Page 13 of 29

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 2:18 am
by Laconius
Hmm, I'd also like to mention that the currently released version is considered the "Easy" version.  When compared to the gameplay videos that I posted before, many segments were nerfed in order to accommodate the average StarCraft player.  Nevertheless, I believe I crafted VE so that the gameplay is constantly demanding the player's attention.  In any given scenario within the maps, you are ALWAYS under harassment; hence, I believe this is close to the true atmosphere of what many Protoss on Aiur had to endure within the 4 year timeline.

For example:

(I suggest you read the following after your first playthrough attempt, otherwise you won't understand a good majority of it.)
Spoiler
In Map 1:
-Khashilar's stats were increased to 200 shields and 240 HP from 160 shields and 200 HP.
-Rastadon's stats were increased to 240 shields and 240 HP from 200 shields and 240 HP.
-Scourges now do 60 damage instead of their original 120.
-Guardians do 15 damage instead of their original 20.
-Enemy ground unit spawn rates for the Caravan Escort were reduced; Galleons also recieved a boost in HP and armor.
-Enemy ground unit spawn rates for the Hallucination Push were also reduced.
-Enemy air unit spawn rates for the Island Defense objective were drastically nerfed.
-Finally, enemy units recieved reductions to their overall upgrade limits.

Map 2:
-The enemy waves for the first and second skirmish objectives were drastically reduced.  (By half!)
-A unit death cap had previously been put in place (eg. keeping unit death rates to a minimum), but was removed in the easy version.
-Reduced the stats of the minions spawned during the boss fight.
-Reduced the boss' damage.
-The difficulty level for the summit level remains relatively unchanged.  That's because you are pit against IskatuMesk's very own custom Zerg AI.  If you are able to survive this section without using cheats, then you have truly made me proud.
-Allied fleets during the Summit Onslaught segment now arrive with twice their originally projected numbers.
(Also, thanks to Metathrom, RCX, and Desler for allowing me usage of their previous works as cameo references; I truly believed they spiced up this segment.)
-All heroes during the Summit Onslaught segment will constantly have their HP and Shields restored in order to promote the taste of victory.

Map 3:
-The first boss' stats were cut in half; her set upgrades were also reduced.
-Minions spawn less frequently during the first boss fight and also had their damaged reduced.
-Shield batteries during the first boss fight also activate more often.
-The Massive Onslaught segment's difficulty remains relatively unchanged.  Once again, you and your allies are pit against IskatuMesk's custom Zerg AI.  It makes for quite an epic battle, if you ask me.
-The final boss fight is just cakewalk.  Have fun abusing his special attacks. :)
Overall, it is my sincere wish that no one use cheats while playing VE, as it will definately ruin the overall experience.  If you have any questions regarding gameplay or strategies for the aforementioned segments, I will be glad to assist you.

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 8:47 am
by Symmetry
Downloading now! Should be able to play them in an hour or so :P

I've been looking forward to this for some time. I'll post replays+feedback once I've finished it.

EDIT: I guess there won't be replays, they got bugged up. I still have the second and third missions to complete so I'll have feedback soon.

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 12:06 pm
by omega20
I've found a major bug on map 2:
Spoiler
When I destroy the first Zerg mining base, there's a cutscene in which Khashilar (the zealot hero) says he want to continue alone. However, after the Reaver destroys the mineral blockade, he doesn't do nothing. Just stands there quiet, making it impossible for me to continue any further. I don't know if this is a bug or if I just did something wrong.

EDIT: It appears that Krazy managed to get to the Mithras battle, so it must be something I did wrong... I don't know what could it be, however.

Overall, I must congratulate you for your work on this campaign. I played map 1 and... well, I found it very fun to kill those waves of Zerg coming for me on the second mission (the one you get Rastadon and you use those decoy 'hallucinated' units). A bit tricky at the first, but once you've destroyed a few hatcheries/lairs/hives it becomes easier. ;) Also, the third mission (the one of the island) is a bit more difficult. In the few last minutes, I got owned by those waves of Mutalisks, Guardians and Scourges. I save the mission, luckly, and I managed to beat it at the third time.

As for map two, the only mission I was able to complete was the first one (due to the 'bug'). It was easier than the others, mostly because in this one I can use more units.
Anyways, excellent work. Long time has been since I played an entirely voiced campaign. I hope to see more from you soon, pal. ;)

Cheers!

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:18 pm
by Krazy
At 2:40 runtime, this might be the shortest completed campaign in the contest.

Also, Mithras is such a noob ;)  Mithras Battle

And some other feedback:  
Spoiler
I was kinda confused by the plot, honestly.  Who are these three hero evil dark templar?  Where did they come from?  Why are they trying to kill Imrian?  Why do they command hybrid forces?  I was hooked by the plot, and wanted to know more, and was a little disappointed that I never really got a very clear sense of the villains' motives or origin.

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 4:08 pm
by Laconius
Krazy wrote: And some other feedback: 
Spoiler
I was kinda confused by the plot, honestly.  Who are these three hero evil dark templar?  Where did they come from?  Why are they trying to kill Imrian?  Why do they command hybrid forces?  I was hooked by the plot, and wanted to know more, and was a little disappointed that I never really got a very clear sense of the villains' motives or origin.
Spoiler
I was focusing mainly on gameplay issues, so the villains may get their story enhanced in a future update. It was left open for further exploitation in further maps, since the initial campaign is primarily focused on Imrian's forces getting to the warp gate.  To be honest, I'm glad I didn't reveal too much about the DT's at this initial juncture, because that would have killed any sense of mystery that they possessed.  (Which, once again, I could exploit in future maps.)

EDIT: This part of the reply has been edited about 42 times because I'm tired as f*ck and I'm trying to sound professional here. :P
omega20 wrote: I've found a major bug on map 2:
Spoiler
When I destroy the first Zerg mining base, there's a cutscene in which Khashilar (the zealot hero) says he want to continue alone. However, after the Reaver destroys the mineral blockade, he doesn't do nothing. Just stands there quiet, making it impossible for me to continue any further. I don't know if this is a bug or if I just did something wrong.
Hmm strange.  I've never run into this bug before after the 57485743 times playing the map.  Were you playing on fastest game speed?  If not, try reloading to an earlier save point and set it to fastest to see if it works.

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 5:16 pm
by omega20
Laconius wrote: Hmm strange.  I've never run into this bug before after the 57485743 times playing the map.  Were you playing on fastest game speed?  If not, try reloading to an earlier save point and set it to fastest to see if it works.
Ok, I'll try that, I hope it works...

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 6:24 pm
by Dem0nS1ayer
Ahhh, you used music from PSO!!  I love that game! :D

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 5:23 am
by omega20
omega20 wrote:
Laconius wrote: Hmm strange.  I've never run into this bug before after the 57485743 times playing the map.  Were you playing on fastest game speed?  If not, try reloading to an earlier save point and set it to fastest to see if it works.
Ok, I'll try that, I hope it works...
Great! It worked! Thanks! :D
Spoiler
I've played Mithras battle. Kinda easy for me, specially when most of time Mithras kept borrowing/unborrowing all the time. Great work anyways. When do you expect to download the 'hard' version of the campaign ;)

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 5:30 am
by Laconius
omega20 wrote:
Spoiler
I've played Mithras battle. Kinda easy for me, specially when most of time Mithras kept borrowing/unborrowing all the time. Great work anyways. When do you expect to download the 'hard' version of the campaign ;)
Spoiler
StarCraft's brilliant AI at its finest.

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 6:59 am
by omega20
Laconius wrote:
omega20 wrote:
Spoiler
I've played Mithras battle. Kinda easy for me, specially when most of time Mithras kept borrowing/unborrowing all the time. Great work anyways. When do you expect to download the 'hard' version of the campaign? ;)
Spoiler
StarCraft's brilliant AI at its finest.
Spoiler
Yeah, it looks kinda stupid.

I'm now with the defense mission from map 2, the one in which you must defend the three outposts. Imrian's outpost is very close to the Zerg base at the center of the map, at with those damned sunken owning my Photon Cannons each time I build them, I must relay primarily on ground units to defend it. However, they're swiftly killed by the Zerg units, and I must pay all my attention on that outpost while also watching carefully over the other two,as the Zerg also attacks them and the computer sometimes just sit there waiting for their bases to be destroyed. (not a bug. It just looks like the computer doesn't seem to rebuild the cannons that are destroyed, and doesn't spawn many units neither.)

It's difficult, yet fun. II'll tell you when I manage to beat it. ;)

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 3:34 pm
by Dem0nS1ayer
Spoiler
The ending is pretty epic.  Aurioch/Imrian is sexy as hell.  I love that passive attack!

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 7:07 pm
by Laconius
Spoiler
omega20 wrote: I'm now with the defense mission from map 2, the one in which you must defend the three outposts. Imrian's outpost is very close to the Zerg base at the center of the map, at with those damned sunken owning my Photon Cannons each time I build them, I must relay primarily on ground units to defend it. However, they're swiftly killed by the Zerg units, and I must pay all my attention on that outpost while also watching carefully over the other two,as the Zerg also attacks them and the computer sometimes just sit there waiting for their bases to be destroyed. (not a bug. It just looks like the computer doesn't seem to rebuild the cannons that are destroyed, and doesn't spawn many units neither.)
Spoiler
Yeah, I previously had set it so the AI would mine minerals in the inactive bases, but they kept sending all of their probes into the zerg base for some reason, ALONG with their units.  So I was just like "Fuck it" and made the inactive bases literally "inactive" so that the player would have a greater challenge in defending them. 

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 2:36 am
by IskatuMesk
What did you guys think of Imrian's voice?

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 4:07 am
by Symmetry
Haven't had a chance to finish this yet - so I'll be a little while on a review - but one thing I noticed is that at least one of the hotkeys doesn't work (the build Immortal). I don't remember if the other changed ones work or not.

Re: StarCraft: Vile Egression [Completed]

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:09 am
by Dem0nS1ayer
IskatuMesk wrote: What did you guys think of Imrian's voice?
I thought it was sexy.  I love the way it echoed right before he actually said the word.  I'm guessing you did the voice?  Nice job.