The DWmegawad Club plays: 10x10, Heartland, Sigil II

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP04 - Hey! This is Library (100%K/I/S):

another wooden map, this time we exit hellish landscapes to visit your average library map. Right from the start, you will be shooting with a single shotgun, not one, but two archviles. Trying to hide from both is a work of coordination and making them attack you in alternation, with a bit of luck with pain states. The rest of the map are simple arenas, the yellow key is needed for the last arena, the blue key is needed for the red key, the red key is needed for the exit. The mapset is quickly turning in what some of you said, a Sunder-like wad.
The arena at the end was really well staged, but the problem starts when opening the exit doors and revealing an angry horde of librarian archviles waiting to punish you because you did some noise at the library. There is an easy strategy for them, using one of the monster closets, if you let them free you will regret it.

Fun map, and the attention to detail here is superb, but I'm feeling a bit tired of wooden textures, so let's hope for something different for MAP05. And yes, the gimmick of mowing down zombiemen with chainguns never gets old.

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

MAP03
MAP01
MAP04
MAP02

 

[Klear]

MAP04 - "Hey! This is Library"

QuestZDoom, UV, blind, pistol start, saves

As I've mentioned before, my biggest weakness when playing in VR is precision movement and the map opens with exactly the kind of fight that's not my strong suit. I do have some extra tricks up my sleeve like shooting from behind cover which helped me get through this. Eventually. The rest of the level looks intimidating but isn't actually that difficult. Cue the final fight. I love this kind of thing. Nothing like a horde of imps to blow up with rockets, and I like how the enemies tend to concentrate around the megasphere if you save it, so it won't help you for the majority of the fight. Of course, enjoying this doesn't mean I'm good at it, so I died there a lot, but I had a ton of fun the whole time. And then I got stuck.

 

I found the rooms with barons and rockets (which I found kinda pointless), I managed to unblock the exit, but it still required a red card and by then I was already running late for something so I quit and finished the map the day after, watching Decino's playthrough first. So I kinda broke the progression and it made the map less enjoyable than it could have been. The final fight was glorious and going back and cleaning up the side-rooms to get the required cards felt a bit boring afterwards.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Hebonky]

A little late but that's fine!

Port DSDADoom 0.27.4

 

Difficulty: UV

 

100% kills

100% items

100% secrets

 

10x10

 

Map01- Ten By Ten 

 

A techbase!? IMPOSSIBLE!

Anyways, very cold opener somehow feeling both natural and built at the same time!

Fight by fight wise (pun intended) It's techbase hitscanner combat; shotgunners, chaingunners, etc. I like the Tidal wave of zombies mostly for the comedic value, the Specter and Archvile fight is more annoying than anything, and the Pinky Archvile hall is easy to cheese with a berserk.

Also the Schustafel in secrets is peak comedy.

Also a mandatory chainsaw for 100% kills :(

 

I've also started making full videos for each map so here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

[stephyesterday]

MAP04: Hey! This is Library. - Fully Maxed (101% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets)

Without a doubt my favorite so far. The fun little archvile duo at the start scared me a bit, but it's hard to say whether this or Map 3 is harder. Nothing in the middle is too terribly threatening, but the final fight got a few deaths out of me for sure. The atmosphere is what really sells it for me; the dusty slime-library with the quiet plinking piano piece in the background puts you on edge constantly, even when there's not a threat to be seen. Something about wading through the bodies of the previous battles, surrounded by the uncaring wooden colossus surrounding you. The library can do with or without the demons, and it continues to exist, housing countless books for the next madman with a super shotgun to come romping through.

 

Lunchlunch does a fantastic job of scaring the shit out of you without actually threatening you too terribly (so far). The archvile rush at the very end elicited a noise from me, but it wasn't that bad. A last 'gotcha, think fast!' before the end. Definitely the most fun I've had so far.

[Hebonky]

Port DSDADoom 0.27.4

 

Difficulty: UV

 

100% kills

100% items

100% secrets

 

10x10

 

Map02- Lockjaw

 

*Meating* more mancubi in this fleshy fiefdom more or less reveals LunchLunch's love for them as snipers!

This map sports the most mancs in the first half of 10x10!

 

Now that I'm done alliterating and punning.

 

This map is... fine. Definitely one of the weaker maps. The archvile at the end is annoying to fight, but other than that nothing too difficult. Again Berserk + Pinkies + easily accessible cheesing spots + chainguns is how you kill difficulty! The timed archvile room is cool, but then again... gouda!

 

Video here:

Spoiler

 

 

[Zirtonic]

MAP03: Salvia

I don't have much to say about this one. It's a nice step up in difficulty, and I like the aesthetics of the blue key fight (the suspended structure allowing you to keep tabs on the Hell Knights is a nice touch), but otherwise it's pretty "business as usual." Step lively in the cyberdemon infight room and you can save yourself some cells.

 

MAP04: Hey! This is Library.

The difficulty takes another notable jump here and I'm all for it. What I'm not all for is chipping away at AVs with the pump action. Unfortunately I couldn't make it work with the berserk so 7 pellets at a time it was. I played this map twice taking the fights in different orders and it flowed just as well both times. I much preferred my second run where I grabbed the RL first, turned the zombies into Prego, and then did the HK/pinky two step. The floor in the final fight is beautiful and it was almost pretty enough to stave off my anger when the exit door jumped 6 AVs on me. And to think I was going to be proud of myself for not needing the megasphere.

 

------------------

 

Somewhere between these two maps is a level titled Salvia with MAP03's layout and MAP04's texturing. Salvia has a reputation for making users feel "like a book" or visuals involving books and flipping pages. I thought about suggesting just switching the titles, but MAP04's environments are too concrete for that to make sense. Personal musings and such.

[Klear]

MAP05 - "No More Zoomer Girls"

QuestZDoom, UV, blind, pistol start, saves

 

Another tricky start that took a few tries to figure out, which describes most of the encounters in this one. The blue key fight was especially interesting - at first I thought the sniper vile was surprisingly ineffective, but later realised that he's coveing one of the few natural hiding spots. I realised all the viles can be crushed too late, but knowing that came in very handy during the next encounter. It's quite overwhelming, offering no semblance of a safe spot anywhere, but rushing to the crusher button (which was there, to my relief) worked like a charm. Twice even - first time I accidentally clicked quickload just before pressing it.

 

The final fight is awesome - plenty of rockets and imp crowds that just keep on coming. Oh, and a helpful cybie thinning out the hordes, hopefully on the other side of the arena. This is definitely my favourite map so far.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[arlinsae]

Ultra violence 100% kills/secrets, Pistol-start, Using saves
Played on DSDA Doom v0.27.5 -complevel 9

 

Map 3: Salvia - 15:56

 

Salvia ramps up the difficulty a fair bit from the previous two maps, and sports similar texturing to Lockjaw (this time with more creepy faces around). The story combat-wise is mostly choreographed, medium-impact space management fights. All of them are good fun, but inevitably the most memorable part of this map though is the cyberdemon reveal. He erm... looks quite different to his doom 2 counterpart. The fight set in there is again cramped and pretty dangerous too, so you'll get a good look at him during this time and also get whittled down to 5% health if you're me. The final battle is spearheaded by cyber #2 and seems like it's meant to be harder, but I always have a tougher time with the first one. One thing 10x10 does that admittedly kind of annoys me (sunder does it a lot as well, just since that has been mentioned in this thread too) is whenever a big fight is over I always have to run around for a few minutes looking for the switches that open the way out. I get that Lunch doesn't want us to just leave and/or cheese the fight but it does suck for the less perceptive of us. Salvia and the next two maps feature at least one fight that has this. Despite that I enjoy the gameplay and creative visuals of this one and the next two enough to mostly forgive it.
Difficulty: 5/15

[Insaneprophet]

Map 05: no more zoomer girls

 

This one transends "combat puzzles" into "slaughter combat puzzles" territory while still retaining an air of "do-ability." The atmosphere comes off as a standard Doom castle with its sandstone brickwork mixed with metal framing and central hub surrounded by key wings layout. A classic design and one I dont think anyone in the doom community will ever get truely sick of. Plan on dieing at least once, most likely more, in every single section except for possibly the opening and dont be afraid to drop a save after every fight because I cant see how anyone could single segment something like this blind. Fear not though because with just a little bit of knowledge all fights are completable, perhaps not easily, but definately completable without any need for save-scumming. The maps one secret was my saving grace for the finale as it was what initially created enough space for me to enventually pull out the rocket launcher and not eat rockets for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Because I cant play map 6 till tomorrow I think I will give a go at trying to beat this puppy saveless, knowing its tricks I think I can do it, and if I cant I'll just beat this puppy with a rolled up newspaper.

Edited February 5 by Insaneprophet

[RHhe82]

MAP05: No more zoomer girls. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 520/520 K, 1/1 S, 54/54 I. Comp. time 18:31

 

The difficulty curve sure doesn't take downward turns or even plateau. Even thinking about this one on saveless is unpleasant.

 

The first room is doable, but even the first key chamber that's flooded by imps and cacos was difficult for me. The first cyberdemon chamber was doable, I tricked cybie to infight all of the hell nobles by poking a single imp, making it shoot the cybie so it wakes up, and after that trick the cybie to shoot at hell nobles. Once the ammo corridor is opened, the battle is won... except there's another cyber, and the space is not great for two-shotting it (with the secret BFG I happened to find. Good thing I suspected the gargoyle faces).

 

And there is the end fight. I admit: I midfight-saved. I think I even rewinded at one point. That was hectic, and to think I could have missed the BFG... 

 

Despite my scummy behavior, I think this and the last map difficulty-wise lie in the zone I'd love to replay later on and try to manage them without midfight saves, with more confidence. These map are so concise, that it wouldn't even feel like a big deal to replay them.

 

Great map, but I'm hoping we're not approaching a point where I have to lower difficulty D:

[Celestin]

MAP05: No More Zoomer Girls

 

MAP05 is a bit of a step back with its visuals - LunchLunch chose a selection of tan textures (bricks, metal sheets, stone and those tentacle-like flesh) and while there is a lot of thought being put into shapes and details, it just doesn't grab me as much as Library did.

 

No More Zoomer Girls has a clear hub structure - three fight for the keys followed by the finale in the central arena. You start with a super shotgun, standing behind the monsters' backs. It was surprisingly tough, what helped was dashing forward through a crowd, getting the yellow key and a supercharge and camping there, defending from a three-way assault. Also, ignore the archviles, they are here to discourage hiding in the corners, but get crushed when they aren't useful anymore. LunchLunch employs this trick a lot and I find it very kind of his, as I don't need to waste time on cleanup.

 

The blue key room killed me a fair number of times, as it quickly gets flooded with imps, with cacodemons taking space and archvile forcing you to move around. At least that was the theory, I hid in the cubby with a key, sprayed plasma and hoped he didn't harm me too much. While he did zap me once, this room is rather generous with health, so I could just tank a hit. As for the red key, I feel like I was lucky there, it was the only fight of the map where I didn't die. It's a small room with hell knights, archviles placed in a way you can't camp in the corners and a cyberdemon turret. Somehow I managed to run past the monsters, hide in the room with a switch and, again, camp there. This locked out the cyberdemon and turned on the crushers that kill him and the viles, while I eliminated the remaining enemies. Also, check lion switches in the nearby corridor, one is partially lit, pressing it unlocks a BFG, which you want for the final fight.

 

Once you open the red door in the hub, you are greeted by a cyberdemon in your face, while hundreds of imps (no exaggeration) start pouring in. The BFG is a great tool if you get stuck, but you'll be mostly firing rockets at the crowds. At one point, archviles and pain elementals appear, but I find them to be a minor annoyance, with imps being the main threat. I'm not sure if that was a luck or I accidentally figured out the trick, but running around the outer edge of the map, firing rockets at the targets in front of me and occasionally clearing out the roadblocks was successful. This way, most of the monsters tend to stay in the centre, making them an easy target once new imps stopped appearing. It's a hectic fight and a reminder that 10x10 isn't getting any easier.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP05 - No More Zoomer Girls (100%K/I/S):

This map has some No Rest for the Living vibes going, isn't it?
 

This is a hub-like map, its structure is pretty simple, although I feel a bit confused as there is an area that requires the yellow key, and it's right at the start. Being the starting area locked by the yellow key. Hub maps tend to be like this, progression is lineal and give you the illusion of free choice. At the end, the main hub gets filled with a ton of monsters, in the biggest slaughterfest yet in 10 x 10. Several tries to finish this one, luckly I got the secret BFG, the first one in our playthrough.

You will start recognizing that, most fights are staged in a way that, you have some time to think on how to tackle them, feeling more like combat puzzles, as someone mentioned previously, for example, the Cyberdemon fight at the red key area, where, yet again, all enemies are giving you their backs. The strategy is simple, awake the barons by touching them, make them infight with the cyber, don't shoot a bullet, and repeat. This battle was ten times easier than it looks following this strategy. The best is not to make noise, our you won't be able to hide on the sides because of the archviles, so proceed with care. There is a switch behind the barons that activate the crushers that kill every caged enemy in the room.

Then there are fights like the one I've mentioned in the hub area, where you have to pray and survive as much as possible. Tough squirmish, for sure. Not sure how Decino can finish through these maps saveless and make it look easy.

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

MAP03
MAP01
MAP04
MAP05
MAP02

Time to lower the difficulty if you can, (I won't, for the moment)

[ReaperAA]

Map05: No More Zoomer Girls

Firstly, I will mention that this map managed to kill me quite a few times and thus I had to make use of saves. Though I did manage to beat this map saveless as well after practicing, because the maps are short enough

 

As for what this map is like, it start you off in a small-ish room with plenty of enemies facing away from you and by giving you and SSG immediately and a plasma gun just a few steps ahead. Don't fight them here, just grab the plasma and rush for the stairs and hold your ground, but don't grab the yellow skull key until you killed the enemies as grabbing it will release 3 or 4 cacodemons. Also don't waste ammo killing the archviles in cages as pressing the yellow skull switch will activate crusher to kill them.

 

Once out of that room, you enter a circular room that acts as the central hub area of the map with red, blue and yellow doors on each side. The yellow door leads you to a tight U-shaped arena where you get to use plasma gun against cacos and horde of imps. I try to focus down cacos first and when imps get too close, I rush towards the other side, grab the soulsphere and then kill the remaining imps/cacos. Not too hard, but you will loose a lot of health here, so I recommend to go here with almost 200/200 health/armor beforehand.

 

Once you get the blue key and go for the blue door, you will be lead to an encounter where you have a cyberdemon in a cage on one side, a pack of hell nobles on the other side and there are 4 "pockets/ hiding spots", each having an archvile as watcher to prevent camping. All of them have their backs towards towards you. This looks like a very impossible looking fight, but it really isn't. This fight requires pacifist strategy. Touch one of the barons to alert him and make him shoot the cyberdemon. Once cyberdemon is awake, make him shoot some barons, hide in the safe spot near the cyberdemon until he kills them, rinse and repeat until all hell nobles are dead. Then go to the closet where hell nobles where, and some cacodemons + a pain elemental are unleashed. Make cyberdemon infight them in same way, until you can get past the cacos+PE and press the switch on the opposite side. This switch crushes the cyberdemon and the archviles. Now you can finally start firing again and finish of the stragglers.

 

That switch also opens a door that has tons of ammo and another door holding a cyberdemon that you can plasma to death.... or find a secret switch in that ammo area that reveals a secret BFG in one of those archviles hiding spots. That BFG will prove to be very useful in the final fight in the hub area, where you will have to fight hundreds of imps, supported by revenants, cyberdemon and even a couple of archviles and PEs. You can kind of partically cheeze the final fight by going for the 4 timed switches that open the key doors again and then hide in the blue door area to use the RL and infighting cyberdemon to finish off the horde. Cheeky, but I am not ashamed of doing so after I died so many times to this fight on my first playthrough when I hadn't even discovered the BFG.

 

Overall, a tough map, but still doable for me in single-segment. Don't know how long that will last.

[Hebonky]

Port DSDADoom 0.27.4

 

Difficulty: UV

 

100% kills

100% items

100% secrets

 

10x10

 

Map03- Salvia

 

A map with a low resting heartrate, doesn't mean it won't kill you! I enjoy the F A C E . S P I R A L in the first room! and the *Gimp*erdemon is dumb fun. Definitely still hell, but a little less hellish than Lockjaw... save for the faces

Quote

They're in the walls... THEY'RE IN THE GODDAMN WALLS!

-Doomguy on teleporter closets

I also am THE cyber handler of all time!

 

Video Here:

Spoiler

 

 

[Klear]

MAP06 - "Sad Bastard"
QuestZDoom, UV, blind, pistol start, oh so many saves

 

The texture selection immediately caught my eye, with a contrasting red and blue and, well, fireblu. And such an upbeat song! Al right, I'm pumped, I'm ready, let's go!

 

...

 

I was not ready. Not by a long shot. Eating a rocket within the first second after teleporting into the map tells me exactly how this is going to go down. Nontheless I do remember thinking "this is manageable" on my second attempt, just before I ran into the second cybie... The start is actually somewhat reminiscent of the beginning of MAP04 with the two viles, just turned up to eleven. Or, fifteen or something. But armed with extreme stubborness and no qualms about quicksaving every two seconds I eventually overcame the first room in the map. Thankfully the rest of the map was not as bad. That is to say, I still died quite a lot, but at least now it wasn't just about fancy footwork but also bigger strategic decisions.

 

Best part of the map is hands down the long sloping vaguely arrow-shaped room with that... fireblu thing at the end. I mean, the rest of the room looks awesome too, I remember thinking, but that hypnotic red and blu scrolling mess was just so mesmerising. You have no idea how great it looks in VR. It made all the pain it cost to get to that point worth it. And you know what? I really enjoyed the fight there too! Maybe it's because I feel more confident with a rocket launcher than a BFG (I don't know why but I never got used to using the BFG in VR too well, even though it functions the same).

 

The final wave... well, tsunami of enemies was a huge mess which I would possibly eventually managed to clean up, but I ran into the option to exit early and decided to take it. And then the final boss was revealed - platforming. There's no way in hell I could make it to the switch. I mean, it would probably take me at least 10 minutes to get there, saving every step of the way, but there was no chance of passing the gauntlet with all the monsters in my back. I gave it a quick try, but ended up noclipping to the exit switch.

 

So. This was a great looking map, but certainly a notch above what I'd consider comfortable difficulty. It never got frustrating though. Maybe it was the music that made it bearable. I mentioned being stubborn, so I *will* give the next map a go on UV, but I'm not liking my chances. From what I've heard the difficulty goes up yet again in map 7 and there's platforming involved.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Edited February 6 by Klear

[stephyesterday]

MAP05: No More Zoomer Girls - Fully Maxed (111% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets)

boy, if i wasn't a maxer this map would have been ten times easier

 

I dig this one's texture choice. It's all brown and beige but the subtle pattern differences in each one make the ornate floor patterns pop in a unique way. If I had to change any of them, I'd probably swap out one of the beige ones for some water. But the map's pretty. Anyway god damn brother, I really gotta step it up before shit hits the fan. Shit KINDA hits the fan in this one but not quite to the extent that comes later. boy i wonder which prolific mapper lunchlunch is going to pay tribute to two maps from now C:

 

The first fight with the cyber was very interesting. A lot of moving parts here, and a lot of different ways to go about the fight. That's kind of the theme for this map, actually, and so far, this whole wad. Many of the fights are very free-form, allowing you to tackle them in a number of ways with no single method really being the "intended" way.

 

SO the monster count is still pretty high pretty late into the map, huh, what's up with that. Oh. lol. This was the one that I REALLY almost just left for. Only at about 61% kills, and I was ready to book it. But then I realized you can just leave the central room after hitting all the switches, which made it way simpler. whoops

 

good map!!!!!!!! boy it's getting kinda hot in here huh

 

quick funny edit: i did not find the secret in this map on my own. i was playing in a discord call and a friend shouted "WINKING LION" while i was in the room with the switch. it was very disorienting but imagine the look on my face when i saw a bfg after 10+ attempts at the final fight without it

Edited February 6 by stephyesterday
something i forgot to add :)

[brick]

MAP05: No More Zoomer Girls
When I saw the texture choices my first thought was, how are these even going to work together without blending into a mess. Sure enough the only thing they blend into is a beautiful and tasteful aesthetic, where brown predominates but is broken up by colour coming from other places (mostly the map objects), though the metal and the intestine textures also provide good contrast when needed. The wad is a very convincing study in how to do more with less. As for the map itself I enjoyed most of it, the fights for each key are small-scale but fun, the BSK one in particular is tight and claustrophobic, and that little window is perfectly placed for a death-from-above caco while you're too busy keeping the hordes of imps at bay. The final fight is a fine piece of madness, I don't even want to think how I would've done if I hadn't found the secret BFG, but having it meant I passed without too much frustration. Then came the dreaded "now what" moment, where I spent the next 5 minutes trying to find the switches to open up the exit.

 

MAP06: Sad Bastard
By far the most colourful map yet, it even has fireblu! It goes a bit for the opposite effect as some of the earlier maps. Whereas those used similar textures that may seem identical when put side by side then squeezed the subtle contrast between them for all it was worth, here there's an abundance of colour and sharp contrast between very different textures. I thought it skirts the line without crossing it and enjoyed the sometimes outrageous look of some rooms, particularly those fireblu snake lines on the floor (they look like a heating element to me, very fitting considering the texture). Gameplay was equally over the top, the hot start is you, a BFG and a cyberdemon right in your face. There are small side sections each with its own take on combat, the first one with its sector "frozen" enemies that all wake up and attack was the trickiest but they were all fun fights and I liked that each plays very different from the others. There's a LOT of healing so the map is pretty easy on HNTR and there's a good power trip aspect to it. The end involves a bit of platforming that is not very difficult. I think it's my favourite map so far for the sheer variety of everything, all crammed into such a small space, with an infectiously energetic midi.

[Insaneprophet]

Map 06: sad bastard

 

We have now fully entered into a genre that is not my personal cup of tea or even something I find joy in beating/beating my head against... challange for the sake of challange. Upon first entering into it in UV and taking some rockets to the face a few times I threw on god mode and ran around opening everything up just to say "yeah... no!" Because I am commited to seeing this thing through I then dropped the difficulty down to easy figuring on learning the map and working my way back up. Well Im too young to die and hey not too rough are the exact same thing and almost silly in just how easy they are. Bumping up to hurt me plenty does add some resistance but still leaves me feeling like the gameplay is lacking, kind of like this map was concieved entirely for the UV experience that I am not particularly interested in. The author's map building chops are fully on display here with a gorgeous environment to showcase their clear understanding of dynamic challange oriented fights and the large portion of the community that goes in for this will find alot to love here but again, this isnt for everyone. Having finished on hurt me plenty and felt unsatisfied I will go back in and give UV a few more tries but I cant guarantee anything other than that I will see you all here for map 7.

Ok, so I was able to beat it on UV because I knew all the tricks I wanted to use but did I have fun... not really. Like Ive said before, this has an audience but its just not for me. 😀

Edited February 6 by Insaneprophet

[RHhe82]

MAP06: Sad Bastard. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 196/196 K, 3/3 S, 33/33 I. Comp. time 18:35

 

I'm not sure if this one is harder than the last map, but the initial fight, where I felt I had to two-shot cyberds wasn't easy. Also, the staircase room with teleporting mancubi looked very difficult, but somehow I managed to "just leave" and deal with mancs and revs in the blue key area. Felt a bit like cheating. Last fight was also difficult, I backtracked to earlier areas where I found surprise archviles reviving enemy corpses.

 

I know I'm exaggerating a bit, but this map felt a bit like Italo Doom -- although I guess that has mostly to do with the music and some fleeting feelings I got when the second cyber surprised me in the starting area.

 

I... don't know. It's a good map, but I started feeling a bit desensitized here - the same reaction I get from watching Italo Doom playthroughs.

[Celestin]

MAP06: Sad Bastard

 

Well, here's a completely serious map with completely unserious soundtrack. Quite an ecclectic choice of textures too, there's steel, bricks and FIREBLU. Sad Bastard goes once again for abstraction - I think the closest comparison would be a techbase, but one with odd geometric patterns on the floors. 

 

MAP06 has less enemies than the previous two, but at the same time, they are tougher, assaulting the player with revenants, archviles and several cyberdemons. The map opens (after the obligatory texture showcase, that is) with a BFG, two cyberdemons and an archvile turret in a rather small room. My two-shotting skills aren't perfect, so it took me a while before I managed to kill them both, finish off the vile with a super shotgun and proceed. What follows is a series of small, but monster-dense encounters. The blue key fight is a mix of various mid-tier demons plus a cyberdemon that wanders around the place. He's great at infighting, which will help with saving cells for later. The red key has you defending yourself from mancubi that stand on top of the stairs while other enemies approach from the sides. This is probably the easiest part of the map, though it requires a bit of dancing around to avoid projectiles.

 

Then there is the final battle for the red key. The map opens up here, releasing a ton of revenants, two cyberdemon and several archviles, making this place very chaotic. Like with MAP05, a BFG can cut through crowds, but I recommend saving it to quickly eliminate archviles. I ended up with enough cells left to kill one cyberdemon and finished off the second one with an SSG. There's also a bit of platforming to reach the exit proper, but nothing demanding (there are also teleporters at the bottom in case you fell down).

 

I like this one a lot, it's very detailed and full of those little elements that add a visual flair. The gameplay style of small-scale slaugher also works fine for me, making Sad Bastard one of the best maps so far.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP06 - Sad Bastard (100%K/I/S):

Time to evacuate the dance floor, this map works as an arena that slowly opens up more and more, gameplay here is, yes, finally in the really hard side, luckly, this one is a tad shorter, but the level will quickly put you in front of an awaking cyberdemon, and talking about them, this map has a lot of those.

This level is really cool looking with its limited choice of textures, finally another techbase level after three wooden maps in a row and a rocky map, we clearly needed something else, with more colors. What is more colorful than those cool FIREBLU textures, eh? Jokes aside, the FIREBLU usage here is really cool. A man gets his vanilla texture diploma if he is able to use them without burning your eyes, and finding a great combination of textures that can contrast with FIREBLU, will be a good option.

The difficulty here, as said previously, is high enough for a casual doomer to throw the towel. A map full of archviles and cyberdemons, and a slaughter-esque nature, is what most regular players fear, the result is a well excecuted arena level that constantly escalates in difficulty, also, beware of letting roaming cyberdemons until the end, try to mow them if you can, before facing the last fight for the yellow key.

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP06

MAP03
MAP01
MAP04
MAP05
MAP02

 

 

[Klear]

MAP07 - "The Zzul Method"
QuestZDoom, UV, blind, pistol start, saves, liberal use of cheese

 

I've been kinda dreading this one and it turned out not to be that bad? It was an hour well spent, that's for sure. I beat it including finding the secret exit and I've got 10GBs of footage to prove it. Though I'll post that tomorrow, since audio got badly desynced again and fixing it will take another hour or so. And then I'll have to upload it. And then nobody will watch it, because it's an hour of mostly me falling off platforms to my death. But anyway...

 

I will admit that I seriously considered giving up right as I saw the initial platforming. It is not easy for me with analog controls at all. I made some use of the revolver provided by the weapon pack I'm using. Normally I try to avoid it, since it's got more bang for the buck than normal pistol, but I needed all the help I could get, I thought. Then I got hopelessly stuck and considered giving up again. This lead to me finding the first piece of puzzle to opening the secret exit though. If I missed that, I don't think I'd go back looking for it.

 

Anyway, I eventually stumbled my way to the second part of the map and wow, am I glad I kept going! One advantage of VR is the sense of scale you simply cannot get on a flat screen. Sure, most of the level is covered in darkness so there isn't that much to be seen, but what you can see is awesome. I especially enjoyed the showers of projectiles sent to the darkness by the hell knights I left alive after the blue skull key fight.

 

The main building is... weird. It's such an uncanny feeling to be fighting zombiemen after all that the map has put me through, and with glimpses of BIG trouble still ahead of me. After clearing everything out, I earned the right to exit the map and decided not to take it. But where is the damn yellow skull? After a lot of searching I finally found a not-so-hidden switch and... my hopes were dashed as it just revealed a standard secret with a berserk and some customary SS. Damn. Unless...

 

Yes! Another big slaughter. Wait. I'm no good at those. But even though it took me a bunch of tries to find some stability, pretty soon there was just a bunch of angry skeletons left and enough space to find the switches opening the way back. And of course they followed me into the main level, but who cares. I knew where to go. Would it be too much to ask to only have to face the two revenants and have the teleporter be the secret exit? Apparently yes.

 

The last part was tough. I managed to find the hidden teleporter which made the start a bit less bumpy, but not by a lot, and I've been struggling to stay alive in the mayhem, which made me realise that the hurtfloor all around the fight might actually be safer for me while the monsters fight it out among themselves. And as I was looking for the teleporter back up, I instead found the one that leads back to the beginning. Don't mind if I do! I returned to the second stage of the map, sat down and watched the fireworks from a distance. And also thought hard about which complevel I'm playing on and whether there's a lost soul limit or not...

 

When I had the feeling I waited long enough and that everything that's going to die must surely be dead already, I heard a cybie death. Wow. That fight sure had a lot of fuel. Returning to the main stage, I found plenty to clean up but not enough to give me any kind of trouble. Phew!

 

Edit - here's the footage:
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited February 7 by Klear

[stephyesterday]

MAP06: Sad Bastard - Fully Maxed (116% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets)

So. Sad Bastard was some of the most fun I've ever had playing doom.

I haven't gotten too far into harder wads due to usually not really having the patience to grind them for an extended period of time, so I don't really develop the skills necessary for more technical things like this. I suck at dealing with cybers, I have trouble with archviles without high-tier weapons, and my crowd-control skills are less than stellar. Playing Sad Bastard, I actively felt myself learning more about the game. I controlled the late-map viles quickly, I pushed back the waves of revs, I beat the SHIT out of those cybers. It was the first time In a long time I could actually feel myself improve at doom. It felt amazing, and I owe this map for that experience alone.

 

And god. The presentation, the irreverent texture usage, the fucking midi, everything about this map is so good. I have a serious soft spot for pop song midis slapped onto doom maps, there's something inherently funny about it every time. The final fight taking place throughout almost the entire map at once was so sick, asking you to recall how well you know the layout at this point, and how well you can douse crowds at key spots.

 

I didn't expect to come out of this map feeling this way, but so far Sad Bastard is one of the best doom maps I've played.

[Hebonky]

Port DSDADoom 0.27.4

 

Difficulty: UV

 

100% kills

100% secrets

 

10x10

 

Map04- Hey! This is Library!

This map feels Lavish, from the Understated piano MIDI, to the way preplaced monsters seem to just be pulling a book off the shelf, and the lavish decor with paintings, books, and stucco walls. The map oozes, sometimes literally, and air of you being in enemy territory, like you just walked into the wrong place.The map itself feels like it wasn't built for combat, with most of the map being tight constrained places where fights just happen... unfortunately to it's occasional (stuff it) always to a bit of a hinderance. The intro fight and hell knight claustrophobia fights just aren't fun and are SUPER RNG dependent. If the arch-viles in the first room don't stun enough you're dead, if the hell knights don't leave their pens to slowly (or if you don't notice the somewhat obscure secret) your dead! The best fights in the map are the rocket launcher fight which is a surprising breath of fresh air in this undisturbed crypt of a level. The plasma fight because it makes you feel like you did something great, and the ending... if you don't cheese it, but hey the thought counts, yeah?

 

I'm also noticing a distinct lack of Schustafel in my secrets!... wonder where they all went?

 

Video here:

Spoiler

 

 

[Klear]

When are we playing the secret level, tomorow, or is map08 tomorrow and the secret whenever? I haven't played a multi-wad month in the club yet...

[Celestin]

@Klear that's a good question. 10x10 has 10 regular maps, a secret level and a progression-stopper. Heartland has 7 maps plus an epilogue, while Sigil II is a full Doom 1 episode of 8+1 maps. That's 25 regular and 2 secret levels. I'd say we should play secret maps on a separate day.

[RHhe82]

15 minutes ago, Celestin said:

@Klear that's a good question. 10x10 has 10 regular maps, a secret level and a progression-stopper. Heartland has 7 maps plus an epilogue, while Sigil II is a full Doom 1 episode of 8+1 maps. That's 25 regular and 2 secret levels. I'd say we should play secret maps on a separate day.

I agree on this.

[Insaneprophet]

Map 07: the zzul method

 

I really really like this map! This is the type of grand scale where I can get into the idea of hordes of demons, arenas and challenging scenarios. Slaughterfests and combat puzzles all just start to feel like neccesary parts of an epic adventure when spread throughout a massive world that sprinkles in incedental combat, down time and exploration. While Ive admitedly not played a ton of void-world maps because it is not my favorite aesthetic, it is pulled off here almost to perfection, immersing the player in a monolithic yet empty dimension where a living soul is not only unwelcome but should have never found itself in to begin with. Despite hosting twelve hundredsome monsters I can say Ive rarely ever felt so cold and alone in a doom map. Hands down my favorite map in this set, this level makes me so so glad that I finally started to participate in the club. On a month where it was hosting multiple sets that were so far down on my play list that I may have never even reached them. Ive avoided the shame it would have been had I not experienced the sollitude and lonliness this level engenders that it makes one appreciate the liveliness of almost every other mapset.

 

Hearing how the math works out I can get behind doing the secret lvl tomorrow then returning to map 8 the next day.

Edited February 12 by Insaneprophet

[ReaperAA]

Map06: Sad Bastard

Was not expecting to hear midi rendition of Evacuate the Dance Floor, but it really suits the type of map this is. Much more abstract in both it's layout and especially the texture choices that is not just a mix of techbase and hell, but also the king of abstract textures aka Fireblu.

 

I don't know who Lunchlunch is referring to with the Sad Bastard title. But I am gonna go with the Cyberdemon that we have to 2-shot with the BFG right at start of the map. Don't rest yet, but there is another cyberdemon just a few steps ahead.

 

The progression is your typical affair of enter one arena room, grab the key and fight in said area and move on to next door.

 

The blue key fight involves fighting a group of mid tiers such as revenants, cacodemons and hell knights, along with a cyberdemon. Try to herd them and get the cyberdemon to infight them. You do have the BFG, but not a lot of ammo, so use it when you have to get out from getting surrounded.

 

The red key fight arena is a really cool staircase of sorts where you have to hold you position by dodging fireballs from mancubus at the top of the stairs, with revenants trying to sneak from the sides, while firing rockets at them. Probably one my favorite fights in the wad so far.

 

The fight beyond the red key door is the final fight of the map and will not only unleash tons of enemies from the closets in that room (like cyberdemons, revenants, hell nobles, pain elementals etc) , but also teleport some archviles in other parts of the map. Before starting the fight, look for a secret switch which will release a megasphere in the arena that contained the blue key. The blue key area is also the best area to go to once you start the fight, since a couple of archviles will teleport there which you want to take out immediately and then this room is a good place you stand your ground against the hellspawn arriving from the final room. Use RL liberally and also BFG against viles or if there's too much stuff for RL to handle. 

 

Surprisingly, despite the nasty looking opposition, it took me less effort to beat this saveless than Map05. But it was still tough and given the size and scale of the next map, I finally call it quits on trying to beat the maps saveless.

[RHhe82]

MAP07: The Zzul Method. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 166/1284 K, 5/9 S, 99/277 I. Comp. time 30:53

 

Rest assured, I will come back to truly complete this map, hopefully even before the February 7th. Somehow an exit platform just was there, I had already spent half an hour (and more, 'cause that doesn't include retries) in a map I find very intimidating even though the encounters have been easier than the last map or two. However, I suspect that's only because I missed most of the map. Then again, I was also lost as to what to do next; I had found a secret room with a berserk pack and something that'd activate with a red skull key. But no red skull key in sights. Red keycard, yes. Skull, no.

 

I did like the map, but as I said, I found it somehow intimidating, and while the fights weren't that hard (although I think I had a bit of luck with red keycard fight - the revenants would focus on the black leatherpant cyber demon).

 

The problem for me in this kind of levels that (at least on blind playthroughs) I'm lost as to what to do; the map feels overwhelming; and I guess I just prefer more compact maps, or at least ones you don't have to wander aimlessly.

 

---

 

On the next day... I saw I hidden switch near the starting area platforms... and subsequently found the red skull key, after which the rest of the map opened.

 

There are two main attractions in the map that are hidden away from a casual player, who just wants to reach the exit. A big fight in a slime cavern, and a big fight out in the open void platform. The first fight I might have survived in one go; the hardest part is to survive long enough to have the enemy lines thinned enough for you the circle around the arena in relative safety.

 

The final fight, on the other hand, I don't think I could have survived. I midfightsaved, I traversed the hurt floor void to reach a teleporter that took me back to the main playing arena, and then went back to find the enemies in such formations I could survive with a midfightsave or two more. Just barely not beyond me.

 

I guess I'm once again feeling a bit mixed: on the other hand I enjoyed my time here, especially the big fights despite being in over my head. On the other hand I'm not sure I like the vastness of the map. I don't want to sound negative, I'm leaning on the positive side.

 

What is a Zzul method? I think the name refers to a speedrunner...or a challenge mapper? Anyway, final tally:

 

MAP07: The Zzul Method. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 1284/1284 K, 9/9 S, 277/277 I. Comp. time 52:32