The DWmegawad Club plays: Overboard & Running Late 2 & Fractured Worlds

[Jacek Bourne]

Map04 of Fractured Worlds Blind Playthrough from a year ago on UV:

I wasn't very pleased with the method to access the secret fight however I'll rank all of the maps and my opinions on them at the end after 32. For now just watch the videos to hear my thoughts.

 

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Jacek Bourne

[DFF]

Sadly i chose to shelve Running Late 2 over the holidays. Ended up being too busy or forgetful to do the map playthrough and writeups in time to catch up. I'll try and finish out with Fractured Worlds. But on a whole Running Late 2 from the majority i played was a great mapset with very good control of the difficulty curve, set piece design, and quality of detail and worldbuilding. It was a WAD i enjoyed playing and could see as even being exemplary in a few places. I don't think its a mapset i'd seek to replay in the near future but there are a few maps, such as 5 and 10, that would be worth replaying as standalones. I'd say the map quality never dipped below unenjoyable, despite one or two unmemorable maps. The benefit of these half MegaWADs is you tend to get a lot less filler if the quality is consistent. I enjoyed Overboard 2 more overall but this was a good second pick for the month.

Also my nominations:
+++Solar Struggle
+++Fragport (someday)
and a third when I decide on it.

Fractured Worlds: Map01 - Tomahawk
FDWL (Prboom+), UV, continuous
K: 86 | I: 88 | S: 33 (100)

A very sharp opener, especially on UV. The map design and visuals were both very well done and not over-the-top. I found that the ammo balance was also very aggressive but not overtly so. I did run out of ammo by the end of the map. I ended up finding both the purple key secrets but i had no bullets and thus could not hit the switch to access the purple key. I cheated at one point just to see whats in there but didn't count this in my playthrough. The slime pits prove to be a problem since i did not ration my 2 suits super efficiently. Overall tough but not overbearing with saves. Doom platforming is never my favorite passtime but it was doable here.

Fractured Worlds: Map02 - Midnight Tengu
FDWL (Prboom+), UV, continuous 
K: 108 | I: 94 | S: 50 (IDDQD cheats: 2)

Not sure if im going to finish out this WAD either, i'm definitely bumping down to HMP to see. If anything ammo is becoming a limiting factor for me more so than health or monster difficulty. I made it through the majority of the map without cheating, but the exit archvile BFG corridor was too much, ran out of ammo and couldn't reach the stockpiles back by the switch. Probably died 15 times before giving up here. I also had to cheat in the secret pink garden mainly due to a bad save.

I think this map is a great example of all the things I love but also hate about "Ribbiks" style maps if you will. On the plus side, the visuals are fantastic, the arenas are generally well thought out and clean, and i can respect the craftsmanship of the maps and the combat. On the negative, im not a huge fan of the more slaughter style gameplay. Many may argue this isn't that but the arch-vile corridor and the main arena in that section was a bit packed, as well as the secret pink garden. To that point when the combat is shoved into tight spaces the experience for me is much less enjoyable. Second, encounters can also feel like blind death traps unless you've memorized much of the maps to heart, almost requiring a death or two just to figure out whats going on; this is more of a minor point though. Thirdly the amount of main set piece encounters can become overwhelming, the later ones while not as long can feel like a drag after so many others. A lot of this can likely be alleviated with a lower skill though. I do think that making UV reserved for the toughest of challenges is a good thing, and i respect the decision to make the other skills feel meaningful.

My favorite section of the map was the cyberdemon dojo/corridor, and is probably when i like these maps best: clean but pretty aesthetic, decent room to move, and the ability to see the challenge and start it on your terms. That and the encounter featured a more unique and interesting layout and solution than the average monster moshpit. Learning that lower grade cybers can infight with higher tier ones is helpful. This map also benefits from not being overtly color saturated. I find the Ribbiks style challenge combat WADs and the inspiration maps generated from them can focus too much on using lots of bright color textures everywhere and the map ends up feeling visually overstimulating to me. Majority of the color contrast with this map is more relegated to accenting and lighting effects, going well with the darker, earthier aesthetic of the map.

I liked map01 a bit more due to the brevity of it, difficult but not as long. 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Fractured Worlds:
Map01 - Tomahawk

Map02 - Midnight Tengu

Running Late 2:
MAP05 - Rooftop Rampage
MAP10 - Overtime

MAP03 - Under Construction

MAP04 - Oil Rigged
MAP08 - Graveyard Shift
MAP09 - Crate Temple 2
MAP06 - Rough Commute

MAP01 - Drip
MAP02 - Chinatown Beatdown
MAP07 - Dead on Arrival

 

Overboard:

MAP06 - Seaside Siege
MAP02 - Skeleton Coast
MAP05 - Archi-Pelago
MAP03 - Depth Charge
MAP01 - Cruisin' UAC
MAP04 - Cacotoa

 

[finnks13]

MAP04 - Hyperspeed Descent:

23:35/18 Deaths
This one didn't really do it for me if I'm being honest, I'm not exactly sure what it is - perhaps the transition from beautiful caves and megastructures to a fairly anonymous (if grand) techbase in the void aesthetic throws me off, or maybe it's because the previous map spoiled me with every fight being a unique, cool idea whereas this map only has one (imagine complaining that a map only has one really cool, unique fight :P). I do think the visuals in this map are fantastic still, and I really like the little insta-teleport gates being represented by the bright cyan light contrasting against the dark, foreboding structures in the distance, but I think I like the more fantastical structures of the first three maps more. Speaking of the insta-teleport gates - why aren't they used for anything beyond a method of transporting you to the cyan key and back? This whole mapset has set up the expectation for cool little mechanics like this to be expanded on in combat, and I was very interested to see how insta-teleporters would be used, but they're not and that made me sad.

 

There are two hard parts in this map that caused 12 of my 18 deaths, and they're both very small areas of the map - the first is the very claustrophobic ambush right at the start of the map where you have a hell knight and baron on each side of you, with a couple of revenants spawning in to murder you as quick as possible. I assume the idea is to get the revs & hell knights to infight, letting you shoot the switch to lower them and press the switch to escape to safety, but there is so little margin for error that I have to assume I'm doing something wrong here. The other very difficult part is the red key fight, which I feel like I had to break in order to succeed - there's archviles behind a wall that raises and lowers on a timer, and a bunch of hell knights teleporting in to fill up the room and disallow you to take cover. The only way I was able to do this was by rushing onto the hell knight spawn point before any spawned and hoping to stun the archvile that targeted me so I could stay on the HK spawn point until the first switch that allows you to exit was revealed, before rushing to the other and leaving the arena. Both of these fights felt a bit too demanding of perfection to be particularly fun to me - I know I'm on UV and should expect to get my arse kicked, but these stood out as unusually punishing relative to their prominence in the map.

 

The rest of the map is much easier, and generally more fun. Some of my favourite moments include the rocket launcher room where four mini cybers and some other enemies emerge and start a massive fight, which gets rudely interrupted by four archviles, ready to resurrect everything if not taken care of quickly as well as the grand finale which is incredibly imposing and also the first time in the wad we're truly let loose with the BFG. The finale is a very entertaining set-piece, with four regular cybers coming at you from the walls and a monument full of hell knights and barons facing them, pelting the whole arena with projectiles and little-by-little, lowering to teleport into the arena itself. I found the best way to deal with this was to hold my fire until the four mini cybers were released from their cubbyholes and then going nuts with BFG shots - there's plenty of ammo to spare if you allow the horde to die down a bit before starting your rampage and this let me complete it without too much trouble. The spectacle of the encounter is something that I think the rest of the map could have benefitted from.

 

Hyperspeed Descent has some excellent moments, and perhaps only stands out as "less good" because the standard is so high from the other levels in Fractured Worlds, but I found the difficulty rather imbalanced between the spectacular "cool" fights that I expect were meant to be the memorable moments of the map, and the small, tight ambushes that actually stayed in my memory due to the length of time I had to spend on them. 

[KickAss]

GZDooM 4.9, PB 3.0, HeXeReTiC HUD PB3 v8.3RC2e, Weapon Neural Upscale, Simple Upscaled Enemies, Destroyable Decorations Definitive Edition, Glory Kills v29b, SilentDoomguy, Flashlight, -iwad doom2.wad (ver 1.666), -skill 4 (UV), continuous play, no saves.

 

Running Late 2, MAP11 - “Break Room”, Does anybody know how to continue from this point to get the red key card without strafe running over the pedestals? I ask because it is a DooM ][ (mega-)wad.

 

 

Suggestion for next month: +++Mutiny

[RHhe82]

11 minutes ago, KickAss said:

Does anybody know how to continue from this point to get the red key card without strafe running over the pedestals? I ask because it is a DooM ][ (mega-)wad

As far as I recall, I did it by straferunning. Moreover, I think I had to not stop between platforms in order to retain momentum, but that might be due to my not-so-great platforming skills.

[tmorrow]

My nominations for next month. I hope everyone is enjoying this months choices.

 

+++ 2022 A Doom Odyssey
+++ Solar Struggle
+++ Doom in Spain Only

 

[KickAss]

1 hour ago, RHhe82 said:

As far as I recall, I did it by straferunning. Moreover, I think I had to not stop between platforms in order to retain momentum, but that might be due to my not-so-great platforming skills.

 

Yes you have to "straferun" over the pedestals in direction to the red key card from the right to the left hand. That will lower the pedestals except that one with the red key card on top but than you can continue with the level because a red switch will show up in one of the floors that lowers the last pedestal with the red key card so you can grab it easily from the floor then. I haven't found any other way to get the red key card yet too. I have something on my mind that prohibits "strafrunning" for vanilla DooM ][ wads, if it should be a vanilla DooM ][ wad. Every DooM ][ wad should be designed like you  have not to use jumping or strafrunning to exit the level. That is imho a strange point with this great level for DooM ][.

[Ravendesk]

23 minutes ago, KickAss said:

 

Yes you have to "straferun" over the pedestals in direction to the red key card from the right to the left hand. That will lower the pedestals except that one with the red key card on top but than you can continue with the level because a red switch will show up in one of the floors that lowers the last pedestal with the red key card so you can grab it easily from the floor then. I haven't found any other way to get the red key card yet too. I have something on my mind that prohibits "strafrunning" for vanilla DooM ][ wads, if it should be a vanilla DooM ][ wad. Every DooM ][ wad should be designed like you  have not to use jumping or strafrunning to exit the level. That is imho a strange point with this great level for DooM ][.

Based stroller appreciator.

[RHhe82]

MAP05: The Starlit Core in Meltdown. Played on DSDA v0.24, HNTR, PS. 535/536 K, 5/6 S, 99/101 I. Completion time 51:20.

 

A top-notch level, I love the turquoise aesthetics, love the music, love the encounters. I finally caved in and switched to HNTR, and I think for the best. I use a couple of midfight saves, but almost for merely saving time when clock was ticking, and not because I wouldn't have survived the encounter given a handful more tries.

 

The final fight is great, although I think my favourite is the sandwich fight. I didn't even realize the cyan sludge was only for a decor, you can walk on it. I should have figured enemies couldn't walk very thin ledges, which they seemed to do.

 

Couldn't find all the secrets, and to be fair, I gave up fairly early, lessons of the last map still fresh. Some of the areas can't be accessed (as far as I know) once you get past them, especially the starting area, and I figured I just missed something, and I don't want to cheat (beyond IDDT) to access 'em. I don't know if diligence would have paid off, but whatever. At least I could access the secret fight, which was quite easy (relatively speaking), but good fun nonetheless.

[KickAss]

5 hours ago, Ravendesk said:

Based stroller appreciator.

Whatever that means or what do you want to tell us with that line? We was talking about Running Late 2, MAP11 - “Break Room”. See post above.

 

Did I have mentioned that I have nominated

 

+++ Mutiny

 

for next month?

[brick]

MAP04 - “Hyperspeed Descent”
The purple key is very cleverly hidden here, it becomes inaccessible as soon as you jump down, but it's signposted well. You have this one chance at using it though, as the arena also becomes inaccessible once you leave that starting room. It's pure madness on pistol-start, as you have nothing but your berserked fists. You do get to let in the baddies at your pace, and can mix and match exactly how you want, using the series of switches to maximize infighting. You have to be extra careful, I don't think there's a way back if you fall down even on ITYTD. The reward doesn't seem worth it, you only get the plasma rifle and there's one not too far into the map, but then it's obvious by now that those optional arenas aren't meant to have a reward beyond the sheer satisfaction of being able to beat them.
(I realized after writing this, and just before posting, that you can go get the rifle then come back, and Nirvana did allow for this on purpose, so it's less of a reward and more an easier way to deal with the cyber. Under this light, it's actually quite funny to watch the rifle teleport away from you, without necessarily knowing where it's gone to).
The map otherwise follows the same designs established by earlier ones, except now some of the switches appear on a timer, just to make it perfectly clear that you are NOT getting out of those hugs not matter what. Rather than repeat the same complaints about combat and switches over and over, just assume they're here and let me mention some unrelated bits I thought were really cool.
I loved the portals to and from the cyan key, it's a pure (and quite simple) gimmick but it looks and feels great, though I wish like finnks13 that it got used for something more than just visual/atmosphere. The IOS wall gave me chills but it's only for atmosphere, at least on ITYTD, I didn't see any monster spawners. I also really liked the trick with the silent teleporting switch, you cross this room with cyan water and small metal islands, press the switch, turn around and now there's a pyramid of hell knights that appeared behind you being lit by some really cool Boom trick (don't ask me how I feel about the actual fight!). That lone fountain in a void at the end looks great too. Generally I liked how this map begins in a very grounded base aesthetic, with the only surreal aspect being brought by the palette, but then shows you flashes of abstract void before completely falling into abstraction by the end, it's a great visual progression.

 

MAP05 - “The Starlit Core in Meltdown”
My usual complaints about the switch back and forth, and again the "let's wait a minute before revealing the next switch".
I accidentally started this on HMP initially, and after restarting on ITYTD I can see first hand the differences in platforming. I'm actually quite impressed with how much of a difference it makes, ITYTD has the escape teleporters, but also some timed platforming becomes permanent and stable to make it easier. It's still an exercise in straferunning and turning while running and other tricky platforming, and even this is already a bit too much for me (especially since every mistake costs you health, and lots of it), but the creativity and craft that goes into having something that we usually think of as part of the architecture be different based on difficulty is really impressive.
The opening view looks simply breathtaking, helped by a very fitting and beautiful track (huh, didn't realize the music includes guest compositions; this one is Xaser). I haven't mentioned the music much, but I've found it very good and always very fitting with the intended design of the map. There are some mysterious looking contraptions, such as the strange reactor core like thing off the rocket launcher room, and the circular room to the south of that looks incredible as well. I like the concept of going around and opening up the sections to finally reveal the blue keycard. I didn't feel like beating the map fair (and I don't think I could) but I did notice that up to this point the combat setups seemed much more varied, with pretty much everything from the bestiary being used, sometimes in quite creative combinations. Unfortunately this is followed by yet more platforming and a return to the noble/cyber swarms. Nirvana does mention trying to vary gameplay as much as possible, which I guess is done quite successfully. That entire final section looks incredible too, and the last room (well, if you can call these megastructures "rooms") is simply jaw-dropping. I think this is the most architecturally impressive and beautiful map in the wad.

 

 

On 12/27/2022 at 6:56 AM, Azure_Horror said:

Personally, I do not find Fractured Worlds maps confusing. However, I agree that large map size in Fractured Worlds offers little in gameplay depatment. This interconnectedness feels kinda... Pointless? Self-contradictory? Excessive? Cannot find a correct world, but I hope everyone gets, what I am trying to convey.

Yes you're right, confusing was not the right word. I was thinking more about trying to search for something I'd missed. When I run into a dead end, not knowing where to go next, that entails going back through the map to see what I missed. In FW's larger maps this meant a lot of backtracking, because of course we now know that the various pieces are not interconnected (exceptions later on though - MAP06 in particular does require the backtracking), but I didn't realize this until several maps in. It was particularly frustrating when the missing switch/key was on a timer, so it was right under my nose but not visible yet, so of course I backtrack through the whole large map before coming back to the same place (because I've revisited everywhere else) and now there's something new (case in point, the MAP03 cyan key).

 

Speaking of Wormwood and interconnectedness, I think the contrast is most obvious with Revenge of Demon House, which was also large and required back and forth, but the way it's laid out, the way it allows you to see bits of the map far away depending on where you're standing and where switches are, helps you to see what's changing and where to go next.

 

On 12/27/2022 at 6:56 AM, Azure_Horror said:

The thing is, there is no need to do claustrophobic fights to create challenging encounters. With good layering of threats, even relatively spacious arenas can be deadly. Such design is abundant in @Deadwing's Ozonia, but it can also be a part of more difficult WADs.

That's a good point. It's been interesting actually, playing through this I keep making mental comparisons to MSCP. There were many frustrating moments I had with MSCP too, but I think most of the maps I enjoyed there were more spacious and with greater variety in enemy composition (I think one of the most memorable is that insane final arena on MAP14).

[Azure_Horror]

Running Late 2

Map 11 Break Room

DSDA-Doom, UV, pistol start, complevel  9

 

After a series of 3 unusual map, map 11 pesents a more familiar situation. We start with punching some skele-boxers, and after that go into exapnsive, semi-doomcute level like map 06.

 

They say that doom maps should not be flat! Flat maps are considered boring for some reason. Well, Running Late 2 proves this stereotype to be false. We had maps 06 and 07 and now we get map 11. Every map is relatively flat, and every one is fun.

 

All in all, Break Room provides a nice break (heh!) after more unusual maps 08, 09 and 10. My only complaint - the 4 Viles at the exit. Depending on placement of dead baron and player remaining HP total, this encounter can be very deadly. But this is a very minor sour spot in the otherwise wonderful map.

 

 

Map 12 Un-employed

DSDA-Doom, UV, pistol start, complevel  9

The map begins like yet another techbase crawl, only to transform into a expansive city map! And while the gameplay of the tech-basy section is just good, the cityscape section feels amazing. Kinda like a middle ground between Eviternity map 15 and some expansive Lost Civilization map!

 

The task is once again to find all the keys. But key arenas are only a minor part of the whole experience, IMHO. The main part is traversing the city, and engaging in incidental slaughter-esque brawls there.

 

But the map also has a carefully pre-set up fight too. The final battle at the tram station is an explosive slaughter encounter, with lots of mayhem, lots of demons and lots of power ups. This is not very hard fight, but it is better that way, IMHO. Easy, but grand slaughter battles are great rewards for long maps. After all, even Ribbiks', who is famed for his brutal combat trials, decided to end map03 of Wormwood III on a spectacular, but relatively easy Arachno-Cyber arena.

 

Un-employed is a another standout map. Spectacle and action are perfectly balanced. The map scale felt perfect, it is big enough to amaze, yet small enough to not get exhausting (more on that during Fractured Worlds write ups tomorrow).

 

 

Map 13 Need a Vacation

DSDA-Doom, UV, pistol start, complevel  9

 

Hey, I spotted a MIDI by the 2022 Doot-Award winner!

 

As for the map name - We all do, Doomguy, we all do...

BFG Slaughter section is wonderful in its uncompromising simplicity. Good Vanguard-inspired fun. A very compelling 4 cyber wave in the finale. One note to myself: Stop underestimating Plasma Security guards! They may be low-tier foes, but they are still pretty dangerous.

 

While this map is focused on one BFG fight, there is fun stuff outside of combat too. First, we get to revisit map 02, now in a quiet, moster-less state. But also we can skip the whole combat mess. To do this we need to find a red key in a dark corner of crate storage. Thanks, @Book Lord, for mentioning this.

 

 

Map 14 The End

DSDA-Doom, UV, pistol start, complevel  9

After being let go from his previous demon-slaying job, Security Doomguy landed a position as a mundane white collar employee. The End!

 

Or is it? Maybe this job is not mundane at all? Maybe, just maybe, Security Doomguy was not let go? Play this map to find out...

 

The player starts in a small "thanks for playing" location. But there is more than meets the eye, and there is more locations to discover...

In pure progression sense, this map is organized like Overboard map 07, or the post-Z1_E8 credit map from Knee Deep in KDiZD. But in this particular map, there is some actual combat involved. The fight is not too difficult, but I won't call it trivial either. Managing a horde of imps with some archvile support can be a bit tricky among all the office cubicles.

 

After the dust settles, one of the doors opens, and the actual end of level reveals itself.

 

 

Map 15 ...

DSDA-Doom, UV, pistol start, complevel  9

This mysterious eye is suspicious. And for the next few maps, it can be considered as a stand-in for management. Or maybe not. Every guess is as good as any other. For me personally, this feels like a very good piece of surrealism, in its original dream-like, beyond-realism sense*.

(Nowadays the term "surrealistic" often gets used as "it is weird by design, man!". But the OG surrealist artists used this term in a much more precise manner.)

 

 

Map 31 Heavy Press

DSDA-Doom, UV, pistol start, complevel  9

 

Like map 08, this map has gameplay with a strong vibe from Doom 1. But this time, we are talking less Shores of Hell and more Knee Deep in the Dead. Explosive small-scale fights, multiple passages between key locations, and moderate dose of verticality. Let me tell you - a combo of Vanguard and Doom1 E1 design patterns is a genius concept! Heavy Press proves this!

 

I am embarrassed to admit, but I was not able to find the secret exit without cheating. I completely missed the hint on the automap, despite praising the similar hint in Down the Drain map 31.

 

 

Map 32 Supply Closet

DSDA-Doom, UV, pistol start, complevel  9

 

This map can be considered a bigger sibling of maps 06 and 11. Again, we focus on big monster crowds in limiting, but still expansive hallways and rooms. Appropriately for an extra-hidden final map, Supply Closet feels like the most grand map of its type. More threats, more dark corners, more big guns, more archviles. And everything is wonderfully paced!

 

Also, there is a little Wormhole-like transition at the very end. It managed to catch me by surprise - only after defeating the final Vile wave, I understood that storage facility changed while I was fighting the cyber in the previous section...

 

Whatever, unpaid overtime for Security Doomguy is completed, and the next map is...

 

MAP16 The End for Real

See map name for explantion. The WAD is completed too!

 

I expected Running Late 2 to be a fun WAD. And I was not dissapointed. In fact, I liked the WAD much more than I have expected. But this is the story for another time. For now, I have 5 maps of Fractured Worlds to write about...

Edited December 28, 2022 by Azure_Horror

[Jacek Bourne]

Map05 Blind Playthrough from a year ago on UV:

 

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Jacek Bourne

[DFF]

Fractured Worlds: Map03 - On Electric Winds
FDWL (Prboom+), HMP, continuous 
K: 100 | I: 95 | S: 100

HMP feels much more manageable and a comfortable place to sit. Most major fights only result in a couple deaths if any. Most of the fights and exploration present was enjoyable, with the two best fights being the BFG seabed area and the bloodwater basin. In monochromatic mapsets like this I often find the map designs more identifiable in my mind than any of the detailing. While pretty in an abstract sense, because majority of the maps take on a black and cyan hue the areas that present other colors tend to stick in my mind better, such as: the tan cave segments, the purple secret fights, and the red water feature. Back on the topic of those fights, The bloodwater basin was a simple but well designed arena. The concept of using the boom trickery to make the water passable was cool, even if maybe underutilized here as the side area with the switches was used for majority of the imp encounter. The BFG sandbar arena was nice due to telegraphing the challenge and being a bit more straightforward and active. The other little fights in the map ranged from fair to clever.

The one arena i did not care for was the final cyberdemon strobe hallway, which felt like a rehash of the cyberdemon dojo in map02 but much more annoying and clunky. For one the area is a bit wider but there is less maneuverability due to the floor gaps. This and the main arena feature being that you and the monsters teleport across these gaps. This resulted in a confusing mess of a fight where I often died while running out of room or being killed by projectiles while teleporting. The teleport destinations are pretty granularized based on position but don't feel quite so clean in the transition, and this may be a boom thing but when teleported the player is frozen in place for a good half second, meaning you are vulnerable to any of the several launched projectiles coming near you, as well as any almost launched projectiles thanks to A_FaceTarget triggering right before firing, meaning I often got slapped immediately after teleporting. It still would feel like a copy of the fight in map02 (Cybers vs nobles) but more pallettable to me if the gaps were just free-moving fake sectors and lacked the teleportation.

Otherwise the map was good, I enjoyed a bit more of the exploration elements here over the previous two maps. Other than the final fight the only arena i had issue with was the secret fight. It was a really cool setpiece arena but felt underwhelming for the effort of finding the two secrets needed to access it. While sometimes annoying to access, generally I like the concept of the secret fights. Gives as more interesting goal for my secret hunting and i like the change over to pink accents for these areas, makes them more memorable. On the topic of secrets majority of those present in this map were also a tad underwhelming, relegated to kind of easy to find alcoves or more tiny switch hunting. The most interesting was some serious sam-esque bonuses I found stashed on a side ledge in the corner of the map after climbing over some map geometry, and that wasn't even a secret. Small switch hunting is not my least favorite type of secret by any means, but the difference between the pink key and the berserk on the wall is a good contrast, where one is in a slightly out of notice area that requires some intrigue and exploration to locate, or map searching, and the other looks like an out-of-place lever switch that was easy to spot and almost looked thrown in for the sake of it. Either way, pretty enjoyable overall.

Rankings:
 

Spoiler

Fractured Worlds:
Map03 - On Electric Winds
Map01 - Tomahawk

Map02 - Midnight Tengu

Running Late 2:
MAP05 - Rooftop Rampage
MAP10 - Overtime

MAP03 - Under Construction

MAP04 - Oil Rigged
MAP08 - Graveyard Shift
MAP09 - Crate Temple 2
MAP06 - Rough Commute

MAP01 - Drip
MAP02 - Chinatown Beatdown
MAP07 - Dead on Arrival

 

Overboard:

MAP06 - Seaside Siege
MAP02 - Skeleton Coast
MAP05 - Archi-Pelago
MAP03 - Depth Charge
MAP01 - Cruisin' UAC
MAP04 - Cacotoa

 

[Azure_Horror]

Fractured Worlds

Maps 01 02 03 04 - tomorrow.

 

Map 05 The Starlit Core in Meltdown

DSDA-Doom, pistol start, complevel 9

HNTR Difficulty

 

If there would be prizes for most magical, most metal, or most over-the-top name, this map would be a strong contender for all three! The music is also great, and visuals are good too. The teal tecno-castle setting is beutiful and mysterious.

 

However, I think that maps from Tangerine Nighmare are better in monochrome overwordly castle department. I must say, if The Starlit Core was as pretty as maps from Tangerine Nightmare, it would be among my favorite maps of all time by its artistic presentation alone...

 

At this point of the WAD, even HNTR reaches UV Sunlust level of challenge. This HNTR corresonds to maps-01-09 of UV Sunlust, but still, we are in hardcore challenge territory. Some deadly floor pits seem to have no escapes too, which was not the case in early maps on HNTR.

 

Like @brick noted above, this map has much more variety in composition of its battles. Apart from viles, nobles and cybers, there are also cacos, mancubi and others... There even a pinky-vile combo (this comp is simple, but naturally tricky to fight. I am a bit surprised, that this combo gets used so rarely...) So one of my main complaints about the WAD is not valid for this map. Wonderful!

 

As far as fights go, the red key battle proved to be the trickiest. HNTR replaces archviles with revenants, and also provides a BFG at this point, but strong hell noble hordes and narrow walkways over the abyss are challenging even with those adjustments. And don't get me started on those two mini-cybers, which join the fray in the second half of the fight...

 

By contrast, the final fight seems to be pretty chill. After the wave of archviles is destroyed, the mix of mancubi, cybers and nobles is far less dangerous than it may appear on paper. All three types of demons are strong infighters, and the arena has plenty of room to move around. The infighting reigns supreme!

 

Surprisingly enough, it looks like the final fight is not much different on UV. I only watched @Jacek Bourne's video, however it seems that the UV version of this battle is pretty close to HNTR in its principle. The space is realtively abundant, and enemy crossfire is not as deadly as it could have been in a fight of this caliber. I think that the final UV battle of map 04 was harder...

 

To conclude, this was a very, very solid map. While On Electric Winds still keeps the title of the prettiest map in the WAD, The Starlit Core holds its own by being the more well-rounded experience. And also by virtue of its super-cool name!

Edited December 29, 2022 by Azure_Horror
some grammar and phrasing corrected

[Andromeda]

10 hours ago, KickAss said:

Yes you have to "straferun" over the pedestals in direction to the red key card from the right to the left hand. I have something on my mind that prohibits "strafrunning" for vanilla DooM ][ wads, if it should be a vanilla DooM ][ wad. Every DooM ][ wad should be designed like you  have not to use jumping or strafrunning to exit the level. That is imho a strange point with this great level for DooM ][.

Straferunning isn't needed, regular running is enough fortunately.

 

[Pseudonaut]

Fractured Worlds
Map03:
I don't really feel like writing right now, so let me just say that this map is really cool (as are the previous ones). The fights aren't really that hard individually, even if doing all of it in a saveless run would be a herculean task. Then again, every fight feels easy ever since I played Dimensions map03...

 

 

[Jacek Bourne]

5 hours ago, Azure_Horror said:

I only watched @Jacek Bourne's video

 

Thanks for watching my video!

[RHhe82]

MAP06: The Outermost. Played on DSDA v0.24, HNTR, PS. 412/412 K, 6/6 S, 43/43 I. Completion time 50:55.

 

Alright, HTNR really pays off, I get to play fights that are hard for me, but I don't end up feeling helpless. The early parts of the level feel perhaps even too easy in comparison to something we've seen before. The cramped bowel fight with the RK is slightly challenging, but it's not until the cacocloud with cyber-mancubi turrets that I was being tested and I had to border on savescum territory with my midfight saves.

 

I really love the change of scenery, by the way. The Outermost moves into the intestine aesthetics of Inferno and makes it really work. It's not the craziest I've seen, perhaps, but very well done nonetheless.

 

And speaking of aesthetics... The secret area. I sighed with relief when I could find the purple key, and I sighed when I thought I had found the cyan key. Although I guess it was a white key, because at the end with the death exit there is a cyan switch. I look around a little and find a switch at the intestine section and a curious little teleporter that takes me to the most jaw-droppingly curious place, which at first frightens me with platforming sections, but that's actually bearable (I assume Nirvana has implemented difficulties affecting platforming sections, too). And I was thinking of why would he give us BFG and cells, what is this, Doom Slayer afterlife where we get to have our most loved items. And then... I'll just say that my recorded kill count is 100%, but in actuality the truth is slightly different beast. Very frightening, and I'm not sure if I'm more happy than surprised the void demons didn't follow me through the portal back to real world.

 

And what do I get -- a non-death exit to MAP07. I expected a way to a secret level. Is this intentional or am I suffering from some sort of bug?

[Nefelibeta]

24 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

And what do I get -- a non-death exit to MAP07. I expected a way to a secret level. Is this intentional or am I suffering from some sort of bug?

You can do something with the rocket launcher that you carry over.

[brick]

23 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

And what do I get -- a non-death exit to MAP07. I expected a way to a secret level. Is this intentional or am I suffering from some sort of bug?

I think it's intentional. MAP06 has 2 exits, the normal one is a death exit, but if you have... I can't remember which key, right next to the death exit teleporter you can open a passage to a secret that leads to a normal non-death exit. They both still send you to MAP07. You have to warp to MAP31 to do the guest maps (and finishing them takes you to MAP16, which as far as I can tell is an exact replica of MAP07).

[RHhe82]

20 minutes ago, Nefelibeta said:

You can do something with the rocket launcher that you carry over.

 

 

18 minutes ago, brick said:

I think it's intentional. MAP06 has 2 exits, the normal one is a death exit, but if you have... I can't remember which key, right next to the death exit teleporter you can open a passage to a secret that leads to a normal non-death exit. They both still send you to MAP07. You have to warp to MAP31 to do the guest maps (and finishing them takes you to MAP16, which as far as I can tell is an exact replica of MAP07).

 

Okay, that settles it, good! I actually found out something (one thing, I don't know if there are more) I could indeed do with the rocket launcher in MAP07, but I still found myself doubting if that's the sole reason :-D It's the cyan key you need by the regular MAP06 exit to access the other one. And the one to access the strange place... I guess it's the white key? That'd be appropriate anyway.

[Azure_Horror]

Ha-ha, playin' too many hard maps distorts one's perspective...

I re-read what I wrote in my previous post, and it sounds very elitist:

Quote

 

Map 05 HNTR Difficulty

...

By contrast, the final fight seems to be pretty chill.

After the wave of archviles is destroyed, ...

 

Yeah, yeah, super chill fight. Which involves casually destroying a wave of Archviles! And that's on HNTR!

Without context, this sounds like passive-agressive bragging.

 

So let me provide some context:

- On HNTR, the final fight provides a megasphere, a supercharge and a megarmor right at the start, and an additional megasphere later. With those resources, you can get zapped four times, and you will still be completely fine.

- The wave of archviles includes only few angry martians, and you have the BFG at this point. The viles can be destroyed one-by-one. There is no crazy rush, like in the Vile fight of map 02.

- The arena is big, and has convinient bulky structures for cover. In this situation can avoid most of zaps just by hiding and keeping away. And don't forget about the BFG...

- Finally, if you got this far into HNTR Fractured Worlds, you already dealt with some pretty hardcore archvile setups on maps 02 and 04. The idea of "archvile wave" does not sound too outlandish at this point.

 

So that particular archvile wave is indeed not as scary as it sounds. Still, as I said earlier, Fractured Worlds map 05 on HNTR feels comparable to early Sunlust maps on UV. It is hard map indeed. But not as hard as it may appear from a distance. But I still suggest playing it with saves, even on HNTR.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Azure_Horror

[NiGHTS108]

13 hours ago, KickAss said:

+++ Mutiny

 

Mutiny was already done back in December of 2016, sorry :(

[NiGHTS108]

- Fractured Worlds -

 

MAP01: Tomahawk

Kills: 100%

Items: 88%

Secrets: 66%

Time: 11:37

 

Pretty cool introduction to Fractured Worlds. This wad's first map can feel a little abrasive as Nirvana definitely tosses you in the deep end and expects you to deal with it. Definitely one of the hardest MAP01's I've seen for sure. The Cyberdemon placements are pretty cool, the weak 1000 health Cyberdemon (Which this wad personally dubs "Baby Cyberdemon" which is hilarious because it implies Cybers only change colour to a deeper shade of blue as they get older and nothing else) in the middle of the central vat of new model cyan coloured nukage is pretty neat. Not that scary but I like him being there. I even for some reason enjoy the ones in the tight corridor later on and in the voidscape ending. They're neat! The Arch-Viles I'm sadly less fond of, idk if I played like ass but I found I was pretty low on health throughout the majority of this map and random Arch-Viles teleporting in I wasn't really wild about. I dislike it a lot less than how I'm describing it though. Not much to say here, pretty short little map that I quite enjoyed... except there is a gimmick with Fractured Worlds I haven't discussed. If you have a keen eye for secrets (or were just told about it like I was) you may discover a handful of purple switches. In every playable map in this wad, there's a secret purple key which opens up a little optional fight. These aren't really traditional secrets as much as little bonuses for UV-Max players it seems. I did find what to do pretty easily in this map and I hope the other purple fights aren't as hard to find, but I'm ready to draw a map to the fight in maps ahead of time if it gets too much. My main concern is that's going to be very soon as I'm hopeless in noticing secrets in wads that look like this. (Spoiler alert, it gets too much very soon.)

 

Grade: A-

Difficulty: B

 

 

[Monsieur E]

Map04: "Hyperspeed Descent"
384/384 kills, 5/5 secrets

To get the elephant out of the room, this map hides its secret purple key and its corresponding fight in one of the worst ways imaginable. You have to fire at a very missable purple switch from a certain point in the starting room which on its own I wouldn't mind, except if you leave the starting room without doing so, you have lost your only chance to actually accomplish this. Usually in prior maps and in the map immediately after this one, the point of no return was towards the end of the map. The fact that this secret hides an interesting and well crafted encounter makes this even worse. It's not that the secret is easy to miss, it's decently signposted infact, it's more so that it is blocked off later.

In regards to the fight itself, you press switches to bring in a group of a certain enemy which you can summon several at once for infighting. The strongest enemy here is the teal cyberdemon who you have to weaken through infighting enough that you can reliably punch him to death with berserk. This fight is pretty interesting since you have to ensure a certain balance between infighting resolving in an unbalanced fashion leaving the surviving group too strong and therefore make berserk fighting them difficult. Furthermore the arena itself looks really good. The repeating pink pattern of the floors and ceiling helps highlighting enemies against the rest of the pitch dark floor and the void skybox. Furthermore, this fight gives you a plasma rifle as your reward. Reading the textfile, the reason why the secret is designed such was a result of wanting the fight to be berserk-centric and for UV-Maxers to do the fight properly, which while it doesn't redeem the secret for me, I understand why it was so.

Returning to the map itself, I found the first half of it rather invocative of D-D's style of combat with its relatively narrow progression with brutal close quarters ambushes with modest monster counts. One particular highlight stands out to me is the encounter close to turret cyberdemon in the corridor with two hell noble pairs on the sides while two revenants teleport into the very claustrophobic area. It's a deceivingly simple setup that works remarkably well and on my second playthrough of the map where I looked up the pink key (I did the first half twice, once knowing the pink key secret and the first without), the plasma rifle made a difference which I found a great way to reward those who found the secret. Another simple yet brutal setup was the hell knight arena overlooked by two archviles whose line of sights were blocked by a wall on a timer. 

After the red key fight, I think the map is much less difficult. The four cyberdemon fight was a fun infight setup and I like how the change to red floor telegraphs the incoming archvile wave. Although on my second run, I did cheese the archvile wave a bit because right before the archviles teleport in, the stairs raise again and you can quickly leave and use the cyberdemons to get rid of the archviles without breaking a sweat. I like how the map loops around a bit and reuses certain areas, with my favorite being the sudden appearance of the final arena when you flip a switch. I also like how you can see the cyan key area from the start of the map. I think while visually I think this map isn't quite as good as the maps which preceded it, I like the color coordination with parts of the map in red while the rest are in blue. 

The hell noble archvile crescent is again a lot of fun and a good way to use the BFG tactically to maximize its utility in a tight space, although I ended up cheesing it because I got archvile jump'd up. And I like the entire cyan key sequence, with a particular favorite of mine being the cyan key room itself, alone in the cold void. But the map lays all of its cards down for the final arena. I think the relative downtime post red key is compensated for by the final stretch and in this final arena. You have to juggle four cyberdemons on damaging floors while hell nobles are ranked on a pyramid firing at you with each step gradually lowering bringing its inhabitants onto the main floor and towards the end teal cyberdemons join in on the mayhem. Cyberdemons will return back into the arena if their infight partner teleported onto the main floor and they become an active hazard, you have to decide how many to spare for the infighting, for my part I chose to weaken all of them while getting rid of one altogether so that they can go down by the time the teal cyberdemons pour in. You can only get extra bulk cells after the teal cyberdemons leave the rooms which hold them so you have to conserve your cells and fire only when needed to thin the crowd if you deem it overwhelming. Finally, you only get three radsuits, two of which are in teal cyberdemon rooms and you have a chance of getting trapped in their if timed improperly. To top this encounter of, there are two pairs of archviles at the end who can easily lay you to waste. This is one of Fractured World's most deadly yet enjoyable setups so far. After completing this map, you enter a pitch dark void facing a fountain, walking towards which ends the map (or if you walk backwards, you can return to the map for any cleanup :p).

For all its faults, Hyperspeed Descent is still a great level and a solid continuation of Fractured World's winstreak.


Map05: "The Starlit Core In Meltdown"
729/729 kills, 6/6 secrets

I think I keep repeating myself when I talk about FW's visuals and how beautiful they look. But wow, Map05 looks stunning even for FW's very high standards. Infact, it might be one of the most beautiful doom maps I've seen so far. The feeling of gradually traversing this azure castle, into its spectacular techbase underbelly, to reach the titular starlit core.

The first segment inside the castle akin structure while still good, the platforming can get tedious occasionally, just not much of a platforming fan. But I like how it uses a rather contained section where you keep gradually raising the verticality and opening new sections. Ammo isn't handed out freely either and with the arenas where you can easily get swarmed, you're encouraged to perform effective infighting. The hell noble-cacodemon section overlooked by two teal cyberdemons stood out, and I also like to imagine the cacodemons (and later pain elementals) emerging out of the wells. Another encounter I really liked was the one in the plasma rifle room since while it does seem straight forward, there are revenants and archviles which will immediately wreck havoc if you fire a single shot and the most effective weapon to deal with them is blocked by the teal cyberdemon and a crowd of teleporting imps. Furthermore, the teal cyberdemon will actually end up dying before it cleans up the imp crowd so you have to maintain a balance where enough imps are provoked for infighting but not so many that the cyberdemon dies early leaving a large imp crowd to corner you with the revenant-archvile squads. 

I think the RL room can actually be trivialized if you hide in the little section near the blue skull door since the revenants are away from view and there's enough space there to maneuver around the hell knight projectiles, plus it gives you a megasphere beforehand. Continuing on you get the massive brawl in the circular room where pressing switches deploys a teal cyberdemon alongside a squad of archviles while other enemies teleport in. This is another fun setup since you can try to get the teal cyberdemon to infight and pick off the opposing archviles one by one to minimize your chance of getting burnt and the fight after the final switch is pressed, lowering all the walls revealing a regular cyberdemon and a bunch of enemies, which provides a fun challenge.

The penultimate fight is arguably harder than the final fight, forcing you to push back against a crowd of imps and hell knights closing in on you from both sides. There are archviles behind the pillars that prevent you from just camping on either corner, not that I found it effectively either way since the space isn't enough for it either. A megasphere is located in the center and the only other soulsphere is separated by a small platforming section which stands atop a death pit, not that I needed that soulsphere fortunately. Furthermore, the arena itself is rather narrow which makes it so the enemies don't spread out thin to have you simply probe for a weakness and push through immediately, only making that viable towards the end when the center has become indefensible. Towards the end of the fight, a bunch of barons spawn in and the columns open up revealing cyberdemons in them, if you were pushed towards these areas by the hell knights and using it to grind them down, you have to maneuver quickly before you get trapped by them back to the center. After this, they usually infight with the cyberdemons and you can just wait it out then. The arena looks beautiful too with the pulsating cyan indicating you have arrived near the core.

Continuing towards the core itself, I would remised if I did not mention how beautiful this entire section looks. The path towards the arena with the hexagonal cyan tiles and the actual core arena itself are just stunning. However, before you jump into the final fight, catch the purple key and go plunging into damaging floor to enter the secret purple key fight. But before you enter the fight proper, notice the "no rocket launcher" drawn on the floor. If you fire any rockets or with any other weapon I've seen, you'll blow up certain barrels which will explode alongside other barrels blocking all the teleporters and lower the pen the teal cyberdemons are locked in, practically making the fight overbearing. However, the teal cyberdemon rockets can be fired so that they particularly explode a certain set of barrels to allow only a certain teleporter to open up and let the opposition roll out. Eventually, the pen will lower on its own and all the enemies will start spawning in alongside a few regular cyberdemons. Furthermore, the central pen's borders now teleport enemies to a further point spreading them out and have them ambush you while you attempt to avoid them. There's also damaging floor on the perimeter which reduces the play area for you to maneuver in and the rad suits, alongside the BFG and medkits, are located in the central pen area under a purple helix, honestly during my successful attempt, there were almost always teal cyberdemons in that area so I didn't even bother. This fight is a lot of fun and I like the cool gimmick.

The final fight is honestly pretty straightforward, manage infighting and you're equipped with a BFG and enough ammo to bail out of tough situations. The hardest part of this fight was honestly the pre-encounter archvile wave because of how spread out they were since they can ignite you and aren't grouped together for convenient BFG hits, although you could do that. I like how the lights go out once you press the ending switch as the core goes into meltdown as implied by the title.

The Starlit Core In Meltdown is well presented with some enjoyable setpieces, yet had a few situations I wasn't too big on, but this map feels more than the sum of its parts. Another home run for FW as we move towards its home stretch.

[finnks13]

My apologies if these are more ramble-y and unfocused than normal, it's late here :P

~~~

 

MAP05 - The Starlit Core in Meltdown: 

32:53/26 Deaths
The trend of the odd numbered Fractured Worlds maps being fantastic continues with The Starlit Core in Meltdown, which is a great time. Given that the majority of the textures used in this map are cyan, this map looks absolutely gorgeous, with other, darker colours used for great effect as contrast. I'm glad that Nirvana has felt the need to mix-up the visual style of the wad over and over again, as while every map in this set has looked fantastic, it's always nice to see a new setting and you're kept guessing where the next map is going to take place in due to the large variety in themes. The other theme of this map is *cool* fights, from the start the set-pieces feel very varied in their monster compositions and scale with some of the smaller ones being some of my favourite moments in the map, and still feeling like they were supposed to be memorable encounters without taking up much of the monster count. Two of these that I found particularly memorable were the little pinky & archvile encounter near the start, as well as the precarious mini cyber & demon fight that takes place just before you get to the red key.

 

The key fights were great, the cyan key fight reminds me of some of the most fun encounters in Sunlust, where a slightly unusally shaped room gets filled with monsters from increasingly silly monster closets (that seem to function more like clown cars with how much is stuffed in there), and the right amount of aggression and herding is required to make it through without tearing your hair out. The blue key fight is a multi-layered wave ambush where each press of a switch reveals a teal cyber, a few archviles and a different variety of baddies in the outer-ring of the arena to prevent you from just running away too easily - you've also got surprisingly little ammo here, I ran out of rockets & shells at the end because I didn't infight enough. The red key fight is a balancing act of rocketing imps & hell knights over a death pit, with not quite enough space to feel comfortable and I liked the risk that is taking out the perched archviles near the edges of the arena since it takes precious time to kill them, but the safe-ground gained by doing so can make the difference in a pinch.

 

The only part of the map I didn't particularly like was the secret fight, which I feel like I just didn't understand to be honest. At first I thought the challenge would be to dodge rockets for long enough without destroying the barrels, but doing so doesn't do anything (I think, I got bored of doing this after a while) and after a point I just decided to not bother engaging with the gimmick and just letting everything spawn in at once, provoking a small war to start and cleaning up the rest with the BFG while trying not to get immensely frustrated with all the teleporting cyberdemons. Thankfully, the finale makes up for it by being a very entertaining, if pretty easy, infighting and herding puzzle against an absolutely jaw-dropping background.

 

Overall, The Starlit Core in Meltdown is an excellent map that hopefully sets us up for a strong final chapter.

 

MAP06 - The Outermost:

28:01/14 Deaths
I thought this was a really cool finale, with the "Fractured Worlds" name being the most relevant here since the map is a mish-mash of various themes that seem to have been smashed together in some sort of horrible time-rift between realities. Seeing a flesh cave with the cyan liquid pouring everywhere feels very odd and out of left-field considering the techy surroundings that comprise most of the other maps, but I think it really worked to create something genuinely quite unsettling. Equally ominous is the void that the starting area looks out upon with just one red tree in the distance showing signs of life. This map is also significantly more red than the rest of the levels, which feels fitting for a finale, but also a bit off-putting as the red clashes quite a lot with the palette of the other maps and I feel like that sensation was completely intended.

 

Weirdly enough for a finale, I found this the easiest of the maps - not that I'm complaining, the combat here is very fun and I will always prefer a map that is fun and perhaps a little too easy over a map that's an overly difficult, miserable slog. At the start you've got to dance with an archvile and a load of revenants with just the SSG and a few carefully placed barrel "bombs" that will take out anything nearby. I really like the ambushes that come afterwards, they all feature archviles quite prominently but don't become "assassinate the archvile to win" which I think is quite an achievement. The flesh cave is my favourite area in the map, the organic environment really lends itself to fun and frantic fights and the timed fight for the red key is tense and absolutely brilliant.

 

After some searching, and a small trip to the wiki, I found both the purple key, which hides a very entertaining little fight, which I brute-forced with rockets and the super secret white key which leads to an incredibly cool secret area. Made with fully black & white textures, this area looks stunning and... alien, even for this wad's standards. You have to go through a small scavenger hunt for a few more white keys, and after picking up them all around 350 "void cacodemons" emerge from the darkness, for a fight that I can only describe as "absolutely bloody terrifying". They are very fast, and fire even faster and blend in perfectly with a lot of the surroundings - thankfully they don't have much health but a horde that large can close in on you fast, surrounding you and cutting you to pieces. It's a spectacular moment, and a highlight of the whole wad for sure.

 

The finale felt a little low-key to me as I was playing it, but reflecting on it now, it feels like the perfect conclusion to the wad. A cross-fire between teal cybers, with the player being forced to balance on very uneven, precarious ground as monsters engage you from all sides. Getting health is quite difficult due to the construction of the arena, and the size of the cacodemon corpses can lead to cyberdemon rockets catching you by surprise. I also think this area looks gorgeous, the arena's made of loads of differently coloured hexagons with a view out into space through the large windows on the sides of the map.

 

Fractured Worlds' main event is just fantastic, and I am so glad it sticks the landing with this incredible finale. Bravo Nirvana!

 

MAP07 - Dreams of a Higher Being:
A peaceful yet sinister blocking map, using a spooky MIDI that I've only come across in Community Chest 2. Those eyes staring at you from the darkness are very creepy...

[Jacek Bourne]

Map06 and 07 Playthrough with Saves on UV:

 

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Jacek Bourne

[RHhe82]

MAP31: Dark Matter. Played on DSDA v0.24, HNTR, PS. 391/391 K, 3/3 S, 11/162 I. Completion time 28:37.

 

At first Dark Matter rubbed me the wrong way, even though Scotty is one of those names in this community whose maps I've grown to really appreciate. I guess the problem is a bit similar than those maps that suggest tyson play: I'll be trying really hard to conserve ammo long after the map has started to provide me with ammo. Only in this case, the setting in the first combat encounter suggest very puzzly gameplay. I would try very hard to not alert monsters myself, especially the pain elementals. You can easily deal with the first area with SSG the map provides very kindly along with more than enough shells.

 

Anyhow, I watch a Youtube video on how to solve at least the first puzzle only to discover there really isn't a puzzle, just deal with the enemies as you normally would. After that pain subsides and I get to enjoy Scotty's outing that never again frustrates me unintelligibly.

 

I loved the use of invuln spheres in the secret area -- the void backdrop looks really cool, even if it robs me of 100% items! For some reason I struggled in the secret fight, even when it's quite easy in theory. For some reason the hell noble bastards would surprisingly easily throw their balls at the barrels sitting on glowing red lights. Once I realized I really had to stay on the other side, use BFG to clear the other batch of nobles and rocket away the rest.

 

Liked this one, despite the first impressions.

[Book Lord]

MAP 31 – Dark Matter by @Scotty

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, HMP, Pistol start, blind run w/saves

 

I have played a lot of Scotty levels and I was sure I could find some comfort in playing his guest entry in Fractured Worlds. A computer screen explained the “UAC barrel management v. 66.6” a.k.a. the gimmick of the day. There were several clusters of barrels found during the encounters, which must be preserved until a switch action turned the light from red to cyan; blowing them up too early caused an unbearable monster surge that could not be dominated with the resources in the map.

 

After some Arch-Vile trickeries the map branched in two paths: YK arena in the south-west and BK segment to the east. The first was rather straightforward but required to keep an eye on the distant snipers that could hit Doomguy from their elevated spots. The other direction was longer and started with two waves of monsters up and down a staircase and ended with a curious gimmick fight. It required hopping between platforms while shooting monsters and avoid blowing up the barrels in the middle, until the crucial switch was pressed.

Spoiler

The two keys allowed me to dispose of the barrels in the centre of the level and take the RK, but a troublesome group of enemies was unleashed. A mystical force granted me a BFG via a voodoo doll, but cells had been expended in the previous fights and the Arch-Vile quartet behind a flock of Pain Elementals required more than a few precise shots to bring an end to their lethal attacks. This was for sure the hardest moment, but also the single Arch-Vile & Revenant fight in the upper room with invisible floor was no cakewalk. The pillars were thin and the metal grid around them deceived me repeatedly while fighting the aggressive duo.

Spoiler

The last arena was quite large considering the number of monsters involved, but as usual I must keep Cyberdemon rockets away from the barrels until the CK appeared. After changing the light to cyan, dispatching the last Arch-Vile sandwich, and reaching the normal exit, a careful observer might also have found the purple keycard to reach the super-secret level. The arena looked great with those floating Invulnerabilities (goodbye 100% items), and again it was about keeping projectiles away from the barrels. A combination of BFG spam and rockets was successful against the Hell Knights, then I resorted to two-shooting Cyberdemons, a discipline where I have always been lacking. Dark Matter was a different experience from the rest of the megaWAD, a challenging level that did not cross the line that marks the end of my enjoyment. I sincerely liked the barrel gimmick, and most of the encounters as well, including the secret Cyberdemon tunnel which was hilarious. Thanks for contributing, Scotty!