rub2m3 -- "A Thousand Years Into The Past" by czg 

 

And I'm only on the start map so far ... 

Please build zips with the files in an appropriate subdirectory. For mods, that means the zip should have the game directory in the zip with the actual files in the game directory.

However, on a much more positive note: the little I've seen so far (due to some problems in QF, only parts of rub2m1): very nice. 

Please build zips with the files in an appropriate subdirectory. For mods, that means the zip should have the game directory in the zip with the actual files in the game directory.

I suppose it's not very hard to just extract them to a new directory? 

Holy fucksticks, were nowhere near April!

...*Downloads* 

Screenies look absolutely amazing! Gotta work now but will play asap. 

This is the first Q1SP map pack in a long time (years) that I truly, genuinely enjoyed playing.

Thank you.

It helps that the Easy skill in this pack is dead on target; this removed the idiotic stress that often comes with playing a Q1SP and let me really enjoy the gameplay, which is fucking good. These guys are pros.

There was tons of ammo and I always found a healthpack right when I needed one, which is how it should be. I liked it so much that I'm now motivated to replay it on Normal.

All three maps are very good, but I enjoyed czg's the most because it simply gives you most of the weapons, which means you can spam grenades and shaft things with impunity, to your heart's desire. And this is what matters in a shooter game, is it not.

The progression in the entire pack is more playful and varied than the typical Q1SP, with lots of rotating hatches, ladders, air ducts (?) and multi stage lifts. The color coded lasers are a solid way to guide the player through the game. The moving crane in czg's map was especially nice, something you don't see very often in Quake maps. The diving bit with the timed door was also cool.

The new baddies are very good, the Floyds being particularly humourous, and best of all these guys die quickly enough instead of shoving their leetness down your throat by having tons of hitpoints or crazy strafing patterns.

Ace job guys. Haven't had that much fun in a shooter game for a long time (although negke's Runic Recycling was also very good).

10/10. 

Just to be irritating following GBs comments, but I played through it on skill 2 and barely ever dropped below 75 odd hp. Generally you were never pressured or sealed in by enemies and thus could pretty much back off and play safe the whole way. Also no tougher monsters whatsoever got a little dull imo :E No grenades to dodge or Fiends to run from.

Only map that got slightly hard was rub2m1 because I missed the nailgun and thus ran out of ammo a few times... why was it hidden like that? It's not like it's a super weapon :(

Looked gorgeous, loved the ambience and the sounds :) 

Oh and the sense of scale on CZG's map was really cool. I think I'm going to have to go through each map again taking some screenshots :p 

Please build zips with the files in an appropriate subdirectory. For mods, that means the zip should have the game directory in the zip with the actual files in the game directory.

ALL the old idgames2 ftp releases contained either a pak or bsp file(s) in the zip root so this is pretty much accepted as standard. what you wrote only applies to mods with a custom engine that needs to be extracted directly into the quake directory

looking forward to playing this tonight :) 

This probably means that Hard could have been harder, while Easy was OK. 

walking in the Hydroexploitation Plant slipgate crashes the rmq engine, thought i should point that out. time to try quakespasm... 

Nice pack of maps!

I played through the maps on easy skill, died once to a turret, but figured it out later.

This is one solid episode which was highly enjoyable and very playable, even the new monsters weren't too annoying! The architectural style was coherent throughout (to me) and I like it.

In return, demos. http://mandelmassa.net/temp/rubicon2.7z This pack includes first-run demos on all three maps including the one where I die, and even a demo on the original rubicon which I started first by accident. I think I may have accidentally short-cut some part of czg's map because I exited with a whole lot of missing kills.

I suppose one could say that this has been worth the wait I've been hearing about. What are we waiting for next? Duke Nukem? Who gives a damn! 

firstly, why three independent maps instead of an episode? that was a bit of a disappointment from the off :|

marvellous attention to detail. loved the particle effects and new textures. new monsters were ok; not really a joy to fight but not too frustrating either (when used well)

rub2m1: loved the outside/dam sections, but got lost in the inside parts because i kept running past a crucial ladder. obviously fine detailing but it was a little bit pokey in places and short on nails for long-range fighting. lots of cautious duck & cover play. average in all

rub2m2: much better design & layout; some lovely shaped corridors here.. better scale too. gameplay still rather frustrating though; died multiple times due to low supplies, and could only beat the main atrium fight (after the blue lasers get unlocked) by coaxing the centurions down into the doorway & picking them off with my shotgun. steam traps were cool (i think they were in this one?)

rub2m3: excellent, MUCH nicer to play than the other two due to more supplies, bigger weapons and more manoeuvring space. atmosphere was fantastic too, particularly in the areas with vast unreachable chasms engulfed in fog. ambient sounds seemed to be used a bit more sparingly too, to positive effect. the first of the two end-battles was cool, the second a bit disappointing though as i was left low on ammo & health after the first and had to resort to cautious duck & cover rather than going in guns blazing.. only negative point though. best q1sp in a while :) 

This is awesome, thank you! 

I'm peeing my pants as I type this.

Downloading.

CZG AND METL?
wow. 

wasn't this already released?

I could've sworn I played this before looking at the screenshots 

Paint me a colossal grin. I am just so delighted to see this after having heard about it for so many years. I haven't even played it yet, I haven't even downloaded it yet, but I just know it's gonna be awesomeness on legs.

Well done you lot! 

I have played two first maps. The levels are gorgeous. The texturing and detailing is top notch. I loved the look of the levels with new textures, good lightning, vents, lifts, teleporters, buttons. Also the rocky outdoor areas looked so cool.
New monsters were ok. Floyd got boring over the time. The monster models are great work.
It all is high quality and very professional release.
Skill 1 first play demos:
http://www.quaketastic.com/upload/files/demos/rubicon2_ankh.zip


Now to play the czg map... 

but I was wondering; did you sample some nine inch nails songs? Specifically Closer and Sin from what I've heard so far (menu sounds, some aspects of some ambiance). Or am I just hearing things? 

yeah, there are a few sounds sampled from recognizable sources in there. The menu sounds are the only ones from NIN (specifically the downward spiral), though. 

Just played your levels Metl - pure awesomeness. Love the centurions, they look great!

This has made me happier than dead space 2 so far, tbh.
Congratulations, by the way, on finally getting it all done, and thank you! 

The attention to detail everywhere is great, really good to see.

I focused in a lot on the monsters - the dustbin guy is good, although I felt he could have used a fire rate increase to make him more of an all-rounder. Is he explosion resistant? Also, his uncertain gib state is a nasty surprise.

The flamethrower were cool, almost a melee enemy although weaker near water, which was a nice dynamic to the levels, as was the occasional helpful healthpack placement.

The flyers were a bit outlandlish, but I grew to like them. Maybe a rocket variant would have been good in the more spacious areas, but the SNG was pretty good. And some have learned to phase through walls? I see what you did there :)

I played through hydro-something which was good and detailed. The combat could have used a fiend or two I think, just for the getting in your face shock factor. More guns as well, as some have mentioned. It felt like a warm up for an episode, because of Quake's standard difficulty curve with base enemies. I noticed that the Enforcer has a health bump for that. The stacked layout was oldschool, by which I mean well realised, complex yet intuitive to learn.

CZG's map was great as expected. Gameplay had lots of neat stuff, things that tend to get ignored. Did think that some of really open bits could have used more criss-crossing beams to make better use of the fog, but was more a changeover shock after coming from the metslime hyper-detail.

Haven't played the third map yet, saving that one.

Also, why did I never think 'what a cool mechanic' about the Q2 lasers? Oh yeah, layout design. 

scampie drunk-tested this