Plutonia Revisited Community Project: Released!

[Phobus]

Played through the first 5 maps - been pretty good so far. I've died once or twice, and been using trial and error to work out how to handle a couple of battles already, which is quite nice.

Difficulty seems rather up and down at the moment - with MAP02 being the easiest I think, and MAP03 having the toughest battle. Haven't noticed any bugs or obvious flaws on UV, and I've been endeavouring to find every secret, for completeness. As a result I'm swimming in ammo already, perhaps taking the bite out of some of these earlier maps.

All in all, good stuff so far, I'm looking forwards to playing through more when I have the time.

[Hock]

I'm already on map 11 UV. I love the wad it's really fun to play and can be pretty hard at times like at map 8 in the hellknight room i died twice there:)

[t.v.]

@ Joshy.

I just e-mailed you on your hotmail about my ' fixes'.

[hawkwind]

Relates to public release ...

map 09 ...

A-VINE1 at lines 4622 and 4625 bleed into the floor with software ports. Give sectors 961 and 962 a floor brightness level of 159 to fix.

map 11 ...

1. Line 2662 needs a front-side Y offset of 8.
2. Line 5561 needs a front-side Y offset of 8.

map 31 ...

Sector 392 could have been given sector effect 9 - secret.

DeHackEd ...

Text 14 15
level 4: caged4: Emerald Pool

needs to be changed to

Text 14 16
level 4: caged4: Emerald Pools

This applies to both the internal and external .deh file.

[Memfis]

Wow, map15 was just Epic. Seriously.
Deadly crusher after 280 monsters is really unfair though. Thank god prboom-plus have rerecording function.

[Xaser]

Which crusher, by chance? There's only one (that I can remember adding) that forcibly stands in the way of progress -- if it was the soulsphere one, it's optional and evil, yes.

And thanks. :)

[tatsurd-cacocaco]

hawkwind said:

Relates to public release ...

map 09 ...

A-VINE1 at lines 4622 and 4625 bleed into the floor with software ports. Give sectors 961 and 962 a floor brightness level of 159 to fix.

Oh, I will fix it and tweak my map9 from Magadoomer's suggestions, but I don't intend to change my map20.

[C30N9]

Xaser how do I open the first doors in MAP15? :P

[Memfis]

Yes, it was that crusher.
My demos for maps12-18 - http://www.doomworld.com/vb/post/951474

[C30N9]

dew said:

agreed. the map is just so refreshingly simple that it's cute. i also find it nicely balanced on UV and the horde is a lot of bark, but not that much bite. :) the only issue is handing out bfg so early in episode progression, but then again 05 and 06 are completely cell-free and the advantage will only get clear in 07.

I think I'll send to Joshy an update removing the BFG and giving another gear for dealing with the next enemies. What do you recommend?

[Xaser]

C30N9 said:

Xaser how do I open the first doors in MAP15? :P

There are a couple of switches you need to shoot from the starting balcony (they're behind the bars). These let you get into the blood, and the switch to open the doors themselves is outside somewhere.

I actually felt that part may be a bit hard to find (especially for the start of the map), but you've been the first to comment on it thus far. I'll see what the others think. I might have to brighten them up a bit or make them start in their 'glowing' state, perhaps.

Also, regarding MAP04: Plasma's probably a good choice, given that you'll be taking out a cybie at some point. Anything less would probably not be powerful enough, and getting the plasma rifle that early isn't that bad (especially given the lack of cells in the next two maps).

@Memfis: There's actually a (somewhat big, I thought) clue there: check the ceiling texture. All crushers use the same one, as a hint of sorts. I might make it a fast crusher, though, so it's not instant death.

[Phobus]

C30N9 said:

I think I'll send to Joshy an update removing the BFG and giving another gear for dealing with the next enemies. What do you recommend?

That BFG really came in handy for me, and I've been making liberal use of it in MAP07-11 - I think I'd missed it if it were gone, although it would serve to make things a bit harder in the later maps I guess.

EDIT: Played up to my map now - I've enjoyed the maps so far, with perhaps MAP11 being my least favourite (although I loved the pun on the authors name in the intermission text) and I have to say that MAP13 was superb! Everything from its compact size, to its texture scheme to its clever use of pretty much every sector in the map for gameplay just screamed Plutonia to me - really well done to pcorf on that one. Velocity will be a good one to play through again, much like Speed, as there's a lot of tricks and shortcuts to get you through much quicker. Can't help but feel my map is going to come up short against most of the others in some way - looks for some maps, gameplay for others, and "Plutonia-ness" for the remainders. I can't really judge for sure though.

[dew]

C30N9 said:

I think I'll send to Joshy an update removing the BFG and giving another gear for dealing with the next enemies. What do you recommend?

naah, keep it in. the episodic progression is not something you should be worrying yourself about, plus it does work kind of nicely. having to clear that area out with just plasma/rl could bump the difficulty further up, which we don't want at slot 04. :)

[General Rainbow Bacon]

I say bump the difficulty up. This is after all, Plutonia 3, if you can't handle it, don't play on UV.

[hawkwind]

@ FranckFRAG - check your PM's. It refers to map 08.

[Memfis]

Heh, I activated those switches on MAP15 unintentionally, while shooting at shotgunners.

Xaser said:

I might make it a fast crusher, though, so it's not instant death.

That would be nice. :)

EDIT: just finished map19 in 62 minutes. I gotta say the scary ambient music was really fitting. Great job, stewboy.
EDIT2: Demos for maps 19-22 - http://www.doomworld.com/vb/post/951706
EDIT3: Oh, and I found the bug on MAP22. Sectors 107, 229 and 231 shouldn't be damaging, right?

[C30N9]

I just played through MAP01 to MAP07 and these was way better than Plutonia 2. I smell a cacoward at the release!

Most of the maps of PL2 didn't make me feel it was Plutonia at all. Nearly all of Gusta's maps are very well detailed, they actually were great and deadly, It may be liked that way, however I didn't fell them Plutonic. So I guess this project is way better.

Joshy, I loved MAP07 to the MAX! That was a great atmosphere that fits like an island.

[TendaMonsta]

DoomHero85 said:

I say bump the difficulty up. This is after all, Plutonia 3, if you can't handle it, don't play on UV.

Even then this megawad still wouldn't be hard. Judging from testing each level from a pistol drop, a continuous run (which most people probably do), would be easy even with extra enemies or lower ammo.

Also I don't think this is Plutonia 3 its just a Plutonia community project(correct me if I'm wrong).

Continuous runs don't ruin the experience and it doesn't say in the read-me "play from pistol starts on every map".

[Phobus]

My continuous run is still proving to be fraught with deaths - I even got owned on my own map a few times, despite having a lot more ammo and the BFG in my favour.

Seems to me that the ammo and stuff does help a bit, but not so much that its ruining the experience.

[darkreaver]

TendaMonsta said:

Even then this megawad still wouldn't be hard. ...
would be easy even with extra enemies or lower ammo.

Get off your high horse please

[TendaMonsta]

darkreaver said:

Get off your high horse please

I was a playtester...Most of the levels aren't that hard. Although "hard" can be defined differently for people obviously.

[Hock]

Map 07 was so much fun to play and the music put in it was awesome! :P I just finished level 20:)

[General Rainbow Bacon]

Ah whatever. Do what you want. I guess if I really needi it harder I can toss in more monsters for my playthrough if necessary.

[4mer]

I've just finished MAP15 (pretty epic BTW).

Found a slight problem (a line 0 bug) stand in sector 869 and shoot North.
Perhaps swapping with another (i.e. 5314) would fix the problem.

[dew]

DoomHero85 said:

I don't think map 11 has enough arch-viles to occupy the slot for "Hunted". I don't mean to pick, but since this is Plutonia that level should be primary arch-vile based. As far as I can tell, it's not.

DoomHero85 said:

I guess if I really needi it harder I can toss in more monsters for my playthrough if necessary.

:) i think you should go check plutonia again, you will find it laughably easy according to these standards. hunted has 18 archies and only 14 area "playable", darkwave's map has 30+. plutonia had generally very low monster counts, so i find it a bit inconsistent to ask for more monsters while claiming how it should be close to plutonia and not pl2.

pl2 did the right thing and went its own way, it is more modern after all. this wad was supposed to be a revisit to the old style, but now it ended like an amalgam of plutonia and pl2. i believe it is a good thing and as we concluded with waverider once, you can never please everyone.

[Memfis]

I just got all-ghosts bug on MAP24 near the blue skull cage. I suggest to reduce the number of revenants, as it's not going to change the gameplay much.

EDIT: on MAP25 there is some lines where projectiles disappear instead of exploding on impact. I think flipping them should help.
EDIT2: Demos for maps 23-26

[Phobus]

MAP15 was a real bastard - lots of "FUCK YOU!" traps and the size of it make it so much harder than the previous maps - I lost patience with it and started cheating a bit after a couple of the traps that seemed completely-impossible-to-survive-first-time got me when I'd forgotton to save (slow crusher for the soulsphere and the dead-end spiral staircase battle come to mind).

Secrets were quite clever, and I can't help but think the progression may have been a little too clever, as it'd be quite easy to miss what actually needs doing (those shoot switches at the start definitely).

Took me over an hour to cheat and work my way through it, getting all the kills and all the secrets. MAP31 felt more harrowing, due to the monsters and environment, but definitely easier and more tolerable to play through due to the size of the map and the supplies given.

Haven't tried MAP32 yet, as the massive monster count seemed a touch daunting.

[Anima Zero]

Been playing through this myself the past few days. Up to map 15 now.

Map 15 has some real jerk crushers taking me by surprise (no idea how I managed to evade that slow crusher at the giant spiral staircase battle). Other than that, this map had some fun fights & traps.

Also, I can't figure out how to unlock the way to the secret level. I'm pretty sure I know where I have to go (Some kind of pathway outside leading to a teleporter), but I can't figure out how to access it. 6 of 8 secrets found with those last two being related to gaining access to the secret level.

Must be missing a switch or something somewhere. Great :P.

All in all, this collection of levels has been fun to blast through so far.

[Phobus]

MAP32 is awesome. That is all.

[Anima Zero]

Phobus said:

MAP32 is awesome. That is all.

Ditto. I tried a FDA for the level. Ended up having to switch to -complevel 9 after hitting the all-ghosts bug while dealing with the PE squad that appears after grabbing the YSK.

On my actual attempt that got far after one death fairly early on, my thoughts as to how it ended at what I presume was the final area went as such:

"Oh, that's a bunch of barons."
"I should go back to the start of the level and refill on cells. I'm out."
"Oh, the blue bars went down and I can't raise them again. Might as well try to rocket them all out."
"Oh, I just ran out of rockets."
"Dead."

A brilliant level though. Probably my favorite thus far.