Edge of High Life [Mission series]

[zBadBooyBR]

On 4/25/2020 at 7:56 PM, Jimmy_Leppard said:

I'm kinda sad that you didn't like the Package deals mission

Mainly because I'm pretty much a noob because guards kept spotting me all the time, I even tried to stealth but they seem to have X-Ray vision and killed me instantly so I skipped it.

 

Yes I understand about the survival instinct too but on my thought I think they would go back and check on Conrad after the explosion ended but it was better off Conrad surviving for the ending, the ending battle was neat!

 

Not sure if I was the only one who thought about this too but I thought about Dwayne still being alive and working with Garry and would make an appearance fighting against the team in Garry's mansion as some sort of mini-boss. 

[Jimmy_Leppard]

31 minutes ago, zBadBooyBR said:

Mainly because I'm pretty much a noob because guards kept spotting me all the time, I even tried to stealth but they seem to have X-Ray vision and killed me instantly so I skipped it.

 

Yes I understand about the survival instinct too but on my thought I think they would go back and check on Conrad after the explosion ended but it was better off Conrad surviving for the ending, the ending battle was neat!

 

Not sure if I was the only one who thought about this too but I thought about Dwayne still being alive and working with Garry and would make an appearance fighting against the team in Garry's mansion as some sort of mini-boss. 

The issue with the mission ''Package deals'' is not you being the noob really, it's just it's one of the missions which are exceptionally hard (probably too hard) since there's pretty much only one possible route for you to take without getting spotted and it must be executed at a specific time too, so it's hard by any standards.

 

It's cool that you mentioned the thing with Dwayne because, believe it or not, one of my initial ideas was to leave Dwayne alive off screen and make it so as it seems like he's dead. However, that idea didn't involve him working for Garry or anything like that. It was gonna be along the lines of the team finding out he was alive and kept prisoner by Garry and then rescuing him somewhere near the end of the mission pack, but then I ditched the idea because I felt it was unnecessary.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Jimmy_Leppard

[Aymunz]

17 hours ago, zBadBooyBR said:

Mainly because I'm pretty much a noob because guards kept spotting me all the time, I even tried to stealth but they seem to have X-Ray vision and killed me instantly so I skipped it.

It's funny because I faced the same issue. But there is a different route.

Spoiler

I went around the place to where scott is parking his car and from there it was an easy cake. Dunno if it's considered cheating, but it worked.

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Aymunz

[Jimmy_Leppard]

1 minute ago, Aymunz said:

It's funny because I faced the same issue. But there is a different route. I went around the place to where scott is parking his car and from there it was an easy cake. Dunno if it's considered cheating, but it worked.

Oh, right! That's true. I think AznKei did the same thing in his walkthrough. I forgot about that  Yeah, I guess it is considered ''cheating'', but that's okay. I always appreciate when players play my missions the way I intended them to be played, but if you tried many times and it's just not working since it's very hard to do it in a way I intended it, then I'm okay with cheating. Nobody has to know

[Aymunz]

14 minutes ago, Jimmy_Leppard said:

Oh, right! That's true. I think AznKei did the same thing in his walkthrough. I forgot about that  Yeah, I guess it is considered ''cheating'', but that's okay. I always appreciate when players play my missions the way I intended them to be played, but if you tried many times and it's just not working since it's very hard to do it in a way I intended it, then I'm okay with cheating. Nobody has to know

I thought you intended to put this like a sort of secret shortcut. Stealth missions are pretty tough in DYOM. The radar is useless and the camera angle isn't suitable for this kind of mechanic. But it is realistic, I guess. I once participated in MOTW with a stealth mission that was extremely hard. It didn't go well.

Got me thinking if we tried a stealth mission with THBP's fixed camera bug, would it work better?

Edited April 28, 2020 by Aymunz

[zakarum5835]

I'll give it a go to this one! The topic it seems interesting.

[Jimmy_Leppard]

10 minutes ago, Aymunz said:

I thought you intended to put this like a sort of secret shortcut. Stealth missions are pretty tough in DYOM. The radar is useless and the camera angle isn't suitable for this kind of mechanic. But it is realistic, I guess. I once participated in MOTW with a stealth mission that was extremely hard. It didn't go well.

Got me thinking if we tried a stealth mission with THBP's fixed camera bug, would it work better?

You're absolutely right. I said it myself too, doing stealth sequences in GTA San Andreas is very messy to say the least. You can work hard on polishing it as much as you want, but in the end, GTA San Andreas mechanics are still gonna be the same and it's not gonna feel 100% stealth like. I don't think DYOM is the problem at all. I'm happy with the way it is though.

[thermal7]

Hey Jimmy, Just recently played this MP and now I'm submitting my MP. Spoilers ahead...

Spoiler

Pros

- Cool story, obviously. Wouldn't expect less from good ol' Jim.

- Cool levels. The one thing I can always appreciate about Jimmy is the creativity of his levels. The "take" levels are all uniquely designed, and represent the strategy and cunning of the Take Team. The others are more or less either straight-forward action missions or narration missions, but they're alright too.

- Cool characters. Obviously, can't make a good story without making good characters. Both the good and the bad guys are given enough time to shine on screen, and it's really cool to observe the events from the villains' perspective. Scott and Thomas, the dynamic duo, are given the most spotlight and therefore need to have most character development, and thankfully it's all there. I'm seriously glad that Scott and Thomas decided to retire and lead a good life, and I was utterly taken aback and shocked when Thomas died just like that. RIP, "I'll see you when I see you", you were the best.

- Cool length. Really, really fricking cool length. 64 missions, baby! Exactly twice as much as The Runaway, another Jimmy's magnum opus.

Cons

- Goddamn difficulty. Jesus Christ Jim, do you ALWAYS have to give enemies 100% accuracy? Sure, it helps with tension and urgency in climactic missions like Wake-Up Call (killing Cesare) and Heart of Gold (killing Garry) and sometimes I can even enjoy this tactical shooter vibe, but god does it begin to annoy over time.

 

Most and least favorite things.

- Most favorite level: Heart of Gold (penultimate level). Hands down the coolest action level ever! Pure revenge-driven thrill! Infinitely replayable! Reminds me of fighting through Diaz's mansion in Vice City. Garry's guards are both very mobile (which is a rarity in DYOM) and very accurate, making them a force to be reckoned with, and it's a good thing. Bonus points for variety of enemy skins. Killing that fakheen @sshole Garry is immensely satisfying, especially since he killed my sweet precious boy Thomas.

- Least favorite level: Federal Concern (obscene level). Everybody hates it and so do I.

- Most favorite good guy: Nate. He gives off such a warm, pleasant fatherly vibe that you can't really dislike him, and he's such a delightfully goofy evil genius to boot. He's also the mastermind behind the Take Team and nothing would ever happen without his influence.

- Least favorite good guy: I hate to say it, but it's Billy. He just doesn't have enough personal connection to the group and is, more often than not, a plot device than a character. No offense, but screw him!

- Most favorite bad guy: Strangely enough, Roger. In my opinion, he's a very underrated antagonist and his plot significance is easily overlooked. He's the one who forced the Take Team to kill Cesare, shaking up the crime families in the process, and later revealed Scott and Thomas' house address to Hammond, Roger's employer. It is with HIS appearance that the plot really starts to intensify and get interesting. Also, he has an extremely smug, amoral and repulsive personality that makes him instantly hateable from his very first scene, and even more after the dead cop trick. Of all the villains, this is the one I was very eager to get rid of, and I felt a very palpable sense of relief when you finally kill him, like when you throw off a chokehold.

- Least favorite bad guy: An entire club of those. All the other crime family bosses, barring Garry Gold, are completely devoid of... anything. I can't even acknowledge them as characters, because they make almost no appearances in the MP. Cesare and Yuichi are targets in Wake-Up Call and Last Flight, respectively, but even then they have no dialogue or distinct personality, making them mere NPCs with unique character models.

 

And as bonus, here are some things that left me a little bitter on the inside.

- Sullivan's death. Necessary murder or not, the fact that the so-called "Thomas' friend" was never really cared about by Thomas himself leaves an unsavory taste in my mouth. So far, he striked me as a likeable side character who never did anything bad to Thomas and seeing his ultimate fate felt like a cynical freaking travesty. RIP Sully, you deserved better.

- Conrad's death. After giving the players the option to kill all of the antagonists themselves, seeing Conrad die in cutscene feels like wasted potential. I think it would be a lot cooler if the player was given 5 or so seconds to headshot Conrad after Tanya ducks. The player would actually save the girl with his own efforts. Also, his survival in the depot seems really contrived, because literally nothing stopped the Take Team from simply shooting the bastard in the face and running away quick before the depot goes BOOM. I also found it kinda silly that the Take Team naively believed that Conrad would just die in an explosion like that, especially considering that he already faked his death before. Honestly, Garry kidnapping Tanya and driving her outside LS to divert Scott's attention from his mansion would work just as well, but hey, you're the creater, you do it how you wish.

This is it. 9.0/10, awesome as hell! @Jimmy_Leppard, I sincerely hope you carefully read the review and respond to the points I made in them. Peace out, bro.

[Jimmy_Leppard]

4 hours ago, thermal7 said:

Hey Jimmy, Just recently played this MP and now I'm submitting my MP. Spoilers ahead...

  Reveal hidden contents

Pros

- Cool story, obviously. Wouldn't expect less from good ol' Jim.

- Cool levels. The one thing I can always appreciate about Jimmy is the creativity of his levels. The "take" levels are all uniquely designed, and represent the strategy and cunning of the Take Team. The others are more or less either straight-forward action missions or narration missions, but they're alright too.

- Cool characters. Obviously, can't make a good story without making good characters. Both the good and the bad guys are given enough time to shine on screen, and it's really cool to observe the events from the villains' perspective. Scott and Thomas, the dynamic duo, are given the most spotlight and therefore need to have most character development, and thankfully it's all there. I'm seriously glad that Scott and Thomas decided to retire and lead a good life, and I was utterly taken aback and shocked when Thomas died just like that. RIP, "I'll see you when I see you", you were the best.

- Cool length. Really, really fricking cool length. 64 missions, baby! Exactly twice as much as The Runaway, another Jimmy's magnum opus.

Cons

- Goddamn difficulty. Jesus Christ Jim, do you ALWAYS have to give enemies 100% accuracy? Sure, it helps with tension and urgency in climactic missions like Wake-Up Call (killing Cesare) and Heart of Gold (killing Garry) and sometimes I can even enjoy this tactical shooter vibe, but god does it begin to annoy over time.

 

Most and least favorite things.

- Most favorite level: Heart of Gold (penultimate level). Hands down the coolest action level ever! Pure revenge-driven thrill! Infinitely replayable! Reminds me of fighting through Diaz's mansion in Vice City. Garry's guards are both very mobile (which is a rarity in DYOM) and very accurate, making them a force to be reckoned with, and it's a good thing. Bonus points for variety of enemy skins. Killing that fakheen @sshole Garry is immensely satisfying, especially since he killed my sweet precious boy Thomas.

- Least favorite level: Federal Concern (obscene level). Everybody hates it and so do I.

- Most favorite good guy: Nate. He gives off such a warm, pleasant fatherly vibe that you can't really dislike him, and he's such a delightfully goofy evil genius to boot. He's also the mastermind behind the Take Team and nothing would ever happen without his influence.

- Least favorite good guy: I hate to say it, but it's Billy. He just doesn't have enough personal connection to the group and is, more often than not, a plot device than a character. No offense, but screw him!

- Most favorite bad guy: Strangely enough, Roger. In my opinion, he's a very underrated antagonist and his plot significance is easily overlooked. He's the one who forced the Take Team to kill Cesare, shaking up the crime families in the process, and later revealed Scott and Thomas' house address to Hammond, Roger's employer. It is with HIS appearance that the plot really starts to intensify and get interesting. Also, he has an extremely smug, amoral and repulsive personality that makes him instantly hateable from his very first scene, and even more after the dead cop trick. Of all the villains, this is the one I was very eager to get rid of, and I felt a very palpable sense of relief when you finally kill him, like when you throw off a chokehold.

- Least favorite bad guy: An entire club of those. All the other crime family bosses, barring Garry Gold, are completely devoid of... anything. I can't even acknowledge them as characters, because they make almost no appearances in the MP. Cesare and Yuichi are targets in Wake-Up Call and Last Flight, respectively, but even then they have no dialogue or distinct personality, making them mere NPCs with unique character models.

 

And as bonus, here are some things that left me a little bitter on the inside.

- Sullivan's death. Necessary murder or not, the fact that the so-called "Thomas' friend" was never really cared about by Thomas himself leaves an unsavory taste in my mouth. So far, he striked me as a likeable side character who never did anything bad to Thomas and seeing his ultimate fate felt like a cynical freaking travesty. RIP Sully, you deserved better.

- Conrad's death. After giving the players the option to kill all of the antagonists themselves, seeing Conrad die in cutscene feels like wasted potential. I think it would be a lot cooler if the player was given 5 or so seconds to headshot Conrad after Tanya ducks. The player would actually save the girl with his own efforts. Also, his survival in the depot seems really contrived, because literally nothing stopped the Take Team from simply shooting the bastard in the face and running away quick before the depot goes BOOM. I also found it kinda silly that the Take Team naively believed that Conrad would just die in an explosion like that, especially considering that he already faked his death before. Honestly, Garry kidnapping Tanya and driving her outside LS to divert Scott's attention from his mansion would work just as well, but hey, you're the creater, you do it how you wish.

This is it. 9.0/10, awesome as hell! @Jimmy_Leppard, I sincerely hope you carefully read the review and respond to the points I made in them. Peace out, bro.

Damn. Damn again! I wasn't expecting this at all!  A couple of guys actually left their reviews on this topic a few months ago and I was equally surprised then. I thought it was just a one-time thing though as it's been years since I've made this mission pack. I'm very happy that, now, you decided to leave a long and very detailed feedback as well! It was a joy to read for numerous reasons.

 

As you may or may not know, Edge of High Life holds a special place in my heart since it was the first mission pack I created with a clear intention of making it a solid ''GTA'' style-like series. I wanted it to be as legit of an alternative universe of a GTA game as possible. Not just length-wise, but also plot-wise, story progression-wise, mission style-wise... every aspect. I'm grateful that my intention became a reality in the end because people have really enjoyed playing it and with every new feedback I get here (such as yours today), it shows me that the work wasn't in vain. Thank you very much for your extremely high rating. I'm glad you enjoyed it that much! I'll dive into your review now.

 

 

I'm glad you liked the take team jobs! Good thing about them (as well as the whole mission pack actually) is that I had to change or adjust almost nothing when I was making the missions. I was able to design pretty much everything that initially thought up in my head when I was creating the story and I was really lucky there! DYOM is an amazing mod, but as we all know, it's not magical and there are times when you are bound to make adjustments to your story because some things just can't be made or shown in DYOM no matter how much you have its limitations in mind while creating the story. The take team jobs were supposed to be like the ''spotlight'' missions throughout the story if you know what I mean.

As far as the characters go... This was probably my favorite part of your review. I'm very happy that you really were able to pick up on so many little things when it comes to each of the characters that actually matter a whole lot. That shows me that you were extremely invested in the story and I thank you for that. I think that's the most rewarding thing any story teller can get. I must say that some things actually surprised me. Thomas seems to be almost everyone's favorite character. Not in your case! You named Nate as your favorite good guy and that's awesome too! And here is where you really hit it right on the head - I made Nate to be exactly what you described - an older mentor/father figure to the team, also someone who is capable of getting the most out of his team. I'm really glad you picked up on that. When it comes to Billy, I agree. Even though he's a member of the take team, Billy didn't really get much screen time since he's a minor character after all. He's a vital part of the team, but only job-wise. He's like that colleague who you establish and keep a work relationship with while on the job, but don't really spend time with outside work, you know?

When it comes to the bad guys, by far the most surprising answer was - Roger! I actually love that! I don't think anybody put him in that conversation. To me, he truly is a vital character and somewhat of a bridge between acts. Like you said, he influenced the events of the story in a big way from the moment he stepped into the story and if you think about it - had he not been able to contact Thomas and the rest of the team, the story would've been vastly different. As far as the other crime bosses go - you have to remember that this story is about Scott and Thomas and their journey towards that ''freedom''. I didn't really think giving crime bosses like Alcamo and the others was necessary because Scott and Thomas (and the rest of the take team) didn't really have anything to do with them. Yes, they did the jobs and stole the money from the crime families on a few occassions, but it was all under the radar. They were never directly involved with the crime heads. So basically, in that branch of the story, to me it was more important what the take team did rather than who they did it to. On the other hand, Garry is a different story. Scott killed the brother of the most powerful guy in all of LS. Messing with a man's family is always a bad idea, let alone messing with the most powerful man's family. Garry was ''the'' guy because of that

The difficulty, of course. Many disliked the difficulty of certain missions in this one and I don't blame you at all. I already said it before, I might've gone overboard a bit, especially with the ''Federal Concern'' mission which seems to be the black sheep of the mission pack and for a good reason. But I've said that before too - I purposely wanted to make certain missions extremely hard to break that momentum within chapters, to spark things up if you will. I knew full well it would be a hit or miss on that one. It is what it is, right? I'm happy you liked the ''Heart of Gold'' mission that much! It was certainly fun to make it and I carefully designed it to make sure its ending is satisfying. But, while I'm on the subject on favorite missions in this one - this may or may not surprise you, but for me, I had the most fun creating the ''Blueberry Curveball'' mission. But that's just me. Even in the real GTA games, my favorite missions are not the ending ones. I'm usually drawn to missions where the focus is on something else other than shooting. (like for example, cleaning the floors in the FIB building and planting the bomb during one of the missions in GTA V) 

And finally, the bonus stuff. I loved your takes on various things there! Yes, Sullivan's death was a tragedy, but it was a necessary evil (at least from our protagonists' points of view). It's one of those ''it's them or us'' things. Survival instinct prevails because it's just how it is whether we like it or not. At that point, Sullivan was going to turn Thomas over to the police. With everything going on at that time, that would equal to a bullet in the heads of both Scott and Thomas. And you also don't forget that Scott and Thomas are actual criminals. They're not some boy scouts or your average model citizens. They've been around the block and they know when it's time to react and how to react to save their own asses in a way that there are no loose ends. Sullivan is a polar opposite of them. Reasoning with him would not have been possible. So what is the logical solution? That he's got to go. Undeserving? Sure. But at the same time, logical? Absolutely.

Conrad's death - That's a good point. I wanted to make a cinematic ending because the AI in the game is really clumsy. I wasn't sure how Tanya's NPC or Conrad's NPC would react during gameplay on top of a crane because sometimes NPC's start moving, change animations and stuff when guns are being pointed in their direction etc. Too many unknown variables at what's supposed to be a climactic ending. I might've misjudged the stuation though. It never really crossed my mind until this point to be honest When it comes to the depot scene with Conrad though - I really tried my best to show the urgency of the moment in that situation. I guess it didn't really work as good as I had hoped. You're actually not the first one who brought it up, that's why I say that. Basically, the thing was that the depot started burning all of a sudden and the guys thought it was gonna explode at any moment. Also, Scott being Scott, he wanted to rub that ''victory'' in Conrad's face as much as possible, so with those tho things together, Scott wanted to show Conrad that he doesn't need a gun to kill him (where also in Scott's mind, the depot is about to explode, so why not blow the guy up? Much more satisfying than to put a bullet in him like he's done so many times before to so many guys).All those thoughts racing through his mind in matter of seconds. He made the wrong choice out of arrogance if anything... It happens. People make stupid choices in stress-related situations.

 

All in all, thanks again on an awesome review! It's really great to see that even years after, people still play this mission pack. And also, feel free to play my other mission packs as well if you want. I surely wouldn't mind reading another review from you 

 

Cheers!

Edited November 6, 2020 by Jimmy_Leppard

[M316]

Well, here i am back. Even though i played it out of order but after what i saw from the Edge of High Life it is hard to pass it to play its prodecessor . I amma keep it breif (so much for that). For the first time in a while i was managed to get hooked to a DYOM story, last one being leoncj`s ghost ship (God lvl of pack that was). Anyway as much good as the story contained, it still had its flaws, for example just like before my character being a walking plastic cant handle 2 shots, as expected. And also the constant Go to Nate, Go to ur house, oh sh*t someone called, look nate needs a BJ better go back to him yadda yadda yadda lol. Also there were some missions that were ASS like the f*cking FBI building mission, HOW MANY f*ckING TIMES DOES THAT GLASS JAWED PRICK THOMAS GETS f*ckING SPOTTED AND DIES LIKE A GIRL WHO JUST THOUGHT OF JUSTIN BIEBER.Anways, lol, now i understand that the repeated driving to the same places alot is a common mistake even i sometimes do it and also cos this is 5 years old, alot has changed; but for 64 missions pack, it is easy to get bored but gotta say the story is hooking so much to the point where i wish there was a movie based on it. I wont f*cking mind u can take my wallet for that. Anyways if u r new DYOM play this as ur first for simplicity sake and if u wanna some darn good time as well. I will give it a 8.8/10. Again i am basing of the fact that it has a good ass story,but some mechanics that can get repetitve & i will redeem some of it cos it is 5 years ago and clearly u changed. Now i normaly dont do this but for the love of f*ck make another MP continuing it. IK u did the Sweep Squad but i want like a new season for Scott and the boys focusing on their lives after "retirement" shall we say. IK that u teased Sweep Squad pt2 in LV, wont mind that. But i am telling what i would love to see from the original stand alone characters, also if u happen to think of a partner to help with this feel free to ask (NO I AM NOT E BEGGING HIM TO CHOOSE ME FFS) Anyways cheers pal, have good one u deserve it 

Edited January 24, 2021 by M316

[Jimmy_Leppard]

Thanks buddy! I appreciate your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the mission pack!