The DWmegawad Club plays: I C H I N I C H I

[_goofyguy]

MAP26 - Aka Desu

Fairly linear map, though certainly not bad. Pretty entertaining, nice decor, not much pizzazz to it, especially the ending.

MAP27 - Regenerations
This map is HUGE. There's so much more exploration and backtracking compared to the last level. What lets it down is how easy it is. The vast majority of fights, even the last one with two mancubi, can be skipped by simply walking by. If there was a trigger that, say, a door would open if all monsters were killed, that would make it near impossible to just jog right by. Still a nice level.

[Celestin]

MAP28: Castle of Corruption

 

Finally, some challenge. I find MAP28 to be the hardest one in Ichinichi. Castle of Corruption starts with a tough fight in a courtyard against monsters attacking from every direction and not that much health to patch your wounds. There's also a cyberdemon in a corner, so gearing up was my first priority. There's a plasma rifle, guarded by an ambush of pain elementals, mancubi and other foes in a rather small room - surprisingly hard if you're low on health. With a proper weapon, you can take out the cyberdemon and start progressing the map. 

 

The goal is to find three switches that lower the blue key, each releases three revenants. Do yourself a favour and find a secret BFG, you'll want it to clear monsters without trouble. While we're at it, there's also a secret yellow key. It activates crushers that kill four archviles at the end. The map looks great, with the predominantly red textures reminding me of the later half of No Rest for The Living.

[Spectre01]

MAP21 - “Brisk”

This one's a banger - cool layout and consistent theme with the switches opening various fights. The visuals are great too, tastefully combining the vanilla Hell textures.
 

MAP22 - “Embedded”
I don't like how the Plasma Rifle is off to the side like that. The player is gonna have a bad time if they miss it. Also,  the number of lifts is not the best for smooth navigation. Otherwise, I like the contrast between the white rock outdoors and red underground.
 

MAP23 - “Tech Gone Naughty”
Straight line techbase to the end and back. The unleashed Viles provide the most resistance of this wad yet, especially with all the hitscanner chip damage going around. My health got dangerously low, but the Megasphere secret is a good way to top up.  
 

MAP24 - “Epping”
Very Plutonia with the low monster count and lack of significant fodder enemies. The Cyber is mostly harmless, with his rockets hitting the barrier while your plasma easily travels over. The final area with the sector trees and Revenant grave looks really nice.
 

MAP25 - “Putrid”
Not a fan of shotgunning that Baron at the start or the Mastermind that shows up later. On the upside, there are plenty of rockets in the 2nd half of the map, though shells are still pretty scarce. I like the usage of those light, square textures combined with the nukeage.

[UUN4]

MAP28: Castle of Corruption

UV | Pistol start | No saves

K: 101% | I: 100% | S: 100%

The first part definitely took me a few tries to map out a route, but with a bit of practice it was satisfying to nail down; the baron of hell also usually died to infighting from imps and arachnotrons which I thought was kinda funny. From there, the automap helped with finding the secret BFG, megaarmor, and backpack, all of which helped smooth things out (especially with making the cyberdemon fight relatively trivial; I think when I beat the level he ended up infighting the monsters below him and was idle before I hit him with the BFG). I found all the fights pretty fun to chew on (the plasma gun room in particular fires some dopamine into my brain by being able to kill everything with the BFG), and groups of 3 revenants jumpscaring you when you press each of the skull switches to grab the blue key. Arguably one of the more memorable fights was teleporting into the quadruple arch-vile room which was made manageable with the BFG (out of panic I didn't use the secret yellow key for the crushers, and I only activated them after the fight out of curiosity). Overall I think this was one of the WAD's most fun maps. The castle aesthetic is also pretty neat.

[Horus]

Since Realms of Chaos 25th Anniversary Edition is currently leading the vote, I wanted to clarify with @dobu gabu maru that it would indeed be eligible since it is an update of the original Realms of Chaos which was already played by the club in 2013.

 

Judging by the text below from the DW thread, I’d lean towards it being different enough to be eligible but interested in dobu’s thoughts:

 

“This revised and recharged version of the classic wad features new graphics and sprites, an included DeHacked patch with original story sequences and automap names, and a major facelift to every single map with permission from the original creators. The fights are badder, the progression is clearer, the lighting is sharper - but the original soul is wholly intact, and it remains 100% vanilla compatible!”

[Celestin]

@Horus out of curiosity I checked MAP01 of both the original and 25th Anniversary Edition. It's mostly the same level, with a different final area, additional visual flair and some minor changes in the monster placement. Personally, it stretches the "no replaying wads" rule a bit too much. Maybe it gets more distinct later on, someone who knows Realms of Chaos better than me should be the judge.

[TheMightyWhoosh]

MAP28 thoughts, comments and spoilers below:

 

Spoiler

The mapping progression here flowed pretty well.

 

I find secrets that do not contain power-ups and ammo pretty fascinating, so the idea of a secret key (a secret, in a secret, in another secret) to simply squash some Archviles was pretty fun to create. 

I believe this map also pushed the boundaries of the 24 hour rule. 

 

[VoanHead]

I only participated once in the DWMC but silently lurked since I wanted to catch up and play other pwads instead, but if RoC 25th is gonna be done next month fuck it I'm down. Altough admittedly I played the first 5 maps already, Cammy made sure to deliver quality and improved maps from the OG (also admittedly played like halfway through that one a handful of years ago, but I dropped it which I don't remember why I did).

[dobu gabu maru]

5 hours ago, Horus said:

Since Realms of Chaos 25th Anniversary Edition is currently leading the vote, I wanted to clarify with @dobu gabu maru that it would indeed be eligible since it is an update of the original Realms of Chaos which was already played by the club in 2013.

 

I would say it is eligible. It certainly is an edge case but considering that it's a blend of remake & remaster (as well as having been played 10 years ago by an entirely different group of clubgoers), I'm gonna allow it. I know the Bagrow maps have gotten a pretty extensive facelift/redesign but looking through it, even the Berkowitz stuff has different room geometry and enemy placement (amidst new textures & music of course), which is plenty different in my eyes. The rule is there more for the sake of preventing folks from voting for Alien Vendetta or Scythe year in year out.

Edited November 28, 2023 by dobu gabu maru

[espilka]

MAP29 Pop - K: 100% / S: 100% (UV, continuous)

 

Even if clearly the main event of the map is the final against the hordes on the outside perimeter of and the three Cyberdemons inside the base, i do like the care that has been taken to build up the progression and the areas through which it is effected.  In short, i happily remembered the secret Invulnerability sphere, and saved it for the Cybies, after killing everyone outside - the amount of enemies is daunting, but just running in a circle around the base will likely result in a deathless massacre.  After which i went in, grabbed the Invul and managed to BFG9000 two of the three Cybies with it, and finished the third off, who kind of kept hiding on the other side or something, separately, playing hide'n'seek with him around the pillars.

 

Final three enemies guarding the exit are the Spidermommy and two flying potatoheads, all in good fun.  There's also a final Mega Armor and a Soulsphere to pick up to enter the final map with some boosted confidence.  Even with three Cyberdemons and semi-slaughter scene outside, this is by far not the hardest map, nor presenting the toughest situations of the wad (at least if one first finds it and then uses the secret Invul correctly), which is interesting, but presenting very different style of gameplay and challenge, and i think as such it's a fantastic penultimate map.  A lot of tense action, which if something goes wrong will surely kill, but never getting grindy or mean, nor boring, which for me in maps of this type is often the case.  And now all that's left is the dreaded IoS - this really has gone by very quickly!

[cannonball]

MAP28 - “Castle of Corruption”

 

This one is pretty fun, the quartuplet of archviles look scary but I simply cheese the fight thanks to the way the maps are set up in regards to monsters being able to hear you. The rest of the map is solid, the start is quite hectic, the cyber isn't too badly placed and you are flush with cells when you finally the plasma gun side area. Again there is an issue beyond the blue door regarding tepid fights and also you can hit the switches without any need to take the lift to the upper platform. Otherwise this was one of the better maps of this wad.

[brick]

MAP28 - “Castle of Corruption”
Another beautiful map, it definitely gives off castle vibes, and those zigzag lines, menacing as always, make it look like the corruption is creeping in. I think my favourite looking sections are the start after the walls are lowered, and the plasma rifle room. Speaking of, getting it is practically required, I don't think pistol starters have another way past the Cyberdemon. As often happens to me I found the yellow key (cleverly hidden behind a series of secrets), but by the time I realized it can be used to remove the archviles I had already killed them, in what was a hectic but fun fight. I think I took most of my damage from the swarm of Lost Souls, I had the SSG equipped and for some reason refused to switch, so they took several bites while I methodically removed them one at a time. Easily another one of my favourites.

 

MAP29 - “Pop”
A suitably epic penultimate map, keeping the MIDI that the iwad plays on this slot; Shawn's Got the Shotgun is incredibly fitting (to be honest, all of the choices have been). The map consists of 3 major sections laid out a bit like the Atlantis of legend. We start in the wide circular hall with a blue switch, doors leading outside that cannot be opened, and multiple doors (some locked) to the inner circular section. The detailing in this starting hall is fantastic, I can't believe this stays within the static limits, it looks so rich in parts. All the keys are in the inner section, in small subections that can each be completed very quickly and have to be done in order. The last yields the blue key, and using it opens doors to the outer section, which runs all around the building and has 3 switches that need to be pressed. I only just realize, as I write this, that it is in fact possible to completely skip the big fight; if you access each switch from the inside without exploring any of the outside you never cross any of the linedefs that trigger it. I did not think of this, though the fight was a bit easier because I found the Invulnerability sphere earlier but got suspicious and saved it, a wise choice! I think it's also easier if the Cyberdemon infights with everyone else (there's three of them on UV? Yikes) but since he's inside I found it easier to just BFG everything. Pressing all 3 switches opens the way to the throne room (cathedral?) of the Spider, which goes down rather anticlimatically after what I just had to do. I liked the map a lot as a big final fight, but I'm not disappointed to learn there's a way to skip it, I really like that the wad rewards clever players without forcing them to play by its rules.

[_goofyguy]

MAP28 - Castle Of Corruption

Quick Quiz:
Q: How do you counter an open room filled with four archviles?
A: You don't. (not unless you have the yellow skull, which of course you fucking don't because apparently it's at the end of a super secret secret string of secrets)

This level has some of the most aggressive enemy placement yet. Add a dash of no ammo and a pinch of no health, with a little hitscanner spam to taste, and you have the recipe for the Extremely Large Difficulty Spike That I Kinda Enjoyed And Yet Am Still Amazed I Got Through I Mean Seriously In The Last Section I Was Just Sprinting To The End Desperately.

One of my favorite dishes.

[Spectre01]

MAP26 - “Aka Desu”

Red brick, we meet again. Despite the 4 teleporters in the starting room, this map is very linear. Ammo is a bit of an issue, especially shells, and I can't imagine having a good time without the secret BFG. It's not a tough map, but there are a lot of Revenants to dodge in close quarters.
 

MAP27 - “Regenerations”
This one's got a cool layout. It's hallway heavy, but I like how it loops and has you traverse previous sections from above. Gameplay is very straightforward, with less traps than the more Plutonia-esque previous maps. It's mostly incidental encounters with small groups of enemies where you take out the hitscanners first. Ammo is also more plentiful than in the last map. The finale is circlestafe 101, as the mix of high damage enemies are great at destroying themselves.
 

MAP28 - “Castle of Corruption”
Being dropped into a small room with 4 Viles and 2 Cacos isn't something I expected from this wad. I'm sure the secret BFG makes it way easier but I only found it after clearing the rest of the map. I'm not a fan of this type of design, where X is significantly more challenging if you didn't do objective Y first. It makes no difference on repeated playthroughs and only punishes first-time players. The start of the map is also more hostile than usual, having to fend off Arachnotron snipers above and hitscanners below with no immediate armour or weapons. The Cyber placement is, once again, non-threatening and ends up being a plasma tax and time waster. I do appreciate cell ammo being plentiful and letting the player go wild with the Plasma Rifle.
 

MAP29 - “Pop”
A bit of incidental warmup before the main fight opens up. There is little threat from the enemies outside; space is plentiful so it's easy to run circles while BFGing anything in your way. The main danger is from the Cybers wandering around indoors, as they can be hard to see through the midtextures and it's possible to eat a random rocket if they infight. Overall, easy enough for anyone who has played a slaughtermap.

[Celestin]

MAP29: Pop

 

The penultimate map starts with killing some arachnotrons in a ring outside the central structure, before entering inside to find the three keys and BFG. Solid sequence, though not outstanding. That changes when you press the blue switch to go outside. Tons of monsters appear here, together with three cyberdemons in the ring. At the same time, you are showered with cells, rockets and health, while a secret invuln sphere helps with dispatching the cyberdemons. The ending has you kill a mastermind that blocks the way forward, but I just rushed her with a BFG.

 

I'd say this is one of the best looking maps of the wad, with highly-detailed interior, austere, metal exterior and some hellish caverns mixed in. I like this one a lot, though it's a bit lacking when it comes to difficulty.

[RHhe82]

Funny thing -- when I first saw Ichinichi get chosen for the club, I decided nah, gonna skip again, it's probably a sort of mapset I wouldn't enjoy. When MtPain episode was released, I didn't even watch it, thinking I'm not interested. I'm not sure why that is: maybe it's the name, I don't know. When I accidentally put on the said MtPain video, I saw I might enjoy it, and decided to try it.

 

I guess it's a bit late to give map-by-map capsule reviews. I just reached the half-way mark (MAP32), and I like the wad. It's a bit on the easy side so far, but then: one sometimes needs more relaxed wads every once in a while (or, in my case, Ichinichi's something I can handle while suffering thru flu). I'm sure it's been mentioned in the club; it's strange that enemies seem to be deaf. Very often they are just standing there, unaware of what's happening. I'm guessing too many sound blocking lines and ambush flags set... A small matter, I suppose.

 

One risk in easy-going wads using stock textures is the maps can get boring, but somehow that hasn't happened here yet... and MAP31 further invigorates the experience. I'm sure there's been a lot of maps utilizing barrels, but this is one instance of Barrels of fun being actually fun. Makes me regret a bit I didn't participate this month from the get-go.

Edited November 29, 2023 by RHhe82
Typo

[cannonball]

MAP29 - “Pop”

 

This isn't a bad map, but it encapsulates many of the issues I have with this wad. First off, this map is frankly a bit of a pushover, a few tweaks here and there and you could easily fit this into the Map07 slot and it wouldn't feel out of place, this reflects strongly on this wad as a whole as in all honesty the difficult curve feels like a plateau from map01 to map30. The second issue is the secrets, they are obvious to the point of parody and this has occurred in several maps during our journey, again this makes the map even easier thanks to the invulnerability that everyone will use and then reveal all of the perimeter monsters. 

In the end despite this, I had a lot of fun here, making absolute mincemeat of the monsters including the cybers (One of which I nailed before he could barely take a step) felt lime the right kind of power-fantasy. However and I suspect this was why this map was graded poorly by some is that the map struggles to earn its map29 slot. Sure there is a definite pop, but the map just feels like a qucik blowout that could have been placed in any other slot. I will concur with others that this map is very hnadsome, especially some of the perimeter decorations and the base itself is not too shabby either.

[TheMightyWhoosh]

MAP29 thoughts, comments and spoilers below:

 

Spoiler

So, I have completely forgotten as to where the name ‘Pop’ originates from.

 

I will hold my hands up and admit that I absolutely suck at penultimate maps, and given the 24 hour building time limitations, this was never going to be my best.

 

Still, I’m content with the aesthetics, especially using a different theme for each corner of the circular section. 

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by TheMightyWhoosh

[espilka]

MAP30 Goodbye (UV, continuous)

 

Final map without the tedium of IoS!  The map begins in a cave, and the view of the main structure coming down the elevator is quite imposing.  There are at first some minor fights when collecting weapons and ammo, but the first main feature begins when opening the structure (wonderful implementation of quintessential Doom II aesthetics!), revealing three Cyberdemons facing away from you towards the Spidermummy.  The others are behind them.  So first there's infighting, the MILF killing at least one of the Cybers in general, with basically, a BFG9000 cleanup.  This is all a lot of fun and not a major threat.

 

After going through the YSK door, however, back to the caves and returning from there... i was pondering about calling it a run :D  i think i counted five Arch-Viles, and they are bloody quick at resurrecting everybody and the kitchen sink.  So it's here that i died a few times... so much so, that i gave up the idea of a deathless run, and barely scraped through using saves.  There's a few times in the wad earlier that i noticed a difference to HMP - usually in form of a few extra enemies here and there, maybe less ammo, but nothing too severe - but this seemed like a major uptick in difficulty.  i don't know, i always ran out of cells in the fight, so perhaps i should have collected the harder ones first for the fight, and leave myself a chance to dash into the earlier Manx cave to collect more - so, i think it may have at least partly come down to cell-collexion -management.

 

Being the chump that i am, realizing the ending lift was a big problem on my blind run :D  But yeah, though the difficulty was unexpected and some desperation started to seep into my thoughts while going through this, on HMP this is a great finale!  On UV?  Wenn's sein müss :D  Still, it's very creative, and the design can't be faulted.

[espilka]

Final thoughts - I C H I N I C H I

 

i understand the author's previous - and first! - creation KINDa was met with mixed reviews in the DWMC, but when i played through it i have  to say i immediately took a liking to the style and the ethos, so much so that i've played through it 3,5 times :D  For that one, UV run is still in future as some of the maps have some excesses (perhaps three or four) that make the experience at times excruciating.  Still, it's probably in my top-10 of Doom II megawads, partly because it lacks an important ingredient that for me is at least a repellent if not a downright ruiner, modernism :D and partly because the design of the maps is at core similar to this one, creative, thoughtful, and interesting.

 

So, i had actually been looking forward to TheMightyWhoosh's next creation and played through it on HMP as soon as it came out.  i was happy to quickly notice, about in the first map, that the author's original ethos is intact, but after a few maps it became apparent that the excesses had been properly eliminated.  Probably the worst offender in KINDa is the infamous MAP03 (which has its virtues, don't get me wrong - i actually look forward to conquering it) with it's excessive damaging floor and ultra-obscure progression, and likely it's in great part the cause to the author's avoidance of damaging floors in this one, ha-ha!  But at any rate, here the maps are all well-proportioned in every sense, without stumbling down to one of the hallmarks of modernism, streamlining.

 

To my mind, IN is a perfect successor to and an expansion of all the OG games.  One notable difference to KINDa is that i don't remember that one having much references to or feel of Doom I, but here like someone else said in a review, some maps are like Doom I with Doom II monsters - and i myself noted in few instances similarity to mapping style of pcorf's D1 megawads.  But there's also plenty of similarities and references to TNT and Plutonia - and indeed, if i had to pinpoint one of the OGs, it'd still have to be TNT which this overarchingly has most in common with, even if in miniature-form.

 

As said many times before, this is one of my Top-3 megawads, and replay simply confirms that fact.  Nothing wrong with the HMP experience, but i have to admit UV experience is better, more engaging (except perhaps for MAP30... :D ), and never frustrating.

 

i very much look forward to TheMightyWhoosh's next creation (should there be one, of course)!

[TheMightyWhoosh]

MAP30 thoughts, comments and spoilers below:

 

Spoiler

I knew I didn’t want an Icon of Sin (there was one in KINDa anyway), but as I’m not so good on maps with many, many enemies, I thought the best option was to just have a humorous infighting session in a type of boxy-looking hell arena.

 

Apart from the appearance of the final structure/arena, I love the ending as it kinda takes you by surprise, if you was expecting to just end on the standard exit teleporter. 

 

I thought the IoS eyes as a door texture was an amusing idea so I definitely left it in there!  

I’ll write up a long(ish) conclusion and my final thoughts/feeling tomorrow. 

[Celestin]

MAP30: Goodbye

 

It's not an Icon of Sin, though its face gets used here a lot. Goodbye is centered on a large cavern with a strange, black and silver structure inside. Aside from clearing some foes to get guns, there are two fights here. The first one is a big infight against cyberdemons, mastermind and the company. When you grab the yellow key and unlock the exit, four archviles teleport here to revive the dead for the round two. Luckily, there's a BFG to cull them quickly. With them dead, now it's your time to die - the final room is a death exit in front of a cube spitter, with those strange impaled head watching. It's a second megawad in a row where demons tricked you into doing their bidding.

 

I think it's a strong way to end a megawad, with distinct aesthetic and climacting fights.

 

Conclusions

 

Let's just skip the fluff and get to the point. I understand the thought process behind the creation of Ichinichi and, on a purely intellectual level, I can admit it achieved what it set out to do - make this short, concise set of maps that capture the essence of old-school Doom. It's just that I can't connect to this wad emotionally. Perhaps it's because I wasn't brought up playing TNT and I know I have difficulty appreciating works of this style, prefering more modern approach of spectacle, striking visuals and more challenge.

 

One definite issue I have with Ichinichi is its lack of difficulty. I am aware it was supposed to be more of a low-key set of maps, but I found it easier than Doom 2. I expected it would pull the same trick Scythe did, starting with little challenge before ratching up the difficulty in the final stretch, but that never happened - the maps at the end are a bit harder, but shouldn't be a threat for someone who completed the IWADs. This is my hypothesis, but I also think DWMC's format might contribute negatively here. Most of the maps in Ichinichi are short, rarely exceeding 10 minutes, and combined with their accessible nature, it's probably best to play them one after another. Here, I had to stop, collect myself and write a couple of sentences describing my experiences, something that slows down the momentum it normally has.

 

In any case, I think it's an objectively good wad, but to me, it's just fine. @TheMightyWhoosh, don't take this personally, I respect you a lot for sticking to you vision, it's simply because I'm not a target audience, I don't find Ichinichi as enjoyable as someone else would.

 

TOP 3 maps:

MAP23: Tech Gone Naughty

MAP29: Pop

MAP18: Creep

[UUN4]

MAP29: Pop

Spoiler

UV | Pistol start |

K: 100% | I: 74% | S: 66%

The map started out pretty normal, but then it suddenly turned into a slaughter map after leaving the circular building; even though it may have been foreshadowed by the BFG and this is also MAP29, I was still taken somewhat by surprise. Once I had a strategy of circling the courtyard to take care of the slaughter fodder, I tried using the BFG to go inside for attempting ballsy kills on the cyberdemons before giving up and using the BFG and rockets to kill them. The spider mastermind wasn't too bad once I learned to use the stair pillars as cover and not rush in; I also learned I could get up in a pain elemental's face to prevent them from spawning lost souls. The automap had me anxious towards the room after the spider mastermind, but luckily there were no enemies there; only an exit teleporter dripped in blood awaited me.

 

 

MAP30: Goodbye

Spoiler

UV | Pistol start | No saves

K: 128% | I: 100% | S: 0%

I'd say the level was neat to see unfold, from prioritizing the plasma gun to the spider mastermind explicitly set up to shoot the two cyberdemons in front of it when it sees you to trigger a potentially massive infight. It took me a few tries to get past this portion, but I eventually got through. The level hits you with one last surprise with several arch-viles accompanied by the last real wave of monsters in the WAD (that you can mow through with the BFG) before going up to a fake exit teleporter (that the automap admittedly spoiled me on) that has the Icon of Sin spawn a horde of monsters on you to trigger a death exit (in a room with TheMightyWoosh's initials). Part of me wants to say it's an appropriate way to end the WAD. Also very unfortunate that the demons own Doomguy now; the very pixelated head on a pike in the credits screen got me to chortle a little.

 

Final Thoughts

Spoiler

I had a lot of fun playing I C H I N I C H I throughout this month. The levels being short but also a fair challenge for me motivated me to try and no-save at least a good handful of levels, which I haven't really done prior (that being said I haven't even scratched the surface of custom mapsets so I have a lack of experience); I never really felt (or at least I don't remember feeling) too exhausted/burnt out from this WAD over the past 30 days. The visuals at their best definitely stuck out as looking good to me, but at the very least all the textures/etc. were used pretty well.

 

[Azure_Horror]

I don't have enough time to write proper reviews for the maps after 11.

I also wasn't able to play maps beyond map 18.

 

So in the end I played map 01-18, and also map 30 to see how everything ends.

 

My thoughts:

Map 30 Goodbye

Goodbye unleashes all kinds of mean demons, be it Hell Noble squads, flanking arachnotrons, roaming cyberdemons, or a bunch of archviles undoing all your hard work. But the total monster number is only 60 on UV. There is plentiful ammo, and there no gimmicky final boss to distract you.

 

Like map 30 of Doom 2 in Spain Only, Goodbye level doesn't bother with final boss or some type of Extreme Challenge to End All Challenges. It is a small, well structured level with a set of non-trivial, but not deadly setups. Such approach to map 30 feels great to me. It is still a proper gameplay-filled map, but it does not get tiring in any way!

 

This is the kind of map 30 which I am always happy to encounter. Don't get me wrong, I like fighting final bosses from time to time. But it is very hard to make a perfectly fun boss in Doom. But, on the other hand, it ithe final map should feel special in some way... And brief, spectacular, but simple map 30 s, like Goodbuy, are a perfect way to have a fun and memorable finish for the megaWAD. At least, in my book.

 

Ichinichi as a WAD:

Ichinichi is cool, because it brings back the less remembered Art of Scythe 1 maps. When talking Art of Scythe 1, people remember Episode 3 the most. And for good reason. However, Scythe 1 would not be Scythe 1, if it contained only the final 10 of its levels. The shorter maps from Scythe 1 Episodes 1 and 2 are also good fun. Sadly, those levels live in shadow of episode 3. I always wanted to play more levels of this type. Short, fluid, action-focused, not grindy. Doom 404 and Zone 400 did deliver something akin to those map designs. But they were not Scythe 1.

And that's where Ichininichi comes to the resque - it really feels like more maps from the good old 2003 Scythe! Episodes 1 and 2 of 2003 Scythe, but it makes it even better! For Scythe Episode 3 ideas, there are countless WADs. But for Scythe episodes 1 and 2 there are only a few mapsets. And Ichinichi is one of those. And a very good one too, IMO.

[Snaxalotl]

MAP30 "Goodbye" Is my favorite kind of final map, one that doesn't have a standard icon of sin fight and shows there is more to a final level than just being the hardest map in the wad. This was a really nice short megawad to blast through, and I'd love to see what @TheMightyWhoosh comes up with next time :>

[Azure_Horror]

Oh, and @espilka 's post reminded me:

Ichinichi also has countless nods to Doom 1 IWAD. It even feels like a "DoomDame the Way ID Did" type of a megaWAD! A very fine thing to pair with brief and manageable designs a la Scythe 1!

[cannonball]

MAP30 - “Goodbye”

 

Well this map is what it is, and overall it is quite good fun. The yellow key fight is a sort of joke given that most of the monsters will slaughter each with little effort from yours truly. However the archvile quartet requires the BFG you are handily given to slay them and everything else that get revived multiple times. This was a fun fight to put down. Then you have the exit where 32 maps of effort results in your death.... oh well.

A rather off-beat end to a very casual wad.

 

Overall - Trying to give a wad as a comparison to this is rather tough, though I feel this is more down the line of Demonfear than Scythe (Especially in the combat department). The good thing about Ichinichi is that by accident or by design the time limit for making maps meant that every single entry is short and the author has definitely compensated in other ways compared to KINDA. Now I don't think this will go down as a classic and personally I still think short stuff like Scythe is superior. However, this is a very solid megawad and one that an be happily binged without too much frustration. There is only one map is this that I didn't enjoy and whilst the majority of maps range from average to good, I think the short play time helps in terms of building a picture that is better than the individual maps themselves. Personally whilst I like that this was a relatively stress free megawad, I would have liked to have seen a little more of a difficulty curve, it doesn't have to be like scaling the cliff face like Scythe but pushing the later levels to the C or B difficulty from the easier early maps would have gone a long way to elevate this wad.  Whilst I said that the short development time was a good thing earlier on, I think some aspects do show poorly, for example secrets at time seemed to be add ad-hoc and made to look very obvious to the point where the term "Secret" loses a bit of meaning, there were often fights where seemingly the player was allowed or even expected to cheese. Despite some of the flaws, this is a real step up from Kinda and maybe next time we might have something very special.

 

Overall score - 3/5

 

Favourite Maps - Map07, Map15, Map18, Map24 and Map31 (Note that most of the outside the box type maps scored very well here).

 

Whilst I was late to the party, this was a good adventure to let off some steam from real life and working on finishing up projects on my own. Here's to December and whatever madness awaits.

[TheMightyWhoosh]

Whoosh’s final thoughts:

 

Spoiler

So after the feedback and critique from KINDa, I was determined to create a map set that was similar in feel and design, but with all the gameplay frustrations ironed out… and I believe I completed that brief - The maps certainly are easier to navigate, do not have obscure progression and are perhaps a little more mature than KINDa.

 

As I had a clearer vision this time around, I found mapping more enjoyable and the ideas certainly flowed a lot quicker too. 
 

Yes, it’s a pretty easy set for some and the quality isn’t up there with various other megawads; however I’m proud of my creations and these are the types of maps I personally enjoy playing the most. 
 

This thread has been really enjoyable, so I’d like to thank everybody that took the time to play and comment on the maps, even if you didn’t find them your cup of tea. It’s all very appreciated. I had some super beta-testers too. 
 

So, what’s next? Well… sadly free time isn’t as generous as it once was, so I am probably unable to create a third 32-map project, although… an idea is floating around that I’d like to attempt, it would just mean a release years into the future. I do want to also submit single maps for community projects, so may concentrate on this for now. I also have created an E3M1 map with the hope to create a replacement for that episode, so let’s see if that also comes to fruition one day. 
 

Thanks again, this is a wonderful community. 

 

[Celestin]

+++ Abscission

[brick]

MAP30 - “Goodbye”
I expected this to be more of an epilogue map, the title, the music and the quiet beginning lulled me into a false sense of security. I should've guessed something was up when the map kept handing me all the guns with a ton of ammo but laughable resistance: couple of cacos here, one arachnotron there... Then I opened up the middle building and oh yeah this is a big final fight alright, with a Spider and Cyberdemons and a whole bunch of heavies. Infighting ended up saving me from the sluggish reflexes caused by my surprise! I get the yellow key and go for the door, go press the switch that will allow access to the exit, and when I see a BFG on my way back I smacked myself (again) and thought I should've gotten suspicious much earlier. Sure enough archviles had undone most of my hard work, but the BFG does clear out everyone pretty quickly. I guess the final joke is that MAP30 is an IOS after all, just... not the way you'd expect.

 

Final thoughts (forgive me if I ramble, I tried making this more organized but I think I failed)

It's been interesting reading other people's thoughts this month. There's a consistent view (not just for this wad) that easy = boring, and whenever veterans feel a wad doesn't challenge them enough this often comes up as an immediate association, and a negative one. Maybe I'm the one who's wrong, but I do not share this view, mainly because I think "difficult" and "boring" exist on separates axes. They can run parallel, they can cross over and even overlap sometimes, but they are not different words or manifestations of the same feeling. I've played games or wads that were hard, that I would never be able to complete fairly, and I was still bored. I play games to unwind, to have fun and be entertained, maybe even to be challenged once in a while, but I can still enjoy a wad that provides some but not all of the above, and I can find interesting scenarios and things to have fun with even in the absence of a high difficulty. I feel this is where Ichinichi truly shines. Someone said it was an extension of the original games, and I think that's what I love most about it: I get the same feeling of "oh hey this is a cool little thing that I haven't seen before" that the iwads often do (Romero's maps in particular are practically made of these one-time tricks), but with completely new maps and completely new tricks, and it's so fun to get the feeling of replaying Doom all over again with maps that are not Doom. KINDa had some of this experimentation but I think I got frustrated with it because it would sometimes lose focus and meander into strange progression or requiring frustrating timing. Playing Ichinichi really feels like @TheMightyWhoosh took criticism to heart, kept the particular personal style but with more focus (I think the speedmap restriction really helped there), and the product is one of my favourite wads of the year, with a distinct style and aesthetic, a lower difficulty that doesn't get in the way of the experimentation and the little cute bits. Don't let the easy difficulty be an obstacle - approach the wad as lighthearted and relaxing fun instead of a challenge, and let yourself be carried away by its charm. It certainly has plenty of it.

 

I don't think I'll have time to participate next month, if not then best wishes to everyone and see you in the new year!

Edited November 30, 2023 by brick