Unused Rimril Sequence?

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chapomon
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Unused Rimril Sequence?

Post by chapomon »

I made a video that combines all the story related cut scenes of Drakan: OotF and I was working on creating close captioning for the dialogue since it can be hard to hear what some of the characters are saying due to the ambient background noises. I was using the level editor to hear some the dialogue without the ambient noises when I noticed some dialogue that I haven't heard before involving Rynn returning to Tuiri and Rimril without completing their quest and in Rimril's case, returning only partially completing his quest. I thought I might as well trigger and watch these sequences since I haven't ever seen them, however, I wasn't able to trigger Rimril's "partial completion" sequence, I would just get the "no task complete" sequence after loading up a save where I had just the Elemental Amulet. I tried restarting the level anew, triggering the "no task complete" sequence before I got the amulet but I wasn't able to trigger any scenes; I also tried getting the Bell Hammer first but that didn't work either.

When I looked into the level files, I wasn't able to find a trigger on the map that was tied to the used of that sequence.

I replaced the trigger that plays the "no task complete" sequence with this seemingly unused sequence and got this result: https://youtu.be/gqQnHk_b7eo

The reasons I think it's unused: 1) The sequence doesn't force Arokh to land and be in a predetermined spot once the sequence starts. 2) The hub icons do not retreat to the corners as in all other sequences. 3) The world music is does not stop.

Is it just me who wasn't able to used this sequence or is this an unused sequence with recorded lines?

On a side note, something I noticed while creating the captioning, has anyone else notice that Tuiri references a quest item that is never used or found, the water rune? I found a model for it labeled watercrystalkey (under Water Key which is under Quest Items) in the game's resources but it seems odd that the developers would leave in a reference to a key item that isn't used to retrieve another key item. It makes me wonder if Alwarren was suppose to be a partially underwater level.

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shoprat
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Re: Unused Rimril Sequence?

Post by shoprat »

Pretty cool that you found some extras in the game that have been hidden so long. Maybe there was going to be some kind of water tunnel in Alwarren that needed the key to open. Interesting find.

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Arokhs Twin
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Re: Unused Rimril Sequence?

Post by Arokhs Twin »

I think I remember Duncan (one of the devs) saying on the old now defunct surreal-news forums a LOT of content was cut from the last three levels of the game with the most cut content in the Volcano level which is evident in the quality and bugs. It was done so they could release the game before the deadline. This also explains why the ending of the game was so crap - it wasn't originally planned to end like that but that cutscene was hastily put together with that will just have to do attitude.

They cut a lot of content from Drakan TAG too; I wonder if anything can be found on the game DVD? Remember Drakan TAG was originally intended to be a PC game and some early levels were already complete before it was redesigned / developed for the PS2.
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chapomon
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Re: Unused Rimril Sequence?

Post by chapomon »

I did read the two articles on the development of Order of the Flame and The Ancient's Gates and how content was cut due to time, technical issues, poor communication and planning. It's a wonder that both of these games are as memorable as they are with all the behind the scenes issues. I was thinking about doing a video review on the story and characters at some point since this series has been a major part of my gaming history so I have been making analytical and critical observations.

I did notice something missing in the Volcanic world that is listed in the map that I've never noticed before and that is that the map displays drawings of three towers that are not present in the world. There are some grimstone tower lasers near but that they're not in the proper position and there the map indicates there should be towers, there are large tower-like mountain structure that were probably meant to be said depicted towers.

Speaking of maps, something I noticed while looking at the maps themselves (I was thinking about trying to draw a known world map of Drakan between both games) is that Rynn's journey takes her to the Eastern archipelago, however, with the exception of the Wartok Canyons, all the maps start with Rynn coming from the east and exiting to the west; including the when Rynn gets to the eastern archipelago. If you invert the maps, they actually do connect properly. And the issue with planning the level design with direction isn't limited to just OotF, if we assume Rynn's village is the same map (which it doesn't look like it is) in TAG, Arokh tells Rynn that Surdana is the the north of them when the OotF's map has what appears to be an ocean to the north of the village. Adding more to the confusion is that Rynn comes from the north of the Surdana map, not the south at the start of the game. I haven't looked into whether the rest of the TAG's maps line up properly but something tells me probably not.

As far as looking into the date of TAG's, I have tried to use the Level Editor on those files since they're based on the same engine and they have the same extensions as OotF but I haven't had any success in accessing anything off of them. I was hoping to get some high res textures from them and see if they could be applied to OotF. The article on TAG has a screenshot of the dev team working on the Surdana level using what looks like the same Level Editor though I would assume it's probably a more updated version. Reading that a lot of levels and assets were designed and scrapped for Drakan 2 does make me wonder any of that did make it into the system files much like some of the unused weapons and items in OotF. The concept art for Drakan 2 looks awesome.

Maybe someday someone with more programming skill may break into those files or maybe one of the devs will release more unfinished work or assets they have stashed away.Hell, I would settle for concept art and annotates of what could have been.

Image

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Arokhs Twin
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Re: Unused Rimril Sequence?

Post by Arokhs Twin »

Good point about the maps - I guess it's just a continuity error though that never got noticed. In TAG I assumed that Rynn's village is on the same land mass as Surdana but is too far away to be shown on the map. I wrote some of the Drakan novel including the part where Rynn travels to Surdana from her village which is assumed to be on the coast - it is in OOTF. I situated it to the south of Surdana even through she enters the map from the north as I was going by game commentary.
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chapomon
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Re: Unused Rimril Sequence?

Post by chapomon »

I was thinking that the map of Rynn's village would have to be also flipped upside down as well so that the coast is south of the village. In terms of the continent that it's on, I speculate that its closer to Drakan's equator due to the topical feel of the islands with the rest of the areas before that in OotF being higher in elevation. I might have to try my hand at illustrating the topography of Drakan someday, seems fun speculating the features of this world.

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Re: Unused Rimril Sequence?

Post by Arokhs Twin »

From what I've seen over the years and with game references I think there is a main 'great central continent' which has no name other than the great continent. This probably covers most of one side of the world straddling the equator. There's a northern continent which almost meets the central continent with a short span of sea in between containing the Andrellian isles. There's a continent to the east where Navaros retreated to called 'the forbidden lands'. The rest of the world is unknown.

In my Drakan novel I had it when Rynn and Arokh went to the Eastern Archepelego they went to some large islands off the coast of this forbidden continent which is on or near the equator. It's also near where the final battle between the Dark Union and the Order of the Flame took place.

In Drakan: TAG the Desert Lords used a climate spell to change the lands south to Surdana into a desert - this is mentioned by one of the NPC's in the game. I forget who.
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