The DWmegawad Club plays: Plutonia

[Walter confetti]

MAP09: I remember to have played a standalone version of this map that i found back in a PC Gamer demo disk long time ago. The version i've played it used the Doom 2 stock textures and doesn't have the teleport at the map start, but for the rest it was the same map. I don't recall how was called anyway.

Back on topic, this is another pretty good map like the previous, only longer and harder. Real harder. The room after the first teleport and the final battle room are thoughest, but overall this level is divided into some type of vignette battles in each room you progress. Is one of the best levels so far.

[Horus]

1 hour ago, Valhen said:

(Also, are map05's scrolling textures supposed to scroll THAT fast?)

Starduster explained that here

 

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/118934-the-dwmegawad-club-plays-plutonia/?page=3&tab=comments#comment-2240318

 

[Valhen]

Ah, I see. Sorry, should have read the rest of the thread.

[Horus]

MAP09 - "Abattoire" by Milo Casali

 

I’ll forgive the spelling mistake in the map name because this is the best map so far by quite a margin. The map is best known for its final battle, but I enjoyed it the whole way through. Again, the MIDI is awesome, with its eccentric quality providing some light relief for the challenges ahead.

 

The rev/pinky/imp battle for the BK was pretty exciting, mainly thanks to the fact that I didn’t spot the invuln until the whole battle was over already.

The YK/RK areas I had to take at a slower pace, even with finding the soulsphere secret, thanks to its thin ledges and perched chaingunners & friends.

 

So I had still saved the invuln, but given that I wanted to kill all of the monsters, it wore off before I could get to the final battle, instead coming in handy for the penultimate battle, leaving me on 200% health afterwards.

 

I knew what was coming, but I still died a few times. It’s a very well-designed battle, forcing constant but careful movement to avoid both enemy projectiles and dropping into the damaging floor. And those pesky teleporting imps caught me out when trying to carelessly rocket the chaingunners!

 

Level rankings:

Spoiler

MAP09 - "Abattoire" by Milo Casali
MAP05 - "Ghost Town" by Milo Casali
MAP08 - "Realm" by Milo Casali
MAP07 - "Caughtyard" by Dario Casali
MAP04 - "Caged" by Dario Casali
MAP01 - "Congo" by Milo Casali
MAP02 - "Well of Souls" by Dario Casali
MAP06 - "Baron's Lair" by Dario Casali
MAP03 - "Aztec" by Milo Casali

 

[Shepardus]

MAP08 - Realm

UV-Max (-solo-net) from pistol start

 

I died far more than I expected on this level. The most memorable encounter in this map is the trap at the end with the arch-viles and revenants teleporting in right when you think you've made it to the exit, but it's not much trouble if you're expecting it. The rest of the map, however, can whittle you down little by little if you're not careful, and the lack of major armor pickups (just 13 armor bonuses) means that small hits can add up to more than you realize. The blue key trap with the teleporting chaingunners is cheeky; if you can seat yourself on top of one of the teleport destinations, the rest of the chaingunners teleport to the other and become easy pickings, but getting yourself there can be an exercise in frustration with enemies blocking your way. The fight just after that with the damaging floor should not be underestimated; most of the enemies are easily dispatched, but the revenants at the far side can be a problem, and the damaging floor itself is also a pain to deal with. I had a couple attempts where I simply had too little health to make it across the pool, and another attempt where I somehow managed to fall off the steps leading to the switch five times in a row and succumbed to the floor.

 

Co-op doesn't change a whole lot in this map. There are a handful of extra revenants thrown into the pool on either side of the exit. These are surprisingly annoying to deal with because they drain your ammo and draw your attention away from the pain elementals, which are already bad enough with the limited weaponry you have at that point. On the other hand, there's also a BFG in the pool, which is helpful for certain encounters (pretty much trivializing the ending trap if you save enough ammo). I think that's all the multiplayer changes for this map.

 

1 hour ago, Walter confetti said:

MAP09: I remember to have played a standalone version of this map that i found back in a PC Gamer demo disk long time ago. The version i've played it used the Doom 2 stock textures and doesn't have the teleport at the map start, but for the rest it was the same map. I don't recall how was called anyway.

Back on topic, this is another pretty good map like the previous, only longer and harder. Real harder. The room after the first teleport and the final battle room are thoughest, but overall this level is divided into some type of vignette battles in each room you progress. Is one of the best levels so far.

Sounds like you played BUTCHER.WAD, an earlier version of the map that Milo released online.

[Valhen]

Map09: Abattoire

This is a really fun map. The traps are pretty interesting and evil, especially the last one. I somehow managed to go through it without dying, though I died in the room before the trap (What's with me always dying in the easier parts? .-.). Anyways, looks cool, plays cool, is cool, like all plutonia maps.

Edited January 12, 2021 by Valhen
I should really proofread before I publish my posts...

[Starduster]

Day 8 ~ Maps 07 and 08 ~ DSDA Doom/PRBoom+ 2.5.1.5 ~ UV-Max ~ NM100s ~ Pistol start ~ Midi pack

 

MAP07

Demos - pl map07.zip

UV - 3 deaths: Pretty easy. You’ve got a rocket launcher, SSG, and a good Dead Simple clone ahead! I like to wake the revenants up and see how many I can kill from below after the open up, but before riding one of the lifts up. Death exit used at the ending for style points, I died there once without sliding into the exit like an idiot, shot a rocket at a bad angle. Good music, great gameplay, and flow.

NM - 3 deaths: Learn how to jump across the moat (it’s easy!) and the rest is free. Not much to talk about here. Just don’t eat a lot of arachnotron plasma after dropping down into the exit.

 

MAP08

Demos - pl map08.zip

UV - 0 deaths: I’m not sure if I like this one on a pistol start. It’s very meh. I guess the blue key trap is clever. Most people who don’t know of it will get destroyed the first time. But, to be honest, everything about that room screams “deadly trap” to any player taking time to realize their surroundings. The ending fight is also fun, grab the berserk before starting it. I wish there were more revenants though ;D.

NM - 150 deaths: This is the first map of the bunch that features a sequence-breaker or “trick”, whatever you want to call it. Just a simple glide at the end. I was originally hesitant to use tricks in these demos because it would seem cooler to watch a run that deals with all the scary sections, but this was too much for me. Even with saves, I was still unable to make it through using the intended progression (it is possible). That poison room is insidious. Anyway, this sucked to play on NM. Having to do the stupid start with the stupid barons and the stupid lift with the stupid pain elementals with the stupid and LOUD lost souls that always followed me into the tunnels after making it there… it made me want to rage. But it was worth it. Why? Watch the demo. I hit 7 health, then 4 health, and then 3 health at separate times during the run. Did I mention there is NO armor? This might be one of my best demos ever recorded, so check it out :). It felt so good to finish. 

Edited January 9, 2021 by Starduster

[golbeeze]

This was a very bad week for me so I am skipping the little writing I usually do. Also, I hate map 08.

[Pseudonaut]

Map09: UV-Max in 5:53, NM-Speed in 2:20
The blue key room has a lot of pinkies, revenants, and imps, especially after grabbing the key, but there's plenty of space to move around and the Casalis were even nice enough to give you an invulnerability that you don't need. Since you have it, it's fun to shoot the rocket launcher point blank and deal lots of damage to a dense crowd. I don't have much to say about getting the other keys, but the exit room is the one everyone remembers about this map. A firing squad of chaingunners in the back (best killed with rockets before triggering the rest of the fight), a mancubus backed by a revenant in each corner, and a narrow ring-shaped platform at the center is your only footing while you fight them, aside from the cubbies full of imps, which should be quickly killed so you can use their hiding place as cover. If you fall down here, there's no way back up and your run is over. Probably one of the hardest parts of any Plutonia map. Killing the revenants is difficult because of their random movement and the travel time of your rockets or plasma (other weapons are even less reliable for this situation). On top of that, I'm pretty sure the torch decorations were blocking my rockets in some cases (edit: that definitely doesn't happen, but the rockets might've been hitting the wall the revs were standing on). I'm not a fan of that, but this is still definitely one of the strongest maps in the set.

 

pl09stuff.zip

 

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Pseudonaut

[Andromeda]

MAP09: Abattoire

 

Tasteful lightning, good architecture, fun fights; basically, all the markings of a great level. Yet I find myself not enjoying it as much as I would think. Sure, the fact that you can't backtrack from either the last or penultimate room is a blemish, but otherwise it's a solid outing. On the other hand, this is a large improvement over BUTCHER, which I actually beat right before writing this post. Main differences between "Abattoire" and its earlier revision are much better lightning, cell ammo is well rationed (cell packs are littered everywhere in BUTCHER) and the finale in "Abattoire" runs circles around the other one.

 

Seriously, the finale is far and away the most memorable section of the level, providing the first real challenging encounter in Plutonia. The wiki has a surprisingly foolproof way to defang it, but I usually tackle it like in the current UV Max record by Ancalagon, as shown below (although far more clumsily :P)

 

[Pechudin]

MAP09:

    The last room had my hands trembling and heart racing. The fear of slipping up and falling into the drink, while dodging the Mancubus and Revenant fireballs and trying to provide some semblance of commentary was exhilirating. The Revenants were a bit annoying to dispose of, the autoaim launching rockets into the Mancubus platform instead, damaging me and pushing me towards the inner pit. The crusher room was fun as well, circlestrafing and pumping rockets into the mass of Imps and Revenants. I also appreciate the Imp mob after you pick up the Yellow and Red Key, an easy reprieve before the brutal finale.

 

    A small notice, I decided to stop doing the continuous run. It just is not as fun as the Pistol Start.

 

The Video:

 

[T-Rex]

Back again to continue on Plutonia. Getting close to finishing the first episode.

 

Map07: Caughtyard (Dario Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 04:13

 

This is just a knockoff of Doom's 2 Dead Simple, but done in a very creative fashion, and this would serve as inspiration for Alien Vendetta's Showdown, and of course the sequels to Plutonia, with Enemy Caught for Plutonia 2 and Caughtisle for PRCP. It will also be lifted for the large central area in Hell Revealed's Map18: Hard Attack. First things, kill all the mancubi and fast because you won't have anywhere to take cover if you let them gang up on you. The zombiemen (making their first appearance this late in Plutonia unless you play ITYTD/HNTR in which you face a few on Congo) pose no threat so don't bother with them for now. However, once all the mancubi are dead and the walls lower, you can enter either of the revealed elevators, each containing a baron, but watch out, because now firing a shot will alert a gaggle of revenants, and they can really wreak havoc on you. Ignore the baron and focus on the skeletons with your rocket launcher, but if you got a plasma gun on continuous play, you can take one of the elevators and waste them all with it, but mind your back as you can be attacked while you're killing the revenants in front of you. With them defeated, you can collect the yellow key and megasphere from running down the stairs to jump on the fountain, but beware, because you'll be facing a rather annoying caged arch-vile that will teleport between the two cages. Fortunately, you can take cover and attack him from one side, and shooting rockets at him will make him teleport to the other as he sets his sights on you. Now that you have the yellow key, you can open the skull bars to hit the switch that raises the bridges over the moat, but you'll get a surprise hell knight that spawns in as well. Finally, eliminate those mini spider-bots around the fort, lower the door to plummet down to a passage where you are greeted by chaingunners and a hell knight (arachnotron on UV). Don't forget the opened alcoves at the start of passage as soon as you approach the exit teleporter. Straightforward and fun, but does throw in some surprises as you progress.

 

Map08: Realm (attributed to Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 08:15

 

First thing I noticed, I felt that the level design information is wrong. I mean, the map doesn't look like it's by Milo Casali as it doesn't have the Tom Hall-esque geometry and has some irregular-shaped rooms. I would say it's actually a Dario map, honestly. But enough griping, what can I say about this map? Well, we're back to some hardcore knockabout gameplay, though it doesn't come yet until when you reach the main central area. The start has you stepping on water that lowers down to reveal entrance to the ruins where you have some shotgunners to take care off outside and inside. Activate the lifts where you'll battle nobles (two hell knights on ITYTD/HNTR, one hell knight and baron on HMP, and two barons on UV). Then as you get to the other end of the central area, you'll be facing pain elementals and cacodemons, including hell knights and skeletons. The pain elementals and revenants should be the first to go as they're the most annoying. Take the path to your right where there are imps, zombies and a couple of mancubi lurking along the path. Find the switch to open the door back at the big battle area, but watch out for the revenant that will come for you. Go up to the platform where the revenants were and hit the switch to lower the waterfall to your left, but you'll be facing a group of revenants. Traverse the passage and eventually as you go down steps, you'll see three switches, and hitting either one lowers the doors, but act fast as there are chaingunners and spectres. You'll soon reach a green structure with elevators to go up to the platform where you'll find the blue, but that will trigger another nasty trap as zombies will spawn from both elevators. Open the blue door another tricky fight with more zombies including those flying meatballs and tomatoes and deadly skeletons at the other end. The slime is toxic so don't linger there for too long and take cover whenever you can to avoid taking too much damage. Go up the pillars where the zombies stood to hit the switch that lowers bars to the elevator where after you take care of chaingunner and ride up, you'll be back at the water passage, and then, you can hit the blue key switch that opens the banners, but before you can reach the exit teleporter, you'll have one more lethal ambush when the revenants come spawning in (including two chaingunners on ITYTD/HNTR, revenants on HMP, or arch-viles on UV/NM). The chaos is back in this level, but more of that will be coming.

 

Map09: Abattoire (Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 07:59

 

Speaking of chaotic maps, here's one that is an absolute slaughter. Fittingly enough, the level takes place in a slaughterhouse, as the title of the map suggests, despite it having a spelling mistake. Interestingly, it seems that Milo saw his earlier map Butcher.wad fit to be in Plutonia, though he did gave it some tweaking, repopulating and retexturing for the set. A rather intense start, though the very beginning isn't so intense as you're just fighting a cacodemon and some spectres. However, when you go to your right down the stairs, ride the elevator down after grabbing the super shotgun, kill the pinkies and find the secret holding the soul sphere which you'll need, the chaos begins as soon as you step into the teleporter, because you'll need to take out a bunch of pinkies first while avoiding the revenant missiles and then kill the two revenants after the demons are dead. Insane part, but it gets much more insane when you step on the revenant platform, hit both switches and kill the lost souls that appear from the doors, cause opening fire will result in a massive horde of imps and revenants spawning in from the two crushers, including more revenants coming out from an opened alcove. Luckily, there's an invulnerability in where they came from, so grab it just as hell breaks loose and wipe them all out. It's quite amusing to see the enemies getting crushed by the crushers. With that ambush done with, you can hit the switch that will reveal the blue key, and return to the starting area to go to the blue door. From there, you need to raise a walkway to the other where there are two doors, one to the yellow key and the other which you'll need the yellow key open. More intense fights with imps and chaingunners, including a mancubus and arachnotron for good measure. Get the red key but be ready for another imp and chaingunner ambush. Back to the starting area, take out the arch-vile revealed in an opened pillar and then the imps from the opened alcoves at the sides. Open all three bars to the end, but grab the partial invisibility as it will come in handy for the ending which is without a doubt the most difficult and dangerous part of the map. After killing some more imps including a couple of hell knights and a cacodemon, find a door behind where you teleported for another soul sphere, and the very final area is hell, with chaingunners in front, imps teleporting to the circular platform, lost souls and deadly snipers (hell knights on ITYTD/HNTR, arachnotrons on HMP and mancubi on UV/NM, not to mention the cyberdemon on the narrow circular platform on multiplayer). This is such a crazy level, but a really good and memorable one that I enjoy very much.

 

Alright, two more maps before the end of the first episode of Plutonia, but I will leave it there for now, so see you again soon!

Edited January 9, 2021 by T-Rex

[DoubleCakes]

Whenever I start “9: Abattoire”, my mind immediately thinks it’s ‘Dark Entries’ from Doom 64, which has a revenant missile turret in its opening room. No such thing here. The SSG gets a lot of work early on in this map, even during that wave of monsters that comes from the blue key room. I took on the whole squad with SSG and didn’t get hit until the end where a revenant clocked me on the nose.

 

My favourite part of this level is that big wooden room where you press the switch to raise the path and shoot rockets at all the sniper nests. There’s that room with the barons and imps coming down a ledge– I used plasma for that part. My least favourite part is that final arena with the line of chaingunners, imps, mancubi, and revenants. Without manual aim, your fire won’t curve upward towards the gunners. It took a couple of very frustrating deaths but then I learned a trick: if you shoot rockets at the wall below the nest, the splash damage will reach and kill the gunners somewhat effectively.

 

The room is still tough. I get rid of the four imps lingering about then prepare my rocket launcher. When the imp doors open and the revenants and mancubi appear, I shoot into the imp closets and kill them quick, then fire across the map to the other imps. Using rockets to get rid of the mancubi isn’t a bad idea, but I started losing a lot of health to splash damage so for this final part I used plasma. It’s nervewracking to do this part, and everytime I got hit by a rocket I tensed up. If you fall into the pit, you’re dead.

 

Why does this part have to be at the END of the level?

 

‘Plutocrat’ from Bucket gives this level a good theme on the midi pack. I like the chorus of the song which has these NIN-esque rock chords.

[Horus]

MAP10 - "Onslaught" by Dario Casali

 

When I played this level on continuous a few months ago, it frustrated me. So I was expecting to be especially frustrated playing it on pistol start, I’d heard bad things about pistol starting this map.

 

And yet, it was mostly fine. Grindier than I would have liked, with too much use of the single shotgun, but the only bit I thought of as real douchey was the chaingunner trap with the baron blocking the dropdown switch. This map is certainly an onslaught though, facing you off against medium tier enemies pretty much right from the start and never really letting go.

 

I could not work out the megaarmor secret sadly, would’ve helped out with the dual archviles immediately afterwards. I knew about the skip over the YK bar platform that lets you grab the RK early but elected not to use it for the extra challenge.

 

Level rankings:

Spoiler

MAP09 - "Abattoire" by Milo Casali
MAP05 - "Ghost Town" by Milo Casali
MAP08 - "Realm" by Milo Casali
MAP07 - "Caughtyard" by Dario Casali
MAP04 - "Caged" by Dario Casali
MAP01 - "Congo" by Milo Casali
MAP02 - "Well of Souls" by Dario Casali
MAP10 - "Onslaught" by Dario Casali
MAP06 - "Baron's Lair" by Dario Casali
MAP03 - "Aztec" by Milo Casali

 

[Spectre01]

MAP08 - "Realm" by Milo Casali

 

This map has no armour aside from some bonuses. This map has no Soulspheres, just some health bonuses. And what is my least favourite type of Doom map? The kind where you're sitting at 97HP and fighting enemies that can 2-shot you. Aside from that personal grievance, this map is fine. The central area looks really nice and the Blue Key fight with Chaingunner teleporters is neat. It's not particularly difficult, though the concept of physically blocking one teleport destination must've been quite original at the time. The exit bridge is exceptionally dickish, though it is possible to activate just a single Vile by moving forward very slowly. Once he's dead, approaching from the other end of the bridge and pre-firing on the 2nd Vile makes the exit fight a lot more manageable.

[Spectre01]

MAP09 - "Abattoire" by Milo Casali

 

The fleshy eye shape you start in is really cool and something often imitated to this day. In constrast to Plutonia's usually compact monster count, this map boasts some larger setpiece encounters, like the first one pictured above. While not difficult by modern standards, what with the free Invul and susceptibility to the good ol' circlestrafe, a rather impressive number of Revenants and Imps fill up the room. I opted to ignore the Invul and instead save it for the welcoming party beyond the keyed bar teleporter. The final area is made more difficult than it should be by the inescapable death pits. It doesn't help that the switch raising the exit bridge and the teleport pads on the sides of the room can cause some shenanigans with Doom's already janky platforming. The patented strategy for the donut fight is camping the Imp room with the Blue Armour and peaking out to remove the Mancs. Then you can run the loop and kill the Revenants. Still, it's always possible to get knocked off or catch yourself slippin'. Overall, this is probably my favourite map so far: Nice visuals, cool fights, and a fitting midi in both vanilla and Plutmidi.

[RottingZombie]

I give this map one decomposing thumb up.

 

 

[Valhen]

Map10: Onslaught

Surprise chaingunner at the start! Fortunately I remembered about him. Aside from that, this map is a tough one. Traps inside other traps, tons of high tier enemies. I died twice at the Archvile trap after the blue armor. The level has a nice layout and architecture. Also, don't tell Dario that I skipped the yellow door using some platforms nearby ;) I later went back and did the rest anyway.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Valhen

[golbeeze]

Map 10

I love this map! The action is intense and there are lots of tough enemies. This is one of the most memorable Plutonia maps for me. If I think a lot about it, there isn't really anything special about it, but it still has a special place in my memory for some reason!

[Spectre01]

MAP10 - "Onslaught" by Dario Casali

 

This is a cool map if you're playing continuously. Nice traps, fights with multiple big enemies, and everybody's favourite reviving Chaingunner gimmick. If you manage to kill those Chaingunners without knocking them back too much, they might not even get revived! Having said that, I am doing this from a pistol start perspective and this map can eat my ass from that angle.

 

You see that yellow skull pillar at the bottom right of the screenshot above? If you're playing this pistol start, you use it to hop into that window ASAP and grab the SSG for this map to not suck. Otherwise you will be forced to endure some of the dullest Shotgun gameplay imaginable. I fired this map up in PRBoom+ to see the authentic experience for myself. You don't have shit to work with besides shells until you get through the sewers and find the Rocket Launcher. The one Blue Armour is also a secret that you get around the same time. With foreknowledge, you can speedrun to the sewers while ignoring everything else and then watch the enemies you skipped infight after killing the Viles. I am not a huge fan of any of those options, so just play this continuously or with a mod, like Supercharge (pictured above), where your starting weapons are not as lame. I've said it before and I'll say it again, 90's pistol start balance is crap.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Spectre01

[Starduster]

Day 9 ~ MAP09 ~ DSDA Doom/PRBoom+ 2.5.1.5 ~ UV-Max ~ NM100s ~ Pistol start ~ Midi pack

 

Demos - pl map09.zip

UV - 0 deaths: This map ate a lot of my D2all attempts that made it past the first 2 maps. Why? Three words: the final room. Otherwise, I enjoyed playing this one again. You get guns, you get ammo, and you get slaughter. It does a good job of keeping the player’s attention. I’m not sure how mappers are able to do this, but I’m guessing that it’s because of the traps and progression. The teleporter behind the 3 bars is a point of no return, so there should be 2/2 secrets and 43 kills left before entering assuming that you want to 100% it. Get rid of the surprise monsters, grab the non-secret supercharge, and head into the final room. It is a room with 4 corners that each have mancubi with revenants behind them and this circular ledge to navigate on. Falling down will always result in death. After lots of practice, I found a consistent way of handling it. Good map, the ending room never fails to make my hands tremble a bit in attempts :D.

NM - 79 deaths: A break from tougher maps until 12, but not really. Plutonia NM will still be mean to you here. Even though I died by the door with imps/an arachnotron behind it quite often it still felt like my fault a majority of the time. Maybe I should’ve practiced it. For the ending room, I use a trick called a linedef skip - get into a specific position, line up an angle, and perform a perfect SR50 to trick the game into thinking that you never crossed the line in question. Unfortunately, one attempt was lost at the end because I forgot the setup. 

 

[Shepardus]

MAP09 - Abattoire

UV-Max (-solo-net) from pistol start

 

There's exactly one thing about this map that everybody remembers, and that's the final room. Let's quickly get everything else out of the way first.

• The starting room looks pretty cool. Shame that nothing much ever happens in it.
• The blue key room feels like it was intended to leave a bigger impact than it does, what with the invulnerability sphere it thinks you'll need (you really don't).
• The hanging decorations in the yellow key room are solid and will block rockets. Don't face-rocket yourself there like I did.
• Don't miss two untagged "secrets," one hidden behind a fake wall near the red key and another in the penultimate room on the opposite side of the door to the final room. These are more helpful than the "actual" secrets.
• I really like the MIDI for this map from the Plutonia MIDI pack. Really drives home the tension of that final room.

Alright, now let's talk about the final room. This room is easily the most difficult fight in Plutonia up to this point, and probably one of the most difficult in all of Plutonia. Assaulting you from all directions while teetering on a narrow walkway over an inescapable pit, this setpiece is lengthy, unforgiving, and very resistant to cheesing, unlike most of the traps up to this point. Don't think about backtracking for cover, because you can't; the door locks behind you and stays locked (I wish it'd at least open up after raising the platform to the exit, for completionists who missed stuff earlier). If you don't care about getting all kills, you can save the invulnerability sphere from the blue key room and rush through the section with invulnerability (you still need to be careful not to get pushed off the walkway), but if you're going for all kills that won't help much, as the powerup will tick down while you're busy dealing with the enemies in the room before (since, again, you can't return to it). Not being able to freelook and having to rely on autoaim forces you to have to run around more rather than sniping the enemies from afar. The pit being inescapable is incredibly dickish, especially coming at the very end of the map, but at the same time it really wouldn't have the same impact if it were more forgiving.

 

In case you weren't already clear what part of this map is the important part, all the co-op additions to the map are in the final room. Specifically, you've got to deal with four extra revenants, two pain elementals, and a cyberdemon. The good thing is that the cyberdemon can be used to infight some of the enemies; it'll reliably kill the chaingunners and usually will help out with a few of the revenants and mancubi. The bad thing is that, well, it's a cyberdemon on a narrow walkway. What's more, it blocks the southern end of the ring, preventing you from making full laps around the arena. You can potentially kill it from the previous room with plasma, but I opted to save it for last and meanwhile try to get some infighting out of it. On the other hand, I did lure out the pain elementals to kill them before entering the final room, because dealing with them along with everything else in the final room sounds like a very bad time. The extra revenants are not much of a problem; if you can deal with one revenant in each corner, you can deal with two as well.

 

Unlike the previous maps, I recorded a demo for this, which I posted here, since there wasn't one on DSDA before. I was tempted to only play this map with saves and loads thanks to the final room and the drudgery of repeating everything before, but after some practice I found that a single segment run wasn't as hard as I expected.

[DJVCardMaster]

Why Plutonia when I can't play? Agh, damn, I'll start tomorrow. Happy new year guys!

[Pseudonaut]

Map10:
I've included four demos in this zip. One is a UV-Max in 4:48 where I used a trick to skip the yellow door, then another UV-Max in 8:25 without that skip (and admittedly less optimized in other ways, it was an earlier attempt). There's also a successful Nightmare demo and a devastating failed Nightmare attempt which was inches away from the exit.

 

For a UV-Max run, the most important difference made by the skip is the early SSG. Without it, you don't get the SSG until the exit is basically already available, and the other weapons (rocket launcher and plasma gun) don't appear until halfway. For that run, I found myself killing multiple hell knights and other bullet sponges with the regular shotgun, so I think the map is more fun with the skip, even if it is easier. Simply leaving almost everything alive until you get the RL and PG is possible, saving you the trouble of chewing through so much meat with just the regular shotgun, but I don't see much incentive to do that when the yellow door skip is faster.

 

Everything in this map is a trap. You spawn right next to a chaingunner, in an area with the blue key. The path to the blue key spawns more chaingunners. Leaving the start room spawns revenants, mancubi, and arachnotrons. Entering the next area will spawn multiple chaingunners on each side of you which will be resurrected by hidden archviles. A baron is behind the door. Pressing the switch behind the door instantly drops you underground into a small room with three pinkies. I think the point is made now. You'll eventually press a switch that causes the two hidden archviles to teleport out into the open (now the chaingunners can be killed), and it might seem safer to stay in that room, but it's practically impossible to find cover from both viles that way, so it's better to go back to the yellow key area and kill the outdoor vile first. The yellow key is available now, and is obviously also a trap. Grabbing it produces revenants, pain elementals, and some other stuff that I don't remember; fun chaos ensues. When that's done, all the challenging stuff is behind you, but there's still a little trap with every step you take toward the exit.

 

pl10stuff.zip

 

 

[Silhouette 03]

Map 09: Abattoir UV, continuous  

This thread is bought to you by my suffering!

This map is a pure example of plutonia being plutonia. This map isn't actually that difficult until the exit room, which is where my blood pressure reaches heights never seen before in any other human being(or whatever sort of being John Carmack is), where I want to smash my head into my keyboard and hope that knocks me out, just for a little while. Feverish rantings aside, I think the map looks really good, considering the age of the megawad and all the visually stunning wads such as Valiant, Eviternity and Ancient Aliens we have today. The wood and stone textures are used really well to make a jungle temple like aesthetic.

The most notable trap is the area where you get the blue key, with revenants spawning in. The best way to handle this encounter to make a running leap into the twin tunnels and fire rockets at the revenants from there(just like Civvie did), you'll have plenty of ammo to do so with, considering the map gives you an abundance of ammo( another example of good difficulty-by-design in plutonia).

 

The exit room is.... pure evil. you're assaulted from literally all sides with chaingunners in front, imps on your left and right and revenants and mancubi on the upper and lower left and right of the room. If that isn't enough, why not make the floor be above a damaging surface that deals massive amounts of damage and which you cannot get back out of? Why would anyone design something so evil? I should probably contact the Geneva conference.

 

Is to too early to start sending death threats to the members who voted for this wad( this is the internet, after all, if you don't like something, the rational thing to do is send death threats to people who had absolutely nothing to do with it, and doesn't make you look like an absolute moron)?

Deaths:19

Secrets: 100%

Kills:100%

Involuntary sedations: 5

 

Map 10: Onslaught UV, continuous 

This map is a battlefield, a test of your skill and wit....also, who decided it was a good idea to put a chaingunner facing the spawn point? I mean, c'mon. The Archvile resurrecting  chaingunners trick is used once again, forcing you to run through hails of bullets. Fun. Spawning revenants in after collecting a key? Just another day on the Job. The Casali's play a joke by putting a single zombieman behind the red key switch. Hilarious. The pathway to the exit key deserves special mention as hell knights trigger on both sides, one teleporting closer to claw you, as well as.... one shotgunner?

 

I wonder if I make a megawad with evil traps, I'll earn a position at Valve?

Deaths: 4

Secrets:100%

Kills: 100%

preparation for the world's worst maze: 100%

Willingness to continue: 0%

 

[DoubleCakes]

Ugh, the opening to “10: Onslaught” with the chaingunner shooting you in the thigh is a bummer, especially coming off of the end of ‘Abattoire’, in which you could start this level with low health. Although I recognized the opening area, I forgot what level this was, and once I saw out into the main plaza, I remembered and started to dread the level.

 

The squad of revenants, mancubi, and arachnotrons are tough too, but the chaingunner nest south of the plaza really cooked me. By the time I got to the sewers, I was crawling with barely any health although I pushed through and once I got that megaarmor, I was doing good. I knew about the big swarm of enemies at the end and remembered it being a lot bigger. Taking care of the archviles immediately, I dealt with the swarm pretty methodically and carefully.

 

On edge for the rest of the level, I cleared the imp closet in the yellow key door and dealt with the baron ambush by backing up into the building and killing everything with the SSG. I wasn’t even blindsided by the shotgunner closet. A nasty level and not one of Plutonia’s best, but I give it a passing grade.

 

‘Denied’ by Doomkid92 has this big arena rock drum beat and a big chorus with a dissonant choral section. The workman rock chords on the verses work well with the level’s creeping sense of dread.

[Andromeda]

MAP10: Onslaught

 

A mean chaingunner at the start provides a rude awakening after a handful of less trap-oriented levels. Yes, every switch you press, every door you open, hell even every corner you turn - it's a trap and if you're not ready you're going to bite the dust quickly! Until you get to the sewers area where the action is more incidental and laidback, the level is absolutely relentless. Coupled with the lack of non-secret armor and good weaponry, you're best off just zooming past the enemies until eventually returning for revenge, at least from a pistol-start.

 

The degreelessness chaingunners last seen in MAP01 make a comeback, and they're especially evil if the player took the time to kill the large amounts of meat before, a brilliant "fuck you" moment. With that said, there's a really easy way to sequence break the level and get the super shotgun early on, in fact so easy that I believe it has to be intentional to subtly aid pistol-starting players. Having the SSG trivializes the whole stretch up to the sewers if the player elects to kill the monsters in advance.

 

The level does have another card up its sleeve upon your exit from the sewers, releasing two devilishly placed arch-viles along with a second wave of monsters to make holding onto a pillar not a very interesting proposition. A swift and aggressive approach is the key to minimize damage as counterintuitive as it may seem, because playing cautiously will result either in 1) you stay safe from the monster wave but are easy prey for the overlooking arch-vile or 2) you run to the starting area, giving the roaming arch-vile time to create a meat barrier that will chew through your ammo.

 

So yeah, a far more nuanced level than what it seems at first sight - not one I particularly enjoy but I really admire the encounter design.

[RottingZombie]

^{gzdoom +set compatmode 2 -iwad plutonia.wad -file plutmidi.wad jovpal.wad psxsounds.wad}

 

Map10

 

Beat this on my continuous , then recorded demo (GZDoom 4.5.0) of a pistol start that shows how quickly I forget map monster layout. I like/hate this map, depending on my mood.

 

 

gz450plut10.zip

[Pechudin]

MAP10:

 

Jokes aside, and that particular Chaingunner aside, the map is not that hard. Of course, my new yardstick is the MAP09, which busted my balls for days (and I kinda love it?). I did almost die when the Revenants got released, and I did not manage to get much infighting going between the Mancubi, Revvies and the 'Trons. I absolutely did the SSG skip and made sure to keep the Blursphere for the Chaingunner firing squad.

 

I cheesed the map slightly again when pressing the switch at the sewer exit, as I ducked back into the sewer and rocketed one of the Viles from where you drop down into the Pinkie ambush. After that it was smooth sailing. Also, that zombieman in the Red Switch, the poor guy was hiding from all the carnage. The exit trap was surprisingly easy, as the doors open quite early, giving you time to run back into the building.

 

The Video:

 

 

[Walter confetti]

MAP10: If i thought that the previous map was hard, this is full force asshole-ish lol! With the cruel usage of a chaingunner right at the beginning, this level escalates with the difficulty every step you make, with a "breathing" moment on the sewer area with spectres and a shotgunner, with the summon on the 2 arch-viles. But the difficult is not in the usage of high difficulty monster like in the previous map, but the tactital usage of mid-tier monsters in tight places and in some surprise section.

Layout-wise is pretty cool looking, reminds of some sort of abandoned military training place with some techbase parts, like a sort of place that UAC used for training marines to fight demons in earth places or something similar. Also this map reminds me of another map that i've played long ago, maybe Hell Revealed 2?