i like the look of those corpses in that screenshot though. :D 

i've found only 3 secrets! ;) wtf?! :) czg, you're mean! 

Here's a walkthrough of all seven secrets in case anyone's still stuck. I only found three properly and had to pull the others out of the .bsp...

http://grangers-farmyard.com/sda/feb_sec.dz

Damn some of these are hard to get, especially the very last one! :-) I guess that's why they're called secrets...

Or maybe I just missed the "proper" way to get it.

ALL HAIL CZG! 

Good map, I like catacombs :) Also a masterclass in monster placement. Seemed like you got every variation, ogre above, ogre below, vore in distance, vore in your face etc. I especially liked the overhead zombies arcing their blood down.

I suppose I would have liked it to open up into one of those majestic czg vistas but perhaps there was a self-imposed r_speeds limit? The end bit with the hole torn in the ground was cool anyway.

thanks czg. 

As usual, an excellent map, czg, you were, you are and you'll be my master forever, kthxbyedie :E 

You can get the last two secrets without rocketjumping. After the first small flight of stairs after the gold key door, turn right, step up onto the wooden edge of the platform, jump over into archway, jump across to next arch, drop down to next arch, continue jumping to either yellow armor or quad. 

excellent, albeit a little repetitive architecture-wise but that was the point.
i really like how there are so many places where you can see into other areas through grates and such. gives a good feeling of being part of a big cave/ancient tombish/hell thing, although the path twists and turns so much, i have no idea how where i went, even though i never really got lost once.

gameplay was awesome. it progressed very well, and wasn't prone to the "beginning is too hard, ending is too easy" syndrome, not to mention that long stretch without anything to kill was genious! i tried that in my map, but wasn't able to pull it off as well as this. i was really nervous there! :)

the exploding part was a pleasant surprise. for a moment, i thought i was going to fight chthon again, but i prefered to big arena fight much better!

i still think it would have been nicer to have a little more variety in architecture... maybe have the cramped tunnels open up into some more wider areas, (wider than the ones there already i mean), but i'm not sure where you could have put the larger areas, as the whole layout was pretty compact to begin with, so maybe my suggestion wouldn't have been feasible.

recorded a demo of myself playing:
http://www.planetquake.com/necros/temp/ne_februus.zip (zip: 2.49MB)
http://www.planetquake.com/necros/temp/ne_februus.dz (zip: 1.03MB -- DZip roxors!) 

the bottom one should be (dzip: 1.03MB -- DZip roxors!) btw... 

It initially appeared to be quite an atypical CZG style, but then I remembered 04. Even so, not really what I expected, but the overall effect is cool, it definitely has a good feel about it. Like Necros's map, a somewhat conceptual map, but one with a strong purpose which shines through the vaguely repetitive style.

Gameplaywise it was all jolly fun until the end where I started to get lazy and bored with the final combat, which was a fine finale but I wasn't interested in arena combats by then. As others have mentioned, a plentiful ammo balance. The alcoves were a bit annoying to move around.

The secrets, BTW, were easy, particularly for speedrunners. I got 5/7 without thinking....although the other two might have been hard?? 

I returned to the empty map and found three more secrets (I was careful not to read the spoiler posts here). I can see what Shambler meant with his comment above. I wonder if I stand a chance of finding the other two without cheats or Morfan's demo. Also, I haven't found the 'secret' exit either. 

really liked this map (as all other czg's maps), especially gameplay-wise. LOTS of monsters, interesting layout but too much ammo even for me.
Found 2 secrets (red armor and MH).

Overall had a lot of fun. Thanks for that, czg 

Abolutely amazing. Haven't had an adrenaline ruch like that since I injected crack straight into my eyeball. 

I enjoyed this map. Very much so.

Atmosphere was truely superb. The rocks, lava chasms & broken arcitecture blend into the map excellently, and coupled with the labyrinth-like 3-dimensional layout, created a very convincing sense of place, and the gameplay fitted well with it; not the usual run-in-with-guns-firing type gameplay which I find fairly tedious nowadays unless used in moderation. Architecture-wise it was the little details that made the map what it was.. such as the gates, walltorches, arches etc. The exploding tunnel towards the end was also brilliant. Felt pretty immersed into the map which is something I can't say about many; especially towards the end - heading down the small twisty cave out into the spectacular yet subtle end arena.

My only qualm was that I kept falling into lava. Backing into what I thought were dark arches while fighting, which actually turned out to be ledges. D'oh. The end battle didn't really do it for me either... the gameplay up until that point didn't really warrant a big arena finale, especially one that dragged on as long as it did, in a pretty haphazard setting (kept falling off the edge again.. bah, I suck).

Still... despite that, best new map I've played in ooh, a long time. Since Day of the Lords anyway. Very unique and very well pulled off. 

since no one asked... what's a februus? 

* Information *

A series of catacombs, leading ever deeper and deeper into the abyss; where few people go, and fewer still return from. Go! Seek adventure!

Also: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/f/februus.html  

very impressive czg. Like xen said, the little details are astounding. This is one of the greatest quake maps I've seen in terms of build quality. It's also one of the most immersive. Great job!

I didnt find the gameplay all that repetitive, in fact I found it bloody hard (I suck at cramped spaces) in parts. As for ammo, I was too busy worrying about what was coming rather than how much I had.

If anything, you should write a tutorial on how you do layouts. To me, that's the greatest thing about your maps. 

i knew i had seen that link somewhere, but i had thought it was in this thread. when i couldn't find it, i thought i was imagining things. :P 

Strong points: sense of place, solid architectural feel, twisty route, great ogre, scrag, zombie, knight placement.

Weak points: tight quarters and no clip brushes means that i took a lot of damage from getting snagged on pillars and stuff. Lighting should have been gloomier. Larger rooms needed larger forms (arches spanning the broad ceilings would have helped.) Few memorable locations. Vore placement rarely effective.

Also, the flat stone texture on exposed insides of broken arches/pillars that have brick texture on the surface is weird; are they made of bricks or solid stone? 

I must admit I found both the visuals (textures and maze-like corridors) and gameplay very repetitive, which took down the experience quite a bit. Like others have said here, too tight, cramped and since there was quite a bit of backtracking, I also felt lost pretty often.

However, the few big open areas were great, especially the final arena where I found it challenging (in a good way) to find a place not getting ambushed from behind while monsters kept teleporting in. The exploding ground was also well made.

I didn't like the particular rock textures much (a bit Manke-ish), but the rock formations and chasms were very attractive and believable. Lighting was also very good, a bit dark maybe. Weapons, ammo and challenge were all well balanced. I found a few secrets but they were pretty well hidden. I think the repetitive architecture helped a lot in hiding the secrets.

Technically it's an excellent map, but I find your previous work more fun to play. 

"... the flat stone texture on exposed insides of broken arches/pillars that have brick texture on the surface is weird" -
award winning Call of duty has that allover the place 

its a lot easier than making custom textures for each damaged section that reflect where the bricks are inside the arch or pillar that has been damaged. 

It doesn't make any sense but it looks good. 

is that there isnt a feasible alternative that makes sense 

http://www.planetquake.com/speedy/shite/sshot0estalk.jpg 

Yeah I'm looking forward to that one.