The DWmegawad Club plays: 1000 Lines 3

[RHhe82]

MAP14: Bad Manor. Played on UV, pistol-start. All 265/265 kills, 4/4 secrets. Completion time 35:37.

 

I see other have gotten heretic-like impressions from this one, so did I, although the house textures contribute that quite much.

 

This wasn't an easy map. I had surprisingly hard time in the two mini-arenas with the green and blue keys, I tend to get little panicky with archviles roaming around, and when I should be dodging revenant and mancubus missiles at the same.

 

But these were nothing; the last battle proved the most difficult fight of the map. I ran outside, which might have been a mistake, since I left archviles inside the manor, they were probably resurrecting enemies, which subsequently drained me of my ammo. The final few monsters I had to kill with my bare (berserk) hands, and I was lucky to barely survive the only hitscanners of the map.

 

But yes, I did enjoy the map, and once again the soundtrack was great. Probably not the best of the bunch, but up there.

[dei_eldren]

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 100%, I 96%, S 100%, T 14:22

 

Spoiler

A rock and a hard place...

 

The map begins with a view to a Cyberdemon upon his high lonely tower guarding over the proceedings of this chateau noir.  But interestingly, it will not be so much about fighting his highness, but rather about avoiding his displeasure.  The map is a journey along the high ramparts, sometimes exposed to his rockets and sometimes not.  It's a brilliant concept and well executed, and i've certainly never played anything that i would even associate with this - maybe a very distant and silent echo from (John Romero's Greatest Megawad Ever) Si666il's MAP02 can be imagined.  All the while there is also the danger of falling down into the sea of lava below - into which i decided to jump as my very first decision in the map, imagining safety would be that way.  No safety, and not even a lava-secret.  Hmmph.  The combat en route is often pretty tough, against midtiers but also those dastardly gothic doves, of whom there is a real flock of in the end when pressing the Emerald Switch.  i haven't really met them in significant numbers before i played today MAP12-14 on HMP, and they are more formidable than i would've guessed from my HNTR runs - i still enjoy the chaos they bring to the fights, though, surprising as that may be.

i just knew the Cyberdemon would be telefragged later, but i could figure no way to get to that high elevator the whole path towards which was under his direct gaze without getting blown up, and unfortunately had to kill him with plasma.

 

There's only one secret in the map, but it's not the secret exit, which baffled me.  i wasn't very happy to notice it was the silly lone berserk-pack, either, but at least that saved me time from yet another 20 minute fruitless search (used only a few minutes instead...)  The secret exit was a clever idea, exactly because it wasn't hidden in a secret closet or passage, but in plain sight, question then being whether it is recognized or not.  Yet another brilliant map - with one of the most interesting layouts among really good layouts - even if it's getting dull to say so.

 

So, to the surprise of no one who has read my reviews in earlier club meetings, as said above, i again started playing on HMP also.  Herein enclosed are my first HMP excursions, so for anyone who wants to see more 1kL3CP played they might do in absence of much choice.  i liked the maps even better on HMP, but that's not playing blind, which does make a substantial difference.  Even the elevator-ambush in MAP13 i now found easier than on my blind run on HNTR, even if obviously there was no Arch-Vile then, when i remembered Biodegradable dealt with the initial attack with the RL without running anywhere from the elevator.  i got no closer to figuring out the secrets in MAP14, though...  i think i'll play some more maps on HMP, too, see how far i get.  But i know i would've not wanted to play certain maps of the first Episode on it, and this extra run may end sooner than it started.  Still, my good opinion of the maps has so only increased with it.  Oh, notably some trouble with ammo, even on continuous by MAP14 - the lovely gothic doves have also become an ammo sink...

 

 

MAP12-14 on HMP

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Top 1000 maps in four sets

Spoiler

Episode 1

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10

 

Episode 2

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

 

Come Together

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by dei_eldren

[cannonball]

MAP14 - “Bad Manor” by Nootrac4571

 

Yeah I was not a fan of this one. The first outdoor skirmish is very easy to pin down. The design of the map doesn't really bode well in terms of using a single large building, which means most of the action takes place around the perimeter (Notably so towards the end) and is unable to utilise the space of said central building. The combat outside of the keys and the final fight is a little on the dull side.

So the blue and green keys, fighting these with the SSG as your best weapon was a real pain, the green key fight can be essentially skipped by quickly grabbing the key and legging it. The blue I did fight my way out of. However it is hard to not notice that the fights are almost identical (except turret mancubi are swapped for revenants). 

The final fight lacks serious resources and in the end I suspect that finding secrets or extreme berserk usage are the only ways of getting 100% kills here. Not to mention that you don't get extra health or armour really for this.

This one managed to straddle two opposing issues without really finding that fun middle ground.

[Azure_Horror]

Map 14 - Bad Manor by Nootrac4571

Played with GLBOOM-Plus, pistol start, UV difficulty

Saves allowed (1 save used)

 

The titular manor looks cozy, so how did the map got its name? Ah yes, there are demons everywhere!

 

Jokes aside, that was a great map.

Very cool idea with 'realistic' central area and more abstract side rooms with keys and Plutonia-style mini-fights. And with every key acquired, more and more demons appear in the main area. Basically, with each step forward you discover more and more terrible things, like in some scary story. The escalation of encounters is very well calibrated. Each new wave of enemies feels more crazy than the last, but there is no huge leaps in difficulty between waves. All difficulty increases felt 'just right'.

 

The weapon progression on Bad Manor is pretty notable. Starting from map 08, every map gave the player an easy access to either plasma gun, or rocket launcher before the end of first major combat setpiece. But on Bad Manor, both those weapons a locked behind keys. Until you acquire the first key, you will be limited to assault rifle and two shotguns. Moreover, Bad Manor gives you a lot of bullets. Thus the assault rifle really shines here.

 

The fights inside the titular manor are very fun. The manor may look like just a set of rectangular rooms. Yet, it involves quite a number of memorable fights. My favorites are the "red room" fight under the megasphere balcony and the big all out brawl which starts after the final switch is activated.

 

Speaking of the final switch, Nootrac4571 came up with a great idea for a chaotic evil map finisher! The final switch unleashes the biggest cloud of flying imps yet encountered. Those little buggers quickly spread all over the map. That same switch also summons quite a number of archvile snipers outside of the manor. As a result, the final clean up of the map was very memorable.

 

Bad Manor was a great experience from start to finish. Like Virdical Mines, Bad Manor is likely to be one of my top 10 maps in this megaWAD.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Azure_Horror

[Maribo]

Some notes, since the 15th is when I'll be playing 15 + the secret maps:

- I've ditched continuous play in favor of pistol starting each map, it feels a bit more rewarding at this point. It suited Episode one in my mind, as it felt like a back alley crawl through decaying cyberpunk asphalt(or maybe super-tech?) jungle.
- Forlorn Hope as a phrase always reminds me of Fallout New Vegas' Camp Forlorn Hope. It's the little mental connections.

- The hot start on Map12 is a nice wake-up call while also being relatively tame afterwards. Keeps you on your toes.

- I like the textures and general theme for this episode. I remember thinking medieval themes in Doom can often look a bit strange, but the colors in this keep it from getting too... bright, I guess? For my tastes, at least.

- I don't like the flying imp monster from Heretic(?). I honestly don't know where it's from, I've never played more than a few minutes of Heretic, but I've been finding it a bit hard to keep up with.... Not that they move too fast or something, but their smaller size + the colors kind of make them fuzz into the background textures sometimes.

- Map14: Bad Manor's key fights are so strange.... like cannonball said, they're basically the same fight but with swapped turret enemies. Archvile usage in this map was a nice touch, but it was really predictable.

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP14: "Bad Manor" by Nootrac4571

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 2/4 secrets

 

A dusky medieval city map, with the titular manor standing at the centre of town. I've never played Heretic or Hexen so I don't really have a reference to point to for these maps, but I do like how this one looks. This map has you hunting down the blue and green keys, both of which are on branching paths starting inside the manor and taking you back outside, and using them to gain access to the purple key at the center of the manor which you can use to unleash the final fight and unlock the exit switch.

 

In my opinion this is probably the 2nd most difficult map so far next to MAP11, and it has a lot to do with it also being one of the lengthiest maps. One thing that can be somewhat of a challenge is the fact that you don't get the rocket launcher or plasma until you've already retrieved one of the keys, and the key fights can be a bit dangerous without them. Both of the key fights are almost the same as each other, which is an odd choice, with the primary difference being that on one fight there are revenants on pedestals and mancubi below, while on the other they are switched. The mancubi being above is definitely the more difficult of the two arrangements (and the most difficult part of the map) in my opinion, but their pedestals are also a bit wider which can make it harder for the archvile roaming below to reach them for resurrection if you take one out. The final fight I honestly didn't find to be too bad. I did find the secret megasphere though, which may have helped, and opening it up also provides a nice hiding spot from one of the archviles. After the archies were gone the rest was a cinch. The pain elemental and lost souls below were finding it awkward to reach me around the railing, and most of the outside threats were dispatched by camping inside and letting them gather around. Those gargoyles really dispersed in an annoying way though which made the ensuing cleanup a pain in the ass. 

 

Pretty tricky map. I thought it was decent overall.

[NiGHTS108]

MAP15: The Black Ramparts
By Bauul 

 

Kills: 100%
Items: 100%
Secrets: 100%
Time: 7:32

 

Just the kinda job you need after the lengthy plunge of MAP14, The Black Ramparts has a lot of cool high-rise things going on and the fights remind me of Micro Slaughter Community Project, I wonder why, I admit I like maps that have a monitoring Cyberdemon you get to telefrag at the end, makes it feel cool and gives the map in question a nice edge to it, I enjoy Bauul’s usage of Gargoyles at the ending, my favourite fight of the level comes last, save your rockets in the fodder bonanza because an Arch-Vile is gonna sneak in in a few seconds, he’s surprisingly difficult because if you do use rockets it’s easy to blow yourself up on fodder, anyway, The Black Ramparts is solid work from the man behind Micro Slaughter himself, 1000 Lines 3 knows just when to let you watch things explode to keep your enthusiasm up!

 

Grade: A-
Difficulty: B-

 

Playthrough video

 

-

 

MAP31: Farfarout
By Xyzzy

 

Kills: 100%
Items: 100%
Secrets: 0%

Time: 6:07

 

Uhhhhhhh… I’m not sure what to think of this one guys, Farfarout is a combat puzzle that sees you walking around in the dark and shotgunning/berserking Revenants, later on there’s 2 Arch-Viles which can be tough to deal with given the terrain, pretty Toilet Of The Gods midi aside Farfarout’s kinda weird 

 

Grade: C
Difficulty: C

 

Playthrough video

 

-

 

MAP32: Vintage Murderfest
By Roofi

 

Kills: 100%
Items: 100%
Secrets: 100%
Time: 14:29

 

YOUCH! Vintage Murderfest is the first really hard map in 1000 Lines 3, it reminds me of Hell Revealed’s MAP32: Mostly Harmful, I wonder why, anyway, coming from the author of the EXCELLENT Tangerine Nightmare MAP07, Roofi spares zero expenses and pulls no punches, if you find the invulnerability secret I highly suggest waiting as long as possible to use it, believe me, there’s 3 discreet waves in a symmetrical pill shaped arena that gradually interconnects more of the map, the opening wave consists of Imps and Pinkies mainly as well as Mancubi in the corridors, nothing too crazy but now it’s time for the green key fight, a split of Revenants, Hell Knights and 2 Cyberdemons will teleport in to both halves of the map, the Cyberdemons I find are actively beneficial to your survival as they will commit rampant infighting with whoever they’re stuck with, use the rocket launcher whenever possible here, you’re gonna need those cells in a minute, the purple key fight is where Roofi goes absolutely ballistic on the player, this guy, this FUCKING guy decides to put like 20 Arch-Viles all over the map, if you haven’t used the invulnerability, it’s now or never, I have no solid advice on this fight except to BFG openly the few chances you get, and outside of that cower in the corridors and use hit the door walls in order to cause splash damage on the enemies outside, don’t run out of rockets and you may just live to tell the tale, Vintage Murderfest is one of the toughest MAP32’s I’ve ever ploughed through, let this be a warning to you...

 

Grade: B+
Difficulty: X-

 

Playthrough video

 

-

 

MAP33: Terminal Transit

By Wolf McBeard

 

Kills: 100%
Items: 40%
Secrets: 0%
Time: 2:42

 

Terminal Transit is the easiest and most forgettable level in the entire megawad, the only 2 things I can point out are the very bright visuals indoors and the strange use of Gargoyles on Mars, Terminal Transit isn’t really bad… but it isn’t really… good

 

Grade: C
Difficulty: E

 

Playthrough video

Edited December 15, 2021 by NiGHTS108
I thought Bauul was the DeHackEd writer, it’s actually Aurelius, sorry!

[Xyzzу]

Well, it's secret map day and I made one. Since this is only my second time getting DWMC'd I figured I'd take the opportunity to explain myself and give a little background about the map I made here.

First off, I'm glad my level seems to only slightly perturb people without doing much else. Looks like I pulled off the narm feel of Doom 3 well enough. I finished with about 200 linedefs to spare, so I used the rest on detail. This is only my second time faffing about with OTEX, the first being when I made a random Abyssal speedmap and had no time to discover the ins and outs of this texture pack I've never seen before. I'm happy with how Farfarout turned out in the end and am glad to be a part of 1K3 c:

Second, this was the first map I ever made and playtested with a mouse (I'm a keyboarder and use to work with my laptop touchpad for mapping you see) and it wasn't even bespoke for 1K3. I had announced a quick level I made elsewhere before it soon found a home in this WAD. That explains why it doesn't make much use of the resources besides textures; there's no ambient sounds or monsters to speak of, except a couple in multiplayer added later.

Having little experience using a mouse to play Doom, I made Farfarout (and MAP07 of Axolotl) more as little training exercises for myself. In this case, I was able fight/dodge revenants and archviles in a dark enclosed space either one at a time or as many as I'd like, but in order to do the latter I'd have to maneuver myself past all the skeletal foes currently spawned in the map to get to the next switch! Then it's a matter of would I prefer to punch 'em all or grind them down with the shotgun (it was vanilla speed when I built the level, heh). The secret rocket launcher is only there so the two archviles unleashed can't run too rampant when resurrecting baddies or fighting me.

I wonder if anyone noticed the monsters spawn in the map at slightly different locations almost every time you play? This shotgun vs. lone monsters gameplay reminded me so much of Doom 3 that I decided to shove in a bunch of imps on the other skill levels to bring that feeling home. This "Mars City" of sorts makes for a nice contrast with the bright outdoor hell you're sent to immediately after. Wouldn't you agree?

[Biodegradable]

MAP15 - The Black Ramparts

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

Oh boy, today was Bauul's turn. I love this fella's stuff hehe. If there's one mapper who knows how to balance his cruelty out really well that keeps things wild but fun, it's Bauul and he doesn't disappoint here. Teetering upon a treacherous tower of terror, you're surrounded from the start, but thankfully I've been hoarding plasma so I made short work of the low-tiers. The sniping Cyberdemon remains a looming presence up until the end while you also deal with teleporting Barons, swarms of gargoyles, sneaky Boners and a big clusterfuck fight filled with more low-tiers near the end. I fell off the edge so many times! That was probably the biggest enemy of the map: The ledges! Yes my friends, it's the height variation that'll get you here and, funny enough, it manages to complement Aurelius's MAP06 if you think about it that way. My first favourite for Episode 2 thus far. :^)

 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Biodegradable

[Deadwing]

11 - Fanstastic closer to the first episode. It's definitely a harder map compared with the previous one, but still not something too difficult to handle (playing on continuous does help a lot though!). The SMM setpiece was definitely the craziest one, and really fun to handle. Great MIDI too, it reminds me of Spyro will all the focus on the bass! :D

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Deadwing

[Doritos420]

Map15 - The Black Ramparts by Bauul

A truly devilish map entry by Bauul. Love the verticality but the traps in this one can be a bit on the brutal side (especially that teleporting zombie and imp fest near the end). The heavy use of the gargoyles made for some frantic shooting. I also love the cyberdemon placed smack dab in the middle of the map, making sure you don’t lollygag when crossing from building to building. Pretty fun map with some rather fiendish traps, made even more so by the precarious platforms. Also the secret exit was pretty easy to find.

 

** Secrets maps **

Map31 - Farfarout by Xyzzy

Really enjoyed this one, complete change of tone. Surprisingly creepy atmosphere with the dark void tech base with the teleporting revenants hiding around all the corners. I love how you just start with the shotgun making the encounters all the more tense. Also got to love the Dark Souls midi thrown in. Maybe the music track just makes me tense because of the association with the ”You Died” game over screen.

 

Map32 - Vintage Murderfest by Roofi

Completed on UV pistol start (with lots of save scumming!)

I’m a fan of Roofi from his map submissions into 180 minutes pour vivre. Generally I found his maps to be really well done, adventurous and unique, but some were also “kick your teeth in” levels of difficulty. I would have to say that this map definitely ticks that box. The beginning was manageable, but the part after activating the green switch where the shit ton of revenants and hell knights teleport in was just ludicrous, way too small a space to fight them head on. I basically cheesed the system by never firing my weapon, so I could have revenants and hell knights teleport in just a little bit at a time by having them see me. After that I would  get them to infight and repeat until most of the revenants and hell knights were dead. This was the grindiest part of the level, it sort of felt like I was playing a sheep herding game trying to get everyone to infight. After that I activated the blue key switch and all hell broke loose. All my previous work was gone in a wave of telporting arvchviles (fuck you Roofi). All the archvilles ran amok and basically exploded my monster couter to above 800 before I killed them all. Oddly enough this part was pretty easy as I just camped the outer ring area and killed any enemies that wandered it, trying to lure archvilles to their doom. So yeah, not the biggest fan of this one, pretty certain it shortened my lifespan; but I guess it’s a super secret map after all some difficulty is too be expected. Just for shits I tried it again on ITYTD, yep it’s still hard.

 

Map33 - Terminal Transit by Wolf McBeard

A fun little short map. Really cool location, liked the outside area. The exit room was really cool with the tram rail.

[Deadwing]

12 - Great opener with an awesome MIDI (wish I had composed myself :P). Very beautiful chord progression and arpeggios! For a opener the level was packed with a lot of enemies, which is a good thing (no need to go back to smaller numbers like E1). I loved both keys setpieces too.

 

13 - Probably the level with highest heigh variation so far, which was something not seen yet in this wad. Really nice and very adventurous too. The setpiece in the dark area was also surprisingly tough!

 

 

[NiGHTS108]

1 hour ago, Doritos420 said:

Map15 - The Black Ramparts by Bauul

A truly devilish map entry by Bauul. Love the verticality but the traps in this one can be a bit on the brutal side (especially that teleporting zombie and imp fest near the end). The heavy use of the gargoyles made for some frantic shooting. I also love the cyberdemon placed smack dab in the middle of the map, making sure you don’t lollygag when crossing from building to building. Pretty fun map with some rather fiendish traps, made even more so by the precarious platforms. Also the secret exit was pretty easy to find.

 

** Secrets maps **

Map31 - Farfarout by Xyzzy

Really enjoyed this one, complete change of tone. Surprisingly creepy atmosphere with the dark void tech base with the teleporting revenants hiding around all the corners. I love how you just start with the shotgun making the encounters all the more tense. Also got to love the Dark Souls midi thrown in. Maybe the music track just makes me tense because of the association with the ”You Died” game over screen.

 

Map32 - Vintage Murderfest by Roofi

Completed on UV pistol start (with lots of save scumming!)

I’m a fan of Roofi from his map submissions into 180 minutes pour vivre. Generally I found his maps to be really well done, adventurous and unique, but some were also “kick your teeth in” levels of difficulty. I would have to say that this map definitely ticks that box. The beginning was manageable, but the part after activating the green switch where the shit ton of revenants and hell knights teleport in was just ludicrous, way too small a space to fight them head on. I basically cheesed the system by never firing my weapon, so I could have revenants and hell knights teleport in just a little bit at a time by having them see me. After that I would  get them to infight and repeat until most of the revenants and hell knights were dead. This was the grindiest part of the level, it sort of felt like I was playing a sheep herding game trying to get everyone to infight. After that I activated the blue key switch and all hell broke loose. All my previous work was gone in a wave of telporting arvchviles (fuck you Roofi). All the archvilles ran amok and basically exploded my monster couter to above 800 before I killed them all. Oddly enough this part was pretty easy as I just camped the outer ring area and killed any enemies that wandered it, trying to lure archvilles to their doom. So yeah, not the biggest fan of this one, pretty certain it shortened my lifespan; but I guess it’s a super secret map after all some difficulty is too be expected. Just for shits I tried it again on ITYTD, yep it’s still hard.

 

Map33 - Terminal Transit by Wolf McBeard

A fun little short map. Really cool location, liked the outside area. The exit room was really cool with the tram rail.

I like it when you and me disagree 

[FragsBunny]

MAP14: Bad Manor (96%/97%/75%)

1.       Pain elemental are more agressive

2.       A monster will spawn every 16th kill

3.       Monsters explode violently on death

 

As if extra barrels weren’t enough… let’s make the monsters explode on death too! Can you imagine how explosive would be the action be? At the same time it also made the chainsaw here useless, but with right opportunity even more ammo could be potentially saved! I dread the close-range encounters now…

 

Following the theme, the next level is built around a nondescript manor, the interior and exterior of which is about to be explored. It’s all about two key paths, each of which would eventually lead you to a secondary weapon – plasma gun in the green key path and rocket launcher in the blue key path. Both key rooms are notoriously difficult to conquer – you can only use half of your available area to dodge projectile hell, or risk provoking a hidden arch-vile! The green key path is much harder, cause mancubus pillars can’t be even described as a proper cover!

 

With all said and done, I hope that you found the megasphere secret after opening the exit door. Multiple arch-viles started to harass me from strategical locations – two inside the manor, and four more on the triangular pillars outside. A large number of gargoyles swarming outside. If you are not on a power trip like I am, try to ignore them and head for the exit – assuming you can get there alive. The secrets were well hidden – I only found backpack and soulsphere after cleaning up the gory mess. Blow ’em up!

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 15 -The Black Ramparts by Bauul

 

Liberation seemed to say in the release thread that the songs by Tristan Clark were classics, which is only strictly true in one case (the Revilution track used later) as I'm don't think (correct me if I'm wrong) that "Dark Matter" has been used in too many other wads) and the track here "Our Final Dance," was actually original to 1000 Lines 3, though it's the only one Tristan was involved with. No matter however, it channels that specific medieval energy so well.

 

There's not really too much to say. It's well-done, utilizes verticality in some interesting if not necessarily combat-centered ways and has that ever cheeky Cyberdemon that killed me once because it's quite hard to avoid him in a few locations, like oh, the VERY FIRST WALL. The sole secret is basically just a spot behind a wall on the left just past the first enterable building, which seems slightly....half-baked? Idk, it's a little disapponting if someone decides they can't fit a secret or two inside a map because it's below 1000 lines. They don't necessarily have to contain the strange amount of crypticness of the Megasphere secret in the last map (there should've been an distinct opening sound to clue you in something else was happening when you lowered the lift in the stocks room) but it feels good to have something that helps.

 

Gargoyles were used quite well though. They were a fair problem in the hallway over the sludge with the pop-up Revenants and also the end to an extent. This is where it was confirmed in my own mind I should try to rocket them if at all possible because using the assault rifle against a group like them is tedious, punching them is quite difficult when you're in locations they tend to surround you at, and the shotgun....I actually didn't think to use it because the SS tends to take my attention away, but I believe it's not the most effective weapon when you're surrounded.

 

I did like the final fight though, a sort of arena/stockade thingy where former humans along with Imps are teleporting in at a near constant rate until an Arch-vile teleports in. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for this because I'd already expended all but two of my rockets. Naturally, there was lots of annoying resurrections, and I had to sort of take care of the ones closest to me before I could target the Arch-vile. Needless to say, I was incredibly battered and bleeding everywhere by the time this was all done, with only 5 percent of health. To be honest, that's why I ended up rocketing the last group of Gargoyles.

 

After this, it was hardly anything to find the secret exit, being that it's a clone of the regular it, despite it not being marked. Just have to explore around a bit.

 

(I'll have the secret maps up later, though I don't think I'll be playing 33 right away, and rather doubt I'll be writing about it).

Edited December 15, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[finnks13]

MAP 15 - The Black Ramparts by Bauul:

This is a slightly weaker map than the previous few, though that's more due to the very high standard set by Episode 2 so far, as this map is still pretty great. Set in the upper areas of a large black castle set into a lake of poison, this map unfortunately doesn't quite match the aesthetic standards of the other maps, being very one-note and dull to look at - the scale is there, but I don't think the line count was high enough here to make the visuals work as well as they could have done.

 

That being said, I liked the combat in this (for the most part), I was slightly worried about the central cyberdemon from reading the main 1k3 thread but to be honest, he was that hard to deal with and mostly helped me out by dealing with packs of monsters I couldn't be bothered to SSG to death (though getting the cyberdemon to infight probably took longer than just killing them myself). Though the cyberdemon definitely is a threat still and has a line of sight to most of the arenas before he's finally telefragged.

 

I did find the black gargoyles a bit annoying here, but I can't deny that they're used very effectively through the design of the layout complementing their abilities very well. My favourite part was the horde of fodder overlooked by the cyberdemon with an archvile mixed in about halfway through the teleporter to spice things up, it was fun mowing them down with the chaingun and rocket launcher. The secret exit is barely hidden in this map, and so on to the secret maps!

 

MAP 31 - Farfarout by Xyzzy:

The intermission text warned me about needing a flashlight and yeah, this map's pretty dark. This is a spooooooky techbase map featuring shotgun only combat against the spooooookiest enemies - revenants. In all seriousness, I feel like revenants are the goofiest enemies in the game so any atmosphere the map had built up (and I genuinely was expecting a scary level) is kind of lost immediately when one of them spawns in. Maybe it's my fault, I just can't take them seriously - the choice of Dark Souls music also sort of worked but was a bit weird.

 

The best part of the map comes from interacting with a computer panel that sounds like it's messing up, the use of crushers as sound cues for progression is very well done, and two archviles spawn in who definitely are scary especially when you only have a shotgun (I know there is a secret rocket launcher but I only found that after I killed everything!) though thankfully they didn't resurrect the entire bone horde. The author of this map made perfect sense after I finished playing it, after playing the excellent axolotl.wad, I've come to expect slightly odd yet very fun levels from Xyzzy and I knew that line art on the automap looked familiar...

 

MAP 32 - Vintage Murderfest by Roofi:

I see what you did with the name there! A map that has Hell Revealed 2 running through its veins and if the ammo placement isn't enough of a homage to HR2, the gameplay feels very reminiscent of it at times. The fights come in 4 main waves, the opening part where you're SSG only against a variety of demons, with the initial challenge being to clear out the chaff at the spawn point so you can dodge the rest of the projectiles. I found the invulnerability secret at this part and I really wish I hadn't immediately grabbed it as it would have been so much more useful on any other fight in the level!

 

The green key ambush is the least threatening part, once the archviles are dead the chaingunners barely register as a threat (incidentally, this is the only map so far that has justified the chaingunner not dropping its weapon). The big guns come out for the third wave where nearly 150 revenants and hell knights spawn in from the outer ring of the map and teleport into the main arena. There is not much room for error here, it's very important to clear as much space as you can as quickly as possible so when the outer ring gets slightly more clear, you're able to get the goodies here which are necessary for survival.

 

The final wave spawns I think 16 archviles on all of the corpses you've just finished making along with some pain elemantals and a cyberdemon for good measure, which is... great. This is the first part of the wad that has made me think "damn, this is fucked up" which I mention as a large compliment. The strategy that I eventually got to work here was clearing out the outer ring of archviles and hoping the other archviles would group up near the windows so I can BFG them from relative safety. Overall, this map is punishing, but I kept playing because I felt that the map was hard, yet pretty fair and I concur with the intermission text, thank god this wasn't a puzzle map because I really enjoyed this good, old-fashioned slugfest!

[FragsBunny]

MAP15: The Black Ramparts (100%/96%/100%)

1.       Chaigunner receives damage one second later

2.       Cacodemon projectiles ignore armor

3.       A gang of baron of Hell may appear.

 

I think that I still suck at donging Cyberdemon rockets. Even if they weren’t half invisible, dodging those without falling down into slime is quite a hurdle. Getting into the first door is already a challenge, but getting past Cyberdemon to the elevator is just sadistic. I eventually lost my patience and just killed him with my weapons before proceeding further.

 

The lower ramparts featured a rather entertaining encounter with zombies and imps, causing multiple chains of explosions of their death. But then Bauul had to sneak a long arch-vile in the crowd! And of course, the Cyberdemon could be telefragged... Death of a boss is not the end – there is another swarm of gargoyles to deal with. Strangely enough, the gargoyles weren’t affected by monster explosion card either – but that is fine for me, since they always tend to close the distance.

 

Just by looking at the automap I instantly found the secret exit, which became unlocked at the same time as the teleporter with deceptive word “EXIT”. Come on, you need to be better to hide things like this! By that way, I hated the cyberdemon placement – designed with hate in mind!

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 31 - Farfarout by Xyzzy

 

Why is there a techbase in the middle of a medieval castle anyway? Not really sure(google says it's the farthest-known object in the solar system), but it's quite well-done, square rooms opening up and all. The midi is actually a version of the Moonlight Butterfly theme from Dark Souls and honestly, this doesn't sound much like that even if their shared melody can be spotted. It's not exactly a memorable track, but little can beat it atmosphere-wise. Motoi Sakuraba is someone who adheres far too strictly to a formula, but much of that is because Namco expects a certain compositional style for the Tales series, and as such, the later games have a quality comparable to that of Dragon Quest XI.

 

You're mainly fighting some Revenants, at first with just a shotgun, but you soon pick a berserk pack up, which is cool only because I'm not playing this keyboard-only. Punching things stronger than demons keyboard-only sucks baaaaad.

So yeah, I'm not sure what the puzzle is, beyond figuring out an anonymous console in a cinematic location will lower the platform with the Amethyst Key, along with a pair of Arch-viles that will start resurrecting Revenants as soon as they can. This was annoying, I guess, and kind of a not-so-great ending to a map all too unique in this megawad. Not like the next map.....

 

Map 32: Vintage Murderfest by Roofi

 

Oh Roofi. I guess you can't be blamed for using the 1000 lines limit to make an HR2-styled map, but....this was exhausting. This is William Huber-type claustrophobic crap, although you might have slightly more room to move, this is even harder without a doubt. The intermission text will loudly proclaim to you "NOT  a puzzle map...." and if you feeling anything other than dread, it's probably because you aren't seeing the title. Hint: The title is NOT referring to the vast quantities of Revenants contained within. It's also featuring an AD_79 original, channeling the energy of that Symphony X song used in No Chance and Map 01 of Dimensions.

 

As many others have said, there are 4 waves of enemies. First is you mainly just clearing out the enemies in the courtyard with your Super shotgun. Keep moving, and you probably won't get hurt very much. Next, kill the Revenants behind the barriers leading to the other courtyard so they won't have a chance to get you later on when you press the switch in the Hell Knight chamber. I think you might want the Imps to infight them, but again, look at the damn name. Never. Stop. Moving. Seriously, never turtle at any point in this map because you'll have no chance. True to his 180 Minutes efforts, Roofi takes care of you, absolutely overwhelming you with rockets and shells especially, though there are also a fair amount of shells as well.

 

Anyways, hit the green key switch once you've picked that up and prepare to face the second wave: Hell Knights and Revenants emerging from closed-off areas on the sides along with 2 Cyberdemons that will teleport around wildly if you try to run basically everywhere. And was I saving in the middle of fights? You absolutely bet I was. This was incredibly overwhelming, and it was all I could do to use the BFG to clear things out, especially sinced there's not exactly very much outside, comparatively speaking. So much rewinding, you wouldn't even believe, and I still died around 20 times.

 

After this, you'll get the blue key at one end of the hallway, you can't remember, and you open your way to the final battle! 16 damn Arch-viles will teleport at locations I couldn't tell you where they spawn at all, not to mention a Pain Elemental not too far away and a chamber with a Cyberdemon also opens up right next to you, probably blocking the exit. Good thing I ended up spotting a hidden switch when I was hiding from the Revenants earlier, otherwise, I would've missed the teleport to the Invulnerbility on top of the stocks. Not like it did all that much though. I still ended up dying another 20 times before I decided I was running short on time to bother with this and just exited.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[FragsBunny]

MAP31: Farfarout (100%/100%/100%)

1.       All arch-viles are increased by one

2.       One monster is invulnerable until most monsters are slain

3.       Arch-vile spawns with a small companion

 

Another gimmick secret map with a gimmick name. And the main gimmick of this map is the gimmick of low monster count, combined with a gimmicky tense atmosphere. Not to mention the gimmicky choice of cards! One gimmick is the invulnerable revenant, who chased me across the map like a ghost of Chrismas. Upon killing another revenant, the chosen one surprisingly became vulnerable! But I had to deal with another card gimmick – rocketeering arch-vile! Thankfully, the convoluted layout of the level made him less harmful that he would be… With illusions closing on me, it was hard to tell what was real and what was not! I expected the lone secret to lead to another exit, but all I got was a rocket launcher. Guess the only exit leads straight to MAP32, huh? For an atmospheric level, this one is passable enough.

[FragsBunny]

MAP32: Vintage Murderfest (100%/83%/50%)

1.       Mancubus receive damage one second later

2.       Mancubus projectiles travel twice as fast

3.       Find Daisy before exiting the level, or else…

 

For MAP32 slot, we have an obligatory slaughterfest. The opening is brutal enough – being surrounded by demons from all sides, which you are supposed to kill with nothing but SSG. It feels like nearly impossible feat to wrestle the blue armor from those Hell knights, and the mancubi firing from the windows only make things worse. Not to mention the revenants that you have to inevitably release in order to make any progress. The most sensible action, from my point of view, was shooting them from behind the bars, making it even quicker with monster explosion card. Only after getting though the next yard you can unleash the power of RPG and BFG! The real hell, however, is only just ahead…

 

After pressing the blue switch, an innumerable horde of revenants and Hell Knights starts to storm the personal space. The only safe place is behind the monster blocking lines, where the said switch was pressed, but by choosing that way, you won’t be able to heal or restock ammo unless you somehow break through the other side! In my case, however, getting the revenant hordes stacked with each other only made them faster to kill though the chain of explosions and BFG frenzy. Keeping the distance away from said explosions while dodging their rockets was the hard part.

 

And as if that was not enough, there were cybedemons at the end of each revenant / hell knight corridor! I think most of the horde was blocked by barrels… The green switch unleashed another cyberdemon in front of my face and the arch-viles from multiple sides! This was another case where a card effect turned to be more benefinal than harmful, as the splash damage from slain monsters turned to be too much for archies to handle. Still, I had to rely on monster blocking line again, in order to hold them off! I think most of the revived horde killed itself through infighting and the chain of resulting explosions. I only found the mega-armor secret. While I could not find a way to reach the invulnerability, Daisy was still in a grab’s reach. Apart from arch-vile jump, how else it would be possible to claim it?

 

Current cards on my walkthough:

1. Add lots of explosive barrels to the level

2. Baron of Hell gains health and damage after killing another monster

3. Imp hunt the player in silence

4. Arachnotron are able to fly

5. Add harmless illusions to the level

6. Sergeant will steal items off the ground

7. Zombieman have a regenerating shield

8. Cacodemon fires baron of hell’s projectiles

9. Nazi showes nearby entities away on death

10. Cyberdemon projectiles are partially invisible

11. Nazi has increased movement speed

12. Mancubus deals extra damage if wounded

13. One monster is cursed. It rockets around uncontrollably

14. Monsters explode violently on death

15. Cacodemon projectiles ignore armor

31. One monster is invulnerable until most monsters are slain.
32. Find Daisy before exiting the level, or else…

Edited December 15, 2021 by FragsBunny

[Roofi]

Vintage Murderfest , the HR2-inspired slaughtermap nobody asked for

 

Hi !

 

Thanks for playing my map ! Here is a walkthrough of mine on my own map fighting huge invisible pixels.

 

 

Indeed, Vintage Murderfest changes radically its tone compared to Ephemeral from 1K2. Vintage Murderfest is just an elegant name for "Old-School Slaughter" or maps with a slaughterish gameplay. :)

 

Actually, maybe many of you were expecting an ambitious and technically impressive map like Ephemeral, but instead I wanted to bring something much more traditional, which I hope will amuse some people.

 

Anyway I'm personally very satisfied with this rendering, especially with the overabundance and total disorganization of the items which contrasts greatly with the very modern look of the wad in general. Also, I find very amusing this total opposition between the two secret maps lol in terms of atmosphere and gameplay.

 

Originally, I used Thyrbse's unused old midi for my map , but AD79 did a really good job to compose a track which sounds as brutal as the map.

 

By the way, it was the first time I used OTEX.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Roofi

[Deadwing]

14 - This one was too much SSG-centric for me, and the layout felt a bit like a TNT map (with custom textures, of course). The setpieces were nice, though, but they started relying too much on Arch-Villes a bit (it's not a bad thing though)

 

15 - This one is more my style :D Loved all the platforming with some Dark Souls like vertically all the way through. Very nice use of these flying things too, and I was happy to get to telefrag the cyber too!

 

 

[dei_eldren]

MAP31 - Farfarout (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 100%, I 0%, S 0%, D 0, T 9:16

 

Spoiler

Far behind the black horizon...

 

Generally am not one to like secret maps.  Akin to Icon of Sin -fights, the idea is great as a novelty, but as a standard feature it becomes perfunctory, something that exists pro forma and not to provide something extra for player just to have fun with.  As a map this is an interesting one.  Dark levels can be frustrating when there's overuse of Spectres in particular (as well as it was executed and as impressive it was visually, i for example couldn't enjoy a map such as MAP31 of Zone 400), but none are present here, and the layout is a small but very aesthetic techbase-maze opening up a section at a time, with Imps, a few Revenants and an Arch-Vile - 19 monsters in total on HNTR.  The whole thing was rather easy, though, thanks to the scarcity of enemies and enough room given for mobility.

 

Very well executed concept, visually great and enjoyed the experience. 

 

i doubt i will play MAP32, at least for now, not because i don't think it might be a great map, i well remember Roofi as an excellent mapper from 180 Minutes Pour Vivre (which btw i look forward to playing again now, as i have ten times the experience as i did back in March - just a few maps in it still scare me...), but because it certainly is a proper slaughtermap.  But i might change my mind at some point, if i have extra time.

 

 

 

MAP16 - Corruption (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 100%, I 100%, S 100%, D 0, T 27:13

 

Spoiler

Possession taking over...

 

The map is basically a small secluded idyllic valley with two small corrupted farmhouses and a third building of more hellish purposes.  After clearing the outside area of infestation of demons and demonic doves, progress is made collecting Keys and pressing switches in the farmhouses, to gain access to the third building, where the final combat takes place.  The ambushes are quite substantial, with total enemy count of 110 on HNTR, and feature a good amount of the flying devils, for whom the assault rifle is probably the best weapon, and there's plenty of bullets, and other supplies around - no plasma though, but there was no need for any of it, either.

 

The final fight begins upon entering the last fenced building, and in the ante-chamber there is at first a group of Imps.  Entering what looks like to be a ritual hall built of stone with an open roof, a few more teleport in.  In the middle of the hall is a strange yellow-glowing device built into the floor, that could have been the exit, but instead, stepping over it opens up secret closets on three walls from which emerge Revenants, Hell Knights, Imps, Pinkies and flying devils.  i took care of the whole group with the SSG, and should anything go wrong, there is plenty of health available.  After this there's five enemies left hiding, and i expected the worst to be over.  Behind the opened walls are a switch to release the Emerald Key and exit portal behind the Emerald Gate.  The trick was, as the Emerald Gate was opened Revenants and Mancubi teleported behind me, and if i had simply hurried to the gate, i would have been teleported into the middle of the ritual hall (first use of the portal?)  As it happened, i noticed them, ran past them outside, and took care of them that way.  And when i tried to exit was teleported, so the trap sort of misfired on me.  i then stepped into that device on the floor, without anything happening, and upon trying the portal again, exited normally.  Nice little set up.

 

i found most of the secrets before the end, and had left the secret Soulsphere in one of the gardens for collecting before exiting.  i also managed to find the fifth and most difficult secret, an opening wall in the farmhouse, finally breaking my streak of missing out on them.  i always enjoy secrets, but these were particularly nice, as they were entirely traditional in nature.

 

The map is deceptively simple, with a lot of clever little twists in the progression, and even among the tough competition, became my favourite so far.  i also suspect this might be even better on HMP, but equally i might regret these words...

 

 

MAP15 on HMP

Spoiler

Can't say it would have been much more difficult than on HNTR, except for the fact that i had wasted my plasma on MAP14 on the Arch-Viles i could've killed with the SSG just as well, and also entered this map entirely without rockets, and that made going through this quite complicated.  Especially tough was the fight against a hundred teleport-in zombiemen with the Arch-Vile, for which plasma would have been used but i was reduced to rockets.  Took a few tries to get it right...  i also obviously now had to device a way to run for that long elevator under the nose of his Highness since i had nothing to kill him with.  So i traversed back, ran the walkway to call down the elevator, ran back, and then at the right time ran for it - EZPZ, in fact, simple mobility was the key.  But yeah, i died a few times in the other fights too because of poor weapon management, and not having much rockets to use.  Fights along the ramparts against Cacodemons, Revenants and Hell Knights were also interesting.  Tough one, but really enjoyed it.  i'll skip the secret maps on HMP but continue to my favourite MAP16.

 

 

 

Top 1000 maps in four sets

Spoiler

Episode 1

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10

 

Episode 2

MAP16 - Corruption - 9.5/10

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

 

Come Together

MAP16 - Corruption - 9.5/10

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP31 - Farfarout - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10

 

[cannonball]

MAP15 - “The Black Ramparts” by Bauul

 

This one a little more slow going, however it has one central gimmick and this gimmick is executed excellently. 

I love the height variation in this, I love the strong sense of foreboding this towering set of fortifications brings and in terms of combat it is pretty decent for a map that really restricts movement. You could see the big fight coming from a mile off, however being able to unload into a mass of fodder knowing that the cyber will also lend a hand is a lot of fun. 

Gargoyles really hassle the player here thanks to their good usage.

Probably one of the best maps so far - The secret exit is very easy to find you remember that there is another location that looks like the normal exit.

 

MAP31 - “Farfarout” by Xyzzy

 

Not overly sold on this one, the initial progress through this tiny techbase wasn't overly engaging with single revenants for every ounce of progress you make. The switch that lowers the key isn't particularly clear and results in a mass of panic as two archviles teleport in. They can make your life miserable unless you manage to lure the revenants to a spot where they won't get revived. There is no secret exit here I believe, the one secret there is I managed to find after everything was dead.

Overall it is short and something I am not overly keen on, still I guess being in the secret map slot it gets a pass.

[Azure_Horror]

Map 15 - The Black Ramparts by Bauul

Played with GLBOOM-Plus, pistol start, UV difficulty and HMP difficulty

Saves allowed (between 1 and 3 saves were used, depending on playthrough)

 

For me that map felt pretty hit and miss. I like the choice of midi, the final battle, and the visuals of the titular ramparts. But for most of the map, the combat didn't felt that interesting to me.

 

As far as gameplay goes, the centerpiece of the map is an obnoxious overseer cyber, which can shoot you in the worst possible moment. It's must be a fun map like Ancient Navajo Wolf Warp, right? Right?

 

Well... Not exactly. Sadly, this cyber is not very fun. It occasionally ruins runs and demands plenty of attention, but does not create any notable exiting things in return. In theory, you can use the cyber to kill foes for you. But in practice the infighting approach takes quite a lot of time due to monster aggro rng. It feels that only monsters around green switch can be cleared by cyber reliably enough to be worth your time.

 

The big dilemma of the map: should you hoard ammo and kill the cyber early? Or is it better to wait until the end of the map and telefrag him? Leaving the cyber alive adds some deadly explosions massivly complictes the lift section. Killing the cyber early feels wasteful in both ammo and time. So neither option feels truly satisfying.

 

On top of that, without the cyber, most of combat encounters felt rather generic.

 

But you know, what did not feel generic at all? The final fight! Dangerous zombieman arena – that's pretty unusual type of encounter! Hordes of pistol zobies are not that rare on doom maps. But usually zombie hordes are not that dangerous, because it is very easy to take cover from main mass of zombiemen. But on The Black Ramparts zombies get teleported to many areas of the arena in a constant stream. Because of this, nowhere is safe from their small, but constant hitscan attacks, and your health can go down rather quickly! To mix things up, this fight also uses a horde of imps and an archvile. Lastly, the central cyber, if left alive, can also rain fire on that arena. Very fun fight.

 

Apart from the final fight, the most memorable thing to me was the visual and spatial design of the map. The visuals of the map are very simple and minimalist, but the narrow walkways feel extremely compelling. Sadly, no major fights take place on those narrow walkways. But even simply walking around the castle feels great!

 

MAP31 - Farfarout by Xyzzy

Played with Woof and GLBOOM-Plus, pistol start, UV difficulty and HMP difficulty

Saves allowed (3 saves were used on Woof playthrough, 1 save on GLBOOM-Plus playthrough)

 

I completed the map on Woof for authentic darkness experience. Darkness was uncomfortable, but the combat did not felt harder due to it.

 

The central idea of the map is simple: combat shotgun and revenants! I am quite used to shotgunning revs and occasional archviles, so the combat didn't give me much trouble. On both playthroughs archviles decided to cooperate and didn't resurrect anyone.

 

The map looks cool and has a notable sense of place. I really dig the color contrast between dark metal walls and occasional bright yellow elements. Everything being suspended in the void is an icing on the cake!

 

Due to aesthetics and minimalist enemy roster, and slot 31, Farfarout felt pretty memorable to me. It is also very brief, which contrasts nicely with longer maps 14 and 15. Not my favorite map 31 ever, but still pretty nice.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom (pre-cell clip fix)/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 15: The Black Ramparts - Bauul

100% kills and secrets

Time: 9:07

Deaths: 6-7

 

This is a very perilous map, mainly since one wrong move will send you falling into a toxic pit. Most of this map has you on narrow ledges trying to avoid a central cybie that likes to take pot shots at you. Now, I am playing continuous so I have a plasma rifle with 300+ cells, so I could have taken it out immediately, but I figured that would kill the spirit of the map. Plus, there's probably a telefrag later in the map (I was right). While there's not a ton of big fights, there are tight encounters that can be dangerous, like the one where it seems like everything is dead then you get halfway through the room and MORE things show up. I did a lot of running away to safety this map, especially when gargoyles were involved. The only big fight is toward the end, where you have a decently sized arena, and a small army of zombies and imps teleport in. It doesn't help that the cyb can still shoot you here, and an archie shows up at one point. I think this took 3 tries, using the assault rifle to thin out most of the crowd then switching to the RL when the archie shows up. I thought I wouldn't die after this, but like 12 gargoyles spawn when using the green key and that ruined that idea. Overall, a pretty fun map, with some tightly spaced fights and a threatening cybie turret. Very medieval sounding MIDI as well

[TJG1289]

I actually have time for more!

 

GZDoom (pre-cell clip fix)/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 31: Farfarout - Xyzzy

100% kills and secrets

Time: 5:26

 

This is a dark and spooky map with a very understated music track backing it. You've only got to deal with 9 revs and 2 archies, so there's not much to worry about, unless you're pistol-starting it, then you'll only have a shotgun and berserk to use. I, however, have a SSG. I'd say this is a light switch-hunt, as for the most part that's all you really do. Just hit a switch and find what it opened. The only confusing part was the console before the portal was a switch, and it's not obvious that it is one. Also, the archie that teleports in here is kinda mean, but thankfully I was 3/3 for stunning it with a SSG blast. Another archie teleports in somewhere else, but it's not a threat. So while this is a super-simple map, I really like its atmosphere. I can't really see this being placed elsewhere in the WAD, so this is a good candidate for a secret level.

 

Map 32: Vintage Murderfest - Roofi

100% kills and secrets

Time: 17:04

Deaths: 3

 

The biggest surprise for me when it came to this map was the fact that I only died 3 times. I'm not a big slaughtermap player, so this is legit surprising. Granted, playing continuous helped out at the very beginning, but I think once I got out of the opening room, that help doesn't matter as the rest of the weapons pop up, including the BFG. While avoiding all the hell knight and mancubi fireballs in the opening room, I did manage to find the hidden skull switch that opened up a teleporter to an invul in the other room. I wish I was able to save that for the green key switch ambush, but oh well. The order was green then blue, right? After hitting the green key switch, the side halls open up with a ton more enemies. This wave is the only wave I died at all. My plan was to head to the waterway where you can see the secret mega armor, wake everything up, rocket everything in sight, BFG once the horde shows up, then hightail it to the side halls. There's more than enough ammo to not worry about anything, so just fire. You still may want to save cells as there's not as many of that as there are shells and rockets. Getting to the side halls allow you to get the monsters that made it down to the main rooms to infight by poking your head out a window. The cybies really helped with this. The final ambush after hitting the blue switch unleashes archies, cacos, and pain elementals, plus a nearby cybie, so I just retreated to the side halls again. BFG any archies in view, and rocket their revived comrades. I know the monsters can go up the stairs to the side halls, but they don't like to do that often, so I was relatively safe here. This seems like it would be the most dangerous wave, but I didn't die, so I guess the archies caused enough baddies to be revived and infight each other. Nice. For a slaughtermap, this was pretty fun!

 

I'm assuming I'd have to IDCLEV to map 33, so I'll wait and do that after the main campaign is done. Gotta keep the continuous run going.

[dac]

I'm doing this out of order it seems:

 

MAP 03 – Lower City Grime

 

For all we’ll say about how maps don’t feel like they’re made of a thousand lines, here’s a map where I couldn’t count and thought the map would continue after, uh... abruptly ending. Thought I missed a purple key somewhere, turns out that’s the exit!

 

Blame me for moving through levels too fast.

 

This one is a clear kick in the nads after a relatively calmer first two maps. And it would have been a lot worse hadn’t I accidentally cheesed the pinkie ambush by retreating too early – and even then that gave me a lot of trouble to deal with the plasma gunners and the pain elemental. But still, after a few tries I did get through. For all the complaining, the nastiness made for a good map.

 

Man I should have taken a slot on this episode, those plasma gunners would have been nice to use...

 

MAP 04 – Monuments of Mars

 

Another abrupt ending, but in this case it’s like I expected a bit more meat to this map than it gave me. I’m all for breather map, but this felt too empty and desolate for comfort.

 

Really not a lot to say about this, sorry Reflex.

 

---

 

Present day:

 

MAP 32 – Vintage Murderfest

 

Roofi pourquoi t’es aussi cruel

 

Let’s say I wouldn’t have found this map to be as good as it was (me not being a fan of old school slaughter [or slaughter in general]) if I didn’t know where the invuln secret was, and not to take it immediately. Otherwise I don’t know how I would have made it.

 

Main strategy was thin out the initial imps and demons a bit, then use the secret to warp to the other section and BFG/rocket the revenants and demons, and also the mancubi on the sides. Use the invuln for the green switch fight, thin out the revenants on the sides then rocket the outside hell knights as well as whatever demons made it in the main arena. Then final outside clean-up for the blue switch fight, then rocketing inside hoping to catch vile.

 

Man, even writing it out sounds exhausting. French Doom does go hard.

[NiGHTS108]

MAP16: Corruption

By Pegleg

 

Kills: 84%

Items: 56%

Secrets: 60%

Time: 7:27

 

Getting back to the regular map roster, Corruption is your standard 1000 Lines 3 map, looks good, plays nice, the whole 9 yards, the visuals kinda remind me of Caribbean from TNT: Evilution, the progression is fairly direct, it feels like you’re watching a lot of doors open but you’ll wanna be careful here as this map isn’t necessarily easy, I’m a fan of the start but it killed me a surprising amount of times and the rest is mostly manageable until the ending, it’s my favourite fight in the map and be prepared, Pegleg punishes you for not coming in with a plan, the main room will populate with baddies in a hurry so I suggest hiding in one of the four border rooms that appear and rocket stuff from there, Corruption is alright 

 

Grade: B+

Difficulty: B
 

Playthrough video

Edited December 19, 2021 by NiGHTS108

[Maribo]

Notes for 15, 31, 32:

- The Black Ramparts is mostly okay, but the way the map geometry and the skybox warp is really... nauseating. I considered skipping it because it was giving me slight feelings of vertigo, but I played the rest out. I don't think I'm a fan of the combat design in this, but I do like the idea of creeping around the ramparts.

- Farfarout kind of rules? Aesthetically and atmospherically, I really like it, and the combat is serviceable. I remember that my first couple of encounters with Xyzzy maps were a bit obtuse and kind of put a sour taste in my mouth, but over time I've turned around a bit and I've started to appreciate them a bit more. Very neat map, imo.

- Vintage Murderfest: I love slaughter and I had a lot of fun figuring out a strategy for this. Great job, Roofi. :)
Here's a UV-Max demo of Vintage Murderfest:

1k332m418.zip