The DWheretic Club plays: Heretic

[LadyMistDragon]

Portals of Chaos.

 

Something in the gloomy-ass tune showcases a map at the scene of dimensional portal, but mostly if you get a higher-quality midi pack. That's fine. The outer walls are very high. The outer ring is divided into several different areas, with different enemy groups in each one. There's still plenty of room to collect the weapons though, and duck into the dungeon-like side rooms to grab item that'll aid you greatly, say against the Wizards you'll meet on the way to the inner ring, which contains 2 Maulotaurs. You know, the enemy with more HP than a Cyberdemon for which a Tome of Power should be a given (looking at you, E4M1). There's a Tome of Power and and Invincibility Ring located different inactive portals circling the arena. You may have observed the tall wooden gates that are reminiscent of some stable-like, or maybe just a place you'd expect bulls to be. When the Maulotaurs die, the portals open and as the following story text relates in darkly gruesome detail seemingly written for violence fetishists, you are now in a far worst place.....

[Capellan]

 

[SiFi270]

E3M1: The Storehouse

 

where is my crossdamn goshbow

[TheOrganGrinder]

E3M1: The Storehouse

 

This is a level that's made, if not more difficult in the long run, more exciting if it's been a while since you've last played it and don't recall that the switch in the second outdoor area (beyond the bars, next to the bunker with the green key) lowers the pillars in the preceding area with the dragon claw and supplies atop them; I blundered deeper into the level to avoid the hail of magic missiles from on high, not realising that a little bit of backtracking would get me something other then the pea-shooter wand to work with, waking up gargoyles and an Iron Lich and all sorts of trouble before I realised that the game couldn't possibly expect me to slowly pop-gun my way through the hordes of enemies it was throwing at me and went back to grab what I'd so obliviously wandered away from.  As an introduction to the episode it's more vivid and colourful than E2M1 and not quite as clever in its layour as E1M1, but there's generally a good time to be had here, and the pressure is on right from the start.

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

Heretic

 

Russian Heretic emulated through WINE, Black Plague Posseses Thee, continuous, saves.

 

E3M1: The Storehouse

Deaths: 1

 

I guess it's natural that I die, as I'm not used to play in skill 5. I like this level, the visuals are rather interesting, like an underwater city (which it is), the combat is not that awesome, I mean, killing wizards with the wand isn't that exciting and I don't have my crossbow, there's not a lot of health, so I'd recommend being careful. And we must get used to seeing iron litches guarding the exit. We meet the ophidians, they don't do a lot of damage, but getting hit too many times will kill you. Good map, E1M1's music fits it perfectly.

[ReaperAA]

E3M1: The Storehouse

Kills = 78/78

Secrets = 2/2

Deaths = 0 (Total deaths in the wad = 5)

 

Welcome to the dome of D'Sparil. As antares said, break time is over. The very first map throws you in some tricky situations.

^{Though of course it's not as ruthless as E4M1 or E5M1}

 

Right at the start of the map, you are faced by gargoyles with disciples as turrets (which are especially annoying on skill 5). One your right is a switch which opens the wooden bars and another switch behind the bars that lower the platforms with the dragon claw and the bag of holding in the previous room.

 

Once you reach the pool area with the Iron Lich, you can sequence break the map using the "tornado jump" to reach the floor that leads to the exit. But I didn't do that and played the map the normal way.

 

For that, you need to go to the warehouse and deal with sabreclaws and weredragons using your wand (you want to conserve the dragon claw ammo) in order to obtain the yellow key. The green key can be immediately picked up after opening the yellow key door, but be careful of the ghost undead warrior ambush. I got really lucky here as all of them started infighting with the disciples at the starting area and they managed to pretty much destroy each other. Good ammo saving :)

 

Once you go through the green key doors, you will meet the last new monster of this game, the Ophidians. They are snake like enemies that shoot three purple projectiles followed by one larger red fireball projectile with its staff.

 

Once you press the switch in the green key room, an area with switch is lowered in the pool area that has an invulerability ring on its top. Activating it will lower will lower the floor that leads to the exit. The exit is guarded by another Iron Lich, but thankfully, there is a secret hellstaff behind a wall that should make it a bit easier to deal with the Lich.

[Zedonk]

E3M1 The Storehouse

Secrets: 2/2

The first thing to note about this level is that there is no ethereal crossbow (which still manages to surprise despite having played it before).  The second thing to notice is that you will be stuck with the only Dragon Claw and the Gauntlets through almost the entirety of this level so you have to manage your ammo carefully.

 

I think the ammo management is probably the hardest part about this level as the rest of the level gives you ample time to take cover and run away from tough engagements.  Personally, I think the level has a little too much 'fire and take cover' so I'll give it a score of 7/10 (I think in a previous post I called it 'duck and cover' but I think I prefer 'fire and take cover' more.  Is there an actual name for this?  If there isn't, I'm willing to accept alternate names).  Still very enjoyable : ).

7/10

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

The Storehouse (with the Raven midi pack)

 

Not unlike E3M1 from Doom in how you're seemingly deprived of decent weapons from the start. The little tiny rooms around the central courtyard like the one you start in are what I believe the name probably comes from. Pick up the Dragon's Claw in the corner of this courtyard after you hit a switch just behind the gate to the right of you unless you want to be like me and not spend much time killing the enemies and wonder why you have no prayer against the Weredragons in the heavily-vined hallway with the yellow key at the end adjacent to a room I thought at first you needed the green key for.

 

This map also introduces a new enemy called Ophidian. They are a sort of naga-like enemy that moves slowly and fires multiple shots from the tridents they carry. They're quite tanky, which can get annoying when they're in large groups. Plus, they are quite nasty at close range, if not to the same degree as the Weredragon. And I had to fight one with a wand....thankfully it was with a Tome of Power.

 

Anyways, I'm sure this was designed for speedrunners because you can skip the keys entirely and run down the nondescript halls filled with gargoyles that'll give you no trouble with the Wayfarer's Tome until you come to a large water-filled outdoor area with several gargoyles and down to your right.....an Iron Lich. At this point, I wasn't really very certain what to do, other than to pick up the Shadowsphere, Gauntlets, and Crystal Geodes all sitting on the ledges to the side of where you enter this place. If you hit a certain switch behind the green key door, another area is opened up where you can get a Ring of Invincibility I believe you'll need some Wings of Wrath for. Why would you need it? Why is there a frickin' Iron Lich on the very first map? It's not really for him, but on the other hand, I think his tornado is the only way you can get up the ledge containing a Tome of Power and the Wings, and the corridor leading to the exit. The very last room has some very aquatic-themed wall textures with some waves on the bottom and trident-symbols on occasion. At this point, I just used the Tome of Power to take out the Ophedian with the Elvenwand then pivoted right and used the Gauntlets of the Necromancer on the Iron Lich, which would normally be suicide, but for once, the Gauntlets ability to absorb HP was actually quite useful, and I only started to lose health toward the end. If you want to know, I only tried the Gauntlets after dying once.

 

Lastly, the music's good. An interesting reinterpretation of E1M1's themes, with the title "Docked In" shoving that fact in your face if you were too stupid to figure it out.

[antares031]

E3M2 - “The Cesspool”
BP-WS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

Reckoning of Cesspools = 1 Quite a rough start for wand starters. You start the level with lots of gargoyles and sabreclaws. Feel free to provoke some monster infightings, if you want to spare some wand crystals. The layout of this level is quite symmetric, but not 100% identical. And I recommend you to visit the right side of the canal with explosive pods, since you can obtain a crossbow earlier. Pressing the switch at the middle of canal will lower the altar at the central hall, allowing you to grab a yellow key. There are two areas that you can access with a yellow key. Each area has slightly different setups and a weapon. The one on the west gives you a dragon claw, while one on the right offers you a hellstaff. But both of them lead the player to the same hall, where a bunch of disciples are waiting for you. Grabbing a green key will release some ophidians as well.

 

While the yellow key areas are separated into two places, the green key area is connected with u-shaped layout. This area keeps the same design rule; symmetric in overall, but slightly different for each side. The west side is just a storage room with a secret phoenix rod, and the east side is basically a larger version of E2M7's wooden crate warehouse, containing a blue key as well. Grabbing a blue key will release lots of disciples, so make sure to stockpile some supplies, before you proceed. The blue key exit is, once again, guarded by an iron lich. But a lonely iron lich, locked inside of a small room, is not a big threat. Pretty fun level, I must say, with a good combination of asymmetric setups and symmetric layout, decorated with roaming monsters and ambushes.

[Walter confetti]

E3M1: A really good opener, reminds a twisted version of E1M1, perhaps another type of docks of the underwater city as your approach for the new world? Maybe... The monsters placement is well done, you can skip big part of the map by being propelled to the platform by using the Iron Lich tornado as a some sort of Arch-Vile jump technique..., map is fun, the only bad thing is the exit room, locked by Iron Lich and semi-hidden. Again, pretty good opener. On to E3M2!

 

E3M2: A really good sewers-like place, with intercoonected layout and many, many secret to find. Also introduces a new monster, the Ophidian, a snake like creature that shoots a small ray of magic bullets, like a mixture between a Wolfestein SS and a Arachnotron in terms of firepower. Over this new monster, many other monsters are here as well as lots of goodies like guns and items. A realy good map! Also, looks like the trend is to have a Iron Lich blocking the exit, great.

[TheOrganGrinder]

E3M2: The Cesspool

 

This is more my jam, with its generally compact scale, dense layout, and emphasis on close-quarters combat; there are a couple of sections that might be thought of not merely as rooms but as arenas, but even they are not exactly grandiose in their proportions.  There's plenty of early (but not immediate) pressure to send the player out of the start room in search of weapons and ammunition and away from the pair of caged ophidians that flank your starting positions, and from that point on, the map turns into a sort of rolling furball of imps and sabreclaws that nip at your heels until you have your hands on enough firepower to whittle them down.  I do find it interesting that the first map of the episode offered up the dragon claw and the Hellstaff but it's only here and now that we get the ethereal crossbow, which I guess isn't necessarily the player's "stock" or "default" weapon as Doom's trusty shotgun was.

 

The symmetrical "spine" of the map adds a certain logic to the proceedings, offering you a series of binary choices and gradually developing into a more complex picture as you explore the asymmetric "wings" beyond the yellow and green doors.  I do like the platform that lowers at the meeting point of the green passages with an ophidian atop it, connecting those passages back into the start room; that's good re-use of space right there, and I can imagine it's an especially startling moment for a player who's wriggled and twisted their way past some of the map's combat encounters and potentially has quite a number of monsters milling about in that room.

[Zedonk]

E3M2 The Cesspool

Secrets: 3/3

This is one of the more challenging maps so far.  At the beginning, I find myself shooting gargoyles and sabre claws with nothing but the elven wand which can be a little tedious but at least you get access to the ethereal crossbow soon after.  The most challenging part of this level is the squarish room with 4 disciples which is very brutal if you don't find the dragon claw first.  The room is quite small so circle-strafing is difficult and there's very little cover to hide behind.  One option is use the tome of power with the dragon claw but this time I simply ran in and out of the room using the teleporters whilst slowly blasting them down with the hellstaff.

 

Overall, a fun map with aggressively placed monsters.

8/10

 

 

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

Heretic

 

Russian Heretic emulated through WINE, Black Plague Possesses Thee, continuous, saves.

 

E3M2:  The cesspool

Deaths: 1 (yup, again)

Deaths so far: E1M8, E2M9, E3M1, E3M2.

 

I like the overall look of this map, looking like a sewer system of sort. The combat is rather good, but, the start can be a pain if you're wand starting, I found the Balls of Steel © weapon and a decent amount of ammo for it. I died at the beginning of the map, because of the ophidians. The music is interesting, giving the map a rather good atmosphere. The only thing I don't like that much is the "flooded building" (2nd and 3rd picture), and the big amount of Disciples of D'sparil that appear in the map, but, all in all, it's a decent map. If you're not wand starting (and with some luck) you'll have almost if not all weapons. Guess what? An Iron litch was guarding the exit, just like the previous map! I guess those suckers will be the final obstacle in this levels.

[LadyMistDragon]

Cesspool

 

What deceptively sleepy music. Picture a room just like the one you exited the previous level from, only there are two Ophidians shooting at you from some side rooms and you are weaponless because.....Corvus can't carry multiple weapons for long or whatever, he's sore as hell and he has to ditch 'em all, including the Gauntlets it seems.

 

So yes, the tight spaces are going to make things difficult, even if you're playing continuously. I mostly just ducked and weaved around most of the Saberclaws until I could get the Crossbow tucked away in a remote corner of the sewers surrounding the castle walls which surround the starting room that you..teleported into. That's not really important. Just head to the yellow key door and enter into a heavily-vined brick area with some more dangerous enemies. Behind some pods in a tiny corner is a Weredragon guarding a Hellstaff and at the opposite end of the map is a Dragon's Claw with Ophidians on both sides ready to tear you to shreds when you attempt to grab it. Let's hope you grabbed the Tome of Power you found earlier. Anyways, there are teleporters not too far from these location which will take you to a square room with 4 Disciples that'll probably hurt you severely due to the way they are spaced across the room. The Green Key is in this room which leads you to....a crate room with the blue key and an overeager linedef which opens up a monster closet with wizards. At least you have another Tome of Power here because there are just soooo many/

[ReaperAA]

E3M2: The Cesspool

Kills = 99/99

Secrets = 3/3

Deaths = 0 (Total deaths in the wad = 5)

 

Honestly I think this is easier than E3M1. Only the start of this map is a bit tricky. At the start of the map, you will have to face a ton of gargoyles and sabreclaws. You can either deal with them slowly using ammo savvy tactics like infighting and killing sabreclaws with the wooden staff. Or you can avoid them and go to the east side path to get quick access to the crossbow.

 

After that, things should be fairly smooth up until you get to the teleporters after going past the yellow key doors. Make sure visit both yellow key doors to get the dragon claw and the hellstaff. Also make sure to check the walls after you enter the east side yellow door to find a secret with the silver shield and a bag of holding.

 

Once you enter either teleporter, you face the hardest fight of this map (on skill 5). 4 disciples in square room with no cover. Your best bet is to use the dragon claws with the tome of power to kill them quickly. Once that is done, grab the green key and kill the ophidians that are revealed.

 

Both the green key doors lead to a U-shaped area in which the west side is just a storage room of sorts having an enchanted shield and a secret having the phoenix rod. The east is a warehouse with wooden block. There are tons of goodies in the warehouse and make sure to garb them (including the secret ring of invincibility) before grabbing the blue key. The blue key triggers an ambush with a half dozen disciples. Fortunately by that point, you should have enough items to deal with them. Once that is done, go to the exit door and finish the Iron Lich to exit the map.

[Capellan]

 

[Capellan]

 

[TheOrganGrinder]

E3M3: The Confluence

 

The opening vista here represents what I think is the largest chunk of open air we've seen so far in this episode, and maybe throughout all of E2 as well?  If nothing else the fact that you start in an elevated position makes it feel like a large and open space, versus the volcanic craters of Hell's Maw which often surround you with sheer cliffs and are just as claustrophobic in their own way as any dungeon or cave complex.  I think it was E2M7 that I described as feeling like a Doom map; this one, on the other hand, has the feel of a Doom II map to me, with its bold scale, its variation from wide-open to cramped areas, its plethora of ledges and elevated windows and barred cubbies from which various enemies are free to rain down fire upon you.

 

The ophidian has been a feature of the past couple of maps but I feel it's only here that it really comes into its own, with the big swarm of the bastards in the northern pool standing out and various occasions on which you have to go toe-to-toe with them without the benefit of a set of bars between the two of you.  And I know I've complained before about the low-key quality of Heretic's monster-attack effects and animations but I think the ophidian especially suffers from this, with its three-plus-one magic staff attack hurling tiny fireballs that don't at all communicate any sense of threat and pain-state frames and sounds that are all too easily drowned beneath the flash and roar of your own weapon attacks; I feel you could do something more tactically interesting with the ophidian's high health and low pain chance if it were easier to discern when you'd forced it into a pain state, but by the time the glowing splash of a dragon claw shot or Hellstaf plasma ball has faded, it'll have come out of its pain state and be right back after you.  Visually and thematically they're interesting enough (if, unfortunately, yet another example of a shambling blob of grey and brown at anything beyond short-to-medium range) but I feel like they've got certain elements of the game's overall aesthetic working against them.

 

As for how this plays out, well!  Nine secrets to find (even if I'd argue that two of them represent a single secret and maybe reflect a sector property spilling over undetected during map creation) and lots of back-and-forth through a generally open layout to sub-regions with subtly different themes; to the east you've got storerooms, to the west various crypts, and to the north a shrine.  I feel like there are definitely moments of filler amidst all of this (basically any time enemies of the golem family are your primary opponents) but overall this is a good, well-developed level with enjoyable pacing and encounters, and it's compact enough in total footprint, and open enough in general layout, that the running back and forth as you acquire the keys doesn't feel like a chore.

[antares031]

E3M3 - "The Confluence"
BP-WS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

The central dome of D'Sparil's world welcomes you with lots of gargoyles and one iron lich, while some ophidians are trying to snipe you from afar. If you're playing wand start, you might need to play with pacifist style, causing lots of monster infightings. Grab the yellow key near the iron lich, and enter the small room with a teleporter. Any wand starters definitely need to find a secret with a crossbow in here, since it's the only available crossbow in the entire level. Otherwise, the level is going to be grindy, until you get either a dragon claw or a power of tome. Honestly, I think it's a little bit cruel to hide a basic weapon, behind the secret area.

 

Taking the teleporter will allow you to grab a green key. The green key room has a giant, but inaccessible, water pool on the north, and a teal labyrinth on the east. Find a dragon claw somewhere, and press the iron switch, which is located on the straight front of the entrance. It'll open the locked walls near the water pool, allowing you to get a blue key. Be careful with an ambush with weredragons in that small room.

 

Opening the blue key door gives you a crossroad, but you can only go to the right side first. Activating two switches near the red banner allows you to step on the water pool, and grab a phoenix rod. The another switch on the left opens a wall right next to it. Visiting this small room with disciples will raise the staircases at the left side of crossroad. Defeat all of those golems, and you should be able to find an iron switch, which unlocks the exit room doors at the beginning.

 

I didn't know that this level is pretty tough for wand starters. Hiding one of basic weapons in the secret area is not a good idea, imo. Speaking of which, this level has 9 secret areas, and all of them are pretty easy to find, thanks to significant texture differences... except the one with a crossbow. Still, I think it's not a bad level, and the soundtrack fits pretty good with this underwater labyrinth. And I need to say that I really liked the design of the beginning part with blue water & skybox, brown rocky cliffs, and moss-covered green floor.

 

E3M4 - “The Azure Fortress”
BP-WS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

This soundtrack gave me a bad memory of E1M6's cryptic progression. But don't worry, this level has no cryptic puzzles to solve. Ignore those imprisoned disciples at the beginning, and just go down to the with a dragon claw. The entrance of fortress is a small hub area with two locked doors and one unlocked door. You can also return to the starting point with the teleporter in the middle, but now you need to deal with those disciples, which are unleashed from the water prison. Just proceed to the unlocked door, and grab a crossbow from the pit with strong current. Don't forget to grab a shadowsphere from an ophidian closet, while you're escaping from the pit. By the way, this hall is pretty colorful, thanks to the aquarium tiles, banners on the walls, fire braziers, and stained glasses.

 

The next room has a couple of prison cells, and those undead prisoners will throw lots of axes at you. If you think you're overwhelmed by those axes, feel free to use a shadowsphere here. But make sure to deal with ophidians on the south first. The next cross-shaped hall has a giant crusher at the center, and you can find a yellow key at the end of left side. A small surprise for you; there's a fake wall with nitrogolems near the yellow key. Finding a secret door will allow you to surprise them instead. The yellow key room is basically a giant, spiral-shaped area with a green key. But once you grab the green key, you can find three secret areas from the other side of the spiral, with five secret sectors to be revealed (in case you don't know, there are 13 secret sectors in this level).

 

The green key room gives you two weredragon cages. You can turn them into chicken cages with morph ovums you've collected. Don't be surprised with three iron liches in the water prison, since they can't throw tornadoes at you. Going to the left side of the chicken cage hall offers you a phoenix rod, and an access to an iron switch that unlocks every exit door. Yes, this level has a secret exit, and it's actually easier to find than a normal exit. Just press the switch and go back to the room with a phoenix rod. Say hello to those disciples and step into the secret exit teleporter.

 

If you don't want to go to the secret level, just press the iron switch, and go back to the hall with aquarium tiles. You can take the long hallway on the right side of the chicken cage hall, but it may take longer to backtrack to the destination. At least the hallway gives you a map scroll, so you can find the rest of secrets that you've missed. An another good level for this episode, with straight-forward progression and a great MIDI soundtrack.

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

Heretic

 

Russian Heretic emulated through WINE, Black Plague Possesses Thee, continuous, saves.

 

E3M3: The confluence

Deaths: Surprisingly 0 (I almost died due to a Disciple of D'sparil)

Deaths so far: E1M8, E2M9, E3M1, E3M2.

 

 

"Welcome to ye old Contra, projectile hell"

 

The start can be a pain, there's an iron litch waiting for corvus to show up, alongside a lot of ophidians and gargoyles, fortunately, this map is very generous with the health and ammo, there are places that are pretty good looking, like the pool in the middle of the level (I guess it's a pool) and the "crypts" with monsters and items. The outside area is quite good looking once all the monsters are dead. I almost died where you have to press a couple of switches, thankfully like I said, the map gives you a lot of health, so... I healed up! I suck at secret hunting, but those that I found were rather useful. I maxed out all my ammo. The ending area was a little disappointing, can you guess which monster was guarding the exit? I liked the map.

[LadyMistDragon]

The Confluence

 

I love this skybox so much. You get a full view of the dome that you're trapped in. And Kevin Schilder also bids adieu to original music with an awesomely atmospheric, yet also, rocking track that make things far more bearable than they would be otherwise. I'd go far as to say it's my third favorite in the game.

 

See, this map is all but a middle finger to blind wand starters. If you fail to notice secrets while dodging Sabreclaws in some of the early grey-bricked rooms, it'll be a looooong time before you end up acquiring a Dragon's Claw in a somewhat obscure room you probably visit otherwise. Essentially, the clue leading to the crossbow is fairly subtle, hidden in a alcove flanked by flags at the end of the hall behind the yellow door, not really the most obvious secret. You don't get a Map Scroll until you access a secret in the last hallway leading to the exit. And the only other weapon that you'll acquire before you pass through the blue key door will be the Mace-Sphere, hidden in what should be a fairly obvious secret because you hopefully won't be harried so intensely at that time. I died something like 20 times before finding the Dragon's Claw, and died zero times after finding it, which really says something. And as such, you'll probably find you have a limited pool of ammo if you lean on just the Elevenwand and Dragon's Claw. At least Tomes of Power are fairly prevalent to the observant....

 

Having said all that, Michael Raymond-Judy or whoever designed this map really shone. The central area around the pool is really cool and I'm fairly certain inspired plenty of similar areas in succeeding Heretic PWADs. The admittedly dulled-when-compared-to-Doom Heretic palette is utilized fantastically here. Brown rocky textures are prominent in the outside area, a grey-brick texture that's fortress-like makes up the walls behind the yellow-door, generic dungeon grey makes up the final hallways before the exit while tan-wall textures comprise the hallways behind the green door, surrounding another, smaller, central pool stacked to the gills with Ophidians. After hitting a switch behind the blue door, you'll be able to access this pool, and acquire the Phoenix Rod behind the gate  you no doubt saw when you picked up the yellow key.

 

Those are not the only distinct areas (I'm not getting into the largely duller-textured rooms surrounding the green hallway) but there's just some quite obvious inspiration brimming here, perhaps more strongly than the other non-disappointing early E3 maps. The secrets are all pretty fun too, though I'm a bit bad at finding them under pressure, unless I'm running away anyway, which was how I found one in a hallway not far from the Dragon's Claw. Unlike certain Doom mappers (cough, cough) Raymond-Judy(he put in most of the secrets, it seems) never hid anything behind a completely indistinct wall.

Edited April 21, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[Zedonk]

E3M3 The Confluence

Secrets: 9/9

On wand start, the beginning is pretty frantic as you're immediately faced with an iron lich and some ophidians and there's no weapons in the immediate vicinity.  If you've played the map before, you'll know where the weapons are and making a chaotic dash towards them while trying to avoid the enemies is actually very fun.  However, if you haven't played the map before, I can imagine it being a little tedious.  The ethereal crossbow (the only weapon you can use before finding the green key) is located behind a secret door which looks just like a completely normal wall.  The second weapon you could find is the dragon claw which is also pretty out of the way so you might end up playing halfway through this level without find any weapons**.  For this reason, I'll have to mark it down from a 10/10 to a 7/10.

 

** You can potentially find the mace sphere reasonably early like I did in my runthrough but since the mace sphere spawns very randomly, I've decided to discount it.

7/10

 

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Zedonk
Had to address the fact the mace sphere exists

[ReaperAA]

E3M3: The Confluence

Kills = 136/136

Secrets = 9/9

Deaths = 0 (Total deaths in the wad = 5)

 

Another map with a nasty start, but otherwise not that hard afterwards. Right at the start, you have to face many gargoyles and an Iron Lich and you only have the wand. Thankfully the map is large enough that you can run around and cause some infighting. The yellow key is also in the starting area and picking it up will reveal 2 ophidians and some goodies like the silver shield and the shadowsphere. You can make the lich infight with the ophidians and make them kill each other and then use some wand ammo to finish of the lich.

 

Once you open the yellow key door, the wall in front of you is a secret that holds the crossbow. A pretty mandatory secret if you ask me, as you would have a really bad time without it. After getting the crossbow, the rest of the level shouldn't be too bad. The only really nasty part is the fight with the weredragons when you grab the blue key, but thankfully you would most likely have the ring of invincibility by that point. I managed to deal with them without using the ring, but you have to be ultra cautious on skill 5.

 

Other than the dumb decision of having the crossbow being a secret weapon, I really like the flow of this map. Also plenty of easy-to-find secrets in this map that contain many goodies.

[TheOrganGrinder]

E3M4: The Azure Fortress

 

Secrets represent an important part of the enjoyment I derive from the Doom family of games; a map without secrets to be found can't help but be a little disappointing to me, and the scouring of the level in the closing minutes of its running time for secrets missed along the way, with its challenges overcome and its halls cleared of enemies, has become a familiar and comforting ritual.  This map offers up a whopping thirteen of them, which strikes me as a whole lot for an IWAD map, though some are found in symmetrical pairs flanking particular rooms, and others have a nested quality in which one secret leads naturally into another, so at no point does that number of secrets seem excessive.

 

Even if you're not particularly inclined toward secret hunting, the map itself is an engaging one, though for my tastes it depends a bit too much on "shooting gallery" setups with monsters penned in behind bars or beyond windows; you're confronted with just such a setup right at the start of the map and it occurs quite a few times thereafter.  From a wand start you have little choice but to lunge for the dragon claw and dive out of harm's way before the Disciplies of D'Sparil flanking your starting position take you apart with magic missiles that you just don't have the firepower to answer; on continuous play, you can take them out there and then, but there's not a great amount of cover and you will indeed be taking fire from both sides.  Further into the map, I think the most memorable areas are the colonnaded central hall (which is more about visual spectacle than intense gameplay), the spirals coiled around each other beyond the yellow door, and the western hall with its long cages full of weredragons; there are plenty of opportunities to be bled in a crossfire, but the map's fairly generous with health so injuries tend not to be especially lasting.

[Capellan]

 

[ReaperAA]

E3M4: The Azure Fortress

Kills = 159/159

Secrets = 13/13

Deaths = 0 (Total deaths in the wad = 5)

Secret exit found = yes

 

THIRTEEN friggin secrets!!!

 

Pretty much what I had to say has already been said by others. I will only say that this map is really good and I enjoyed it.

^{I am too sleepy to write a full review today.}

Edited April 22, 2021 by ReaperAA

[antares031]

E3M9 - “The Aquifer”
BP-WS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

Reckoning of Aquifers = 2 This level feels more like an ordinary level, rather than a secret level, and now I understand why the secret exit from the previous level was really easy to find. Though, one notable feature is that this level has 6 iron liches in total. But don't worry, since 4 of them are locked inside of the aquifer at the center. Grab a crossbow near you, kill everything on your way, until you reach the twin thrones room. In that room, there's a small wooden door near the steel-barred window. Clear those weredragons, jump into the lava pit, and the phoenix rod is yours.

 

The rest of progression is quite straightforward. Grab the green key behind the twin thrones, follow the staircases with teal concrete walls, reach the room with a red crusher and a hellstaff. This is the place where you can shoot down those 4 iron liches in the aquifer with no problem. The steel-barred window will block iron liches' tornados, making the fight much easier. You may take the portal to the aquifer's central outpost, but those tall windows will let the tornados pass through the gap. But before you take that portal, make sure to catch the blue key, right behind the red crusher.

 

If you really want some more fun, take the portal on the other side of the outpost's entrance teleporter, and face those 4 iron liches. Whether use a shadowsphere or an invulnerability ring, it's all up to you to decide how to destroy those iron liches. The exit is locked with a blue key door, and it's occupied with two iron liches. Seems like this is a gimmick of this episode, placing iron liches, right before the exit. In overall, like I mentioned before, this level works more like an ordinary level, instead of a secret level. But still, how could you say no to those six deadly smiles?

Edited April 22, 2021 by antares031

[Zedonk]

E3M4 The Azure Fortress

Secrets: 13/13

This was a very enjoyable map for me.  You start off with immediate access to the dragon claw and you can get the ethereal crossbow very soon after.  There's lots of traps to keep you on your toes and the map didn't feel grindy : ).  It's true that there are a few areas where you can use shoot and take cover strategies but I find I can blast through those sections very quickly by using the artifacts.  (For example, there was a section with a bunch of undead warriors shooting from alcoves but using a shadowsphere will make them all impotent meaning you can be as aggressive as you like :D)

 

The last thing to note about this map is that I actually find it easier to find the secret exit than the normal exit.

10/10

 

 

[Walter confetti]

E3M3: Very good map, resembles a lot the cavern / canyon starting maps of episode 2 (especially E2M3) but done way better. Layout is really good and strongly interconnected between the various areas, the only bad thing is that you have to fight with only the wand gun  for almost half of the map, i don't tell you fun when you are out of ammo trying defeating the lots of monsters you'll find in this place, because this map doesn't joke with you on monster usage! Overall, a very good map (maybe, another one of the best togheter with E1M4 and E1M5), maybe too hard.

 

E3M4: Another very good map with another great layout, this time you've entered inside this hidden underwater fortress that hides many monsters as well as many goodies and many secrets, fun map with a decent challenge, good use of the minimal texture choice and a pretty cool theme of this mysterious underground castle under the sea. This level have some foreshadowing of hexen too, with that teleport in the middle of the locked doors room. A fair challenge against the monsters now that i have almost all the guns (here you can find the eternal crossbow). Only bad thing is the rave lighting room where the undead warriors are caged in, are they doing a S&M party?

 

E3M9: As anatares wrote above, this map doesn't have really sense to be a secret map since it looks like a pretty normal map without any type of weird gimmick or a unusual theme, it could be considered a natural continuation to E3M4, with the felling of a mysterious underwater castle place (there's even a throne room) that also uses the same type of textures for emulating the underwater effect in the map, the level plays easier and simpler (with the expections of the 6 Iron Liches roamin around the map, but 4 are in the waterfall middle section that connects the map and 2 at the end) but nonenthless is a funny map that have more reason to be named the aquifier instead of E2M9.

Edited April 22, 2021 by Walter confetti

[antares031]

E3M5 - “The Ophidian Lair”
BP-WS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

A thunderous "MOOO" sound right at the beginning is definitely not a good sign. And those colorful projectiles, raining from everywhere make the situation even worse. You'll soon notice that there's a cage with four iron liches and a maulotaur, hot damn. Ignore all those threats, but make sure to grab a crossbow, right in front of the death cage. Go to the rocky staircases corridor on southwest, shoot down those sabreclaws, and enter the hall with gargoyles and pillars. Catching the yellow key at the end of hall will release more gargoyles, and you may notice that you can open a secret stained glasses door near the hall's entrance, by stepping to the closet at front. There's a teleporter in that secret room, but do not enter the portal, unless you're dare enough to face the champions of the death cage. But if you really want to do that, grab a tome of power and an invulnerability ring at right side, activate them immediately, and grab a phoenix rod at the center. Now incinerate those boss monsters as quick as possible, before the god mode is over.

 

The yellow key room is a small room with four switches to activate. One of switches will lead you to a room with a green key, locked behind the wall. You can raise the wall, by pressing the iron switch, at the end of rocky corridor with gargoyles, a bunch of ambushes with disciples, and a group of sabreclaws. The green key room is a simple storage room, with a pathway for each side. The one on the right side gives you an iron switch that unlocks the exit door, which is located at the other pathway on the left side. This level may look intimidating at first, thanks to the thunderous "MOOO" sound at the beginning, and the raining magic fireballs from the occupants of this lair. But once you get back on track, and clean the death cage, then this level is quite moderate to play. And yeah, that death cage is quite memorable, of course.