The DWmegawad Club plays: Eviternity II

[Cutman 999]

MAP21 - “Numb” by Dragonfly (Pistol start, used saves, 99% kills, 50% Items, 0% Secrets)

 

We are again at the snowy places, this time mixing up the snow theme with techbase. Honestly I would've prefered avoiding techbases as much as possible, but is doom so it is inevitable, and at least it is mixed up a bit with the snowy things.

 

From the start, which reminds me a lot of rush map 03 for some reason, let's you have very simple objectives, collect keys, unlock the exit, the end. Considering i'm an idiot and didn't see the ssg literally the front of the start, whatever path you choose doesn't really have ball breaking levels of difficulty or bullshit ambushes to punish you from that, and the first on the yellow key path was really enjoyable with low tier weaponry regardless, respectable enemy sizes from late in the megawad and despite being mostly low tiers, that makes it compensate for the (unintentional) lack of better weaponry.

 

There's some tricky fights in this map that aren't hard, just like expected, not completely harmless, the exit with the astral cacos and the annihilator is the most obvious, the demons and their nightmare variants skateboarding in the ice physics also will almost kill you, and the most recognizable of the map: the 2 viles with the astral manc, which in the wrong approach can cause you a death, and by that i mean trying to make the manc infight the viles, since it will never happen, so don't try to make a mental flood like I did.

 

Solid opener overall, sets a good mood going forward.

 

8/10

 

MAP22 - “Inclement” by Bauul, Dragonfly (Pistol start, Saveless 2 attemps, 100%K/I/S)

 

OK THIS IS MY FAVORITE MAP IN THE WHOLE MEGAWAD!

 

If previous maps from bauul didn't already have me in his previous attempts at this style of gameplay, surely, he kicked everything into a higher gear. I love incidental combat gauntlets, and by minute one it had me completely perplexed.

 

Like certain mountain will say, basically the entire level is a big fight in basically the same arena, with progressively more stuff to test you might. From the word "go", never loses any sort of momentum, after you finish a horde, it comes another, and another, sometime appears a dynamic ambush that requires quick reaction, sometimes will get you and require you to stay in the back foot, sometimes is pure aggression and knowing how to deal with crowds. 

 

The secret exit on top of that is really intuitive, the switch concept isn't new but is effective, and considering it rewards you with a super weapon, is more than worth it, as the last ambush, while not being impossible or that ball busting, definitely you want to have that super weapon for the sheer intensity unleashed, and ist not like it completely simplifies the fight this time.

 

The midi is pure energy, says something the map by design tells you, that being move forward and kill them all. Something with this amount of substance didn't need to have this level of polish of an actual professional product to be noted, but it has, so...

 

10/10

 

[DMPhobos]

Another map of mine is next soon so i'll leave more dev comment about it... 

 

Map23 - Thaw

^whaT

 

As i mentioned before when i joined the team i was offered the chance to pick multiple slots, the first one was for the meso episode, and the 2nd one was for the ice tech episode. Right after completing map07, i moved to work on stuff for other projects and as time went on the claim changed from a "claimed" to a "maybe claimed". Long story short, I ended up giving up this slot and it ended up being claimed by another mapper who unfortunately couldn't contribute to the project due to the approaching deadline (iirc this was during the last 6 months of development). Since the slot was free again, I asked if i could work on it again, and as a result Thaw exists.

 

Unlike 07 there were more maps to reference for the episode. I had a start for how the beginning since 22 was already complete (24 was still far away from completion, but antares left a wip for the entrance to reference for the end of this map), once i started to draw the map i simply added more areas and expanded more rooms as i went along, focusing a bit more on the outside areas.

 

Spoiler

Progress after a few days of development...

 

For this map i wanted to make a more "traditional" base map with the layout twisting and turning around, but at the same time that was easy to navigate both for players and monsters, which encourages incidental combat. In order to do that, i applied one trick i do in a lot of my other maps, which is by "building areas in circles". Basically this means building areas towards one direction and along the way twisting that direction back to the start again, and then overlapping those circles with other circles outside and also building areas or mini circles inside of them. This is a great way to makes the map feel more interconnected and at some point i even had arrows drawn where i wanted the circles to lead to (you can tell that i built the map this way by looking at area where the yellow key is located, if you enter the building from any side and just move forward, you'll end up on the same area you started).

 

Spoiler

Progress with a few areas that got deleted

 

 

 

 

 

The original plan was to name the map "Heat" and make it based around heating the base and melting ice to unlock progression, as i went along the way i did tried to implement the gimmick into regular progression, but i couldn't figure how to implement it in a way that wasn't obstructing the incidental combat, so it ended up being relegated to a few setpieces and at that point i realized such name wouldn't work at all, so i ended up naming it "Thaw" when the map was mostly complete. (Funny enough i've seen that the ice melting gimmick goes unnoticed a lot lol)

 

As for gameplay, as i mentioned right from the start i built the layout around the idea of making it easy to navigate for both players and monsters, the result of this is that the gameplay for this map is based around incidental combat and players are free to approach it however they want. This also extends also to a few setpieces, the area where the "thawing" mechanics are introduced looks like a lockout fight... but it's not, you can get out if you want by pressing the switches quickly, or even cheese it by returning to the start (tho that wouldn't be fun heh), melting the ice for the blue key releases a horde of corporals, viles and flying monsters into the map, and you're free to approach it however you want. The only exception to this is the red key fight, which is based around melting the ice and revealing monsters. It can be defused easily by moving around prioritizing the nightmare demons to keep the space around.

 

Spoiler

Final layout

 

 

Finally the music... Usually when building the map i try to have a music track set for inspiration, but the map music was claimed by Tristan and he was busy either working on 26 or other music at the time. The stock doom 2 music for the map23 slot is this track, and while i don't dislike the track, i absolutely HATED testing the map and hearing those opening notes. It didn't took long until i had enough and i replaced the music with a silent midi and it stayed that way until the last few days of development. Tristan asked all of us for instructions and references for the music on the map slots he had claimed. The main reference i gave was "Dark Groove" from Jazz Jackrabbit 2 along with some really confusing instructions (sorry about that!). Time passed and it wasn't until the last weeks of development when Tristan showed us the track he wrote and it was a banger. I have said this multiple times, but this might be my favorite Eviternity 2 midi. During those last days of development Tristan just kept coming with banger after banger up until the final hours before release

 

Since this map leans really hard into the incidental combat part with a lot of pressure from revs and hitscans all around to encourage players to keep moving, many people will not enjoy it, and it might wear out the patience of some players (which i've seen occur for some pople). Also this map is sandwiched between 2 really amazing maps (right between "Inclement" or "Parallel" which are both great maps and the amazing "Temeraire" which has one of the most memorable moments i've ever seen in Doom) so it is overshadowed. I'm really proud of this map tho, probably my favorite of all my contributions for Eviternity 2

 

Sorry for the long post, i thought i didn't had much to say about this map, but guess that wasn't the case heh

[Dragonfly]

14 hours ago, cannonball said:

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 did wonder if this would be how it was percieved; though I can confirm however that this is not the case. In fact, it was made after only one E4 map (MAP16) had been started. It's a good theme, and I wanted more of it but with a twist!

 

An interesting thing to note is how later on in development, Liberation settled on a very similar idea for MAP17 despite having not played MAP35 yet, heh. I viewed this as a good coincidence, making the "gimmick" more concrete to me. :)

I am also fascinated by all the comparisons to TRT Revilution's MAP32; I should go play that to see what everyone means (I've still not played Revilution... or much else released in the last 8-10 years for that matter. My backlog is insurmountable at this point which makes me hesitant to even start trying to get through it)

 

I will note that MAP35 is one of the maps that's likely to see more changes than most maps in future revisions. I will not be expanding the map itself much, if at all, as I very much do not want the concept to overstay it's welcome; it's brevity was a very conscious decision during development to prevent people feeling it "Overstays its welcome" or is "a navigational nightmare", of which both would be very easy to feel when toying with a concept like this; but I do definitely want to completely overhaul the combat of the map which I think will do a lot of good for the map overall.

[Ralgor]

MAP23 - “Thaw” by DMPhobos
Deaths: 8

 

This map is a sprawling, frozen tech-base. It's very interconnected, so it's really easy to get lost here. The music and visuals are pretty soothing. For the most part, the combat is too. I found most of the map to not be too difficult. The start is definitely milder than MAP22. This time though, there are a few fights that are actually notably difficult. One is the red key fight. Flipping a switch melts some glaciers in the room, releasing a bunch of long-dormant demons. This can be quite tough, since I found that no weapon has enough DPS for you to be safe. The only answer I found was to plasma my way through the enemies, grab the red key, and get out of there. I only died here a couple times though. Another is a fight on the way to the blue key. There's a switch in front of a plasma rifle that also melts some glaciers and releases cryogenic demons. I tried 5 or 6 attempts here, but I couldn't seem to kill everything fast enough without eventually dying. There's just so many projectiles that I can't dodge all of them consistently, even while constantly moving through the room. I eventually just cheesed the fight by fleeing back up the lift, and using a bunch of infinite height rocket explosions there to kill everything. I feel a bit bad about it but I didn't see a consistent way to beat this fight otherwise. I also died once to the AV and corporal swarm that gets released right after this fight. That was mostly just due to my negligence though. I also hadn't saved since the last fight, so I got to try it again.

 

The secrets were very well hidden. There were usually very few hints that a secret was nearby. One was just a glowing shootable switch, far from where you get to shoot it. Another was just a switch hidden behind a pillar in an area the doom marine never needs to visit. The megasphere secret was kind of cleverly hinted though. The texture used is that same glacier texture that you melt in other parts of the map. I had a feeling it hid something, but it still took me a while to figure out how to get to it. The megaarmor secret was obviously visible, but the trigger was still cleverly hidden. I looked right at it and couldn't see it at first.

 

This is just an excellent map. I think it's my favorite of the episode so far. I liked the ice/glacier melting mechanic. I'm also happy that the wad is finally getting some bite to its maps. This map served as a bit of a wake-up for me I think.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map23 “Thaw” by DMPhobos

 

DMPhobos is back! This time taking us through a militarized snowy facility that wouldn’t look out of place in a James Bond film. It's a fun ride and features a nifty bit of storytelling involving "thawing" (that also kicks the gameplay up a notch).

 

We start our incursion into this base by… basically doing whatever we want. The entire map sans key buildings is immediately available and roughly half the monster count serves in the outside garrison. We can play it safe, run around and incite havoc, head straight for the yellow key (southwest), see how many enemies we can get killed playing pacifist… Progression is linear, but it doesn’t really feel like it. Sovereign gave a similar impression, and this “linear sandbox” style is clearly one of DMPhobos’s strengths.

 

Clearing out the main area takes some time and at this point in the wad I will confidently label the corporals as “annoying,” their projectiles are constantly plinking me for minor damage. Nothing presents much threat up until the red switch behind the yellow door, after which the ice starts to melt, long dormant demons start to stir, and DMPhobos starts making concerted efforts to kill us. This fight for the blue key is a cramped arena with a bunch of mid-tiers and dukes of hell have never looked as threatening as they do here. Tactically I find immediately hammering the initial dukes and nm demons with the rocket launcher damages them enough that when the second group starts bearing down I can switch to plasma, sweep aside the remainder of the first wave, and fight everything from their closet with cover.

 

After that we are presented with groups of vile-backed raiding parties in the main area, more lock-in arenas, and astralcaco ambushes. The red key arena with the timed ice walls is an excellent encounter, stranding the player in an increasingly frantic deathpit culminating in annihilators. We also get a little surprise back up top, so don’t let your guard down when the dust has settled (or flee early like I did on my blind run). The final ambush in the exit hallway isn’t too bad but be aware that there is more than one vile group released outside, I think one before and after the red key fight. Also, while I found the annihilator secret from the last episode endearing, I consider the astralcaco secret in this map assholish. You get locked in a tiny closet so if you don’t have the plasma out, you’re probably just straight dead.

 

Lulzy gotcha secret aside, Thaw is an outstanding sandbox just like Sovereign was back in Episode 2. We’ve had some beastly maps this month and DMPhobos has two right up with the best of them.

[Celestin]

MAP23: Thaw by DMPhobos

 

Way back in episode 2 I've said Sovereign felt boring with a mostly incidental combat against weaker monsters and Thaw strenghens that opinion. If you think about it, the gameplay style of both maps isn't that different. You have a relatively open level that you are free to explore, however the keys need to be picked in a specific order - the end result is a mixture of fluid, non-linear fights and pre-planned setpieces. 

 

Where the maps differ is the difficulty. Thaw doesn't mess around, the made me panic and run forward, triggering more and more monsters, until I got overwhelmed and died. Taking things slowly helped here. Compared to Sovereign, the enemies are either tougher or stick in larger groups. Corporals are used a lot here, both sniping from elevated positions and mixed in with crowds. I find the additional bite much more engaging, stuff like surprise astral cacodemons or corporals' squads don't let you just sleepwalk through the map.

 

As for the setpiece fights, there are two of them that I enjoyed a lot. First one is an arena right before the blue key, a small and cramped fight that squeezes you between hell dukes, hell knights and revenants, while adding nightmare demons to harrass you. My favourite part is the red key fight, which gradually releases more and more revenants, nightmare demons and two annihilators by the end.

 

Thaw was an unexpected hit, a map that greatly improves a concept I wasn't initially thrilled by. I don't mind being proven wrong like this.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP23 - Thaw - DMPhobos (99%K/33%I/40%S):
 

Damn, this was the first level that made me rage the entire playthrough, I was not missing a map like this just like the first Eviternity did to me.

The layout of the level screamed DMPhobos, I knew it was him, the one behind this level. Those are already quite recognizable by him. His second and last contribution to the project was a tad better than the previous one, specially because of the "free-roaming" aspect of it. Hard, really hard. Mostly because of exhausting incidental combat that never stops coming to you. Every single room has new shit thrown at your face, constantly. The abuse of hitscanners and overall snipers touching your balls from everywhere was one of my triggers to start raging this much. The battle for the red key took me a lot of tries after I could beat it. There is little to no room for it.
When you thought it was over, the final sequence has another fight awaiting for you (Even after some archviles and astrals were trying to block your way out to the red door). This left me totally exhausted. Enjoyable map, but I feel like I could only take one map at a time if they start behaving like this one. Solid layout and combat overall. Better for the Doomers that want a challenge, rather than casuals like me.

 

This one felt like an endurance, for sure, quite a long one because of how many enemy packs you have to mandatorily blow up so they don't snipe your butt.

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP14
MAP18

MAP32
MAP11
MAP09
MAP19
MAP34
MAP17
MAP23

MAP07
MAP16

MAP05
MAP22
MAP20
MAP12
MAP13
MAP03
MAP08
MAP15
MAP35
MAP06

MAP02
MAP04
MAP10
MAP21
MAP31
MAP33

 

 

[RHhe82]

MAP23: Thaw. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 457/457 K, 5/5 S, 3/3 I. Comp. time 54:12

 

Someone in this thread said something along the lines that maps 23 and 24 are gonna be hard as nails. I don't know about MAP24 yet, but I actually didn't find Thaw that hard. Sure, it has some encounters that could have gotten me and that got me thru me panicking and switching weapons at unfortunate times, but I came in expecting something far more difficult. The thawing chamber behind the blue doors was tough, I admit, though somehow I made it on the first go. Annihilators behaved.

 

Anyway, another frozen base that's about to get thawed by fire... I loved the simple theme of thawing the ice around the base to uncover more locations. Maybe it could have utilized even more? Not that I'm complaining. It's a bigger and better ice base than what we had in MAP23, with a chillier start.

 

In one regard Thaw was a hard map - it was quite long. It took me something like 42 minutes to complete to reach the exit. At that point I had found only 2 secrets. I knew where one was (the thawable wall near the blue key, hiding megasphere) but not how to access it; I had a hunch of one but didn't bother to go look for it until I found it thru IDDT (the one hole in the wall at one of the bigger yards, hiding blue armor) and one shootable switch I just couldn't see, that's accessible from the start, hiding soul sphere and handful of minor enemies.

[cannonball]

MAP23 - “Thaw” by DMPhobos

 

Well my run time was fairly brisk thanks to hurtling through the early sections of the map, the fact you can play with some real aggression really helps the map because most of the combat up to the yellow key is incidental. I also didn't die once until I approached the yellow door with said key and got caught with my pants down. The combat from here now really consists of set pieces and unexpected waves of monsters that encroach on the player. I will say that the set pieces around the thawing ice are really well done, they are great fun. There are also a couple of large blowout moments such as the fight where the blue key is then accessed that has a mass of corporals, archviles and a cluster of astral arachnos/flyers. Once the red key is collected you can carefully head for the exit but watch out for said lurking monsters that were released miles away from you, the fight in the final room is fine and serves its purpose but that corridor is essentially the map done.

Overall I preferred this considerably to Sovereign, the map pushes the player but never to the point of frustration and some excellent set pieces push this towards the top of the pile. Great map.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Contiuous/Saves

Write-ups from memory

 

MAP23:  Thaw - DMPhobos

 

Remember how I said back in MAP07 that I can smell a DMPhobos map a mile away? Well, every rule needs the exception to prove it, as I didn't even realize this was a map of his until after I beat it. I'm watching a playthrough now to try to figure out what was different between this and all the other maps of his that I've played that makes me feel that way. I think the reason this map didn't feel like his other maps is the textures. I can see elements of his typical level design in places, but the icy textures just give this map a completely different feel than anything else I've played by him. I also associate indoor areas with curved hallways, low ceilings with trim, and small batches of incidental combat with his work, but this map has higher ceilings indoors and less curvy halls for the most part. Like I said tho, I do see some of those design elements in this map so this feels like an expansion of those design sensibilities. So aside from this map comparison, I should talk more about the map itself. Map be good.  In fact, this is my 2nd fav map in the ep! I love the exploration and incidental combat in this map. There's a ton of ways to approach this map, and lots of areas to poke around in. The map itself is pretty big as well, so a first playthrough can take a bit to complete. With over 450 monsters, this is one of the beefier maps in the main set. While incidental combat is the primary gameplay design in this map, the key fights do show off some actual encounters that are pretty interesting. Getting the yellow key doesn't trigger an ambush outright, but approaching the yellow door after grabbing it does, and it's a caco, rev, chaingunner, and more bundle. As you progress a little more you finally find out why this map is named "Thaw." We get fight that melts ice (aka lowering walls and floors) that reveal monsters like dukes and nightmare demons. I'm surprised people apparently haven't really noticed this gimmick, as it seems kinda obvious to me. It's not a new gimmick as it's just lowering walls and floors, but having them be ice so it looks like you're melting them is a very nice thematic touch that gives the map some charm. A heightened version of this happens with the red key fight as a lot more frozen-over containers melt with a lot more enemies. This may have been the one fight in the WAD that killed me the most. It's tight, there's nightmare demons, revs, and annihilators, and lots of ways to either face rocket or get rocketed. Add in the archie that shows up after the fight when you take the lift out to add insult to injury. It's a very hectic fight! I feel like I must have had low health going in to the end, as I remember playing a little carefully. The exit corridor has a surprise ambush that has cacos shooting you from outside it while revs and nightmare demons comes in the hall. It's tough. Overall, this is a great level! Fun to explore, fun combat on both the incidental and ambush variety, and great visuals. It's one of the tougher maps in the set so far, but I think the next map is harder. Great Tristan MIDI too. On that note, I see the reference track for that is Dark Groove from Jazz Jackrabbit 2. Now I know maps have used that MIDI before, but I have the JJ2 soundtrack and that track was never on it. So I was confused for the longest time. Was this from that JJ2 Complete with extra maps? Is this miscredited? So I looked it up. Turns out, the version of the soundtrack I had just didn't have that song. Makes sense. So I got a different version of the JJ2 soundtrack with Dark Groove on it, and the other tracks actually do more than 1 loop on this version! Thank you Eviternity II for making me find a better version of this soundtrack inadvertently! 

[ReaperAA]

MAP23: Thaw by DMPhobos

Another DMPhobos map, another adventure. This map, like the previous map, also has a hot start. Though the start is a bit milder this time around.

 

As with Map07 (DMPhobos' other map), this map is quite open and you can pretty much explore all the outer areas of the map at your leisure. The difference is that the incidental combat has much more bite to it than map07. Still, not too hard with a good careful approach and a keen eye for secrets.

 

The tough parts are the ones involving the parts where you press red switches to "Thaw" the frozen chambers to reveal enemies from them. The one we before grabbing the blue key isn't too hard (though it is followed by astral cacos and archviles spawning, resurrecting the nearby corporals which happen to be excellent RL fodder and help recover armor). The one after the blue key, however has a ton of nasties ready to chew you once you liquify the frozen chambers. Nightmare demons, revenants, Dukes of Hell and also Annihilators.

 

Once you get red key, you have to deal with some more astral cacos and then one final fight before finally exiting the map.

 

MAP24: Temeraire by antares031

Here comes another one of the big boys of Eviternity 2. If any of you thought Map23 was tough, well boy do I have news. Antares is veteran at this point, having already made tons of maps, including his own megawad "Struggle: Antaresian Legacy" and this map shows. There is a lot to talk about this map.

 

Firstly, the name of the map is similar to Firmaire (Map14 of Eviternity 1, also by antares). And sure enough, the start of the map with it incidental combat in ice-cavernous areas feels a big similar. Except this map is much tougher. If you are pistol starting, you will find it hard to get a foothold in the map (if you try to fighting in the starting area, eventually more enemies arrive and they will wear you down). My strategy for the start is to immediately dash to the right path, cross the imps and a mancubus, drop down to get the SSG and go to the small area where there is soul sphere on a pillar. I think it is the safest place to try to start gaining territory.

 

Once you get a footing, you objective is to get the 3 keycards around the cavernous and outdoor icy areas. You need the blue key to gain access to the portal to the yellow key, which allows you to enter the techbase-y building and then you need the red key to access the 3 "arena fight" areas, two inside the building and one in the cavernous area. Now the incidental combat inside the building isn't too bad or anything, but each of those arena fights are quite nasty. Each of those fights will earn you a skull key. I'll refer to each of them as follows:

• 4 seasons fight (the one that gives yellow skull key)
• central courtyard fight (the one that gives blue skull key)
• crates area fight (the one that gives red skull key)

I would recommend you to go do the 4 seasons fight first. It might be the hardest of the 3 fights, but once you are done with this area, you can get a view of the other side (North side) of the map. You get a view of not only the docking area, but also a slight view of the big battleship. The namesake HMS Temeraire. You will see more of it a bit later. And more importantly, doing this fight first means that you can get the secret BFG (from squeezing past the wooden crates), which will make the other 2 fights easier.

 

The central courtyard fight is probably the easiest of the 3, especially if you discover a secret near the red door, denoted by a dead nightmare demon on a blood pool, which provides rocket ammo and allows you to safely kill the veilimps and an archvile which would otherwise have been a part of the cental courtyard fight.

 

The crates area fight is also tough, but with BFG in hand, you can get through the tricky moments of that fight without too much issue.

 

Once all that is done. You can go through the 6-key door and finally get a glorious full view of the HMS Temeraire before going to the teleport having to fight a cyberdemon blocking access to getting on the ship, while his buddies from back firing rockets at you. Once you kill that one cyberdemon and go through the portal, you enter the ship and now you can climb up the ship to press the switch which....

.... FIRE the cannons at those cyberdemons and kills them. WTH!!!! Amazing finish to the final part of the map.

Edited January 24 by ReaperAA
Welp, i made a dumb mistake

[Novaseer]

4 hours ago, ReaperAA said:

The namesake USS Temeraire.

akshchually it's HMS, there's a union jack on one of the guns

although either way it's still cool as shit

Edited January 24 by Novaseer

[Dragonfly]

Spoiler

 

Yes, it's HMS.

[ReaperAA]

Oops. I don't know why wrote it that :p. I'll correct it.

[RHhe82]

MAP24: Temeraire. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 586/586 K, 6/6 S, 14/17 I. Comp. time 70:31

 

Now there is the difficulty spike that I was expecting! The very start reminds me of Sunlust, at least in such a way that the player spawns with enemies their backs turned on them, waiting until the player triggers them or runs in their line of sight. Not only that, the first enemies we see is a revenant and an archvile.

 

This time, surviving the beginning is not the end of it. There are some difficult fights ahead. I especially struggled with the blue skull key onslaught even though I had found the secret BFG earlier! I admit, I saved midfight right there, when I had survived surprisingly long and found a transitory safe spot in the little room.

 

I also had trouble with the final two secrets, had to IDDT them: the soul sphere near the beginning, and the soul sphere on a teleportable balcony. Once again the ways to access them aren't far away, but I was already over an hour in (not counting reloads), I was getting exhausted.

 

We see glimpses of a gigantic destroyer along the way. I wasn't sure if it was just a beautiful backdrop, but boy, oh boy... when we get there... I'm sure blind single-segmenters will appreciate that encounter. Such a memorable ending for such a memorable map.

Edited January 24 by RHhe82

[Celestin]

MAP24: Temeraire by antares031

 

If Eviternity is my favourite megawad of all time, Struggle is a close second. The high-speed run and gun gameplay of that wad just clicked with me in a way few did, so I was excited to see what Antares brought here.

 

The start is pure Struggle - small boxes of health an ammo placed everywhere and enough enemies that discourage camping. You need to be constantly on the move, trying not to run dry and fending off the initial threats. I'm amazed such pacing was achieved without slashing the carrying capacity of ammo, because I associated Struggle's gameplay style with that change. This should also grant you the blue and yellow keys, the latter is used to unlock a nearby base. The combat here is more of the same, an interconnected place where your two biggest worries are running out of ammo and triggering too many monsters in search of said ammo. Once you lower the red key, Temeraire shifts kicks into higher gear.

 

You need three skull keys to exit, each involves surviving a tough arena. I started with the red skull. It's a crate warehouse that is already lined with corpses, so you can guess it's going to be a massacre. The place gradually releases more and more monsters, including two astral mancubi, a lot of nightmare demons and various flyers. It's a complete chaos, where the best way to survive is to just run around with a plasma rifle and hope for the best. The yellow skull is a lobby of some sort that starts with a cyberdemon and several archviles, only to add revenants, veilimps and another cyberdemon. I don't think it's that bad, I've beaten it on my second attempt, in both cases most of the viles ended up infighting cyberdemons, who also took a beating. Anyway, when you pick up the key, turn left, find a gap between crates and press one behind the blue armor. A teleporter here will lead you to the BFG (which you want for the final fight) and an awesome view of the battleship (a callback to Struggle's MAP17?). Blue skull was the last, a lot of imps, some hell knights and an astral mancubus. I've made this fight easier as I had a BFG at that point and managed to find a nearby secret that lets you eliminate an ambush of veilimps and archviles.

 

If you haven't seen the battleship, you can take a good look after passing through the six-key-locked door. I expected an epic finale on her deck, instead I was teleported into a pier with a metric fuckton of cyberdemons and promptly died. This is where a BFG helps a lot, you need to quickly kill the one that is the closest, avoid rockets and teleport to the deck of HMS Temeraire. A quick search under a rocket barrage lead me to a big button laballed "Fire" - a salvo destroyed all the cyberdemons and ripped a giant hole in a side of a hill that revealed the exit. It's a moment that I'll likely never forget.

 

Eviternity II isn't over yet, but I'm confident Temeraire is going to be one of the best maps. It's a giant adventure with challenge and character, all relised with the best visuals of the episode.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP24 - Temeraire - Antares031 (100%K/76%I/33%S):

Holy fuck. This map.
 

First of all, second map in a row that I can clearly recognize its author. It was Antares all this time, and I have to say quite confidently, he is my favourite project contributor, all his maps are great, all his maps stand out, and that's why I can clearly recognize his complex, ultra-interconnected layouts. Remember Eviternity MAP14? This is the same, but instead of castles in snow, you will have beautiful tech-bases in snow. Snow and cavern-like environments which I dig really much. That's the main thing that made me recognize the author, as the map behaved similarly to that one of his works in the previous installment. The Rocky/snowy landscapes made me feel like playing through the recently launched Snow Wave wad (Which I made a map for, I'd suggest you to check it out ;)). The thing is that, HOLY CRAP, is there a single bit of space to breathe in this level? I don't think so. At least for the first minutes. The map divides itself in two sections, the snowy caves and the techbase. Both sections have different keys to grab, you will have to get all 6 of them in order to exit. And damn, you won't believe how much did I suffer to get through this one... Even worse punishment than yesterday's map...

Beautiful, great layout, but I'm starting to struggle so much each map that I play. I feel like the last episode will be pure pain. Luckly I'm in time (writing this review the 16th, so it is actually a time capsule, if we survived an apocalypse by the 24th, hello, survivor:)).

When you think this beast of a map is over (Full of great squirmishes each time you get a skull-key). The map gives you a glimpse of something BIG, and I mean THE BIGGEST THING MADE IN DOOM. The Magnum Opus of Doomcute. A massive ship, whose name is HMS Temeraire (Temeraire being the name of the map itself). Good choice for a name, that's for sure. And damn, I can't believe there is so fucking much detail put into it. I can't believe, this is peak Doomcute.

-"Hey Marvin, this is me, remember that old Doomworld post talking about the best Doomcute ship you were looking for? Have a look at this."

Here is the best ship ever made in Doom, and possibly in every single game, ever. You know why? These days, people just use Blender 3D and model them with polygons, even AI's could manage to do those that easily. In this case, this ship was made with love, care, effort, blood and tears. 10/10 ship.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL. You see it, and you get teleported into one of the most stupidly great setpieces in Doom mapping. A wall full of cyberdemons that will make you think for a moment you are playing through a kid's first map. No, it's part of the build-up. Try to by-pass the "cyberdemon captain" to get the teleport inside yes!, you guessed it, the ship itself. Are you telling me you can get up there? that it's not only modeled for decoration but also because you can roam around there?...
...Yes, indeed it is.

The setpiece is not over, a "Fire!" sign near the switch indicates that you will see something awesome, something you won't forget...

A fucking mountain guarded by Cyberdemons gets blown up by the ship in real-time in the fucking Doom engine.

 

This is great, best map of the megawad, period.

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP24

MAP14
MAP18

MAP32
MAP11
MAP09
MAP19
MAP34
MAP17
MAP23

MAP07
MAP16

MAP05
MAP22
MAP20
MAP12
MAP13
MAP03
MAP08
MAP15
MAP35
MAP06

MAP02
MAP04
MAP10
MAP21
MAP31
MAP33

 

 

[Cutman 999]

MAP35 - “Parallel” by Dragonfly (Pistol start, [technically] saveless, 99% kills, 87% Items, 50% Secrets)

 

You remember the weird map 32 of TNTR? Well this is that, just a lot better executed. The good thing of dragonfly knowing to use visual signifiers to communicate changes into the parallel dimensions, with the use of that weird purple floor, is that is not that abrupt compared to just put a triple linedef to lend you into the other dimension and screw you, at least this time just getting outside of those purple textures will lend you into the regular dimension, so any factor that could be seen as annoying is out of the picture.

 

Possibly this is also one of the easiest maps in the wad, since there's a lot of soulspheres lying around to patch any mortal wounds, and many combat sections end quickly. Considering the last map was an absolute banger, I can see why for pacing purposes they chose to make this more of a breather even in UV, but the thing that is more questionable is the perforator being in the middle of the map, making easy to dismantle any combat section that may seem difficult, especially the archvile sequence in the end of the map.

 

Despite that, good execution of the gimmick and good departure for those who found the secret exit. Midi is also one of my favorites in the wad, reminds me a lot of "inhabitants".

 

8/10

 

MAP23 - “Thaw” by DMPhobos (Pistol start, used saves, 99% kills, 33% items, 0% secrets)

 

Only in doom you hear beautiful music on top of all the demon killing and absorbing atmosphere. Another of those maps where the focus is mostly in incidental combat, this time with a more open-ended progression, like map07 from the same author. I think the later slot suited DMPhobos a lot more, since he can get a lot more nuts with the enemy count and composition of terrifying ambushes, and he delivers.

 

Same positives apply in this map like they did in map07, Phobos never lets the momentum hinder in any second, escalating his ambushes to points your reaction needs to be on top capacity to fulfill, the red switch ones especially requiring this kind of thinking, and are satisfying to dismantle for this reason. The layout also contributes to the experience, being really explorable and full of nooks and crannies, even if I didn't find any secret for being terrible at it, being this intuitive to not only navigate, but to also explore and have fun just finding more things to kill and kill, is a plus.

 

Very good effort, fits its slot like a globe and probably is plenty replayable.

 

9/10

 

MAP24 - “Temeraire” by antares031 (Pistol start, used saves, 100% kills, 64% items, 33% secrets)

 

Ok, I'm impressed... Impressed and shocked by the sheer intensity, polish and technical marble of this map. Probably the midi being this short, calm and repetitive is the only problem it has, since it clashes with probably one of the wildest rides a AAA megawad has seen.

 

From beginning onward is just savagery, possibly all the maps from the episode have in common is just how good they manage incidental combat, and this map is not the esception, just busting you with enemies whenever it can, with many surprises like the veilimp jumpscare, the beginning section, and more. After the incidental stuff, you need to scout for the skullkeys to exit, those bringing you to ambushes, which i see as thematically fitting, since the key hunt was incidental, and the skull hunt now being representative of ambushes, is a curious parallel generated by gameplay progression.

 

These ambushes are definitely the high point of the map, the first one is more easy but still can destroy you if the final vile and annihilator touch you once or twice, the second has practically 3 megaspheres and is a tsunami of basically everything in the map but the astral arachno, being commanded by 2 cyberdemon generals, the final fight is the best one, demanding crowd control once the revs arrive, and as more stuff appear, you need to readjust your positioning to not face rocket yourself, the rocket launcher despite the seemingly limited space, becomes the key to victory, sense is the only weapon at your disposal now that can eliminate the dangers quickly. Top tier fight.

 

And there's MORE, like a bullet hell streaming section revolving 50 cyberdemons, and after that, you get teleported into A GODDAMN BATTLESHIP... IN DOOM! and you just press a switch, and a sequence worthy of duke3d kills the cyberdemons... WOW!!!

 

Some may agree this is the best map in the megawad, I can't dispute that, is just that i prefer a bit 22 sense is more on the style i like, but still, godtier map. Bien hecho antarino xdxdxdxd

 

10/10

[Azure_Horror]

I had fallen behind yet again.

I think it would be best to speak about the Battleship In The Room ASAP.

 

Map 24 - “Temeraire” by @antares031

UV, pistol start, saves

 

1) Playthrough 1

When I was playing Eviternity II rc1 in 2023, I played Episode 5 on continuous.

Even with Perforator Gun at hand, Temeraire was a difficult map. But also a fun one!

 

2) Playthrough 2

Today I replayed the map from a pistol start. And the map felt notably less enjoyable than on my previous playthrough.

I was constantly running out of ammo, while all kinds of Astral Cacodemons, NM Demons and Vileimps were getting in my way. It was extremely frustrating: when I needed close combat weapons, I was forced to rely on rockets. As a result, I constantly ran out of rockets for rocked-focused situations...

I did manage to complete the map, but the gameplay felt kinda clunky during all that...

 

3) Map Highlights:

The map has four major setpieces:

1) Yellow Skull Key fight: a big arena with all kinds of crafty monsters, including vileimps, 2 cybers and quite a number of archviles. This is a really fun battle, IMO: the combination of different monsters is able to threaten the player all over the arena, despite the arena itself being quite big. Also, this is the only fight in Eviternity Duology, which combines cyberdemons, astral cacos, and more traditional Doom midtiers.

2) Red Skull Key fight: lots of different monster types, all appearing in a small storage room. As long as the player can run around the arena, the monsters keep distracting each other. So the winning strat feels very boring from both Spectacle and Doom Fight perspective: just focus on running around until you win. Of course, some monster will get in your, so you better to have a Plasma Rifle or BFG at the ready. An Archvile, Pain Eles, and Astral Cacos can be really nasty in this cramped arena. Still, in the end the fight strategy is very straightforward. And thus this battle feels kinda forgettable for a setpiece of its caliber...

3) Blue Skull Key Fight: this is a real whirlwind of different monsters! Memorizing monster waves and timings required multiple tries. But in the end, finding effective movement patterns and optimizing rocket launcher DPS was very fun here. And unlike RSK fight, most monsters ususally try to chase the Doomguy instead of fighting among themselves...

4) HMS Temeraire Setpiece:

HMS Temeraire is a battleship. It is huge (because battleship). It is also quite detailed. A doomcute large-scale battleship is real sight to behold... But it is more than eye-candy: the final battle finds the player facing against a crowd of ~50 cyberdemons! At first, this appears as a completete overkill. But the fight is quite winnable: with correct approach, it is possible to dodge all the rockets, and dispactch the closest cyberdemon. After that, the player can teleport onto the battleship itself. After that Doomguy is able to fire the Battleship Cannons! Those cannons will annihilate all the cyberdemons, and the explosion will also leave a huge crater, with the exit inside! What a spectacular way to finish a FPS map!

 

4) Incidental combat and smaller setpieces:

On this map, incidental combat is quite deadly, but also somewhat boring. Ditto for the smaller arena battles (Keycard fights). In the end, smaller fights distracted me from the main fights of the map, while also eating through my resources.

Usually, I tend to like the smaller battles on @antares031's maps. But not on Temeraire. I think that Alpha Scropii Supercluster from Antaresian Reliqaury is a superior take on the concept of Huge Adventure Map with Epic Grand Battles and Fun Smaller Encounters...

 

5) Conclusion, and alternative gameplay strategy for playthrough 3:

I have my reservations about Temeraire. Yet still, it is a really great map nonetheless.

Moreover, Temeraire can also be played like Fire and Ice from Scythe: avoiding annoying battles is a valid approach here.

Such strategy helped me to minimize boring combats and reach the most fun setpieces ASAP. So I found the map quite enjoyable after the third playtrough.

Temeraire is not my most favorite map of Eviternity II, but it is still a really, really good level.

And the battleship sequence is arguably one of the most epic moments in Doom pWADs, period!

Edited January 26 by Azure_Horror

[cannonball]

MAP24 - “Temeraire” by antares031

 

This is quite a map to review, but I will state that my secret hunting for this map gets a straight F right off the bat, so as such every fight had to be done with plasma and rockets. To be honest I get the feeling that I might have got the better experience for this because the big fights are all very doable. In fact the crate and four seasons fights I beat on the first attempt and the latter I had left over power ups. The final blue skull fight did kill me a few times. 

I will agree with the above, the incidental combat was not executed as well as for example the previous map and I did hit a few snags in the earlier sections of the map, in fact I will say that the layout and the fact that mid tiers can strike from many angles will lead to a higher pelt percentage that the standout fights. That isn't to say the the incidental combat wasn't fun, it was, but I think it has been done better (For instance the previous map). However I do appreciate the more liberal use of archviles in this map, they have been used fairly sparingly throughout this set with astral cacos being the biggest nuisance in my view. Now the big fights come in a structure sequence of rising stakes and chaos and I think all of the fights were done very well and were varied enough to feel distinct, this map in particular felt like the first to really bite the player, in compensation the distribution of health and armour was perhaps a little too liberal.

So that's it, right, well there is that moment that should take a separate paragraph....

 

So the great thing about seeing map sets being used to push source ports or port behaviour are those moments where you see something truly novel or amazing and you go and say "Well, this was awesome.", Think the archvile carousel in Sunlust, the opening subway sequence in Heartland. This final part of this map really fits into this category. You go through a teleporter next to the biggest and most detailed sector ship you have ever seen and suddenly you are faced with a literal hill of cyberdemons, only the one in front of the next teleporter you can kill, funilly enough this was another fight beaten first attempt and actually this was easy to do, even with just the plasma gun, simply circle the platform at a rate where the rockets from the hill will consistently missing and keep hosing the one at the front, now through the teleporter and wish granted, you are on the ship, duck behind a nearby wall and you see steps, climb these and you see a switch with the word "Fire", can it be? What the heck is this? You hit the switch, suddenly a trailed of explores travel towards the hill and boom, everything is dead and there is a charred hole revealed to where the exit is. This is possibly the greatest cinematic set piece conceived, possibly in all PWads in all formats. The technical know-how to execute this flawlessly is a sight to behold and huge pay-off for the previous half an hour of game time.

 

Overall, I prefer both Map11 and Map14, but I cannot state how impressive parts of this map are and how potentially inspirational this could be to players and mappers stumbling upon this. This map is the best advertisement MBF21 could get and is a stand out map in a mapset full of high quality maps.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Contiuous/Saves

Write-ups from memory

 

MAP24:  Temeraire - antares031

 

You know a WAD is good if antares has a map in it. Struggle is one of may favorite WADs ever, so ever since I played that I've always kept my eye out for new antares maps. That was part of the reason I was so excited for the first Eviternity when it dropped! Tho for the longest time I thought he was responsible for MAP15 in that. Oops. It was actually MAP14. And this map is a sequel to that map. What do you know, a sequel map in a sequel WAD.

 

First off, this is the case for this to be the hardest map in the WAD. It's definitely the hardest opening, cause as soon as you fire, the whole outdoor area of monsters will be coming for you. And there's a lot of them. Some of them are archies. Good luck pistol-starters! I had a hard enough time as it is continuous! This outdoor area is the part that's most reminiscent of Frimaire, as the caves here look straight out of that map. But unlike that map, we have a techbase looming over everything. This map is the only one in the WAD that needs all 6 keys to exit. You go for the keycards first, with several of them guarded outside. My favorite natural landscape of the map is in the southeast with the blue key, as you exit the cave into a small canyon that has a gorgeous view out to the cold water. It shouldn't need to be stated that this is another amazing looking map in a WAD filled of them, but this is an antares map. Dude is known for his extremely detailed and pretty maps. You need the blue key to get the yellow key, and that in turn leads you into the base. The base has a good chunk of incidental combat, but its true highlights are the skull key fights. While I wouldn't say getting the keycards was easy, the skull keys are a lot tougher. The yellow skull fight takes place in a courtyard with different seasonal trees. Very nice for an indoor arena, but don't let the setting fool you. You'll be swarmed by veilimps, archies, cybs, nightmare demons, revs, imps, astral cacos, pain elementals, etc. It's one of the toughest fights in the WAD for sure, but you can find a hidden BFG after it, so I would recommend doing this fight first (it's in the northwest part of the map). The red skull is outside of the base back in the cave, and it's in a giant arena of crates. The BFG works really well with this wave-based fight, but I know I didn't find that secret until after I beat the map, so unless I found a BFG in maps 35 or 23, I was just plasmaing everything. Idr, tho I do remember dying a few times. The blue skull fight keeps everything in tight quarters as waves of monsters teleport in. It's another toughie that I did manage to beat first try! Barely. The door that needs all 6 keys is right here, so head through it do an unloading bay with one of the most impressive thing you'll see in Doom: a full-fledged warship! The HMS Temeraire is docked right outside, and she's a beaut! I can't imagine how long that must have taken to make. There's so many lines! Once you're done marveling at the boat, jump into the teleporter to face 60+ cybs at once. I'm not kidding. In one of the most surprising moments in the entire WAD, you get thrown onto a platform that's in view of the most cybs I've seen at once in a WAD that's made by people who actually know what they are doing and didn't just open UDB for the first time. One of these cybs is stationed on the platform with you, while the other 60 are on the hillside raining rockets down on you. You may panic, and that's totally understandable. Just take out the BFG or perforator and quickly take out the cyb on the platform, while going around the rectangular platform so you don't get hit. As soon as cybie is dead, jump in the teleporter to board the ship! Quickly climb up the front of the ship so you don't get hit by rockets and hit the switch that says "fire" next to it. The warship's cannons will fire, all 60+ cybs will die, and the hillside will be blown to smithereens! This is without a doubt, the most memorable moment of the entire WAD. A working warship in Doom. Further proof antares is one of the GOATs, seriously. Once the dust has settled, you can climb through the giant hole the cannons have left to find the exit. Overall, this might be my 2nd favorite map in the WAD behind MAP32. Tough as nails, incredible looking, and with a surprisingly soothing MIDI. And of course, one of the best endings to a map I have seen. 

[Celestin]

MAP25: Boreas by Dragonfly

 

After descending down an elevator and eliminating a three-way imp ambush, you end up inside a small arena. Pressing two switches reveals the boss of the chapter: necromenece is a sorcerer (taken from Heretic, I believe) that throws teal projectiles or summon ghosts. It seems there are two variants of his minions, one harrasses you, other ressurects dead monsters. He's somewhat tanky, but I recommend against using plasma or rockets and just kill him with a super shotgun. This is because once he's dead, a the place gets rather crowded with new enemies, ending with another necromenece. This is where cells come in handy, as once he arrives, a lot of monsters start getting revived. The final obstacle is an archvile guarded by pinkies, hope you have rockets left to dispatch him quickly.

 

Boreas took me a couple of attempts, several times I've killed the second necromenace and caught a revenant missile or did something equally careless. I can already see how the new enemy is going to cause trouble, acting as another priority target to look out for. As for the map itself, it's a decent ending to an episode. Only one chapter to go.

 

Voting time, here's a varied collection of episodes from the recent years. 

 

+++ Squonker 3, Pagodia, Tetanus
+++ 10x10, Heartland, Sigil 2
+++ Atmospheric Extinction, What Lies Beneath, Lunar Laceration

Edited January 31 by Celestin
replaced KDiKDiZD with Sigil 2

[cannonball]

MAP25 - “Boreas” by Dragonfly

 

This one feels like a bit of a tech demo for the Necromenace, the start is a simple SSG shootout with some imps before entering a small arena, you will first face this new monster on its own and then again a second time later. The death of the first Necromenace hails the arrival of fodder and some revenants/hellknights, now at this point you are wondering what the fuss is about because this map is potentially one of the easiest of the wad, however the Necromenace's second arrival shows that like the archvile, he can resurrect stuff, which turns this second wave into a bigger challenge, though most of the damage I took was chip damage from hitscanners that got continuously resurrected. Once this is over the exit opens up with one archvile and some demons, not too tough as long as you don't spend your ammo during the earlier fights.

I was quite close to declaring this as the worst map in the set because it is just a very short arena map, however the new monster justifies its existence and actually creates a reasonably interesting set piece. Add the this some other context then this is probably pitched reasonably well, though I feel that this could have been made tougher given the mapslot and during of the map. Overall not too bad.

[Ralgor]

MAP24 - “Temeraire” by antares031
Deaths: 16

 

Holy moly, we have here a real barn-burner of a map. The not-technically-hot start is one of the toughest yet, although I think MAP22 might edge it out. Like that map, stuff keeps filtering in, and any attempt to move forward will wake up more enemies and have them find you at the most inopportune times. I died only once though, but on the second attempt I came really close to dying multiple times. It took quite a while for things to cool down so I could begin figuring out the progression of this map. Unlike any other map in this wad, this one has six keys. And there's a door that needs all six. That means six fights that start out pretty sedate and end on two near-slaughter lock-in fights.

 

The key card fights aren't that bad. I survived the blue and yellow ones easily, and died once on the red keycard fight. Mostly because I was in a hurry and was trying to be fancy. At this point I was thinking this map wasn't too hard. Then I started on the skull keys. I died once on the blue skull key fight, though I'm not entirely sure how I didn't die the second time. It was close. Nearly half of my deaths came from the yellow skull key fight. I blame bad health management. There's plenty of health and ammo here, I'm just bad at knowing when to grab it. I probably died around 6 times here, at least three from arch-viles, and at least two more times due to random rockets from the cyberdemons. This also happens to be one of my favorite fights in the whole wad up to this point. The next skull key fight was much easier, as I only died once. That's partially due to the secret BFG I found though after completing that previous fight.

 

Once you have all of the keys, you can open the door and board the Temeraire. I have no clue how antares pulled this off, but it's the most absolutely breathtaking bit of "doomcute" I've seen in a map. Can a term like "doomcute" apply to something this massive and well realized? Honestly, the best part about that "BFG" secret is being able to see the ship from a good angle. Anyway, teleporting to the ship actually takes you to the bow of it, and sixty cyberdemons are in front of you and begin firing rockets. You have to kill the front cyberdemon and run through the teleporter to actually board the ship. Then man the firing controls and use the ship to blast them all back to hell. It's probably the best ending of a map I've ever seen. I'm in awe. It did kill me around 6 times though total. I actually survived the first time quite a while but wasn't sure what I was actually supposed to do. I obviously couldn't kill them all myself. I think after the second death I figured out what I was supposed to do, and it took me a few tries to not eat a rocket while doing it. After killing the cyberdemons, I stupidy walked the plank and hit the water, dying instantly. I didn't even mind because the ending was so awesome I wanted to see it again anyway.

 

All of the secrets are well done. I only needed assistance from UDB on a single secret, that one being the shootable switch that opens up the non-shiny door to the outside. I knew this must be a secret, and I saw the differently colored alcove, but it didn't occur to me to look next to it. I used UDB to confirm that yes, this IS a secret, so I kept at it and eventually found the switch. Before I looked it up in UDB I had pretty well convinced myself it must not be a secret, but that was a mistake. The rest I found on my own, and they were all well designed.

 

The music track for this level was excellent. It really stood out to me.

 

I can't decide whether this one or MAP14 is my favorite map of the wad. I'm going to go for a tie for now. I REALLY liked the puzzles in MAP14, but then there's that massive ship. I just don't know. But well done. I really need to play Struggle soon!

 

MAP25 - “Boreas” by Dragonfly
Deaths: 1

 

This is a small boss map, with a new boss! Oddly enough though the hardest part of this map seems to be not looking at the architecture while you slowly get lowered into an inescapable pit. I have to admit I laughed at myself for that. The second attempt at the map was my first attempt at the boss, and I killed him. I wouldn't say I did it easily, but it wasn't that hard either. It was a really good boss fight though. It's so rare to see good boss or mini-boss monsters in Doom, and so that's the highlight of the map. It is a recolor of the Hexen boss called the Heresiarch.

 

I am kind of glad this wasn't super difficult. Bosses tend to be hit and miss, and are more likely to miss if they are too awfully difficult. The previous and next maps are hard enough we needed the breather anyway.

 

The music for this boss battle was good. It has plenty of energy.

 

Episode Thoughts

 

I like the episode's theme, but it's not my favorite in the wad. The maps however are some of the best in the wad. MAP23 and MAP24 are two of my top 5 maps in this wad so far, and the others were pretty good too. The effects used were great too. The reflective surfaces really stood out, and the snow was great. Seeing it work in DSDA-Doom was pretty nice too, even though I've been using GZDoom for this playthrough. We also have finally started to get some bite to the wad. I'm really looking forward to the last episode!

 

 

Addendum: I really want to hear from @antares031 how you went about making that ship. That had to have been a project all on its own. That is, if you have time and the inclination to write something about it. :)

Edited January 25 by Ralgor
can't count

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map24 “Temeraire” by Seongbae Park (antares031)

 

Oh, hell yes. Antares’s presence foretells a good time as anyone who played Struggle could tell you. His lone solo entry, Temeraire, is a sequel to Eviternity’s Frimaire (map14) and improves on an already stellar design to give us one of the banner maps of Eviternity II.

 

Right off the bat rocket that archvile and execute whatever plan you have to make a foothold. You... can stand your ground in the opening area but ammo is tight, and you’d better be a crack shot with the rocket launcher to fend off nm demons, astralcacos, and a pain elemental among other foes. There is an SSG on the ice roughly due east of the starting block and you’ll want that ASAP, it’s crucial for fending off the early rush. Once able to breathe you’ll no doubt notice the obvious parallels with Frimaire. You might also recall that Frimaire had harrowing arena combat and Antares ups the ante for Eviternity II. While the rest of the incidental combat is resting heart rate, none of the three skull key arenas are anywhere near gimmes.

 

Arena fights, we get some damn good ones so put your game face on. We can do them in any order (I think) but the yellow skull one has a secret BFG so I’d recommend that one first. It’s similar to one of Frimaire’s fights, a big circular thunderdome, except this time the starting enemies are a cyberdemon and archviles. You really want to kill those viles quick because after a few seconds the room starts to fill up and you’ll have all sorts of nonsense to deal with (including sniping astralmancs and another cyber).

 

The blue skull key arena (north in the techbase) is actually shown ahead of time, you can see the key and ultimately teleport to it. We get a lock-in fight against waves of various foes, PEs, nm demons, astralcacos, revs, imps, hell-knights… It’s perfectly manageable with the BFG and likely still fine without. You can weaken this one beforehand as well with a nifty secret not far from the red door.

 

Then we have the red skull key arena, which I think is the hardest. It’s an… intimate crate warehouse to the east that constantly floods the place with monsters. Unlike the other two, there is very little room to dodge all the astral projectiles, rev missiles, and nightmare demons clogging everything up. Walk in here with a fully stocked BFG or get ready to gitgud, not much else to say.

 

Now that we have all six keys, take the teleporter and… oop, rip blind run.

 

So here we have a headliner moment of the wad… a cyberdemon blocking a teleporter and his 59 cyberbuddies on the elevated rocks behind him. Running into a deluge of rockets was not the winning strategy but upon getting back here (and saving this time) I found that moving in an erratic oval pattern forward and back wasn’t getting me hit. Upon removing the roadblock, teleport onto Her Majesty’s battleship of supreme awesomeness (holy shit Antares) and make your way up to the fire switch which MOTHERFUCKING BLOWS THEM ALL TO THE SEVENTH CIRCLE OF HELL, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!? What a jaw-dropper. Best moment of the wad.

 

Oh and did I mention this battleship looks phenomenal? Good luck to Jody “Kill-Crazy” Russell on sinking this thing.

 

Yeah… no hyberbole. This map is incredible. Absolutely incredible. Its incidental combat is good, its arena combat is good, its ending is unforgettable, and its classic Antares design is of the highest standard. The crown jewel of what’s looking like the strongest overall episode at the moment.

[Ralgor]

6 minutes ago, Veeda Vidlak said:

Jody “Kill-Crazy” Russell

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of Fragport while boarding this ship. I'd love to see another map with this ship where you can go down and kill demons on the interior. For now I'll just have to imagine it.

[LadyMistDragon]

Ok, I think I'll go ahead and cast some votes

 

+++Abscission

+++ Nostalgia

+++ TH1RT3EN (5 episode PUSS set for Doom 1, almost all maps quite concise!)

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP25 - Boreas - Dragonfly (100%K/I/S):

Hey, a short boss map, needed those after so many long ones. Thanks Dragonfly.

You will get introduced to a new monster: Your average D'Sparil clone. At first, you will think he does nothing, and yes, he does not do that much, those ghosts that he throws are not much for you at this point. So you will kill him easily and start thinking it is actually lame. Then monsters start appearing, and he appears again after you killed some of them, and you see that, yes, he revives the fuck out of everyone that dies instantly. Making him an annoying pest that only creates a horde to defend himself, just like a pollitician, so having to get a space to shot him will be a test of patience. Disgusting. I've underappreciated you a lot at first, mister.

Nice boss-fight, I won't mind, I kinda needed a break, but if I actually have to rate it as a regular map, it will rank low.

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP24

MAP14
MAP18

MAP32
MAP11
MAP09
MAP19
MAP34
MAP17
MAP23

MAP07
MAP16

MAP05
MAP22
MAP20
MAP12
MAP13
MAP03
MAP08
MAP15
MAP35
MAP06

MAP02
MAP04
MAP10
MAP21
MAP31
MAP25
MAP33

 

 

[antares031]

7 hours ago, Ralgor said:

I really want to hear from @antares031 how you went about making that ship.

 

Since the beginning of my doom mapping history, the number one rule I've been following is "Having fun with doom mapping.". And the easiest way to follow this rule I found was "Making something I want to see & play.". That's why lots of doom levels I've made, such as Penitência and Alpha Scorpii Supercluster, share the similar styles with my preferences; non-linear, adventurous, hectic but managable slaughtermap-like setpieces, and so on. This might make the levels kinda repetitive in terms of gameplay, with just a change of scenery in each level. But as long as I'm satisfied with the result, I can accept that. After all, I had lots of fun with making my doom levels.

 

There's one thing I wanted to try in doom mapping for more than a decade, and that was designing a full-scale battleship. I was into the online game called "NavyFIELD" back then, and that game featured various naval warships, including giant battleships from WW2 era. It wasn't Doom, but I already made a full-scale battleship for Counter-Strike: Source 17 years ago with Hammer Editor. But that was more like a simple playground with only developer textures, since it was designed to be featured in a zombie mode server for fun. There's also a miniature of Iowa-class battleship "USS Illinois" in the MAP17 of Struggle. I still wanted to design a battleship in Doom, but I wasn't confident enough to create a full-scale one, so I decided to put a miniature one instead.

 

Spoiler

 

 

When the development of Eviternity 2 started, I wanted to make a sequel to Frimaire, the MAP14 of Eviternity. So I decided to grab a slot from the fifth episode with "Icetech" theme. And why not create a full-scale battleship this time, since it would be really cool to put something really memorable in the sequel to Eviternity. Not to mention that it's finally time to do something I wanted to achieve for a long time with enough confidence, and Eviternity 2 was a perfect opportunity to do this. So the premise of MAP24 was settled; A sequel to Frimaire with some recognizable elements + A winter naval techbase, featuring a full-scale battleship.

 

Throughout the level, you can find the similarities between those two levels. One notable thing is the cavernous area in the southeast, and the other one is the red skull key fight. The appearance of RSK fight arena might be quite different than the previous one, but the concept of the arena is still pretty the same; Monsters are keep spawning in, controlled by the timed voodoo doll script, while central turrets & perimeter turrets are keep giving pressure to the player, and the fight ends with the same reward at the center. The techbase part was originally planned as more like a naval shipyard, but I decided to make a conventional techbase, in order to keep up with the concept of the episode. But I didn't forget to design a giant dock to put a big ship.

 

Choosing the model of the battleship was pretty easy. Among lots of battleships from WW2 era, british battleship's design was ideal for doom mapping. The shape of their boxy superstructure was simpler than the other nations' complex superstructures (notably Iowa-class and Bismarck-class), reducing the amount of required midtextures and workloads. British battleships also had simpler bow & stern designs, so I didn't have to consider about angled bow and curved stern. On top of that, there was one british battleship called "HMS Temeraire", one of Lion-class battleships in the late 1930s. Since the name "Temeraire" rhymed with "Frimaire", it was a perfect name for this level. Two models were chosen as references; "Lion I" from NavyFIELD for the ship's overall design, and "HMS Thunderer" from World of Warships for deck props and details. I also used the line drawing of Lion-class battleship to match the scale, with the premise of "64 map-units is equivalent to 1.5 meters.". And why not give some modernizations, such as missile launchers and CIWS, to this never-built battleship, with the concept of "What if HMS Temeraire served long enough to receive modernizations, like Iowa-class battleships in real life?". The pennant number "36" and the crest at her bridge were originally intended & designed for the actual HMS Temeraire in real life.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, the highlight of this level is the giant firework. I started making this ship as just a decoration at the very beginning, like "MS #NIGHTMARE" from Alien Vendetta. But since MBF21 was in my hands, I decided to make this memorable decoration even more memorable. We have massive 16-inch guns, so why not shoot these guns to a bunch of cyberdemons??? Like how you shoot BFG10K in Doom Eternal, and it was such an impressive scene. I designed a small setpiece to surprise the player, featuring tens of custom cyberdemons for this specific sequence. And then I wrote dehacked codes and designed a voodoo script to execute the sequence I was planning. Finally, I quoted explosion effects from Pyromania! Pro by VCE, a well-known source materials for various explosion effects from the mid 90s. It took me a little bit more than a month to finish the ship and the sequence, and it was totally worthy. Here's the video of the work-in-progress version of the sequence.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

From the numerous twitch livestreams and youtube playthrough videos, many people pointed out that the final setpiece was way too unkind to blind run players. While it was my intention to shock the player with such an unexpected surprise, I agree that it's still too cruel to the blind run players. So I decided to change the design of the final setpiece for the upcoming RC6, making it more blind-run friendly, by giving a moment to inspect the entire arena, before the player decides to call down the thunder. Not only the cyberdemons are facing the opposite direction, but also the layout of the arena now supports more horizontal space to dodge the rockets. Not to mention that now it's much easier to enter the teleporter, without being hit by random rockets. Here's the screenshots for comparison:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

The background music of this level I originally chose was actually Arctic Voyage by Tristan Clark. I thought this 16-minutes-long winter-themed soundtrack would be perfect for this level. But the problem is that the MIDI was already 5 years old, while the majority of soundtracks were freshly written for this megawad, making notable differences in the MIDI's style. I eventually switched the music to more recent one, Journey to the Other Side by the same maestro, since it also fit really nicely with the winter theme. Besides, I didn't want to request a new soundtrack for MAP24 to Tristan, since there was already too much workloads with mapping and music writing.

[RHhe82]

MAP25: Boreas. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 88/88 K, 0/0 S, 1/1 I. Comp. time 10:29

 

Only 88 monsters? This is gonna be breather? More importantly, an episode ender, so perhaps one big showdown?

 

Well, yes. It's a short map, and it introduces one new enemy - possibly the last aside from a probable final boss? - which I'm gonna call Heresiarch until the clubbers give me its official name. The enemy is cool, but... this map rubbed me the wrong way despite being short. Not the Heresiarch, although it does revive enemies like an archie, which was part of the problem: the supplies aren't that plentiful, the medikits are used fast, and that's a bummer when black robed bastard revives hitscanners.

 

But the worst thing is that the edges of the small arena are wonky, I would very easily get stuck in a fence, especially when trying to grab some of the few medikits.

After numerous midfight saves and luck, the second wave of Heresiarch dies... and of course an archvile appears, when I'm already low on ammo and health.

 

Okay, a skill issue, to be sure, but ugh. Sorry. Not my favourite. Although to be fair, I might have been exhausted by Temeraire when I played this, so there's that.

 

(Upon posting this a couple of days later: watching Vytaan playthrough and thinking about it, I played poorly, and that sadly affected my impression of the map).