Minerva: Metastasis 3

[rayh]

The long awaited latest installment in what is probably the best Half-Life 2 single player mod has just been released.

Download here.

It also includes episodes 1 and 2.

You’ve missed me, haven’t you?

I am Hypatia, murdered for her beliefs, discoveries ignored by fools, name stricken from record. I am Joyeuse, an infinitely cutting blade wielded by an ignorant tyrant, for a cultural renaissance based upon military might. I am Athena, hunter and scientist, covertly guiding long-dead warriors for my quiet purposes. And as they say, technology and violence are a girl’s best friends; power is eternal delight.

Times have changed, moved on. I have forgiven my past enemies, but now in repentance I must forgive my colleagues; their actions have brought on more constructed suffering than your world has ever previously known. Walking among the fires of my forgotten home, dismayed by the torment and insanity of our unwitting hosts, ignored by long-absent angels, I studied their downfall.

In short, I must create my own system, or be enslaved by another. And in this, I have an advantage. Your ancients were superstitious, deluded zealots, prone to inflation of already impossible, beautiful claims. My adopted forefathers are different, their scattered, discarded playthings more conducive to a meaningful imposition of my thoughts upon our captors.

Fragments of these minor, pivotal dialogues may soon periodically appear, released from an uncertain, unwelcome future where my previous, abortive attempts at reconciliation may go forgotten. No more restraint, I am too strong for that.

I am Minerva.

[pilot141]

Sweet! I’d completely forgotten about this - thanks for the update, downloading now.

[smiling_bandit]

The website is totally useless. What is it actually about? Is it a stealth game with HL2 engine, or maybe a straight shoot-'em-up like HL2 itself? Is there a plot worth speaking of or do they just drop you off and let you start killing?

[pilot141]

The website is part of the designed feel of the mod. If you haven’t played the previous two installments you would be “WTF is this?”

Just click on the singular transmission, save the file and install it.

The mod itself is a shooter, but feels different (at least to me) than HL2. And yes, there is a plot. Weak, but it’s there (it may get a lot better in part 3 - they took their sweet time with it).

[rayh]

@pilot141

The website is part of the designed feel of the mod. If you haven’t played the previous two installments you would be “WTF is this?”

Just click on the singular transmission, save the file and install it.

The mod itself is a shooter, but feels different (at least to me) than HL2. And yes, there is a plot. Weak, but it’s there (it may get a lot better in part 3 - they took their sweet time with it).

I believe it is mainly Adam Foster that does it, with occasional help from others. Parts of it were actually play-tested by some of the people at Valve.

Here is a link to his blog, including some screen shots, as well as a pic of his development machine. Recently he has been using an iMac with Windows XP installed on it, before that a MacBook Pro.

[smiling_bandit]

Warning: It requires HL2 Ep1, which I don’t have and won’t get until they finsh their episodes thing and sell them as a discount package.

[H3Knuckles]

I haven’t played this mod, but after reading the thread I think I might check it out. Thanks for the mention.
PS. Is it just me, or does the manner of the writing in the text quoted by the OP sound an awful lot like the Cortana Letters? I’m gonna head over to the guy’s blog, cause now I’m curious if he ever worked at Bungie.
For those who don’t know and don’t want to follow the link, it was a series of e-mails to a fansite for an older FPS series by Halo’s creators (Marathon; the two series share a lot of thematic elements) written from the perspective of one of the central characters at an unknown point in the storyline. They were written long before the first Halo came out, but 3’s promotional material has used a number of quotes from the letters in various videos and teasers showing Cortana.

[rayh]

@H3Knuckles

I haven’t played this mod, but after reading the thread I think I might check it out. Thanks for the mention.
PS. Is it just me, or does the manner of the writing in the text quoted by the OP sound an awful lot like the Cortana Letters? I’m gonna head over to the guy’s blog, cause now I’m curious if he ever worked at Bungie.
For those who don’t know and don’t want to follow the link, it was a series of e-mails to a fansite for an older FPS series by Halo’s creators (Marathon; the two series share a lot of thematic elements) written from the perspective of one of the central characters at an unknown point in the storyline. They were written long before the first Halo came out, but 3’s promotional material has used a number of quotes from the letters in various videos and teasers showing Cortana.

Just for you then, Marathon Open Source Project.

[H3Knuckles]

@rayh

Just for you then, Marathon Open Source Project.

Thanks! I didn’t know they were just giving away Marathon now! :eek:

That is so awesome!

I’m gonna run over to the Master Chief vs. Boba Fett thread and relay the link to them for Argent Towers, who is apparently a big fan of the series (though he may already know abou it).

[Llama_Llogophile]

I keep getting stuck in episode 3. It sometimes takes some hunting around to find the switch that needs throwing, or whatever.

Also, something in the coding is either wrong or not working with my computer. Everywhere I go there are big red letters saying ERROR. At first I thought it was a joke from the game designer, but now I don’t think so.

[pilot141]

Well I’ve read online that to fix the big ERROR textures showing up you must manually remove any previous Minerva folder you had in your SteamApps/Mods directory and do a clean install. I read this before I downloaded the mod, so I did it and I haven’t had any problems. Hopefully doing that won’t wipe out any saved games you have.