Vis Major

[Notna]

 

Los Santos authorities unite in attempt to thwart a nefarious terrorist plot coined together by the neofascist group Fourth Line. Time and options are running low as the United States faces a threat of attacks that could change the country forever...

 

CHARACTERS

Spoiler

Shawn Bennett (30) - An LSPD detective and the main protagonist. Regarded as one of the best detectives in Los Santos, Bennett’s somewhat childish, naive and sarcastic behaviour keep him from receiving higher appreciation among his peers.

 

Joshua “Josh” Park (36) - An FBI agent and the secondary protagonist. Formerly an ace US Air Force pilot, Park is the lead agent in charge of the Fourth Line investigation. Determined, driven and ruthless if need-to-be, Park is considered a top agent in the Bureau.

 

Rafael “Rafi” Morales (28) - A SWAT officer and the tertiary protagonist. A duty-orientated, skilled assault team sniper, the only thing Morales rates even higher than his job is his young wife Maria, whom for he’d give up everything.

 

Walter Stroll (55) - The cunning leader of neonazi organization Fourth Line and the main antagonist. For years, Stroll has pursued a revolution and a racial purification in the United States. In order to achieve this, Stroll’s organization has stolen the blueprints of a thermonuclear weapon of mass destruction.

 

James “Jim” Green (52) - The Chief of Los Santos Police Department. Green is a respected veteran of the force, who leads his men with certainty and poise even in crisis.

 

Frank Ross (49) - An experienced FBI agent, the field partner and best friend of Josh Park. Ross’ years in the field have made him a walking encyclopedia, who has an answer for every problem.

 

Craig Daniels (31) - A neonazi, long-time member of the Fourth Line and the trusted right-hand man of Walter Stroll. Daniels is sadistic, a self-proclaimed racist, who’d follow Stroll to hell and back.

 

Edwin Byrne (43) - The Deputy Chief of Los Santos Police Department. Compared to Chief Green, Byrne is more by-the-book and less easily accessible by his peers, but still a competent officer with first-hand experience of the Fourth Line case.

 

Pedro Jimenez (29) - A conscientious LSPD officer and former field partner of Edwin Byrne. Jimenez is also familiar with Rafael Morales, growing up in the same neighborhood and going to police school together.

 

Damon T. Koch (60) - A former nuclear scientist with fascist tendencies. The Fourth Line has hired Doctor Koch to assist in their quest to manufacture a thermonuclear bomb.

 

Maria Morales (27) - Rafael Morales’ wife. The center of Rafael’s world, Maria is constantly worried of the dangers his husband’s job as a SWAT officer presents.

 

Thomas “Tom” Anvilson (24) - An active-duty Corporal of the US National Guard. Serving with pride, integrity and loyalty, Anvilson still has an ideology that sometimes supports listening to his heart over his commanding officers.

Travis Ryke (17) - A young far-right vandal. His arrest and surprising connection to the Fourth Line sparks the entire investigation in Los Santos.

 

Ronald "Ronnie" Hager (46) - An FBI agent and a friend of Josh Park. He specializes in protection detail and technology.

 

DOWNLOAD

All eight missions included!

 

NOTES:

- As with all of my mission packs, this MP is best played using the "professionalkiller" cheat code.

- Due to all missions being 100 objectives, some random crashes and bugs have occurred at the end of the mission. If you encounter a problem, please let me know. 

 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Notna

[omigawail]

I binged through this as soon as I saw the announcement of it's release and I have to say it is one of the most fun experiences I've ever had in a DYOM MP.

 

Spoiler

DON'T READ UNTIL YOU PLAYED THE MP

 

The pacing, dialogue and great placement of the cutscenes really makes this dramatic, thrilling and suspenseful story. It is perfectly timed to be played in one sitting, long enough to let the player immerse in the story and watch the development of the characters, but not too long that it drags on. I was always on the edge of my seat while playing it, which is amazing considering the basic nature of DYOM missions in general.

 

While keeping up with the intense story and watching the events of the planned terrorist attack play out in real time proved to be very fun. The gameplay, and especially the shootout scenes, felt like filler to pad out the story and link it's acts, not a moving factor itself. The enemies are repetitive (ironically the skin used for the white supremacists/Neo-Nazis is a gang member of Da Nang Boys, a Vietnamese gang). I don't see why the Yakuza had to be there too, they only appear in one mission as pack filler that you have to kill.

 

The mission has quite a few cliches, there's a dislikable protagonist (Tumblr if it were a detective) that has to work together with a contrastingly serious partner. A former friend betrays him (who woulda thunk). A romantic love story thrown into the mix with corny dialogue (thank god the sex scene was not visible). Some dude's wife gets kidnapped (I swear to god this always happens). Now usually, action/thriller stories end with either a heroic sacrifice or a heroic save from a side character, not this MP, Vis Major has both. I have to admit, the ending was very satisfying though I was kinda disappointed I didn't get to see the Los Santos Tower get blown up like shown in the missionpack's logo/teaser.

 

The flaws don't stop it from being what it was intended to be: an action&political thriller. I'd love to play a prequel that covers more on Walter and The Fourth Line. Playing as the terrorists for once would be revolutionary, understanding their motives will add another layer of depth to the story, albeit a rather controversial one.

 

[Jimmy_Leppard]

Managed to play it in one sitting. Vis Major was major fun for me to play. Despite it being only 8 missions long, I have quite a few things to say. I'll divide this into two sections for easier read because I have a lot of notes written while playing, so.. The rest of this post will contain spoilers, so don't take a look-see if you haven't played this mission pack. Let's get down to business.

 

 

SECTION 1: OVERALL PRESENTATION

Being a very big fan of law enforcement/terrorist plotting on a global scale type movies, this mission pack managed to capture the feel of that setting perfectly and it had my attention from the start. The plot was unfolding seamlessly, not taking the foot off the gas at any moment. On the contrary, by the end, this baby was going at full throttle. I liked that very much. The overall presentation was fantastic. The cutscenes, the dialogues, the tone of certain key scenes, everything blended perfectly all together. Every element was on-par with one another, that's what made it great. If either one of those things ''misfired'', the rest would suffer pretty badly, I'm sure. So you did a tremendous job as it was risky.

There is one thing that threw me off (and this is just me) - the number of characters. In my opinion, too many characters were introduced at once in certain missions and it was pretty much impossible for me to remember everyone's names right away. I had to backtrack during future missions in some cutscenes to get a hold of everybody. But like I said, it's just my preference. I like to be in-step with the characters I'm supposed to follow, get personal with them to have a full experience. I don't like being ''oh it's that guy'' or ''the guy with the thing''. But no matter. By the end of the mission pack, I was well aware of everybody's names and their place in the story.

SECTION 2: STORY ASPECTS, CHARACTERS AND MISSIONS

I managed to pass all missions on the first try. That was very satisfying for two very important reasons - 1. while the missions weren't hard, they were very enjoyable and they set the tone perfectly. 2. it enabled me to proceed through the story fluently and devote to it completely instead of having to redo the same mission many times and therefore breaking the momentum sort of speak. It's like a movie that way. You don't have to watch the same scene play out many times, the story stays on course throughout, no interruption.

What I liked most in the mission pack were the characters. I loved how you implemented gameplay with more than one character. Instead of focusing on one major playable character and getting to play as him in his key moments, we got to play with multiple characters and that way experience every major key moment in the whole mission pack first hand. Great choices of gameplay sections too. The first scene was incredibly well done. It set the tone perfectly. Tension, sense of urgency, conflict were present in every shot and every sentence. And I didn't expect any less anyway. Great job.

The character dynamics between agent Park and Bennett was awesome. You were right on the money with that one. I enjoyed every bit of it. Jumping from scene to scene containing many interesting characters was also a great utilization of surprise in certain moments. For example, there's a funny exchange between Park and Bennett and then, next scene jumps to The Fourth Line members killing Maria. Tone change with a snap of the fingers. I loved that. I was able to predict some stuff very early on in the mission pack and I was very satisfied to see I was right. Specifically, I saw Chief Green's betrayal coming from a mile away. From the moment he stuttered while answering a simple question about the bomb, I knew he was a son of a bitch. And what a fitting way for him to get what he deserved after killing Ross and Rafael. No Cayman's for you, how about that?

There were some small bits that I liked throughout the mission pack which perhaps might go unnoticed by other players, such as the ''garage interior'', I very much liked how you took the time to decorate a custom garage interior where the scanner was. As I've said it many times before in the past, I'm not a designer who uses a lot of objects in his missions, but I love seeing other designers use them in theirs. I forgot to mention the one-man killing spree by Park. After that, what a way to go out like a boss.

 

There was only one thing in one particular mission, mission 7, where I would've done a crucial upgrade to the mission. I would add a time limit at the part where Park needs to fly the plane to the sea within 5 minutes before the bombs blow up. It would make the mission more ''realistic'' in terms of the situation. But I understand that there was not enough objectives to squeeze that in. And it's not like it makes the mission bad without that in it, it's just an observation. That cliffhanger ending's banter was great too. Mr. White being black and Mr. Black being white was genius. Does that mean there will be a sequel with Bennett as a CIA operative? I'm sorry, Company operative.  

 

 

Anyway, this post is already way too long, I got a little carried away. My bad.  It just goes to show you that it's great to have you back in the community, bro. This was great. Whoever has time to play this, definitely give it a go. Good luck with future projects, man. 

Edited March 25, 2019 by Jimmy_Leppard

[Target13]

Review: The Fourth Line, The Fifth Bomb

 

Spoiler

 

Like the designers above, I also binged this MP in one sitting and couldn't have enjoyed it more. Vis Major feels like a real video game and tells its story like a TV show.

The urgency is real as the search for five nuclear bombs commences.

 

First off let me start with saying how I loved having far-right extremists as the mission-pack's main villains. For far too long, communists and Muslims have been portrayed as the evil faction hellbent on destroying the world while white supremacists have been largely ignored. By justly painting this group in a bad light, we are bringing attention to a problem that has been pushed aside far too often: Racists are not held accountable enough.

That being said, the Fourth Line are as racist as they come. Willing to nuke US soil to 'purify' the population and completely disregarding the long term consequences of such an attack.

 

They have five bombs in their possession and we don't know how. We experience this investigation from the perspectives of Shawn Bennett, Josh Park & Rafi Morales, all men who are tied to the law one way or another. Having multiple perspectives per mission makes way for the story to progress faster and in real-time. I believe the first few missions take place within a day or two and with the way the story is being told, it feels like that too. 

The story is more realistic than most DYOM projects but I can't help feel like some conversations between characters are unnatural or just weird at times. The way Maria expressed her love by saying 'I want to be filled with your babies' was laughable and sounded very childish. Most of the time though, the dialog is brilliant and the interactions between Josh and Shawn are the best.

 

Still, some characters seem very cliche like Maria who turns out to be the 'worried damsel in distress' with no real depth in her personality. Although it is understandable in this case since it would have been a waste of objectives to explore her character because she is killed off very shortly after her introduction. However the main characters like Josh suffer from the same issue. It is never explored why Josh is the way he is, or his friendship with Frank. He is the serious silent type while Bennett is the quirky sarcastic one. They are still great characters mind you and have great interactions with each other, but it would have been great to have a little more depth to them.

 

The story in general is absolutely fantastic and feels like some action flick straight out of Hollywood. There are twists and turns here, some you see coming, some you don't. By reading the mission titles, I expected the Fourth Line to win and have Los Santos blown to hell. I was partially right as one of the five bombs was detonated in the city. I was a little disappointed however as post-nuke Los Santos didn't really feel much different. The sense of urgency was heightened yes but the city pretty much remained intact. Previous missions have proven that this designer is very much capable of great set dressing and object use, I feel it was a missed opportunity to not explore ground zero, despite the mission being named so. Also there wasn't mention of any fallout or radiation and Los Santos went on to live life as it used to, except without a harbor which is implied to be decimated.

Perhaps having the last few missions not be as open-world as others, could have made way for some incredible chaotic levels. But maybe I'm asking too much.

 

Gameplay is very enjoyable in a sense that it is not difficult but not boringly easy either. Again the use of objects made for some creative levels, especially the film studio in the second mission. We had the standard shootouts, brawls, driving and searching for clues. None of which took away from the experience or felt out of place. Dialog and gameplay was integrated seamlessly and was never a drag. The most fun part however was switching perspectives between characters, which let us move between locations and made the missions feel longer and more diverse. Giving different perspectives also means we fought different enemies beside the Fourth Line's goons. Adding the yakuza was a nice touch in my opinion. While they play a very small part in the story, their presence tells us that the Fourth Line investigation isn't the only thing happening right now. This helped make the world feel more alive.

 

In conclusion, Vis Major is a great way for Notna to come back Most of the things I mentioned above were very minor and didn't downplay the fact that this is an absolutely brilliant mission-pack that kept me on the edge of my seat ever since it was revealed that the Fourth Line had multiple bombs. A great ride from start to finish. 

 

 

 

[Notna]

First of all, collectively, thank you so much guys! Your thorough feedback's are very much appreciated. Makes me feel very welcome back.

 

@omigawail

Spoiler

I agree with you about the gameplay being filler, because, let's face it, it was. Nonetheless, I didn't want the MP to be just a movie and I did what could be done. If you're eager for more gameplay, look forward to my next projects as those will be more gameplay heavy than Vis Major.

 

As far as the Fourth Line skins go, well, I agree but they were the best tatted-up baldies in the game so had to go with what was there 

 

Sorry about the Los Santos Tower not being blown up, although that wasn't the intention in the poster. I wish there were bigger explosions in the game, maybe then I could have made a nuclear blast work better.

 

Interesting idea about a prequel; I'll keep that in mind. Vis Major is nonethless intended to be a franchise that I can get back to if I feel like it, or then not.

 

Super glad you enjoyed it!

 

@Jimmy_Leppard

Spoiler

Hearing you say a plot is excellent is the biggest compliment I could wish for in DYOM. From the master himself, that's the highest of praise!

 

I'm in total agreement about the number of characters, but as all the characters are (in their own way) essential to the story, I had two options; extend the story or do as I did. I didn't want to drag the story at the risk of removing the feel of urgency, so that's how it went down.

 

Glad you enjoyed the gameplay! I absolutely DESPISE having to re-try missions a million times so I always aim to make my own a passable difficulty but with considerable challenge.

 

I was pretty satisfied with Park and Bennett myself, too. Killing off Park was a necessary deed but one I wasn't super happy about - what a waste of an excellent character!  I didn't anyway spare no soul, as for some reason the brutality of life is a thing that intrigues me and one that I try to express in my stories. Also - No Cayman's for you! 

 

So happy you liked the garage interior, because that bitch was giving me the chills. It kept being a burden doing that but I thought it paid off and I'm glad you did too!

 

The timer in mission 7 would have been a great addition, but as you said; objective limit. I had to cut the least crucial thing out so that ended up being the one.

 

As for the Company, yes, the plan is to, at some point, make a sequel with some returning characters. If that does happen, Bennett would indeed be employed by the Company at that point, but if he's the protagonist, that I can't say just yet. 

 

I look up to you as a mentor of sorts so hearing all these applauds from you makes my heart melt! Thank you so much, and I promise I'll get to your missions asap  Hope you stick around too. And maybe more missions, one day?

 

@Target13

Spoiler

Far-rights? Right??? I don't get why they don't get made the bad guys more. The inspiration to have a fascist group as villains actually came from an episode of Walker Texas Ranger, so hats off to Mr. Chuck Norris 

 

Having multiple protagonists was something I haven't done before so that was a thing I wanted to try out with this. It seemed to work pretty well so if there's ever a sequel to Vis Major, that will continue being the franchise's thing!

 

Now, I'm also in agreement about the the romance scene but take it for what it is; humor relief. And, believe it or not, as corny as sh*t as that line is, I've heard it firsthand and I still laugh my ass off. Had to use it  I'd have loved to explore the characters relationships more but time simply ran out. I couldn't drag the story so I had to keep it like it is, but sacrifice the next layer of deepness in the characters. Glad you still liked them.

 

Oh boy, wouldn't a burning Los Santos been amazing? I guess in one sense I might have been a little lazy there, I'll give you that, but I did use the riot function. On test runs, sometimes I got a full out chaos in the city, sometimes not so much. So I guess I kinda let that one slide a bit, but it's a difficult one. It was a difficult concept but I do admit I could have worked a little more on that as well.

 

I try to integrate the stories into a real feeling world, which was the reason for the addition of Yakuza - I'm so happy you got that! I could have had the terrorists suddenly find them and cover the action of that mission that way, but it wouldn't have made much sense, would it? So that's how the Yakuza in the story came to me. Like said, so glad you enjoyed that part as well!

 

Thanks so much for playing! It means a lot from you, considering that you are the top dog of the day.

 

In conclusion, thanks all three of you for playing and making me so warmly welcomed! So good to be back.  Keep an eye open for new projects from yours truly 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Notna

[RithRake24]

Just played all of the missions back-to-back (I just felt that we've heard the word "binge" enough, lol).

 

SPOILER ALERT!

Spoiler

I have to say, I've played various MPs where the presentation is amazing. Some of them (looking at you here, THBP) have such well-designed scenes that completely metamorphasise San Andreas into a world that's born completely from their imagination. Some of them (looking at you this time, Target13) demonstrate their ability to build a realistic plot with character depth and deep exploration of character development. I could keep going on and on about what all the different MPs I've played have managed to achieve, but let's get back on topic here. There's just something about Vis Major that just resonates in me, something that I've seldom seen in any other mission packs so far.

 

There was an immense feeling of fun and satisfaction when I sat through this masterpiece. Something just makes it click. I found myself actually feeling emotion, the sort of emotion you'd feel when watching a film. Some cutscenes made me smile, others had me dead focused on the screen in order to catch all the information that was being said. I don't know what others might have thought when playing these missions, but I loved the relationship and dialogues between Bennett and Park. It felt somehow familiar at first, then I realised that it reminded me of the comical relationship between Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in "Men in Black". Park and Bennett, who are effectively the protagonists, had very well-defined personalities and character traits, and they stayed true to their characterisation till the very end, which is honestly something I find quite difficult to do in my own project. The dialogues were authentic and unique for each character. Bennett's sarcasm was enjoyable and provided some light-heartedness to an otherwise fast-paced investigative thriller and Park's seriousness, I felt, was necessary in order for there to actually be any progress at all in the initial stages of the MP. I do agree to some extent with the above reviews that the other characters including Rafi and his wife were not well-developed, but to be fair - there wasn't really any time to actually focus more on those relatively minor characters, and doing so would have been a complete distraction from the over-arching idea of the looming terrorist threat.

 

I loved the way the Mission Pack opened with a so-called investigation with the sheriff, which then elevated into the real deal. Josh Park's introduction was well done, with a lot of his personality being depicted in the very first few moments that we get to see him. Exposition of the Mission Pack's major conflict (the terrorist threat) was cleverly spliced into the interrogation, so that the audience are informed about the events in the background without getting the feeling of directly being "told" what's happening, which is a trap that's usually easy to fall into, but somewhat well avoided here; I also liked how the teen "chose his right to remain silent", which is a detail that somehow really stood out to me. Every scene after than progresses the story effectively, except for the Yakuza scene which, in contrast, felt heavily out of context in my opinion, despite T13's opinion that they "make the world feel real". As far as I was concerned, Bennett's sarcasm-heavy lighthearted dialogues were good enough in making the link between reality and the grim nature of the actual storyline, while also being able to lighten the mood of the MP instantaneously whenever things were getting too serious.

 

It is observable that a lot of thought had gone into planning this mission pack. The events that unfolded throughout the missions were well connected to each other. Usual GTA game storylines and DYOM mission packs have missions with a linear set of plot events, but I liked how in this MP, I got to see highly relevant scenes occured simultaneously. While Josh and Bennett investigated from one end, we had another important event happening at the other, where Green reveals his change of alliance. The fact here is that Notna splices together and handles these simultaneous scenes so effortlessly that he makes it seem an easy task. The end product is absolutely effective in giving the sort of a sense that a Hollywood director had worked behind the scenes.

 

I could honestly go on and on, but this post is long enough already (and dinner's waiting for me!), so I won't bother repeating some of the positive points that Jimmy_Leppard, T13 and omigawail had to say. But here are just a few things:

 

Firstly, why did the military blockade have a literal ramp vehicle facing conveniently towards Bennett? If CinemaSins played your mission I can imagine what they'd have said: "Extremely convenient Packer placement ex machina is extremely convenient!" 

 

Secondly, I actually thought that Park could've bailed out of the airplane like 30 seconds before the explosion. There would've definitely been at least a 20% chance of survival with that, at least he'd have tried. I agree with the whole "heroic sacrifice" thing but I just felt that it could've been more realistic if Park tried to escape but still died. After all, the fact that he's flying the plane in the first place was already big enough a sacrifice, and there was nothing wrong with the human survival instinct screaming "GET OUT THE F*CKING PLANE YOU BASTARD" in this case. It would've been a heroic sacrifice either way, with just an extra degree of added realism, in my opinion.

 

My favourite scenes came after the main conflict was resolved. The dialogue used for those scenes were very cinematic and memorable. Also, loved Mr Black and Mr White. A brilliant end to a brilliant piece of work.

 

I just can't say enough about this. 10/10 from me, keep giving us stuff like this, man. 

[Jack Muller]

It's the time to play this, I'm all free wait for my feedback. A question, what does "Vis Major" means?

[Notna]

@RithRake24

Thanks a lot for the huge rating, much appreciated. 

 

Spoiler

I'm so satisfied this clicked with you. A lot of people have loved the dynamics between Park and Bennett, which makes me wonder, could someone have loved it more than I had creating it? Don't know about that, but I'm so happy it worked the way I pictured it! Interesting comparison to the MIB characters - surprisingly, I've never seen those films. But nice catch, I'll have to check it out to see for myself! I'm in total agreement about the supporting characters being left a little less developed, but as you well said yourself, that came down to maintaining the feel of urgency.

 

Great that the Sheriff scene worked for you! The idea was to introduce the plot through a backdoor and not just ram it in everyone's face while also showcasing that a world around Los Santos exists - which seems like it worked! I wanted Park's collected but explosion-ready personality and ability to do horrifying things for a greater cause to be exploited very early on. I do see the point you and some others have made about Yakuza's sudden appearance, although myself I deem it very necessary and a comprehensive part of the entire narrative, even if it is slightly unattached in context to the rest of the story. 

 

Big thank you about the observation that a lot of planning went into the project. The way I see it, there's three ways to go about a DYOM story: 1) doing whatever and designing without a plan, keeping the freedom but risking the consistency, big time; 2) writing a strict script, dialogue and everything, and sticking to it, gaining the possibility of very complex and advanced storylines while not enjoying the freedom of designing and risking the possibility of something not working out, ruining the project; and 3) creating a loose script with a clear plan of the overall concept of every mission/the story as a whole and doing notes of lines you want to use in one way or the other, being able to create a great, intricate story while maintaining the possibility of changes if need-to-be, or sometimes, just if you feel like it. Whatever works with the designer themselves is the best way to go, of course, but for me, the third way has always been the way to go. My finished products in DYOM are the result of a loose script that I follow and adapt as necessary, and it's a tactic I'll continue to employ - especially now that many seem to have taken a massive liking to it!

 

I already went over this with you earlier, but as some others may have not caught the fact, there was a confused trucker chatting with the NG. As happenstance would have it, his truck was conveniently placed so that Bennett could save the world. Ain't we lucky? 

 

And secondly, Park's sacrifice could have been elaborated more in the dialogue if I'd have had more time - if not for the objective limit wasn't the problem. Park would have described to Bennett how impossible it would be for him to bail out and let the Andromeda fly out to the sea on it's own in a way and in an angle that wouldn't risk it returning to mainland and destroying the entire city. That's why he had to sit through the whole progress.

 

Glad the ending worked for you as well! It's not a confirmed deal but it's planting the seeds for a plausible sequel, where those characters would appear more prominently.

 

Trust me, I won't keep giving stuff like this. But much better stuff, that I can assure you, is on it's way! 

 

@Jack Muller

Excellent, looking forward to your feedback! Vis Major is an alternative (Latin) spelling of "Force Majeure", French for "an overwhelming force", an act of God such as a natural catastrophe, or to some extent, a war.

Spoiler

Or a nuclear blast.

 

Edited March 27, 2019 by Notna

[Jack Muller]

2 minutes ago, Notna said:

 

@Jack Muller

Excellent, looking forward to your feedback! Vis Major is an alternative (Latin) spelling of "Force Majeure", French for "an overwhelming force", an act of God such as a natural catastrophe, or to some extent, a war.

  Reveal hidden contents

Or a nuclear blast.

 

This Mission Pack is really interesting, I will surely wait for it!

[Aflien]

Excellent MP, Notna

I even recorded a lets play.

 

 

Lets Play: Vis Major

[Notna]

34 minutes ago, Aflien said:

Excellent MP, Notna

I even recorded a lets play.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Lets Play: Vis Major

 

That's huge, just watching through them. Can't tell you how much I appreciate it 

[AnDReJ98]

Alright, this is a very good comeback indeed. Feels like I watched a movie instead of playing a MP made with a 10 years old mod for a 15 years old game. Fantastic, plot and character development has it all, the main focus on this mp after all. This is the type of mps I like, short, well written, has the point, etc (similar to the one Jimmy made long ago, also had 8 missions only).

 

Now, I think there's no need to say anything regarding the story. You had it all planned, it all fits (even though the nazi theme was like 'woah' in the beginning) it worked out well. Dialogues and character development made story look really convincing which is a good thing and the progression was fair (since the mp has only 8 missions), the ending in the beginning looked a little bit too much, the bomb got detonated, it should have destroyed the whole city if not more right? Or was it a small capacity bomb (like the one US used on Japan) but nevertheless, I generally liked it and I hope we can see a sequel or something.

 

The gameplay part now. In the very first mission, you forgot to turn random peds off cuz they were spawning in the room where sheriff held that kid. While I liked the object use and placement in some missions, I kind of felt you could have used more objects in certain missions to make it look more epic (especially the moving objects in some cutscenes). Like after the bomb got detonated, you could've made some places look like ruins from explosions etc (enabling riot mode wasn't enough to convince player of what had happened). Also, while overall variety is good, enemies mainly use the same skin (except few) which made it look kinda lame. Difficulty on the other hand was okay, but a bit too easy, especially in the end (where is could have been more challenging imo) when you need to get to the plane where the villain is. I mean, blasting around with minigun was easier than anything before, you could have made it harder (even though minigun is op in SA). Sometimes i even felt that more content could be added (to boost gameplay with more action) but when i think about it, the length of this mp and focus on story, it's good as it is.

 

The traitor was obvious, the very end (although good) was predictable, gameplay while good, could have been a bit better but still, this is a good comeback and something way above average stuff that you can find in the missions showroom today. Although you may feel like I focused on 'cons' more than on pros in this feedback, please don't feel that way because story and character development and even the way you implemented it all (with gameplay), is simply amazing. Well written stuff, like i said, this is a script for a movie, not a mp haha, outstanding mate (P.S: Multiple protagonist thing was the key here, nice job). Looking forward for more!

[Platinum Card]

Just finished the mission pack Notna. I enjoyed the mix of drama, action, and suspense that you incorporated into the story. It's really refreshing and fun.

[Satourn]

I AM SO FRUSTRATED THIS IS SO UNDERWHELMING

 

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, let me rephrase the statement above: Vis Major is a good mission pack... on a technical level... for the most part. The cinematography is well-done, save for a couple of cutscenes that flew through literally everything. The gameplay, while uninspired, is at least not boring (and the part with the plane near the end was quite dank). The script is great if you don't count the very few mistakes that I found, but they don't really matter, it's a quality script regardless.

 

But then come the plot and the characters, and ohhhhhhh boy do I have a lot to talk about here.

 

Spoiler

WHY IS EVERYTHING SO GODDAMN PREDICTABLE AND ALSO NONSENSICAL IN A WAY.

 

I understand you can't do a lot in terms of originality considering DYOM is about 10 years old, but for God's sake why is the plot so cliched and predictable? Why did the good guys have to win in the end? Because they're good, even when their nemesis literally has the doomsday weapon in his hands? Oh wait, I know why he lost. Because Walter Stroll is an absolute moron. What was the point of creating five different bombs, only for the three of them to blow up one singular spot? Was that his master plan, to leave more than half of his lethal power in one place, where it would blow up the airport and maybe El Corona + Willowfield at most? What about the ghettos of Ganton and Idlewood, surely more ideal targets for Walter given his beliefs? And to top it all off, Walter decides to smuggle the last bomb somewhere through the subway, or at least I think he wants to do so because what sense would blowing up the Market station make. That's probably his only "sane" decision throughout the whole project.

 

And the rest of the cast is boring. The interactions between Josh and Bennett have been praised here - I find them typical. I can't say I personally liked a single character because they're all cliched and predictable, just like the plot. The only one who could have been something is Frank Ross, and then he is stupidly killed off because of course a highly-trained and professional FBI agent would die like that in that situation.

 

Now, let's talk about plot armor. You know, the kind Josh gets when he miniguns away at the airport, completely decimating the entire group of neonazis SINGLE-f*ckING-HANDEDLY. Or Bennett's sudden realization of where the last bomb would be, despite him being dumb for about 75% of the plot. What the f*ck. This is the kind of sh*t that upsets me greatly in the movies and TV series and whatnot, this kind of unstoppable heroism with no repercussions or other consequences, with characters not developing gradually but rather in a way where the author wants them to have a certain trait whenever they please.

 

This had so much potential, the intro is great and I wanted more from it but in the end all I got was disappointment. 2,5/5

[AnthonyCo0L]

Ah sh*t, here we go again:

Spoiler

The introduction begins with a racist boy reported to do bad stuff on the internet, meanwhile an FBI Agent called Josh just to find out that 17 years old boy work in a ripping off nazi team, then we discover a lot with other playing characters like Shawn and Rafael, even that sex scene but wasn't shown lol, the scenes were the one which maked me fresh and cold, I don't know how to describe it but it's was an awesome feeling of building the mission pack in just 8 missions. Yes you heard me, eight missions! How fantastic your mind work.

 

The gameplay were nice and well playable, the placement of character and objects was in the right place and moment, the development and building of characters and dialouges were great. My mind were absouletly blown since I don't have any ideas of nuclear bombs or nazis, and the other missions were predictable since I know the stuff would continue like that, so try to make things suprising.

 

The ending? I wonder what is it but I need a sequel for it RIGHT NOW! just joking, my rating of the mission pack and all efforts you done is Superb!