Unreal: what difficulty for a first playthrough?

[Nembras]

I am about to go blind into my first playthrough of Unreal (to be precise, Unreal Gold with the oldunreal 227 patch). Having no experience whatsoever with the franchise, my biggest worry is finding the appropriate difficulty level for me to play on. I have no idea how the difficulty ramps up throughout the game, and I'd hate to start with what seems a decent challenge, only to hit a wall of insurmountable odds halfway through the game. Or the other way around, it would suck to start out easy with the promise of a challenge later on, only for that challenge never to materialize.

 

For reference:

• I can usually play old games like Doom, Duke3D, Quake, etc on their respective highest (non-bullshit) difficulty without any problem.
• Valiant is the most difficult Doom wad I've completed so far. On UV, it posed a more than decent challenge and forced me to play at the maximum of my skills
• Since Unreal seems like a very atmospheric game, I don't want combat to be too big of an obstacle. I don't mind dying from time to time, but I don't want to have to attempt a level or encounter more than two to three times, either.
• I'm also not looking for difficulty that originates solely from enemies being more bullet spongey than on easier levels. No fun in shooting half my ammo at one single dude.

 

Given all that, does anyone have any insights to help me select the appropriate difficulty?

[lazygecko]

The enemies in the game are bullet spongey enough as they are on normal difficulty (this was a common trend in shooters at the time as a way to compensate for fewer total enemies rendered at once, when polygon characters are more expensive than sprites). Pretty sure higher difficulties will also scale their health up, so it's better to stick to normal difficulty.

[Grazza]

It's been a long time since I played it all the way through, but I think I played it first of all on whatever the one below Normal* is called Medium, and bumped it up to Unreal to replay it. I recall it being fun both times, though the final boss was quite the bitch on the top difficulty.

 

* Apparently there isn't one called "Normal".

Edited September 7, 2020 by Grazza

[Bucket]

Normal will be fine. You'll probably die more from the environment anyway.

[Midnight_00]

Well, the difference is that there's more enemies on higher difficulties, they're faster and more aggressive and I think the item placement is stricter. Playing Unreal isn't quite the same as Doom or Quake, since the enemies individually are already a lot more relentless and agile and precise aiming is more important. I'd go with Normal to start with based on your description of what you want. I do remember there being a few very tough spots on Hard.

[HQDefault]

Unreal isn't quite so much about a challenging gameplay experience, moreso as it is about exploration, so normal is fine.

 

Admittedly the early segments of the game are very forgiving, but it does ramp up the challenge towards the last third of the game. Which works because this is also about when it starts to shift the focus more to its combat loop.

[Nembras]

This was exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Thank you very much for the input, everyone. 

[Jello]

I think the last time, and the only time, I completed the original Unreal was on medium. And the Skaarj were bitches. They were really good at dodging shots and they soaked up ammo. It wasn't bad until I hit the last third of the game, but even on medium it got really difficult just because the Skaarj Assassins and Lords could take so much damage and they were really good at rolling and dodging shots.

 

First playthrough: Medium. If you want to go back for more punishment, be my guest. Honestly I enjoyed Return to Na Pali more, mainly due to it giving you a functional automatic rifle.

 

From what I recall, Unreal was a good game; and it was absolutely gorgeous at the time. But towards the end the difficulty spikes drastically.

[[McD] James]

I played through it with the fan patch on whatever the second-highest difficulty was. I know that it had a few difficulty options not available in the base release. From my experience, the difficulty felt absolutely perfect. 

 

1 hour ago, Jello said:

I think the last time, and the only time, I completed the original Unreal was on medium. And the Skaarj were bitches. They were really good at dodging shots and they soaked up ammo. It wasn't bad until I hit the last third of the game, but even on medium it got really difficult just because the Skaarj Assassins and Lords could take so much damage and they were really good at rolling and dodging shots.

 

First playthrough: Medium. If you want to go back for more punishment, be my guest. Honestly I enjoyed Return to Na Pali more, mainly due to it giving you a functional automatic rifle.

 

From what I recall, Unreal was a good game; and it was absolutely gorgeous at the time. But towards the end the difficulty spikes drastically.

 

I remember Return to Na Pali being alright, but uneven and buggy. My game soft locked at least once because one of the scripted events didn't properly trigger. 

[Jello]

1 hour ago, Ajora said:

I played through it with the fan patch on whatever the second-highest difficulty was. I know that it had a few difficulty options not available in the base release. From my experience, the difficulty felt absolutely perfect. 

 

 

I remember Return to Na Pali being alright, but uneven and buggy. My game soft locked at least once because one of the scripted events didn't properly trigger. 

Never had that problem myself. The original game to to have more issues that the Mission Pack. Maybe I just got lucky.

 

But yeah, back when Unreal, and Return to Na Pali were released, they were a visual feast. I mean, there we no comparison to some of the set-pieces in the game. But this was over 20 years ago; I'd have to go back and replay them. But they did look good, and the guns were varied. Multiplayer was fun even with bots. I was sad to see the series go strictly multiplayer after Unreal 2; even if the UT games did have campaigns, they've never recreated the charm and amazement that was felt with the first Unreal.

[Lila Feuer]

I prefer Very Hard.

[holaareola]

How's it going @Nembras?  I replayed Unreal about 5 years ago and thought that despite having a weak start (after the very beginning, which is excellent) and a lot of filler the greater part of it still held up. Those impressions of course being unavoidably tainted with nostalgia.

 

Even if you don't enjoy it enough to decide to continue all the way through, I highly recommend opening the console and type in 'open bluff' before abandoning it.  An incredible map.

[Nembras]

On 9/9/2020 at 11:50 AM, holaareola said:

How's it going @Nembras?  I replayed Unreal about 5 years ago and thought that despite having a weak start (after the very beginning, which is excellent) and a lot of filler the greater part of it still held up. Those impressions of course being unavoidably tainted with nostalgia.

 

Even if you don't enjoy it enough to decide to continue all the way through, I highly recommend opening the console and type in 'open bluff' before abandoning it.  An incredible map.

 

I've started to play on Medium (a.k.a. Normal) as most here recommended, and made it deep into the Rajigar Mine (3rd level) before dying to lava because of a crumbling bridge that I had been warned about. I then started again on Hard, just to see the difference, and while the combat didn't pose much of a threat, the additional enemies and their higher health bar confirm that Medium is exactly right for me. I can see how higher difficulties might be fun once I know the maps, but right now, I'm happy with the threat level the enemies add to my exploration.

 

I'm also impressed by the atmoshpere created by the visuals, sounds and music combined. So far, Unreal has filled me with the same awe Turok II did back in the day, but even more so because half the world isn't hidden by fog. Especially the outdoors are quite remarkable. I'll make sure to check out the bluff if I ever decide to abandon the game, thanks for that tip, as well.

[Dark Pulse]

 

1 hour ago, Nembras said:

I'm also impressed by the atmoshpere created by the visuals, sounds and music combined. So far, Unreal has filled me with the same awe Turok II did back in the day, but even more so because half the world isn't hidden by fog. Especially the outdoors are quite remarkable. I'll make sure to check out the bluff if I ever decide to abandon the game, thanks for that tip, as well.

Wait until you see some of the stuff a bit later on, like Terraniux or the Sunspire :)

 

Skytown or, yes, Bluff Eversmoking as previously stated, also deserve some mention.

 

Keep us posted, @Nembras! Maybe even a screenshot or three along with some reactions.

[Lila Feuer]

Yes, Terraniux is when the game starts getting good, if you make it there you can probably pull through to the end.

[holaareola]

On 9/10/2020 at 7:30 PM, Nembras said:

 

I've started to play on Medium (a.k.a. Normal) as most here recommended, and made it deep into the Rajigar Mine (3rd level) before dying to lava because of a crumbling bridge that I had been warned about. I then started again on Hard, just to see the difference, and while the combat didn't pose much of a threat, the additional enemies and their higher health bar confirm that Medium is exactly right for me. I can see how higher difficulties might be fun once I know the maps, but right now, I'm happy with the threat level the enemies add to my exploration.

 

I'm also impressed by the atmoshpere created by the visuals, sounds and music combined. So far, Unreal has filled me with the same awe Turok II did back in the day, but even more so because half the world isn't hidden by fog. Especially the outdoors are quite remarkable. I'll make sure to check out the bluff if I ever decide to abandon the game, thanks for that tip, as well.

Totally agree about the visuals and sound working together. Stepping out of the Vortex Rikers ship to reveal the huge landscape under an alien sky as the music stirs remains one of my favourite gaming moments to this day. It was a canny design, starting you off in a techbase type environment -- already done to death by '98 -- to set up the contrast for that emergence.

[Kokoro Hane]

I see you are playing on Medium difficulty, which is what I would've recommended too. I'd also like to add Unreal has quite a bit of secret areas, so definitely explore a lot! It's a beautiful game. And always read translator messages! They add to the atmosphere and give a bit of story (as well as puzzle hints haha). 

[Nembras]

On 9/20/2020 at 10:13 PM, Kokoro Hane said:

I see you are playing on Medium difficulty, which is what I would've recommended too. I'd also like to add Unreal has quite a bit of secret areas, so definitely explore a lot! It's a beautiful game. And always read translator messages! They add to the atmosphere and give a bit of story (as well as puzzle hints haha). 

Thanks for the tip to explore. Each of the secrets I've found so far has been neat, and I regret each one that I missed. It might be worth my while to explore a bit more methodically. I've also been reading all messages and they have been instrumental in constructing the immersion this game provides to me.

 

For those who wanted to be kept up to date, I have slowly been making my way through the first couple of levels, and have defeated the beast in the Dark Arena. I took some notes while doing so, and extended them into the account presented below. 

 

Making my way through the Rajigar Mines and Depths of Rajigar, I learnt to save often, as I died to the environment a couple of times. Combat seemed a bit lame at first, but as I got used to it, I started liking the 1v1 type encounters with the mobile and somewhat smart Skaarj. I cannot imagine this game having Doom style horde combat, although I guess enemies might appear in greater numbers further down the line. 

 

Although the Depths of Rajigar are boring on paper, the music, lighting and general ambiance turned my exploratory wandering into an experience. The enemies that you can surprise while they're just doing their thing (e.g. working at a terminal or just standing guard) only serve to enhance that experience. Add to that the gentle natives that will helpfully lead you to secrets or tragically die by the hand of a Skaarj, and it really feels like I'm just a passer by in this huge, inhabited world. 

 

But it was the Chizra-Nali Water God Temple that really pulled me into the game. It had already occured to me earlier that Unreal plays a bit like first person Zelda, what with the environmental hazards and smashing pots to find items, but this level straight up felt like an alien, more watery, de-nintendofied version of OoT's Forest Temple. I loved the inscriptions that sent me off to find the Stick of Six Fires. I found the Chamber of Death, which rewarded me with "more power for the Stick of Six Fires", and bathing in the Pool of Thunder proved me worthy of wielding the legendary weapon. At no time was I in real danger of dying, but the enemies can dish out some damage if they catch you off guard. Combined with the atmosphere, that was enough to make it seem like danger accompanied every step of my way. At one point, while exploring some underwater tunnels, I got atacked by a couple of fish, which distracted me enough to get lost. I almost drowned trying to find my way out of the submerged passages back to the surface, and had some tense encounters with those plant thingies that shoot at you from the ceiling before I finally could heal up. In a less atmospheric game I would have been really annoyed, but here I found it absolutely thrilling, an exhilarating anecdote suitable for this unreal adventure.

 

With the Stick of Six Fires in hand (what the heck is an eightball, anyway?), I entered the next teleporter and promptly got ambushed by a Skaarj. One of the natives perished in the crossfire, and I felt genuinely bad about it. If that's not immersion, then I don't know what is.

 

There isn't much to say about the Ceremonial Chambers and the Dark Arena. I can't possibly list all the small details and huge vistas I enjoyed along the way, so let me just say I loved the sky over the arena. Stepping outside while the music starts to rise and being greeted by that sky is everything I wanted from this game, and more.

 

I mean, just look at it! 

Spoiler

 

As you see, I'm thoroughly enjoying my playthrough of Unreal so far, but the new semester at uni has started, and boy is it a tough one. Additionally, the recent release of SS4 got me into The First Encounter, and also my DnD group is clamoring to continue our campaign. It might be a while before I manage to visit Na Pali again, but when I do, I'll make sure to drop in and report. 

 

[jobi]

Hi everyone. So I had this game in the 90s/00s but all I ever did when I was a kid was just a few levels. Now I installed it again and I'm HOOKED!

 

I tried the 'easy' difficulty at first, but it seemed too easy, so i went to 'Normal'. Other options were 'Very hard' and 'Unreal'.

 

Interestingly, when I pass the level and start the next one, a text is displayed. Name of the level, author and also "Game type: Unreal". So I'm not even sure I'm playing on 'Normal' difficulty or 'Unreal'? Is it possible it changed automatically from Normal to Unreal (because I'm so good at this game loool), or it doesn't even have to do anything with difficulty?

[Bucket]

No, it refers to the single-player story. Other game types would be Deathmatch, Last Man Standing, Cooperative, and so on.

[Sokoro]

I just wanted to note, Unreal has a mapping scene, while the ammount of maps is only small fraction of content compared to DooM wads, it has some really cool project. I realised it just recently, after all those years (23). Many websites are outdated, but this one has functional downloads. www.unrealarchives.com

 

There is even a recent release from 2021, which has two maps that play like vortex rikers squared. I also downloaded maps that are supposed to be something like slaughtermaps.