The DWmegawad Club plays: NOVA II

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP29 Anaemia 5/5

well, now that the archvile that opens the door to the eastern side of the map is finally on every difficulty setting, I can truly play this. anyways, a visual stunner that kicks things into what I call "typical Ribbiks flair" since this type of semi-auto-setpiece start with some good weapons around opening is something I've seen in his other work. rest of the level? well I started out in the laggy bottom section from the circular hub, which went surprisingly quiet, though the architecture is inhumane. tourniquet gives a potential flashback to his final Megiddo II section with the red key area being a damaging zone.

NW blue key zone next, some hard-to-target snipers. also the teleporting enemies spelled trolling danger for my rockets. but there's not much to note other than that. yellow key section came third, and it's pretty hard for dodging. the next one after it, I bet that requires luck on UV.

now the three-key door. for something made in limit-removing, the arch-vile opening a same-sector door is a very very odd mechanic. behind that are...more setpieces of mind misery. I guess each one has their limits, the caco wave in the first one and the sniperdemon. the second one, kill the spectres first, third, try to use infighting and when that fails just fuck all of them with the available BFG. last part wasn't too bad, and I'm actually hoping that I was able to double back since that would be insane if it trapped me in (two archviles without cover, ah ah, no). So keep it like that.

now if there were only a way to get rid of that trapped archie, oh wait there is! tag 63 teleport! but I never saw a teleport destination for him to actually leave his confinement.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP28: Messe Noire

Gloriously gloomy in the best Quake tradition, this has the sense about it of a corrupted gothic cathedral bookended by graveyard brawls. The action isn't relentless - you can generally proceed from one encounter to the next at your own pace and take breathers as you please - but it is punchy, with cavernous rooms packed full of varied monsters that are more than capable of taking an unwary player to pieces, but are equally happy to infight with a little prodding and well-timed strafing. Supplies are just as liberally provided as threats, though; a mistake in the face of this menagerie will mess you up bad, but so long as you survive you can generally patch yourself up to fighting fitness afterwards. Given the omnipresent gloom, the texture and music choices, and the overall atmosphere the level seems to be building towards, I was expecting more menace, more dungeon-crawling, more small-scale and intimate encounters than the grand arena-based melees this map likes to deliver, but after MAP27's compact nature, the larger scale of the combats and locations here is a nice contrast. Generally no complaints.

[scifista42]

MAP28 - “Messe Noire” by Demonologist

Again, an excellent map by a non-beginner. Demonologist must have denied himself to not fill the map with monsters in a Slaughterfest-NUTS-combo fashion. Either way, his design skill is obvious. All fights sufficed to challenge me, keep me moving and strategizing, and sometimes feeling truly terrified, specially during the first and last fights. Monster placement was very efficient in this way, and a potential speedrunner would have hard time, I think. I liked the usage of Archviles and ALL monsters in the first and last areas in particular. Exciting gameplay, great consistent visuals, good lighting (well used darkness). I don't know when exactly did the BFG secret open, but I've found it open when I've backtracked from the final fight, with all monsters already dead at that time. All in all - I've enjoyed playing the map, even though using saves/loads was a necessity for me. Very well done!

[obake]

Map 27 : Engraved Bones by Obsidian
Played on UV, beat with 98% kills, obtained one secret. Death count: 5

A true Egyptian-themed level, and an okay one at that. To be honest, it wasn't my favorite, as some of the monster clusters were fairly tedious (eight revs in two close by closets, for example.) If the map were a bit bigger in layout, groups like these could work better. But as it was so cramped, the enemies tended to clog the hallways in inescapable swarms.

Also, having a Chaingun would have been nice. I think one could at least be given at the part with the backpack and two archies. Though I understand having unusual weapon progression may be one of the author's intentions.

As always with Obsidian's maps, the visuals are really good, and everything flows nice, albeit a bit cramped. Not my favorite map, but not a bad one, either.

[Cynical]

Demon of the Well said:

I look forward to playing Sunlust as well, but it's still being tooled around with and I see no need to rush it (incidentally, I will be surprised and disappointed if Sunlust on UV is the sort of thing that "everyone will be fine with" given how widely tastes in action vary in the Club alone).

I seriously doubt you'll find yourself terribly disappointed in Sunlust per se (I honestly think it's the best megawad I've ever played), but don't go in expecting "Swim With the Whales"-like difficulty the whole way through. It has a surprising number of lulls and breather maps given who its authors are; I don't think I've ever played anything from either author that's as easy as map 11, for instance.

I suspect you'll find them fairly welcome in the context of the overall set, though; I certainly did, at least. 32 maps of full on SWTW/CShock difficulty would have been fucking exhausting, and it's got plenty of teeth in the maps that aren't explicitly warm-ups, breathers, or primarily aesthetic experiments.

[tourniquet]

Getsu Fune said:

MAP29 Anaemia
now if there were only a way to get rid of that trapped archie, oh wait there is! tag 63 teleport! but I never saw a teleport destination for him to actually leave his confinement.

And once again you saved my ass, i have to admit that i didn't playtest the easy skill properly -.-' thanks getsu

->
Map29 aka the black/red thingy:

Back in late 2013 it were basicly authors like Ribbiks, Danne & I_G that sparked off my interest in Doom mapping so to me it was really a fantastic oportunity to collab with the man who was such a huge influence to me.
I had allready started working on a map before the beginning of the collaboration (basicly just a bunch of rooms) and Ribbiks agreed to carry on with it. Furthermore he suggested to work with a more coherent theme since my texture - selection was kinda schizophrenic.
So work began, i extended the layout, which was pretty small in the beginning, countless times, i really got carried away with it driven by my enthusiasm. Ribbiks did a great job with adding more interconnectivity e.g. combining the YK and BK section and other great architecture so the map felt more like a place. He also provided a lot of feedback and critique, i learned a ton of stuff and the map generally flourished a lot due to his suggestions. In the end it became quite a behemoth, detailing alone took me more than a month and was really really exhausting at times.

I can't give a proper "who made what" descriptions mainly because we didn't restrict ourselves to specific areas almost everything has been touched up several times either by Ribbiks or me resulting in a very coherent style. Encounter wise pretty much the same i think besides the starting area and the YK batte which were merely Ribbiks work. So yeah in comparision to other collab maps this might be a quite unusual approach, nonetheless certainly the best thing i've made to this point and it would probably not be half as good without the help of Ribbiks.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP16 Red Morning Light:

Fun Map it's really short has calming music and uses a lot of zombiemen which I love. The textures here flow together nicely and the secrets are well placed. That Arch-vile surprised me as well. I had a lot of fun here on to the next.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP17 Zebetite:

This map was pretty challenging in some spots including the Cyberdemon fight and the Mastermind sniper area. Those were brutal. This map was actually quite nice to look at as well including some interesting looking machinery and lighting. The music however kind of bored me after a while, it sounds like pokemon music or something, idk just don't care for it. The secrets were well hidden perhaps too well hidden. One of them is literally the green light of one of the switches crammed in a small space and is easily missable, I can't believe that I actually found it. Overall good map fair challenge I liked it.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP18 Vile Complex:

Wow this guy must have done his homework on what makes a perfect map IMO. This map doesn't rely on heavy over-detailing or overusage of Arch-viles and Revenants. This map has Doom 2 written all over it and I loved it. There is a good amount of secrets scattered around and it was surprisingly difficult in some areas especially the last maze section with the hell-knights in it. This map was great seriously, probably top 5 so far.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP19 Cry of the Archvile:

Yet another fun fantastic time. This level was laid out nicely and the music was very metally which is a plus for me. I love how the Arch-viles are used in this map. The maze with the revenants was fun but the the biggest highlight was the blue key area. I love fighting cybers along side a bunch of other enemies. The last encounter was hectic but I used someone else's advice and used the Invincibility sphere to handle it. great map.

[Urthar]

ZDOOM - HNTR - Pistol Starts

MAP29 - Anaemia

A fairly long, and frankly beautiful looking map. I got through most of it on HMP but got trashed repeatly towards the end and replayed it in HNTR.



This timed event gave me problems in HMP, as I was generally already low on health by the time I got here. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it helps foreshadow the diffculty of the map's finale. I might be tempted to increase the difficulty of the other key encounters in HMP to closer match this one.



This step appeared to be a damaging sector.



This switch threw me for a while, as it appeared to have been already activated, since the eyes were lit up.

Otherwise the map is more or less perfect in nearly every respect.

[Jaxxoon R]

I pull of some scary Revenant tracer tricks in this one.
This is also where the sleepyness starts to creep in. Arooo

Also nobody's told me how to fix PRBoom+ looking all washed out and having audio skips. Ugh not that I cared I mean not like if it's gonna make a scene I ugh bakkar

Yeah it's time for a nap

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP20 Monument to Thieves:

This map kind of reminded me of a TNT cave map. I thought it was ok but I got kind of bored by the theme here. A lot of the rooms were annoying. I like the red key encounter though. I went into a tele and this happened



This map was a good map 20 slot but it wasn't my favorite.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP21 Red Gas Circle:

A short but sweet hell themed romp of mid tier enemies and sniping mancubi. This was also pretty difficult especially the yellow key area. I like this map a lot very fun next.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP22 Hated Attic:

This was a weird map. It has a very abstract design going. There being egyption pillars, blood red and black'n white tiled floors, hooks hanging, gates, just stuff! Everwhere! The map played out fine though. The secrets were pretty good and not too hard to find. The Mastermind is actually the most threatening in the wad so far because at this point the best weapon we have is a rocket launcher. This was a fun abstract map. A lot of fun. Looks like I'm amidst a slaughter map oh boy.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

With all the people talking about Sunlust, I'm going to place a vote for playing it, but in September or October, after it gets on idgames. I was reading the beta thread yesterday and I saw that a few maps had been ripped up for the fourth beta, so after beta testing NOVA II this month, I'd rather wait until Sunlust is done. My opinion on today's map influences me a little too: I'm just not good enough to play ribbiks' stuff on UV, let alone a collaboration of his with the author of combat shock 2.

"MAP29 is the only map in the WAD where I felt like I was completely over my head difficulty-wise. 26 was tough, but manageable. 23 killed me a lot. 29 was worse. The end was especially difficult. Funny how I thought the massive wave of skeletons was the easiest part because of the cyber the map authors gave to help me. I still died a few times for every part of the end, but after I got the path to the exit open in the skeleton area, I ran like hell, BFG'd a few barons that teleported in front of me (have I mentioned how much I hate that?), and made it out alive. That reminds me of Scythe 2's MAP20, which I remember ending similarly, except the temple the exit is inside has a million enemies to each side of the player coming down the center. I love track-meet style finishes like that.
92% kills 50% secrets"

[Urthar]

ZDOOM - HNTR - Pistol Start

MAP30 - Legion

A fairly straight forward but attractive map, with big fights and a custom boss. The door at the start was a nice touch.

The finale was a little odd. After revealing the Icon of Sin, I traded shots with the Big Bad for a while, and then he disppeared somewhere (perhaps I killed him without realising it.) So I mopped up some hell knights, while wondering how to kill the Icon, and then the level ended. I'm not sure how or why I won, but I'll take it.

[Obsidian]

Wait, what? The only was to end the level is to kill the Hierophant, so I'm not 100% sure what happened there. Perhaps mouldy can elaborate.

[mouldy]

MAP27 - "Engraved Bones" by Obsidian

Relatively simple map for this stage in the wad, small and economical in space and monster usage. Knowing the archvile crusher secret makes things a lot easier, still managed to eat a few rev rockets but survived without any deaths. Re-searching to get the keys is a bit weird, given that there is no indication that they will magically appear, you have to rely on the player wandering around in confusion until they stumble on them. No matter. The archvile attack is well set-up.

MAP28 - “Messe Noire” by Demonologist

Another reasonably short map, roughly divided into 3 big battles with some bits and bobs inbetween. I found the opening to be a bit more forgiving this time, I don't know if some spectres were removed or I happened to hit upon a reliable route past them all. Its still a roll of the dice as to whether the archviles will fry you, but after a few goes I managed to luck myself to the rocket launcher and just blast in their direction and hope a spectre didn't get too close. After that I headed straight for the cathedral battle, nice that you have the option of hitting it from front or side. The main difficulty I found here was dealing with the arachnotrons and mastermind while avoiding all of their lines of fire. After that there is a bit of light corridor and key shenanigans before the finale, which is one of those fights that can kill you seconds but is fast and fun enough to not get frustrating.

MAP29 - "anaemia" by tourniquet & Ribbiks

Hell castles dont get much better looking than this. Really awe inspiring architecture and detailing, a work of art. The gameplay is a never-ending chain of self contained skirmishes, I started off doing reasonably well but by the middle I was saving pretty regularly. The highlight for me is the non-linear 3 key hunt at the start, which allows for a touch of exploration along with the set-piece battles. The central area broke after I accessed it by jumping through a window, so I don't think I got the intended experience there (had to noclip back out later). Funnily enough I did the same thing last time I played it, but through a different window. Lots of tricky and interestingly orchestrated fights, often quite evil but nothing too dickish. Very fitting map for the penultimate slot.

[mouldy]

Urthar said:

MAP30 - Legion

The finale was a little odd. After revealing the Icon of Sin, I traded shots with the Big Bad for a while, and then he disppeared somewhere (perhaps I killed him without realising it.) So I mopped up some hell knights, while wondering how to kill the Icon, and then the level ended. I'm not sure how or why I won, but I'll take it.

Obsidian said:

Wait, what? The only was to end the level is to kill the Hierophant, so I'm not 100% sure what happened there. Perhaps mouldy can elaborate.

I guess its possible he wandered off to infight with something and ended up getting killed? Maybe he needs the boss noise/explosion to make it more clear that something important has happened.

[Dylan Jarvis]

Map23 Vindaloo Chronicles:

1 word: Incredible. This is a spectacular slaughter map. The beginning takes a while to get a good hold but once you do you can take out all the enemies relatively easy in small cubby holes. The invincibilities were a nice generous gift that helps with the smaller harder rooms in the map. The highlight is the marble room with 3 different paths. Revs and archies and cacos and a cyber to top it off. Excellent execution here. This may appear in the top 5 But the last 6 or so maps have been great too so it will be fun to sort out my favs and least favs.

[Obsidian]

mouldy said:

I guess its possible he wandered off to infight with something and ended up getting killed? Maybe he needs the boss noise/explosion to make it more clear that something important has happened.

I could swap around the sounds with the Romero Head sounds, I don't think anyone's used it in too extensive a manner in their maps. Are there any maps that use the Icon?

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP24 The Descent:

Another great classic style map. These kind of maps are great because of how simple the layout is. The BFG secret was a little tricky to get but the rest of the secrets were nice. The last area was unexpected but well executed. The cyber demon room was a little tough thanks to the Map12 plutonia style chaingunner trap. I was mad when I found the invisibility after I was finished with this room.

[dobu gabu maru]

Obsidian said:

I could swap around the sounds with the Romero Head sounds, I don't think anyone's used it in too extensive a manner in their maps. Are there any maps that use the Icon?

MAP11 and MAP20 use Romero's Head as a death exit—shouldn't make too much of a difference IMO.

MAP29: Hands down the best map in all of Nova II. I told tourniquet in the main thread that what I love most about this map is that it’s approachable slaughter, balanced for people new to the genre but not new to Doom (and of course I use “slaughter” as an umbrella term for “difficult encounter-based maps with few-to-many enemies”, as there’s no proper appellation for the subgenre as of yet). It delivers the one-two punch of stunning architecture married with engaging battles, undoubtedly featuring the best of both here. The wretched crimson hive is host to a lot of lethal twist and turns, especially if you don’t quite have your bearings and head down the red key path first (which I tried this time—safe to say it’s the hardest part of the map IMO). All of the battles are fantastic, using the full palette of enemies—the zombiemen for the YK fight are a lot of fun to cut down—and though the final fights aren’t quite as zany as the RK and BK battles, they serve as a nice, scenic closer to this monumental map. Absolutely phenomenal effort.

Side note—got stuck here in the secret area up north.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP25 Parasite Hive:

Another big map and a fantastic one at that. This map looked like it was going to be annoyingly complicated and agitating from the start, but the enormous amount of space and plentiful ammo made this map great. I loved it. The reason why this large map works is because it isn't hard to figure out what switches do unlike map15 where there's like 30 switches in awkward positions. Great map enjoyed the hell out of it.

Also this happened looks like an invisible hole.

[SleepyVelvet]

dobu gabu maru said:

MAP11 and MAP20 use Romero's Head as a death exit—shouldn't make too much of a difference IMO.

MAP32 uses 12 Romero's Heads for it's exit, and the sound is quite fitting there.

[Obsidian]

NoisyVelvet said:

MAP32 uses 12 Romero's Heads for it's exit, and the sound is quite fitting there.

Would you say that having the death sound being at regular volume would detract from the effect? :/

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP26 Surrepitious Ichor:

This map was also amazing seriously! I like how they split the level into 2 types of maps; one being a semi difficult regular paced map with enemies pursuing you from all sides. With enemies sniping you from everywhere. The second half which I'll assume is Cannonball's is a great slaughteriffic map of awesomeness. It was fun using the cyberdemons to take out most of the barons and hell knights. This map was great, the third episode of this wad is the best hands down already.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP27 Engraved Bones:

Wow a surprisingly short map late in the wad. It was really difficult still. The arch-viles were used excellently. I loved the wall of imps that get revived by the Archy behind, and how a secret leads to you killing him. It took me a while to find the blue key lol because it pops up in a previously explored area. Pretty cool map.

[dobu gabu maru]

Obsidian said:

Would you say that having the death sound being at regular volume would detract from the effect? :/

Doubt it—as long as the explosions remain, it should have the same effect... it's better for the Heirophant to have the death audio cue anyway.