The DWmegawad Club plays: Scythe 2

[Dylan Jarvis]

Funny I just started playing this like 3 days ago and beat the first episode. I'm going to join this hopefully I can make it through lol. I'll be going for 100% kills and Secrets on every map on UV. Just like I did for the first.

MAP01 Castle Entryway:

Great opener to a wad. This one is much harder than than Scythe's opener but if you are experienced with Doom, it isn't that bad. I like that you get the shotgun in this map, especially because Erik is throwing Revenants and Cacos at us early. The level designs and the texture packs used were gorgeous. Great opener not much else to say.

MAP02 Rooftop Warzone:

Much like the first map this one is beautiful. This one also garners some deadly traps within it. It is mostly easy but I recall a specific part where you go up the stairs and a Caco teles right behind you that was pretty nasty. I'm glad the SSG was introduced early in this wad because it is so useful especially at the Rooftop ambush you acquired it.

MAP03 Castle Gardens II:

This one had a cool opening that starts you off in a jail cell and you have to find a secret wall out. The most memorable area is the courtyard area with a cool fountain and all the upper ledges with the snipers. This map also has a dirty Archvile trap in the yellow key room. The last area is the toughest because tons of enemies are released in a big area that can get the jump on you if you aren't careful. This is the hardest map so far in the wad.

MAP04 Cursed Cellars:

Cool map this one might not be as hard as the last but the aesthetics are amazing. There's a big chapel like room with a lot of imps and a pretty hefty cacodemon trap in the outside area. Other then that this map isn't to hard despite throwing 3 archviles at you, they can easily be handled with all the places to hide from them.

MAP05 Halls of Anguish:

The first boss map of Scythe II, I love this level's design. This one really delivers the gothic theme the most out of this episode. This map puts you up against a really fair and fun Cyberdemon fight. I only have 1 complaint about this map however: The stupid Lost souls hanging out with the Cyber.

The first episode was a great start and wasn't too hard but it was a lot more difficult than Scythe's first episode. It only can get worse from here...

[Magnusblitz]

MAP07: Temple of Isis
100% kills, 1/1 secret

Man, 2005 seems a bit late to still be doing Dead Simple ripoffs. And this one basically removes all the teeth from it since the player can just sit off in the start temple and snipe at enemies from afar instead of being forced to run around in a circle at close range which is kinda the whole point of Dead Simple. Dumb.

[scifista42]

Map08 - “Graverobbers”

This was pretty good and impressive. I've appreciated increased map size and continuing varied monster cast throughout the journey. The architecture looked great and was very well interconnected. The trap involving Revenants teleporting close around me was fun, as their number was reasonable. I've fount 7 secrets and cheated for the last one (which was a BFG + released Spider). The only letdown was that the author didn't even try to stop me from exiting instead of fighting the Cyberdemon.

[purist]

If this was a lesser megawad I would have continued with Valiant but instead I will join in and return the Valiant another time.

That said, I always end up playing levels in blocks and either hamstring myself writing notes after each level or do them all together after playing and forget what I just played. This is even more the case with Scythe 2 because of it's small, thematically grouped maps. So this time I will just play along and enjoy everyone else's comments, just stopping by to drop in a few words about the episode as a whole so as not to be rude.

Episode 1

These maps are most prominent in my memory when Scythe 2 is mentioned. Alm, more than capable of making a player sweat, starts easy on us - as is his won't to provide a false sense of security. Monsters usage might jump up the heirarchy quickly but the tougher dudes are mostly used in easy to deal with situations. I only died once, foolishly running into a cyb rocket on MAP05. Secrets were relatively easy to find for me also.

Alm applies his skill in modest ways, that is to say nice touches are included with them necessarily placed as a focal point. I feel like I am in the hands of a very capable confident designer when I play Alm map, which will be useful when I am struggling in the later, tougher battles.

MAP02 is the standout level of these for me. The big slippery staircase forever branded into my memory as the prevailing Scythe 2 memory for. MAP01, 03 and 04 are nice but kind of indistinct, while MAP05 is notable for the dull cyb duel unfortunately. As a player I have no issues with death exits by the way and as a mapper I think they are a useful tool. I really don't understand players who dislike them when the episode structure is built around them - do these same people finish KDITD and complain they have no rocket launcher on E2M1?

[Inkie]

MAP07

Its Map 7.

My favorite part was the music. Took e1m1 from Heretic and added an Egyptian vibe to it. Kinda cool.

[AD_79]

Inkie said:

My favorite part was the music. Took e1m1 from Heretic and added an Egyptian vibe to it. Kinda cool.

Apparently it's from Hexen II, which I need to get around to playing sometime.

[mouldy]

Map07 - “Temple of Isis”

Egyptian dead simple. Not too difficult and over quickly, not a lot more to say about it I guess. Does the job, looks the part.

[TheOrganGrinder]

AD_79 said:

Apparently it's from Hexen II, which I need to get around to playing sometime.

Definitely worth your time, though the Egyptian episode does house one of the game's more obtuse puzzles.

[Pirx]

6 - temple entryway

another entryway, this time to the egyptian episode. blocky shapes, which fit the style of older doom maps. i'm not a fan of egyptian textures, but the walls illuminated by torches look cleaner than the overly brown medieval maps and contrast with the dark sky.

gameplay-wise, i enjoyed it being a tyson map. jumped directly from the starting point onto the red key pillar, don't know if that was planned. the ssg secret closes pretty quickly, and some dork got in my way every time, so i left it and went on punching them, including the revs at the exit.

btw, why is the blue armor flagged as a secret? it's simply there, at the end of the hallway.

speaking of egyptian textures, i found this one funny:





and is this one from ruinbros or where? looks rather aztec than egyptian.





7 - temple of isis

egyptian dead simple, not much to say. one can collect the ammo by strolling around until the mancs appear, and yes, they can be sniped from the temple, especially with mouselook, but i found that boring and went down to shoot them old school.

@ AD_79: indeed nice music, heretic with an oriental flute in the background. from hexen II? hm, i played that one long ago, don't remember much, except that it was buggy and froze often. must have it somewhere and give it another try.



8 - graverobbers

the first bigger map, clean, square lines. a large temple, where one gets plenty of shells and some rockets to kill some archviles quickly, but they appear one by one so they're not particularly threatening. first time when some larger enemy groups appear. there's one zombie rocket massacre and then one revenant ambush where several of them appear around you in the room located right above the starting point, but i could retreat quickly. didn't bother with the cyberdemon and wondered why alm made fighting him purely optional.

i really liked the music, thought it's from a movie, but looked it up, as the text file doesn't mention anything, and found this list and this thread.

[cannonball]

Map07 - “Temple of Isis”
Not much to say about this one to be honest, a simple dead simple clone which is pretty simple to despatch, next.

[Demon of the Well]

My lack of goodness, so far behind.....

Map 03 -- Castle Gardens II - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
I've long wondered whether the little 'escape from your cell while the guards aren't looking' bit that opens this map is a reference to a specific PWAD (the map name itself presumably being a reference to Kim Malde's map 09 in Alien Vendetta, although the substantive similarities are really pretty scarce as far as that goes), or simply Alm naturally coming up with a riff that's been written by someone else before, as sometimes happens. Seems like this little trope used to be a lot more common in a bygone era of PWADing, but you don't see it much these days, I think last time I saw it was in an early map by Cannonball (in the original NOVA I think?), and the last time before that off the top of my head was way back in Hellcore 2.0, which didn't really have the same implied 'escape' narrative to it per se, but....

....but I digress, I'm wandering quite a ways off-point here, I suppose. Point being that this map competes pretty convincingly with map 02 for the best in the episode, I certainly appreciate its more spacious, airy feeling relative to many of the other maps in the early third of the game. It's still quite short, mind you--a quick romp through a large, desolate courtyard and a handful of passageways surrounding it before finishing up in the lava-moat outside--but plays out over a much larger expanse of real estate, which means that Alm can turn loose larger groups of more powerful monsters than we've seen previously without proffering much of a real increase in difficulty, given that you can put a great deal of distance between yourself and any threat in an eyeblink. I reckon the trickiest bit is probably the arch-vile's sneaky debut in the blue key's chamber behind the yellow-locked door, although the most nuanced seems to be figuring out the most smooth/efficient sequence of maneuvers for tackling the main courtyard--I like to take the blursphere, port back to the overlook, jump to the secret on the fountain, and then down into the drain channel to port to the second secret (sometimes you get lucky and telefrag the revenant up there that way). My favorite sequence, however, is easily using the shiny new rocket launcher to plow through the scads of monsters that attack as one approaches the switch at the southern end of the lava moat--it's deeply satisfying to brutally multi-kill the platoon of zombies who make a feeble attempt at guarding it, and it's great fun to slalom through the revenants and other miscreants on the way back, threading in and out of the iron porch supports while hurling rockets into their disorganized midst.

Probably not one of the episode's (or the mapset's) most visually striking maps, seeing as the larger spaces with simple geometry can tend to look a mite spartan (if clean and tastefully lit), though I do quite like the views out onto the lava moat and exit path from within the blue key's chamber.

Map 04 -- Cursed Cellars - 112% Kills / 100% Secrets
Of all the things one could feasibly remember this map for, for one reason or another it's always been the dubiously 'secret' first and second secrets that stick in my mind. Not to say it's a poor map, mind you, although it never seems to leave as much of an impression on me as many of the other early-game maps. Like map 03 before it, this one feels more spatially expansive, although its comparatively light monstercount and its tendency to pack clots of enemies into relatively isolated or self-contained sections of the map (e.g. the imp horde guarding the SSG with the help of their pet tomato, with some decidedly ineffectual crossfire emanating from some caged/line-blocked hell knights) means that it plays much more like its more compact brethren in maps 01 and 02; its largest spaces either see little use (the red key foyer; where it's always easy to contain the enemies in the smaller area back by the SSG) or field very straightforward fights (the open yard to the north), in contrast to the crossfire and mob-travel aspects of the courtyard and moat areas in map 03. That being said, it doesn't play badly, fielding the WAD's first real running start and a couple of bloody (if simplistic) fights. I like the way the arch-viles are used, as well--the first plays to intimidation factor via appearing in a very small and very dark space, the second makes a great 'vulture', and the last toys with your head a little by compelling you to grit your teeth and willingly soak some light damage in his personal lava-sauna in exchange for not being subject to one of his fulminating pyromancies.

Aesthetically, I welcome seeing more of the spearmint/cream lacquered tiling and more of the marble slabs here, and there are certainly some eye-pleasing features to the design, ala the directional lighting in the red key/SSG foyer area. I'm not quite sure what to make of the spindle-legged skylight-thing in the starting area; it's interesting, yes, but somehow comes off as visually a mite 'loud' in the context of the episode's generally stark, utilitarian design. The bare northerly yard is perhaps the blandest-looking bit of playspace in the whole game, one of those areas that looks far more interesting when viewed from another room (e.g. the blue door landing) than when one is actually inside of it. I blame the neutral-bright lighting, I guess...it's logical for plain outdoor areas to be lit like that from a 'realism' standpoint, I suppose, but in practice something dimmer almost always looks better to me.

Map 05 -- Halls of Anguish - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Very straightforward boss-type map, comprised of two nearly-mirrored ceremonial halls shaped like disposable razorblades, and an elbowed wooden access corridor between them. It is easily one of the least three-dimensional (or 2.5-dimensional if you want to be pedantic) maps in the set from both a structural and gameplay standpoint, and has the very rare distinction of being one of few Scythe maps where much more of the linecount is tied up in purely aesthetic or cosmetic pursuits than in shaping the fundaments of monster-staging and player movement.

Despite its simplicity, there is nuance to the action in this level, although it elides much more from thing placement rather than from architecture/layout or flow per se. For example, despite your best heroic Rambo instincts, rushing for the shotgun in plain view in the font in front of you when the map loads often achieves far less desirable results than holding your horses and hanging back to plink at the squad of shotgun sergeants on the other side of the room--the imps that step out of the shadows at the sound of gunfire tend to unwittingly absorb the lion's share of the buckshot flying in your general direction, and as long as you can sidestep a fireball or two you tend to take far less damage while using your pistol to inflict casualties from afar, allowing you to eventually take the shotgun to silence the imps without getting blown full of holes as you likely would've if you'd rushed for it from the outset. Similarly, the lone arch-vile and the end of the wooden corridor is a good example of the principle that "fairness" (e.g. always allowing the player the privilege of initiative) is the death of fun--he works well because the environment is too simple to make fighting him conventionally very convenient or reliable, and so failing highly felicitous RNG you probably end up having to do some pretty brash stuff to avoid getting roasted, such as snatching the SSG before dodging into the corner of the fireplace room while the resident pain elemental happily farts flaming skulls into the general area. Much less high-stakes if you found the lone secret (strangely parsed as two, rather than one or even three) earlier on, of course, but a sound encounter in principle, nonetheless.

The relatively pressure-free mano-e-mano with the resident cyberdemon does tend to strike one as a mite archaic (and did so even back when Scythe II first debuted), as others have mentioned, although for my part I don't find it particularly offensive.....it seems somehow ceremonial, in its understated way, perhap's Erik's way of foreshadowing darker days to come. Of course, if you're so inclined, you can subvert this simple encounter into something more colorful if you put your mind to it--try ignoring everything and getting the cyb's room open as early as possible (which generally involves distracting the arch-vile with a hit from another monster), and the Halls can host quite a shindig in no time flat. It's fun!

I also appreciate the spectacle made of the mapset's first death exit here, again it has a suggestively ceremonial air to it. On Death's wings, unto the next morbid rumination....

[cannonball]

Map08 - “Graverobbers”
There is a lot to love about this map, plenty of very fun encounters with a great layout which finally feels a little more expansive. Cool music too though pr-boom seemed to leave a long quiet spell before the track looped over again.
The cyber at the end is a complete waste of time, he should just not be there or replaced by something like an archvile and a bunch of smaller monsters as you can simply skip him anyway.
Oh it was also great to have a proper secret hunt, I managed to find 6/8.

[TheOrganGrinder]

Pirx said:

and is this one from ruinbros or where? looks rather aztec than egyptian.

Originally from Hexen II's Mesoamerican episode, but cleaned up/palette-adapted for Brotherhood of Ruin, yeah.

MAP08: Graverobbers

At this point we see a significant jump in both map size and monster population; this is also the first level of the WAD where I didn't get 100% kills and secrets, with one of each remaining by the time I declared 'chuck it' and headed for the exit (I'm assuming the monster was tucked away within the secret). The layout is dominated by the large outdoor area in the eastern part of the map, which the player revisits several times as they explore the tombs and temples that branch off it. There are a few large monster swarm encounters to balance out the more claustrophobic interior battles, but I didn't really feel a strong sense of being threatened at any point; maybe I should set the difficult a notch harder but for the DWMC I'm generally quite happy playing in 'tourist mode' on HNTR, taking in the sights and the atmosphere without things ever taking a turn for the frustrating.

The strongest part of the level was definitely the intricate multi-level tomb around the start point, with lots of windows and secret areas and a fun sense of solving a puzzle as pathways into the tomb's furthest recesses are gradually opened up. That section by itself could have been presented as a complete map just a level or two earlier in the WAD; regardless, good stuff.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP07 Temple of Isis

wee Dead Simple in Egypt, *takes time to grab weapons and ammo before going to the blue door*. that was pretty quick.

MAP08 Graverobbers

so far this is the most interesting map with a perfectly fitting music track. it's big enough to work out just fine with plenty of nice combat and some pretty cool secrets. best of this episode from sure.

[joe-ilya]

MAP08
I don't see any graves in the map according to name.

Finally a normal map, it's having rather original ideas everywhere and lots of secrets too, most difficult map so far, and it contains ideas from epic 2, like that AV encounter before the RL. Otherwise this is another short difficult map.

[SyntherAugustus]

Level 08

Tough little map. Tried to avoid the small save scrub near the end but it was inevitable.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP08: Graverobbers
99% kills, 7/8 secrets

Probably the first map I've actually enjoyed so far in Scythe II, hopefully this is the turning point. Pretty standard linear romp through some Egyptian tombs, but there are a few decent fights (about 4-5 Arch-Viles, used in decent spots) and the layout ties together well. As might be expected for an Egyptian tomb level, plenty of secrets - the last one is pretty damn obscure though (hear that Spider Mastermind at the start? Good luck finding it without a map editor).

I do agree with Cannonball that the Cyberdemon at the end is kinda pointless, though.

[mouldy]

Map08 - “Graverobbers”

This map brings back memories of secret hunting, maybe thats why it doesn't seem so difficult now with all the extra goodies I got. The main problem I always had with it was ammo shortage, but I had loads this time, and the fights are mostly quite simple ground level skirmishes. In the end I had one secret left to find, and I was looking everywhere for a red key door without realising that I'd already opened it. Turns out the last secret was just a random unmarked wall that delivers a bfg and a mastermind. Really nice scenery.

[scifista42]

Map09 - “Valley of the Queen”

Very impressive setting, without feeling like "forcedly fancy" at all. At first the gameplay seemed as purely filler to me, then I accepted that being chased by a dumb crowd of enemies was the idea of the map. I've had more than enough resources to deal with them anyway, so no problem, I've actually enjoyed it. I've missed one secret. I went all the way along the thin ledge on the right from the exit, expecting a secret there, but there was none. I eventually cheated to discover the last secret, which was

Spoiler

a Revenant + plasmagun behind a waterfall.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 06 -- Temple Entryway - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Scythe II's second episode fields a 'desert tombs' theme, one of my personal favorites. With one exception, these levels remain short and fairly small, but if memory serves there's a fair bit more variety (or 'overt variety' at any rate) to the action in this episode.

This episode opener, for example, is the first Tyson-style outing in the game, and a rather straightforward one at that. Or is it? Truth is, while fisticuffs are efficient and easy to use against most of the Entryway's modest compliment of 40 or so monsters given the regal scale of the temple's architecture, they aren't really strictly necessary, not even for a short time. Being teased with an initially unreachable shotgun and then presented with a berserk pack early on naturally predisposes one to play in a certain way, but if you speed through the temple--and it is set up as a simple racetrack of sorts--and uncover all of its secrets, you'll quickly amass more than enough kit to take out the demons without ever having to resort to your dukes and/or harsh language, especially since tearing ass through their midst without bothering to stop and say hello tends to agitate them enough that they often end up killing some of their own in consternation. On that front, the chaingun secret is quite straightforward, and I imagine most first-time players will locate it easily (which I suspect is by design); the combat armor secret is not difficult to locate but perhaps easily missed by someone in a rush; and the SSG secret is easily the toughest nut to crack (perhaps because the boomstick is arguably overkill against the monsters here, though it could help out osteophobic players with the revenant bumrush at the exit), especially considering that it's very easy not to see the gun tucked away in its elevated cubby in the first place. Spotting the actual entrance to the secret (actually a small teleporter booth) is easier, but figuring out how to get into it can be quite tricky and likely takes some trial and error (or so it did for me on the playthrough where I first found it) considering that there's relatively little room for error.

On the aesthetic side, you'll find that this map (and this episode in general) is quite heavy on orthogonality in its architecture (though there are touches of natural terrain later on), but the texture theme plays well to this type of construction, and so the setting looks quite believable in that respect. I've seen it argued in the past that following an episode based largely on brown bricks with a dark blue sky with another episode based on the same sky and more brown bricks (albeit of a different shade and hue) was not the best of ideas, but I think this episode and its gothic/castle predecessor are worlds apart in both look and feel; the early gothic levels, with their simple and functional structure, derived most of their visual panache from texture combos, while in this episode architecture for the sake of it starts to shine more--the thick-columned porch of the temple facade is striking enough, but my favorite bit is the vaulted gap between the colonnaded upper hall and the support-braced ceiling of the temple foyer; not exactly the kind of thing that one would describe as 'eye-candy' or even as particularly photogenic from a screenshot perspective, but classy. Very classy. Lighting effects and contrasts, while generally used effectively enough in the early levels, also begin to play a stronger role in this episode, as immediately evidenced by the flickering torches Scytheguy is staring at when the map loads. The use of a dimmer 'default' light level in the outer yard, and the potential it offers for things like the sector-shading on the iron torches out there and the more brightly-lit (but still shadowy) temple interior, also underscores my reasons for carping about the neutral-bright flood-lighting outdoors in one of the earlier maps--it just looks better!

Map 07 -- Temple of Isis - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
A traditional Dead Simple map. VERY traditional, even--aside from the addition of a few preamble monsters in the arena square who are largely inconsequential (that first imp sure is fun to punch down the mastaba steps, though!), the requisite mancubi and arachnatron brigades are deployed in much the same way as in Sandy's original map 07, and all of the same general strategies and commentaries apply (though the extra space probably makes Temple of Isis easier than Dead Simple itself), so I won't waste much of your time prattling on about that stuff for this map.

I will prattle on a bit about the visuals, though. This is easily one of the best-looking iterations of the classic Dead Simple template, invoking a sense of grandeur with its greater scale (esp. vertical scale), allowing the same basic open-roofed arena with wraparound porch to take on a bit of extra dramatic flair, ala the rough-cut arches or the like. Funnily enough, the collapsing walls hiding the 'trons from view invoke a bit of a false alarm 'oh shit' moment the first time you see them move--they're tall, they take longer to lower, and you instinctively expect there to be quite the horde behind them, even though it turns out to be just your usual unfriendly neighborhood spidermen (the horde will come later). The peripheral mastaba where the level starts and ends is well-realized as well (weird asymmetrical window or no), even if it's little more than a facade; this particular type of terraced/planar construction is something that comes very naturally to the idtech1 engine. I also like the little bits of prop-based detailing to fill out the scene, with more flickering torches to highlight the inner walls and piles of butchered corpses on altars in the four corners to lend portent to the blood-rimed sunken relief in the square's center. Incidentally, the little bits of mesoamerican assets here and there in this 'Egyptian' setting are a no harm/no foul bit of cross-purposing with the texture pack as far as I'm concerned, though I can see where they might drive those of certain temperament a bit bugshit.

[cannonball]

Map09 - “Valley of the Queen”
Not much to this map in the end, a couple of minor scuffles before releasing a large horde of monsters which can funnel towards you from two directions. In the end the fight isn't that hard as the monsters tend to take too long in outflanking you and as such you never feel too pressurised.
Visually it is decent again with the rockier areas offering some much needed non-orthogonality compared to the rest of the maps in this section.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP09: Valley of the Queen

On the heels of the last level's maze of tombs and steady pace of exploration, we have this delightful little horde slaughter map. Progression is controlled by a series of switches, the first two of which (in the central temple structure) release an enormous army of imps and demons into the outer ring. There are plenty of opportunities to take cover or scramble to high ground, a variety of weapons and supplies strewn about, and enough heavy hitters positioned throughout the level that it's not merely a question of grinding one's way mindlessly through a wall of fodder - one thing I'd be interested to try on a future playthrough is whether it's possible to get significant infighting going on between the tougher monsters and the horde, or whether their positioning is deliberately calculated to avoid that (infighting between imps and demons occurs extensively). This could have been dropped into another map as a single encounter, but here it stands alone as its own level, and it works perfectly well as such.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP09 Valley of the Queen

sure is a nice valley. I strafejumped to the SSG secret, although I knew of the other way to reach it :}. I'll admit that I liked the large imp ambush, as I like to mow down hordes of normal imps. neat level.

[dobu gabu maru]

MAP06: I’m liking the Egyptian setting a lot more than the Gothic one, but the combat here again is pretty middling. I missed the berserk the first time through but it’s still dull even without it.

MAP07: Not much to say here. Dead Simple maps gonna Dead Simple, and while the manc battle is a little hectic and fun, the arach fight becomes tedious once you carve out a corner. Nice ambiance at least.

MAP08: I liked this one—it has a decent size to it and some nifty encounters here and there. I feel the Egyptian theme works best when you’re allowed to explore and poke around the pyramids, venturing deep into the sandstone crypts. The cyber fight was a little underwhelming but it’s a nice closer to the map. That AV that pops up at the top of the pyramid is pretty dumb & cheap though.

MAP09: See, this is the kind of diversity I wanted from a set of themed maps. We go from stalking a crypt to wandering an open, dry valley, while still staying true to the Egyptian motif. With that said, the map is a bit of a dud. The central pyramid fight with just the SG is pretty nifty, but the big horde of enemies down in the valley are easily trumped if you grab the stacked rockets and jump into the pool of water. Sprinkling more rockets around the valley would’ve pushed the player to be more mobile and risky, but alas, it is what it is.

[joe-ilya]

MAP09
One of the more exciting maps, I liked how you had to shoot two different hordes with the RL, if you're not good at finding secrets (like the secret SSG) this will be tedious, the final encounter can be easily skipped.

Needs more rockets.

[scifista42]

Map10 - “Pharaos Tomb”

Moderately elaborate, somewhat atmospheric and fun level, just very easy. Various setups, but all of them simple. Lots of switches put together linearly, but since the level was small, it's not so bad. I loathe not being able to backtrack from the later areas, though. I've missed the secret, which turned out to be located near the start. The map is otherwise well done.

[Veinen]

Map06: Temple Entryway

So Egypt then huh. An extremely simple and straightforward episode opener built around punching things, or alternatively leaving things behind and then destroying them later with the secret SSG. Either way it's mostly about setting the mood instead of providing memorable gameplay. Architecture is blocky but it fits the theme and the textures so no biggie. Decent map.

Map07: Temple of Isis

Yes, this is Dead Simple featuring a pyramid that does not really change the dynamics of the map in any way. The only difference is that you're not dropped straight into the fire but instead you get to collect rockets in relative peace before unleashing the Mancs. It's still fucking Dead Simple though so thx bye.

Map08: Graverobbers

Okay now this is a really nice map. Easily the largest and the bloodiest level in the set thus far, and possibly the nicest looking as well. Combat is interesting for the most part and features some mild traps (the Rev surprise not so mild perhaps) and a few bigger hordes. I especially enjoy the hitscanner horde that is revealed up from behind you when you approach the YK switch area. Just fire up the RL and satisfaction is guaranteed. The Cyb at the end is a complete non-factor but at least dispatching it is quick work with the BFG. I have to admit that I did not manage to find the BFG without iddt:ing though, it really is just a random wall that it's hidden in. Good map, still rather easy but the body count and the cool visuals make up for it.

[mouldy]

Map09 - “Valley of the Queen”

This one sticks in my mind, partly because of the change of scenery, but also because it has what I would consider the first slaughtery encounter of the wad, though its a lot easier than I remembered it. There is a handy hole to jump down and safely pelt them all with rockets, quite generous with the ammo as well. The exit archvile gave me a start, still finished with well over 100 health though.

[Pirx]

8 - graverobbers

ok i wrote about it already, but i played it again, keen on finding every secret, including that spider. turns out i looked for the secret in the right spot (it's visible from the starting point, after all, the box with the lion head and imp inside), but just not exactly where the blood stain indicates. fine. the resulting infight was great fun, imps wandered aimlessly in front of the manc's cannons and were turned to red mist. that silly spider too, it becomes a joke when you have the secret bfg, conveniently located nearby.


9 - valley of the queen

you can hear them from the rather quiet start, the monster hordes behind two walls sealing off the valley. well, the ssg is simple to get after you clear the group of imps at the berserk pack. mop up the resistance in the tomb (a room with revs and one elemental, camp the entrance firing the ssg at them)

then said walls lower, releasing a horde of various low to mid tier critters, which are killed easily with rockets. so easy it's surprising. there's an archvile at the end, but one can simply run past him.


10 - pharaos tomb

there you enter the tomb, a pretty linear map. the receptionists group took me exactly 1 shell, thanks to infighting ;) .kill them here, press a switch, kill the next group. at least, the egyptian setting can look very nice with those walls bearing hieroglyphs, torches, and glowing demon eyes in the dark.

the fight at the elevator got hectic as there were a lot of enemies and i switched late to plasma. two cybers at the end, i ate a rocket trying to double-tap them, but still, the bfg saved the day. iirc we're done with egypt here.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP09: Valley of the Queen
100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Interesting design here, and pretty good design cues here - there's definitely the titular valley, and good use of color that makes me really like the Egyptian theme here. I'm not quite sold on the execution of the main battle, though. I really like the idea - hitting a switch and opening up two large hordes streaming in on the player in the valley - but the problem for me is that the switch is high above ground, so the monsters move in below, and there's no reason for the player to go down and really get in the thick of it. If you do, it's quite easy to get stuck at one of the ends of the narrow valley and/or be unable to dodge the revenant fireballs. It's designed in such a way that basically both pushes and rewards the player for just sitting up top shooting rockets down, and that's not really fun. Good idea though, as blasting through a bunch of small and mid-tier monsters (I think there's only four or five monsters out of 200 who take more than 3 SSG blasts to kill) is always fun. And that damned AV/Hell Knight ambush at the end gave me a nice jump.