Unreal Turns 20 Years Old

[taxalot]

I definitely remember finding an Unreal tech demo through illegetimate ways ; back then, it was software and it clearly had a medieval feel. You could do nothing much besides wandering in empty hallways.

 

[taxalot]

This is what I remember.

 

[soulburner]

Alrighty then. I asked on the oldunreal forums about the centered weapon placement and not only did one user post code snippets detailing what to mod in the game code, but also provided already compiled .u files! Perfectly centered weapons at last! Massive thanks to oldunreal forums user Masterkent.

Here's the link to the thread if anyone is interested:
https://www.oldunreal.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1527330261/0

 

[catfood]

I just remembered how incredible this whole ending sequence is. At :50 when the camera pans towards the galaxy and the music kicks in I get the chills. Every single time. It's amazing what you can do with some primitive (today) graphics, a fucking amazing musical piece and a few lines of text.

You laugh to yourself... So much has happened... but little has changed... Before you crash landed you were trapped in a cramp cell. Now once again you are confined in a prison...

 

[Gerrard]

That random-ass shit in the escape tunnel though, nice tech demo.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Unreal is one of those games, that leave a strong impression upon the player after finishing it. An FPS version of Another World, that won't be ever recreated, with excellent map design, fantastic soundtrack, graphics that aged well and bullet sponge monsters. It's a shame what happened with Unreal 2, I remember having high hopes after upgrading my rig and trying it without reading any reviews. One of the most uninspiring, boring sequels ever made. Epic has the technology and know-how of the engine but I don't have any confidence that they could make Unreal 3 without catering to the masses since it would obviously need to be released on consoles as well. At least there is a lot of custom campaigns to try.

I just remembered how incredible this whole ending sequence is

Return to Na Pali had great ending music as well.

 

[schru]

That video of the ending sequence reminded me that Epic released high-resolution S3TC textures for Unreal and Tournament together with the latter's game of the year edition: https://www.unrealtexture.com/Unrea...s/ExtremeEnd/StockUnreal/UnrealExtremeEnd.htm

There are lower-resolution packages available under the Textures link in the bar on the left. The files need to be downloaded from the individual links and unpacked into the Textures folder of the game, and they need a renderer that supports the S3TC feature to work. The package doesn't replace every texture, so the result is a mixture of the old low-resolution assets and in some cases textures that are still large by today's standards. Some of those textures also have alignment errors. They give the game an interesting, a little altered appearance.

Spoiler

Edited to add a more direct link to the textures.

 

[DraQ]

Return to Na Pali had great ending music as well.

Turdy actual ending, tho.

RTNP in general was but a pale shadow of the Unreal with nearly none of its magic.
Not an abomination like U2, not a bad game, but massively disappointing in comparison with the original.
It takes more than strung together outtakes to recreate Unreal's magic, even if those outtakes were perfectly salvageable and potentially up to the task - had they fell into the right hands.

 

[schru]

The person who created that Unreal Trivia Thread on the UnrealSP forums said that Epic was working on an expansion pack of its own before cancelling it to focus on the Tournament. Second point:

http://www.unrealsp.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3559&start=45#p68445

 

[Roguey]

Played 11 levels of this before I decided I had had enough. Lousy weapons, lousy levels, spongy enemies. All it's good for is its pretty engine and that fine Alexander Brandon score. I'm glad I didn't pay money for it. The only pure first person shooters in the 90s worth a damn were the Dooms, Quakes, Wolf and Duke 3Ds, and most of Half-Life.

 

[funkadelik]

Played 11 levels of this before I decided I had had enough. Lousy weapons, lousy levels, spongy enemies. All it's good for is its pretty engine and that fine Alexander Brandon score. I'm glad I didn't pay money for it. The only pure first person shooters in the 90s worth a damn were the Dooms, Quakes, Wolf and Duke 3Ds, and most of Half-Life.

Bro the Chex FPS that came on a floppy was legit.

 

[janior]

Played 11 levels of this before I decided I had had enough. Lousy weapons, lousy levels, spongy enemies. All it's good for is its pretty engine and that fine Alexander Brandon score. I'm glad I didn't pay money for it. The only pure first person shooters in the 90s worth a damn were the Dooms, Quakes, Wolf and Duke 3Ds, and most of Half-Life.

too bad, last levels are pretty fucking great

 

[DraQ]

Played 11 levels of this before I decided I had had enough. Lousy weapons, lousy levels, spongy enemies. All it's good for is its pretty engine and that fine Alexander Brandon score. I'm glad I didn't pay money for it. The only pure first person shooters in the 90s worth a damn were the Dooms, Quakes, Wolf and Duke 3Ds, and most of Half-Life.

Next thing you'll say is that Quake 2 is better.

Wait, you've already said it.
Truly, your taste in games is most plebeian.

 

[Ash]

Unreal is fucking good and up there with the best, though it does take a while to get going. First really good level is Chizra the Temple of the Water God, I think.

 

[Roguey]

First really good level is Chizra the Temple of the Water God, I think.

Myscha the Sled Dog's work is so particularly reviled that I've read of it years ago. Allegedly he's the particular worst with regard to over-complicated overly-large levels with no clear direction of what to do and where to go (though he's not the only culprit).

 

[DraQ]

First really good level is Chizra the Temple of the Water God, I think.

Myscha the Sled Dog's work is so particularly reviled that I've read of it years ago. Allegedly he's the particular worst with regard to over-complicated overly-large levels with no clear direction of what to do and where to go (though he's not the only culprit).

Those are the fucking good parts, you philistine.

My only beef with Myscha's stuff is he seems to overwork concepts with neither enough oomph, nor thematic variety, resulting in maps you just want to love, but are ultimately tired by.

(Back in the day my first attempted playthrough stopped at Chizra)

OTOH their scale and complexity is fucking stellar.

 

[Ash]

First really good level is Chizra the Temple of the Water God, I think.

Myscha the Sled Dog's work is so particularly reviled that I've read of it years ago. Allegedly he's the particular worst with regard to over-complicated overly-large levels with no clear direction of what to do and where to go (though he's not the only culprit).

I got lost once in the temple, and I half blame myself for not making a stronger mental note of the clearly marked door in the middle of a clearly central of importance intersection. It's on the immediate left of this shot:

Even has the Eightball Launcher in the middle, which said door grants you access to. I should have known to check here first when the next path became unclear.
All in all a fine level with few flaws. "Overly complex and overly large" lol. Go back to Bioshock.

Next thing you'll say is that Quake 2 is better.

Hey you, leave Q2 alone! I see you, you have a hate-boner for it first and foremost because it does not have the atmosphere of the original, instead opting for adrenaline fuelled action through tech bases backed by industrial metal (which is just as valid). Yes, some of the AI is not up to scratch. Yes, the power shield is OP and stupid. That aside it's a solid game, and there are mods to help with its shortcomings, and the expansion packs addressed them too.

 

[DraQ]

"Overly complex and overly large" lol. Go back to Bioshock.

Hey you, leave Q2 alone! I see you, you have a hate-boner for it first and foremost because it does not have the atmosphere of the original, instead opting for adrenaline fuelled action through tech bases backed by industrial metal (which is just as valid).

There is nothing adrenaline fuelled about it if you can kill the sturdiest regular enemy two times over (literally, when fighting two of them at once) without any of them managing to shoot back and when you do get hit, the damage received is pathetic.

Atmosphere is crap and unrelated to Q1, enemies weak and pathetic, AI bad, environs boring and music tiresome.

Worst of all, enemy mechanics (soft HP sponges with crap aim and reflexes) clashes with their portrayal (armour plated cyborgs with integrated weaponry), even though the game does have mechanics it could use (like good armour system used by the player).

 

[Ash]

environs boring and music tiresome.

 

[Berekän]

I didn't have any (major) issues navigating through Chizra, otoh the Sunspire, holy fuck. I still don't know how I managed to get out of there.

 

[Zero Credibility]

I love the Sunspire, probably my favorite map in the whole game. A single huge tower raising high from a lake of lava, and you need to climb all the way to the top. It was fucking great.

 

[DraQ]

Sunspire is fucking awesome. It doesn't seem to have Chizra's or Bluff's detail, but it's still fucking complex, with tons of optional content, and is one massive atmospheric ride to the top - with awesome soundtrack, and occassional outdoor segments augmenting the grand concept.

Chizra is vastly nonlinear, detailed and complex (and has great shieldbelt secret), but lacks overarching structure - it's all just a massive clusterfuck of quasi-Aztec stuff. Ceremonial chambers are better in that regard.

environs boring and music tiresome.

The layouts were good, but everything was just a generic techcorridor, complete with overwhelming amount of crates. Almost like single level stretched out into an entire game.

 

[Ash]

The layouts were good, but everything was just a generic techcorridor, complete with overwhelming amount of crates. Almost like single level stretched out into an entire game.

You can say the same hyperbole of Quake 1 though. Each episode starts with one or two techbase levels, then the rest are medieval grimdark, with an overwhelming amount of stone. In reality there's a lot more variety, and in Q2 too e.g Toxic Waste Dump, Mines, Techbases, Gravity Core, secret Zero-G levels on a space station orbiting earth if I recall. More visual variety than Q1 really (and more detail crammed in the levels), you just don't like its style and that's OK. Just don't pretend it's measurably bad in this regard.

 

[schru]

A few more screenshots. Perhaps there's a more straightforward way of doing it, but the HUD can be enlarged by running the game with dgVoodoo and using the unofficial DirectX8 renderer, setting a high resolution in the wrapper, and a low one in the game. The CRT filter looks nice with it too:

Spoiler

 

[Morgoth]

Unreal and Half-Life, the two best first-person shooters ever made.