The DWmegawad Club plays: Eviternity II

[cannonball]

MAP19 - “Spellbound” by Dragonfly

 

Sharp and frenetic, this map is probably the best of Dragonfly's solo efforts so far, the setting is charming and the difficulty starts hot but eases as you progress, the yellow key probably offers the sternest test whilst the other fights are more fun than difficult. There really isn't much to say really, this was a really nice map. Oh I guess reading other people's reviews ruined that moment of being caught with my pants down in that secret, oh well, sorry you are not getting my pelt this time.

Just a quick note, there is a chaingunner behind a fence just beyond the yellow door that is very easy to miss, I certainly did. Not sure whether he is necessary given he never caught my attention until the moment I realised I was missing one kill.

Edited January 19, 2024 by cannonball

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Contiuous/Saves

Write-ups from memory

 

MAP19:  Spellbound - Dragonfly

 

Well crap, I had to pull up a playthrough of this one too cause I couldn't remember anything other than the fact the map takes place in a village, and that it has the meanest secret in the WAD. I do absolutely love this village setting. I feel like since OTEX has been released, I have seen a lot of maps with villages like this, and I've always liked that! These textures really give of that middle ages vibe, so seeing that while blasting cybernetic demons with plasma rifles is always a nice contrast. This opening was the only thing I really remembered. It's big and open with lots of room, and you will wake a lot of things up quickly. The parts of the map where you go into the outskirts of the town and explore the great outdoors reminds me a little bit of MAP13's short natural landscape spots. There's a bit of non-linearity to this map, which is what I've come to expect from Dragonfly. The blue key fight is like a smaller version of MAP03's final fight with a surprise floor drop into an arena, but this one only has 5 enemies to deal with. They may be chaingunners, nightmare demons, and an archie, but at least that's it. Plasma them. Actually exploring the village is how you get the yellow key, and this unloads a hefty teleport ambush with a few annoying archies thrown in with the revs. At least cells appear out of nowhere. There's a soul sphere down a dark hall nearby that takes you to a surprise ambush that force feeds you a partial invis, and has you deal with chaingunners, imps, and hell knights in very tight quarters. Keep that plasma flowin' and grab the backpack. Kinda surprised that wasn't a secret. You do find a secret megasphere right behind the yellow door, but that's the mean secret. It's mean because right around the corner in this small room is an annihilator. It can and will shoot a rocket at you at point blank range. Very cheeky, and I'm surprised I didn't die to it. I think. Maybe I did, idr. Honestly tho, it's just so trollish I can't be mad. Past that back outside is a fun fight against a ton of zombies and a few nightmare demons that will unleash a pair of archies once you move on from it, forcing to you quickly backtrack. There's a surprise imp ambush shortly after that's just fun to blow up and not really a threat. Grab the red key, and now you can use that and the blue key to exit. Overall, this was a very enjoyable village romp! The MIDIs in this episode are probably the most fitting of their episode theme, giving a jovial medieval feel to the proceedings, and this one is no different. Fights aren't too bad for the most part, with the only one giving me a bit of trouble being the yellow key ambush. I think this may be one of my fav Dragonfly maps in the WAD cause of the theme and its difficulty being in a nice spot. 

[Ralgor]

MAP19 - “Spellbound” by Dragonfly
Deaths: 2

 

I ended up beating this in a single segment, because I had forgot to save before each of my deaths. Each was to a different arch-vile in a different part of the map. On the third time though, I did everything better in the early part of the level, didn't let any arch-viles kill me (I still got zapped a couple times), and ended up beating the level. Turns out the arch-viles are the toughest part of this map. The opening has a medium difficulty, and it's probably one of the harder parts of the map. It's not a hot start, but you can't go anywhere without waking everything up. All of the various fights after that ended up being pretty easy.

 

There is one soulsphere that warps you to a little room with some monsters and a backpack. Since I didn't need the soulsphere, I saved it until the end of the map. So I missed out on the backpack for nearly the entire level. Not having the backpack wasn't a huge issue however.

 

This map is nonlinear. You have to get a couple keys to unlock the exit, and there's a third that is a requirement for one of the other two. I had a lot of fun wandering around killing everything, and despite starting the map three teams each attempt was unique from the others, so I didn't get bored.

 

It looks good, but the previous map is a hard act to follow on that front. I do like the quiet-village-invaded-by-demons part though, so it manages to stand out anyway. One thing I noticed when I was looking at the map later was the insane number of sectors used to simulate slopes. From a moderate distance they look like real slopes. Somehow the texture still looks correct, which is kind of crazy. There's another area with a weird room-over-room trick that's pulled off very well. There's also a great little bedroom with a doomcute bed in it.

 

The secrets were good. There is this one very cliche secret room behind a bookshelf with an annihilator in it. He gave me quite a fright! It might have been the scariest moment in the entire wad for me. I actually walked in there and didn't see at first, and somehow he let me leave alive. I don't like trying to kill something that can shoot me with rockets from point blank range! But I managed. It was a great moment.

[Celestin]

MAP20: Dominion by Dragonfly, Bri

 

The final stage of Bastion wastes no time to introduce another new enemy. Duke of hell is the fourth member of infernal nobility you face in Eviternity 2, he's a bit tougher than a hell knight and fires two fireballs, followed by a burst of plasma. He's a great infighter, at the very end I got a crowd of them to demolish a cyberdemon.

 

Dominion leads you to a castle, where you are free to search for the three keys, taking out the incidental foes along the way. You can enter the place through one of several access points, but the fights here are mostly incidental and on the easier side. If you don't trigger too many monsters at once, you should be fine. The only things that killed me was one up-close astral mancubi that is best ran from before pumping rockets or plasma, and an elevated cyberdemon that, through gaps in walls has a considerable range of attack.

 

The keys unlock a two-stage final fight around the cyberdemon's column. First you need to survive the attack of nightmare demons and hell dukes until the stairs raise, then grab a BFG and demolish a horde of Eviternity 2 exclusives plus two archviles for a good measure. 

 

Like the rest of the episode, Dominion is a pretty map, I'm sure I'll miss those autumn atmosphere. I have a feeling E4 was a bit easier than E3. Not that I mind, after maps 14, 33 and 15, a small break is welcomed, but I think I'll remember this episode primarly for its visuals.

[arlinsae]

Ultra violence 100% kills/secrets, Pistol start, Using saves
Played on DSDA Doom v0.27.5 -complevel 21

 

Map 17: Perdita - 19:16

Even more "medieval village" feeling than map 16 by way of the architecture and the MIDI, Perdita is both charming to look at and quite a bit nastier combat-wise than the previous two maps. The natural scenery continues to be really evocative too; it has a strange sort of nostalgic aura for me personally that I really like. The opening fight in itself is one of the hardest in the map, where you're bombarded with imps, prowler imps, and a couple higher tier demons with just a single barrel shotgun and little chaingun ammo. Be sure to obtain the nigh-unmissable secret SSG in the next room - it's very useful for until you get another SSG halfway through the map. The ambush after the red key is also blistering, and I don't think I've beaten it without cheesing it slightly and running back through a door into the area I was just in. The final few battles are a little overgenerous with cells (can just spam plasma until things die), but I really like the time-travelling premise and the infighting potential with releasing the cyberdemon early is awesome and fun to watch. Overall the best map in the episode so far, and a highlight in the wad. 
Difficulty: 6/15

 

Map 18: Malaise - 24:57

Malaise feels to me like an expanded on version of map 4 from Eviternity 1. Not that I didn't love that map too, but this map improves on that original concept for the most part. Combat takes a back seat for a lot of Malaise's runtime in favor of exploration and atmosphere, but there are several nasty traps and fights that can kill you quick. Shoutout to that yellow key battle. I do wish there was a little more time spent outside the castle though; what little there is was really neat and I would have loved if there was a secret battle out there or something. I'm also not quite sure how to get the secret megasphere, I tried for a few minutes and ended up using mouse look to aim my jump down there. A powerup like that should probably be a bit tricky to acquire so I can't complain too much. One small extra thing I noticed while iddt'ing for the last few secrets is that a lot of map 19 is visible on map 18's automap - I found that pretty cool. I'm not too keen on the close quarters combat for the most part, but Malaise is undeniably well crafted and a pleasant time overall. Folks who enjoy secret hunting will also love this one.
Difficulty: 6/15

Edited January 20, 2024 by arlinsae
typo

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP20 - Dominion - Bri & Dragonfly (99%K/66%I/40%S):

Yet another Hell Noble iteration, this time, in a cool mucus green colour. This one is not as impressive, as it has the classic three-attack pattern most new Nobles have in most new megawads. In this case, its third attack is the already seen plasma burst, just like arachnotrons and astral arachnotrons. You will later notice they are quite effective with higher ground on their side, as they will fill the screen with their crap as you try to remove most of the enemies on your same height level. The best example will be the last battle before the exit.

It is a really nice level, but possibly the worst of the episode, because it did not have, yet again, the impact I would have expected for the episode finale. It's layout is great though, and possibly its best aspect. This is another one of those keyhunts, and it is great to traverse around the main fortress after you get inside it. Before you will need to face a pair of green barons, just to learn how they work.

The entire level is beautifully detailed just like the rest of the episode, and it is, overall, another great job as usual by Dragonfly. I think it needed a better punchline, though. The last battle was easily skippable and monotone because of the enemy choice.

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP14
MAP18

MAP32
MAP11
MAP09
MAP19
MAP34
MAP17

MAP07
MAP16

MAP05
MAP20
MAP12
MAP13
MAP03
MAP08
MAP15
MAP06

MAP02
MAP04
MAP10
MAP31
MAP33

 

Hope nobody notices how I switch between "color" and "colour" randomly.

Edited January 21, 2024 by DJVCardMaster

[Dragonfly]

17 hours ago, DJVCardMaster said:

I'm just cheating at this point by playing continuously

 

Continuous is not cheating! 😁

 

 

17 hours ago, Veeda Vidlak said:

Looks like Dragonfly is a man of culture as well.

 

 

😎

[Novaseer]

44 minutes ago, Dragonfly said:

 

Continuous is not cheating! 😁

 

Yeah, it'd be a bit strange for continuous to be cheating when the secret levels are designed to give the player the Perforator for the rest of the episode.

 

And I say that as someone who pistol started every map.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map20 “Dominion” by Bri and Dragonfly

 

I like how this level starts by pushing the player off the starting platform. It gives the impression Bri and Dragonfly are telling me to get my ass moving.

 

And get moving I will because this map is great. Right off the bat we’re introduced to a new enemy, the mean green Duke of Hell. He comes from the Valiant pyro knight line of foes, having solid hit points and a three-part fireball attack. I don’t find these guys dangerous, they’re slow and easy to disrupt, but the final step of their combo is a punishing projectile stream. The potential for high damage must be respected.

 

So we continue with another storming the castle map, this one offering somewhat stiffer resistance. While combat is still incidental, enemies are often entrenched and cover each other, making it easy to get blindsided. The cyberdemon overlooking the northeast courtyard is of great concern, he’s a formidable sniper and will pick off unwary players. You can leave him to assist with the finale but hosing him down with plasma is the safe option.

 

Still, the difficulty is a shade below what I would have expected for an episode ender. Compare it with map15, which contained multiple lethal combat arenas whereas here the only significant threat is the cybersniper (and the ending to an extent). There are some fun encounters, like the revenant/astralcaco ambush upon picking up the eastern soulsphere. Rush em with the hidden BFG! You’ll kill them all in seconds! Even without Dominion’s powerful secrets, we’re given more than enough ammo and recovery items to handle everything. I would try to find the BFG though... I mean its a BFG, why wouldn't you want one?

 

Using all three keys lowers the wall surrounding the northeast courtyard and its final fight time! Jump down and… uh oh… that’s a lot of dukes of hell. But don’t worry, they’re harmless. Seriously, just run around in circles and they won’t hit you, then when the stairs rise you can leave and kill them all with the BFG. Hitting the switch up top starts the second wave featuring two viles, two astralarachnos, and a horde of hell dukes and astralcacos. It’s more bark than bite, the ground enemies mostly bicker in the courtyard so you can fight the cacos separately, then kill the infighting survivors however you like.

 

Dominion is richly detailed, a treat to explore, total eye candy, and a little tamer than I would have preferred. It’s the perfect ending to the episode, which almost universally featured these traits for me. Bloodlust aside, the Bastion episode is a phenomenal showcase of aesthetic skill and a welcome reprieve for anyone worried about the second half after playing Rubicon. And with two whole episodes left, I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunity for deadlier gameplay.

[RHhe82]

MAP19: Spellbound. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 256/256 K, 3/3 S, 7/8 I. Comp. time 26:11

 

Suddenly I get Heretic/1K3ep2 vibes in this village-like milieu! Even the music conjures up an ambience of medievel village. At the same Spellbound feels like a breather map: it's shorter than MAP18, and I think it's easier than last two maps; there's one fight that I would have trouble surviving consistently, and it's the very tight close-quarter encounter with an archvile, two chaingunners and a nightmare demon. Or were there two... anyway, the one fight after you get the blue key.

 

Solid map.

*

 

MAP20: Dominion. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 279/279 K, 5/5, 9/9 I. Comp. time 44:57

 

Episode finale is another solid outing - although I don't know if it's megawad fatigue or the fact, already often-stated, because Eviternity II is such a consistently great wad that playing it such a short period of time does it disservice... Although that sentiment might be just me: I'm a slow player, each map takes me a long time that I cannot play more than one or two map a day anyway, at least when maps are not short.

 

Anyway, I have nothing bad to say about Dominion. Maybe it lacks that episode finale punch, although the final battle around the Cyberdemon pillar, first surrounded with the new enemy (astral baron? Nuke Duke? Something?) and then the outpour of hordes. Which I loved.

[Cutman 999]

MAP20 - “Dominion” by Bri, Dragonfly (Pistol start, used saves, 100% Kills, 55% Items, 20% Secrets)

 

This is extremely good. First it introduces a valuable member of the skillsaw cinematic universe, the pyro knight, only that this time he has a different skin and a sick death animation, he is not as brutally strong as some of the other demons introduced, but still can zap your hp rather quickly if you don't pay attention. 

 

The map is basically a rockin' key hunt on a fortress, with a midi to match it's aggression, fighting trough hordes and hordes of incidental combat while you scavenge for new weapons, doom in a nutshell but it does this really well, never losing any type of momentum since there's always something to find. Combined with dragon fly's consistency, makes for a rather enjoyable episode closer.

 

On top of that all, the exit ambush releases and relaxes all the tension you've been through, with letting that cybersniper infight the new hell knight variant, and after defeating those, liberating a tsunami of astral cacos, 2 archviles and some other terrors. Definitively the second best of these enders of my opinion, only map 5 surpases this from the sheer scale and quality of some ambushes, but in terms of pure fun this surely competes, best map of the episode.

 

9/10

Edited January 20, 2024 by Cutman 999

[cannonball]

MAP20 - “Dominion” by Bri, Dragonfly

 

The map kicked my backside far more than any of the other maps in this episode, the fortress is well manned and you will know it once the initial light skirmishes are out of the way. The map certainly relies on pre-placed foes rather than large ambushes for the most part and I think this is a key strength as to how good this map is. You have to keep moving, keep shooting because there are few places to hide within the fortress itself. There is plenty of health and armour if you look for it.

The final fight starts off a little disappointing and in the end I circled the arena and waiting for the stairs to rise, then for fun I just unleash everything and pure carnage reigns supreme. I must confess I found the end sequence to be one of the weaker moments of the map, purely because it never felt liked it clicked, a little dull and easy to avoid to start and unleashing everything kind of results in projectiles flying everywhere to the point where you easily be killed by something, even when you are not the target. There does appear to be a correct strategy but again it is a slow roll of wave one and BFG the exit party before it spills beyond the stairs.

Small blight aside, this was a solid closer to the episode, there was enough different to feel distinct and packed enough of a punch in an episode that I felt was being slightly too chill for my liking at times (Purely because many of the maps felt a little easier than the brutalistic episode).

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Contiuous/Saves

Write-ups from memory

 

MAP20:  Dominion - Bri and Dragonfly

 

The final map of the ep takes us to a large fortress where we must grab the 3 keys to unlock the exit portal. Been there, done that a bunch in this WAD already, so this isn't much of a change. This map does have a surprise up its sleeve with the very first ambush of the map. Oh look, a FOURTH noble! This one is the Duke of Hell, and he's slightly stronger than a hell knight with an attack that first throws a couple of projectiles at you, before doing a wave of plasma that arcs out. Like a lot of the new enemies in this WAD, he can be great at infighting, but there's not a lot of monsters here to do that with right now, so SSG 'em. Inside the fortress is a cyb turret, so that will be the biggest threat when you're exploring closer to the center of it. These new dukes show up quite a bit throughout the map, so hopefully you can adapt to their attacks quickly. This map is almost all incidental combat, which is always something I enjoy. Just exploring around and finding enemies naturally is my favorite type of Doom combat, even though the more modern combat puzzle / telegraphed ambush works very well too. Though because of the incidental nature, there isn't anything that really is a stand-out moment of the map outside of the finale, but the whole map itself is strong enough where that isn't an issue. The finale takes place in that courtyard the cyb is overlooking, and initially starts with a bunch of dukes bombarding you from above while you wait to escape, then you can open the exit portal and have archies and a lot of the Eviternity II newbies spew out from it. At least you get the BFG right before the portal opens to deal with this insane wave. It's the only real hard part of the map, though the cyb does add pressure throughout the map, and a few encounters can be surprising. Overall, it's a nice ender to the ep. And, as usual, looks fantastic as well. We now go to episode 5, where this autumnal setting is replaced with somewhere in northern Canada (I'm assuming given the temperature). 

[Celestin]

MAP21: Numb by Dragonfly

 

The episode name, Hyperborean, hinted at a winter theme. Unlike E3 of the original Eviternity, Numb combines familiar icy caverns with steel and circuitry, making this place even more cold.

 

Gameplay-wise, it's a rather brisk map, mostly spent taking out trash along the way to get a pair of keys. There are some bigger fights, like one near the red key where you can unleash a barrage of rockets into an imp crowd. Or a double archvile trap, which I managed to eliminate without firing a shot by manipulating an astral mancubus. Come to think about it, most of Dragonfly's maps here work the same, with a hub, locked exit, two or three keys that can be obtained in any order and mostly incidental combat. Not that this format is inherently wrong, but it does get noticible when you play several maps like this back to back. Again, this is more of an issue with a map order rather than map itself, but it was a thing I've noticed. Another controversial aspect is the use of slippery floors, I was never a fan of this, but I find it hilarious to watch pinkies charge at you, miss and continue to slide forward. Also, I know "noclip bad", but you can't just place an inaccessible switch and expect people not trying out what it does.

 

Despite my complaints, Numb is a good map and a solid opening of an episode. It just would have been much better if it wasn't a third map in a row with very similiar gameplay style.

[Veeda Vidlak]

1 hour ago, Celestin said:

Gameplay-wise, it's a rather brisk map

 

I see what you did there.

 

 

Map21 “Numb” by Dragonfly

 

Everyone ready for ice mechanics?

 

Winter has come, and with it one of my favorite Doom aesthetic themes. I’ve always liked how well the faded colors, pine trees, and snow showcase a cold, wintry environment, it just looks so good. Our obligatory ice episode begins with Numb, a snappy little opener with an average runtime. Numb progresses in traditional Dragonfly fashion. Two keys. Two pathways. Two secrets. Just like map13.

 

Gameplay is incidental with some low friction fun added in. Watching the mass of zombiemen up northeast slide all over the ice is hysterical. Tangoing with the annihilator and astralmanc just beforehand in similar fashion is less hysterical. Don’t let the annihilator out of his little house and you’ll minimize trouble. There’s two viles and an astralmanc down south but they aren’t a problem, the terrain favors you. The only other notable moment is the ending, which attacks the player with astralcacos, nm demons, and an annihilator. Just back through one of the key doors to take care of them.

 

Numb is also the first map since Charge I struggled mightily finding a secret… except this time a monster was involved so I couldn’t ignore it. It took me about as long to find that switch as it did to beat the map in its entirety.

 

Numb is a solid if uneventful start to the fifth episode. I particularly like how we're eased in to the new ice mechanics (and how unlike the first eviternity the introduction does not include platforming).

[Ralgor]

MAP20 - “Dominion” by Bri, Dragonfly
Deaths: 0

 

While this is the episode ender, in many ways it doesn't feel like it. I was bracing myself for something along the lines of MAP15, but this was significantly easier than that map. For me it was the easiest map of the episode. I managed to beat this without dying, and none of the fights really put much pressure on me. The final fight isn't very interesting either, since circle strafing mostly eliminates the danger. There are some nightmare demons in the way, but they had a habit of eating fire from the new monsters on the edge. The perched cyberdemon here is probably the most dangerous thing on the map, since it can snipe you in many locations of the map. Opening the portal at the end causes a mass amount of high level monsters to come at you, but it gives you a non-secret BFG for this and you can just spam it to kill everything. I do like how it suggests we're about to travel to a really demon-infested place. The new monster is pretty cool though, and is probably the best thing about the level.

 

I do like the look of the level and the layout. It's some sort of fortress hosting a nonlinear three key hunt. I had quite a bit of fun playing it and just sort letting myself get lost in its passages. I did end up having to hunt down one monster that I somehow missed when I got to the end. Turns out there's a platform in the center that I never entered that had another new hell noble (duke of hell?). Took me longer to find him than the secrets.

 

I found all of the secrets on my own. I found the secret BFG because I was standing in one spot and thought to myself "I bet there's a secret around here." I then slowly turned to look at the nearby bookshelf and saw the skull. The area is so obviously ripe to have a secret that it caused me to find that secret. I didn't see a hint ahead of time or anything. It was a fun moment.

 

Episode Thoughts

 

I love this theme, and every one of these maps uses it extremely well. Some of these maps made use of tricks and extreme detailing to pull off some true visual wizardry. This makes this episode my favorite so far, despite being easier than the last episode. We're entering the final third of the wad, so I'm hoping to see some good fights coming up.

 

MAP21 - “Numb” by Dragonfly
Deaths: 1

 

I liked this map, but I didn't enjoy my time with it. The ice physics is just really wonky, and took me pretty much the entire play-time of this map to really start getting used to it. The monsters act funny on it, and completely threw off my instincts. I have to admit it is hilarious watching it. It ended up getting me killed by the annihilator by the blue armor once. The map in truth is actually relatively easy, but I'm very grateful for that considering the ice physics was giving me problems. The hardest part is probably the revenant mob after you grab the yellow key. I also can't say I really liked the platforming sections with the lifts. It just seemed designed to make you wait, without actually adding anything to the map. I tend to not like platforming anyway though, so take my opinion here with a grain of salt. At the end there's another one of those midtex bridges. I'll never cease to be amazed by that sort of wizardry.

 

I like the theme though. I'm usually a sucker for winter themes, and this doesn't disappoint. It's the right time of year for it here, so I can actually be cold while playing these cold maps. The map makes good use of it. I don't think the ice physics will really give me any problems going forward, I just wasn't used to it here.

 

The two secrets weren't too hard to find. It was obvious there was a secret with a soulsphere, it just took me a while to find out how to access it. The berserk pack I found quite by accident. I didn't even need it. I think I grabbed it when I already had 100% health.

 

The promise made by the end of the last map wasn't kept here, at least not yet. If it weren't for the ice physics I probably would have done this deathless.

 

2 hours ago, Celestin said:

Also, I know "noclip bad", but you can't just place an inaccessible switch and expect people not trying out what it does.

 

I had no idea what you were talking about so I had to go back and open the map back up. The noclip bad texture is hilarious. Glad I noclipped over there to look at it. :)

[RHhe82]

MAP21: Numb. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 216/216 K, 2/2 S, 4/4 I. Comp. time 23:03

 

Episode opener, and thus not particularly hard - a breather, you might say. We've had a snow episode in Eviternity 1, but back then it was more like medieval fortress in snow, here we have tech base in snow. The map follows the basic structure of fetching two keys on different routes, which sends us to two separate journeys to ice-skate around the snowy base. I chose the harder one, the yellow key path, first; although the red key path had harder to find secret. Damn that switch hidden in snow!

 

I wasn't particularly fond of ice physics in Eviternity 1 (or even already in Heretic), but I don't find it offensive here. It's fun to watch enemies skate, it never gets obnoxious. Hopefully it'll stay that way thru the entire episode.

 

In the base some of the metal walls are shiny! Has that always been a feature and I've never just noticed, or is that accomplished by some advanced trickery? Nevertheless it's cool, as is the amount we get to see what I assume is the next map -- I could even see a lone switch on icy platforms, perhaps a hint to some upcoming secret?

[antares031]

While not as interesting as the rest of custom monsters with their own gimmicks, the current Duke of Hell works like a simple "buffed classic monster" with only a slight difference. The first Duke of Hell was introduced, when we applied DEHEXTRA to gain more extra frames and actor slots. With more resources to use in my hands, I was able to add two custom monsters; one as a buffed hell noble, and one as a low-tier flying monster, which I'm gonna talk about at the end of this month. This time, I quoted the sprites of "Bruiser Demon", created by Vader. And swapped its orange color to teal & gold color to give a visual difference, and match the projectiles' colors as planned. Duke of Hell shoot both baron's green fireball and golden energy bolt at the same time, sharing the same gimmick with Struggle's Afriest; shooting multiple projectiles straight at the same time, but with different velocity. This method was designed to make it tricky to dodge those projectiles without using horizontal spread (when I was using vanilla dehacked many years ago), since you have to consider both fast projectiles and slow projectiles at the same time, even if it's still easy to dodge them with continuous circlestrafing.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

MBF21 allowed me to put horizontal spread to our new projectiles, and I tried to test it out with Duke of Hell. Instead of shooting different projectiles simultaneously, I decided to let them shoot baron's fireballs first, and then shoot energy bolts with horizontal spread. Not to mention that baron's fireballs also had horizontal spread, similar to mancubus' attack pattern. Their movement speed was also increased significantly, as if they're skating around with their flame shoes. Throughout the development history, there were many changes to the spread angle of the last pattern. The minimum spread angle was 2 degrees per projectile, and the maximum spread angle was 8 degrees, during the development.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

At the end of the day, since there were too many gimmicky monsters in this megawad, when every custom monster except the final boss was added, I decided to make them more classic, rather than putting yet another gimmicks. Their movement speed was rolled back from 16 to 12 (it's still faster than classic hell nobles), their horizontal spread was settled down to the spread angle of 3 degrees, and they no longer threw their green fireballs with mancubus' attack pattern. If I still wanted to put a gimmick to this version, I could let them throw multiple waves of energy bolts with different velocity; one fast wave with small spread, one intermediate wave with medium spread, and one slow wave with large spread.

 

 

3 hours ago, RHhe82 said:

In the base some of the metal walls are shiny!

 

This method was designed by ukiro and Dragonfly. This is actually simple, and yet powerful visual effect. I believe that they'll explain about it later.

[ukiro]

19 minutes ago, antares031 said:

This method was designed by ukiro and Dragonfly. This is actually simple, and yet powerful visual effect. I believe that they'll explain about it later.

the idea was actually hatched before the first eviternity was out: 

 

 

not sure why I wrote refraction instead of reflection. 
 

dragonfly then eventually implemented the effect years later after I had somehow managed to talk about it incessantly without actually trying it myself. 

Edited January 21, 2024 by ukiro

[DJVCardMaster]

Chapter 5: Hyperborean

MAP21 - Numb - Dragonfly (99%K/75%I/50%S):

 

A bit stale. It gave me feelings of both the last episode of Valiant, and the snow episode of the first Eviternity. I did not fancy this map that much, two paths that felt scripted rather than "choose this one first, then the other". Each time you grab a key, you will trigger a fight at the main area.

It did not look, nor play as amusing as I expected. But I really do appreciate the detail added to some silver walls with that fake shine effect added to them, really nice trick, although way too quirky for it to be added at every single silver wall. Still cool looking. It adds a bit of life and personality to this level and the start of the episode overall. Still, I can't recap anything that triggered my interest about this map.

 

The ice skating physics I usually like, but this time those felt a bit too slippery at times, making it really difficult to walk.

The fake reflection thing is what takes the cake and I hope for it to be used in the rest of the episode. Cool effect!

Order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP14
MAP18

MAP32
MAP11
MAP09
MAP19
MAP34
MAP17

MAP07
MAP16

MAP05
MAP20
MAP12
MAP13
MAP03
MAP08
MAP15
MAP06

MAP02
MAP04
MAP10
MAP21
MAP31
MAP33

I think I've become so numb after this, I'll need a break from my PC before the next map.

[cannonball]

MAP21 - “Numb” by Dragonfly

 

Probably the most "Chill" map in quite a while.... I'll get my coat....

This is probably the most insubstantial map in quite a while too, on the whole it is fairly easy, though there are a couple of awkward spots, the first section of the yellow key path can get quite hairly, especially when the astrocacos rush in as they clearly have the upper hand here and the final fight is a little on the awkward side. In the end though there wasn't much of note apart from the ice physics, which weren't too bad, the falling snow and the texture trickery in places.

It isn't a bad map and in the end I suspect fairly neutral is as bad as it is going to get, but I suspect this one will escape my memory unlike most of this wad.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Contiuous/Saves

Write-ups from memory

 

MAP21:  Numb - Dragonfly

 

Not gonna lie, when looking at the screenshots on the Eviternity II website before I downloaded it, I saw some wintery pictures and was kinda disappointed that we were getting another snow episode. All the other screenshots had environments that looked different enough compared to the original Eviternity, so why are we getting another snow one? Turns out, even though this ep and the original ep 3 are both snowy, they are for sure 2 different themes. I honestly can't remember where I saw it, but I saw a good distinction between the two. Eviternity 1's snow ep still felt a little warm and cozy. Makes sense since a lot of the interior areas of these maps seemed like fortresses or castles. Eviternity 2's snow ep feels cold. All this slick metallic sheen and techbase environments make these maps feel a lot less welcoming than Ev 1 ep 3 does. So after realizing this, I'm good with another snowy ep! It is in reality a lot different than before.

 

This map is a fine opener. We get introduced to some ice physics, which can take a second to get used to. It's also funny seeing demons flailing around on the ice. Like a lot of other maps, this one is a multi-path key hunt where all you need to do is get the yellow and red keys to unlock the exit. I recall this map having quite a few tough fights that killed me. Oddly enough, the circular room on the red key path that ends with some astral caco and mancs I remember killing me a few times, though it doesn't look that bad. Maybe I had low health or something going into it. What killed me A LOT was the final fight. Having to deal with a bunch of astral cacos, nightmare demons, and an annihilator in that small room was tough, especially since I tried to rocket them and those enemies are pretty fast. Ouch. Overall, I don't have much to say about this map. It's a good initiation to the episode. Visual are striking like normal, and the MIDI is nice and chill. I really like how the exit has a sizable portion of MAP22 in it, it's a nice continuous touch. We'll be getting there in a sec.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map22 “Inclement” by Bauul and Dragonfly

 

Now this is more like it. Bauul and Dragonfly contrast the frigid environment with our hottest start yet, harassing the player with around 130 bodies spread across the main playing area. Carefully working our way forward is not an option, four nightmare demons bear down on us the instant we make a sound. There is one safe space, the icy cavern at the south of the map. You can funnel enemies with the berserk here at the cost of needing to fight on slippery terrain, which I will praise as stellar design (adding complexity to decision making is excellent mapmaking).

 

The energy sags wait nevermind it actually doesn’t. Instead, we switch styles to arena combat. The invul pit is just stress relief but the double caco dance behind the red door can get scary against such an unpredictable enemy. The big one is of course the yellow key trap that serves as the final fight. We get to choose between toughing it out in the hallway under astralarachno fire or running outside and fighting a horde backed by astralcacos. If you’ve been stockpiling plasma it’s pretty trivial to mow down (and is just more stress relief with the secret BFG).

 

The secret exit is on this map, made accessible the same way as Episode one. Three hidden switches around the level will grant entry to a fourth (also hidden) switch which opens the purple door up north to allow the player to go to map35. A bit unimaginative but I thought the execution was better here so it works fine. I do have a minor complaint; navigation was tricky and I spent some time wandering around wondering what I needed to do. Not much, but this is the first level that’s even remotely been an issue.

 

Overall though I’m a fan of Inclement, the wad needed some energy after the previous episode. It isn’t all that hard, but it applies pressure so that we don’t have another “casual stroll” map. A fine outing. 

 

Map35 “Parallel” by Dragonfly

 

Our fifth secret level features a new take on the premise of TNT Revilution’s map32 (Duality), which is itself a branch of the Wormhole mapping tree. Essentially, we have a normal map and various ways to visit a hellish version of it, warping back and forth between the two to reach the exit.

 

Mechanically we have these purple flows of viscera that serve as the door between the quaint village and the hellscape. Once in said hellscape, stepping off the purple corruption takes us back. Between both dimensions we have seven or eight switches that raise steps to the exit. Monsters cannot cross between worlds and combat is a mix of incidental and small-scale arena.

 

And unfortunately… I don’t find Parallel all that interesting. In short, not enough was done with the gimmick or the gameplay. The archvile skirmish involving backing out of the immaterium to avoid their magic is clever but lacks depth… I wish the encounter was more tactical. The area with the purple fountain in which we find ourselves trapped in the netherworld could have been a frantic fight for our lives, but the area has too much space and too few enemies to elicit the sense of panic I believe it should. The toughest fight is probably the sweet looking golden sky arena past the yellow door… but the perforator renders it impotent. There’s no “that moment” in this level I can point to as a gameplay highlight and of all the maps so far this is the one I think is hurt most by a lack of menace.

 

Also, while the gameplay is less jarring (and therefore less frustrating) than Duality, I find the design to be less complex. Duality had clever secrets that involved finding ways to get to the alternative dimension from new directions, whereas here that isn’t in play. Giving it some thought, very little is actually done with the parallel dimension theme. Consider this, if every use of the upside down was replaced with one-way doors, pit drops, or other mundane transitions… what changes?

 

I know I just wrote two paragraphs of complaints but in truth there’s nothing inherently wrong with Parallel, it just feels like a missed opportunity. I’d argue a secret map this late in the megawad should be bolder with its gameplay. Fielding 215 monsters, weighted towards clumps of imps, does not inspire fear.

[Ralgor]

MAP22 - “Inclement” by Bauul, Dragonfly
Deaths: 1

The switch you flipped last map lowers, showing you some foes with their backs turned. There's a shotgun in front of you, so you grab it, and use it. Pandemonium erupts. This is one of the spicier starts of the megawad up to this point, and it killed me the first time. I'm not actually sure how I survived the second time, but once you finally are able to catch a breath you pretty well have the map beat. The opening is by far the hardest part of this level when pistol starting. The only other fights worth noting are when two arch-viles teleport in and start resurrecting everything. They were using that monster-only teleport line and teleporting back and forth. It was kind of anxiety inducing. Eventually they knocked it off and then I knocked them out. The next is a big shin-dig when you grab the yellow key. It looks scary and I took quite a bit of damage, but I never felt like I was about to die. I took a lot more risks in this fight than I needed to really. There's also a fight with two arch-viles and a cyberdemon in a tiny room. You get an invulnerability sphere though so this fight is trivially easy and really more of a bore.

I know it seems like I'm kind of down on this map, but it's still visually excellent and the open layout is great. I could play these types of maps every day and never get bored. I do feel like the megawad should be picking up at this point. I'm starting to get worried that we'll just hit a difficulty spike out of nowhere.

The second best part of this map (the visuals being the best part) are the secrets. The secret exit is here, and I felt like unlocking both it and the secret BFG were well designed. I ended up finding everything on my own, but it did take a while. I love the little model of the secret exit that shows you what the switch does. I probably would have guessed it, but having that certainty is very nice.

I haven't mentioned the music in a few maps, but that's because they are all good. I'm not a musical expert so it's hard to say more than that.

MAP35 - “Parallel” by Dragonfly
Deaths: 0

The gimmick for this secret level is essentially Wormhole (Or Duality), except here you touch some corrupted ground to shift you to hell-world. When you leave that corrupted ground you shift back. For the most part you'll be shifting between a normal medieval chateau to a hellish one. There's also a single hallowed room, although you're taken there by the same color corrupted ground. The gameplay has you finding a bunch of switches, each raising part of your stair to get out. You can find these is nearly any order, although there are a few restrictions. It's pretty much a standard Dragonfly map, which is fine by me, except parts of the level are in these other dimensions.

It wasn't particularly difficult. The scariest part was when I was secret hunting at the end and woke up a astralcaco that I had somehow missed before. I ended up fighting it in a narrow hallway. I had plenty of health but no bullets for the perforator, so I still took huge amounts of damage.

Speaking of secret hunting, I couldn't find the megasphere on my own. The fact that you had to teleport to it from a little hole in the ground made it more or less impossible for me to find it. I ended up just using UDB to figure it out. It's definitely possible to see the hole while you're playing the level, but if you're going back to look for it later it's going to be really hard to find. That's ok though, I don't expect to find them all.

This is a very memorable level, but I was kind of hoping for more overlap between the different dimensions. It felt mostly like you just shift back and forth while travelling through a cave, hallway, or over a bridge, then shift back at the end. I really enjoyed this map, but my excitement over the gimmick faded the more I played. I think more could have been done with it. Near the beginning I was imagining a map with three overlapping dimensions, and having to find things in one dimension to manipulate another. I would have loved that, but maybe no one else would have. I also was expecting something way more difficult. As it is, this is the easiest secret map so far.

[RHhe82]

MAP22: Inclement. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 273/273 K, 6/6 S, 6/6 I. Comp. time 32:12

 

That was easy. I mean, finding the secrets, didn't have to spend extra time anywhere, looking at automap, succumbing to IDDT or anything of the sort. It's funny, when I watched the Vytaan playthroughs afterwards, he had absolute no trouble in the last map, but had to spend a lot of time here; and for me it was vice-versa.

 

Other than that, I feel the difficulty spike sting my guts here! Or at least the start, it was reeeeally hectic for quite a while until I could stop to catch my breath. I'm sure there is a clever way of handling the start; I ran around in slight panic, collecting supplies along with one berserk pack, and retreating to starting room, punching stuff and saving midfight without shame, even be a little scummy*... But, after the start it gets a bit easier, although I'm amazed I survived the onslaught triggered by picking the yellow key on the first go. --- or, I guess, I would have been amazed, but as I said, I had astonishingly no problems with the secrets, which meant finding the BFG just in time for that encounter, so I had it easy in that regard.

 

On the last map I was feeling the episode theme was a riff on the original Eviternity snow episode, but this map, to me, felt more distinctive, an ice-blue frozen tech base. I love it.

 

*

 

MAP35: Parallel. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 215/215 K, 2/2 S, 8/8 I. Comp. time 28:25

It's a bit like TNT: Revilutions dimension-hopping, advanced Wormhole map. I wasn't too fond of Revilution's corresponding map, but Parallel does the trick in a thoroughly enjoyable way! I guess the major difference is in Duality you didn't know where the teleports are and how you get back. Here it's laid bare, I think there is only one violet goo that doesn't grant exit right away. It's less confusing, and far less annoying.

 

Parallel is surprisingly easy for such a late map! Writing this parapgraph a couple of hours after playing, I can't remember any hairy fights. I guess the fight when you enter the teleport-goo fountain was the hardest, that one I had to retry. And I guess the small heavenly arena was hard, too, I felt I did it first try thru sheer luck.

 

Great riff on the Wormhole/Duality structure! I guess, in hindsight, upon posting this, there could have been more to be done with the gimmick. I wouldn't necessarily hope for anything overly convoluted, but something in the vein of Going Down's Wormhole-style level.

[ReaperAA]

MAP20: Dominion by Dragonfly and Bri

Here it comes, the finale of episode 4. And with it, the introduction of another custom enemy, the Duke of Hell. He is another bruiser variant whose durability is in between a hell knight and a baron. While his attack pattern is more advanced than those of HK/Barons, he is much more simpler and "traditional" than almost all of the other Eviternity 2's custom enemies. He fires 2 regular baron projectiles, followed by a burst of low/moderate damaging plasma bolts.

 

As for the level itself, your main objective is to get the 3 skull keys from various areas inside and around the fortress, so that you can get access to the central courtyard. The courtyard has a platform at the center with the cyberdemon on it. You can either kill with plasma gun (if you find him annoying) or keep him alive for the courtyard fight. I tend to keep him alive. Once you do get all the keys and manage to access the courtyard, you will have to deal with some teleporting pinkies + nightmare demons inside the fortress, while a horde of Dukes of Hell soon arriving outside of the courtyard to start firing. The cyberdemon (if not killed) can help killing most of those guys via infight, while you can use RL to finish the rest of them.

 

Once your way is open, you get a BFG (assuming you didn't already found the secret BFG) and some more cells and rockets. When you press the switch, some archviles, astral cacos and other Eviternity 2 foes will teleport at the exit portal. Cut loose with the BFG to finish them off.

 

Overall I have to agree with most folks here that episode 4 in general and Map20 as the finale is much easier than the previous episode. Which is fine I think. It's a calm before the storm. Episode 5 and 6 have some spicy maps.

 

 

MAP21: Numb by Dragonfly

The name of episode "Hyperborean" should give you an idea that this is going to be winter themed. And with winter theme comes the judicious usage of snow particles, some slippery floors here and there, some nice ice'y midtextures on crates etc. Unlike Eviternity 1's episode 3, this does not take place in medieval castles. Rather it takes place in some gorgeous techbases. One more thing I noticed is that some metal textures have that "chrome sheen" on them, which I don't know how is done, but looks really cool.

 

As for the map itself. It is a fairly mild affair for the most part. You can take 2 paths, each path give one key and you need both keys for the exit. The combat is fine with only a couple of mildly hairy situations involving astral mancubi, but otherwise no biggie.

 

One thing more that I would like to point out is that you can see parts of Map22 near the exit of this map. You of course can't get there by ordinary means. But what if you noclip. You might find something *wink* ;)

 

 

MAP22: Inclement by Bauul and Dragonfly

Unlike Map18, Bauul wastes no time in throwing you straight into the fire with a hot start. You will probably spend a few minutes running around, trying to get a foothold. But once you do so, the rest of the map is kind of okay. Still a step up from map21, but much milder than maps 23 and 24. You get decent mount of plasma gun ammo in the map, so don't hesitate to use in hairy situations. Especially the fight triggered by getting to the yellow key. That fight can be made easier if you managed to obtain the secret BFG, but if you didn't, then plasma and RL should be able to get you through.

 

Be on the lookout for secrets here, because not only are they very rewarding, but you also need to find certain hidden switches there to get access to the secret exit.

 

 

MAP35: Parallel by Dragonfly

As others have mentioned, this map is a bit like the TNT: Revilution's Map32: Duality, except done right. The dimension hopping part of Duality is neat, but the biggest issue it had was that you couldn't tell when you would get teleported to the other dimension. Here, you know you will go to the other dimension when you step on the purple texture. It also helps that the dimension hopping is much more seamless due to Boom's silent teleporting.

 

The map is small/medium in size and the progression is very non-linear. You need to press 7 or 8-ish hexagon marble switches throughout the map that raise the steps of a bridge that leads to the exit, each switch involving some mild combat.

 

On the combat end of the things, the map is fairly easy all things considered. The secrets are pretty easy to find and the combat is mostly on the mild side especially for a map this late in the wad. The hardest fight is probably the one in the heaven part involving 3 archviles and a couple astral cacos. If you have already obtained the perforator, then this fight is easy peasy.

Edited January 22, 2024 by ReaperAA

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP22 - Inclement - Bauul & Dragonfly (100%K/I/S):

This is one of those classic "hide your ass off where you can" type of maps, where near the start of the map you will be thrown into a site full of monsters and you will be constantly running from them, so you get to a safe spot. Safe spots are not present in this map right from the start, as its openness and its arena-focused layout will be making you constantly dodge bullets and fireballs from enemies. The best would be to make them infight and lure them into forming big stacks of monsters to kill them easily from different floor heights. Specially if you manage to get yourself some rockets. Once you remove from the main areas most of the enemies, progression will be easier. I'm not sure if the map is a keyhunt with different paths to choose or what, because there are some doors and switches that require you to get keys. Those could even be for the secret exit aswell. In the end, you will need the three keys and you will take the regular exit. Fights start getting more slaughterish and difficult. And considering the level's start, it's safe to say it is a really hard map, at least for me.

I really dig the aesthetics here, blue textures give it a little bit of life in comparison to the previous map, but still focusing around the same overall looks.

The way to access the secret exit is a little bit random, and I guess you will have to hit the 3 switches hidden in secret rooms to progress. This is the first time I had to check a playthrough to access the secret exit.

Way better than the previous map, for sure, and I'm hoping for some improvement as the previous map has left me a bit tasteless

MAP35 - Parallel - Dragonfly (99%K/87%I/50%S):

Again, in a similar vein to MAP34, seems like a past episode did not finish. In this case, we are back to the fourth episode, with medieval landscapes anHOLY FUCK WHAT WAS THAT? MBF trickery at its best with those silent teleporting linedefs switching the entire place. Seems like the gimmick here will be swiching dimensions, as noted by the pink stuff that covers the floor. The idea seems to be that, in order to escape the map, you will need to raise the stairs step by step, by hitting switches in both dimensions. The hellish dimension has some nastier enemies and fights and most of the time you will be traversing through it to get goodies. The only way to stay inside this dimension is to step on the pink liquid or the pink stuff, once you stop stepping on it, you will be sent back to the normal dimension.

You know, this map surprised me as it was shorter than I expected. Not only that, but I did expect some puzzles or smart stuff inside this map involving parallel dimensions, but this did not happen, sadly. In fact, the map kinda felt like a breather for you to get the perforator and fidget around it a little bit. Fights were not as interesting aswell. There is a third dimension that looks "heavenly", just like Eviternity's last chapter, but sadly Dragonfly did not expand the concept a little bit more. Fun map but I consider it lackluster in terms of its gimmick (Or maybe I'm getting too picky considering overall quality of the megawad so far).

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP14
MAP18

MAP32
MAP11
MAP09
MAP19
MAP34
MAP17

MAP07
MAP16

MAP05
MAP22
MAP20
MAP12
MAP13
MAP03
MAP08
MAP15
MAP35
MAP06

MAP02
MAP04
MAP10
MAP21
MAP31
MAP33

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP22: Inclement by Bauul and Dragonfly

 

This was the toughest start in the wad so far and it's not up for debate. The arena is fairly interconnected and firing a shot triggers enemies all around. This include corporals that turned out to be a huge pain, their lightning fast projectiles made my health disappear. What I ended up doing was rushing for the SSG and just camp near the start, taking out nightmare demons, hell knights and revenants. When I ran out of ammo, I made a dash for more and slowly started to retake the place.

Inclement's progression is on a more linear side. The red key is on top of a column in a pit, I grabbed it after clearing the starting area, though a more proficient player will likely get it earlier and unlock a plasma rifle as a reward. Red key unlocks a room that surprised me by dropping down into a hole and teleporting nightmare demons, two archviles and a cyberdemon into a tiny space. Sounds scary? Don't worry, there's an invuln and enough cells to survive this. Here you can unlock a nearby door and proceed to the next part, an icy cavern from the ending of Numb - I appreciate this bit of continuity. 

 

After dealing with a handful of surprise ambushes, you reach the blue key, which teleports two archviles into a particularly corpse-dense part of a map plus some astral arachnotrons. Nothing to see here, just fire rockets and move on to the final battle for the yellow key. I'd say this is the second hardest part of the map. You're in an exposed corridor that is assaulted by a lot of corporals, while astral arachnotrons and cacodemons fire at you from the side. Camping lead me nowhere, so I pushed through a crowd into a snowy plain and defended myself from there. You can leave now (after eliminating two astral mancubi behind the yellow door) or look for the secret exit.

 

If I understand this correctly, you first need to find three secrets, each holding a switch - I got them all organically while playing. Together they lower barriers inside the fourth secret, it's hidden on a ledge in the caves, it isn't that hard to spot, but I only noticed it after I reached the regular exit and went searching for MAP35 access. There's a BFG inside, it would have helped with a final fight. It's not over, though, as pressing a switch here unlocks another cubby in the cave, this time with a button that opens the secret exit. 

 

The challenging start of Inclement was a kick I needed after a last couple of maps.

 

MAP35: Parallel by Dragonfly

 

It seems MAP20 was not the last time we've seen the medieval setting. The starting area looks like something that could fit right in the fourth episode - some caves, falling leaves, wooden houses and a large magenta patch on the ground. It teleports the player to hell, but stepping off of it returns them to the regular version of the map. It's a great idea for a gimmick map, where you need to use one dimension to reach an inaccessible place in another, but my favourite use case was the trio of archviles that appear in the hellish part of the map. There's no cover to block their attacks, right? Well, just leave a magenta-covered bridge and wait until they cast their spells. It was brilliant. 

 

The objective of the map is to find several switches that raise a staircase to the exit. It's more of a scavange hunt than a combat challenge this time, made easier if you go for the perforator ASAP. Even without it, you are well supplied and the opposition isn't particularly numerous. It's probably the easiest map in a while, especially when other secret stages are concerned. I guess it was intentional to not overwhelm the player who has to deal with a new mechanic - in the end, I don't mind a breather like this. 

 

I like the concept behind Parallel, it's a creative and well-executed idea, but at the same time, it feels like skimming through the possibilities. There's much more that could be done with it and I hope it will serve as an inspiration for someone else to expand it.

[cannonball]

MAP22 - “Inclement” by Bauul, Dragonfly

 

Well that is a rather rude welcome, easily one of the hottest starts in the wad but actually taking the map head on is the right thing to do, there are a few chainguns or SSGs and berserks placed nearby so clearly an aggressive strategy is encouraged. Once you have secured a foothold this map actually eases off the gas somewhat. Now there are a few more traps littered throughout this base, the yellow key has the outdoor and there is a strange fight for the plasma gun where you are handed an invulnerability, which lasted until the cyber was dead (not sure of the point of this fight). There is some dead air, most notably when you traverese underneath the exit area of the previous map (A nice touch but the easy platforming and light combat felt a little off here). The secret hunt wasn't too bad I guess, but it is easy to miss the switch that opens the secret exit as you can easily assume that your job is done when grabbing the BFG.

This was better than the opener though and I guess this could be fun to play at full throttle all of the way through.

 

MAP35 - “Parallel” by Dragonfly

A nice idea and one that is executed fairly well. Now clearly the gimmick is displayed clearly, however some of the foundations of the map feel a little off. The switch hunt traversing various planes of existence looks cool and the map is short enough to make this work. However it is hard to not notice that this map feels a little undercooked and as such the gimmick could have been explored for interesting scenarios. There are also a couple of strange fights in here, the triple archvile seems to be deliberately cheesable by the silent teleporters and there is another stab in the dark annihilator placed in a cave.

This is certainly a lot better than duality, but I can't help feeling that this map started out as an E4 candidate and then essentially got the gimmick shoe-horned in to justify its position outside of the regular roster.

I will add that there was a sky tranfer issue in the heaven section where one sector didn't display the correct sky.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Contiuous/Saves

Write-ups from memory

 

MAP22:  Inclement - Bauul & Dragonfly

 

Just a thing I forgot to mention before the last map, ep 5 was when I switched over to RC2, so these last 2 episodes' write-ups are based on my playthrough of that. Remember, I finished this WAD a while ago, and all these write-ups have mostly been from memory with the occasional playthrough watch on YouTube to remind myself of elements, since I don't really have the time to play the maps again atm.

 

Anyway, the temperature may be cold, but this start is HOT. At least once you start blasting and everything in this area starts coming for you. Even on continuous this was a challenge, since it's not like I really brought over a lot of extra stuff from the last map. There's a ton of enemies here, and not really a lot of safe spaces, so you'll have to keep moving, but that will just send you into the path of other monsters. It's a ball buster, but it's really fun. This map is mostly an interconnected arena that has multiple paths to run around in, so there's many ways you can approach it. Progression itself is more linear in terms of key acquisition. The red key you can jump to pretty easily, though at first I wasn't sure if that was the intended method or if I was supposed to lower it somehow. Turns out, there's a switch on the back of that pillar that allows you to lower it. I guess either way works. Red key allows you to access the plasma rifle and one of the more constricted fights I've seen in a while, with 4 hell knights and a baron. Then you can go to another red door and take out a bunch of nightmare demons, an archie, and a cyb in another tight spot. Thankfully, there's an invul. Keep on trekking through to make it to the cavern section we saw at the end of MAP21. Small platforms open up to falls while dealing with the cacos, but there's teleporters down there, and I don't think it was damaging floor either. Cross it to find the blue key. This will spawn an archie outside tho, plus a few other nuisances. The path behind the blue door and beyond was unexpected. I wasn't expecting it to open up as much as it did. I expected something when grabbling the yellow key, and I thought it was just the enemies teleporting in, and not the new area that opens up with a bunch of hitscan and nightmare demons. Interesting combo there. The ending has a astral manc duo, and we're done! Kinda. Secret exit time! There's 3 switches around the map you need to hit to open up a secret teleporter to the BFG. I found all the switches before I even found the hidden tunnel with the teleporter. Once you grab the BFG and hit that switch, another cubby opens up in the MAP21 outro area that has a switch opening the secret exit, complete with a mini diorama showing it! Cute! Overall, this is a very solid map. It's fast paced and fun, the MIDI is also reflective of that. It's a nice challenge too. Bauul and Dragonfly together are a good team, given how much I liked this and MAP02.

 

MAP 35: Parallel - Dragonfly

 

My lateness in writing these means everyone else has already used the "TNT Revillution MAP32, but good" comparison. It's true tho. This map takes that map's dimension hopping gimmick, and retuned it in a way that makes sense and isn't frustrating. You see a magenta floor? That's the other dimension. Step off it to teleport back to this ep 4 reprise. It's way more intuitive and flows much better. The map itself, even with this gimmick, actually feels pretty standard to me. It's actually a pretty easy map, though there were a couple spots that killed me, and I kinda expected the dimension hopping to be a little more puzzley. Getting that secret megasphere ended up being a different way than I thought it would, for example. I also kinda wished we could go through the hellish version more, instead of being just set to the magenta path. Oh well. There's one magenta patch that sends you to a heavenly version of the map, which was a surprise. This fight inside definitely looked the toughest, but I didn't die to it. Did I already have the perforator at this point? Idr when you get it. I also don't know what the point of the heavenly area was. I was expecting some goodies for beating the fight, but I got nothing? Did it raise a section to the exit? That's my guess. Overall, it's a cool map, but I wished the gimmick was expanded upon from what was given to us. I think it's my least favorite secret map, but it's still like a B+ or something, so it's nowhere near bad. Definitely the best implementation of the dimension hopping trope I've seen in a non-UDMF map.