Dissregard this application. If I ever come back to FH I may rejoin. All I got to say is. Wow, if RH ever turns on again they are going to be really far behind.
Thanks to Jessica Alba for the sig!
:D
Last edited by ForgeGod117; 07-26-2009 at 11:08 PM.
I wrote these in Microsoft Word in different fonts so I could tell them apart, so that's why they look strange...
Silex
SILEX
When I first looked at Silex, I was very confused as too its layout, but eventually, very slower, I began to understand it and play better because of it. Silex is a very, very complex map, even though it seems as like its just a four corner setup, its got some complicated structures throughout its area. The structures themselves are very awkward at times, hard to navigate, especially in the center structure, and are kind of connected together threw odd pathways.
I know I kind-of started out on the negative side of the spectrum, I will change gears and go around to the positive side. First off, (I played a 4v4 slayer and a 4 person FFA), the structures that house the weapons each had a different component that, whether you tried to or not, made that weapon good.. in that structure, even if that meant climbing too a different elevation of the structure. An exception of this can be seen in your actual post, you stated that the sniper is very good to hold the bridge with, and it is. Several times I would steal the sniper from a dead teammate,(for some reason I could never flippin get it in the beginning, thnx silent oo death :D), and run straight up to the bridge and start popping 50 mm rounds into people’s brains. This would go on for a while, not too long, until someone would get their team in motion and come up there and kill me. If I would ever actually run out of sniper ammo, usually I died before this happened, I would run down and camp rockets like the noob I am, most often dying before actually completing my task. Rockets on the map actually balanced out most of the other power weapons, snipers and sword namely, because although it was in the very middle, most teams would go for one or the other, resulting in balance’ness. The sword was placed at a very strategic place on the map, playing a part in the team’s choice over whether or not it wanted the high ground and rockets, or low ground with cover and sword. It was also a very nicely placed risk versus reward, as it was an easily grenade spam-able position. Finally, before I go into the treacherous lands of the cons of a map, let me tell you that I loved your aesthetics. Although some of the structures seemed weird, they made up for themselves by having very nicely touched up aesthetic pieces, some very distinguished making the map easier to be remembered. I especially enjoyed the center piece with the sword and power drain.
And now it is time for the cons, oh no! Ha ha, but really I have seem some few key errors in the map that in my opinion, if fixed would make the map 10X better. For one, as I already previously mentioned, many of the buildings and towers, bridges, although aesthetically beautifully executed, were very awkward game-play wise, and did not provide much fluid movement. One of the greatest examples of this on your map that I did have problems with was the bases. They looked great from an artist’s point of view, but when I was actually trying to play a game of slayer, they were both very confusing, and also hard to conquer. What I mean by confusing is that the underground of the base is almost like a maze, as it is very hard to maneuver with all the walls and different double block and the hallways those said Double blocks make. In difficulty in conquering, I am referring to how the bases only have one entry point in them, the man-cannon, which is easily camp-able, as a simple nade toss designates death to the person coming up it. The spawns were decent, I didn’t have any problems, although sometimes I would spawn a good distance away from my team.
Overall, to make this a better map, I would suggest changing a few things. First off, try and make the bases a little less confusing, and adding a second entry point into them. Second, relocate the snipers, as one team overpowering the other in the initial twenty or so seconds in the game meant that one team would have both snipers, leading to some much skewed game-play. Finally, don’t focus your structures all on aesthetics, leave a little (or a lot) room for actual fighting.
Don’t take my opinions as insults, I just wanted to show what I think, and what could be improved.
Void Ridge
When I first looked at the map, I was very intrigued by the aesthetics features, as you have some very cool structures throughout the map, and so I DL, much to your liking :D. I started it up with a friend, and we played a match on it. When I first spawn, I must say, I was very confused, and it took me a good while to just find the other guy I was supposed to fight. Once I got my bearings down, it was very easy to distinguish from the different hallways, however, there was still a few problems with short corridors that led to strange jumps. Some of these jumps I didn’t realize for the entire game, others were right in front, and I could just utilize them immediately. The weapons on the map were evenly enough spaced, although on a few occasions, I was thwarted by my friend camping around a tight corner with the mauler. The plasma rifles in the center sand pit were pretty well placed, as you could pick them up and immediately blast your opponent with a stream of shield draining goodness. Following draining of the shields however, many times my friend would go around a corner and run. This was very frustrating, as even if his shields were low, he could slip away, and if I followed him, he would just spam the hell out of me with countless grenades.
Changing lanes, I didn’t have too much trouble with spawns, only having a couple of instances, such as when I spawned in the direct middle of the pit, allowing my friend to easily out play me, in his own way of the grenade spam. The central top hole worked out pretty well, although it was kinda hard to jump across, seeing as the roof was so low, and several times I just fell down due to my impatient ness. Camo worked out decently in the spot you put it in, but I suggest another spot, such as right before you get killed by the guardians in the open room, as that gives enough time for the person without camo to get just enough shots on the person that does, before they in fact make a get-away.
The place where you can jump out to get killed by the guardians was defiantly a good idea, very original at that, however it creates too many problems more than it helps. First of all, simply the guardian constantly shooting is damn annoying, and I had to turn down my tv volume to spare my brain a headache. Second, grenades would randomly explode early due to the effects of the laser, making grenades unpredictable, unlike usually, they can be a game winner. Lastly, I was actually killed several times by standing too close to a wall, allowing a guardians blast to indirectly brush up against me, instantly killing me. Oh, did I tell you about the sound?
Overall, Void Ridge was a decent map to play on, I enjoyed my first go around on it, but by the second game we played, its originality started getting old, and even started to get frustrating. A few tips for a V2, you might want to go ahead and just redo most of the hallways extending out of the middle, as they are very camp-able, you might also just, as cool as it looks, take out the guardian kill spot as it just causes too much trouble to leave.
Lastly, rework a few of the grenades, as I was getting grenade kills out of the wahzoo.
Thanks for reading, if you do. I’m glad I could help, If I did :D
Barren Creek
Ah, back to the days of halo 2. A time for most of very fun experiences, a time for some to be noobs, such as myself, and just totally get destroyed.. :D Besides Coagulation of course, Beaver creek was my favorite map to play on, whether I was just screwing around with my friends, or actually playing some hardcore customs. The map you have made here really and truly reminds me of the original, whether I was crawling around on the tin cup river, or snaking my way up to sniper tower, I always felt immersed into the Halo 2 map. Constructing this map must of taken many long hours of dedication, getting every spawn point, and also weapon placement, but in the end it defiantly shows through. I want to go ahead and point out what I thought were the pitfalls of the map, so I guess I will get onto that…
In your attempt to replicate almost every last detail of the halo 2 map, I think you might have forgotten that halo 3 plays a lot differently than its predecessor. I know you were going for an absolutely perfect remake, but in my opinion, you can’t really create one. In my mind, Halo 2 maps should not be copied onto the canvas of forge on Halo3, but yet, remade in the hopes of providing similar game-play, but on the Halo3 pallet. These few, although mentioned mistakes in the map that make it different from Halo2s’, such as the longer weapon spawns, and the needler’s lack in power, really contributed to the overall game-play in the original Beaver Creek. Rockets and sniper were crucial to controlling the map, as whoever could time the weapons correctly would gain the upper hand in a game. With Halo 3 however, the maximum time you have to work with is 180 seconds, making the power weapons, such as the previously mentioned Rockets and Sniper, spawn two times as fast. As you know, with such an abundance of ammo, or even just the initial acquiring of these weapons quickly establishes dominance with whoever obtains them. Moving on to areas other than weapons, I really wanted to address the fact that I can break out over many areas of the map, including a place near rocket spawn, and a place near the back of blue base, places I am mentioning because they are the simplest, and allow access to some nice camping spaces.
That was actually a very difficult paragraph to write, as in all honesty, I didn’t have much trouble with the map. The spawns, as you said, were very close to the original, and I actually popped in my old Halo 2 to try and prove you wrong. As funny as it was to me, I couldn’t, and I congratulate you on that. The aesthetics, and the way this remake resembles the original astounded me, and I must admit I still invite friends to my game so I can show them a remake. ( I tell them you built it though, don’t worry about it) Most of the weapons were pretty well placed, as I can’t really argue with Bungie, as they placed the weapons in the first place, although you know I still have a slight problem with the more powerful ones and their spawn times. The river was pretty cool, and actually fit the name very well, what with being barren and such… J
For a Halo 2 remake, I must say, this has to be one of the most accurate. From the hundreds of suicides you must have put yourself through, and the almost perfect structural replication, I congratulate you once again, on a job well done. Now a Coagulation “remake”….If only, if only :P
Brobios
For the smallness of this map, I quite enjoyed playing on it, even though usually, these small of maps aren’t my cup of Joe. Playing this map was definitely a different experience for me, as most maps released these days have so many playability errors that make me not even want to replay them. On this map, however, I played it about 3 times, each time enjoyable as the last, and maybe even more so as I learned some of the jumps and such.
I guess I’ll start out with the pros of the map, as I generally like it, and had more to say about the good parts of it. First off, your aesthetics are pretty top notch for such a simple design, you pulled it off very well. Getting off the old beaten path of aesthetic praise, and on to game play, I must say, the spawns worked out quite well. I only had one inopportune spawn, when I spawned almost directly in front of one of the other team (we were playing a 2v2), I got grenaded, and died. Other than that, most of the spawns worked out, and it was even intriguing wondering where I was going to spawn next, what I would have to do to regain the ground from my opponents. The weapons were averagely placed, I mainly say this because of the amounts of rounds in the BR’s, it seems as though I never ran out of BR ammo. The needlers were pretty well placed, and served as a great way to take over an area of the map my enemies seemed they were controlling for a long time. Having the mauler in the middle was what I think the best weapon placement on the map, as you had to go smack dab in the middle to get the weapon, and usually, you had to stay around that area to get kills with it. If you strayed out of the middle structure with the mauler, most likely you died before you could even take the high ground. The carbines, if I am going to go ahead and say something bad in my “good” paragraph, were pretty uselessly placed on the map, as with all the BR’s on the map had very good positions, and unless you just really wanted to risk dying to get a carbine, most of the time I left them where they were, and most games they stayed exactly where they spawned.
And now for the cons of the map as I saw them, there weren’t many of them, but I thought I might as well throw them out there in case you are thinking of a V2. First of all, breaks of lines of sight were very well placed in most of the map, however, in some places, they arguably broke game-play. One such example is on the center structure, with your fins, as I would many times start shooting at a guy, he would just hop in-between the fin, back and forth till his shields recharged. Another is just simply between the center of the map and the needler spawn; it was a death pit, even for the reward of the needler. Secondly, and although this benefited me during games, the BR’s on the games I played ruled the top weapon kills. If you were a decent BR’r, you would be able to take out most of your opposition. If you have a good BR, such as myself :D, you can rule the whole map simply without ever having too move from the high ground area on the sides, that is if you can keep ammo, and a few grenades on hand, which I did, much to the disapproval of my enemies :P.
Congratulations on having an actually very fun custom made map in halo 3, which is something, as disappointing as it is, not very often seen in a competitive map. You’ve seen here what I think needs to be fixed, and what I like, so I’m gone.
Well, that's that. Done and done. Hope I can be a part of the team.
Enjoyment:Mephisto is a small well built map. Solo had a mean presentation on the fact every single curve had a purpose. First forging threw the map as well
later on when I played this map in FFA, then did I realize how crafty he was. The map didn't feel at all small at its max capacity.(6 players) I had a
wonderful little match up with some random players in my Freaky tgif party. They all enjoyed it and so did I.
7
Balance: The map has only a few weapons that often balance out each other well. No where did I feel that the sniper, or carbine were all powerful. That could
be just the lack of flavor on the map. This map was build on being cut and dry and didn't need all the flavor. I rather see this map enlarged and added onto
out side of foundry than a map full of Pink and purple weapons. Solo keep close to this design you could actually make a wonderful 4v4 map with a close to
similar layout. That is due to just how effective your map felt to me in game. Perfectly balanced with the amount of players in game.
7
Durability: The map has its limits, not in a bad way but clearly if you go overboard with to many players you will break spawn systems. That is the key to
this map being successful, and your limit was actually lower then what I tested it on. Which shows your map can take a beating and still work fine. With the
aspect of both being fully encased and boxed off I do not see someone posting this map is broken in any way. I do worry for team games that the sides will
become more common spawn points, but remember ladies the map can only have so many different spawns as the map size allows.
9
Aesthetics: The map has a lot to offer in ideas, but often doesn't stroke a single course idea. The two trucks out in the background of the map do little to
add to this feel. Thou it is something to look at your not nailing the look of something iconic, but rather something more of the same. You pounded out
wonderful geomerged items as well fussed all the walls in damn near perfect perception, the issue is that your fence boxes leave room for the eye to see a deep
chasm on the other side of the map void of life. I would try and see some city scape or eye candy more than just trucks.
5
Originality: It is hard to put the finger on which style your map is based on. You asked for me to play MLG settings but also listed a variety of other game
types not meant for MLG. I choice FFA on the basis Of being able to test a variety of members to see there style and enjoyment on the map. They loved it so
I'll side with there unannounced view of the map. It was quite original in the fact no one has in a long time forged in the back halls of foundry. I think you
forged this map at a key time. Both with the shadow of Sandbox stealing the lime light, as well the wake of Ghost merging, your map emerged perfect timing to
spark much more enjoyable content out of the OLD king of forge(Foundry).
9
8 overall. I think you should pocket this design for the sake you have a wonderful talent of balancing maps. I was almost tempted on giving you a 10, but I'm a mean reviewing individual. Make a map that forces me to put down a 10 instead. I know you can. Happy forging.
Enjoyment:I was hard pressed on the pictures caption you took for this map. The center is a very key structure in all of this map. IN its quake a found a few other teed bits of enjoyable features.Both with the addition of an ever rare prowler placement. The map had many key flash and eye candy that drew me into DL and placing this map in the review slot. I played it and felt semi satisfied. I would suggest trying to avoid to much flavor and variety and cut down to more basic game play elements. Your taking some big leaps in challenging the system, this is all fine and perfect for forge. Just keep the eye of the map to being able to play with out end. Valhalla has tons of weapons but they have certain uses... some of your weapons take over the field.
5
Balance: I looked through your map the first night I DL it. The map looks promising with both a center that breaks lines of sight as well the addition of many weapons and guns. SO much in fact I couldn't keep up with them. I know Sand trap has tons of weapons and vehicles, if you were going that route of things I would have suggest a larger center base, and a much small team bases. The problem you bare now is that the map is difficult to transverse by what ever means the players choices. If one player choices to run off with the prowler, he could get 2 splatters just because your path ways are that narrow. The flip side is that prowler could continue driving and desire a certain splatter and run into a wall and get wedged into the map. That breaks game play for the soul fact that a player wants to know he died to a fair kill. Just because he got caught in your forge trap should not allude to his death in that moment. With the amount of fire power your map drops down this is ever so present. I also thought the power ups were in an odd place.
6
Durability: For the CTF game variant I played on this map worked well with the given spawns. The players always had plenty of weapons for them to pick and choice from. The problem i felt was that the map bore so much variety that I often times felt the need to go on my own to do something. O' I need to take out this sniper and get it from that opponent of mine. That was more of a personal goal, not so much a team objective. I would love to see a map of yours that you focused more on team play. Possibly in a crypt or foundry setting. You should also continue to focus on large maps. With your desire to play this much of a variety of weapons your sure to find the map best suited for them.
8
Aesthetics: The map yielded a lot of different forge ideas. Both with the center Flower as you described it as well the bases which were very opposite of each other. If you continued to have a curved aspect on the bases it would have felt much more at home. I loved the base layouts but they didn't match that center is all I'm alluding to. The weapons on the map matched the conflict of the time with the mostly convy feel of things. I consider you look into ways of adding different sides to how maps can feature two different weapons. Possibly both Covy and humans, because some players love the human weapons over the covy. But for the selection of style your map had a well found tone of it being a high build map, with large 2 stories consistently threw out the map.
Originality: I think if you add in to consideration the Prowler, chopper and ghosts into the mix of being an original map to feature all 3 at once as something new and exciting, I would say it is. The map featured all the vehicles in new and exciting ways. The kicker was they had some conflicts with the flow of the map, that I'm sure you can learn from.
7
Overall 6. I feel I gave you a bit more room to expand on your map design concepts. Your dangerously creative and can have the means of creating something never seen before. If you have a chance sit down and focus on the key issues of this map and learn more about the balance issues of this map. I know your slowly getting it with the very close match up of weapons you picked but you didn't quite have it. Continue to forge I'll help you along the way. As should all of here at FH.
Aesthetics: I feel this map is a wonderful rendition of the new to come Pelican I alluded to in my simple post in his thread. The Pelican felt much more real in this picture than ever forged before. The size and shape of the objects he picked fell right into the correct place. The only pop marks i could differ with were the size of the fins on the front. They lacked a sloping action. I would have gone with a smaller object. Besides of that this design could easily be placed into a map cutting of objects to save budget but your map could feel exactly like Valhalla in moments with this pelican ghost merged into a sand dune on this map.
17
Originality: The hardest part of this review is the value to decide how original it is. I seen a pelican done for aesthetics done before. I have not seen it done on sand box and its All mighty forge capitalize map. I'll say this with the switch and extra addition of a play with effect to show it shooting down a wraith I'll say it would be ...
4
8 over all. If you continue to make things Try digging into different ideas, your a wonderful designer of aesthetics and with out you leading these types of ideas map would all to often fall into a shadow of gray and repeating effects.
06-28-2009
Linear Mode
