Very long levels

[Maahniac]

I started playing Turok 2 again a few days ago, and I absolutely love it. I had the game as a kid, but I don't think I ever progressed past the first level, due to the numerous issues I had with the game on PC.

 

HOWEVER... the levels in this game... they are SO long! ? I think the opening level took me over 2 hours to complete - and that's the first level in the game. Besides the Death Marshes level, all the levels I've played so far have been MASSIVE, and go on, and on, and on. They have some incredibly confusing level design too, where it's easy to miss something - even if you are thorough in your exploration like I am - which will force you to backtrack A LOT if you try to Plat the game. The Lair of the Blind Ones-level is particularly brutal in its marathon-like length. I'm doing this on Hardcore difficulty, which doesn't exactly make anything easier, so I think I spent 5 or 6 hours trying to make sense of that level yesterday ? I somehow missed a Cave Key, and had to go through almost the entire level again (with respawned enemies) to locate it.

Not complaining, I actually love it, just wondering if other people are having similar experiences?

[Copanele]

That's why I played my first playthrough on Normal  mode, to remember all the shit that was going down from back when I played on PC. Lair of the Blind Ones is by far the most confusing in the game. But the Hive of the Mantids and especially Primagen's Lightship are also insanely long  It is the textbook Turok 2 experience.

 

Not to mention, nobody tells you, but the proper way of playing the levels "in order" is 1-3-2-5-4-6. You need the swimming ability from Death Marshes in order to traverse the River of Souls, and the Breath of Life ability from the Hive in order to get that stupid Primagen Key in Lair of the Blind ones. 

Game is awesome but way too confusing. Still loving it. Except Lair of the Blind ones, got sick of all the spiders and hidden paths.

 

Also unrelated to the topic, but I wanted to mention for a while: Your avatar profile brings back some crazy memories. I played Shadow Man like mad back in the day (the same time as Turok 2 actually) and hunting that boss through the abandoned hotel was one of the sickest(and creepiest) experience in that game. Hope Shadow Man will also get remastered/ported :> 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Copanele

[Maahniac]

Hahaha, yeah, in hindsight I should've started on Normal ? *Gulp* Looking forward to level 5 and 6 too, then! It's actually really rewarding to conquer these incredibly long and confusing levels, and I'm having a lot of fun doing so. I gotta admit though, Lair of the Blind Ones got me slightly pissed off last night, when I spent hours looking for a Cave Key. Would you say The Lair of the Blind Ones is the "worst" level?

 

Ahhh, yeah. That order makes sense. Thanks! I've already backtracked to Level 1 and 2 after completion, to get the Primagen keys. But seriously, this game is awesome. It's incredible how well it has aged, and how ahead of its time it was for 1998.

 

7 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Also unrelated to the topic, but I wanted to mention for a while: Your avatar profile brings back some crazy memories. I played Shadow Man like mad back in the day (the same time as Turok 2 actually) and hunting that boss through the abandoned hotel was one of the sickest(and creepiest) experience in that game. Hope Shadow Man will also get remastered/ported :> 

 

AWESOME! Shadow Man is a total hidden gem that a lot of people don't know about, so nice to meet another fan! The remaster will be releasing for PC on April 15th, and it will arrive on PS4 "soon" according to the devs (probably early Summer). I'm so ridiculously excited for it, as it's one of my all-time favorite video games. And now with trophies! And yup, Avery Marx is hands down the creepiest video game character I've ever faced, and his level is so horrifyingly scary ? When I was a kid, the level scared me so much that I spent days playing through it, because I could only play a few minutes at a time. Seriously, this game oozes atmosphere.

[Copanele]

1 minute ago, Maahniac said:

Hahaha, yeah, in hindsight I should've started on Normal *Gulp* Looking forward to level 5 and 6 too, then! It's actually really rewarding to conquer these incredibly long and confusing levels, and I'm having a lot of fun doing so. I gotta admit though, Lair of the Blind Ones got me slightly pissed off last night, when I spent hours looking for a Cave Key. Would you say The Lair of the Blind Ones is the "worst" level?

 

Ahhh, yeah. That order makes sense. Thanks! I've already backtracked to Level 1 and 2 after completion, to get the Primagen keys. But seriously, this game is awesome. It's incredible how well it has aged, and how ahead of its time it was for 1998.

 

Yes, Lair of the Blind Ones is the worst, at least in my opinion. There's no limit to how many stupid spiders will spawn, the Blind Ones will almost one shot you, you find the most useless weapon there the Sunfire Pod(which works only on the Blind Ones, the others get only a 2 seconds stun) and the Talisman that you find there, the Firewalk...has no usage really, you can effectively ignore it altogether.

I find level 5, the Hive ,to be the best because you have a TON of weaponries and you can skip most enemies. However...there's a ton of oversized fleas and the enemies themselves are extremely hard to beat. Small advice in advance, when you will see some "holes" that continuously spawn oversized fleas, do yourself a favor and lob a grenade in them. You will thank me later  

Also game aged like fine wine. I can't believe how much I enjoyed it even after all this time. Still got to finish Lair of the Blind ones and Primagen Lightship on Hardcore, since I am almost close to the end of the Hive. Might even grab Turok 1, although that game is way more cheap and clunky than Turok 2. Did not enjoy it nearly as much.

 

6 minutes ago, Maahniac said:

AWESOME! Shadow Man is a total hidden gem that a lot of people don't know about, so nice to meet another fan! The remaster will be releasing for PC on April 15th, and it will arrive on PS4 "soon" according to the devs (probably early Summer). I'm so ridiculously excited for it, as it's one of my all-time favorite video games. And now with trophies! And yup, Avery Marx is hands down the creepiest video game character I've ever faced, and his level is so horrifyingly scary When I was a kid, the level scared me so much that I spent days playing through it, because I could only play a few minutes at a time. Seriously, this game oozes atmosphere.

Not going to lie, I don't miss the "Come to momma baby" followed by random nail shootings, that shit gave me the creeps big time and always got me. It's one of the few levels where I raised the brightness level because I was terrified BUT! I can't wait to traverse the Temples of Fire and that beautiful Toy Room level or whatever, with the beautiful sound effects and Teddy Bears. That game...damn it was so good!

I could nerd about ShadowMan the whole day ,cause it's one of my favorites too, but I will patiently wait for the PS4 release and the "Trophy Thoughs" future thread to go full fanboy mode ? can't ignore Turok 2!

[Maahniac]

Okay, good to hear! I stopped playing right before the boss last night, so at least I'll have Lair of the Blind Ones behind me soon. Thank you for the grenade-advice!

 

I can definitely recommend Turok 1 as well! The trophy list is more simple than Turok 2 for sure. The game is more casual, and doesn't feel quite as revolutionary, but I had a lot of fun going through it last week. It's crazy how different Turok 2 is though.

 

35 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Not going to lie, I don't miss the "Come to momma baby" followed by random nail shootings, that shit gave me the creeps big time and always got me. It's one of the few levels where I raised the brightness level because I was terrified BUT! I can't wait to traverse the Temples of Fire and that beautiful Toy Room level or whatever, with the beautiful sound effects and Teddy Bears. That game...damn it was so good!

I could nerd about ShadowMan the whole day ,cause it's one of my favorites too, but I will patiently wait for the PS4 release and the "Trophy Thoughs" future thread to go full fanboy mode  can't ignore Turok 2!

Hahaha, yup! Ohhh, the memories. I remember all of the Temples (where you get the tattoos) were pretty difficult! The Playrooms' soundtrack is so disturbing. It's basically the sound of chainsaws going through flesh, while a baby is laughing. Good times ?

[AJ_Radio]

You could of been the second person to get the platinum @Copanele.

 

This game really aged poorly graphically. Turok 1 & 2 were a ton of fun back in the day on the Nintendo 64, used to play both games with a friend when we were still kids. Might get this someday down the road, but I'm not too certain.

[Copanele]

Just now, AJ_Radio said:

You could of been the second person to get the platinum @Copanele.

That is correct. I was super close to be on that 100% leaderboard, 1st player being someone who was a god at Turok 2 on N64. But at a certain point I got bored (River of Souls level)....and I felt it would not be fair towards this game's legacy if I were to force myself platinuming it just for a leaderboard position.  I will platinum this game on my own terms, probably next week or something.

Basically it's like I would have an old bottle of fine wine, I ain't chugging it down from one go, but one glass at a time. I am romantic like that ?

 

And yeah it did age poorly graphically but gameplay wise this game works like a charm. And I mean..which game from 1998 still holds out graphically by today's standards?  This game came out 23 years ago.

...damn that was a LONG time ago O_O 

[Maahniac]

I actually think it looks good graphically ? But I generally don't mind retro game graphics, unless it's actively ugly, like some grainy PS1 games that can be hard to go back to. I think the Turok games have great colors, and a charming nostalgic age to their graphics. 

[AJ_Radio]

7 hours ago, Maahniac said:

I actually think it looks good graphically But I generally don't mind retro game graphics, unless it's actively ugly, like some grainy PS1 games that can be hard to go back to. I think the Turok games have great colors, and a charming nostalgic age to their graphics. 

I’m the same. Goldeneye 007 on the N64 is pure nostalgia for me, really a shame we’ll probably never see it on Sony platforms due to Rare being with Xbox. I’d buy that in a heartbeat. Perfect Dark from the N64 would be awesome too.
 

There is DOOM 64, another game I played in my youth and currently cheap on the PS Store, holds up fairly well graphically.

[Maahniac]

7 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

I’m the same. Goldeneye 007 on the N64 is pure nostalgia for me, really a shame we’ll probably never see it on Sony platforms due to Rare being with Xbox. I’d buy that in a heartbeat. Perfect Dark from the N64 would be awesome too.
 

There is DOOM 64, another game I played in my youth and currently cheap on the PS Store, holds up fairly well graphically.

 

Oh yeah, I agree. That's a shame. I have DOOM 64 in my library, and I look forward to playing it!

[Copanele]

Ok random thought here, since the levels are very long : I had a FEAR moment in Turok 2 (idk if you guys played the first FEAR, with the brutal AI) 

In level 5 there's a ton of corridors and the enemies will jump you from everywhere. On Hardcore difficulty obviously if 2 enemies crossfire you, you die in like 3 seconds. It's so satisfying to lay some mines where you know that the enemies will spawn from, then lob a grenade into another corridor and finally stun the last enemy and use your warblade to kill him and conserve ammo.

 

This game is so demanding at times and I love it  

Edited March 25, 2021 by Copanele

[Maahniac]

4 hours ago, Copanele said:

Ok random thought here, since the levels are very long : I had a FEAR moment in Turok 2 (idk if you guys played the first FEAR, with the brutal AI) 

In level 5 there's a ton of corridors and the enemies will jump you from everywhere. On Hardcore difficulty obviously if 2 enemies crossfire you, you die in like 3 seconds. It's so satisfying to lay some mines where you know that the enemies will spawn from, then lob a grenade into another corridor and finally stun the last enemy and use your warblade to kill him and conserve ammo.

 

This game is so demanding at times and I love it  

 

Haha yeah, I completed level 5 a few hours ago. It had more straightforward level design compared to level 4, but jeeez... There are lots, and lots, and lots of very aggressive and annoying enemies with perfect aim in this level ?

[AJ_Radio]

Reminds me with having to manually aim and kill people in Goldeneye 007 on the hardest difficulty. That was a real exercise in patience and practice. No checkpoints either, had to start the levels all the way from the beginning. 
 

Turok 2 I imagine will be easier on a PS4/PS5 controller. The Nintendo 64 controller I played this game on back in the day, not all that great. 
 

Just goes to show the kinds of things we kids had to go through.

[Maahniac]

4 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

Reminds me with having to manually aim and kill people in Goldeneye 007 on the hardest difficulty. That was a real exercise in patience and practice. No checkpoints either, had to start the levels all the way from the beginning. 
 

Turok 2 I imagine will be easier on a PS4/PS5 controller. The Nintendo 64 controller I played this game on back in the day, not all that great. 
 

Just goes to show the kinds of things we kids had to go through.

 

Hah, yeah. I tried playing GoldenEye, with a buddy, a couple of years ago. It was downright impossible for me to adjust to the N64 controller. 

[Copanele]

5 hours ago, Maahniac said:

 

Haha yeah, I completed level 5 a few hours ago. It had more straightforward level design compared to level 4, but jeeez... There are lots, and lots, and lots of very aggressive and annoying enemies with perfect aim in this level

Yeah, the enemies have tracking beams there so aim is not an issue for them what is truly difficult is hitting them while they are swaying. That is infuriating at times, gotta go full tactics mode in those instances. 

 

Thank god for the PS4 controller and improved aiming though... Even with a mouse this game was tough to handle the first time i played. Devs truly remastered this game, didn't mess around. 

[Maahniac]

11 hours ago, Copanele said:

Thank god for the PS4 controller and improved aiming though... Even with a mouse this game was tough to handle the first time i played. Devs truly remastered this game, didn't mess around. 

 

Yeah, it feels so great to play this game with a Dualshock. 

 

Btw... Do you know if I can complete level 6, and then come back to the level and get the Primagen 6 Key later, or will all those buttons and force fields be reset? When I defeat the Mother Boss, and then go back to the Hub to clean up various Primagen Keys and secrets of past levels before the final boss, do I then need to redo the requirements to get to the Primagen 6 Key in level 6 again, or will the game remember the 3/4 buttons I pushed the last time I played the level? If you know what I mean? 

[Copanele]

1 minute ago, Maahniac said:

 

Yeah, it feels so great to play this game with a Dualshock. 

 

Btw... Do you know if I can complete level 6, and then come back to the level and get the Primagen 6 Key later, or will all those buttons and force fields be reset? When I defeat the Mother Boss, and then go back to the Hub to clean up various Primagen Keys and secrets of past levels before the final boss, do I then need to redo the requirements to get to the Primagen 6 Key in level 6 again, or will the game remember the 3/4 buttons I pushed the last time I played the level? If you know what I mean? 

All buttons will remain switched, game remembers them (you can see that the green force field corresponding to each button is shut down near the Primagen Key), nothing resets, but I DO RECOMMEND you do the whole level in one go , aka get that stupid Eye of Truth talisman and flip the final switch that is at the end of the Eye of Truth path (and is guarded by a ton of those grandpa robots).

If you return, most monsters will respawn, in which case lord have mercy on your soul