The DWmegawad Club plays: Ad Mortem & Wormwood 1/EU/3

[General Roasterock]

Map 04: Stabbed, with a Sword

 

  In what could only be considered the biggest trick of the season, my fond memories of a wondrously vast alien world filled with splendor and art, stuffed to the gills with satisfying combat and intrigue in the clash of stone and earth, have stabbed me (with a sword) in the back. This is the first time I have ever rolled back a Ribbiks map retroactively to HMP, because the ammo economy is down to the wire. Going into any fight without the maximum number of shells, rockets, or whatever resource that is required to tackle combat, will essentially lock you in a failstate where it is impossible to move forward. The specific offender is the Yellow Skull fight, the only one that makes use of the bouncy walls outside of the final clash. Without including all of the possibilities created by a Cyberdemon raining hell down upon you, not having a full pack of rockets by the time you pick up all the ammo in the arena will result in constant and consistent overwhelming by the wave of Knights, Revenants, and Pain Elementals. It is such a tight goal to meet that it borders on unfair. That’s not even mentioning the other bouncy wall fight, which is a very efficient clusterfuck of Cyberdemon rockets, pushing the awareness of the player to the limit. Both of these are significantly modified from HMP to UV, both are far more enjoyable as combat in HMP. 

  It’s such a shame that some of the combat is so particular because this map is a gorgeous dimension not comprehensible by man. Revenge of Demon House could be broken down into a gothic house of worship of some kind with imagination, but Stabbed, with a Sword has no such basis, being a winding mass of color and stone. The only real reference to swords at all, outside of the razor sharp ammo economy, is the massive blade piercing the lava in the beginning demanding an offering. Something as simple as changing the Blue Key to a Flame Spirit, requiring the player prove their worth to continue in the map, makes maps that otherwise are just massive art pieces into inhabitable worlds, grounded in rules. That is also assisted by the relatively less spoken visual consistency, with the linings of metal fences, tiles lining the buildings, and metal somehow holding this beast together. 

  It is at this point that the COLORMAP trick is fully utilized. The fight for the Red Key is layered in two parts, and the first one down the river of lava is breathtaking on its own, but Ribbiks completely pulls the rug out from under you by shutting the lights off. What follows is something I can only compare to fighting through the night sky, only guided by the green that remains on the floor, and the few Knight and Baron hands that survive the initial infight. It is a gorgeous minute of Doom, unchallenged both before and after this very moment, and completely nonexistent in GL rendering. 

  All of this doesn’t even mention the music, a remix of Subterra from Crumpets. It could have been very easy to make this whole map another oppressive mass of shapes and size, but sending the player on their way with so many gentle string instruments breathes a different life into the appearance. It’s funny reading the complaints about getting the pitch bends to work in the metadata, but I promise it was worth it. No matter the reason for my frustration with the combat, the ingenuity is more than worth the price of admission, and Stabbed, with a Sword remains immortal, at least on HMP.

 

For my votes

+++Nostalgia (still an incredible set for something like this)

+++Down The Drain (Legitimately painful for me, but I want to see everyone else play it too)

+++Eternal Nightmares (Shockingly Underrated full megawad with a rough discussable edge https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/100471-completed-megawad-eternal-nightmares-v11/)

 

[Azure_Horror]

2 hours ago, General Roasterock said:

Down The Drain (Legitimately painful for me, but I want to see everyone else play it too)

This is pretty much my motivation too. (Also, I wasn't able to come up with any better WAD at the moment)

 

Wormwood EU Map 01

Nevermind, There Was a Backdoor by Ribbiks

UV, pistol start, DSDA-Doom, complevel 9

 

This map begins where Map 03 of Wormwood 1 left us. You thought that you're stuck there forever? You guesses wrong! MWA-HA-HA!

 

While ending map of Wormwood 1 had pretty somber ambience, map 01 of Expanded Universe is very tongue in cheek in its presentation.

The music is outright whimsy, the minimap is used mainly to draw a giant picture of an owl, and big, glowing letters on the floor loudly declare that the backdoor is in another room entirely. This begginning sets up a very mischievous mood. Happy Halloween, All ye who enter here!

 

The single combat encounter is also exteremely mischievous, but in much more terrifiying way.

You need to fight a cyberdemon in a room, which refelcts projectiles! Everything goes to heck pretty quickly, with huge swarms of rockets bouncing all around the room. Winning this fight "fairly" is very hard, even on difficulty 1 with 2 megaspheres and half-damage attacks. Luckily, you can disable the gimmick almost comepletely, by quickly activating the two buttons near the start of the room.

 

I don't know, if the complete disactivation of the room was intended by Ribbiks, or if it is a bug. But it fits very, very well with the mischevious spirit of the map, so I am happy that it is there.

 

For a proper super-bouncy room encounter, I would prefer to fight a bunch of mancuby, or at least a 1000 hp mini-cyber. However, with the two-button trick present, I like map 01 very much as it is. Great, very Halloween-ish experience.

 

Wormwood EU Map 02

Mu by Grain of Salt

UV, pistol start, DSDA-Doom, complevel 9

 

This map is very minimalist - only three rooms, and only one fight. Nevertheless, Mu is a very impressive map.

 

The single fight manages to campture the very essense of Doom combat. To survive defeat 8 hell knights and 8 arcnotrons with almost zero cover, you need to move fast, strike decisively, and float like a butterfly between both monsters and their projectiles. The main trick is use a non-trivial movement startegy to survive. As the result, that miniature encounter feels almost like a Doom Eternal Slayer Gate, despite having no jumps, no dashes, and no SSG hooks!

 

The platforming section in the end is very difficult, but it offers infinite retries and almost insant return to the starting position. Wish more difficult platforming challenges were designed with similar approach!

 

I have only one complaint about Mu - the map has zero difficulty alterations. Some medkits or explosive barrels would have made for a wonderful HNTR or HMP. But for UV difficulty, I have no meaningful complaints.

 

Wormwood EU Map 03

I’m Rubber You’re Glue by Ribbiks

UV, pistol start, DSDA-Doom, complevel 9

 

Between unique color combination, which resembles E1 of Ancient Aliens, and Ribbiks' majestic vertical architecture, the main hub of this map is the most beautiful Doom setting I have seen in a very long while.

 

The task of the map is simple - you need to overcome a set of three challenges, each using a bouncy walls like in map 01. Challenges include:

- A projectile survival room. A comb-like set of bouncy columns is used to mix things up. Luckily, moving from one side of the room to the over saves you from most of the damage. Panicking is the main danger is this room.

- A rocket launcher trap set up. You bounce your rockets between two walls to set a devastating trap for an archvile army. Remeber: In Doom, your own projectile can pass through you! So your own bouncing rockets are harmless as long as they don't collide woth something else.

- A cyber-archvile infight hall. Bounce a bunch of cyberdemon rockets into a crowd of archviles! This is the most gimmicky room, IMHO. Both the Vile movement RNG and the cyber firing RNG can cause you a lot of headache. While focus your attention on Vile-and-cyber brawl, a stray rocket can easily bounce into you.

 

This is another grand map from second Wormwood.

 

Wormwood EU Map 04

Stabbed, With a Sword by Ribbiks

UV (this was a mistake)

Pistol start, DSDA-Doom, complevel 9, Lots of saves

107% kills

42% items

66% secrets

 

Curse my stubbornness for playing this map on UV! Nevertheless, I reached the exit!

For now I want to say the following:

- I love how Ribbiks employs the green mini-cybers here!

- I loathe yellow skull fight.

- Infights save ammo. They save a lot of ammo!

I will write a proper text tomorrow.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Azure_Horror

[General Roasterock]

Map 31: Journal Entry I: Killing Time

 

  I honestly remember disliking this one a lot more the last time I played it, most likely due to the platforming, but Killing Time ended up being pretty fun on this run. Watching the setup change from a movement puzzle to platforming combat was pretty unique, even if platforming is a mistake, and the challenge is just high enough to allow me to eat a couple deaths in the Caco fight and still come out on top. It’s a very merciful map, complete with a lift that takes the instadeath out of the floor of lava, and is a kindness I rarely see in any map like this. It was a good run.

  Then I realized I was still on HMP.

  What followed a switch back to UV was five minutes of shocking pain. The only thing that changes for Killing Time is the density of the Caco swarm, and yet somehow that was the only part of the map that didn’t prove frustratingly changed to me. Any of the platforming skill I once had immediately shot down into the tubes, the Cyberdemon proved aggravated and uncooperative, and both of those elements combine into a first half of trial and error hell. I think the Arch-Vile section alone took me four or five reloads just to get correct, and that has nothing to do with however the Mancubus wanted to act. Despite having a more riled up Cyber, the Cacos still went down rather uniformly, as there are more than enough powerups to last for the map, provided you never eat a Cyber rocket.

  I did like the music, it was full of mystique and curiosity, as well as the sector faces that I’ve seen infrequently in this series. Everything else proved to be the average platforming challenge, something that I doubt I’ll be convinced should ever be in Doom.

[finnks13]

Map04 - Stabbed, with a Sword by Ribbiks:

HMP: 21:41/6 Deaths
Having not played Magnolia or FCFF yet, this is easily the most confusing Ribbiks map I've ever got through. A lot of the map looks fairly similar, not that I minded - the peculiar wooden structure that makes up this map looks fantastic, especially against the sickly bright green sky - but it was the layout that kept throwing me off. This seems to be explained by this video, which I think shows the creation of much of the layout of the level, and shows lines being placed seemingly at random, though it's rather impressive that Ribbiks was able to get something even remotely playable out of that, let alone a map as great as this. The gameplay (on HMP!) is your classic Ribbiks stuff, featuring exploration through alien structures tackling the few monsters that roam freely, punctuated by ambushes of various scales.

 

You need all three keys to exit the map, and each is guarded fiercely. The yellow keycard is home to a very claustrophobic fight with imps and arachnotrons on the rocks above you and cacodemons flying in to attack - you have to climb out of the starting area and rocket effectively to survive. The red key contains the coolest part of the map, you run down a catwalk that's just above a lake of lava, only for the lights to slowly go out after you reach the end. You have to navigate purely from the green lights on the ground, and the hell knights' glowing fists - I initially expected something worse to happen if I stayed in the dark too long, but thankfully the darkness only brings itself. The yellow skull is protected by the hardest fight in the wad thus far, a horde of enemies spawns in and you've got to use all your rockets, and the cyberdemon's rockets that you're able to bounce off of the purple wall to quell the hordes of imps, pinkies, hell knights, pain elementals and revenants. From reading everyone else's posts, this fight sounds absolutely miserable on UV, so I'm quite glad with my decision to play on HMP :P

 

The finale, fittingly, is a sort-of reprise of Map01 - but with 5 cyberdemons (albeit green ones with 1000HP) instead of 1! The cherry on top of a fantastic map is the music, which is a lush remix of Map05 of Crumpets' midi "Subterra", it gives this map a dream-like quality and is just lovely. I really enjoyed playing this map, for all my navigation-based woes, I didn't mind getting lost since any frustration I had was taken away by the fantastic visuals, and cosy MIDI.

[NiGHTS108]

MAP31: Journal Entry I: Killing Time

Kills: 100%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 100%

Time: 4:04

 

The first map of what's effectively Wormwood 2.5, Killing Time is a pretty short yet surprisingly deadly map that happens to get a lot out of only a little over 80 enemies thanks to the creative staging of the map. Make sure to not make a noise at the start, as you'll want to safely dispatch of the Arch-Viles, Hell Knight and Mancubus through Cyberdemon infighting. This part of the map can get awkward I'll admit, but it gets out of the way quickly for what I consider a solid Cacodemon fight over the void. I imagine it's easy for some players to have a distaste for it, but Cyberdemon infighting as well as a BFG makes this one hard to hate for me. As a whole, a short but sweet map that doesn't have a whole lot of meat on the bone but what is there is mostly solid.

 

Grade: A-

Difficulty: B+

 

 

[RHhe82]

MAP32: Journal Entry II: Thus we Spameth. Played on DSDA v0.24, HMP, PS. 543/543 K, 1/1 S*, 12/12 I. Completion time 10:14.

 

Frustration got the better of me here. I first spent a better part of an hour trying to get somewhere here. I even looked at a youtube playthrough, where in the description it said the map was easy. Really, it was crushing to see the dude breeze through (that's what they made it look like) the map like it was nothing, except for the one secret* I wouldn't have been able to find on my own. When I first attempted this map, I was sure the secret would be a dealbreaker, some practically mandatory thing, but luckily that's not the case.

 

After two days of break, I returned to retry. With midfight saves and taking the same arena (the one with cybers) first as the youtuber, and with little less (but not zero) frustration I could make it. I feel like this one should be more fun than it actually is. My sub-par skills are a one thing, but UV-MAXing basically required (fortunately easy) platforming to fetch cell packs and then cleaning up the window dressing hell knights. A backpack at the end would have helped alleviate the pain (or having better skills at avoiding enemy projectiles while the baddies infight with each other).
 

[KickAss]

On 10/25/2022 at 4:54 PM, Jacek Bourne said:

I don’t see how you can judge the quality of a mapset while using incompatible software.

I am not using incompatible software I am using a mod(ification). That does not make any change to the mapset. The map(s) layout stays the same but there are variations in the item and monster(s) setting and placement.

[KickAss]

On 10/25/2022 at 5:43 PM, cannonball said:

Wads and mods are different forks in the road. The issue comes when you play a wad that has a load of hard-coded changes made to it. Personally I only replied because you stated that Wormwood wasn’t worth playing because it breaks when loading a weapons mod alongside it. I think it is disingenuous to the authors of the wad. By all means if there are issues then you can report these onto the relevant development threads (Though it is unlikely that anything will change), however stating that people shouldn’t play a wad based on a decision you made that broke it isn’t really on.

Just mine tuppence worth and it is of course biased towards the mappers point of view.

 

As an aside, I have played Stabbed, with a sword, but the yellow skull fight has broken me on UV and work is limiting my time this week. Hopefully I will catch up at some point.

That is correct so far. Just wanted to mention that it does not work correctly with PB 3.0 which one is formerly known as a weapon mod.

[KickAss]

 

 

 

1. +++Down The Drain
2. +++Doom 2 the Way id Did

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by KickAss

[Pseudonaut]

Wormwood: Expanded Universe Map32:
"Thus We Spameth" is a great name for a BFG map, but shouldn't it be spelled "spammeth"? Despite the name, there isn't nearly enough ammo to simply hold the trigger down the whole time. Instead, you have to make efficient use of your cells, and the red key fight practically requires that you let infighting do some of the work for you. You can choose to do this or the yellow key fight in any order, but I did the red key fight first because it's harder. As it turned out, all of my failed attempts were on that fight or earlier. The jump to the secret is awkward, everyone else seems to have an easier time with it than I do. At the end of the map, you unlock a big stash of ammo right in front of the exit allowing you to clean up the remaining enemies, but you have to do a bit of (easy) platforming every time you visit it. Cleaning up the hell knight turrets manually is a bit lame, but this is still good shit.

 

 

Demo:

https://www.doomworld.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=205061

[Jacek Bourne]

2 hours ago, KickAss said:

I am not using incompatible software I am using a mod(ification). That does not make any change to the mapset. The map(s) layout stays the same but there are variations in the item and monster(s) setting and placement.

These variations in the monsters and items setting and placement are rendered incompatible because of how the mapsets are built. These mapsets have dehacked changes implemented into them, so your mod is incompatible. 

[Monsieur E]

Map04: "Stabbed, With A Sword"
By Ribbiks, 348/348 kills, 3/3 secrets

Stabbed, with a Sword is a level which manages to both enchant and annihilate. While Revenge of Demon House felt like a map designed to crush you, a deadly duet between you and your opposition; this map feels almost neglectful of the blood being shed, in its own world of wonder and rich lore we only seem to scrape the surface of. However, the oppression of the first Wormwood has remained; the fights are calibrated to punish even the slightest mishap and resources seem much more scarce.

The fight most likely to crush you is the yellow skull key, ensure that your rockets are at least near full capacity, I managed to do with just 37. Your other weapons should have a large surplus as well, pick up the plasma rifle with as much plasma as you are able to collect (for my case it was 160). I ended the fight with my plasma and rocket supply completely depleted. As for the fight itself, it is lethal. Imps will pour into the arena which you have to rocket to clear space while two spawners drop in two cacodemons each complicating matters for two waves, all of this under the surveillance of a cyberdemon. The third and final wave is perhaps the worst, summoning in a few revenants and hellknights, alongside pain elementals whose spawn will keep blocking your movement until you die, probably to a revenant. To top it all off, there is a convex bouncy wall to the side opposite the spawners so if you collide into it when you're trying to dodge projectiles, you'll likely end up being pushed back into them. I could not come up with a suitable strategy here and ended up doing a bit of a cheese. I stood on the spawner closest to the cyberdemon and just waited, the imps seemed to mostly crowd on the other side of the wall with only a few entering my line of sight whereas the cacodemons would float towards me, this allowed me to easily pick off the cacodemons (and later pain elementals). After they were gone, I could clear up the remaining enemies who had grouped together much more easily. I don't think this is consistent enough to be a reliable strategy but eh, I did end up doing the fight saveless so I'm not complaining :P. All in all, the yellow skull fight is ruthless, definitely the hardest fight in this entire month so far.

My favorite map in the level would be the red key fight in the large corridor, contradicting your assumption of a traditional fight by casting the corridor in darkness. This is where the bright green changes to the palette truly shine, relying on the bright green eyes of the mancubi and cacodemons, and the claws of the hell knight to identify them. The lit room infront of you helps you in discerning the silhouettes from one another. A relatively easy fight sure but I love it more for the presentation than anything. The final room is the only other fight which relies on the bouncy walls, complicating what would've been another cyber cleanup, my favorite part of this is getting the regular cyberdemon to infight with the weaker ones, otherwise this isn't much to note. The low health cyberdemons actually make them a fun opponent since while they have the same lethality as the regular, they are much easier to take down especially as loads of plasma is provided. 

However, what stuck out to me throughout this map, even more than the combat was the sense of delight. I had described Demon House as embodying "dread" but here, despite being harder overall, I would call this map "mesmerizing". It feels like a small slice of a world so distinct from your usual doom level, equally alien to your foes as it is to you. The mysterious sword piercing the magma, the flame offering you place to progress in the level, the ominous grave you enter to exit the level, the flame scattered throughout, the corpses of marines littered about and the general abstract nature of the map's layout all come together wonderfully to make a map which feels enthralling to explore. My favorite bit of this map was the non-secret megasphere hidden beyond a strafe jump, I was expecting a health/armor bonus as a fun acknowledgement but offering something substantial was a pleasant surprise and honestly made my annoyance with the strafe jump completely worth it. To the flipside of this, I equally loved the secret sequence for the armor bonus and the health bonus, in a sense they are more trouble than they're worth but even a minor reward to exploration makes it worth it in my opinion if the map manages to pique your interest.

What brings all of this together, what makes being lost in this world not a bother, would be the excellent MIDI selection. It softly plays during your lonesome navigation and during the most dangerous of encounters; almost comforting. It is a truly wonderful track, one of my favorite MIDI selections in a Doom map. 

Above all else, this is a map which is worth checking out simply for the exploration alone. On UV, it is liable to decimate but reading what the club has written, HMP seems to be the recommended experience which is literally what's in the textfile. Otherwise, it is a map which puts its best foot forward, a map which feels endearing even to be lost in, a map I can only describe as beautiful. 

Map31: "Journal Entry I: Killing Time"
By Ribbiks, 83/83 kills, 0/0 secrets

Despite my outpouring of love for Map04 and the 20 minutes I spent writing :P, I cannot really say the same at all for map31. I'm not really too much of a fan of platforming so the first part of this map completely looses my interest, but the cacodemon cleanup was a bunch of fun. Don't really have much else to say, not my cup of tea unfortunately.

Map32: "Journal Entry II: Thus We Spameth"
By Ribbiks, 555/555 kills, 0/1 secrets

This is a fun BFG only map, however, this doesn't have enough ammo for you to just keep spamming it so you have to be cautious with it and try to maximize infighting, particularly in the red key wing. It's a lot of fun honestly and thankfully by the end, you get a bunch of cell packs to clean up the remaining enemies. This is a fun map overall, can't go too wrong with a concept like this. 

[finnks13]

Map31 - Journal Entry I: Killing Time by Ribbiks:

HMP: 3:31/14 Deaths
I'll keep this short. The atmosphere of the map is fantastic, the large stone faces watching over you as the dreary MIDI drones on in the background create a very oppressive feeling which persists throughout the level. Unfortunately, this is a platforming map and I do not enjoy this style of gameplay in general and combining that with a slow infighting puzzle really didn't help matters. I enjoyed the caco-cloud at the end, though this was after I got lucky and was able to BFG rush the two cyberdemons that watch over the map, as I found getting constantly rocketed by them while getting stuck on flying cacos very annoying. Not for me.

 

Map32 - Journal Entry II: Thus We Spameth by Ribbiks:

HMP: 6:43/0 Deaths (Fairly confident that first trying this map was a complete fluke)

UV: 4:21/8 Deaths
This is a bit more my speed. While the title is a bit of a misnomer, if you spam the BFG without a care in the world - you will run out of ammo and get killed, even on HMP which I played the map on first. It doesn't seem that way at first, but the fights drag on for a bit longer than I initially expected and made me regret wasting a few BFG shots on monsters that were barely posing a threat (at least on my first playthrough, on my UV playthrough, I was much more careful with when I pulled the trigger).

 

There's two main fights in the level, and you need to complete both to access the exit. The red key fight pits you against 4 slowly descending cyberdemons and a horde of revenants, imps, barons and pain elementals (and the caco-cloud from the opening that I hadn't bothered to kill yet!), with the key to success being to choose your moments to tear through the horde to the megaspheres carefully, while promoting as much infighting as possible - it's a very fun fight. The yellow key fight is easier, and has you balancing on small ledges as pain elementals, revenants and hell knights emerge from the walls - it's pretty doable, and feels a bit more generous with ammo than the RK fight. Getting both keys unlocks the exit, and a king's ransom of cells to dispatch any enemies that are left alive, but using these was a bit annoying (I understand fearing the wrath of UV-Maxers :P) and I didn't bother on my UV playthough. Very fun map.

 

~~~
For my votes:
+++Running Late 2, Overboard & Fractured Worlds

+++Down the Drain

+++Fragport (it'll happen eventually :P)

[General Roasterock]

Map 32: Journal Entry II: Thus We Spameth

 

  Goofball slaughter of old. This map has a disgustingly efficient ammo balancing, and unlike Stabbed, with a Sword, it’s relatively clear where all of the ammo is supposed to go. There’s a lot of old blood in this, and I’d expect something this blocky to end up in one of the slaughterfests. I liked the dynamic of the horde of Cacodemons pouring in at any point in the map. It was good tension to keep you moving at a breakneck pace. The Yellow Key fight was far easier, doing better at putting ammo in places where I could navigate to it, as well as not being suppressed entirely by Cacodemons since I cleared most of the crowd out by the end of the Red Key fight. Feels like a bit of a copout to put all the ammo to clean the map up at the very end, but it is mostly meant for the pyramids of Hell Knights. Nothing in this map gets crushed, so it’s required that the player does all the action. 

  Cool map, very simplistic, probably won’t stick out amongst the Wormwood discography.

[Paf]

 

+++Running Late 2, Overboard, Fractured Worlds

+++Down The Drain

[KickAss]

9 hours ago, Jacek Bourne said:

These variations in the monsters and items setting and placement are rendered incompatible because of how the mapsets are built. These mapsets have dehacked changes implemented into them, so your mod is incompatible. 

No it isn't and there is nothing rendered incompatible in any case the mapset is build. But it is known that some maps did not work well with some mods for some strange reasons. The mappers did not like the mod or the modders did not like the map. You can twist this as you like.

[brick]

MAP31 - “Journal Entry I: Killing Time” by Ribbiks
Back to gimmick maps. I think you're meant to get the cyberdemon to kill the archviles. While it may be tempting to get the latter's "help" to reach some of the cell packs, those become accessible later anyway so save your health. Once some of the switches have been pressed swarms of cacos fly in and another cyber teleports in (I think it did at this time; I was kinda occupied and didn't immediately notice it) to help you kill them, but the BFG is also available at this point, so the trick is to just keep moving and not get boxed in.

 

MAP32 - “Journal Entry II: Thus We Spameth” by Ribbiks
This is basically three successive slaughter arenas with the BFG. Not much else to say about it, those kinds of maps are not my favourites, but this one is pretty well done and looks quite nice, and I did have a good time with it, on ITYTD/HNTR it's not very easy without being overly difficult, quite well balanced actually. I have no clue how you reach that one secret, the only thing I could think of was a straferun but nothing I tried worked.

 

MAP33 - “Journal Entry III: Business As Usual” by Ribbiks
An interesting small map, this one also has several gimmicks but I enjoyed it quite a bit! There's very little ammo and a Berserk early on, so infighting and punching are on the menu, and I must confess I never thought I'd enjoy punching barons and PEs so much until today! The secret is very cool, as it lets you get rid of some of the most difficult enemies quite painlessly (some before you even know they're there). The main area of the map looks ok, but there's some nice detailing in the secret and in the exit room. A very good use of the "bonus slot" (but then all three Entries are quite fitting one way or the other).

 

I found EU a very different experience from the original Wormwood. Most of the maps are short and employ specific gameplay tricks, but I didn't enjoy all the gimmicks. The one map that is more like the original Wormwood felt like it had many flaws that were absent there. I think I found the 3 bonus maps actually more fun than the main ones. Ultimately the wad is not really my typical fare, but I think those looking for a Doom challenge with unusual gameplay will like it more, judging by some of the other appreciative comments.

Edited October 27, 2022 by brick

[Jacek Bourne]

9 hours ago, KickAss said:

No it isn't and there is nothing rendered incompatible in any case the mapset is build. But it is known that some maps did not work well with some mods for some strange reasons. The mappers did not like the mod or the modders did not like the map. You can twist this as you like.

This isn’t a case of dispute between the map creators and the mod. These strange reasons you speak of are just dehacked changed. Dehacked is a way of modifying pre-existing assets that is also compatible with vanilla and boom. These dehacked changes were made because the map creators wanted to change the monsters in certain ways to suit the gameplay. They were not made because the creators hated gameplay mods. The fact that these mapsets don’t work with gameplay mods is just a side effect of gameplay mods being incompatible with dehacked. It’s not part of some personal vendetta.

[RHhe82]

MAP33: Journal Entry III: Business as Usual. Played on DSDA v0.24, HMP, PS. 78/78 K, 1/1 S, 3/4 I. Completion time 13:39.

 

My favourite of the journal maps, I guess mostly because it is business as usual, not the stuff of Doom gods. It's still not an easy map, ammo is on a serious premium here, I had to berserk down the last two barons in the underground section -- and that's after finding the one tagged secret which eases up a little that final area.

 

I loved the strange splintery wall surrounding the area. Overall I liked this map, it somehow reminds me of Crumpets, which is a positive in my books.

[KickAss]

53 minutes ago, Jacek Bourne said:

This isn’t a case of dispute between the map creators and the mod. These strange reasons you speak of are just dehacked changed. Dehacked is a way of modifying pre-existing assets that is also compatible with vanilla and boom. These dehacked changes were made because the map creators wanted to change the monsters in certain ways to suit the gameplay. They were not made because the creators hated gameplay mods. The fact that these mapsets don’t work with gameplay mods is just a side effect of gameplay mods being incompatible with dehacked. It’s not part of some personal vendetta.

'nough said. Looking forward to the next month.

[Pseudonaut]

Wormwood: Expanded Universe Map33:
First a platforming map, then a BFG-only map, and now a tyson map. There is some ammo, most importantly a plasma gun with 80 cells, but you must think carefully about where it will be spent. You can use it to kill the mancubus that blocks the secret, but the manc can also be killed via infighting with the cyberdemon, though the amount of time this takes is random. I decided to save all my cells for the archviles later in the level. The pistol can also be used from the beginning, but the pistol is lame, and the bullets are useful later on when a chaingun comes into your possession.

 

The one secret offers no items or ammo, but is crucial for killing everything, as it allows you to telefrag the cyberdemon. It also crushes two troublesome enemies that are encountered later in the level. The level ends with a wall of lost souls that are best lured out of the way to the exit, but I screwed this up, assuming they were all awake from the beginning, then running toward the side where they had been asleep. Anyway, cool map.

 

 

Demo:

https://www.doomworld.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=205332

[Azure_Horror]

Wormwood EU Map 04

Stabbed, With a Sword by Ribbiks

Pistol start, DSDA-Doom, complevel 9, Lots of saves

Played the map on UV, managed to get 107% kills; 42% items; 66% secrets.

 

Lessons (re-)learned: don't play Riibiks maps blindly on UV, unless you have the right frame of mind and lots of time on your hands.

 

Stabbed, With a Sword is a mesmerising. The map manages to combine both surrealist and mundane elements in one coherent structure. This is the stuff you expect to find in an art exibit, not in a Doom WAD!

 

Things I find the most notable:

- The beginning of the map has a bit of wacky adventure game sheningans, but it swithches gears into hard-fought combat right after unlocking the lift in the rocket-launcher area.

- Green 1000-hp mini-cybers. Ribbiks uses quite a few of these guys. They work very well as both long-range threats and high-performance infighters. They have very mangeable HP totals for their threat level. This all makes them into a kind of "anti-grindy" monsters, who ensure that the fights continue to be explosive and fast-paced.

- Yellow card fight. Impressive architecture, and lots of opprotunities for infighting betweem cacos, nobles, spiders, mancubi and a mini-cyber. This is the easiest among the big setpieces, and can be won without a sioulsphere.

- Yellow skull fight. IMHO, the hardest fight of the map. Only rockets provide enough DPS to keep the monster crowds in check, but the battlefield is too cramped to use the rockets willy-nilly. Flanking cyberdemon (big, red-colored one!) insures that you cannot just stand still. Constant movement makes rocketing the monsters even harder. Funnelling monsters into a cyber kinda works, but it leaves you completely surrounded. Reflective purple wall tends to bumps you into monster crowd. Personally, this battle felt less like a cool encounter and more like an annoyance. 

- Red key fight. IMHO, the best approach is to prepare the plasmagun and leave the lava tunnel immediately. This saves ammo due to infighting. It is possible to fight from inside of the tunnel, but there is very little cover inside. Darkness also can ruin your day, especially if you use Hardware graphics: on software setting, shades of green can be seen even in complete blackness, thanks to pallette tweaks. But hardware does not support it.

- Final battle. Best use of minicybers I have ever seen, IMHO. The 4 sniping cybers are the most dangerous. Not only they fire rockets from unconventional direction, they also shoot directly into the reflective wall! Those 4 must be prioritised to go down first. Remaining cyber-fiesta can be circle-strafed, but it is still not a free win. Between multiple cybers, refletive walls and even a bit of inter-cyber infighting, it is very easy to miss a rocket coming from unforseen direction.

The slightly uneven pacing of this map caught me off guard, and I needed a lot of early realoads before I developed an efficient route, but in the end I enjoyed the experience.

 

Wormwood EU Map 31

Journal Entry I: Killing Time by Ribbiks

Didn't play this one due to platforming

 

Each platforming sequence of this map is manageable to me on its own, but the sheer ammount of platforming needed is too much for me to enjoy at this point in time.

 

I watched @Pseudonaut's run of this map, however, and I gathered some observations from that run.

IMHO, this is less a platform-focused challenge and more a combat arena. The combat appears to be the main focus. But it is combat on very slippery footing, due to all the platform-hopping. A very interesting design, which does require a proper set of platforming skills to properly enjoy. My skills are insufficient right now, but maybe one day I will return to this map...

 

Aesthetics of the map is very charismatic, I must say.

 

Wormwood EU MAP32

Journal Entry II: Thus We Spameth by Ribbiks

Pistol start, DSDA-Doom, complevel 9, quite a few saves

Played the map on HMP, but it seems that UV is pretty close HMP on this map.

 

A BFG-focused microslaughter map. Pretty enjoyable one, I must say.

Both key fights reminded of Ad Mortem's Checkmate, despite a completely different arsenal and pretty different monster composition.

 

I really want to speak about the music. The track of Thus We Spameth is the same one as used in Map 03 of Wormwood 1. However it hits very differently. On WW1 Map 03, the music invoked the feeling of dissapointment and hoplessness. But on WW EU map32 the same track sounds almost triumfant! This is all due to the context of the map itself. Ribbiks is a true artist, and Doom is his canvas!

Edited October 27, 2022 by Azure_Horror

[finnks13]

Map33 - Journal Entry III: Business as Usual:

5:21/3 Deaths
The finale of Wormwood EU (well, I guess Stabbed, with a Sword is the actual finale, but this is the last map I played so I'm counting it :P) contains what is probably the most conventional map of the set, sure it's still a tyson map and it's got Ribbiks' trademark alien architecture but compared to the gimmicky and un-yielding stuff that has come before, this feels downright friendly. I suppose that's why it's called Business as Usual. I like all the faces that are on the various buildings around the map, they appeared in Map31 too, but here you can go inside them! The orange sky, and light brown visuals of the buildings and ground give the map a rather warm feeling, as though it's set in some sort of desert village.

 

I had fun playing it, it's a tyson map so there's lots of punching, but on HMP you get a chaingun and plasma gun early on, even if you get nowhere near enough ammo to feel comfortable using them on anything but turret enemies and archviles! The map ends with a couple of small skirmishes in the basement, and these were my favourite bits of the map.

 

~~~

So Wormwood EU was absolutely excellent, I liked pretty much every map, their smaller scale let the more gimmicky nature of the levels shine without becoming annoying. I will save final discussions on the trilogy until I'm done with the third one. From what I can tell, Wormwood 3 looks to be the most gimmicky (and purplest!) one yet - bring it on!

[RHhe82]

Wormwood III

 

MAP01: Life? Played on DSDA v0.24, HMP, PS, 128/128 K, 0/0 S, 4/4 I. Completion time 5:15.

 

It's a short map, something in the vein of Journal Entries of Wormwood: EU, but I think this one here holds up better. We're introduced again a new mechanic, a cannonball automata of sorts, that feels a bit like Super Mario like what with all the platforming, that's fortunately not impossible SR50, rocket jump acrobatics course, not even cyberdemon turrets anywhere to ruin your day.

The main attraction, the Hell Knight / Imp sandwich arena feels I should have had easier time with it, but for some reason I struggled, I even resorted to a midfight save (not only once, but again in the final arena). The tactic was clear, get busy with the imps, lure as many knights to the far corner of the arena to have a better chance of clear way to the rocket launcher that becomes available before long, and hope there is enough room to shoot them on the knights.

 

The first arena with the revenants feels something like from MBF21. The instant kill floors, that are present in the platforming sections too. This is CL9, isn't it?

[NiGHTS108]

MAP32: Journal Entry II: Thus We Spameth

Kills: 100%

Items: 91%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 6:43

 

Thus We Spameth is simple. Don't think too hard about the title, since the meaning will become clear next to instantly. It's a somewhat basic but still pretty fun Italo styled map that's a little more loose than what that would imply. It mainly consists of two fights along side a hub area with 4 Soulspheres and a ton of plasma. Despite this though, you'd be surprised how easy it is to run out of ammo. The red key fight doesn't have many cells in the open, and even if you risk life and limb to grab some more, you're not gonna have them for long. The actual fight itself is pretty cool, it's surprisingly hard to manipulate the Cyberdemons here so I'd suggest staying aware of them as you carve space for yourself in this fight. In fact, both fights in this map are pretty cool, the yellow key fight has a neat layout that keeps you on your toes and makes you aware of your surroundings. I don't have much advice for this fight except, as always, make sure Pain Elementals die ASAP. Strong little map here.

 

Grade: A-
Difficulty: A

 

 

MAP33: Journal Entry III: Business As Usual

Kills: 69% (I'm hilarious.)

Items: 75%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 4:32

 

To conclude Wormwood II we have a bit of an oddball. Business As Usual from the name sounds like it's going to be an ordinary map and it kind of is? But also kind of isn't. It's weird. It's mainly a Tyson map at the start, pitting you with nothing but a berserk pack against a small mob of Pinkies, Zombies, Hell Knights and Revenants. You'll get a Plasma Rifle somewhat early too, but you'll want to save it, believe me. Soon enough after an unpredictable close encounter with a Cyberdemon you'll have both keys and access to the dungeon. The Arch-Viles here are relentless, either run away and leave the map as fast as possible (Like me) or stand your ground if you have the cells necessary. Good luck, marine. Overall I actually really like the vibes this map gives off. It has a really nice MIDI and the orange sky complements the visuals very nicely, even if I don't think the combat quite lives up to the first two.

 

Grade: B+

Difficulty: A-

 

 

[Pseudonaut]

Wormwood 3 Map01:
The wad opens with a new mechanic right away: a very damaging floor that will certainly kill you if you do more than just graze it. It doesn't require direct contact to cause damage, just horizontal intersection, and it harms monsters too. Brief platforming connects the different sections of the map, each with some projectiles flying out of walls, encouraging good timing and speed. The second fight is certainly the hardest, requiring the player to share an arena with enough monsters that they must be herded well to avoid being trapped. The ending is fairly simple with the right strategy; there's a cyberdemon in the center who must be killed with the SSG or rocket launcher, while some walls of projectiles slowly rotate. It's easy enough to slowly move in the same direction while avoiding the rockets. When the cyb dies, a few hell knights teleport in, but they're not a big deal. It turns out that a UV-Max run is faster if the second fight is left behind immediately rather than taking the time to clean up, as the projectiles will eventually kill the remaining enemies. The amount of time this takes (random) ultimately determines the time you get in the end.

 

 

Demo:

ww301m243.zip

Edited October 29, 2022 by Pseudonaut

[General Roasterock]

Map 33: Journal Entry III: Business as Usual

 

  Strict tyson is a rare treat from Ribbiks, but this map is about as hard as it can get. I absolutely adore how space efficient the bulk of this map is, from the sprint to the two keys, to the Cyberdemon owning the entire space once the Yellow Key fight starts, to the secret being a neatly tucked away funnel down into the abyss to both kill said Cyber and a couple monsters in the final wave. The splintered wood covering the wall by the Barons is a great touch, and the fight with the Arch-Viles in the basement was chilling, but the Yellow Key fight clocked me on the first go round, as I was foolish enough to try and kill the Revenant with the Plasma Rifle and what litte ammo I got with it, which the Mancubus in front of him effortlessly absorbed. The removal of those stepping stones in the tiny lava pit on the north end is a dick move too.

  Business as Usual’s simplicity is really its strongest suit. It’s a clear presentation of how well Ribbiks can use the tightest group of monsters, and come out with a map that provides as much challenge as anything can present nowadays. It’s a really quick and breezy run when you get the methodology, and a hell of a lot of fun.

[Azure_Horror]

Wormwood Expanded Universe MAP33

Journal Entry III: Business As Usual by Ribbiks

Pistol start, DSDA-Doom, complevel 9, some saves

Played the map on HMP

 

This miniature map is not super special, but it is very well-crafted. Lots of things feel "Just Right".

Weapons are mostly restrcited to Berserk and Infighting, with plasma rifle and non-UV chaingun serving as a side-arms.

 

Efficient use of zombies at the start. With monsters at every possible direction, zombiemen can easily sneak a few hitscan attacks. Cool secret, which not only allows to telephrag the cyberdemon, but also provides a switch, which crushes one of the monster closets for the final fightof the map. On HMP, defensive resourses are pretty generous. On UV, it seems that the map is more stingy, but still provides some major health buffers.

 

Buisness as Usual is not the most memorable of the maps, but it is still a fun little adventure.

 

Wormwood III MAP01

Life? by Ribbiks

Pistol start, DSDA-Doom, complevel 9, some saves

Played the map on HMP

 

The red carpet of death in the initial room of the map is awesome! Everything which touches it receives constant damage. This includes monsters! I wonder, how does it work? I suspect that there is some sneaky blast damge contraption involved...

 

The second room provides two series of platform runs and one bif arena fight. The room is notable for two things:

- There is an Instant Death plane in the chasm below the room. No fancy ZDoom or MBF 21 is used! Everything runs on pure boom magic!

- Some structures in the room launch explosive projetiles! This is both a stage hazard, and an effective tool for destroying monsters.

Aside from novel mapping tricks, the second room is realtively boring. The fight in the center is just a big pile of Imps and Hell Knights. It is a dangerous fight, don't get me wrong, but it is very starighforward encounter. The platforming sections also do not feel special.

 

The last room of the map has the coolest design. You find yourself in the circular arena with cyberdemon in the center and hazardous projectiles flying from multiple directions. To prevail, you need to use a proper movement pattern, which would save you from both cyberdemon rockets and stage hazard explosions. After you deal with a cyberdemon, you will also face a bunch of hell knights, but they are pretty harmless. They die to stage projectiles without any imput from you.

 

Like Wormwood EU map01, Life? showcases a bunch of novel boom tricks. It will be interesting to see, how far will Ribbiks take those tricks...

Edited October 29, 2022 by Azure_Horror

[General Roasterock]

Map 01: Life?

 

  It would be impossible to go into this map without acknowledging its music. “ait.mid” is a work unlike anything I’ve ever heard in Doom, in fiction, in pretty much any form of media I’ve been exposed to. My first time listening to it on Ribbiks’s channel could only be described as blissful. I’ve never heard a song that is such a twisting of both terror and respite, peace and panic. It is an exposure to another plane of being, something I couldn’t describe with actions that I’ve done, or watched other people do. It’s dreadful in a way that you never want to stop. An easy way to attempt to explain it is another view of the October aesthetic, but it is so so so much more than that. 

  I’ve had entirely different outlooks on situations when this is playing in the background. I’ve presented this piece to friends and professors. This finally lets me understand what people are talking about when they say that music grips them, as I am in nothing short of a stranglehold to the mystique of this track. Of all the arrangements in all of the instruments in all of the lengths of time, this absolute majesty is what gets used for fucking “Life?”. 

(Also, please listen to the properly exported version since Ribbiks says that default soundfonts did some damage to the strings. I do believe this is the superior cut.)

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWdqYAN-AnU

  “Life?” is an expansion on Ribbiks’s ever growing repository of Doom magic in the form of an assortment of Mario Party games. We’ve advanced beyond simply making walls bouncy, now there’s instant kill floors outside of more advanced compatibilities made with fake floor trickery mixed with some dehacked sacrifice. This is quickly exhibited with the initial Revenant rush, followed by more platforming, because I haven’t had enough of that for sure. This leads into environment hazard comets shot from fiery walls, and used as the bulk of damage against a horde of Knights. This is a prickly fight, getting caught at any point essentially gives the mass more than enough time to surround you, away from the continuous stream of damage being shot from the turrets. I did have a wonderful time with the Cyberdemon fight, fittingly the climax of the map, and working wonderfully as the midi trails to the end of its loop. It wasn’t quite intuitive for me that I needed to kill the Cyber, despite having played this map several times before, and I made far too many circles around the plinth, staying within the binds of the comets in an attempt to use that Cyber for infighting to no avail. The Knight wave for this section of the map is the easiest part, as most of them go down from two projectiles and one SSG blast.

  This map, outside of its genius inventions, is carried by its midi, an injection of emotion that the geometry on its own doesn’t create, and sure as hell isn’t supported by platforming. This opener should be made note of, as this style of vibrancy is only going to get weirder. 

[RHhe82]

MAP02: Vampire Killer. Played on DSDA v0.24, HMP, PS. 301/301 K, 0/0 S, 7/8 I. Completion time 10:38.

 

Much more "straight" map than the previous one, and I liked it. Would have liked it more, if the purple water wouldn't have been damaging, but that's only a minor complaint (and I did find the rad suit in the beginning).

 

At times the level does feel a bit half-baked: there is lots of emptiness, which is fine, I guess. The fight for the orange skull key is underwhelming and pales in comparison to every other fight in the level, and the purple sun room it allows access to sure looks like a setting for a grand encounter... but nothing's there, except a couple of goodies.

 

The man making a soup was a funny thing, though, loved that. Don't give up, skeleton!

 

I first struggled a bit with the final fight; I'd use SSG first and then switch to plasma rifle. As soon as I tried rocket launcher first, and then plasma rifle, I'd be victorious.  I was surprised to have survived the wiggly corridor fight on the first try, as well.

 

At the end there was one final blemish: the buffed arachnotrons would keep on teleporting to the arena after the fight was basically over. Again, not a major issue, but I'd have to wait at the exit teleporter with a gun in hand, waiting.

 

Whatever grievances I might have had, all is forgiven because the soundtrack kicks ass. Love the 80s/early 90s video game music. This was from some of the Castlevania games, yes?