It was brought up that we might want to consider a 'Best of Massassi' level pack, and even if we don't do that, it'd be nice to go down memory lane in a thread.

What do you all consider some of the best Jedi Knight, Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Outcast, and Jedi Academy levels (SP and MP) that you've played, and why? Do you have favorites that you wouldn't consider the 'best' necessarily? Links to them would be preferable.

I'll start with some JK multiplayer levels that stick out in my mind:

• Morpheus by bug - something about the flow and space made it fun to move around
• Atlantis by bug - in hindsight, I recall it being easy to get lost with just 2 players, but it looked nice and felt fun to explore
• Dark Tempest (linking 2, but any really) by Flexor - I believe these were heavily inspired by UT if I recall. They're not complex, but for JK, the skybox effect was really neat, and it was straightforward frag fun
• Drazen Isle by Jeff Walters - in the heyday of JK playing, I enjoyed the "roleplaying" subculture, and levels like this seemed to encourage that
• Saberdome Maximus by RS Thrawn - I'm biased with this because I was part of the "RS" clan that helped playtest this as it was being made. Still, I feel it captured a lot of what made JK MP fun at the time, and it was tailored to play with the Saber Battle X mod (same biased story)
• Purgatory by SM Sith Lord - ugly, far too massive for any serious deathmatch play, and generally poorly designed. I still found it incredibly fun to screw around with others, particularly with grappling hook mods.

In the order of FGR Importance.

MotS SP
- Birth of a Mercenary SE by AKPiggott: More or less THE project why I got back into really playing JK and editing it, after finding it on TACC in May 2001 (where I ended up after deciding to search the Internet just in case a game like JK, that I assumed to be completely dead, still had new levels made for it). Possibly even my favorite mod ever, since it feels truly Star Warsy, has bunch of great humor in it - and showcases what kind of greatness can be achieved through group effort. Wish there were equivalents for it for other games. Regardless, it's more or less packed with more fun gameplay than many commercial games have ever had!
- Leeza's Destiny 3.0 by SavageX: I rate this one more or less as high as BoaM SE (and the ToaM levels), and from many technical aspects it's superior to those levels. Nice to look at it, nice gameplay all around - once again, there are many commercial games that have never been as fun to me as this level pack was.
- Tales of a Mercenary II by AKPiggott: Closer to BoaM SE in tone and everything, definitely one of my eternal favorites.
- Tales of a Mercenary I by AKPiggott: A bit weird, now that I think about it, but still a classic to me.
- Rebel Agent by Matt Surman: The most entertaining remake of the first level of Dark Forces ever. Maybe it has a bit too much stuff in it, but I still enjoy playing this level far more than any other incarnation of it. And boy is it pretty, full of nice archi and nice details all around.
- Liberating Cloud City by BSR: At this point I'm sort of out of things to say other than "great gameplay, details, mechanics, balalaika", so needless to say, this one's a FGR favorite.
- Dawn of a Downfall by Elmo: Might be the Last of the Classic Great JK/MotS SP levels (or maybe Yenn Korron Series pt. II holds the honors for this one), but it's definitely a great SP mod in the spirit of BoaM and Leeza.

JK SP:
- Imperial Siege on Derra IV by Ryan Bickhart: The Throne Room track from ANH? I don't really care for the part in the film where it's played. At the end of Derra IV? A majestic feeling of accomplishment.
- Life of a Merchant II by Wolfy: Despite its bugs, sort of a pinnacle of JK editing. Yet I first played through it in 2008 and I sort of felt melancholic over it being quite old at the time and still having plenty of that nice old Massassi spirit in it. And now it's been almost 7 years since the time I played through it. Oh Lawsey, Lawsey, Lawsey...
- Magrucko Daines and the Admiral's Curse by Goit: I'll spill the beans here, I was a beta tester for this level in 2012. The first one is more or less complete, and it's definitely one of the best JK experiences I've ever played. Of course, it's not available anywhere so it probably wouldn't count for a "Best of Massassi" collection, but here's hoping it will!
- Remnants of the Empire II by SavageX: Best one of the RotE levels, I've always found it a pleasure to play great Hoth levels. Certainly one of the greatest ones I've encountered.
- After Endor by ******: A post-hey day JK level, but a great one with awesome puzzles and that nice classic JK SP feeling all around.

As for both JK and MotS MP, I did play it on a few occasions, but mostly MotS MP with my sister via LAN. But I don't really remember all of those levels (unless I retrieved my backups from their base), so I'll go with the one (MotS MP), that impressed me the most: Carbo SE by Ortheza.

While I may consider these the best levels for MotS and JK, my list of "honorable mentions" would be much longer and I might even reconsider some of these levels on this list. Not to mention I do have plenty of favorites for JO and JA as well, but I've always felt that Massassi wasn't really the community for those two games (in fact, I don't even think they have any kind of a "the" community), so I guess I could come up with a list (mostly with levels not available on Massassi, now that I think about it) if the need arises. Or then not.

For JK SP levels, I second "Imperial Siege on Derra IV" and "Remnants of the Empire II" from what I recall. For parody purposes and screwing around with cheats, I must confess to enjoying Planet Sith by Looweegee.

Strangely enough, I can't recall any MotS SP or MP levels I played, which is odd because I'm fairly sure at least some got played. I'm not as surprised with JO/JA, though I seem to recall for JA MP (I think?) a team based one involving TIE Fighters and X-Wings. My memory is foggy with that though.

- Jawa Dwelling SE by Red_0005: This, along with the aforementioned Purgatory and Drazen Isle were big for me.

JK was really the first 3D PC game I played, and these levels were some of the earlier ones my brother and I came across after discovering mods/levels. Something about being new to the game and to games in general created a very mysterious, exploratory atmosphere in these gigantic user-made levels. The two of us would run around, discovering secrets, exploring different areas, trying to wrap our minds around exactly what it was we were seeing, and why someone made it.

The retextured BGJ and Oasis inside Jawa Dwelling SE, the hidden rooms and tunnels and NPCs in Drazen, the gigantic labyrinthine emptiness of these virtual spaces was extremely evocative. I have serious nostalgia for loading up some grappling hook mod and flying around, checking out those spaces with my brother. Area 21, Caesar's Palace, and various other well-known sprawly levels had such an uncanny vibe when emptied of players.

The thing is, I can never really have an experience like that again. It was the perfect combination of gaming naivete, low graphical fidelity, and friendship that led to that strong sense of mystique, of exploration. I'm not sure how many hours we put into that pursuit, and we of course spent much more time with other levels, mods, and gametypes, but I'll always remember those adventures fondly.

tl;dr: toadoe

Capture the Flag (CTF) - Top 5

• Fusion, by Mormegil - This is arguably the best CTF level ever made for the game & many would argue the best for any game. I think that few JK CTF veterans would disagree.
  
  • http://massassi.net/levels/files/943.shtml
  
  
• Ground Zero II, by Mantissa - This was not a complicated level but it was just complex & large enough to have a blast with when there wasn’t enough time for a game of C@NS or Fusion.
  
  • http://massassi.net/levels/files/1458.shtml
  
  
• Halls of Mandos, by Mormegil - The author’s submission to the Massassi Temple CTF Pack was the one level that both serious editors & serious players agreed on.
  
  • http://massassi.net/levels/files/1446.shtml
  
  
• Water Treatment, by Purity - This guy is a real-life friend of mine & it’s such a shame that he released it so late, because the CTF community would’ve embraced its complexity.
  
  • http://massassi.net/levels/files/2952.shtml
  
  
• Reactor, by Madman & Purity - This level nearly didn’t see the light of day, but Madman handed it over to Purity to finish, & though it was late in the game, many of us got to enjoy it.
  
  • http://massassi.net/levels/files/2543.shtml

Honorable mentions: Lava Chamber , by Purity, Sky Higher , by Mantissa, etc...

Deathmatch (DM) - Top 5

• Four Pillars, by Killer Bee - This was my favorite level for full-force guns. If you were a serious FF gunner & didn’t frequent this map, you really missed out on some good times.
  
  • http://massassi.net/levels/files/381.shtml
  
  
• Hangar 217, by Tom Smallwood - This is one of those levels that I could never get my friends to appreciate but was always eager to play more of. It was easily one of my favorite’s for NF guns.
  
  • http://massassi.net/levels/files/976.shtml
  
  
• Jedi High School, by PedHead - This level was beloved by serious players & despised by serious editors. There’s likely no better example of the disconnect between the two communities. NF guns!
  
  • No link available on Massassi.
  
  
• Riot, by Killer Bee - Despite the hidden room that disrupted the gameplay when all players weren’t aware of its existence, this was a great level for NF guns.
  
  • http://massassi.net/levels/files/229.shtml
  
  
• The Docks, by Aruke - It’s difficult to pin down precisely what it is that made this level so fun, because by appearances alone it isn’t much to look at, but fun it was, for NF guns.
  
  • http://massassi.net/levels/files/1208.shtml

Honorable Mentions: Drazen Isle , by Jeff Walters, Empire Nightclub , by FlyDude, Imperial Skyscraper , by GH_HA1_Dengar & WD_Death, Jawa Dwelling SE , by Red_0005, Jedi Pool , by Dylan, Starbase Training , by Home_Sliced, The Old Mill , by Tee, etc...

Are the level preview screenshots gone forever?

I don't think so, you just have to remove the "cgi-bin/screenshot.cgi?" bit from the screenshot URLs.

I'm pretty sure I just fixed the screenshots on level pages. Wasn't expecting it to just be a regex's worth of issue to fix that (why in the world was it using a cgi script in the first place?).

Awesome suggestions so far! Here are mine:

Jedi Knight MP:

• Purgatory
• JHS
• Morpheus
• Drazen Isle
• Jawa Dwelling SE
• Caesar's Palace
• Laboratory VI: Achluophobia

Jedi Knight SP:

• The Search for Princess Leia

MoTS SP:

• BoaM SE
• ToaM

MoTS MP:

• Duel of the Fates SE
• The Mandolorian Mod (Manowar 2 maybe?)

Here's my totally unbiased contribution:

Jedi Knight SP: Gromas Mines

Wolfy's JK Movies 2: Wolvie's JK Movies

There's a depressing lack of OTS love in this thread.

TODOA 2: OTGBK

Empire Night Club by Fly Dude.

yodas howse

I just played through this again because it's been too long. Then went back to the level I was editing...



I guess I subconsciously stole a puzzle!

Loving it, El Goito.

Also I really think Warzone Chapter 2 deserves a nod for JK Single Player.

Man, what about Barons Hed RPG? That was great fun.

Yeah, man, and how about that OTS level? I hear it was a lot of fun.

That was an awesome level despite the obvious class balance issues.

My vote has to go for http://www.massassi.net/levels/files/301.shtml Time Travel Nar Shadaa. This level was so much fun, a co-op level with a short story and a final boss. The enemies were difficult and everything about the level just rocked

Is that the one where there was this secret passage into a temple where you could spawn a bunch of ****? Something LiquidJedi or whatever.

I remember there was a city map that had a day-night cycle that was interesting.

Also, what about Spiral's map that took place in an abandoned, haunted asylum. I thought that was well done.

I liked Area-21 if you ignored what a cluster**** it was to play with friends. WHICH AREA ARE YOU IN??? WHAT NUMBER???


There was map done by Whelly involving a summer camp (with a dark secret) that was weirdly cool. A fav of mine, probably not too fun to MP in.

There was a map done by a member named CogKing that had special attention. Something to do with him being a former LEC worker...I think? Anyhow, it had good gameply.

No mention of Mechanics of the Force?

God, I wish I could search the archive better.

I guess. I mean, the role of the civilian class, iirc, was to get raped in a dark corner.

These are all good! Still waiting for someone to mention something that measure's up to Ogel's City, though.

Is anyone else having trouble going past the 1st page of levels for each category?

Yeah, you have to select that all levels are visible on the first page.

Nebula had a bunch of really well made coop levels, but I've lost track of them over the years.

Unfortunately mods are out of scope, because YARM and JK: Infiltrate were both fantastic. The Death From Above level 1 demo for MotS was great SP, and the MP version was great if only because it was the first realistic gunplay mod. Again, more stuff I've lost track of, but if anybody finds them make sure you post links here.

BCF folks never did a great job posting their mods here. Sometimes on purpose, mind you. It's just unfortunate that the sites where they posted stuff didn't end up lasting as long.

Weren't the BCF guys the ones behind a Speeder mod?

Yes that was YARM

That was actually posted here, listed as Swoop!

http://www.massassi.net/levels/files/1774.shtml

Just had a thought - the Space Soldiers 3 SP demo. Which was probably SavageX's greatest work (in my humble opinion). Would be extremely grateful if anyone knows of anyone who has it. I will make some calls, but I fear it's been lost forever.

My buddy or I might have it. I'll dig around this weekend. That and SBX were the two mods we probably played the most.

Yes! This was awesome there was another version of this called "Swoop 3 beta" that was released for MotS which was even better! I can't seem to find that now though

The gameplay was enjoyable for Full-Force 1v1 but the inclusion of both the Super Shield & the easily accessible secret area were amateurish, LEC employee or not.

Agreed. Infiltrate was fantastic & it's a shame that people didn't play more of it.

I'm not against including mods in this pack to be honest, I just never gave it a thought.

While the levels have always been a huge draw to the game(s), I do think JK/MotS in particular was largely driven by mods, so if we're doing a "Best of Massassi" pack, mods may be an interesting inclusion.

My biased favorite mod, as mentioned earlier, would be SBX, though Spork was arguably "the" grapple hook mod, and I recall there was some racing mod where ducking made you roll like a Goron.