it would've been a heck of a lot better; 5-star to HoF quality.

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

[Burning Gundam]

[Tom Manning]

Ohh Good, you can yell out your final review as we draw our swords for armaggeden.

_________________
Tom Manning
For all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you, Stand, Men of the West!
Aragorn: Return of the King

[Taylor]

I actually thought this was better than Beyond Glory 1, and possibly BG 2, but definitely not quite the caliber of DaI. Had all 3 levels been released at once in the same GOB, perhaps this would be the best ScapeGoat series yet? We'll have to wait and see, I guess...

[Geoffrey S]

Nice; I remember this from the time it was in Eyes of Justice. This level has a magnificent sense of location, and the design of this level is much stronger than the somewhat sprawling previous releases. The puzzles were very nicely done too: they broke up the pace a little, but weren't show-stoppingly difficult.

[Burning Gundam]

[Nottheking]

[Barry Brien]

I enjoyed the level. It's not too often that we get high calibre DF missions nowadays, and ScapeGoat should be commended for putting in all that work. I do have a few criticisms on the level, but they're not major at all. Texturing was all neat and well thought out, but I am just so sick of seeing the same old textures in every level. This is not ScapeGoat's fault. If this level had been released a few years ago, this wouldn't be as big an issue. I just feel that any DF missions now should try and make an effort to look different. Keep in mind that we've been using this same set of 700 textures for a decade. A little variation wouldn't hurt.
Also, I'm used to big finalés in ScapeGoat's levels like in BG2 and DaI. Walking up to the tunnel at the end of Cloudspear was exciting because I was expecting something outlandish or amazing to happen, but nothing did. that was a disappointment.
apart from these two minor criticisms it is a fine piece of work. Well done.

[Nottheking]

[Fish]

[Nottheking]

[Casey Neumiller]

[Nottheking]

[Tom Manning]

How about a giant Barney puppet, a`la Ghostbusters?

_________________
Tom Manning
For all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you, Stand, Men of the West!
Aragorn: Return of the King

[jimbo]

[Nottheking]

[Geoffrey S]

I wouldn't have said Cloudspear was lacking in scares, certainly not when compared to Ironfort. The whole desolate atmospher of Cloudspear created quite an eerie feeling along with the excellent enemy placement, and the submerged sequences with the dianogae kept me on my toes.

On the whole I thought the level was excellent: it wasn't too long (like Ironfort) or too short, and built up quite nicely. The puzzles were a very nice touch and didn't take too long to solve. On top of that the feeling of being in an abandoned city was always present due to the great architecture and careful texturing.

[Nottheking]

Just looking over my posts here, I just realized that I didn't mention something; although the level IS shorter than Ironfort, it did FEEL longer, in the bad way. Although I won't say that Cloudspear I wasn't a good level, it certainly wasn't quite at the Hall-of-Fame calibre that Ironfort was, and thus was a mild disapointment.

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

[Geoffrey S]

Really? I found it very well paced when compared to the sprawling, over-streched monolith that was Ironfort. Enemy placement was very good, with enough variety to keep things fresh: just as I was getting somewhat tired of the mercenary enemies there would be sections involving dianogae, or those sentinel droids. There was certainly a lot less backtracking involved, something that marred the alien installation in Ironfort.

[TheIntellectual]

Wow, what an uneven level.... all of it was very well made, but I frankly found the whole "abandoned town" thing to be quite cliched. I teleported throughout the town, until I made my way to the Oktet building. Now THAT was well made and something totally new.

[Burning Gundam]

Well, since Scapy has handed me the torch to this series, I'll do my best to bring it up to par with the rest of his work.

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

[Nottheking]

[Burning Gundam]