I think if something like Next Encounter were to be redone on PC, it would be more interesting to see a "reimagined" version that refashions/tightens up the vast level design, while bringing in the new mooks/bosses from the original game. I find Next Encounter's biggest weakness is the fact that it was a Sam game designed for consoles, and it has to ride primarily on the combo system to keep the flow interesting to some degree (and that's too repetitive for my taste, frankly). It goes to show how directly porting the basic elements without all the added mechanics can make the experience feel a bit off, such as the overabundance of ammo. Also taking into account how not every fight in Serious Sam games is meant to be supermassive, NE ended up designing a lot of its fights based around that to extend the length of its short stages. A friend gave me an example before, that remaking Next Encounter into something akin to another Second Encounter with a set amount of, at most, 5 levels for each era would be the way to go. The good news is, I think the latest version of the Serious Engine does support alternate ammo types. =V
Hey, first of all great videos. I will give my opinion on the video and the NE project, as I've been helping at different levels throughout the project development. Before going straight to the topic, I want to mention my position on this project. As far as I remember, Mkbewe started the project in 2014, on Revolution and switched to TSE editor a few years later. I remember giving my hand for some optimization work back in 2015/2016. In 2019 and 2020 I started to become more involved since Mkbewe was looking for mappers - the purpose was to fix the bugs, make better visual and most importantly, optimize the levels. 2020 was the year I started helping Mkbewe managing the project (doing to do lists, reporting bugs) and fixing a lot of issues (gameplay problems such as non-support for coop extra enemies off option, enemy balance problems, non support of coop teleports, enemies getting stuck... I won't make the entiere list it would be too long - that's part of developing a project: fixing bugs but there were also a lot to do visually). I put much efforts and time for bringing the best to Mkbewe but my IRL business started to take over and I decided to leave the mapping and modding scene for an unknown amount of time in april 2021. We also had different ways of thinking and doing with Mkbewe. There were things I didn't like such as geometry not snapping the grid (it may sound nothing but as a mapper I really do think it is a pain working in such conditions) scales problems, optimization problems and in my opinion some maps needed to be redone from scratch because they got built the wrong way (example : not thinking before about the amount of polygons). These things are technical, as a player, you guys problably don't care since it is not your business and it's ok. Mkbewe probably found me being too criticaster and thought himself doing the wrong way - which was not my goal, but I remember him being motivated when I gave him my hand for helping the project. The thing is that I didn't work in a regular way - I had busy periods where I didn't work at all, making Mkbewe loosing motivation because working alone is not motivating, which is something I can understand. I don't blame him. I just want to show that we had different schedules and way of doings. When I left, he thought he couldn't do it, he thought about abandoning several times, but he made it and that's why I'm proud of what he accomplished. Enough talked of me, here are some points about the video I want to talk about : - You mentioned lack of testing : this is something I had strongly felt while being part of the development and one of the reasons I didn't like our different ways of doing. I had communicated him about that, he made efforts later on and that's nice. I've played a bit the release and I've felt this lack of testing as well. As a mapper, I do really like to test every possible situations and fix the details. It is not something I had encountered in Mkbewe's maps remake. - About vehicles (enemies, and combo system), I guess most of modders and especially Serious Alexej said what had to be said : the project has always been communicated as a mappack and not a mod, meaning no enemies or vehicles can be supported. It would've been possible if it stood as a mod (if any skilled coder would have spent his time recreating the vehicles and enemies, which is not an easy job) but not in SS: Revolution since this one doesn't support mods. - I do apprieciate the fact you understood porting the enemies is a huge job. We had tried to port them, but the ripped files were a mess and we couldn't gather all animation frames, making for us impossible to port the enemies. I think NE HD reported some enemies, but I don't understand how because we had tried multiple times and we always ended up with missing frames. - About the boss, I discovered how it was handled by watching the video. Diablotaur was a topic and I wanted it to be implemented before I leave. We had tried to rip it and make the model with with all animations. The thing is - we missed a lot of frames (for the reason mentioned above) and for some reasons we got screwed animations (at this time there was no Serious Alexej's modified Engine, I do think using his engine for importing the animations would fix, it would be worth trying). Since we failed to port it completely - we couldn't implement it. The levels were still in a process of development when I left, but I understand Mkbewe's choice. Unless he had a 3D animator for recreating Diablotaur's animation, it was impossible to recreate it. I do apologize for teasing the boss, it was a mistake and an idea of mine, - Mkbewe and I tried our best to find the right people, as you mentioned in the video, to make the perfect mappack / mod. We mentioned the idea of both releasing it as a mappack and a mod, but we failed finding the right people being able to code enemies and vehicles for us. The modding community is quite small, these kind of talents are rare, and likely impossible to find someone talented AND willing to help. Therefore, why not in a near future some people would like to make this kind of features even though it is already released? Maybe this will happen, let's hope! - Finally, I do think your review is fair. One more time, I do not want to blame Mkbewe and show him any disrespect, we had different thoughts, opinions, ways of doing and no one is right or wrong. I am not more right than him. I am really proud that he made it to the release. He also showed a lot of progress in project managment and mapping production. Cheers & peace
I just realized that, if NE came out on PC, we'd have two games for each style FE and SE - classic Serious Sam with a healthy mix of seriousness and humour NE and 2 - a shift towards the cartoony 3 and 4 - a shift towards realism
Mostly, but I would argue that 4 is closer to FE and SE while 3 is realism + postapo gritty style. Truth to be told I would love another Sam game with darker tone, it really felt like a step up seeing how dark Serious Sam 3 went with Sam's quips being limited to talking to himself while he could get pretty "serious" in dire situations while talking with the rest of his team. Much better doses of humor and sillyness than what we got with abyssmal 4th chapter.
0:20 Look ma, I'm on Framerater Anyways, while I loved your Serious Sam Features, it's nice seeing you cover mods again, Frame. After getting the mouse injector to work, I really fell in love with Next Encounter and while I feel like this won't replicate it, I'll definitelly try this mod. Thanks for giving it the spotlight. Also, If you didn't, you should really give a try to a Fusion mod by the name of "Operation Frostbite". Aside from the great weapon roster, it really did some impressive stuff with Serious Engine 3.5
At this point I think NE might be cursed, anyone who dares to try to port it over is most likely to fail sooner or later. That being said I can't stress enough how much respect I have for my boy Mkbewe for actually sticking with this project for so long after almost every member of the original crew (including me) had to leave due to lack of time or other personal reasons. There's not that much you can do without actually creating separate mod for TSE. Custom enemies, weapons and other stuff is impossible to implement only using map editor. Yes, at one point this was planned to be a full conversion mod, as indicated by Cyborg's videos. Almost all weapon models and some enemy models were already ported but alas it was not meant to be. Maybe someday someone will try again.
I really wish Croteam stuck with the aesthetic of Serious Sam Xbox and The Next Encounter. Imo Serious Sam is the best when it fully embraces it's cartoony and whacky side, I don't like Sam when he's too Serious ironically. I also wish they would somehow port TNE over to PC because it's my favorite Sam game.
As a mapper myself I think some of the points were pretty unfair. Adding veichles, ammo types , combo system and NE enemies is simply out of the scope for mapping, it's not a mod. It seems like you're making the point that NE maps without NE enemies and combo system are boring which I don't think it's true, I think NE maps could be fun to play in a SS1 setting. The gameplay in here is solid, it's 5 hours long so you don't play through it in 1 sitting, and if you do play through a lot of the mappack without stopping of course it's gonna get boring because Serious Sam in itself is tiring to play over a long period of time. That being said, I'm glad you made the video, shining the spotlight on classics maps/mods is always appreciated since nowadays it's overlooked a lot
I don't think SS games are boring over long periods of time, not the good ones anyways. I can tell we have a difference in opinion here, that's okay. 🙂 Thanks for your insightful comment!
Extremely impressive. The new Deagle reloads look awesome because they are now short enough to make them viable to some extend. Removing the score system is fantastic. I want to kill enemies for fun, not have it be a boring slog where I have to space it out to please a nagging system.
I played serious Sam the next encounter about 2 years ago and I enjoyed it the disc I have is scratched to hell and has a small gouge in it but was able to play through the whole thing
This mappack grants 5+ hours of solid gameplay. And you can't blame it for not having vehicles, new enemies and combo system since it's NOT a mod, dude. You're really unfair to Mkbewe in that regard and shouldnt have criticized that aspect. It's simply not possible to do without coding. And if it were a mod, it would automatically NOT work on puny Revolution, since it does not support those. Also, if you want it to be harder, just play it on actual mod. PeSe, Serious Violence for instance
I feel like a lot of people are missing the point. Next Encounter's maps are simple in a way that isn't too compatible with the classic environment... least not without major overhauls. Regarding your last sentence, separate mods are their own thing. That doesn't have a place in the argument. I mentioned several times that Mkbewe has done a great job so I feel you're being overdramatic. Additionally he's grateful that I made the video (he asked me to actually). So I stand with this one... and you shouldn't be upset. 🙂 At the end I encouraged other people to give it a try and see what they think!
I think You're looking at it subconsciously expecting mod rather than map pack. Still, it's a solid review and I do understand what you are missing in this pack and we all wish it was almost 1:1 recreation, but that's reaaly difficult and that just isn't it.
The mappers job is just to make the map, hopefully someone else makes a proper scripted weapons pack, and someone else with different skills makes the monsters pack, and then someone else with more code skills can make those into a full next encounter port using the pc serious engine
As far as I know the team behind one of two Next Encounter HD mods that were in the making announced a long time ago that they wanna wait for SS4 to release so that they could create the mod in improved SSE4 engine. I wonder if it is gonna work out for them, I honestly don't have much faith in SS4 engine after seeing how poorly optimized entire SS4 was on it.
Mkbewe is a reference to one of Polish online cartoons called Kapitan Bomba. You didn't really say it right but it is okay. I think it was supposed to sound well.... African, as the character in question is essentially a parody of blacksploitation movie protagonists. AKA A n-word with a rocket launcher
I never played the Next Encounter so I can’t compare the two. I will say the map pack is very impressive but there are some rough spots here and there (The Final Boss being so frustrating)
Not really. The point was about how converting these maps to classic loses the intended feel. It's a way of saying that, if Next Encounter wasn't a thing, this map pack would feel flat and repetitive.
bought the game for free with csgo case drops.bought second hand xbox one s controller so i can experience the og xbox serious sam for the first time.close enough.
It definitely misses out on the custom enemies and ammo types, but nonetheless i can’t imagine the amount of effort it took make this map pack
I think FramRater is *Seriously* a huge fan of Serious Sam.
Are you Serious?
@@mrhotnachos3660 I'm dead serious.
I think if something like Next Encounter were to be redone on PC, it would be more interesting to see a "reimagined" version that refashions/tightens up the vast level design, while bringing in the new mooks/bosses from the original game. I find Next Encounter's biggest weakness is the fact that it was a Sam game designed for consoles, and it has to ride primarily on the combo system to keep the flow interesting to some degree (and that's too repetitive for my taste, frankly). It goes to show how directly porting the basic elements without all the added mechanics can make the experience feel a bit off, such as the overabundance of ammo.
Also taking into account how not every fight in Serious Sam games is meant to be supermassive, NE ended up designing a lot of its fights based around that to extend the length of its short stages. A friend gave me an example before, that remaking Next Encounter into something akin to another Second Encounter with a set amount of, at most, 5 levels for each era would be the way to go.
The good news is, I think the latest version of the Serious Engine does support alternate ammo types. =V
Fancy seeing you here, friend!
Hey, first of all great videos. I will give my opinion on the video and the NE project, as I've been helping at different levels throughout the project development.
Before going straight to the topic, I want to mention my position on this project. As far as I remember, Mkbewe started the project in 2014, on Revolution and switched to TSE editor a few years later. I remember giving my hand for some optimization work back in 2015/2016. In 2019 and 2020 I started to become more involved since Mkbewe was looking for mappers - the purpose was to fix the bugs, make better visual and most importantly, optimize the levels.
2020 was the year I started helping Mkbewe managing the project (doing to do lists, reporting bugs) and fixing a lot of issues (gameplay problems such as non-support for coop extra enemies off option, enemy balance problems, non support of coop teleports, enemies getting stuck... I won't make the entiere list it would be too long - that's part of developing a project: fixing bugs but there were also a lot to do visually). I put much efforts and time for bringing the best to Mkbewe but my IRL business started to take over and I decided to leave the mapping and modding scene for an unknown amount of time in april 2021.
We also had different ways of thinking and doing with Mkbewe. There were things I didn't like such as geometry not snapping the grid (it may sound nothing but as a mapper I really do think it is a pain working in such conditions) scales problems, optimization problems and in my opinion some maps needed to be redone from scratch because they got built the wrong way (example : not thinking before about the amount of polygons). These things are technical, as a player, you guys problably don't care since it is not your business and it's ok. Mkbewe probably found me being too criticaster and thought himself doing the wrong way - which was not my goal, but I remember him being motivated when I gave him my hand for helping the project. The thing is that I didn't work in a regular way - I had busy periods where I didn't work at all, making Mkbewe loosing motivation because working alone is not motivating, which is something I can understand. I don't blame him. I just want to show that we had different schedules and way of doings. When I left, he thought he couldn't do it, he thought about abandoning several times, but he made it and that's why I'm proud of what he accomplished.
Enough talked of me, here are some points about the video I want to talk about :
- You mentioned lack of testing : this is something I had strongly felt while being part of the development and one of the reasons I didn't like our different ways of doing. I had communicated him about that, he made efforts later on and that's nice. I've played a bit the release and I've felt this lack of testing as well. As a mapper, I do really like to test every possible situations and fix the details. It is not something I had encountered in Mkbewe's maps remake.
- About vehicles (enemies, and combo system), I guess most of modders and especially Serious Alexej said what had to be said : the project has always been communicated as a mappack and not a mod, meaning no enemies or vehicles can be supported. It would've been possible if it stood as a mod (if any skilled coder would have spent his time recreating the vehicles and enemies, which is not an easy job) but not in SS: Revolution since this one doesn't support mods.
- I do apprieciate the fact you understood porting the enemies is a huge job. We had tried to port them, but the ripped files were a mess and we couldn't gather all animation frames, making for us impossible to port the enemies. I think NE HD reported some enemies, but I don't understand how because we had tried multiple times and we always ended up with missing frames.
- About the boss, I discovered how it was handled by watching the video. Diablotaur was a topic and I wanted it to be implemented before I leave. We had tried to rip it and make the model with with all animations. The thing is - we missed a lot of frames (for the reason mentioned above) and for some reasons we got screwed animations (at this time there was no Serious Alexej's modified Engine, I do think using his engine for importing the animations would fix, it would be worth trying). Since we failed to port it completely - we couldn't implement it. The levels were still in a process of development when I left, but I understand Mkbewe's choice. Unless he had a 3D animator for recreating Diablotaur's animation, it was impossible to recreate it. I do apologize for teasing the boss, it was a mistake and an idea of mine,
- Mkbewe and I tried our best to find the right people, as you mentioned in the video, to make the perfect mappack / mod. We mentioned the idea of both releasing it as a mappack and a mod, but we failed finding the right people being able to code enemies and vehicles for us. The modding community is quite small, these kind of talents are rare, and likely impossible to find someone talented AND willing to help. Therefore, why not in a near future some people would like to make this kind of features even though it is already released? Maybe this will happen, let's hope!
- Finally, I do think your review is fair.
One more time, I do not want to blame Mkbewe and show him any disrespect, we had different thoughts, opinions, ways of doing and no one is right or wrong. I am not more right than him. I am really proud that he made it to the release. He also showed a lot of progress in project managment and mapping production.
Cheers & peace
I just realized that, if NE came out on PC, we'd have two games for each style
FE and SE - classic Serious Sam with a healthy mix of seriousness and humour
NE and 2 - a shift towards the cartoony
3 and 4 - a shift towards realism
Wow, great observation!
Mostly, but I would argue that 4 is closer to FE and SE while 3 is realism + postapo gritty style. Truth to be told I would love another Sam game with darker tone, it really felt like a step up seeing how dark Serious Sam 3 went with Sam's quips being limited to talking to himself while he could get pretty "serious" in dire situations while talking with the rest of his team. Much better doses of humor and sillyness than what we got with abyssmal 4th chapter.
you forgot serious sam xbox and serious sam advance who also uses the cartoony look, hell serious sam xbox was were the cartoony look originated from.
0:20 Look ma, I'm on Framerater
Anyways, while I loved your Serious Sam Features, it's nice seeing you cover mods again, Frame. After getting the mouse injector to work, I really fell in love with Next Encounter and while I feel like this won't replicate it, I'll definitelly try this mod. Thanks for giving it the spotlight.
Also, If you didn't, you should really give a try to a Fusion mod by the name of "Operation Frostbite". Aside from the great weapon roster, it really did some impressive stuff with Serious Engine 3.5
At this point I think NE might be cursed, anyone who dares to try to port it over is most likely to fail sooner or later. That being said I can't stress enough how much respect I have for my boy Mkbewe for actually sticking with this project for so long after almost every member of the original crew (including me) had to leave due to lack of time or other personal reasons.
There's not that much you can do without actually creating separate mod for TSE. Custom enemies, weapons and other stuff is impossible to implement only using map editor. Yes, at one point this was planned to be a full conversion mod, as indicated by Cyborg's videos. Almost all weapon models and some enemy models were already ported but alas it was not meant to be. Maybe someday someone will try again.
10:07
Sorry not sorry
Man, I love dedicated fans. Thanks for covering this awesome remake Frame!
Brooo Serious Mkbewe is so underrated channel!!!! He uploads videos almost every day!!! Please support him ❤️❤️❤️
I really wish Croteam stuck with the aesthetic of Serious Sam Xbox and The Next Encounter. Imo Serious Sam is the best when it fully embraces it's cartoony and whacky side, I don't like Sam when he's too Serious ironically. I also wish they would somehow port TNE over to PC because it's my favorite Sam game.
Poles (I am Polish too) really love Serious Sam, and that NE Rome map pack really shows it.
As a mapper myself I think some of the points were pretty unfair. Adding veichles, ammo types , combo system and NE enemies is simply out of the scope for mapping, it's not a mod. It seems like you're making the point that NE maps without NE enemies and combo system are boring which I don't think it's true, I think NE maps could be fun to play in a SS1 setting. The gameplay in here is solid, it's 5 hours long so you don't play through it in 1 sitting, and if you do play through a lot of the mappack without stopping of course it's gonna get boring because Serious Sam in itself is tiring to play over a long period of time. That being said, I'm glad you made the video, shining the spotlight on classics maps/mods is always appreciated since nowadays it's overlooked a lot
I don't think SS games are boring over long periods of time, not the good ones anyways. I can tell we have a difference in opinion here, that's okay. 🙂 Thanks for your insightful comment!
How do you feel about Siberian Mayhem? Are you looking forward to it, or are you expecting it to be "Legend of the Beast 2: dead of boredom"?
as much as i love the whole serious series, TNE will always be my favourite and i can't wait to play through this
6:30 - i wonder how your friend made his nickname flashing
there's one thing all of us can agree on: you seriously deserve more views and subs.
Siberian Mayhem review when Framerater?
Extremely impressive.
The new Deagle reloads look awesome because they are now short enough to make them viable to some extend.
Removing the score system is fantastic. I want to kill enemies for fun, not have it be a boring slog where I have to space it out to please a nagging system.
That last sentence doesn't make any sense to me. But to each their own.
If NE had a remaster or a pc release I'd buy it in a heartbeat because honestly I find it pretty good in terms of map design
The next encounter was always a favorite for me and my brother. We would play it for hours. Sucks there's no medals in co op though
Im happy to see there are other polish guys enjoying SS aside from me.
Bonus points for using saint pepsi in the end titlecard
FUCK YEAH! Finally! Ive been itching to play this for ages, now at least I can play 1/3rd
I played serious Sam the next encounter about 2 years ago and I enjoyed it the disc I have is scratched to hell and has a small gouge in it but was able to play through the whole thing
This mappack grants 5+ hours of solid gameplay. And you can't blame it for not having vehicles, new enemies and combo system since it's NOT a mod, dude.
You're really unfair to Mkbewe in that regard and shouldnt have criticized that aspect. It's simply not possible to do without coding.
And if it were a mod, it would automatically NOT work on puny Revolution, since it does not support those.
Also, if you want it to be harder, just play it on actual mod. PeSe, Serious Violence for instance
I feel like a lot of people are missing the point. Next Encounter's maps are simple in a way that isn't too compatible with the classic environment... least not without major overhauls. Regarding your last sentence, separate mods are their own thing. That doesn't have a place in the argument.
I mentioned several times that Mkbewe has done a great job so I feel you're being overdramatic. Additionally he's grateful that I made the video (he asked me to actually).
So I stand with this one... and you shouldn't be upset. 🙂 At the end I encouraged other people to give it a try and see what they think!
I think You're looking at it subconsciously expecting mod rather than map pack. Still, it's a solid review and I do understand what you are missing in this pack and we all wish it was almost 1:1 recreation, but that's reaaly difficult and that just isn't it.
If you like Next Encounter's combo system, check out Zombie Army 4.
I’ve heard rumblings about Siberian Mayhem, can you do a video on it?
Ah, the Next Encounter. I played an obscene amount of this with my siblings.
The mappers job is just to make the map, hopefully someone else makes a proper scripted weapons pack, and someone else with different skills makes the monsters pack, and then someone else with more code skills can make those into a full next encounter port using the pc serious engine
So it's only for the Revolution version? i though there was one for Serious Sam HD TFE and TSE
As far as I know the team behind one of two Next Encounter HD mods that were in the making announced a long time ago that they wanna wait for SS4 to release so that they could create the mod in improved SSE4 engine. I wonder if it is gonna work out for them, I honestly don't have much faith in SS4 engine after seeing how poorly optimized entire SS4 was on it.
Whatever did happen to the Next Encounter HD mod?
The work stopped and the team disbanded, easy and bad as that.
Mkbewe is a reference to one of Polish online cartoons called Kapitan Bomba. You didn't really say it right but it is okay. I think it was supposed to sound well.... African, as the character in question is essentially a parody of blacksploitation movie protagonists. AKA A n-word with a rocket launcher
Telling like polish would be really hard for him, so better split this word.
@@seriousmkbewe True. Poważny Mkbewe
Nie macie szans z chujowym działkiem! *wrrrruuuumm!*
Are you making a psvita homebrew video? I saw you comment on a vita homebrew video a couple weeks ago
Which video was that?
I never played the Next Encounter so I can’t compare the two.
I will say the map pack is very impressive but there are some rough spots here and there (The Final Boss being so frustrating)
Fusion port when
Some of your criticisms are invalid, because this is a map pack not a full-on mod.
Not really. The point was about how converting these maps to classic loses the intended feel. It's a way of saying that, if Next Encounter wasn't a thing, this map pack would feel flat and repetitive.
bought the game for free with csgo case drops.bought second hand xbox one s controller so i can experience the og xbox serious sam for the first time.close enough.
Remarkable effort.. but at the end you're better off playing the original on Dolphin emulator.
moment when you are early