Hello reader !
I recently came up on an idea to play all RPG maps which are uploaded to TMX so I've started to do so yesterday but wanted to keep a list of maps which I like and don't like.
First of all I want to say that there would most probably be a lot of maps which I don't like or even don't consider to be a RPG.
I think that not every map which is not Tech, FS, Dirt, or any other "defined" style needs to be RPG. Also, TMNF RPG differs a lot from TM2 RPG as well as they both do from TM2020 RPG style.
Since TM2020 is much closer to TM2 then TMNF, I will review these tracks having that in mind. In every part I will test 5 random maps which have "RPG" tag. Also, I apologize in advance if I hurt someones' feelings.
If you don' agree with me you are free to write your own post
1) "[RPG] Genep' Adventure" by Veydiz
sorrow says: Scenery looks very nice, the problem with it is, when you go off route (which sometimes seems like reall one), scenery fades very quickly. Map overall is pretty smooth except CP7 which has some wallbump-to-loop and wallbang penalty totally ruins that part. Some parts are very confusing due to "hidden" route, or, better to say, route change. For me, that is only RPG element in this track and it mostly feels like transitional tech map. Another very confusing part is CP14 when you don't have speed and have to respawn from stand-still position. I just have no clue what the intended route is since Reactor Booster allows to drive very different routes. Once you approach that checkpoint with speed, jump is fine and pretty smooth.
Conclusion: Map feels more like transitional tech than RPG, it has nice scenery and some nice, unexpected route changes.
Score: 7/10
2) "G28-8" by angmalion
sorrow says: When you overlook map from above, it looks nice and interesting with "3 seasons split". When you start driving feeling is good, there are tree, uphills, downhills, nice jumps, but then you reach platform jump part and excitation fades away when you start to jump from one to another inbetween that mess of platforms with low amount of scenery to save that bad feeling. After that you reach snow/ice part and it becomes boring with those straight parts and loop jumps. After that, you again enter into mess of black platforms which is very confusing and doesnt have much scenery other than route and some badly connected blocks which gaves impression of messy mappers' work. Right about there I somehow missed some checkpoints and after I reached finishline, was dissapointed. But nevermind, I gave the map another try and was very careful when I reached that part and I found one CP I didn't take before, but again when I reached finish line, I was missing some cps. At that moment I stopped playing that map and quit it.
Conclusion: Promising scenery but when you start driving 2nd part of the map scenery is missing and it looks ugly. There are also some flickering textures which annoy me and some badly connected blocks which are over blockmixed. It certainly is RPG map and has interesting path in 1st part of the map but later it becomes boring and unpleasant.
Score: 5/10
3) "abandoned sewer facility" by SkyRay746
sorrow says: Very nice mini RPG map on the edge of being weird tech map but some hard transitions brings it back into RPG category. Maybe there is too much of items stacked one next to each other. Signs makes pathfinding somewhat easier but they are not necessary if map was built good. Everything feels fluent and compact with some parts where you have to be careful and adjust your speed, which totally fits RPG.
Conclusion: Best of these 5 I played today, will definitely check out some of author's next work.
Score: 8/10
4) "[RPG] Polarization" by Needi
sorrow says: Already when you overview map, you can see scenery is pretty much non-existent so I started playing map with that in mind already a bit dissapointed. Map starts with some decently calculated jumps going back and fourth. Getting towards middle of the track you start going into trial-ish part of the map with a lot of speed checks and blind jumps/turns. Checkpoints there are very long and failing one feels very annoying. Last couple of checkpoints are just speedcheck jumps and that's it.
Conclusion: Map has no scenery, path is a bit boring with long checkpoints and basic jumps. Middle part of the map is probably most interesting, but just because jumps are a little bit harder and you have to think about how to approach it, path itself is not much interesting to be honest. It could be considered as a RPG map, but a bad one. Missing checkpoint is fairly easy since there is no scenery which can guide you.
Score: 4/10
5) [RPG] escape" by svbg869
sorrow says: Overview looks good enough for decent RPG map but nope, first couple of checkpoints might be considered RPG, but rest of the map is plain trial with lot of speedcheck jumps, some standstill respawns dont even work and you have to go back to gather speed, which I hate in any maps, not just RPG ones. If there wasn't for CP numbers I would've skipped a LOT of checkpoints which I don't like. It's easier for mapper to put numbers near CP than to create decent path and scenery which prevents checkpoint skips.
Conclusion: Maybe it is good for a trial map, but definitely not a RPG one. As I said at the beginning, not every map without strictly defined style has to be included into RPG category. Map has pretty bad flow since it's mostly built checkpoint after checkpoint without most likely much testing (or bad one).
Score: 3/10
So that's it for part 1 and five maps from the TMX list with RPG tag filter on.
Winning map of this part is "abandoned sewer facility" by SkyRay746
Other map worth mentioning is "[RPG] Genep' Adventure" by Veydiz even tho it is more based on tech driving but definitely has some RPG elements in it
If you have anything to say, in agreement or not, feel free to do so, but don't hate me for my opinion
Cheers everybody and thanks for reading !
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