The Apocalypse is Over

[BoldEnglishman]

Actually I thought he was going to release a hotfix for the next GZDoom version no? The next GZDoom version will render this WAD (crap I mean .pk3... or is it .zip?) unplayable if nothing is done (unless of course, you do it yourself).

Anyhow I was playing around with Thamuz against other bosses and he's actually more powerful than I thought he was. He defeated Eriance's HellSmith one v one (well... after a Spider Mastermind and a Cyberdemon had a crack at it).

[Creaphis]

I loved it.

I can understand why some people will dislike a map like this. It's sparse on ammo, its monster placement makes it difficult and slow-paced, it puts a lot of effort into creating atmosphere and telling a story, and you have to stay mentally focused if you don't want to get completely lost. Essentially, it's the complete opposite of Doom. That makes the Doom community a strange place to release a project like this, but at least there's a few people here (like me) who appreciate it. Thanks for keeping at it, Torm!

Personally, I enjoyed every aspect that I mentioned in the above paragraph. Yes, it's low on ammo, but I've always been a big fan of melee combat in Doom wads, and I had a lot of fun throwing that pitchfork. Besides, the fork quickly became unnecessary - as long as you don't waste your ammo. (I played on skill 4, by the way.) I liked how this map made me fear for my safety; it had me peering carefully around every corner instead of barging into battle. The difficult hitscan monsters are an excellent part of this map. I wouldn't say that this pistol is underpowered, but that the standard hitscan monsters in Doom are underpowered - this wad gave me the first well-matched gun fights I've had in a Doom level. I enjoyed the letters scattered throughout the game; they're well-written, enhance the story, and they're definitely not too long to read. I found the atmosphere to be powerful and genuinely scary, and I never feel that way when playing standard Doom wads. (Ghoul wads don't even startle me anymore.) I paid attention to the letters and other hints throughout the level, and I never got stuck (except that I somehow missed a door in plain sight in the hospital).

I'm not a Torm fan-boy. To attribute my compliments to a reason like that is absurd; if I enjoy a level it's never because of who it was made by. It would be equally fair if I accused everyone who didn't like the wad of being Torm-haters.

For the sake of balance and critique, I'll tell the two complaints I had:
1. The siren should be triggered a finite number of times at certain scripted moments, instead of going off on a timer. It has a tendency of going off at the most inconvenient times, and it's especially annoying if you get killed by a nightmare while you're already in the moon cellar and the door is closing. As someone else already mentioned, the timer makes it an annoyance instead of a fright - like running to the toilet every five minutes with a bad case of diarrhea.
2. I got to the hint-tiles in the NW corner of the map before I got into the church, and I also got to the bookcase in the knife key house before I was able to take a particular book there. In both cases I felt frustrated, because it seemed like there was something important there but I couldn't get anything to happen. Some hint along the lines of "maybe this will be important later" would have been reassuring.

[Nick Perrin]

Creaphis said:

1. The siren should be triggered a finite number of times at certain scripted moments, instead of going off on a timer. It has a tendency of going off at the most inconvenient times, and it's especially annoying if you get killed by a nightmare while you're already in the moon cellar and the door is closing. As someone else already mentioned, the timer makes it an annoyance instead of a fright - like running to the toilet every five minutes with a bad case of diarrhea.

Exactly - I believe the first time it went off, it was scripted, no? It was brilliantly placed and not only had me startled and scared for my life, but also excited that I finally heard it...

Creaphis said:

2. I got to the hint-tiles in the NW corner of the map before I got into the church, and I also got to the bookcase in the knife key house before I was able to take a particular book there. In both cases I felt frustrated, because it seemed like there was something important there but I couldn't get anything to happen. Some hint along the lines of "maybe this will be important later" would have been reassuring.

Totally agreed, or a different type of symbol than the floating exclamation mark, that according to an earlier and easier puzzle, the player has learned that it means "remember this" rather than "interact with this somehow".

[SYS]

Well tried it out with the version of GZDoom which was released today. Works. It's real unique and I think one of Torm's better projects. I was itchin to run and gun.

That wasn't the case. Different gameplay for sure. I'm sure I'll have more complaints as I go along. Can't please everybody right?

[SYS]

Well, actually I've got no more complaints. I just finished her off. You should be very proud Torm. This was is great. You either adapt to the intended gameplay and enjoy it or you bitch about how much it isn't like Doom. Pitchfork monsters that would otherwise be a waste of bullets and you will have enough ammo to get through it.

There's alot of different areas to explore in the beginning. While there's no particular order to visit them in, there are perils if not visited in the right order. It can mean the difference between screwed with no health and ammo, and having enough to get by.

[BoldEnglishman]

Seen as this was slightly bumped anyway, if anybody is still having issues with the level, head on over to the WADs & Mods section and I've posted an FAQ (in a suitably titled thread). Well it's more like a walkthrough.