“This is a slightly experimental mod with an unusual story. It is not set inside the Half Life universe and there are some game mechanics which have been subtley altered. The pace starts out slow, and builds up gradually. This mod is intended to be more of an adventure rather than a shooter. If you approach this mod as a pure shooter, then you will probably not enjoy it. There are some intense action scenes, but most of these come later on, much of the earlier parts of the mod are focused on adventure and storytelling.
- Title: Random Quest
- File Name: hl2-sp-random-quest.rar
- Size : 125.89Mb
- Author: Chris Fox AKA Playbus and Jose Ameyugo AKA Kasperg
- Date Released: 31 May 2009
I highly recommend reading the readme.txt
Linking directly to the PlanetPhillip Direct Download will not work, please link to this page. Thank you.
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- Copy the Random Quest folder into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- Random Quest should now be listed in your Games tab.
Click on the thumbnails below to open a 800 pixel wide image.
WARNING: The screenshots may contain spoilers.
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1st June 2009
Half-Life 2, Single Player Mods and Maps
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[...] Random Quest (HL2) [...]
1st June 2009
This is without doubt a beautifully crafted mod, the problem is that I didn’t enjoy it that much. The two main reasons are the narration and the lack of action.
The problem with the narration is that it breaks my immersion. I don’t have a problem with narration in general just when the narration is supposed to be me, at least when it is telling me what I have decided to do and why. Others may love it but I feel it’s a mistake.
With regard to the lack of action, that’s clearly just a personal preference and the mod is not promoted as “action based”, so all I am doing is giving you my opinion.
I don’t know whether the author expects players to play the mod again to notice the subtle differences their behaviour makes, but I didn’t and won’t. I hope you do though and I hope you enjoy.
I had to cheat at the first outside section because I couldn’t make the jump (noclip) and in the gladiator level (god) because it was just too hard for me and then I couldn’t seem to turn it off.
The ending was a little bit of a let down but it certainly wasn’t bad.
Clearly making it a Hall Of Fame means I highly recommend you play it, but just remember it’s more about interesting storytelling and adventure than action.
5 Words Or Less Review
Beautifully crafted and thought-provoking.
1st June 2009
First two maps quite good actually. But, progressing in the game didn’t make it any better, instead made it more ordinary. Quests were not so bad, some of them were really good, but arena fight was really difficult and unnecessary. Last fight was too difficult and unnecessary too, while thrashing all adventure game impreession.
Level design was good. Some places were really appealing.
I think this mod deserves a try, but could have been better.
1st June 2009
Thanks to everyone who gives it a shot. The ending is my least favourite part too. I had some issues with that last map and the original plan couldn’t be continued (not without a monumental delay, anyway) and so the ending became how it is now.
I’ll think of something cool to make up for it in the sequel
1st June 2009
Before anyone asks the question, a lot of different pieces of maps, materials and some voice acting included in this mod has been done for quite a long time, and hasn’t really been a full interrumpion of our “The Citizen Part II” work.
As a matter of fact, a couple of these areas were done years ago with the intention of being part of the sequel for “The Citizen”, which initially was going to take place outside City 17 and be called “The Emissary”. As you can read in the readme, a lot of experimental gameplay, sounds and architecure recycled through a few versions is what has made this mod as a result.
We are still working on “The Citizen Part II”, but my usual busy end of the year projects and exams are delaying that somewhat.
Also, while out HL2-themed upcoming mod has a bit of a cause-effect system, the things that deviate too much from HL2 will not be found there as you see them in Random Quest. So if you happen to hate this (which we certainly hope you don’t!) it doesn’t mean our gameplay approach for the Citizen sequel has changed radically from what was planned.
1st June 2009
I enjoyed chapter 1 and chapter 2 was good. I disliked chapter 3 – I would have like the gladiator battle more had there been just 2 antlion guards 4 seems OTT. I admit to an impulse 101 here (only here).
Thereafter just a rush through which got me to the final scene – which also turned into a rush through, pity.
While I can understand the need for teleportation sometimes, I thought there was a little too much and it would have been nice to get to some of the locations under my own steam with the odd skirmish on the way.
The concept is brilliant but I would have enjoyed more gameplay (other than chapter one which had ample!).
Design – not my place to say, I’m just a gamer but it all looked OK with no leaks or sticky bits.
Will i play it again? Chapter 1, yes, Chapter 2, maybe, Chapter 3, no
1st June 2009
Sorry, I forgot to say, Level 1, chapter 1 – WOW
2nd June 2009
Great stuff, enjoyed ever second of it, wonderful refreshing approach to gameplay and story telling, can’t wait for the next installment.
Apart from the story telling approach the authors give us new terrain and locations to progress the chronicle via gem stones and transporters, with both clever and effective use of cut scenes and narration.
As one would expect from this team the quality of design and detail within is top notch, giving the feeling that one was within a new HL universe where no adventurers had set foot before, such that nothing was remotely similar to what we had seen before, thus making the whole experience very unique.
Having said all the above, here are a few things I found odd, not that any of them will detract from the fun and enjoyment. I found it strange that our hero did not ask the obvious questions to himself or others when first transported to the rebel prisons, question like where am I, what is this place, how did I get here?
Also it was a bit odd crossing the windy bridge how the zombies were not affected, although this was a nice piece of mapping and scripting.
There is a need to shoot a few NCP’s before they turn on you, their scripted speech however would continue long after they were died.
The whole battery sequence seems a bit pointless if you have already got the gem.
Apart from running out of ammo at one point and having to go god mode for a short while, plus finding the arena combat against 3 antlion bosses just too much of a challenge, 2 would have been a better contest, this aside the overall challenge was nicely balanced between combat and figuring situations through.
Very much a play it through again this one, to see if I can improve on my first attempt by being more conservative with ammo and trying different tactics in a few places that I had some difficulty with.
For me this is by far the best release so far of 2009, and to think its part 1 of something we know will be finished. Thanks to the authors for this gem of a mod.
2nd June 2009
Wow, thanks Mel! I’m glad you had fun.
You’re the second person to say that 2 antlions would have been better than 4. That wouldn’t be too difficult a change to make so perhaps I will do that soon and re-release it quietly!
I forgot to mention in the known bugs document about the npcs speaking after they were dead. I had pondered this a lot, and my choice ended up being accepting it as it is, or making NPC’s invulnerable while they were talking. The logistics of the latter turned out to be too fiddly and so it got left as it is.
I would really like to make some of the NPC’s more meaningful (currently, as some players have pointed out, they only really have the illusion of meaningfulness) and I may make some changes like this too — if I can figure out how to do it without breaking everything. On the other hand though, I sorta like the idea that the player can decide that an NPC is useless and just ignore them if they want to.
Argh … Choices are tricky!
Thanks again foir playing and for your kind words
2nd June 2009
I tend to have a bit of a reputation for cross-words with Phillip, be it always on a friendly level. Well once again I am not in agreement with his opinions, for sure I agree with his recommendation plus also a need to cheat with one jump and go god in the arena. By the way I try not to read other gamers reviews including Phillips until after I have written and posted mine.
Where I would differ in opinion would be the negative reaction to the narration and level of action, my feelings are quit the opposite, the narration was excellently incorporated and integral to the story telling, with a very polished performance by the voice actor that added so much to the playing experience.
As for the action level, I found the frequency of combat sequence just right and inline with the progress of the adventure and story telling. By the time this mod is fully completed I guess it will be of medium to long duration allowing ample time and opportunity for the authors to build both the level, frequency and intensity of action, and knowing this team they will take note of all the feed back. So just to sign-off, I would not say that this mod is ‘more about interesting storytelling and adventure then action’ for me it’s a superbly balanced mod with a unique mix of story telling, adventure and action.
2nd June 2009
If you are having to cheat with the jumps, see PP’s screenshot 18
3rd June 2009
hmmm can’t find “rq_title_widescreen.vtf” ?? what is that ?
3rd June 2009
Go into your “Steam\steamapps\SourceMods\Random Quest\materials\console\” folder, make a copy of rq_title.vtf and remame it to rq_title_widescreen.vtf
3rd June 2009
You are horrible people for not finishing Citizen part 2 yet.
Apart from that, this looks really good, and I’ll play it as soon as I have time.
3rd June 2009
Argh I always forget about the widescreen thing!
3rd June 2009
After playing up to the bridge, I can safely say that you are not horrible people. This is really cool.
3rd June 2009
Pretty good. Not great, but fun. Glad to see Chris didn’t have any super tough puzzles in this like his previous work. The game played without errors and it flowed along real good. The artwork was done with alot of care. I liked the last map with the Greek look to it. I’m not crazy about the arena style fighting so I became God for a minute there just to get through it. Well done.
4th June 2009
Nice intro.
Lighting Was Average to Terrible.
Difficulty was Way Too Hard On Normal. (Too many enemies in the last battle, not enough health. Don’t put 50 enemies in one space without giving the player plenty of health and cover.)
Really cool ideas.
Ending could have been better.
Outstanding Effort.
Outstanding Creativity.
4th June 2009
I disagree about your opinion on lighting (which you’ve just dropped as a fact without any suggestion as to how it could be improved), although I will agree that lightmap resolution isn’t defined enough in the later maps strictly because of engine limitations. Waiting 5 hours for a map to compile was out of the question for us, and the size of the maps demanded lower lightmap grids and bigger texture scales if we wanted to keep them that way.
If your comment refers to the colour or intensity of lighting, then it is a subjective matter altogether. A fantasy-themed mod like this one can take this sort of approach and not have to look exactly like reality.
While I personally welcome all sorts of feedback, there is always some which is directed stricly at other players and not authors (which is part of the usefulness of feedback, of course). For example, Phillips comments about how the narration made the mod less immersive for him would help other players who think like him be warned as to what they will find. For us and our voice actor, however, it is not a useful comment as it offers no suggestions as to how the actual delivery of the written text could be bettered.
As for the rest of the comment, we’re also realizing some spots might be too difficult
5th June 2009
I only found the arena part too difficult, the end encounter worked for me; I just made it without any health left.
Also I did not think the ending could have been better, after all it was only the end of part 1 and it seemed a logical point at which to finish.
Can’t say I had any issues with the lighting, the only points I had were with some of the scripted sequence that did not appear that logical, in particular the bridge crossing with the zombies. It seemed strange to me that such a strong wind had no soundtrack nor any affect on the zombies, for me this sequence would have been far more realistic had it been scripted to first cross about halfway taking out the zombies to about mid-span, then have the wind pick-up with sound affects and bowing any remaining zombies on the second part of the bridge off into the river, thus leaving the player to adjust to the wind affect for the rest of the crossing.
5th June 2009
Shame about the arena ‘cos the rest was Excellent. I liked the narration and the character voice acting.
I hope you make a second part.
5th June 2009
strong wind had no soundtrack
There should have been wind sounds…did you not hear any?
first cross about halfway taking out the zombies to about mid-span, then have the wind pick-up with sound affects and bowing any remaining zombies on the second part of the bridge off into the river, thus leaving the player to adjust to the wind affect for the rest of the crossing.
I like it. That’s an awesome idea. Might just have to give you a line in the credits for the sequel
5th June 2009
Just played the bridge sequence through again, and yes there is a wind soundtrack just can’t remember hearing it first time of crossing, sometimes I either turn down or turn-off the sound.
Wow to be given credit on a mod! Fame at last, name in light, I can smell the grease paint, next stop Hollywood, joking apart it would be an honor to be credited on this mod.
6th June 2009
The journey through the parts before the arena was really well done. They needed thinkling through and allowed for different tactics to be experimented with, which is a great mixture. Set designs were also different and fresh. I enjoyed the wind on the bridge – nice effect. The jumps were also a challenge to figure out.
Not getting ammo from dead enemies was different and added an edge although I found the lay out of weapons just right. Only problem with the arena for me was the slowness of ammo replacement – I reckon I could have got through it without god mode except waiting for more ammo left me too long exposed to attacks. The end sequence was just a bit tedious and could have done with more tactical aspects but over all I very much enjoyed playing this. The best praise is – I wanted to continue playing – will there be any more?
6th June 2009
“thinkling through”?
6th June 2009
I don’t see why so many of you had trouble with the antlion guards, I never get hit by them, unless there are other enemies around, blocking me from jumping away. The last part is easy if you just kill the three rebels, take the key, and rush to the gate. Overall, I really enjoyed this mod, especially sneaking around the first vort to later shoot both him and Mossman and then killing all the vorts in the sewers.
7th June 2009
On pic #34 your health is 10 but in pic@35 your at 100. Where did you get all that health?
I’m at the arena I can’t believe 4 antlion guards,no way! Keep getting killed. Only manage to kill one antlion guard and I’m playing on easy. I guess this is the end for me. Can’t move forward.:(
Other than that I liked this game a lot! except for the last part with the antlion guards.
8th June 2009
A bit tough in places (antlion guards) and bogged down my oldish machine in a few places (final battle), but was a solid gaming experience. The transport mechanism got a bit stale, and it really did feel Random more than once… but there was plenty of action and just enough puzzle solving to keep things from getting too boring. Thanks!
8th June 2009
Where did you get all that health?
I know you didn’t ask me this question – but I should mention that it is possible in RQ to get full health by picking up an item near the place you were talking about.
Did those melons look tasty?
will there be any more?
There sure will. I have some ideas for the next one already. One in particular involves a (sort of) hostage negotiation. I am not 100% sure if that idea is going to work yet … but it’ll be fun trying! However, Citizen 2 is the main focus for now. After that, I’ll probably move to another engine primarily — but I’ll definately continue Random Quest, because it’s a liberating project (I can do anything I want in RQ, in other mods the rules are tighter)
9th June 2009
You know Chris,I did beat on those melons. lol
I gave up on them after they didn’t break.
Gypsy Jim,
And just how do you hug the shotgun cartridge dispenser?
8th June 2009
@ Black Dog and others, when you hug the shotgun cartridge dispenser, collecting each box as it appears, the Antlion Guards seem to ignore you……Thoroughly enjoyed this, and as has been said before, am already looking forward to the next instalment.
After such a dearth of good mods, it’s really refreshing to see some more of Chris’ work, and that it is up to his usual high standard. More please!
9th June 2009
This was a very pleasing mod for me, and I share some views with other people here. The early stages were definitely the best and conjured up memories of games like Ico (PlayStation 2) and Samorost (indie PC game), especially climbing across the wall with the huge drop; that was awesome.
As other said, the arena battle and the finale were too difficult, especially as there was no real gradual build-up in difficulty. There should absolutely not have been more than 2 antlion guards to fight at one time. Maybe overall, but not together. It’s just too much when you have such limited ammo.
Aesthetically, the mod was somewhat lacking with regards to texture use, lighting and displacements (terrain). However, I think this was made up for in its creativity, unique style and immersive world.
The voice acting was something I did enjoy. It was quite similar to Dear Esther (HL2 mod) in its tone.
By the way, who voiced the vortigaunt that asked me to chop up the body for organs? If I were to add voices to Union he would be one of my top choices.
10th June 2009
who voiced the vortigaunt that asked me to chop up the body for organs
It was me. I voiced all of the Vort characters, except for the one who introduces the arena section.
I also voiced all of the prison guards – except for one.
9th June 2009
I think the vortigaunt is Chris himself
As I mentioned before the lack of more detailed displacement surfaces and smaller texture scales in them is due to the massive size of the maps, which at one point exceeded engine limitations and had to be split. If the Source engine allowed the kind of scope in terms of terrains that Cryengine2 does, things would’ve been very different.
About the textures, I’m not sure if you’re talking about the last maps or all the maps. The first map is generally made of the same few materials for walls and floors (those earth brown concrete ones), and it was a deliberate decision, not lack of imagination as to what textures we could end up using. While there was of course room for more variation, we had to keep in balance with the unity of the whole prison theme. I would understand problems with misaligned or unforcedly badly scaled textures, but we tried to take care of those.
I haven’t played any of the games you mentioned, although I’ve seen screenshots videos of Ico before. Our real inspiration for that vertical part with the drop is actually Miyazaki’s film “Spirite Away”.
9th June 2009
Ahh yes I can see the Spirited Away influence now you mention it.
As for textures, I meant mostly in the prison. The textures were certainly appropriate, but not really all that attractive. I know it’s meant to be dirty and everything but even HL2′s dirt was nice to look at in a way. I didn’t notice any errors like misaligned textures.
Chris, would you be interested in perhaps voicing the vortigaunt from Union? That is, if I ever get round to releasing an update for it.
10th June 2009
Chris, would you be interested in perhaps voicing the vortigaunt from Union
Sure. I love voice acting. Send me any scripts you want recording, and I’ll turn them around pretty fast for you. If you want a female voice, my wife is also available.
11th June 2009
Awesome. Do you have an e-mail address I can use? Or drop me a message at mglanville [at] hotmail [dot] com
12th June 2009
Ok, I’ve sent you an email
15th June 2009
Been sick lately and just got some awake time to fire up steam.I really liked this and await the next part.Some tough parts I thought but maybe from lack of energy on part to focus on it.Keep up the good work
19th June 2009
Well well, awesome, sometimes.
I really liked this mod, it was very very close to become one of my favourites.
*Spoilers ahead*
The vocals are very good and fit well in place, the story is crazy and cool but they didn’t pressed out everything of it, could have been an even cooler story. It is very cool that the main character is telling about the story of his past, much better than he would talk in present tense.
The level geometry is awesome, this is one of the few mods out there that create a realistic world which seems to have no link to the half life world, it totally reminded me onto shantytown. In the first level those houses were a very cool idea, after that the landscapes are so beautiful, in that area with the radio and the battery you have to watch the bridge and the tanks above you.
The quests of the two first levels were really nice, especially that you have to decide which option you take now, it’s not such a simple get this to that quest, it really adds a psychological constant to the quest (I just say: “Quite confused of what I’ve done…”), more of that!
Now we come to the last and weakest level, it simply just sucks!
Quests are becoming stupid and you can’t compare it with the previous ones.
Level Design was adequate, but no difference to the previous levels.
Considering these points it would have get 5 points, if there wouldn’t be one thing: The difficulty
The fight against those three antlion guards. Just. Suck. I had to ran into battle with about 35 hp as the level designer forgot the health packs, it seems. I had to turn difficulty down to easy to not die after one hit. Also there is just a annoying tactic. “Damn you, stupid rocket. Come finally out of that box and help me to kill those two antlions running up my ass!” Just annyoing.
Or the green masters, they kill you with one shots, and if you decide the good way in one quest, you have to fight about 6 of them.
Last battle was pretty unimpressive, the dialog before it was funny though.
This comes to the final conclusion that this mod has an awesome idea, but fails at quite simple errors and that the innovating quest are missing at the end.
20th June 2009
A bit odd, but also enjoyable. I found that the level of quality wasn’t very consistent. Some areas were beautiful, then you’d get some that felt noobish.
23rd June 2009
It’s been a couple days since I played this, and my reaction is still undecided on whether or not I really enjoyed this mod. Admittedly, there’s no part of the mod I hate per se, but there are many cases where I felt it could have been done better.
It is, first and foremost, an inventive work. You probably haven’t played a mod quite like this one. I enjoyed the way the narration pulled me into the story, the many choices you had throughout the campaign, and many of the visuals. The voice acting, while not flawless, was a big improvement from The Citizen. The overall tone of the narrator, in fact, kept me engaged. Had it been played with a heavy, melodramatic hand, I wouldn’t have gotten through it.
Where the mod falters, ironically, is in the mundane details that have seemingly been taken for granted. The combat is rather sloppy, spawning hordes of enemies en masse without much in the way of cover or potential tactics. Sometimes the critical path is unclear – I spent a long time searching for that ladder on the rooftops. Much like The Citizen, there is a bit too much trial-and-error in the gameplay. Only, this time, failing means having to sit through lengthy, verbose speeches all over again. There were a handful of points where I would get stuck on geometry and sometimes the visuals were underwhelming. The intro sequence alone had me wondering if the authors behind The Citizen were really behind this, given how amateurish the surroundings looked. This is certainly not true of all levels in this set, but there is a serious inconsistency between them. In some areas, I know the authors were trying to channel the aesthetics of ICO and its contemporary, Shadow of the Colossus, but the areas just came across as being bleached and featureless.
Ultimately, I thought it was confused about what exactly it was trying to be. It’s certainly not a combat mod – there are more than a few puzzles and challenges typical of adventure mods. Indeed, if you go into it expecting to shoot your way through every situation, you’ll be disappointed. But it’s not really an adventure mod either, given the challenging combat. As others have said, there’s that one arena that pits you against four Antlion Guards. The combat difficult is above and beyond anything vanilla Half-Life 2 offers – compounded by the lack of health and ammo. For that reason, it may not appeal to those looking for a puzzle/adventure mod either.
In the end, I think it’s a good mod, but I know the authors could have done better.
1st July 2009
The authors are working on a 17-map HL2 mod since December 2007, so both weren’t really putting all their time into this experiment. If you ask Chris Fox, he’ll tell you he was more interested in the reaction to this new approach of narration and gameplay with different choices than spending more time tweaking something that given its size could be tweaked to infinity. Neither of us was really up to it (the mod was also completely unannounced, so any claims of hype & dissapointment can’t be taken seriously. The trailer and screenshots show exactly what is there to be found, minus the narration).
I was under the impression that we placed autosave triggers to prevent players from hearing the same dialogues over and over again, so it’d be nice to know where this happens.
Also I have to say that in no way where we trying to imitate Ico or Shadow of the Colossus, or at least I wasn’t aware of that. This might remind people of those games, but I can assure everyone I have not played them. Ever. If anything, a particular area is based on Spirited Away, but that’s it. How Kyouryuu claims to know what we were aiming for is a perfect example of how each individual’s past game experience influences how they perceive another game or mod. So the logic of “Attempting to copy Team Ico’s games and failing” is actually the failed element here
The first time I played the arena I also found it difficult, but all the following tries I’ve been able to pull through without an antlion touching me (shotgun strategy, no RPG). In any case, this isn’t Half-life 2 or set in the HL universe, so as I player I certainly wouldn’t expect to find the same style of combat.
I agree that the authors could have done better, but in this case I have first hand information that they had (and still have) other priorities for 2009 (hopefully!)
9th July 2009
Some nice ideas, but the ridiculous last battle (which I couldn’t be bothered finishing) tips this mod toward the negative. I’m also not a fan of cut-scenes and lengthy exposition delivered as speeches (or, in this case, narration). The other criticisms, good and bad, have already been made (and I agree with most of them). Nevertheless, the creativity and technical nous that all good maps require is evident in Random Quest – periodically, at least. Thanks and good luck with other projects Chris.
20th July 2009
I’ve just realized that the final map is modelled after an earlier map: Serene.
11th August 2009
There wasn’t really any intention to transform it into something else, but the size of the map prevented us from using the whole architecture of the arches etc. Not because of engine limits, but because compiling the map with lighting would be a matter of 3 or 4 hours every time, something which was out of the question.
23rd July 2009
well, i am haveing the same trouble as others in their posts. no health too meny antlions gardians. its either go to god mod or just say play it latter. was fun up to thier though.
8th September 2009
The first two levels were excellent with freedom of choice. The third? …less so. Forced combat that even an FPS veteran like me found insanely difficult, with no alternative solutions. Then it takes a turn for the way too easy with more zombies, and ends with a “run for your life” sequence with the key, I didn’t bother killing most of the guards.
Ending is too abrupt also, and the way the last level completely seems to forget it’s about puzzles and multiple solutions kinda tip it towards mediocre.
16th October 2009
I’ve so far enjoyed it but there are bugs and I’m currently stuck – where the man tells me to find the gem. I look everywhere in the level but don’t see it and I’m stumped -where is it supposed to be?
11th November 2009
I really enjoyed this mod even though It’s kinda short. The choices you make should actually affect the outcome of future chapters, heh, that would be cool. In the first chapter I tried to not kill that prisoner in the jail, he survived, but still at the end battle of the mod, that guy still wants to kill me for killing his brother. (If the prisoner was his brother lol), but still, I loved all the interactions and the scenarios are fantastic. Keep it up with the great work, a sequence is welcome!
12th November 2009
thanks for reviewing the mod gsp you found a good entrance for me to download now.
26th December 2009
I found the visuals to be awesome, and were by far my favorite part of the mod. The story could have been expanded, with less narration. I didn’t mind the gladiator bit, but more varied enemies during that part would have been nice. I rushed through the end battle as I didn’t see the point in fighting everyone, and found the ending very abrupt.
16th January 2010
Just awful.
I really, really wanted to like this mod as I enjoy plot, character, and context in games and mods, but as the title says it’s merely a “random quest” with several bizarre and not very interesting or enjoyable scenes. A radio that doesn’t work? A pointless and dull arena battle? Not to mention the preposterous jumping puzzle early on. If the “masters” had actually been about something, if there had been some real interest or purpose to the final scene,… anything at all.
25th January 2010
Yes. It’s called “Random Quest” for a reason. I feel (and Chris Fox will agree) that it actually turned out very unified in terms of story and theme considering where it all came from and all the transformations it went through.
Next one will be better!
7th April 2010
I enjoyed this mod for what is was and hope it will continue. I agree that the arena area was too tough with 4 antlions and slow loading ammo stations (god mode) and the final scene was a bit much. I didn’t find enough scattered health to fight many rebels and had to find the key and flee, but thats ok as well as in Strider Moutain ( courtyard ) sometimes ya just need to leave to fight another day without clearing the whole area. Overall this map had alot to offer and some thinkng to do and some nice exploration. well done to the authors, thank you
23rd April 2010
PROMISING AND INOVATIVE. PLAY IT!
I must say I liked the opening, very ‘film noir’. The narration brought instant life to this new character, although a few ‘arrr’s’ might have been appropriate. Well he does resemble an old sea salt!
The rain was a nice touch. I would like to see more weather effects in the HL2 universe.
The first map was interesting as you tried to figure out what was happening and then act on the thoughtfully provide narration. But this map had a jump I just could not manage, (see PF pic .18) the small rooftop next to the final one with the ladder. I had to ‘noclip’ it there.
The bridge full of zombies looked a horror, but was actually too easy to cross, unscathed thanks to the wind effect forcing a zigzag path!
I liked the crazy lady, but not enough to stay!
Is it just me? But all I can remember of the Vortigaunts in Half-Life is their willingness to kill humans on sight. So I was pleased to see the V’s in this mod as the human eating monsters I remember. Or is it only the Freeman they cherish!
From here on in, this mod goes disappointingly awry. I mean, me in a cage match with limited health and weapons against FOUR Antlion Guards. You having a ‘bubble’. I was slaughtered again and again! I got through invoking ‘god’ mode, stumbled shot and thumped my way through the zombies to the temple
The only thing to do here was die numerous times as the only way on seemed to be jammed!
Brilliant and flawed..
11th June 2010
Wow, I’m playing very good mods this time
This mod is truly unique, the immersion is really total, the voices are entertaining, and the overall construction of the mod is well done, with many “what the heck” moments such as the beginning in the dungeon, then the weird couple after the zombie bridge, the uneasy alliance with the “masters”…
I wasn’t bothered by the arena fight… In fact, when you get hit by an Antlion near the bottom of the cliff, you get propulsed where the Vorts are and they power you up to 59 energy
The final fight was difficult, however…
Also, the overall tone of the map was really adult and crude… Such as when the dungeon guardians take that woman to do some supposed torture to her, the psychopathy of some characters… I was really uneasy by such display of direct or indirect violence. But I think that overall really improves the overall quality of this mod…
The ending was really poor, also… Such a long fight for “that”… I really hope for the sequel.
Overall, the uniqueness of this mod, his powerful ambiance, his cool story, makes me place it in my favourites…
19th July 2010
I really enjoyed this modification. The voice narrative was a big part of the immersion for me, as well as amusement. I dunno what it is but the guy who does it has a very ‘Proper’ British accent, nothing like I’ve ever heard in my county (Kent). The words he uses like those words from an old fashioned story book, he’s very particular about the words he uses to discribe things, which just makes it really amusing to listen to!
There are a couple of interesting scenes, of which I will mention the one at the start where the guards take the woman from your cell to the caves presumably to be raped. It is interesting that the guards are quite heavy handed, in that if you try to leave the cell when they are present they will shoot you until you die. The Vortigaunts, although the god like ‘masters’ are far from invincible, taking a couple of blasts from the shot gun to kill. This was unexpected for me, I thought they would be invincible like most essential characters.
It is also possible to kill your allies (well, people who don’t attack you, not necessarily allies) which results in your character making some amusing little phrases such as ‘I had no choice’. This phrases do invoke chuckles, especially when they are appropiate or maybe even more so when they are not. Be careful though, if you kill someone too early, you may miss out on a useful piece of information. This mod really does create some very interactive and interesting scenarios. There is a part with two crazy people, both telling a different side of a story regarding the theft of a radio and a battery, that’s all I’m gonna say, you can find out when you play it!
At the end the Vortigaunts pit you against various monsters which you get to kill with an array of weapons. It is also possible to kill these Vortigaunts as well, not once is there a scene where any of them are invincible. It is even possible to blow up the crowd of Vortigaunts watching on with the rocket launcher while they are standing on the hill! They are not dumb though, as they do move to a place of cover after having taken a few of them out, so make it count. Playing this mod reminded me of something that HL2 lacks: intelligent alien life forms. Not trans human, aliens which you can actually kill with human weaponry. It felt so nice to blast the evil Vortigaunts with the shotgun, rather than the usual ‘wild animal’ type aliens of regular Half-Life 2.
The cut scenes are also nice and help contribute to the immersion factor of the game. The story always had me wanting the next bit which I’m sure is a good sign. Also the last bit is set in an area type area which is simply stunning from a visual stand point and not once did it drop under 30 FPS on my low end graphics card while still maintaining fairly high graphical settings.