SP: Duke of Ontranto

[Baker]

Map Name: Duke of Ontranto
Year Made: 2004
Author: Fat Controller
Review Link: Underworld Reviews
Download Link: From Quaddicted fc1.zip



Ontranto is a map single player episode and for me ranks in my personal top 5 favorite maps. This isn't your typical Quake episode by any stretch.

First, there are more custom bad guys in this than I think I've seen in any other set of Quake maps. Eels, archers and I can't even remember what else was in it. Had some interesting wraith-like creatures, I think that I saw from Zerstoerer.

Ontranto plays like a journey to some degree and most of the maps have interesting situations to unravel.

So how is this different? If I recall correctly, it has a swamp, a medieval village and even a entire map set on a boat in what gives off a Mississippi Riverboat feel.

I thought the boat map was the most interesting and remains the map I enjoyed playing the most in the set.

But what really separates this map from others is the fantastic end map where you enter the mighty Duke of Ontranto's court. A true Doom II-style epic battle.

Think a Shambler is fairly tough? The Duke of Ontranto is a mighty opponent, and to me it was great having to fight against an evil king with unconventional attacks that send you reeling.

Perhaps the coolest thing is the epilogue AFTER you defeat the Duke. It won't ruin that Maybe not everyone will agree.

[If this looks somewhat similar to RC2 and RC3 in style, for those that have played those maps on the RQuake server, it is because it is the same author. These aren't the same maps.]

[scar3crow]

I dont really consider the archers custom monsters, he just puts grunts into the theme of the episode with a skin change, firing a nail, and dropping nails when they die.

The wraiths are from Dissolution of Eternity by Rogue, foo. As are the eels. I just finished the riverboat level and am going to play the rest in a bit. The riverboat was quite cool, very reminiscent of Cryptic Passage's riverboat level from Blood, though... he does use a fair amount of Blood textures in this.

But you think the boat trumped the ossuary battle? The three tiered three pronged antechambered laden deathmatch with the wraiths? That was so well set up and tense... he really built it quite well.

[Baker]

The wraiths are from Dissolution of Eternity by Rogue, foo.

I can't keep track of all the custom monsters. I did a 50/50 guess on the wraiths and picked the wrong one.

As are the eels. I just finished the riverboat level and am going to play the rest in a bit. The riverboat was quite cool, very reminiscent of Cryptic Passage's riverboat level from Blood, though... he does use a fair amount of Blood textures in this.

Yeah, the riverboat level is nice!

But you think the boat trumped the ossuary battle? The three tiered three pronged antechambered laden deathmatch with the wraiths? That was so well set up and tense... he really built it quite well.

That was a very tense battle with the wraiths and I clearly remember despite that it was approaching a year since I played this.

Still I liked the riverboat better, I couldn't quite tell you why. I guess because I had a hard time figuring out the riverboat level.

This one has so much good stuff in it that several maps of the entire adventure could be someone's favorite of it.

[sielwolf]

nice choice Baker, one of the most atmospheric episodes I have played, and I also think the riverboat level is just far out..

Interesting sidenote, shortly after release the author released a second version with less monsters/more ammo and of course I didn�t catch the first one( I sent an email but got no reply), would be great to have the first one.

[Monster]

Yeah I also loved this level. Like the medieval village touch to it. Very interesting to play. I enjoy great medieval and exploration levels like this.

[scar3crow]

So I finished Duke of Ontranto, and then "convinced" Lardarse to play it as well, with arguments such as "death in the eye"

I must say, very good, a little bit steep on the ammo side as I was often scraping for anything, and even making a few kills with my axe to save ammo.

Ontranto Swamp - I love swamp themes, but this map didnt quite do it for me, not enough ambience... Blood conveys a better swamp feel, but really you need a less constricted environment for it, which Build is better at. However, he did use Blood textures (forest wall, grass).

Tongs and Bones - This map starts out alright enough, though a bit boring, however its second half is pure brilliance... Starting from the wonderful lightmap detail at the break in the wall and the sloping shadows around the pile of bones. What follows is a tense exploration of a cathedral-esque multi-tiered ossuary, and a series of fights, that for me with my playing style, played out like a slow paced 1v1 deathmatch.

Queen of Ontranto - Very very very much Blood. Exploring the ins and outs of a moving vehicle surrounded by nature. You navigate this steamboat from top to bottom, in and out, akin to the steamboat level found in Blood's Cryptic Passage expansion. Ammo is a good bit tighter on this map, but it is there, you just have to search for it. Variety of environments and the boat feels functional as a party-on-the-river type deal. Only overwhelmed by foes. One of the summoned wraiths however disappeared (Im thinking he flew up over the top of the ship and just never ran into me again ?).

Ontranto Towne - I started this level with I think the base amount of shells, 0 nails, and a handful of grenades. It is brilliant in its non-linearity, as the town feels open, yet also private, as there are locked doors of course, but plenty of open ones as well. Ammo is not immediately visible, but it is there, its just a matter of getting by on what you have to get past the initial enemies for such. This map wins for me on the simple fact that it makes use of multiple keys, keeping in mind that opening a locked door in Quake removes the key from your inventory... I had always wondered why no one made use of that... And now FatController has, to good effect.

Audience - I had to play carefully to survive this... Try to only awaken a handful of enemies at a time, and then avoid them till you can get them far back and eliminate them... repeat ad nauseam, save between battles. Even with this tactic, and getting my hands on a quad, I finished the episode with 2 health and 10 grenades.

Overall, very very good. Some odd things such as the doors clipping through walls when opened on Towne. I am assuming that most of the secrets spawned monsters, as I never found all of the secrets, and never got 100% kills until the final map.

Side note, I got every weapon but the RL, however Lardarse reported he got it "at some point" but couldnt remember where. However he was playing on Easy and myself on Normal, so that might have been what caused it... I certainly could have used it on Audience.

[Lardarse]

I didn't really need it...

What I did need though was impulse 12. No having that made it a lot harder for me, and my ammo usage was thrown by it

[Baker]

What I did need though was impulse 12.

What is it with some of these single player mods not having impulse 12? Why would you base the QuakeC off of something other than 1.06?

I hate it when the handful of single player maps with custom QuakeC support impulse 10 (prev weapon) but not impulse 12 (next weapon).

Annoying!

The first time I played one of these with no impulse 12 support, I at first thought it was an engine bug.

[spooker]

omg omg, perhaps the best ive ever played. ive never seen such effort and variety put into environments. i usually play on a measly 320x240 but i cranked it up to a whopping (hah) 640x480 for this mod, and took about 50 screenshots. the first time i saw a death was terrifying

[Lardarse]

What is it with some of these single player mods not having impulse 12? Why would you base the QuakeC off of something other than 1.06?

I hate it when the handful of single player maps with custom QuakeC support impulse 10 (prev weapon) but not impulse 12 (next weapon).

Annoying!

The first time I played one of these with no impulse 12 support, I at first thought it was an engine bug.

Well... 2 reasons:

1: Based off of the 1.01 code instead of 1.06 (LTH's maps are because of this reason)

2: Removed by the coder. (Iikka Keränen did this in his IKguns patch because "No one uses this anyway")

Btw: 10 is next, 12 is previous.

[golden_boy]

I just examined it for about 20 minutes. I didn't really play through it, just took a good look at each of the maps. So I can't criticize gameplay, only theme, architecture and execution.

This is a joke, right? It's a blatant ripoff. He tried to cross-breed Hexen 2 with Quake and add assorted (crappy) custom monsters.

The town level is a mix between "the Nameless City" and Hexen2's courtyard unit. Down to the destroyable furniture. The texturing (combination of Hexen walls/columns/windows/furniture with Episode1 checkerboard floor and Quake windows) doesn't really work. The medieval architecture is sketchy at best. The Quake weapons and items (and monsters) don't mix with the theme, either.

I'm only wondering why he didn't use the Hexen2 monsters, if he was so fascinated by the game, or make a H2 map in the first place, instead of using the crappy "archers" and standard Quake weaponry. Anyone who ever played Hexen2 will remember its brilliantly done archers (real enemies, not redecorated grunts.)

I'm a regular Hexen2/Praevus player. If you like this, you should rather try the real thing. You can download the Hexen2 and Praevus demos, they're free.

ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/hexen2/h2demo.exe (11 MB)

http://www.ravensoft.com/hexen2.html

http://www.ravensoft.com/portal.html

Sorry to sound harsh. But it's really obvious.

/rant off

[scar3crow]

o_O
You just criticized it on the virtue of Hexen2's gameplay, after having said you only looked at the maps, not played.

As for why he didnt do it in Hexen2, perhaps, despite your claim that they dont mix in well... he likes the enemies. Im not a fan of the archer skinnings, but he places the monsters well in this episode. Perhaps you should actually play the episode before you call it a joke.

And its not a crime to be derivative of what you enjoy, consider it an homage at least in intent to Hexen2, as much as it is to Blood (Steam Boat and Boggy Creek of Cryptic Passage anyone?).

Play the maps, if you dont enjoy them, Im sorry. Granted it doesnt start that great, but the closing battle of Tongs and Bones as well as the pacing of Queen of Ontranto and Ontranto Towne in ammo, monsters, health, and the non-linearity of the latter map particularly are just wonderful. And thats not something you can gauge by just loading up the map and noclipping around.

[golden_boy]

You just criticized it on the virtue of Hexen2's gameplay, after having said you only looked at the maps, not played.

I'd define gameplay as monster/item placement, 3D-ness, interconnectiveness, available weapons etc. That was just what I didn't want to criticize. The maps may have brilliant gameplay, and they may be fun, that wasn't my point. I was only crizicizing the obvious (not very skillful) imitating of hexen2 visuals and architecture (and throwing them into a hodgepodge with Quake and Blood visuals) and saying that those don't mix with Quake style weapons and items (which are employed here). I hereby state that it's only I.M.O. and in the future I will keep M.O. to myself when it isn't positive.

Hexen2's gameplay is very different than Quake's, it's a) hub-based and b) centers around finding and combining items as opposed to Quake's find-the-exit style (not to take away from that, though.)

Perhaps you should actually play the episode before you call it a joke.

I wasn't referring to actual gameplay value, just to the basic mapping style (architecture/texturing, choice of elements from very different styles.) Those are things that can be seen by just examining the map per se.

its not a crime to be derivative of what you enjoy, consider it an homage at least in intent to Hexen2, as much as it is to Blood

Right. I do. I just said I thought it wasn't executed well. I think an homage should honor the original, not break it down and use its parts for decoration.

the closing battle of Tongs and Bones as well as the pacing of Queen of Ontranto and Ontranto Towne in ammo, monsters, health, and the non-linearity of the latter map particularly are just wonderful. And thats not something you can gauge by just loading up the map and noclipping around.

I wasn't trying to gauge those things. I can't :-) Neither did I noclip around. I took the intended path until I got put off (is that allowed?) and then just used god mode because I really wanted to see the rest. Hey, I could have quit after the second map but I took the time to look around.

[scar3crow]

and in the future I will keep M.O. to myself when it isn't positive.

No, keep your opinion to yourself until youve played the entirety of the product.

Then review it justly. It is okay to say this episode sucks. I will disagree. Just say it after youve played it 100%

[golden_boy]

scarecrow, it was never meant as a full review. I didn't want to comment on its entirety, I just commented on parts of it. I thought I made that clear.