The DWmegawad Club plays: Nostalgia

[Novaseer]

1 minute ago, Magnusblitz said:

 

@Novaseer: there's a (non-secret) soulsphere in the water behind the Spider that teleports two revenants in as an ambush, maybe it was that?

That'll be it. Weird it's not secret-tagged though.

[cannonball]

MAP17 - “Ars Moriendi”

 

The boss monsters felt more obligatory than actual threats, though I prefer the Mastermind's placement on the boat that blocks an easy escape. Otherwise the map is fine offering a more corrupt vision on the city theme compare to the rest of the episode so far. Again not too bad but one I will tend to remember more for the negatives than positives.

 

[Raith138]

MAP16: Fear of the Dark

Definitely the best map yet. The ambushes were actually dangerous this time and the dark and moody atmosphere was really good. This one will be hard to beat.

 

MAP17: Ars Moriendi

 

Quite forgettable. This feels like a pretty generic city map with nothing really exciting happening. The spiderdemon felt pretty out of place and the whole map was 90 degree walls so it was not too exciting visually either. Bottom 5 for this one.

 

 

Order of Preference:

Spoiler

MAP16

MAP14

MAP13

MAP03

MAP07

MAP31

MAP15

MAP12

MAP11

MAP09

MAP04

MAP08

MAP06

MAP17

MAP02

MAP10

MAP05

MAP01

 

Edited March 18 by Raith138

[Novaseer]

MAP18 "Fault of the Flesh" (100% K/I/S, 9:21)

 

The early chapters of this map are pretty brutal. Jumping into a cramped tunnel infested with imps and chaingunners will be your first move, and then the blue key trap unleashes an Archvile and several Revenants on you with hardly any cover - which killed me twice.

 

The secret BFG and/or plasma probably alleviated the pressure somewhat, but I hadn't found either yet. All I could do was kill one of the blocking Revenants and book it out of the room, funnelling the spawn into my super shotgun and peeking out to rocket the vile when all was clear.

 

The fights afterwards are rather tame in comparison - the bloody courtyard outside which the BK opens could've been scary but I just made all the demons infight instead.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP18 - Fault of the Flesh - (100%K/100%I/33%S):

Really sweet map with tight paths to fight. I've struggled a lot while playing through this one because of the fight at the blue key. Nostalgia is not joking around anymore, and bit-sized maps seem to be gone for now.

This feels like the first map that would belong to a more modern mapset overall. Solid gameplay and looks, and a longer size. Most of the encounters were brutal for the mapset's standards, in a Plutonia 2 level or similar. I could not find the way to get the secret BFG, I feel this one wouldn't have been overkill like in other cases in Nostalgia. I really needed bigger guns here, specially for instagibbing archviles.

Order of Preference:

Spoiler

 

MAP16

MAP14
MAP31
MAP18
MAP09

MAP06
MAP07
MAP17
MAP15
MAP11

MAP05

MAP04
MAP08
MAP32
MAP12
MAP03
MAP02
MAP01
MAP13
MAP10

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP18: The Fault of the Flesh

 

This one reminds me of Plutonia somewhat. Partly because of a bloody floors, partly because of the ambushes. Now, I know Nostalgia uses monster closets a lot, but here, they feel more deadly than before. However, secrets helped a lot. Very early on you can get a BFG, plasma rifle and some cells, which let you avoid getting cornered and run far enough to safely eliminate any threat. The archviles play a bigger role here, they might be tricky with only rockets and SSG, but again, the secrets are rather obvious. I'd say it's a solid map that turns up the heat, but at the same time provides tools to bring the challenge back down.
 

[cannonball]

MAP18 - “The Fault of the Flesh”

 

I liked this one, this presents some tricky and quite cramped situations, but it also presents a much larger piece of real estate that feels grander than most of the maps so far. This one has a little more character in terms of macroscale design and more plutonia-esque encounters. A solid map overall.

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 18: The Fault of the Flesh

 

For this point in the wad, it was quite mediocre. The flooded streets are welded with the tan of the tech buildings from the first episode and while ammo is rather tightly controlled, the encounters themselves are just there. Well, except when an Arch-vile (the last one especially is) involved but as you can see, dodging around them is not hard. The bloody courtyard in one corner could probably have had more teeth. Amazingly, we were able to find two out of 3 secrets. I think that random electric symbol might have done something. It says a lot when one of the best combat setups is the one with Mancubi and Hell Knights around us. Much of the rest is just repeated claustrophobic nonsense. Honestly, it's a little overdue for a mod change at this point, but my opinion stays the same. 

 

 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP19 - Times of Grace - (100%K/100%I/0%S):

Good town square map. This one is luckly shorter than the previous two levels. But still as spicy. I feel the map could have used the town square area a bit more for some fights, as the final cyberdemon blocking the exit was a bit lackluster. After the yellow key, nothing much more happens if you managed to clean out all the enemies that were out there at first place.

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP16

MAP14
MAP31
MAP18
MAP09

MAP06
MAP07
MAP17
MAP15
MAP11

MAP05

MAP04
MAP19
MAP08
MAP32
MAP12
MAP03
MAP02
MAP01
MAP13
MAP10

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 19: Times of Grace

 

We've now arrived in Central Park, complete with surrounding skyscrapers. Get comfortable because it's basically the entire map, beyond the hallways in the surrounding buildings. Perhaps it's best to head left at the start since the right will lead us to a rather nasty trap with 2 Revenants and an Arch-vile, but also a plasma rifle. Do what you want here though. Revenants at close quarters remain a theme of this map, often emerging from rooms of red firewalls, but not true furnaces. Imps and Baron will show up in the central square at a certain point but we should be well equipped to take them out. Leave some of them alive for the ending Cyberdemon though. The only reason we killed him with such few shots was the Vesper's plasma replacement. Didn't even find the secret. At least this map looks distinctive though.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP19: Times of Grace

The opening fight in Times of Grace is probably the toughest yet - an open square where you are surrounded by monsters, including hitscanners right next to you. I have to say, this took ma a few tries before I eliminated the zombies, found a super shotgun in a corner and started killing the rest. There's also a plasma rifle in what looks like a destroyed shop (use your imagination), but it's booby-trapped with an archvile and revenants. No problem, there's a secret BFG right next to it.

 

The yellow key trap is another iteration of a monster closet, where you are walking along a narrow, winding corridor, only to lower the walls and reveal a mass of demons around you. This is where the map peaked, the rest can be eliminated with rockets and an awkwardly-placed cyberdemon is your final obstacle. He can't leave the cubby with the exit and it's hard to two-shot him, since the floor in front of him is lava. Still, I enjoyed the hectic start, it's a bit of a surprising spike in difficulty, but feels rewarding.

[cannonball]

MAP19 - “Times of Grace”

 

The start is hot and fun, but there are some questionable design decisions beyond the early stages. The yellow key is one of those obvious traps that I have seen by a couple of authors and was a little disappointed that Myolden made a trap like this. Then there is the cyber that is more awkward than a real threat. 

Not much else to say, this one could have turned out better.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP18: Fault of the Flesh

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

 

This one feels like the hardest yet, as not only is the bestiary mostly mid-tier Doom 2 monsters (revs, mancs, hell knights, AVs) but there's also not nearly as many defensive resources as usual - there's a green armor at the very start, and the usual plentiful medkits, but no soulsphere and no blue armor, leaving you a lot more at risk of taking a lot of chunk damage. The theme also feels like a bit of a stretch from the rest of the city episode. The actual playing area is similar in design to the levels before, but I think having some large outdoor sections that you wind around (but don't fight much in) helps make things feel different. I agree that this one gives nu-Plutonia vibes, for better or worse.

 

MAP19: Times of Grace

100% kills, 1/1 secret

 

A more modernized hot start, with a bit of a playground to run around and collect the various weapons and armor guarded by enemies. After that, I agree with @cannonball that it does get a bit weak, as there's some small rote encounters on the sides that aren't too exciting, ending with a cyber who's mostly stuck being a meatwall and easily camped from safety.

 

 

[Cutman 999]

MAP18 - “The Fault of the Flesh” (Pistol started, 2 attempts saveless, 100% Kills, 90% Items, 33% Secrets)

 

Hey, pretty cool. I remembered this map being trap heavy and kicking my ass first time through, and well that blue key ambush surely made me remember. Despite being a mix on large, spacious arenas and cramped spaces, with the minimal monster count of like 72, they do a very good job covering that space, the mancs are fantastic snipers that kept you from just killing revs in 2 seconds, the revs and hell nobles at the start make that also effective, being a good padding tool to keep that vile healthy.

 

I can agree this felt a bit casali inspired, although in plutonia I don't personally recount fights relying in tight spaces outside of like cage and map13, but certainly this was a great map to toughen up the difficulty, only powerslave surpasses it in the level of substance by now.

 

8/10

 

MAP19 - “Times of Grace” (Pistol started, saveless, 100% K/I/S)

 

I felt the music a bit out of place in here, is not a bad midi but I feel like it just doesn't belong in a corrupted hell city, especially when this map is pretty mundane difficulty wise.

 

About the map, mental note, don't forget there's an easy super shotgun you can try to grab quickly, instead of risking getting destroyed by hell knights while going to the yellow key area. This map felt more like a pseudo-hub where you can decide to progress whatever you feel like, getting some early or later rewards from the single soulsphere of the map to a plasma gun and megaarmor, guarded by the only tricky fight in the map. Other than the structure and progression is standard fair in combat compared to the focus of the last map, yeah if you missplay like I was doing probably you are going to have some issues with monster surrounding you, but hey there's always extra room in the main area to rely on and escape. Once you get the rocket launcher tho, the difficulty just plumets down to the underground, and you'll just have to kill a token cyberdemon to exit.

 

Not bad, but compared to the previous city levels it feels like it just doesn't make the landing.

 

7/10

[brick]

MAP18 - “The Fault of the Flesh”
A small map that seems larger becuse of excellent use of verticality, this was my favourite aspect. It looks good, though perhaps a little too busy with all those torch decorations all over the place. I couldn't get any of the secrets this time. I didn't particularly enjoy most of the ambushes, and that final Archvile was a sneaky pain and resurrected about a dozen enemies before I noticed. The map really made me realize how much the wad adheres to modern combat scenarios; I'm not a huge fan, but they're executed incredibly well especially considering the small enemy count in most maps.

 

MAP19 - “Times of Grace”
Beautiful city map, the play area is actually pretty small, most of it is in that central square with the fountain and the (tiny) buildings around it. Combat is cramped with an abundance of revenants. I wasn't a fan of the Cyberdemon finale, this time we have plenty of room to move but the Cyberdemon can't get out of the exit door, and while I understand the logic (if he could get out there would be easier ways to kill him) dealing with him is not particularly interesting.

 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP20 - Hell Awaits - (100%K/0%I/0%S):

A night in the office. The receptionist was an angry archvile, and talking about angry archviles, this map was full of them to the point I was starting to rage. This was the second map, alongside MAP10 that made me rage like crazy. Difficulty here comes more from narrow corridors and places to fight enemies most of the time, and because of how little space is out there to hide from AV zaps. I've also struggled with ammo at the end, and I could not find a single secret. Nice map to end the episode, hope this Archvile Company starts going down at Wall Street after all this clean-up. Time to sell stocks.

As expected, another death exit finishes the episode.

Order of Preference:

Spoiler

 

MAP16

MAP14
MAP31
MAP18
MAP09

MAP06
MAP07
MAP17
MAP15
MAP11
MAP20

MAP05

MAP04
MAP19
MAP08
MAP32
MAP12
MAP03
MAP02
MAP01
MAP13
MAP10

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP20: Hell Awaits

 

The finale of city chapter takes the player to the UAC headquarters, where a teleporter to Hell is located. The first room has an archvile inside a receptionist's booth, but a pistol-starters would be underarmed to take him out right away. It's better to run towards a nearby office space and eliminate monsters sitting inside the cubicles. I still recommend taking out the vile before opening the yellow door, as another one teleports into a pile of corpses and ammo in Hell Awaits isn't as plenty as in previous maps. 

 

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get bored by constant monster closets. It's not a bad mechanic by itself and I like the cramped red key room, but it gets stale when every time you see a key, you know the walls around it will lower and monsters will get unleashed. This degree of homogeneity is an issue I have with many one-man megawads, where the author has a preference for a certain approach to combat and it takes a lot to reinvent themselves (which is why I tend to enjoy group or community projects more). Nevertheless, it's a good map and a worthy ending to the most memorable part of Nostalgia.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 20: Hell Awaits

 

This map is in most ways, not terribly difficult, despite the increasing tendency to have an Arch-vile come running around corners. It's a very nice map though, from the opening room to the office and then, the board room overseen by a hell knight while a dude mans a computer to keep the presentation going most likely. Not too hard to those that take their time. Although the trap behind the blue key door is quite nasty. We're just facing down a Mancubus in the main room and a Baron in the booth but step forward about 5 feet and bam! a firewalled closet with Imps and other nasties opens up and makes things quite hard to deal with with the Vesper mod since we'll lose health from the phosphorus grenades. Probably best to shoot here normally. The last room has an Arch-vile in the teleporter then we are confronted by 2 Barons of Hell along with some useless ammo. Good way to end the episode!

 

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP20 - “Hell Awaits”

 

This one wasn't too bad, though ammo felt pretty tight, especially if archviles behave badly. There are lots of neat little details dotted around and the combat was on the whole fairly solid. I liked the introduction purely because that level of area denial has been rare so far in this wad, it was a nuanced piece of work and whilst the action tends to be more on brand for the rest of the map, there is enough interest too keep things going at a solid pace.

 

[Raith138]

I fell behind a bit.

 

MAP18: The Fault of the Flesh

This map used a lot of lowering wall traps and a lot of it happened in corridors. Not the most memorable for me. Middle of the road for this one.

 

MAP19: Times of Grace

Another map that was really not for me. The difficult felt like it was all because of the lack of health and not due to challenging enemy placement. The visuals felt like a pretty generic city level and overall there was nothing very memorable here. To the bottom this one goes.

 

MAP20: Hell Awaits

I found myself with no ammo dealing with the revvies guarding the red key. There is also overall nothing too exciting happening so another middle of the road map for me. Brought down quite a bit by the archvile at the start, it did not add to the map in anyway in my opinion and made that part unnecessarily frustrating.

 

Order of Preference:

 

Spoiler

MAP16

MAP14

MAP13

MAP03

MAP07

MAP31

MAP18

MAP20

MAP15

MAP12

MAP11

MAP09

MAP04

MAP08

MAP06

MAP17

MAP02

MAP10

MAP19

MAP05

MAP01

 

 

 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP20: Hell Awaits

100% kills, no map secrets >:(

 

This one is one of the more resource-starved levels - plenty of health, but not much armor (two green vests, no blue), no soulsphere, and tight ammo. A fair amount of Viles too, but I think the first one is the most fun/impactful (sorry @Raith138) and then they trail off from there. I really liked the first couple rooms, though I may just be a sucker for the blue/white UAC color scheme and the office doomcute. Some decent fights in the middle, and I liked the big one around the red key room, just enough room to run around and try to get the monsters to infight. The end felt undercooked though, with some weird monster placement/triggers... like the gaggle of revenants that teleport into the red key room when you enter, or the final AV/baron combo. The latter especially I think would've been better off appearing after the player actually enters into the room, as-is, the red door just makes a really simple choke to blast away.

Edited March 21 by Magnusblitz

[Novaseer]

Fell a little bit behind because I was away from home for work, so... time to play catchup!

 

MAP19 "Times of Grace" (100% K/I/S, 6:00)

 

I can't tell if that's intentionally a hot start, or if I'm just rusty from two days of not playing at all. It cools off after you have your weapons, but there's still some fun setpieces like the fountain revealing a load of barons.

 

The cybie at the end gave me quite the spook, although with it being unable to leave its tunnel it doesn't pose much of an actual threat.

 

Visually, it's pretty on par with the rest of the episode. Nothing much to comment on.

 

MAP20 "Hell Awaits" (100% K, no I or S, 6:57)

 

A doomcute masterwork, with... QUITE A FEW archviles. I ended up getting zapped by the first one, but after that I gathered my wits and managed to avoid the rest. Even if some of them were in particularly awkward spaces, like that one that teleports in behind you when you use the yellow door.

 

Revenants in cramped spaces aplenty, though they're little match for your plasma gun.

 

No secrets is a shame.

 

MAP21 "South of Heaven" (100% K/I/S, 5:07)

 

Thanks to that rocket launcher trap, I scored what I think is the earliest death I've had yet. Thanks to particularly bad space management leading to a self-rocket in the RK fight, I had another.

 

So yes, MAP19 me, I probably am rusty, because once I had my wits about me neither was that bad.

 

All things considered, a good first impression of the Hell episode. Combat's definitely a step up, which is to be expected. 

[Raith138]

MAP21: South of Heaven

I love myself a good hell map so I may be biased but this one was pretty fun. The initial red key fight was pretty difficult but was aided by a secret soulsphere. Overall a very solid map and a good introduction to the hell levels.

 

Order of Preference:

Spoiler

MAP16

MAP14

MAP13

MAP21

MAP03

MAP07

MAP31

MAP18

MAP20

MAP15

MAP12

MAP11

MAP09

MAP04

MAP08

MAP06

MAP17

MAP02

MAP10

MAP19

MAP05

MAP01

 

[Dylan Jarvis]

Next part of my commentated playthrough I thought I had the MIC volume fixed, turns out it is worse, Next time it will be resolved hopefully. Great set of levels so far. Maps are short and provide challenging encounters. Good stuff! 

 

 

Edited March 21 by Dylan Jarvis

[Celestin]

MAP21: South of Heaven

 

After techbases and city streets, where does a classic-inspired megawad head next? To hell, of course. Scythe's final act seems like a visual point of reference, with red and white rocks.

 

Gameplay-wise, this feels more vicious, with greater representation of mid-tier enemies and guns that you have to earn to use. The rocket launcher reveals a gang of revenants, while a super shotgun is in a pit next to the exit. It triggers an ambush in a somewhat tight space. The main attraction, however, is the two-part red key fight - a chaotic battle in a confined space, with stage 2 throwing in an archvile. I've survived this thanks to secrets - a plasma rifle hidden near the start and a supercharge, accessible from the corner with the rocket launcher. 

 

Episode three starts strong, with classic visuals and entertaining gameplay, I'm intrigued how it will continue. 
 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP21 - South of Heaven - (100%K/I/S):

Hey, that's a Slayer song!
 

The long awaited Hell episode starts here, with a hot map that resembles Inferno a lot, at times, I'm digging the aesthetics around here. The secret plasma gun at start helped me a lot to get through the pit and grab the SSG. After that, and the rocket launcher, the map gets less trickier, still, I've struggled with ammo at the end, and I'm starting to feel like Myolden doesn't like berserk packs that much, isn't it?

Order of Preference:

Spoiler

 

MAP16

MAP14
MAP31
MAP18
MAP09

MAP06
MAP07
MAP17
MAP15
MAP21
MAP11
MAP20

MAP05

MAP04
MAP19
MAP08
MAP32
MAP12
MAP03
MAP02
MAP01
MAP13
MAP10

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 21: South of Heaven

 

In case you haven't guessed from the name or read the story, we have arrived in Hell! With such a metal reference, you might hope there are some tricky spots. And indeed, despite Myolden adopting a more non-traditional shape than his usual square bases, this is part and parcel what he specializes in. From the jump, there's not too much of a break, despite plenty of places to hide and the vast quantity of Barons on the upper ledges and Mancubi on our level seem like rockets are intended - at least until we run past the knoll in the middle and a murder of Revenants are unleashed, along with another ledge dropping from an unknown trigger, which reveals a teleport leading to a ledge on the far end with a Supercharge.

 

After collecting the blue key, we'll then enter into a dark and 'empty' cavern. No need to say what happens here initially, but there's plenty of chaingunners, pinkies, and nobles to turn this into quite the hairy location! Press the switch at the end and then find ourselves confronted by an Arch-vile at the other end of the chamber. With all the corpses here, this can easily turn very aggravating but we had some luck. Finally, we return to the entrance to find a swich behind some posts which lowers a nearby ledge containing a plasma rifle. I didn't spot this ledge until returning to the entrance and glancing for a good few seconds!

 

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP21 - “South of Heaven”

 

Not a bad map, though it is a little baron-heavy and unfortunately this leads to a couple of slow points right before picking up both keys. The start and the red key area offer some stern resistance, though the start of the map can be made a lot easier by finding the plasma gun secret, which isn't hard to spot when you finally realise where the switch for it is.

In the end this was a decent opener, but those barons by the blue key really should have been hell knights.

 

[Cutman 999]

MAP20 - “Hell Awaits” (Pistol started, 2 attempts saveless, 100% K/I/S)

 

We are finally inside of what the teleporter central was teased at us (I supposed). No secrets on random walls for you this time, if you take a wrong turn you are punished, like me in my first attempt dying to the double archvile combo because I didn't get the rocket launcher.

 

From frame one you know you are in danger, from an unreacheable archvile seeing your movements while you are with former human weaponry, goes to some frantic encounters that may seen scary, and if missplayed can get you killed in very little time. Also ammo is a bit tight here, so consider your options well. Considering this is an episode ender, makes a lot of sense and the map delivers on what made the city episode good, combined with some setpieces that deliver but don't overstay their welcome, since it's myolden who we are talking about. Effective use of like 80-something monsters, eating your space and ammo so you need to be careful, you know, the map is good.

 

8/10

 

MAP21 - “South of Heaven” (Pistol started, saveless, 100% K/I/S)

 

Yeah, not a bad song, that 1 minute opening is really fucking good, i can see why bobby prince pla...

 

Oh, I was writting about a doom level, not the actual south of heaven song... Is really good. Finally we are at the most ball crushing nostalgia has to offer, once you enter the first arena, one bad move can awaken a lot of stuff to murder you, and unless you find a weird switch at the very start of the map, probably you are not gonna end well. Don't worry, after you dominate the revs and troll some hell knights guarding an SSG, is mostly cleanup so you can arm yourself with some goodies.

 

The blue key ambushes were the real good stuff tho, I remember dying to them the first time playing, and that archvile wave after the red key is unlocked can be kind of tricky with bad maneuvers. Although is not too hard, try to kill some of the weaker snipers first so the low tier army surrounding you don't make too much trouble, and the fact you need to be quick about it is what elevates this as actually being a fun setpiece.

 

Great episode opener that again, demonstrates how good myolden is a calibrating combat encounters, those 82 monsters are definetely something.

 

9/10

[Magnusblitz]

MAP21: South of Heaven

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

Basically two main fights here, each for a key... I guess you could stretch and say there's another one for the good ol' SSG. I liked the first one, second one a little less, but both decent enough. I agree with @cannonball that the baron meatwalls are a bit much and kinda slow things down when things are mostly cleared out and it's time to grab the actual key.

 

The music makes me think of White Christmas in parts lol