The DWmegawad Club plays: Requiem

[Sui Generis]

Map10 - “The Black Gate” by Orin Flaharty
When I first played Requiem, map10 was one of my favourites. I loved the stretch of maps from 8-11 and this one, although shorter, is so visually stunning that back then I actually liked and enjoyed it more than the next map (despite 11 being far more substantive in terms of gameplay). The Requiem full moon sky is the perfect complement to this map; right from the get-go the thing looks atmospheric. So when I originally played this map, just the sight of the first room evoked a feeling of a moonlit demon temple, high up in the mountains.

The gameplay has come in for a bit of a beating, and I agree that this map seems to have suffered more from the general improvement in player skill than most. When I first played this map back in the early noughties (yeah, I only seriously got into pwads late) back when my Doom skill was lower, I remember finding the early baron fight pretty fun, as the floorspace (and my desire to avoid picking up unnecessary shells on continuous, heh) complicated the dodging just enough for my then self to feel it was more of a work out.

One salient difference about this map is that (imo) it plays better from pistol start as you need to dive into the corridor ahead to avoid the initial trap. So far I think the maps in Requiem have probably played better in continuous. They're all playable from pistol starts of course and I'm sure notionally that was intended, but I think in 1997 the habit of designing maps for continuous play was still deeply ingrained in most wad authors' psyches and I think the experiences of some of the pistol starters here have highlighted this. Consider the armour and shells secret at the end of Map02 after you kill everything, or the SSG being two-thirds of the way through Map08, or possibly the heavily booby-trapped RL at the end of Map05. (Though I accept that last one might have been intended for firing into the canyon if you managed to dodge past teleporting monsters in the canyon).

But I digress, the gameplay is easy, being underpopulated with monsters and over-filled with powerups. Assuming the secret plasma was originally intended to be a secret rocket launcher, then the map presumably expected the player to SSG the cyber or rocket it from a safer distance if the secret RL was found. Given the Cyb's declination, it fires at an upward angle and the high ceiling pretty much waives the possibility of splash damage when SSG'ing (unless a rocket hits the stairs), so it's a fairly sedate one-on-one duel. It's ironic that the initial fight at the start where Orin was probably less intent on creating a dramatic encounter is more fast paced than the later fights. I can think of no way to rationalise the way the soul and megasphere secrets are so close together other than Orin just didn't think about it, or originally meant to have the megasphere become available later but got tired of mapping and made the secret accessible as is.

Anyway, the main reason to like this level is the looks. In particular, this level is the poster child for architecture over micro-details. There's a great mix of open and constricted spaces, with interconnections between areas creating an illusion of a big level when really it isn't. This wad excels at creating impressive looks through vistas - you only have to look on screen and then flick to the automap to see how few sectors have been used to create that look to see there's a different paradigm going on here. The thing usage may be melodramatic, but at least it got this part right and for me the warm bath of the aesthetics elevates the level beyond it's all too brief gameplay.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot to mention that it kills me that the original ending was lost though. As grateful as I am that the remade ending saved the map and allowed it to be included, it also shows as a fairly 11th hour addition, looking noticeably less spectacular and makes the map end on a whimper. (Sorry Capellan!). I would really have liked to have been able to try it.

Salt-Man Z said:

MAP09: Deep Down Below
... Anyway, I actually played through The Troopers' Playground for the first time last week, and couldn't really say what the alterations were. Certainly the red key sequence is the same (contrary to what Sui Generis says above)

I redownloaded The Troopers Playground out of curiosity for this: you're right, it's the yellow key sequence that was expanded. The red key sequence was identical (well excepting some different monsters in the closets).

SteveD said:

Map05 – The Canyon by Bill McClendon – Kills – 100, Items – 98, Secret – 83. End Health – 122, Armor 61. Death Count – Zero
...There was an area in the red key section that reminded me of Antoni Chan's Castle of the Hellknights from Realm of Chaos, with its seeming army of HKs in squinchy rooms with Skinface and Sloppy wall textures. I prefer Antoni's take, but it's interesting that this is the second time an area in Requiem reminded of one by a RoC author.

That's an interesting comparison. I actually lurk played the DWMC thread for RoC a couple of months ago and I see what you mean, though I never made that connection myself. I must say I prefer the Requiem version though, as it's less repetitive. (sorry Antoni :P )

[Capellan]

It's cool Sui. I would have preferred it have the original ending too :-)

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP10: The Black Gate
Ah-ha! This would be another "Ah, it's from this WAD!" map that, along with E2M9 from Classic Episode, I long misremembered as being part of They Flesh Consumed. So that's cool, being able to finally place this one again. I still enjoy the map if for no other reason than that, but it never does live up to that hectic beginning. Looks great, though.

[Khorus]

A bit of catching up to do. I like my Doom in chunks, anyway.

Map 04

Memories of this map inspired a couple of Speedy Shit maps. I like the use of the larger outdoor rocky areas with lava, and the chaingunner staircase is a real highlight. The map is much too bright, though. Lowering the lighting level by roughly 32 units would have improved the atmosphere a good bit, I think. The frequent use of hell knights to block off halls becomes rather blasé as the map goes on, and a lot of the design is too square and door-heavy.

Overall, not bad.

Map 05

This is a fantastic map with great use of space, lighting, texturing and monster placement, I had a lot of fun here. Until I picked up the red key. I didn't get the SSG until backtracking while the red key bridge section were infighting, so pumping 60 shells into cacos and pinkies was not very fun even with the teleports. Not sure having the weapon would made it any more exciting, though, just faster.

The first half of this map is definitely better than the second.

Map06

Heh, easiest SSG secret ever? Some nice run and gun gameplay, but I really didn't like the texturing and the layout was confusing as all snozzberries.

Map 07

The start of the map is good, quite nice to look at an action happening from multiple directions and height levels. I starts to get a bit repetitive towards the end, but overall much fun. The "dead simple" section is a little less exciting, the mancubus part is pretty boring but the arachnotrons brought a more threatening presence. Having some rockets was nice, but I'm hoping to use more than the SSG soon.

EDIT: easier to read

[Tristan]

I'm dropping out for this month. 04 was still shit, 5 was better. Can't be bothered with the rest of it.

In retrospect it's most likely my own fault for choosing UV. Don't really feel like continuing further even on lower skill levels.

[Capellan]

MAP11
My contribution to Requiem was supposed to be two levels. Map30 (which I did first), and then this one.

I believe a number of people consider "Rats in the Walls" to be my best level. It's second in my own personal list of favourites, though, behind MM2 map15. Like that map, I sat down with only a starting room in mind and let the level evolve as I mapped it. This was a change in practice from Demonfear, where I sketched the maps out on grid paper first. The improvement in editing tools by 1996 made the more freeform approach viable: once upon a time just inserting a vertex into an existing line was a cumbersome process, which made prior planning an important step in avoiding frustration.

The level began development with the yellow key room. That raised walkway around the outside gave me no end of trouble: I wanted to be much fancier with the lighting effects but kept triggering visplane overflows. I had to pare it back to the final version to make it work. From this room I got the 'pipe' concept, which dominates the look of the first section of the map, and built out the various rooms up to the yellow door (including the start room, which actually got done quite late in this section).

From there I just kind of kept letting the level grow organically. I don't recall when the idea of forcing you back to the start room and re-populating the whole level came to me: but I think it is probably a key part of the level's success. If you grabbed the red key and just faced a typical monster closet, the end would have felt too abrupt and anti-climactic.

The ability to close the switch-operated 'grey gates' behind you actually comes in very handy in this level, as it allows you to contain certain groups of the monsters and prevent them homing in on you. I shamelessly used that trick here to make my life easier. As a level designer I did at least have the good sense to force open all three doors to the yellow key room, though, so you're not going to be able to control everything.

I breezed through this level pretty easily, but then I know it well. Only well enough to find four of the six secrets though, it seems. I was pleased with the use of floor textures to mark secrets in this level. I don't recall seeing that done before this map (though it almost certainly had been).

Pretty proud of this level. If you like, you can watch someone 100% it from pistol start in a mere 2:23.

[Budoka]

MAP11 : Rats in the Walls by Adam Windsor (Capellan)

Very good map that maintains a high level of tension throughout. All the interconnected and cramped hallways tend to induce a little paranoia, especially when you get ambushed by mid-tier monsters (Hellknights, Barons, Revenants…) right in the middle of them. In the face of any flipside situation where taking cover gives a clear advantage, the mapper makes sure to include a high number of hitscanners so as to maintain an actual element of danger.

However, in spite of all that, the map isn’t too difficult. I will say that Bullets/Medikit secret was pretty clever. I’m not sure what the point of the yellow key is though, as I never came across a door marked as yellow despite running around the map several times over.

Also, this map is set to what I feel is the first really catchy BGM in Requiem. Honestly, the music has been okay so far, but not as memorable as the soundtracks for either Memento Moris, Mark Klem’s work in particular.

Thoughts so far :

Hmm, considering Requiem’s reputation (the only wad to receive a 6/5 from Sir Robin as well one of the very few megawads that was recommended to me by someone mostly jaded from the famous megawad classics), it’s a lot messier than I expected. Strange as it is, I feel like Memento Mori, and, to the extent that I know it, Memento Mori II might have better-built maps.

It’s also not entirely inspiring for me, as most of its level design is a lot more basic in concept than the stuff you find in the likes of Resurgence. Still, it has been an okay ride up until now, and I’m happy to carry on.

[scifista42]

Map11 - “Rats in the Walls” by Adam Windsor (Capellan)

Nice little techbase. Both detailing and lighting were elaborate, but rather cluttered and messy, and almost all areas were relatively cramped, but the experience was still fun. Good fights, I've been forced to wander around the map with 1% health at one point, while monsters were still around. Good ammo/health/monster balance, IMO. Simple yet interesting secrets - I've found 4 out of 6, and cheated to find out location of the remaining 2 ones (one was a random SLADWALL, one needed me to press a missing lamp in the exit room). I liked it, but on the other hand, the layout and gameplay were average-like, as I've seen it. 3.5/5

[Capellan]

Eris Falling said:

In retrospect it's most likely my own fault for choosing UV. Don't really feel like continuing further even on lower skill levels.

I would suggest trying continuous play, rather than changing the difficulty. Particularly since map23 has a billion monsters and difficulty settings only in the sense that HNTR has one less sergeant and one more stimpack than UV does.

(a billion might be an exaggeration: the rest of that sentence is not)

Budoka said:
I’m not sure what the point of the yellow key is though, as I never came across a door marked as yellow despite running around the map several times over.

The door into the blue-floored hall has DOORYEL next to it. That might be a hint :)

Budoka said:
Hmm, considering Requiem’s reputation (the only wad to receive a 6/5 from Sir Robin as well one of the very few megawads that was recommended to me by someone mostly jaded from the famous megawad classics), it’s a lot messier than I expected. Strange as it is, I feel like Memento Mori, and, to the extent that I know it, Memento Mori II might have better-built maps.

I'm on the fence about Requiem vs MM1, but I've always thought MM2 was a much stronger set overall. Requiem's grand reputation has always perplexed me a little. Just the right wad at the right time, maybe.

[Capellan]

scifista42 said:
one was a random SLADWALL

My secrets are never random walls. The marker is on the floor :-)

[Demon of the Well]

Map 11 -- Rats in the Walls - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
I'm not sure I'd say this is the best map Adam has made (he has a handful of more substantial affairs in his career, which as you all know I tend to strongly prefer over the appetizer-sized bits that define Demonfear and his Requiem contributions), but I reckon it is his best map in Requiem, at least. With a fairly intricate (if a mite stuffy) layout and monster density that matches or even surpasses many of the larger maps pound for pound, it represents a quick blaze of bloody action that offers some minor optionality and also a surprising degree of variability from game to game, largely a function of the unpredictability of monster pathing and warp-in locations when the 'rats' start coming out of the walls as the player reaches for the red security card. This encounter is a little stroke of genius, challenging the player to make another pass through the base which is exponentially more chaotic and violent than the initial cleaning expedition, since now all monsters are active and hunting for you rather than being portioned out in small discrete groups via the security lockdown--unless you had the presence of mind to intuit that the safety bars into/out of the chemical disposal drain might not be purely cosmetic in nature, that is (although in Requiem I suppose one couldn't fully blame you for assuming that might be the case...). This incidental reuse of space to fit in a lot of extra bloodletting is the best way to make a tiny map satisfying to fight in, IMO (it's probably the primary reason I enjoyed Going Down so much), and there is a pleasing contrast between the initial room-clearing action (which doesn't drag because the map is so small) where the player firmly controls the pace and this later furor--it's difficult to articulate, but this contrast makes both the combat engagement and the map as a self-contained narrative feel 'complete', something that I find a majority of tiny maps have difficulty accomplishing.

Also interesting to note how Adam's style (at the time) slots fairly neatly into Requiem's apparent preoccupation with depictive fidelity (most iconically embodied in Iikka Keränen's maps). A representational take on aesthetic and construction were not a new thing for him at this point--the 'gas station' map and the 'city hall' map from Demonfear are the first examples off the top of my head--and so doing a traditional Doom setting (industrial techbase) with a light helping of 'real world' illustrative details like pipes, CCTV monitors, a chemical drain, and little things like the telepad Doomguy arrives on being visibly 'active' while the others are not presumably came more or less naturally. This prior experience is perhaps why he didn't need (or choose) to sacrifice the action element for the sake of the setting, ala Iikka and, arguably, Adelusion.....much moreso than in either Memento Mori WAD or most other mapsets of similar vintage, one gets the impression that Requiem is often in conflict with itself over what it wants to be and how it wants to be it, and it's interesting to see the odd map in it here and there, like this one, that somehow avoid that identity crisis and manage to 'have the cake and eat it too.' One wonders how the WAD as a whole might've turned out if there had been a more involved/unifying development process...given some of the drastic variances in design style, I suspect that there might never have been a finished Requiem at all in that case, but...well, interesting to think about, like I say.

Edit: The secret I always forget until the end is the green armor in the cubby directly behind the player start point, because I always seem to initially think of the differing telepad flat as being a narrative detail rather than a practical one (when in fact it is both).

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP11: Rats in the Walls
Friggin' classic.

...

If I must elaborate: The detail level is just crazy through the roof, especially compared with the previous 10 maps. It's like night and day. Gameplay is hectic on UV, but not terribly difficult on continuous. (And again, a bit easier than I remember it being.) But it never gets boring, especially with the brilliant loop-and-repopulate trick. And yes, the secrets-by-floor-texture is cool, though good luck if you drop a corpse in the wrong place. :)

[VGA]

MAP09
Solid map, I injoyed that red key sequence and the atmospheric Chaingunner entrance, too bad they have low health, he died instantly with one SSG shot lol. Maybe it's another monster in UV difficulty.

MAP10
Enjoyable map, nothing special. The Cyberdemon fight was very tame.

[Sui Generis]

Map11 - “Rats in the Walls” by Adam Windsor
This amusing little techbase oozes with action and well-judged little details. Everything from the little monitors and the close-able pillar gates, to the little markers of the secrets feels like it has been placed there for a reason. Aesthetically I personally prefer the grander scope and greater space of the previous map, but this still looks good and of course there is more gameplay to it. The detail and relatively high monster count mean this map has aged well.

I'd just finish by saying that the area with the raised platforms and the walkway surrounding the moat, are important in stopping the gameplay from being all about corner sniping. Overall this is a less self-assuming but extremely solid map. It doesn't the same kind of high-concept map as several previous ones have been, but is instead all competently designed and I like it. And sadly that ends this good run of maps from 8-11 as we now face up to the map I dread from the first time I played this set, map12.

Budoka s said:

Thoughts so far :

Hmm, considering Requiem’s reputation (the only wad to receive a 6/5 from Sir Robin as well one of the very few megawads that was recommended to me by someone mostly jaded from the famous megawad classics), it’s a lot messier than I expected. Strange as it is, I feel like Memento Mori, and, to the extent that I know it, Memento Mori II might have better-built maps.

It’s also not entirely inspiring for me, as most of its level design is a lot more basic in concept than the stuff you find in the likes of Resurgence. Still, it has been an okay ride up until now, and I’m happy to carry on.

Capellan said:

I'm on the fence about Requiem vs MM1, but I've always thought MM2 was a much stronger set overall. Requiem's grand reputation has always perplexed me a little. Just the right wad at the right time, maybe.

IMO, it's very much about the showcasing of the engine exploits and the generally high concept style of several of the levels. In 1997 we weren't used to advanced source ports and so to see the vanilla engine being pushed into doing stuff it hadn't done before (or at least not so prominently as it was in Requiem) would've been highly impressive.

Gameplay wise, a lot of things that would now be seen as irritating quirks would have gone unnoticed or even been accepted back then, simply because the then audience would probably have played far fewer pwads (in sum total) then doomers today. This perhaps illustrates why several of the levels have worked by feeding gameplay in regimented, almost script like ways (Worch's trap sequences, Keranen's linear maps) rather than taking the subtler approach of letting it emerge more organically. So with the passage of time, the aspects that gained Requiem it's status have arguably become less impressive to the modern audience whilst the simpler and weaker aspects seem more noticeable.

I do still love this wad though

[Capellan]

I think a lot of the rougher gameplay edges are knocked off by playing continuously, too. That being a more common approach in 97 may have had an impact to its reception.

[Steve D]

Sui Generis said:

That's an interesting comparison. I actually lurk played the DWMC thread for RoC a couple of months ago and I see what you mean, though I never made that connection myself. I must say I prefer the Requiem version though, as it's less repetitive. (sorry Antoni :P )

I can understand your view. Natch, I'm well-known for being partial to Antoni's maps, and Castle of The Hellknights has always been a fave of mine -- and no one else, it seems! ;D -- because it looked so damned cool. I mean, that was '96 and done by a guy using Demon, which was the Mac version of, IIRC, a crappy version of DEU, and not only was that Baphomet room quite cinematic, and homaged, to some extent, in E1M5 of Shotgun Symphony (Steve pimps his own shit, again! ;D,) but if I had to pick out one thing that was my favorite moment in the whole megawad, it would be the clickety Baphomet teeth. It always puts a smile on my face.

Oh, and that area is actually dangerous, too. You can't just plink the nobles through a window. :P

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP11 Rats In The Walls

the first actual Capellan map. quite a lot of nice detail for such a short map. I appreciate the combat even if it is mostly small fries throughout, with the occasional revenant here and there. the part after the red key where the monsters start teleporting in was pretty good. there was one really weird moment and it has me puzzled. right before the room with the red door, there is a passage to the left with some blood in it, leading to the next room, and then there's a door right next to this passage, leading to the exact same room. kinda weird how you have both there, it makes me skip the door all the time because the door is more or less useless with that path right next to it. :)

also this is a bit late but on MAP02:

Sui Generis said:

Incidentally, does anyone know what the two little side rooms at the start of map02 are there for? I've always wondered this, because as they are, they're basically pointless.

I believe that's where a couple of multiplayer starts are located.

[Steve D]

Map11 – Rats In The Walls by Adam Windsor – Kills – 100, Items – 100, Secret – 83. End Health – 100, Armor 100. Death Count – 3

As I stated earlier, if I fell behind, I'd play Adam's maps on the relevant days since, after all, he's still here.

Of course, as expected, it was a hideous map with horrible gameplay . . .

Yeah, right! ;D

What can I say except that this is easily the best map so far. It's crampy, and perhaps with too many right-angle details, one of which caused me to get stuck and suffer my first death to – gak! – the very first Baron! I can just imagine Adam's satisfied laugh after I complained about how harmless the nobles were in Bill McClendon's map. Oh, the shame, the agony . . . seriously, I totally wanted to lie about it. :D

Anyway, I really liked the detail work here. All those ducts/cable runs on the ceiling were kind of a thing back then and I always wonder why I've never used the technique and thus rely too heavily on wall inserts, which were also found aplenty here. Great work on curvy UAC textures, and nifty little details like caged floor lamps. Very nice lighting throughout as well, allowing for a lot of darkness to enhance atmosphere. And yet, in the very first room, we have vertically misaligned Adel_X01 on the door alcove. Tsk, tsk. ;D

Main thing, though, is that in this map you actually have to fight. This is the first Requiem map I've played so far where I felt the mapper had something personal against me – and that's what I want to see. I'd say that I actually found this map more difficult than Map04 of Valiant, which I played earlier today. A lot of it was the crampiness and the very nice traps, especially when the rats poured out. There was really no safe place to turn, though once I gained a foothold, I was able to pull a Salt-Man/Capellan deal by chainsawing both a Pinky and a Caco through the bars at the red key trap. Heh!

The only place where camping was an issue was at the yellow door. I thought the room looked fantastic thanks to the textures, structure and lighting, but it was sniper city, especially with those dickishly-placed and unpredictably roaming Chaingunners. I had actually managed to Rambo the room on my first try – after a bit of camping and plinking at Imps – and everything went very well because I ran in, turned left, and with 2 rockets killed the Revvie and the remaining Imps. Thought I was home free, went about collecting goodies, killed an HK and Chaingunner through the bars, and all of a sudden, some jagoff Chaingunner from the far distant Mombasa Beach Hotel began perforating me. I was down to 40% before I could find a hiding place and finally managed to spot him firing through some distant bars. Curse you, Adam! So I decided to open a save to play the room again and improve my numbers, but my next time through, Chaingunners were in totally different places, so when I tried to repeat my rocket-the-revvie trick, I got torn to pieces. D'oh! So I had to play the room again, this time with wussy camping.

Other than that, this map was basically a thrill a minute. I also liked the floor-signaling for secrets. This is such a nice idea that I totally plan to rip it off. ;)

I can't help wondering if Adam is a Lovecraft fan. To anyone who hasn't read Lovecraft's “Rats In The Walls,” it has my highest recommendation, a genuine horror classic. And Adam honored the name. Well done.

[Capellan]

I like Lovecraft's stories, though I loathe the man's political and social views.

[Veinen]

Map08: The Reactor

Looking decent, neat architecture and a nice realistic look, tells a story sure... Too bad gameplay is subpar at best. Way too cramped for my liking, and as a result of that there's little challenge unless you go out your way to create it by playing stupid and reckless. And that'll get you killed quickly due to the crampedness so there's really not much to be done other than to grind through whatever gets thrown at you one by one. Worst piece of monster placement is probably the Manc in a tiny chamber on top of a long and slow lift. Would be better off just not having anything in there ór something quickly dispatchable at most.

Map09: Deep Down Below

This is alright. Kind of boxy and a "basic" map in a way but inoffensive and gameplay is a definite improvement over map08. Baron usage could be a bit more threatening though, now they're pretty harmless ammo sponges only. The route decisions you take have a bit of an impact on how the map goes as the SSG is available immediately but you got to take a little detour to grab it. Luckily that was the first area I wandered into so no slogging through Barons and such with the SG. The RK section is definitely the most memorable part of the map and one I did remember from way back when I played this the first time. A pretty decent map.

Map10: The Black Gate

Ha, vague memories from this map too. I must have sucked pretty bad back then since I remembered this being a tough map for some reason. Wasn't very tough at all now though, pretty damn easy to be honest. Cyber's a grind to get through especially, SSG only and you cant comfortably get close enough to deliver the full blast. And it's not like you need anything but basic dodging skills to avoid his attacks. Looks-wise it's pretty good and like others mentioned, E4 is very strong here.

Also @DotW regarding map05: Yeah, lack of foreknowledge probably played a part in me not enjoying the level that much. Really frustrating deaths for me there and I felt like I couldn't have done much different to save myself in those situations, well other than walzing into them in low health I suppose. So really my writeup was more of a vent than a fair review I guess heh and the map wasn't the abomination I made it sound like to be.

[Crusader No Regret]

It will be interesting to witness SteveD raging at map 24.

Revisiting Requiem
map 2: Just a curiosity that UV Tyson is easier than the lower difficulties. OK so I forgot if the pain elemental shows up on HMP and I don't care enough to check. Anyways, it shows up without backup making it bait for getting in point blank to off it.

map 7: pass

map 8: Refer to Demon of the Well's wall of text. To further the experience of telling a story through level progression alone, I chose to play through this with -nomonsters and Stroller style. This way, I could absorb myself in the strengths of the map without the filler gameplay. For me, the map doesn't lose much from the absence of monsters. Supposedly for some others, the monsters don't add much either.

Hmmm, now I'm curious if anyone else likes the map more with the parameters I used. The map is indeed completable without running, which I never knew until I tried. Now my brain has wandered to thoguhts of BtSX hub maps...

[Magnusblitz]

MAP11: Rats in the Walls
100% kills, 4/6 secrets

Cramped little techbase here, I like the setting theme - much less of the high-ceiling, blue-carpeted megacomputer hallways and more of the dank rusted STARTAN textures and lots of pipes and smaller screens everywhere. Starting on pistol start is nicely gripping, as there's plenty of dangerous enemies and not much ammo or armor at first. Some of my experience was pretty similar to scifista's, actually, as I only found 4 of the 6 secrets (though I found the SLADWALL one) and was running around at 1% health for a bit. I like the repopulation of the level with monsters (lotsa teleports too, which is good, avoids the problem of them slowly streaming in and getting dull). It tries to just be a solid map, nothing grandiose, and I think it succeeds in part due to that.

[scifista42]

Map12 - “Militant Reprisal” by Ian Quick

Perfect example of a map that I rate as "3.5/5 stars", like something between average and pretty darn good.

The map's visuals were more or less okay, sometimes nicer, sometimes uglier (mainly due to alignment). Areas were generally not much spacious, some rooms were 1994-like blocky, some had interesting architectural shapes. While abstract, they appeared to me like depicting realistic-like places, and provided me a good journey through varied environments. The map's sheer extensiveness intrigued me a lot. It was partially non-linear, too, which I liked. There was low monster density and simple combat situations, mostly featuring just 1-2 monsters on the scene at a time - but it was enough to keep the journey challenging and entertaining for me. Most monsters were placed well to be possibly threatening, except some lost souls / pain elementals behind bars.

The mapper did a great job at providing material for player's Dooming fun, for which we like the game. Much more than good work for a 1997 map. I've only found the gameplay and aesthetics not enough thrilling / inventive to make me feel the joy at full extent. That's why I rate it 3.5/5.

[Capellan]

MAP12
Good lord, this map has a lot of secrets.

Good lord, this map has a lot of misaligned textures.

I have no idea who Ian Quick is. Neither a search of the Doomworld levels archive nor a quick google turns up anything other than this map, and I don't recall him contributing to the Requiem mailing list. Not that it was exactly a busy mailing list at the best of times – probably one of the main weaknesses of the project was how little conversation went on between the various designers. You only really got a sense of what other people were doing by playing their levels, and I'm not sure how much of that actually happened. Certainly I waited until the final release to actually play most of the maps: the only ones I definitely played before that were my own and map05.

The level itself is a big, sprawly mostly-techbase kind of place, though the texturing is certainly very disparate. There's some obvious Doom2 map10 influence in the opening section, but we'll be going through brick, marble, vines, startan and zimmer before we're done. It all works well enough though as long as one overlooks the alignment issues.

Opposition is constant but low level: you're never too far from the next enemy but real challenges are few and far between. I recall only two moments where I felt like things had changed gear: the first a combo of caco on one side with chaingunners on the other, and the second a baron/HK combo in a relatively small space. Neither were actually all that dangerous, but they at least made me work a little.

The map's progression seems needlessly baroque to me, with lots of switches that do "stuff", and no real rhyme or reason to it. At least Quick includes teleporters so you don't have to manually backtrack too much though, I will give him that.

There's also a yellow key without a yellow door. The wiki lists that as a bug but I don't agree: the yellow key acts a lure to make the player cross a walkover line that opens the way to the blue key. Erik Alm does something similar in Scythe. Why Quick did things like this instead of having (yet another) switch there or actually putting a yellow door in front of the blue key, I don't know. But he did.

This was an adequate level, that didn't really make much impression on me one way or the other (except for the lack of texture alignment, anyway!). I certainly wouldn't be running out to tell people to play Ian Quick's levels, but I also wouldn't treat his name as a red flag.

[Budoka]

MAP12 : Militant Reprisal by Ian Quick

Okay, this one was a bit weird. It’s a giant cluster of multiple rooms that form some kind of maze. It’s mostly a techbase environment with some hell and jungle textures thrown all over the place with little rhyme or reason. Also, quite a few of the textures are misaligned (they don’t hide secrets or monster closets, they’re just misaligned) including a switch early on which is a spectacular case. There’s even a health bonus which is so badly placed it looks like it’s floating on void.

Not to mention the level as a whole is full of histcanners, enemies surprising you from behind, and other nasty configurations. It’s also very, very long.

But you know what ? I enjoyed playing it. I’ve always liked losing myself in those vast, alien locations that don’t resemble anything familiar or discernible. See also : Hi-Tech Grave and Twilight Lab, although those have way more consistent themes and level designs.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP12 Militant Reprisal

Like Bill McClendon, Ian Quick made only one contribution to this megawad. and what a contribuion it was. this is the largest map the player will face yet in the wad, and it delves mostly into techbase type stuff. unfortunately, theme-wise, it teeters quite often. at some points you wonder if it is a techbase despite the mostly tech textures involved. other parts make it seem like it isn't, like the nukage falls or the rather natural-like section to the southeast. the flooded cargo bay seemed pretty cool though. I liked that. as far as gameplay goes, almost all of it is light stuff, with shotgun guys and imps taking the fore just about everywhere in the map. it ends up making the whole map a grind. and those secrets...woo. that is a lot and unfortunately three are completely unavailable. because of those things, especially the damn secrets, I could never really like this map.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP12: Militant Reprisal
99% kills, 15/23 secrets

Yeah, this is a long one, chock full of secrets, which is an easy way to get points from me. It's also full of misaligned textures, as Capellan notes. Most of them I can overlook (such as the vertical misalignment on the red bricks making a castle wall) but others are just bad (such as the railing in the water-logged box area floating in parts, or a switch near the start being almost buried into the ground).

But yeah, it's a long map, full of switches that aren't clear and other confusing things... by the time I reached the brown vine corridors I was starting to wonder if this was the techbase version of Misri Halek. Thankfully, the opposition isn't that tough, which I think helps when the level progression itself is long and a bit confusing. There were still a few dangerous parts though - the chaingunners in the near-dark room near the start can rip you to shreds, and there's a spot with two barons in close quarters near the end of the map. Aside from that most of the danger comes from attrition, which isn't so bad as long as you can keep finding green armors in all the secrets.

[MajorRawne]

Oh bugger it, I forgot all about this and have been absent from the community for weeks. How you must all have missed me! :P

INITIAL THOUGHTS
I think this was the first megawad I ever played and holy crap, it blew me away. Who knew Doom could look like this? I've got lots of distant memories about Doom Legacy co-ops (I think some maps were broken in co-op).

We need more text files like this. AV has one, I think the Memento Moris did too. Ones that give you tantalising insights into the lives and minds of Doom's pioneers.

Booting it up again more than a decade later and... woah, what's wrong with the Doom Marine, it looks like someone hit his armour and weaponry with the shrink ray from Duke Nukem. Has Doomguy lost weight?? It's all that shit he has to eat every time he comes home saying he's saved the world, only for more demons to attack.

Map 1: Wow, this really looks good for a map of its era and it holds up nicely today. The new textures work well and I didn't feel I was playing a rehash of Doom 2 (although to be fair, "rehash syndrome" seems endemic to Ultimate Doom projects, not Doom 2). It's pretty appealing to the eye and gameplay is quick and vicious on UV. Monsters tend to deploy in blocks which is actually coming back into style today but can be tedious if it will happen in every map. Generally, a very nice blast from the past, with a weird teleporter assault at the beginning that I've always remembered.

Map 2: This is possibly the iconic map of the set for me. That Stonehenge section and the outdoor view... I still feel that special glow, the one you get where your horizon has nicely broadened and new possibilities pop into your world. This is a really attractive map. It's definitely broken in co-op though; IIRC, the red key room cannot be re-accessed from the outside if everyone goes in there and fucks a duck. What's going on with the empty rooms and the Demons just standing there? The skull switch texture looks a bit naff too. Generally though, this is an easy, fun map which looks terrific.

[Marcaek]

jesus i really bailed on this one

I actually had a fair bit to say too, but sudden business :/

I'll get back to this starting from map12. I'll also say that while Keranen's geometry and sense of 3d is phenomenal his gameplay is mediocre to actually bad. Mancubi don't belong in 128x128 rooms between doorways or at the bottoms of lifts.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP12: Militant Reprisal

This is the first map of Requiem where my memories of it become at all clear, and now I recall why: this is the map that made me go NOPE and play with other WADs for a while. I think a big part of it is the way it comes on the heels of MAP11, which has a feel of 'controlled chaos' and a layout that allows you a sense of mastering the spaces you're progressing through. Whereas here, there's a big chunk from about the 'dark room' onwards where I felt completely at the mercy of arbitrary whims. Getting to the end of this definitely had me breathing a sigh of relief.