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Instead of discussing any specific game, let's discuss classic flashkino !oldstrags . The greats, the misses, the bizarre newgrounds pornography -- all of it. Pour one out for the golden age of hobbyist game creation. Anything effortposty will get some MB (~200, but I'm not a paypig, so that's pretax) for their efforts, so discuss away.

carp, capy, geto, donger pin please

Greetings Dramatards

This drama has many convoluted facets, so I'll try my best to make it make sense

CONTEXT: WHAT IS AGE OF EMPIRES 2?

I think amongst all games I've ever talked about, I believe that Age of Empires (AOE) is one of those ubiquitous games which requires little introduction, you know one of those ever present games for those growing up in the 2000s. It was a universal code of law that any family home (even lower class poorcels) of whichever friend you visited for a playdate or sleepover, and had a family computer present in their abode, had one of the big jock games installed - NeedForSpeed Undergound, the Sims (1 or 2), Fifa/Rugby or Age of Empires. It was one of those titles even non-g*mers were aware of or had played, and would likely be one of the few titles they may ever play in their entire lifespan.

Well while the original Age of Empires 1 got released in 1997, it would be its sequel - Age of Empires 2 - released in 1999, which truly propelled the franchise into infamy. It's basically a Real-Time-Strategy game, which takes place broadly over the Middle Ages time period. For a while in the early 2000s, it was considered one of best RTS multiplayers, but in places like South Africa with very little in the way of internet support infrastructure, there was little capacity to engage with an international audience and playerbase.

Additionally, the golden age of RTS games seemed to have waned drastically in the period after 2005-2008, and the Age of Empires 2 game did not have much capacity to updating its limited netcoding from many of the original CDs released as far back as fricking 1999. Yet even with such an ancient and antiquated multiplayer-matchmaking system, by as long as 2009, almost a decade after AOE2's release, there was still many multiplayer matches played, with some of them uploaded on the earliest parts of young Youtube.

Many people here probably have never even heard of the software GameSpy, which was a suite of software included into many many games sold via the CD-ROM format, where support software like Direct X was usually included into many CD-ROM physically sold copies of games, as it was assumed that many 3rd world shitheaps would not have the internet to download much needed Graphics driver support Software.

For virtually every game with any level of online multiplayer component, every CD-ROM copy of that game CD contained GameSpy, a software which acted as a server hosting for matchmaking multiplayer games in many many games. According to GameSpy themselves, they supported over 800 games within their lifespan operation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameSpy

Yet GameSpy was very very flawed, and 3rd world shitheaps like South Africa would always get the short end of the stick when it came to server hosting, or just having dedicated matchmaking fonts for a specific nation that wasn't Europe, America or China.

By 2012 Steam had improved to such a degree, that many people saw the benefits of having a steam account be able to install your entire library on any device or computer you owned. Additionally steam's servers and netcoding completely blew stuff like Gamespy out of the water in terms of convenience, and actually working in 3rd world internet. Additionally internet infrastructure like fiber was also becomming commonplace, allowing dungheaps that weren't Europe, China or America, to actually be able to compete against foreign strangers at pings lower than 50 000.

In 2012 something else also happened, a company called Hidden Path Entertainment would acquire the licensing to work on rebooting Age of Empires 2 - a game which by this stage was 13 years old, and yet still held a vibrant yet small cult following on its very very antiquated multiplayer. They would fully integrate the whole netcode of AOE2 within Steam's online infrastructure, and update much of the graphics to be able to scale up to (by then) modern widescreen LCD monitors.

While it may seem like comparative little effort when held against newer reboots we've seen in the last few years, like for example the stunning Command and Conquer reboot back in 2020

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1213210/Command__Conquer_Remastered_Collection/

There was a large amount of resolution upscaling problems which had to be overcome in the ancient AOE2. Back in 1999 most people played with CRT monitors which used fricking projectors to light onto bended black screens, the image which the PC's graphics processor was crafting. But by the time 2012 rolled in we had LCD screens with much much larger resolutions.

Back then, the richest strags would brag with resolutions of 640 x 360 something, or even the coveted 800 x 640 Oh my God

And thus spreading the view properly from the ancient AOE2 engine, to properly display on modern 720 or even 1080 resolutions was a surprising undertaking. As a small humerous anecdote, many of the best players on voobly or GameSpy still gaming original AOE2 would fricking play on their ancient CRT monitors, simply because it was easier to see in the ancient CRT monitors, than a modern LED LCD LGBT screen with the fuzzy maximum resolution spread thin over fricking 720 pixels

So come 2013, with Age of Empire 2 HD Edition being released April 9, it would be a major game changer, and would reinvigorate life blood into the Age of Empires 2 multiplayer sphere, and even introduce the Age of Empires games to people whom had been too young to play the originals like I did way back, or whom did actually fricking own the originals back in the 2000s, but literally used their original CDs until they chaffed and eroded into dysfunction or because by 2012, few gaymers even had CD-ROMs in their fricking Computers anymore.

Regardless, for many millions, they experienced the fantastic single player of Age of Empires 2 for the 1st time, and for many more gaymer boomers, it was a callback to more innocent nostalgic times. The core gameplay and RTS balance of AOE2 seem to have aged like the finest of wines, and many would comment that it was easier for new players to get into, when compared to the more "hardcore" Starcraft 1 and Starcraft 2 which was also in RTS discussion around the same time as the release of Age of Empires HD Edition, but was considered to be much much much more micro intensive to be more competitive (aka require exceptional multitasking and juggling of multiple units in your army simultaneously to stand a chance).

While AOE was and could also be more micro-intensive, and the elite pro-gaymer scene would also have a high-ceiling, for many normies, AOE, especially Age of Empires 2 was seen as a much more easy RTS to get into, when compared to Starcraft.

Now it needs to be said that while the causal multiplayer and singleplayers newcomers to Age of Empires 2 HD edition had good things to say about the game allowing people to run the old game on modern hardware easily, the pro-multiplayer scene, especially the old-guard GameSPy supremacists were divided, and game the 2013 release mixed reviews.

"HD Edition received mixed reviews, with aggregate review website Metacritic assigning a score of 68 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics. Critics agreed that the HD Edition changed very little from the original game, though Steam Workshop integration was widely praised." Many RTS reviewers were also unimpressed with the game, as there was no change to the original formula of the 1999 game - this criticism itself would age poorly, as many players PREFERRED the lack of change from the 1999 game, with no bullshit and nonsense added to dilute the game.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/age-of-empires-ii-the-age-of-kings/critic-reviews/?platform=pc

Yet over time, both steam and user-scores would increase the HD Edition's score. Other criticism from the GameSpy playerbase was the fear that the multiplayer userbase would be split between the old GameSpy ecosystem, and the new Steam framework, which proved to be a true prediction, others were just stubborn. Additionally, the 1st 6 months of Age of Empires HD Edition was beset with bugs and errors, especially multiplayer bugs, like most multiplayer games often are. Yet as the Steam version of AOE2 gradually improved, and gained more and more casual players, it would eventually ensure that AOE2 HD Edition would become the dominant multiplayer version of AOE2 entirely.

By 2014 two additional happenings cemented Age of Empire 2 HD Edition's place in the international RTS's community's mind. By 2014, the 1st expansion for AOE2 in 13 fricking years!

The Forgotten Empires Expansion was based upon a popular mod which has since 2013 been created by very professional old fans of AOE2, and had included custom new factions. The expansion pack was developed by the team that created the mod with the assistance of SkyBox Labs.

2nd - by 2014 Gamespy would officially close its support and servers. "In April 2014, Glu announced that it would shut down the GameSpy servers on May 31, 2014, so its developers could focus on work for Glu's own services. Games that still used GameSpy are no longer able to offer online functionality or multiplayer services through GameSpy."

https://www.nag.co.za/2014/04/24/heres-a-list-of-games-that-are-affected-by-gamespys-death/

It felt for many that gaymers were living in a new Golden Age of Age of Empires, that a new reinvigoration was taking place, but things would move on at the speed of greased lightning on 9 June 9 2019, Microsoft revealed the gameplay trailer at Xbox E3 2019, where they showcased a massive MASSIVE reboot for Age of Empires 2 having been in the works since 2017, with the original rebooting team of HD Edition, and fricking even the creators of the Forgotten Empires mod and expansion. Compared to so much AAA slop and trash releases by modern companies like Ubisoft and EA, this seemed unbelievable, pretty much everyone (in my circles) expected this to flop like flapjacks, especially as Microsoft wasn't as known for gaming excellence in this genre

Well guess what dirtbags it was a monumental success like no other reboot before or since. Not only was there massive graphics overhauls, including destructible buildings, much clearer units and user-interfaces - there was also quality-of-life improvements which Age of Empires 2 players could never even begin to dream of, including the ability to reseed farms automatically, improved unit pathing, and a fricking tech-tree more easily accessible whenever

A lot of players who've been gaming on Age of Empires 2 - Definitive Edition for the past 2 years are often shocked at how much the graphics are improved over HD Edition when they go back just for curiosity, and even more shocked when they are reminded just how used they have gotten to the endless flotilla of quality-of-life improvements, much better User-interface, and metric shitload of bugs improved- and most of all the massive massive massive amount of improved faction balancing since.

Any strags still playing AOE2 DE, I dare you guys just to take a gander at the basic graphics of current AOE2: DE, and 2013's AOE2: HD - it is vast.

The point is if any strag gave half a darn about Age of Empires 2, or even Age of Empires 1, at any point in their lives, then in 14 November 14 2019, they had one of the grandest of Christmas holidays. As word spread through the grapevine of gaymers, about how good AOE2 DE actually was, and the initial mass of bugs and multiplayer errors were being ironed out, Age of Empires 2 - Definite Edition would take 2020 by fricking storm, and propel AOE2 as likely the most popular RTS in current present. A small and hardcore cult following would develop in the next 4 years, which blew even the Voobly and GameSpy days of the previous two decades, completely out of the fricking water

T90 AND AOE2 MULTIPLAYER CASTING:

With the improvements of Steam multiplayer-interfaces, modern internet in 3rd world shitheaps like South Africa, and a greater participating population globally in Age of Empires Definitive Edition, there were a newly massive revamped popularity in not just playing Age of Empires 2 online, but also in spectating it.

A lot of people whom had played AOE2 online, and became exceptionally good at it, also became aware of a subset of players whom were even more so fanatically good in their ability to play the game.

(for many whom had not played AOE2 since literally 20 years ago these commentated games would be like watching black magic as people saw for the 1st time pros doing shit like building houses as fricking walls)

One of the earliest dudes who began their careers as a streamer commenting on games which he found interesting was T90. You see since 1999, Age of Empires had the ability to reccord any games played, and thus streamers/podcasters would mine the records of online games to look for interesting games or games played by exceptionally skilled players, and comment upon them in "real-time" as the recording played as if they were sports commentators, giving feedback to their Twitch-stream audiences about the nuances of play happening. T90 would begin with humble origins on the early days of AOE2 HD Edition about 8 years ago, and manage to make a financially viable career as a host and commentator on Twitch where he would regale his ever steadily growing audience on particular games he found interesting.

https://youtube.com/@T90Official

With 2020 and the explosion of Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edittion onto the gaming scene, so too did T90's stream also explode in popularity beyond anything even he and the earliest strags following envisioned. T90 had tried to imitate the much more gargantuan E-sports events such as League of Legends, CS-GO, Call of Duty and Overwatch which would in 2020 still dwarf even Age of Empires 2 at its height by a factor of several hundred to several thousands in viewership. Yet T90's rags to riches story would continue slowly upwards as T90 would even manage to secure sponsorships from companies such as Redbull

https://escharts.com/tournaments/aoe/red-bull-wololo-legacy-2022-age-empires-ii

In 2022, we would get one of the largest viewership peaks for AOE2 and RTS games in general, at that moment in time, ever. Which again would be the smallest of small-fry when compared to turbo gaymer normie popular online games like League of Legends.

https://www.google.com/search?q=league+of+legends+tournament+peak+viewership&rlz=1C1CHBF_enZA1072ZA1072&oq=league+of+legends+tournament+peak+viewership&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORigATIHCAEQIRigAdIBCTExNTMxajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

But the RTS and AOE2 ecosystem was completely balkanized and cut off from the rest of online gaming, so no one playing AOE2 gave a shit whether AOE2 was even fractionally as popular, compared to yeasteryear, AOE2 was in the most golden of its Golden Ages yet, and didn't seen to be stopping.

Compared to any online game still supported, the Definitive Edition developer-team seems to not be able to go 6 months without either a massive overhaul or major Expansion, all of which had included new single-player content such as new voiced campaigns, designed by the very guys who made the Forgotten Empires mod, and all received very well by the userbase.

WHAT IS HIDDEN CUP:

At one point in his sponsorship deals, T90 managed to think out an idea which would prove to be very popular with his own fanbase, and the Age of Empire 2 playerbase in general - Hidden Cup. The idea was that the top pro-players would compete under pseudonyms, and have there be two prize pools during the competition. The 1st would be the staggered prize pool for the pro-players themselves, competing until a semi-final and grand-final match would take place live in front of live audiences. The 2nd prize-pool would be the draw of the Hidden Cup Tournament - namely for spectators and players to guess whom which player was, and those most accurate would win a smaller prize if they had managed to most accurately guess which of the 16 competing finalists were whom.

For this to make sense, it needs to be explained that compared to many other online games, such as FPS and shooters games, there are wildly divergent personalities which become apparent in the different playstyles of specific different players in Age of Empires; many people neurodivergent enough to waste their lifespan away in actually watching other turbo autists playing Ago of Empires 2 online ,instead of actually just playing the game themselves, have become adept at noticing patterns of behaviour unique to individuals, and personalities being very specific and vibrant when it comes to the competative management of their empires in the online conflict

As a few examples, one of the slowest players in the top bracket of the game is 38-year old Daut, whom is also by far the very oldest as he is by the far the player whom has played AOE1 competatively online since the fricking 1999 release for nearly 25 fricking years now. What makes the man unique is that he was a very slow APM - or Actions-Per-Minute, when compared to pretty much all of the other young-buck pro players inhabiting the top-100 scene. You see in order to be the best of the best, you need to be able to multitask your entire fricking empire, consisting of sometimes controlling 200 unites walking in chaos upon the map in Age of Empires, and requires the unique skillset of multitasking on a scale not seen in other games like FPS shooters

What makes Daut unique however, is that his incredible game-sense, 2 decades of experience, and makro strategy allows him to go toe-to-toe with people so fast and APM-oriented, that on normal circumstances average players would be destroyed by opponents with superhuman multitasking capabilities. The most famous meme in the entire game, and especially the Hidden Cup tournament, is that whenever a castle is denied (the most powerful structure buildable in the game), then it's "Daut Confirmed" because of his reckless tendency to attempt to the structure in hostile circumstances when opposing enemies with vastly superior APM talent capable of denying him able to build the powerful game changing structure.

Here is Viper (the best player on the planet prior to this current Cup), in a state of shock when looking at statistics of pros, and discovering that Daut only had an average of 12-APM at a previous tournament. Meaning he only committed 12 Actions per minute, like ordering military units about, or directing civil units to build or create things, a rate of actions so low, it is below even the most moderate online player for AOE2 - demonstrating his unique style of play and incredible game sense is of such a caliber that he is still able to meet players which on paper should trash him with mikro speed.

Because of this uniqueness which Age of Empires 2 has in terms of its economic aspects, instead of just pure turbo-neurodivergent ultra fast APM clinicalness like Starcraft 1/2, there is a much greater degree to which individuals have their personality shine and be different, and thus the concept of Hidden Cup, where specific players are to be guessed from their gameplay by spectators, makes a great deal more sense than in any other online multiplayer game that I am aware of.

The 5th such event, Hidden Cup 5 took place two weeks ago, but it took me till now to fricking finish the whole thing, because RTS games in general tend to have much longer matches than that of other genres, with the average lasting 35minutes, to 50 minutes games for long protracted games. A stark comparison to shit like CS-GO where matches can finish within 30 seconds easily, with an entire opposing team wiped out not being uncommon.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGVjiUKVQd72HvI5drjsRWqpUl6iJRJmy

THE DRAMA OF HIDDEN CUP 5:

Ok so very long boring story slightly shorter: the entire Hidden Cup 5 Tournament was very well received in general with a level of play and skill higher than ever before; the 16 anonymous finalists would compete under pseudonyms made up of in-game hero-units of real-life historical figures, with the main draw of the event being the commentators of T90 and the spectators trying to speculate upon which hero was which fames pro-player, with much speculation upon who is who, and whether any new blood had entered this anonymous tournament to upset everyone's predictions.

All was pretty great, EXCEPT the grand-finale final match; which was vast and massive disappointment to many many spectators, especially since it being the most viewed of all of the matches in the entire tournament by a large margin. Ok so there's only 3 names you guys needs to give a shit about for this story. The Viper, Hera and Lierry - the 3 pro-players in the recent Hidden Cup tournament.

For the past 5 years and more, the Viper has been considered the most powerful player player in the entire game by a large margin, he had won 3 Hidden Cups previously, and multiple tournaments, and as far as I know had retained the largest fricking ELO score (the ranking score used in AOE2 matchmaking to match people of equivalent skill for fairness) for 6 years straight, all because of his superhuman and astronomical degrees of multitasking and that APM we've talked about, many peeps would come close to dethroning him every now and then, but on average he was the most infamous player neatly because of the sheer gulf of his skill, and that of even the closest competition.

For a long while now, Hera, generally considered the 2nd best player for many in the AOE2 fandom, had attempted to dethrone the Viper definitively in a Hidden Cup, yet remarkably he had come 2nd or 3rd in so many tournaments.

Now to lend context to understanding this drama, about 3 years ago in the 2nd Hidden Cup tournament, a lot of people had actually failed to speculate whom the Viper had been due to him playing abnormally passively and safely, and never showing his own hand, not out of any subterfuge, but because in his own words in an after-game interview, he was still finding his feet in the new maps and challenges of the Hidden Cup. Because of this he had not shown his usual infamous level of superhuman supernatural ultra high skill ceiling, and it was the most misscalled Hidden Cup, as absolutely no one, including spectators or commentators failed to accurately identify who in the frick the Viper was, as everyone leading up to the grand-finale final-match of Hidden Cup 2 played with equivalent skill. People did however correctly identify one of the anonymous 2 finalists as Hera due to his specific clinical playing pattern

Yet in the greatest upset in the grand-finale, the Viper would r*pe and thrash Hera in the most one-sided showing of skill shown throughout the entire fricking tournament. It was shocking at the time, because the Viper had NOT shown this level of inhuman play at any point prior to the finale, he had played magnificently, but not to such a superhuman level. And 2nd because Hera had played to the highest degree of skill possible. Hera did everything right and played to the highest level of skill in the game, but Viper was just such a level of magnitude better.

I mention this background because the grand-finale between Hera and the Viper was fought tooth and claw and nail, and yet Viper could r*pe poor Hera into oblivion despite his Herculean and forlorn efforts. Even though so brutally one-sided, it was clear that both men were giving their all in this final stretch of the tournament, and the added actor of showing just how unbelievably far the skill ceiling can rise after a whole tournament of high-level skill, was enthralling itself.

Fast-forward 3 years later in Hidden Cup 5 in 2024, and the one-sided assraping was a much MUCH less satisfying conclusion, and a great source of dissatisfaction for different reasons. This time Hera had substantially improved, and Viper had gradually scaled down the intensity of his commitment to such high levels of play - some said that viper had suffered a painful injury this year, which made his capacity to play on such a mentally and physically draining degree not possible - others sad that the Viper no longer desired to even defend his topspot as he had already achieved victory in 3 previous Hidden Cups, and had no longer something to prove, and was also subsequently tired after playing for many years at such an intense degree.

Many predicted early on that Hera might actually finally steal the crown from Viper, after such long effort, and behold he would finally do so in Hidden Cup 5.

Viper would fall out in the semi-finals, with many many accurately predicting him due to his playstyle, leaving the two players Hera and Lierry to compete in the grand-finale. This was a source of monumental excitement as every single player taking a spot in the 4 semi-final positions would only obtain such after the most vicious competition ever yet witnessed so far in any Hidden Cup or any other AOE2 tournament witnessed ever before - absolutely everyone of the 4 semi-finalists only got there through tooth and claw.

And thus the sheer mediocrity of the grand-finale would be such a source of contention through the usual above-average politeness in the AOE2 online community.

You would have the usual polite and generically positive and appreciative comments top voted

Yet other comments and spectators would voice their disappointment.

"there were games in hidden cup 5 longer than the entire final o_O"

Oh yes there were games going over 90 minutes, including one of the most spectacular where two players were literally going at it against one another, until they LITERALLY STRIPMINED EVERY FRICKING PIECE OF WOOD AND ORE ON THE MAP, and thus one finally surrendered after literally running out of resources in a ratrace for scraps. Yes that's right, the entire match of 5 games in the grand-finale took less time than a few of the longer games

"Hera was in his head for sure, couldn't wait to tap out"

"Hera's gameplay channel has uploaded his PoV for these games. Hera definitely had the civ selection figured out for the maps played. Hera did believe that he was out picked on Bay and Arabia, but those maps didn't come up."

"yea that's all true, but he still tapped out to easily. Even T90 was shocked at the first tap out"

Many of the commentators noted that that Lierry, the other finalist against Hera was likely very very demoralized in facing Hera, and many believed that he gave less than even a token effort into facing Hera in the grand-finale. This is in direct stark contrast to the one-sided beating Viper gave Hera in Hidden Cup 2, 3 years ago, as Hera fought like a lion even against an unstoppable force. In contrast it appeared as if poor Lierry had the very fight taken from him, and had not even displayed a fraction of a spark of the brilliance and talent and strategic effort which he had showcased throughout all of the qualifiers, and all of the previous tournament games - it was as if facing Hera alone was so daunting to the man, that he didn't even have the heart to face such an unfair and unequal opponent, I know how that feels.

Computer games somehow have the capacity to have gulfs of skill even more monumental than physical sports like Rugby and Cricket, between professionals, and even then certain sports like like Tennis tends to be internationally dominated for years on end by a top-level prodigy, like Novak Djokovic currently is. Facing off against such insurmountable odds is often itself demoralizing.

"hera singlehandedly ruined watching competitive aoe for me this year. there's no point watching - me and a friend had two tickets to hidden cup but didn't show up because we had an opportunity to go to some tourist locations in fort lauderdale with friends instead - my friend jokingly said 'hera will win it all anyway' and after watching this - yeah. what's the point of watching when one guy dominates so totally? I'm happy for him in that he has mastered this classic game, but plain and simple no one is on his level - that's lame for the average viewer

T90 engagement farming and getting pseudo-salty about 'low' (read: less than last time) viewership numbers was just the icing on the cake"

The one-sided assraping being a feature of the finals seemed to have been a commonplace for many peeps even prior to the events of Hidden Cup 5, yet HC5 seemed to have been extra disappointing due to Lierry in all but words, just throwing in the towel, ESPECIALLY after such a short match lasting barely 65 minutes holy hells - thus is can be understandable why peeps have some ire.

"still watching but honestly for a final I expected more... first 2 matches they rolled over"

Now there are 2 sources of mixed feelings for this Hidden Cup 5 final. One is that Hera after such grand effort after half a decade finally obtained his dream for obtaining world supremacy, especially after being beaten by Viper so many times before. Hera would have a post-match commentary where he discussed how he had dreamed of winning a global tournament, since as far as 7 years ago, and finally obtained his dream - Hera is in a strange way the underdog story here as he had been rooted for in defeating Viper for a long loooong time now.

T90, the Caster Host and commentator for the tournament, would also reiterate that he had come from humble means - where 8 years ago he had attempted to start a career by casting to paltry viewership of 50 chodes in the original AOE2 HD Edition, and that it took 8 years of long long hard work to get to the point where products like Redbull would sponsor the event, and any level of success could be imagined. Thus many was apalled at the negativity when the dual stories of underdogs of Hera and T90 reaching their dream (cup-winner and professional-caster) would be tarred by negativty in the comment sections where peeps spoke of their disgust and dismay at the mediocrity of the grand finale

Especially compared to the magnificence of the entire tournament, INCLUDING the fierce fighting for 3rd place Bronze, where the previously discqualified Viper, from the semi-finals, would fight tooth and nail for Bronze, to a much greater and more entrertaining degree than the grand-finale, which was a wet fart in comparison

"While Hera is simply unplayable right now, I have to say Liereyy clearly felt he was beneath him and didn't play to his own strengths. His Semifinals against Viper was an insane performance with confidence, great micro, aggression, etc... we didn't see any of that in the finals. He tried to play it safe when that's not his strength and got punished for it."

"eah, I had a feeling the guy choked. Liereyy is a great player"

"I think he knew he was playing Hera and psyched himself out."

"To me it felt like he gave up before the matches even started. Called the GGs way too early as well. Yeah he likely would have still lost the same games but sometimes all it takes is one good fight to swing things"

"Hera touched on it in his video about the finals and he explained Lierrey has a tendency to play all his hard maps and civ matchups first, which can contribute to making his lost series more lopsided. Might have been misplaced humbleness but Hera estimated it would have been 4-2 if he had started with the easy civ wins instead."

"Yeah, this was the most lopsided final of any AOE2 tournament I have seen. Which is nuts since Lierry beat VIPER. iirc Viper has been a finalist in every tournament T90 has organized except this one."

"POILERS AHEAD - my opinion:"

"Imo Liereyy had a combo of bad luck and psychological defeat here knowing (assuming) who his opponent was, even though HC is supposed to hide the players

I'd like for HC to NOT have the players have any prior practice on the maps, from having heard his after-talk Hera (a VERY analytic player) got a MASSIVE lead simply by having been able to play (study) his opponents on these "new" maps beforehand, which I think nullifies both the hidden aspect and the introduction of new maps

Hera himself said he knew EXACTLY who ALL the players were, just after round 1. That and having already played the maps I think makes the hidden aspect a bit gimmicky (no offense to anyone).

Still a very entertaining event, but I think there's room for improvement."

Some dramatards in the comments

SOME RETROACTIVE COMMENTS ON THE BRONZE MATCH:

"That ackward moment when the third place match is better than the finale."

"t was pretty weird how Lierreyy did so well against the viper who beats ACCM, who gave Hera his hardest (although not THAT tough) series, and then just completely lays down to Hera. I think Lierreyy had the confidence to beat Viper but not Hera because he seemed like he let the pressure get to him and was just a different player"

" I think of it like Lierreyy wishing on the Monkey's Paw that he gets to beat Viper in a tournament. He gets his wish, but at a cost to his reputation.

I remember when Lierreyy was up against Viper in King of the Desert in 2019, and he did okay despite losing. Lierreyy still deserves respect for getting to the finals, because this tournament isn't for chumps. The intimidation has to be a huge factor."

"yeah, Lierreyy still had a heck of a tournament! He played amazingly except against Hera and I think his nerves got the best of him there. I just was kind of disappointed because I felt like we saw a different player those first few rounds and I thought the final was gonna be EPIC! Hera still probably wins it but I thought Lierreyy was gonna give him a few tough games the way he was playing"

"Also, these tournaments have to be a major mental grind. It's hard to be on your absolute A-game for that many days straight which Lierreyy would of needed to compete with Hera. I almost wish there was a day break in between the round of 8 and semis and then another day off before the finals."

=====

"I'd like to see Lierreyy put up more of a fight in some of those games, especially against the mongols. If nothing else, at least to wear Hera down and make him earn the victory. That being said, getting into a bad position, knowing it's Hera, and then having to deal with a slow and painful defeat while you're constantly being raided really sucks.

Either way, Hera is looking like he's getting into the position where Viper was several years ago: nearly untouchable, which can make tournaments a bit stale. It just kinda annoying that his play-style is so clean because it's the messy games that are fun to watch.

tl;dr: Hera games are so clinical it's like watching a professional surgeon perform a simple autopsy. Mechanically fascinating, but so ridged & clean that it's kinda boring to watch."

=====

"No taking away from Hera and Lireyy 🫡, but from a spectator perspective, I found this set more interesting than the final.

4-0 and 4-1 sets, where most games end in feudal, aren't really the ideal.

Imperial age shouldn't be a treat. LATE imperial should be the treat.

Remember it's Age of Empires, not Age of Village."

SOME SPATS ON THE SUB:

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/1b5w2mc/sorry_but_i_dont_understand_why_hera_dominating/?sort=controversial

"Yeah I've essentially given up watching F1 since it's just the Verstappen show.

I like Hera, I've used his build order guides to some success and his videos are helpful, but I understand watching the same person win can get repetitive. But, it's also pretty cool to see how well he plays and his game play isn't that boring."

lots of semi-fights about the toxicity of AOE2 fans not being happy for Hera finally reaching the top after much work, with two camps forming, one disliking the negativity, the other voicing their boredom with such one sided events

https://old.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/1b5xbkv/thoughts_on_the_final_of_hc5/?sort=controversial

"I think that Lierry was way too early to resign. He didn't even try and play on to see if he could do anything. He was already a defeated man when he woke up today. I was supporting Alexios because I like the Byzantines and it was just pain to watch, you could see he was just nervous and knew he was going to lose, same with his first set in the round of 16. Look at his first match against Guiscard and then look at his semi-final match, it's night and day. It was disrespectful to the great tournament hosted by T90 and I think as an entertainer that Lierry should know better."

Lmoa poor Lierry

Lmoa

"Liereyy is not an entertainer, but a competitor. And as someone being in a competition, sometimes it's just not your day and sometimes you are mentally beaten. Both happened to him yesterday. This is not the nost beautiful thing to watch unfortunately, but completely normal."

""Do you think Lierrey suffered from a "Hera" effect , similar to the "Viper" effect back a few years ago? Would Lierrey have performed better if the finals had been recs, and he didn't know who he was up against ?""

Also to finally conclude this there was extra reason for drama that the Tournament ended so limply; a bunch of yanks organized a watch-party in florida, with drinks and shit and hype, and the WHOLE FRICKING GRAND-FINALE ENDED IN 65 MINUTES

can you imagine booking several hundred miles to watch for a highly anticipated finale-only for the fricking thing to end in an hour, and the post match-commentary being longer than the whole butt match itself hahahahahaaaa

Anyways that's all I've got, good night

@Losercel if you dont pin this eat dirt

Tamriel Rebuilt is a massive mod for TES III: Morrowind, which adds the missing mainland of the Morrowind province to the game world. You can download it here.

Greetings! In the last update we covered everything that you can expect from our next upcoming expansion, Grasping Fortune. But Morrowind is a massive province and Tamriel Rebuilt is developing on many fronts in parallel. The last time that we went over our full plans for the future – our development roadmap – was in late 2021. Hence, it's high time we update you with how those plans have changed and give you a high-level overview of each of the new and exciting expansions that we're currently tackling.

Remember, Tamriel Rebuilt is developed as a series of episodic releases or expansions, with new chunks of Morrowind's mainland released every year (aspirationally, at least). Whenever an expansion is released, the new areas come with the full complement of interior locations, characters, and quests, all seamlessly tying into the base game and the prior expansions.

A map of all prior and currently in-development Tamriel Rebuilt expansions.

In order for all this to work, teams focusing on different fields of mod development are chipping away at different parts of the province. Asset developers bring the work of our concept artists to life, creating the 3D assets that our level designers need. Only once the asset palette for a new region is more-or-less finished, can exterior level designers create a new area of the overworld. Once that is done, a drove of interior level designers descends to fill out the (sometimes) hundreds of highly detailed interior locations – buildings, caves, dungeons – that each expansion needs. And only once the latter work is winding down can quest developers fill the lands with hundreds more memorable characters and quests.

Below, we will walk you through the different expansions we are currently working on, roughly in the order that we expect them to be released. All of this is, obviously, highly tentative and subject to change at any time. Furthermore, no dates are offered, as everything here is done by volunteer effort, the ebbs and floods of which are infamously hard to predict.

Grasping Fortune

Covered in-depth in our last news post, Grasping Fortune is the next expansion in our pipeline and the one closest to completion.

A birds-eye view of the playable area to be added in Grasping Fortune. The exterior worldscape is now more-or-less finished. Yellow landscape comprises mostly the Coronati Basin region while the red area is Shipal-Shin. Dotted black lines denote an area that may possibly be added to the expansion, should it be finalized in time. The inset on the top left shows the location on a map of all of Morrowind.

Grasping Fortune will add a vast area of the mainland stretching south from Lake Andaram (the focus of our last expansion) all the way to the southwestern tip of Morrowind against Cyrodiil and Black Marsh. Its main focus will be the grand city of Narsis, the headquarters of House Hlaalu, home of the Imperial Proconsul, and the second-biggest and possibly richest city in Morrowind. Smaller towns in the release include Othmura, Ald Iuval, Ald Marak, Hlerynhul, Sadrathim, and Shipal-Sharai.

Looking across Sadrathim towards Narsis. Exterior (foreground) level design by Chef.

Included in the release will also be a huge chunk of countryside – both the cultivated Coronati Basin region and the wild canyons of Shipal-Shin. Search for monasteries, Shinathi nomad camps, a tower of the Barsaebic Ayleids, a Second Empire (Reman) ruin, the giant Velothi tower compound where the Ja-Natta Syndicate makes its lair, and the Stormgate and Septim's Gate passes to Black Marsh and Cyrodiil, respectively. Just don't get mauled by a horned butcher or stung by a skyrender!

You can expect questlines for almost every imaginable faction (often several of them), including ones for House Redoran, the Twin Lamps, and the brand-new Ja-Natta Syndicate criminal organization.

The Narsis waterfront. Exterior level design by Chef.

Currently, exteriors are finished aside from a few optional touch-ups and, possibly, a new slice of land bitten off from the later Wealth Beyond Measure expansion. Interiors are almost done, save for a few larger locations and the skyrender hives (which still need some new 3D assets). Addition of NPCs and general dialogue is finished for almost all of the towns, most of Narsis, and the Coronati Basin wilderness; some areas of Narsis and the Shipal-Shin wilderness still remain to be populated. More than a dozen miscellaneous quests and several questlines have already been merged and a similar number is finished pending review. But most of the questing load still lies ahead.

Narsis Fighters Guild. Interior level design by RyanS and Mark, screenshot by Osidian.

Should they be completed prior to when Grasping Fortune is released, several additions to the expansion's core content also may be included, such as:

Foul Murder – our short epilogue to Morrowind's main quest, starting in Necrom. The questline is already merged into our main in-development plugin, but is currently disabled by default until we get a creature model which the questline sorely needs.

Better bring some area-of-effect weapons with you to Firemoth. Exterior level design by Selengor and Chef, quests by Evil Eye, screenshot by Taniquetil.

Firemoth Rekindled – our revamp of the 2002 official mod “Siege of Firemoth,” which now includes an Imperial Legion questline to rebuild the fortress, in addition to an all-around overhaul and improvement of the original level and quest design. This revamp is now officially ready to go and you may, in fact, see it released even before Grasping Fortune.

Telvannis Stopgap – finalization of our old 00s-era Telvanni content by the addition of new questlines to Master Vaerin, Mistress Rathra, and a final quest involving Master Dral – all now complete. A stretch goal is to include an endcap to the Ranyon-Ruhn Temple questline, for which two new interior locations were recently finished. Eventually, these new questlines may be significantly revamped or superseded, once our Grand Telvannis Redo starts in many years' time. But in the meanwhile, they will hopefully tide Telvanni fans over.

A teaser for some potential far northern Tamriel Rebuilt content, by Taniquetil.

Leviathan Isles – a small archipelago to the north of Sheogorad host to a ruined Imperial fort, Nord barrow, and more. The archipelago is intended to play a small part in a couple of province-spanning questlines. The exterior and interior locations are finished, but quests still need to be added.

Old Ebonheart Melee Tournament – a complex scripting marvel of a questline (made only with all-natural, non-GMO MWscript) that has you participating in a full-blown melee tournament steeped in inter-provincial politics. Marhaus has finished most of the scripting work, but much remains to be done, owing to the questline's complexity.

A new dreugh citadel in the cursed Nolubal Bay west of Bal Oyra. Exterior level design by Silvone.

Northeastern Morrowind Dreugh Citadels – making use of the new dreugh tileset released with the Andaram expansion last year, three new dreugh citadels and several grottos will be added to fully flesh out the underwater portion of our 2022 Embers of Empire expansion. Exterior work on these is finished, pending review.

Vounoura – a shrouded island to the north of Telvannis, related to the Morag Tong. The island, its interiors, and a brand-new Daedric lord quest has been finished (the latter complete with elusive new TES III voice acting!). Some more quests involving the location remain to be made, as does a follow-on to vanilla Morag Tong content.

The abandoned Tel Inan stands lonely on the island of Olanar. Exterior level design by Cicero.

Olanar – an island far to the southeast of Port Telvannis host to a long-abandoned Telvanni tower and rumored to hide a legendary treasure. The island's exterior and most interiors have been finished for a while, but we are waiting on some Maormer (!) assets to be finished, prior to quest work starting.

All of the above items are, again, not core parts of the expansion and may get bundled with following expansions, should they not materialize in time.

Poison Song

While our main effort remains focused on Grasping Fortune, we have in recent years kept going a side-effort to rework some of our oldest and least engaging areas, now called Poison Song.

Poison Song will revamp our old Sundered Scar region, but may tentatively also include some entirely new lands in the new Orethan region, including the town of Othrenis and the chapel of Nanaav, and, finally, our first three questlines for House Indoril.

A birds-eye view of the playable area to be added or revamped in Poison Song. The gray-hued area in the north is the redone Sundered Scar region, where most of the exterior worldspace is finished. The green area in a half-arch around the city of Almalexia is the currently work-in-progress Orethan region, an area wholly new to the mod. The inset on the top left shows the location on a map of all of Morrowind.

This expansion is the second of our “redo” releases, where we touch up older areas of the mod that don't quite hold up to our current worldbuilding vision and quality standards. (The first being 2022's acclaimed Embers of Empire, which revamped Telvannis' western seaboard and the Imperial cities and towns therein.)

The Sundered Scar wilderness. Exterior level design by pralec and Quit.

The Sundered Scar region, the expansion's main focus, lies directly east of Old Ebonheart on the mainland coast of the Inner Sea (roughly south of Molag Amur in the vanilla game). This region is currently a clone of the vanilla game's Bitter Coast region with a grand total of three minor quests taking place there. Although originally released in 2012 as part of the Sacred East expansion, its landscapes largely date to 2003, when much of the area was explicitly made as “filler content.”

The town of Marog in the new Sundered Scar. Exterior level design by pralec, screenshot by LogansGun.

Seeking to make this area worthwhile, we have retooled the Sundered Scar into a dangerous wasteland of geysers, sulfuric hot springs, and weird tube-fauna, inspired by Bethesda's scrapped concepts for a Great Scathes region on Vvardenfell, which was left largely unimplemented in the vanilla game.

The new caravanserai by Quit which will replace the old Inn Between.

Once the heartlands of House Mora, from which Nerevar hailed, the region was ripped asunder during the cataclysm that created the Inner Sea at the end of the War of the First Council, the ground underneath the land coming to a boil. Although ostensibly governed by the Indoril, this area has been left largely vacant in remembrance of the slain Hortator. Only small townsteads, the foremost of them being the trade town of Darvonis, dot the region. Most of it remains dangerous wilderness filled with the ruins of Morrowind's past glories. An exception is the lush island of Gorne in Azura Bay (known from the vanilla Morrowind book “The Poison Song”), which hosts an isolated chapel of House Indoril.

The lush island of Gorne off the Vvardenfell coast. Exterior level design by Cicero.

Tentatively, we may also include a small-ish part of our new Orethan region in Poison Song, just to the south of Sundered Scar. Realizing we had most of the needed assets earlier this year, we decided to already kick off exterior development there. This fully new chunk of land surrounding the city of Almalexia would make Poison Song no longer just a “redo,” but a full-on “do.”

Environmental concept for the Orethan region by be-a-stranger.

Our currently released mainland includes two old regions of the same name – the rather nondescript Alt Orethan and the lush forest of Lan Orethan – which were first released in 2012. Although the latter is quite lovely in its own way, our new concepts for House Indoril call for turning the area into a vast central breadbasket feeding the metropolis of Almalexia. After all, in Bethesda's original 1996 concept, this part of Morrowind was host to the Central (Deshaan) Plains, of which the Orethan region would form a part of.

Work-in-progress Orethan landscape. More colourful land textures and flora are still to be added. Exterior level design by Chef and/or Quit.

Building off of the few environmental assets shown in TES III: Tribunal's Mournhold, the new Orethan region will be a subtropical garden where Almalexia's influence has sculpted the very land into the most perfect expression of Indoril theocracy. Lush green vegetation is accented by many colorful flowers and fruit trees. Peaceful Velothi villages tend to bountiful fields irrigated by the meandering tributaries of the Orethan.

The heavily work-in-progress town of Othrenis. Exterior level design by Quit.

The central settlement in the particular slice of the Orethan coming with Poison Song is Othrenis. This is a wealthy trade town on Veloth's Path that includes a popular pilgrimage temple in addition to saltrice depots and a bustling slave market frequented by House Dres traders. The town is ruled at a distance from Nanaav, the airy and lovingly cultivated chapel of Indoril Beroth, who despite being an anti-Hlaalu warhawk is at personal odds with the similarly warlike Indoril Ilvi of Roa Dyr to the north (this is in contrast to Beroth's current depiction in the released mod, which shall change).

The heavily work-in-progress chapel of Nanaav. Exterior level design by Chef, new architecture assets by Shivatheo.

So, how far along is Poison Song? Well, all except two Sundered Scar exterior claims are finalized and most interior locations are either pending review or being worked on. The Orethan part, while smaller in scope, has only just started exterior development. Although enough assets are available for initial work, we still need the final ground textures and pink gorapple trees that will give the Orethan more color, as well as a variety of new flowers. Therefore, its possible that Sundered Scar will be done long before the Orethan; in that case, we will likely release the former separately.

Regardless, once we do release the new Orethan chunk, we will finally be able to offer our players the first three questlines for House Indoril. As for other quests, Poison Song won't be rich in Imperial guilds, but expect at least Temple and Morag Tong questlines in Darvonis and Othrenis, as well as a ton of miscellaneous quests throughout the wilderness areas and the smaller settlements.

The landscape around the town of Bodrum has recently been cleaned up by Phenoix12 and Mothpot.

Finally, Poison Song will help us tie up some loose ends from our past releases. As is well-known, we weren't quite 100% satisfied with the exterior and interior level design in our 2022's Dominions of Dust expansion – much of the area had been in development since 2009, way before our current quality and consistency standards were in place. Therefore, a touch-up of the exterior landscaping in the Roth Roryn region is ongoing (which may also touch the Armun Ashlands region), and we are well on our way to revamping or remaking many of the corresponding interiors – work we hope to release together with Poison Song.

A sketch of a possible new Armun Ashlands colour palette by be-a-stranger.

Wealth Beyond Measure

Coming right after Grasping Fortune in our main line of expansions is Wealth Beyond Measure, another massive release that will round out the remaining part of southwestern Morrowind.

The focus of this expansion will be the city of Kragenmoor, House Hlaalu's second most important settlement and, certainly, the most imperialized native city of Morrowind. Stretching from Kragenmoor all the way to Lake Coronati is the bulk of the lush and alien Othreleth Woods region, much of it filled with Hlaalu towns, agriculture, and industry. Running parallel to it is the wild northern spur of the Shipal-Shin canyonlands, the border between Morrowind and Cyrodiil, which transition into the Velothi Mountains just west of Kragenmoor.

A birds-eye view of the playable area to be added in Wealth Beyond Measure. The yellow area is the Othreleth Woods region and the red area underneath the northern spur of Shipal-Shin. In the northwest, Shipal-Shin transitions into the greenish-gray Velothi Mountains. Most of the exterior worldspace is finalized (although largely un-reviewed), with a few conspicuous areas still works in progress. The inset on the top right shows the location on a map of all of Morrowind.

Kragenmoor is an up-and-coming power center for House Hlaalu, though not exactly one to rival Narsis. Built on the ruins of what was once the heartland of the Kragen dwarves, then later a Redoran stronghold, the city now sits astride the busiest trade route between Morrowind and Cyrodiil, and is full of Hlaalu and outlander nouveau riche with their ostentatious mega-mansions. Imperial influence runs strong here; it's where we find one of the most important East Empire Company halls and the center of Morrowind's Imperial Cult, complete with two different chapels to Imperial Divines. Still, the city remains just as important to the Tribunal Temple, as it's where Veloth's Path really starts.

The work-in-progress city of Kragenmoor by Nemon and Chef.

Besides Kragenmoor, numerous other Hlaalu settlements dot the Othreleth Woods. The foremost among these is Andrethis, a bustling Balmora-sized industry town that is also one of the least imperialized Hlaalu settlements. Besides the other towns, villages, plantations, and mines, ruins of the once-great Redoran Waters March dot the region. Beyond them, in the deep woods await poisonous flora, carnivorous mushrooms, and dangerous predators – few dare venture far from roads in the Othreleth Woods.

A piece of the Othreleth Woods. Exterior level design by Phenoix12, screenshot by shivatheo.

Besides that, you will see more of the wild west of Shipal-Shin, where a couple more Shinathi clans make their nomadic living, rubbing shoulders with outcasts, smugglers, and the occasional Hlaalu outpost. To the west of Kragenmoor is the southernmost part of the Velothi Mountains, now sporting a brand-new asset palette (compared to the slightly northern part of the region released in 2022, which relied mostly on vanilla Morrowind assets, and which will get repainted in parallel). There you will find Shadowgate pass, Morrowind's busiest crossing into Cyrodiil, as well as the remains of the once-great Kragen dwarves, the antecedents of the Rourken Dwemer who emigrated to Hammerfell and built up a civilization there, prior to their disappearance.

The northwestern end of Shipal-Shin near the town of Salvelis. Exterior level design by Phenoix12.

Wealth Beyond Measure will complete our House Hlaalu lands and will therefore allow us to implement our first full, end-game faction questline. This will be a high-stakes affair that involves locations and actors all across the mainland and Vvardenfell. In fact, we will aim to integrate the whole vanilla House Hlaalu quest cycle seamlessly into the larger questline – of course, this will mean substantial edits to the vanilla game, which likely means we'll make it optional. Expect also a new House Hlaalu stronghold on the mainland! Otherwise, the questing scope is shaping up to be quite similar to Grasping Fortune, as we will need two questlines for a number of vanilla factions, along with innumerable miscellaneous quests.

Dwemer ruins litter the Velothi Mountains. Exterior level design by LogansGun.

Progress on this expansion is quite promising, as most parts of the exterior worldspace have been finished or are already far into development. In particular, the city of Kragenmoor is mostly built, but will get a small reduction from its previously bloated size. About a third of the landmass has also been reviewed, allowing interior work to proceed. Many dozens of such locations are already finished.

House Redoran 1

The newest area in Tamriel Rebuilt to come into active development is the southern part of Velothis District, i.e. the lands of House Redoran. This first, as-of-yet unnamed Redoran release will comprise the southern half of Redoran lands consisting of two wholly new, unique regions: the Clambering Moor and the Grey Meadows. In those regions lie the important March capitals of Veranis and Silgrad, but most of the surrounding lands are relatively sparsely inhabited, threatened by both Orc and Nord raids. A highlight of its own will be Malahk-Bazul, an isolated mountain valley home of the particularly nasty Malahk Orcs.

A birds-eye view of the playable area to be added in the first House Redoran expansion. Exterior work has just only started on the Clambering Moor region in the south of the area and the greenish Velothi Mountains to its west. The Grey Meadows region to its north remains all default-brown heightmap, as it requires new assets to be made before exterior worldspaces can be created. The inset on the top left shows the location on a map of all of Morrowind.

Long-time Tamriel Rebuilt fans may remember that we already completed most of the Redoran lands between 2010 and 2013; these were present in our old, now-deprecated TR_Preview plugin, which you may have played. However, while generally enjoyable, those exteriors mostly relied on vanilla assets and came with a whole host of subtle design issues common to our work in the early-to-mid 2010s. All-in-all, the experience of recent years (cough Dominions of Dust cough) makes it clear that it is much more fruitful to approach new lands as a clean slate with a strong starting concept and a fully unique asset palette – which is what we are now doing.

A scene in the Clambering Moor. Work-in-progress exterior level design by Pickles, screenshot by shivatheo.

The Clambering Moor region directly abuts our released lands in the Roth Roryn. It is a crimson highland moor rolling down from the peaks of the Velothi Mountains towards the Inner Sea, dotted by sparse mushroom groves. The area is host to isolated Redoran farmsteads and outposts, Malahk Orc camps, Dwemer ruins, and even Nord ruins from the First Nord Empire.

The city of Veranis, capital of Stones March. Exterior level design by Chef and Pickles.

The Clambering Moor forms the northern part of the Redoran Stones March, one of the five marches that comprise the territory of the House. Its capital is the well-fortified Veranis, sitting astride the Roryn river in a narrow valley and designed to deter and repel the Malahk Orcs. It, and by extension the whole March, is home to a proud stoneworking and mining tradition but also includes the full complement of vanilla Imperial guilds. Besides Veranis, several smaller villages eke out a living in the region, mostly relying on mining and ranching.

The Clambering Moor transitioning into the Velothi Mountains. Exterior level design by LogansGun.

The Grey Meadows region to the north of the Clambering Moor is a much harsher place, an eerie bog subject to strong ashfall from Vvardenfell and full of strange webs and poisonous spores.

Grey Meadows concept art by be-a-stranger.

The Grey Meadows were the darling of 2010s Tamriel Rebuilt, being the first region built using mostly custom assets – and to great results. Although we aim to recreate its look and atmosphere almost 1-to-1, the technical execution of the landscape suffers from several deep-seated issues common for the time, making it more fruitful to recreate from scratch.

Old, ca 2011 implementation of Grey Meadows, which used to be in our TR_Preview plugin. Screenshot by saddboye.

The city of Silgrad (called Kogotel in our former planning) lies in the west end of the Grey Meadows and is the capital of the smaller Ashes March that organizes the Redoran holdings of the region. Like Veranis, it is a fortified stronghold built to last attacks from the Nords of the Rift. Ancient mechanisms devised by Sotha Sil keep the city safe from flooding and the poisonous vapors of the hinterland. Although a couple other Redoran villages brave the region, only the Kushimmu ashlanders have really adapted to life in the deep marsh.

A small village of the Malahk Orcs in the valley of Malahk-Bazul. Exterior level design by Phenoix12.

Lying within Morrowind's borders only in the technical sense is Malahk-Bazul, a high mountain valley on the tri-point between Morrowind, Cyrodiil, and Skyrim. This mountainous land is home to the eastern Malahk Orcs – those of the Changed Folk who, according to legend, pursued the Chimer all the way to Resdayn's borders in revenge for Trinimac's debasement by Boethiah. In any case, the Malahk Orcs are much larger, meaner, and more aggressive than the more common western Orcs; only fools dare enter their lands. Still, a high-level player may find many hidden treasures in this land seldom tread by civilized folk. Just beware, the Orcs are far from the worst thing hiding in the valley.

The gate to Cyrodiil stays closed for now. Exterior level design by Phenoix12.

After a couple years spent slowly building up the asset base, we were able to open the first exterior claims both in the Clambering Moor and the new parts of the Velothi Mountains just earlier this year. Our exterior level designers dove right in: most claims already have substantial progress made and a couple ones are already finalized and awaiting review. As some required assets for the Grey Meadows don't yet exist, we have not currently opened new exterior claims there. But, hopefully, that won't be too far off either.

We are well aware that the landmass of this first Redoran release is rather huge. However, with Redoran lands being generally less-settled than Hlaalu ones, we suspect that the amount of work needed should be roughly comparable to that of our upcoming Hlaalu releases. Still, if the expansion becomes too big of a bite to swallow at once, we'll likely split the Grey Meadows region into its own, later release.

Later expansions

The above Redoran work concludes the expansions that we are actively implementing. However, let's go over some more mature plans for regions to be worked on in the future.

Left: concept for Mephalan Vales forests by athcliath97. Right: concept for a revamped Akamora in the Mephalan Vales by be-a-stranger. The latter is a little outdated, as the chapel will now use the Indoril (a.k.a. Old Mournhold) architecture set.

Following Poison Song, the next of our old regions up for redo is the Mephalan Vales, a tangle of fog-shrouded canyons that forms the northern border of Indoril lands. This was really the first wholly new, coordinated regional concept that Tamriel Rebuilt attempted to build starting in 2006. The core idea remains solid, but its over-reliance on cobbled-together rock objects at the expense of the landscape mesh introduces a lot of “moddiness” and poor navigability. Besides, we now have the opportunity to give the region a slate of unique environmental assets.

Chef testing out some of the new regional assets for the Mephalan Vales by shivatheo.

The new conception of the Mephalan Vales consists of labyrinthine ridges of sharp purple cliffs, this being implied to be the region from where the rock for Morrowind's many Daedric ruins was quarried from. Between the cliffs lie deep, canopied valleys blanketed in perpetual fog and home to a variety of less and more dangerous native spiders. Several Velothi villages and the town of Akamora specialize in handicrafts, especially the lucrative spider silk trade.

A variety of work-in-progress Mephalan Vales spider and spider-daedra meshes by Cameron (first three on the left) and Lamb Shark a.k.a. Sandaron (right).

Shivatheo recently completed most of the environmental assets – land textures, rocks, cliffs, trees, smaller flora – needed for an initial implementation of the exterior landscape. For implementation to begin, however, we still need to complete the new regional heightmap.

Concepts for the region of Nedothril (left) and the city of Mervayan (right) by be-a-stranger.

After Mephalan Vales, the remaining parts of the Indoril lands will also need revamps, although it is uncertain in which order that will happen. A new regional concept exists for the Nedothril coast, east of the Orethan region, which is to become a coastline of porous rock formations jutting out from the mudflats of eastern Morrowind. Nedothril will host a major city in the Velothi tileset, Mervayan, the Indorils' main trade port on the Padomaic Ocean. Likewise, the Sacred Lands region surrounding Necrom will become a golden grassland full of ominous fungi. Necrom itself will also require a full overhaul, given its lack of quest content and dated architecture meshes.

Sacred Lands concepts by be-a-stranger. Left: Necrom, right: Fort Umbermoth.

The final boss of our Indoril content will, of course, be the city of Almalexia, the biggest in all of Morrowind. Although we have long stated that we seek to develop Almalexia dead last in the project, this was mainly a reaction to the previous failed attempt at creating the city in 2011-2014 – an event that nearly led to the demise of the entire mod project. Our volunteer developer-base is constantly rotating, however, and most of the people that lived through that particular trauma have moved on. With the experience of Narsis under our belts, we are newly confident that the project can take Almalexia on once again, in the sooner-rather-than-later future, especially now that pretty much everyone is happy with be-a-stranger's new concept for the city. This will likely be a years-long background burner project.

Concepts for the city of Almalexia by be-a-stranger.

Our main line of expansions will, in the meanwhile, continue finishing up Redoran lands. After the first, currently in-development expansion, the next one will hopefully round out the rest of our Redoran lands. Half of it will consist of the Julan-Shar region, a relatively lush, if frigid, conifer forest marked by hydrothermal activity. Travertine terraces, geysers, and smoke-billowing mushrooms are common. The focus of this region will be the city of Blacklight, capital of House Redoran. The city will be heavily inspired by Scamp's legendary 2011 implementation that graced the old TR_Preview plugin, but much expanded in footprint and remade using purpose-built assets in order to alleviate the performance and stylistic concerns that the former suffered from.

Compared to the old TR_Preview depiction, Julan-Shar will also be expanded far towards the north and northwest to provide more content and bring the shape of Morrowind's landmass closer to the depictions found in in-game books and Bethesda's pre-release concept maps. This will eventually require us to move Solstheim to the northeast (as the popular mods Anthology Solstheim and Tomb of the Snow Prince already do), but this is years into the future.

Environmental concept for the Julan-Shar region by Feivelyn (left) and the city of Blacklight by be-a-stranger (right).

The Great Valley region to the west of Blacklight will be a steep glacial valley cut into a spur of the Velothi Mountains. Agriculture is difficult in this snowy landscape, but the scarce herding grounds on the valley floor form the locus of conflict between the ancient Nord diaspora, for whom the area is properly called the Nordic hold of Uld Vraech, and the Redoran, to whom Tiber Septim granted control of the region.

Environmental concept for the Great Valley region by be-a-stranger.

Following the Redoran lands, our plan is to finally swing over to the southeastern Deshaan District, the lands of House Dres. A proper start on this front seems ever distant, but what has recently happened is a large-scale reconceptualization of House Dres. 2010s planning tended to make the Dres overly exceptional, having them be worshippers of the Anticipations instead of the Tribunal (in conflict with one of the few vanilla Morrowind dialogue lines on House Dres that states they are staunch Temple supporters) and suggesting that their material culture and social structure be wholly separate from that of the other Houses. Recently, we have toned this exceptionalism down a notch, ending up at a happy medium where we hope the faction will be easier to implement and integrate better into the TES III game world while still offering much that is novel. A new book by Douglas Goodall on the Dres has helped much in this regard.

The new regional setup for the Deshaan District shown on a cut-out of our planning map (added by Taniquetil). The region names are not yet final.

A big change has occurred in the Deshaan District's region setup, too. Previously, most Dres lands were to consist of a salt desert that was cultivated into a saltrice breadbasket only by virtue of slave-powered Dres engineering that brought up water from deep aquifers. While this was a cool concept, it did not really fit the spirit of the few TES-III-era in-game and out-of-game mentions and depictions of Dres lands. Hence, while the salt desert will be retained, it will form only the western portion of Dres lands against the Shipal-Shin region, with the Deshaan Plains proper becoming a more naturally bountiful grassland. A new volcanic highlands region will separate the plains from the unchanged Arnesian jungles to the south.

*Work-in-progress Dres architecture tileset by Athcliath97. *

What's very promising is that Athcliath97 continues to make great progress on our n-th attempt at a House Dres architecture set, something that countless asset developers have struggled with over more than two decades. Having abandoned the ever-troublesome modular canton concept for bespoke canton models made specifically for a couple cities, this latest iteration is certainly the best yet and has gotten the farthest in terms of completion – even the interior set is now being worked on!

Environmental concept art for new Telvannis regions by Feivelyn. Left: the dry and dusty Dagon Urul in the northwestern tip of the Telvanni peninsula. Right: the sadrith-covered Telvanni Isles to the east of the peninsula.

For now, the final stretch goal of Tamriel Rebuilt will be an eventual rework of our House Telvanni lands. These were completed already in 2008, when we didn't have the ability to create substantial amounts of new 3D assets. Hence, Telvannis is at once the most complete part of the mod, but also among the mod's biggest let-downs, as it merely recycles vanilla Morrowind's region concepts and assets. A great new concept for Telvannis exists, but is currently awaiting its turn until we complete the rework of our Indoril lands.

Environmental concept art for new Telvannis regions by Feivelyn. Left: the unholy forest of Sunad Mora on the eastern coast of the Telvanni peninsula. Right: the rocky and picturesque Scath Anud region in the far southwest of Telvannis.

As you can see, quite a lot remains to be done in Morrowind, but many hands make light work! If you appreciate Tamriel Rebuilt and would like to help us realize our vision sooner, please consider joining the project as a developer. It's famously easy to get started with TES III modding and our community guides and developer feedback provide all the help you need. Most of our developers had no modding or game development experience before deciding to join us.

Regardless, make sure to also come chat on our Groomercord server, where we develop the mod in the open and where we also host much more frequently updated progress reports. Til next time!

!besties

Balatro 1.0.1 is finally live on Steam for everyone! Give it a whirl!

We are submitting Switch, Xbox and PlayStation builds this week and will try to get those patches out ASAP, but no ETAhttps://t.co/XH734jpflp

— localthunk (@LocalThunk) May 1, 2024

TOUHOU MENTIONED YESTERDAY, TOUHOU MENTIONED TODAY!

THIS SONG HAS BEEN LIVING RENT FREE IN MY HEAD, PLEASE GET IT OUT TY

CONTEXT: https://rdrama.net/post/265595/new-cattoss

I didn't buy it but apparently it wasn't very good even for an early access launch. RIP in peace.

Also Dean Hall, the creator of DayZ, is making a spiritual successor to KSP1?

https://old.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1chgbzl/2024_take_2_layoffs_megathread/l22y2of/?context=8&sort=controversial

Did you knew square enix just released 2 games in one week “saga and front mission 2” ? Square ENIX started tons of games and cancelled tons of those and many they released were in shit shape.

After ff7 remake success in 2020 they released Balan world a ultra shit game whose director is now in jail

Limited physical release of ff pixel remaster while its a boomer game and boomer buy disks

Dungeon encounter, any one heard of that game ? Of voice of cards ? Square Enix released 3 voice of cards games in span of 1 year.

Babylon fall

Ff origin a very unpolished games that looks like ps2 game with ps2 frame rate and resolution on ps5

Various Daylife Exclusively on iPhone arcade

The Diofield Chronicle another unpolished game

Valkyrie alyssum unpolished

Star ocean 5 guess who is unpolished ?

Harvestela another meh

Dragon quest games exclusively on switch

Ff 7 live service mobile game that closed (first soldier it was called or something)

Another ff7 live service mobile game than soon will get closed (crisis something)

Forspoken they could had made this game better if they made more side activities

Tons of AI generated detective games

Devil may cry 16

Dragon quest muson game worse than any music game

Front mission 1st that was shit graphically then 2nd that looked way better but also shit

A strange saga game

WHYYYYY we losing money

The game is made by a guy called SigmaSuccour. Who is this young upstart you might ask? Well, here's what we know about him:

He was an up-and-coming RPG Maker dev much adorned by that community. This all changed when they found out that he's a Pakistani Muslim whose views on the LGBTQAWhatever community coincided with the views of most Pakistani Muslims. Shocker, I know. His views on gays and co. are actually probably more moderate than an average Paki, but that still didn't stop them from throwing a tantrum about him.

This guy properly summarizes the situation.

So, what did our boy Sigma do as a response when this came out? Well, of course, he did what he does best, he made a game addressing his critics.

The game, as you would expect, had a mixed reception.

Sigma Male, of course, didn't take this lying down, and he made sure to respond to these Islamophobic buggery enthusiasts.

Also, he's pro-AI.

Then, G*merGate 2 happened, and our boy Sigma decided to get on the bandwagon. He decided to make a game about G*merGate, a movement that he found fraternal ties to, I guess, and he was borderline spamming the /r/KotakuInAction board with updates to his game. At first, the Gaymers thought that the whole thing was kinda cringe, but even they eventually got charmed by his passion for the project.

And now, the game has been released on Itch.io. I hope you enjoy it, if for no other reason, than for the drama it resulted from.

Despite being one of the most successful games released by Remedy Entertainment, Alan Wake II still hasn't recouped its expenses, according to a new financial report.

Financial statement https://investors.remedygames.com/app/uploads/2024/04/remedy-q1-2024-business-review.pdf

Remedy Entertainment confirmed how the second entry in the series, which sold 1.3 million copies as of this February, still hasn't recouped development and marketing costs.

They've recently said on their investor call:

“That's a speculation we cannot do. At the moment AW2 is on EGS, we hope PC g*mers find it there"

>sell your soul to Epicoal Games and the Chinkocracy of Tenshit

>greenlight sequel to literally who niche eurojank horror game from over a decade ago

>gain no profits

!g*mers

Just 20 years to late

So I have a regular jailbroken ps4 and a ps4 pro on latest firmware and guess what somy downgraded the console I cant even enter psn store it gives me a timeout error and when I somehow manage to enter the psn store the loadings are forever and every where signs to upgrade to ps5

So people thought in the past update of consoles will ad new features but reality is butt s*x and most updates just kill some features and late updates make the console slower to force you buy the newest one. Its kegig brutal how my ps4 on 9.0 version is faster than ps4 pro on 11.1

I am thrilled to finally announce that I have made 15 new #pixelpaintings for @Minecraft This has been in the works for quite a while. Thank you Mojang and @JasperBoerstra for a fun collaboration!#pixelart #minecraft pic.twitter.com/fZ1b3oQ4C8

— Kristoffer Zetterstrand (@Zetterstrand) April 30, 2024

Take phones away from boomers man

Square Enix announced that it expects to record approx. 22.1 billion yen (approx $140M) in "content abandonment losses" for the fiscal year ended March 2024

- At a Board of Directors meeting on March 27, 2024, they voted "to revise their approach to the development of HD games… pic.twitter.com/7wzZp4RFN5

— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) April 30, 2024

https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/pdf/20240430_01_en.pdf

3 minutes of Lo Wang staring at the green-haired potty girl in Master Leep's Temple. I crouched to ensure Lo Wang doesn't use chopsticks, and I didn't speak to her or hit her so she doesn't shoot back at me.

I also had my weapon holstered and my status bar and crosshairs removed so all I can see is the girl. I didn't even move.

Out of all the girls in Shadow Warrior, the green-haired potty girl was my favorite to stare at.

Some zoomer praising the game. It is a very interesting piece of media, I wouldn't really consider it a "game" due to it being point and click more of an actual art project tbh. !besties

Iz overu (speaks in Korean)

Darn, turns out I really want boobs to return to video games.

I hope the western gaming industry keeps failing until pretty women are allowed back in Video games as the default.

Of all the words on pen and paper,

The saddest are these,

The Otaku's were right,

2D and 3D vidya women are better than real women.

( And real women hate 3d women )

Now hear me out, the other day I was wondering in my sleep if champions were real and Rito would remove this "polite" filter in lore so that would make champions feel more real.

For example I am 100% sure that Sett calls his opponents "r*tards" every single time just because it suits him as a character. For the same reason I am sure Draven and Jax would be spitting racist remarks on each second (RPS = racism per second). For no other reason then the fact that it fits their characters. Kled, I will not even mention that one. That mf would be collecting offences and criminal records like Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

Whenever I play league I have certain picture of each champion how would they act in real life.

What do you guys think?

wtf a redditor made a funny shitpost?