The DWmegawad Club plays: STRAIN

[Capellan]

Salt-Man Z said:

(It's supposed to be black, right?)

It's supposed to be like a spectre in vanilla. Not sure what happens if you play in a port that makes spectral monsters translucent instead.

[mouldy]

MAP22 - “Specimen Storage” by Anthony Czerwonka

Pretty decent map with a couple of wtf moments. The textures are a bit of a mishmash but its ok. I only just noticed the growl of the mega-barons, its quite unnerving to hear them roaming behind the scenes before you see them. Really liked the callback to the fountain lobby from a few maps ago. The room after that had some weird teleporter set-ups that required stepping around the trigger lines to press switches. I can't see any gameplay reason for doing that, really bewildering. The 2nd wft was that new weapon. At least I think it was a weapon, it looked like some obscure carpentry tool. When I tried to use it I couldn't tell if it was even doing anything. There was a brief noise of some kind and then it was out of ammo. I liked the pretty flowers adorning its chamber though.

[Salt-Man Z]

Capellan said:

It's supposed to be like a spectre in vanilla.

Yeah, that's how GZDoom renders it.

[4shockblast]

Map 22: Kills: 101%, Items: 95%, Secrets: 0%, final time: 13:24 (0 deaths)

Hm, gameplay here was alright, though a lot of it was killing the various nobles in non-threatening fights, which was kind of tedious. I lost a lot of health trying to RJ to the red key before I realized it was trivial to strafejump to from the door going into that room, so I could have left the level very early, but I decided to play through to the end. It's good I did that for two reasons: the blue key segment and the new weapon. The blue key segment was the most interesting part of the map (except for the start fight which was alright); starting with the mini-cyber fight with him placed way at the end of the ledge leading to the blue key, a fairly threatening use of the mini-cyber. Seeing the earlier courtyard area was pretty cool too, nice to see some reuse of areas for continuity. I had to fight for the blue key at low health for a while because I lost health to an explosion of the flying hitscan enemy and then some more to trying to grab the blue key (which I did eventually). Low health made the fight more interesting, but regardless it was the best of the key fights as the room was pretty confined which added challenge to the map. The rest of the map was pretty easy with the megasphere, and there's nothing really interesting to say about it except for the new weapon. This is the BFG replacement, but for how huge the sprite is, the weapon seemed to be totally useless; I tried to attack a demonlord with it and I couldn't tell if I did any damage at all. I still couldn't figure out how to lower the red key, though, must have missed a switch, but when I found I killed everything I just went to the exit.

FDA here.

[vdgg]

About the new weapons:

Weapon #7 uses rockets, three at a time. The balls are being fired faster than rockets (1 every 18 tics compared to 1 every 20 tics). The damage can go as high as 1600 hp and as low as 400 hp - will investigate this fully later. When having both weapons #5 and #7, weapon #7 usage should be limited to barons and demonlords to be effective - can kill them in one shot, though there is absolutely no guarantee. Don't know about other type of damage then direct hit, but I sense there exists.

One more disadvantage: The first ball is not released immediately after pressing "fire" - you wait 18 tics.

Heretic in his Max demos used weapon #7 very rarely. Except MAP23 demo in which I think it was a mistake not to use it, this means: this weapon is not so good.

----------------------

Now to the NFG. This is awesome. It fires a "battery" every 3 tics, same as plasma gun. But while plasma has damage "d8 x 5" (5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40 hp), this one has "d8 x 12" (12,24,36,48,60,72,84,90). Damage per time unit is roughly 2,25 x greater than of the regular Doom II plasma and about 1,5 x greater than of a rocket launcher! Time used to bring down high HP monsters is really quick.

[vdgg]

Good show, 4shock, with this blue key fights with 6% health :)

MAP22. Good initial fight as mentioned unanimously. Can be dangerous after that, there is tendency of monsters to sneak behind the player. A very solid level (except not playtested against tricks), I can't really criticize anything, yet it is not my favourite for some personal reasons.

The looks: not as polished as MAP21, but still I like a lot Adel's sense of aesthetics.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP22: Specimen Storage

Now that's more like it, a dense and action-heavy little blaster where we (finally!) get to visit the upper balcony/walkway area of the marble lobby we've passed through before. Granted, that section doesn't really play a starring role - just a connection between a cramped little room and the blue key dispenser - but it's a nice callback. It feels like there's a very high ratio of monster HP to playable area here, with some tough critters encountered in close quarters. Ammunition, health, and armour are quite abundant throughout the level; it's got an almost modern sense of ferocious ambushes following (or followed by) significant supply caches to it.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP22: Specimen Storage
98% kills, 0/2 secrets

Nice little punchy map, maybe a little too heavy on the Hell Lords but there's definitely enough supplies to take everything out, especially once you get the NFG (the psychic blaster, on the other hand, is almost so unwieldy as to be useless, IMO - the projectile flies really slowly, but you can't use it up close because of the rocket splash damage). Monster placement is good, enemies can get some pincers going on the player, the mini-cyber at the end of a long hallway, etc (though not sure what's up with those demons in the cages...) Aesthetically it's all over the place, even moreso with the garish custom textures, but it works alright. And we finally get to get on that balcony in the recurring marble section.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

It's about damn time! MAP22 is an excellent departure from the recent series of poorly-made levels. The opening killed me quite a few times when I tried to push through in search of cover, but being patient got me through. Ammo supply was surprisingly generous for this wad. As Organgrinder said above me, its balance is more like a modern level than a 90s level. That's probably why I enjoyed it so much. FDA here.

4shockblast: When you teleport through something in the blue key wing, you land on top of the red key. You don't lower it at all, you're brought TO it. I wish I'd gotten a chance to use the BFG. I fired it once at a wall, but forgot to use it on the one straggler it might have been appropriate to try it on.

[Capellan]

Map23
I like the first half of this map. It's a fun romp through an eclectic tech base with lots of ... if not attractive than at least interesting ... locations. The fights are pretty good too. I even like the cheekiness of the first Minister of Pain. Glad I was continuously starting it, though!

Things start to go off the boil for me after you pick up the yellow key. The polydrones beyond the yellow doors are an exercise in auto-aim frustration, often being too far away for you to target but able to rake you with fire nonetheless. Sure you can hide and wait for them to slooooowly drift closer, but it's rather dull. Still, it's just one encounter and I would shrug and move on ... except that we then enter the patented STRAIN 'wander around trying to work out what to do next'-athon, with all the usual teleport-strewn, switch-laden nonsense that entails.

Which is a shame, because when you eventually find 'em, the fights remain generally good. There are a few too many barons, I think; it's times like this that STRAIN misses having mancubi and arachnotrons, as old goat face is something of a bore to fight; but other than that we're offered a pretty good variety of encounters. Unfortunately for me at least the level was by now outstaying its welcome.

Not a fan of the exit room being a one-way deal.

[Demon of the Well]

About the Psychic Blaster (#7/BFG replacement): I recall reading somewhere 'back when' that all of its damage is blast radius damage of some sort (note that you can hurt/kill yourself with it, though its behavior in this regard is less predictable than the RL's)--perhaps triple-stacked given its ammo consumption?--but I've got literally zero proof that this is actually so. Would be quite interested to see the results of vdgg's investigation, it is a very quirky weapon indeed, sadly nowhere near as versatile as the classic BFG, but a great noble-killer in this game.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP23 Dispensary Alpha

Yay, more general confusion as I flummox my way through another base. Another Dystopia 3 layout which I was familiar with, but not by much. One notable thing is that inescapable nukage pit next to the yellow key; it seems that you can get out of it, but a deep water effect states otherwise. rest assured, the map looks small, but the backtracking makes it pretty long. those flying cubes can be a right pain, especially the snipetrolls in the southeastern quadrant. Red key area has a mass set of switches, for getting that juicy soulsphere secret, but it's really hard to do so.

Spoiler

Raise the inner platform up all the way to the soulsphere platform, then raise the outer one by 24 pixels. Lower the inner one and get on the secret while it lowers

that's the best I could figure out. the mass of switches that do all sorts of things to the platforms don't help that much. there's one blue room that has two switches. one of which triggers a lift on the opposite side of the walkway. I am 100% completely certain that it is impossible to reach the teleporter, at least in singleplayer. It's not a secret, thankfully, but the fact that enemies are inside the area that follows means I miss a few kills. overall, this level has a lot of weird parts to it, an inaccessible teleporter, a puzzling secret, and some odd backtracking. Takes quite a while to beat, not really one of my favorites, although it's good to hear Treasures of the Dark again.

[Capellan]

There are at least a couple of switch combinations that let you get the "juicy soulsphere secret".

[gaspe]

MAP23 - Dispensary Alpha

Kills: 100% | Items: 100% | Secrets: 100%

Dystopia 3 MAP-10. It's pretty tight on ammo, but after a while and the secrets the provisions start to be too much. Overall visually is nice.
Combat suffers a bit of having so many Demon Lords and Barons. Is interesting the secrets that you to choose between 2 different sets of goodies, and taking the other one in a later secret. At the end there's a little back and forth with teleport just to activate some switches.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP23: Dispensary Alpha
31:00 | 98% Kills | 91% Items | 25% Secrets

Ugh, I liked this a lot better as the Dystopia-3 map, I think. Maybe because it's just a lot easier; STRAIN's new bestiary gets pretty brutal in close quarters. I do remember getting the "juicy" soulsphere on my initial STRAIN play years ago, but I couldn't be bothered to spend the time this go-round. Not a fan of that final archvile whose attack doesn't seem to be hampered by the teleporter struts, though mine is.

[mouldy]

MAP23 - "Dispensary Alpha” by Anthony Czerwonka

Tough map, had a real struggle early on with a lack of ammo, and those mega-barons are bloody deadly. The progression became a bit weird at some point, with stuff opening up and new monsters appearing in previously explored rooms, switches materialising and the like. I got minced by hitscanners a fair bit. There was a room full of midtextures and no cover, and another room with pillars that appear to give cover but don't. Which can be a little frustrating. The map even starts throwing soulspheres at you as if to apologise for the unavoidable damage it is causing. Its good though, I expect a challenge at this stage. The final escape was a bit hairy, monsters were emerging and teleporting away and with all the switch pressing back and forth I didn't know what was going on, survived somehow.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP23: Dispensary Alpha

Another tough and twisty maze of a techbase, with, alas, many of the same progression-related issues we've seen elsewhere in the WAD: there comes a point at which advancement boils down to exploring previously visited areas to see what's changed, with little in the way of clue or direction in your search. The compact nature of the map mitigates this only somewhat, especially since there are plenty of barriers to movement that make navigation trickier and more time-consuming than the relatively limited real estate would at first suggest.

Fights are on the tough side compared to what we've seen before, with several encounters that seem to present frustration just as much as challenge. The final room seems tailored to encourage a simple mad dash to the exit under virtually unavoidable fire.

[Capellan]

Map24
We're back in the big hall we've seen three times before. I'm not sure what the deal with this place is: it's never called out in the text screens and the wide spread of levels in which it features make its appearances seem a bit random. I wonder if the maps using it were initially clustered together and then got re-organised for some reason?

In any event, our return is short-lived and frankly a little pointless. One quick teleport and we're somewhere entirely new, never to return.

That new place is a dingy, grimy, likely subterranean complex filled with unfriendly occupants. I like that it has an optional section in the centre. It is worth visiting for the power-ups, despite the switch malarkey to get there and the Demon Lords defending it, but it's not needed to finish the level.

Probably the most memorable fight of the level – with the possible exception of the final battle, but I cheesed that – is the flock of clownfaces at the blue key. That's a fine use of the irritating little nasties.

Everything else until the end is pretty simple stuff thereafter. The exit room battle is pretty nasty if you get caught in the chamber, especially if you are on UV. However Adelusion set it up so that you can duck inside, trigger the trap, and escape out of the room before the door shuts you in. Which is what I did since my trap senses were tingling. At the time I thought this was just due to an oversight, but looking at it in DB2 there are signs it may have been deliberate. (there are also, though they are pretty well unmarked, ways to get the door open from the inside)

It'll never be a favourite map of mine, but it's got its moments.

[purist]

22

I agree with the other positive comments on this one. I played a bit of it yesterday and a bit today so my memory of all of it is not good enough to fully give this nice, solid, action oriented level it's dues. Highlight for me was the blue key area, which is similar in setup to the Reactor but spiced up with monsters who teleport behind you after you release them. The AV was particularly mischievous on my playthrough - teleporting on to the corpse of the demon lord and reviving him.

Demon lords make further appearances and while they are not place too dangerously the wide spread of it's add makes their encounters good fun. Last point to note is the BFG replacement though there is little to mention since the order I handled the penultimate and final areas might is killed everything when I picked it up. I already don't like how much of the screen it fills but I'll give it a go.

A welcome non-puzzle based map at this stage of the game.

[Capellan]

I think you mean 22, purist :)

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP24 Sub-Laboratory

Not much to this level really. the central area involves some careful thinking with lifts and doors for a few optional supplies. thankfully it's optional. the blue key warzone actually could be pretty dangerous with the doppelgangers. another tricky section exists behind the blue door. can you dodge a demon lord at close range? everything else isn't too notable, excepting the occasional polydrone causing trouble.

[purist]

Whoops, I did say I wouldn't be giving it it's due :-p Edited now...

23

I liked this one as well but it suffers a bit for excess backtracking that artificially elongated the map. There's also a bit more of the trademark STRAIN guess-what-the-switch-does 'fun' but it's not so bad here because you either usually can see the likely barrier to be removed before you reach the switch and the trigger and target are often quite close together due to the compactness of the layout. Graphically I would describe it as being a little on the busy side for my tastes with lots of bright colours competing for wall and floor space but it is competently put together and there is some good use of lighting contrast.

I thought were the level shined most was with monster placement. It has a high quota of nobles so I gave the new BFG replacement weapon a fair trial but ultimately agree with Magnusblitz that is inconvenient to use due to the slow speed of the projectile. The spawn cube monsters were particularly well placed causing me more deaths and damage than in any previous level. In the area Capellan laments I didn't even realise they could get into the corridor and saw them as distant snipers, which is the perfect use for them since they can cause you great damaged from afar and have slightly too much health to make chaingun tapping them practical. They're also used well toward the end when they crossfire the dark grey room accompanied by chaingunners to further complicate matters. The level just needed less wander time between these neat battles and it would have been among the best levels in the set. As it is it's still pretty cool.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

Thanks to reading here before playing, I decided to do this level in GZDoom with saves so I'd actually finish it. I second purist's comments about MAP23's monster placement: by far the best use of the new monsters so far in the wad. I died quite a few times. What I didn't like was the pistol start, and from the remarks above, I know I'm not the only one. I punched a holobot/pack of fast imps at one point and chainsawed a baron/some clownfaces at another. The latter are easy targets for it thanks to the AI differences between them and regular lost souls. The former just hurts, 70 health lost I think.

97% Kills 50% Secrets.

[gaspe]

MAP24 - Sub-Laboratory

Kills: 96% | Items: 93% | Secrets: 100%

Last Adelusion's level. We enter by taking a teleport in the nuke fountain in the room which are very familiar with it now. We have to fight a bit to get a good provision of ammo. The room with all the Doppelgangers is easy if you find the secret, and in every case all the monsters are more likely to infight between them there. The room with the nuke crossings has many hitscanners that will are dangerous as there isn't so much health there. Lots of tricky encounters in closed space here.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP23: Dispensary Alpha
98% kills, 2/4 secrets

Interesting map, and probably one of my favorites in STRAIN so far, although I will say that progression gets quite difficult towards the end. The start is pretty rough for pistol starters, as it never seems like there's quite enough ammo, but I found that this felt more carefully orchestrated and kept me moving to other areas to find bigger guns instead of just stopping to take down whatever large threat was in my way. Pretty fun to explore, although eventually the map runs out of keys and instead has to settle for the 'switch that does god knows what' trope... or sometimes, not even having a switch, just opening up an old area and the player has to backtrack because there's nowhere else to go. I like the backtracking and re-use of areas, mind, but I feel like they need to be better identified (this is why keys exist). But this map has some good enemy placement and looks pretty good too (probably because it just uses its own textures instead of trying to mesh with the IWAD ones). Couldn't figure out that weird multi-switch soulsphere/armor secret, though I did like how the one secret forced you to choose between two sets of items, then a future secret let you get the rest later on.

[Pirx]

19 - waste processing

an ugly large opening room with a flat texture usage, followed by some hexen rustwalled corridors leading to a server room, what? everything seems rather crude in this map, culminating with the slime canal run. so if one canal wasn't enough, you have to also go the other direction. with all the planning that apparently went into strain, it would have been better without this kind of map.


20 - reactor

short and fun, clean sci-fi technical design with those metal corridors. the map gives you a truckload of rockets so you can go on spamming them.


21 - maintenance

sigh. adelusion's experimental gameplay in a doom wad that tries not to be doom, as capellan aptly said. and takes out what makes doom fun. unlike 19, it doesn't resemble a newbie mapper's work, but it's simply not my kind of game.


22 - specimen storage

the map's visuals are a jarring mix of high-tech and medieval stuff, as shown by the exit behind a hexen door and the shiny door to its left. said specimen storage is located in an ancient cellar and contains several cylinders made of metal netting, holding imps and demons, similar to the doom3 map with canned imps. a bit heavy on demonlords. imo the baron would have benefited from getting a similar upgrade in doom2, however this one tends to shoot out of thin air because of the missing frames, so it's easy to be surprised by him. especially while trying to get a shot with that useless bfg9000 replacement. contrasting this, the plasma gun looks poor, but it kills them quickly.

[4shockblast]

Map 23: Kills: 100%, Items: 91%, Secrets: 50%, final time: 28:15 (6 deaths) (total time 55:45)

Holy shit, this map was a serious change of pace. This is definitely the first map to give me a lot of trouble in terms of difficulty; ammo starvation and health starvation are make it very easy to die from pistol start. That made the gameplay of this level very challenging, and it was a fun kind of challenge.

My first death was due to jumping into the acid around the yellow key; I guess this is the first map to punish me for attempting to break it. :D I started out playing fairly aggressively not knowing the map would be as hard as it was, so I probably would have died anyway. Second attempt died in the same area due to aggressive play once again. Third attempt ran out of ammo pretty badly resulting in me chainsawing a lot and eventually died due to ammo deprivation. Fourth attempt I took way too much damage at the start and let the monsters kill me. Fifth attempt got really far and probably could have finished if I didn't get completely surprised by the demonlord that gets teleported to the central lift in the two hallway cross and killed instantly. Sixth attempt I took a lot of damage for stupid reasons and eventually died early, and the seventh attempt finally got to the end (I was often low on health and ammo even in the last attempt, though).

The demonlord fights after pressing the first switch after going up the first lifts are not easy in the space you are given, and there is little shotgun/chaingun ammo to make things safe to snipe (though many troll rockets placed everywhere I can't use). The cross hallway is also pretty evil because once again, too little ammo to kill the nobles so I have to run past them. Then, there is the rocket launcher fight, a mess of faraway snipers combined with close hitscanners and nobles in tight hallways. Overall, the level only gives way after the rocket launcher is obtained and I kill all the monsters in those hallways, and after I got the soul sphere/red armor (a pretty neat puzzle secret), I had little trouble with any of the fights. Still, there were a number of high-tier monsters to deal with, and even then I had to be a little careful not to die. Also spent a ton of time trying to make the lift cycle from the switch in the shotgun guy area that you teleport to from the baron room at the four-way hallway and it was quite hard even with straferunning and gave me very little resources (not sure how I am actually supposed to make that because that almost certainly would have been too hard for 90s players). By the end, the progression ends in somewhat confusing backtracking and switch hunting, and the gameplay isn't nearly as dickish as the start, but it is still fun to play, and was worth the amount of time that it took me to complete it.

FDA here.

[Magnusblitz]

4shockblast said:

(though many troll rockets placed everywhere I can't use)

I forgot to mention this, glad you brought it up. I admit this was my feeling at first, too - though this was likely partially because of MAP12 which was loaded with rockets and then NEVER gave a RL. But I actually liked how it created a sense of anticipation, and then exultation when the rocket launcher is finally obtained after being teased for so long. Only... by the time it's given, it's not needed anymore, because the player has likely found the NFG (and/or Psychic Blaster in the secret). Lame.

[vdgg]

MAP23.

Magnusblitz said:

I did like how the one secret forced you to choose between two sets of items, then a future secret let you get the rest later on.

Yes, this was unique, always a plus.

This map has an epic feel. (Am I deceived by the music track or is it the map itself?) For me it could have occupied MAP29 slot or the megawad could have ended on MAP24/25 (I really don't need 32 levels). This is also because, later on, there's not much to see.

Anyway, I remember that faraway polydrone area for nice atmospheric looks and really tricky monster placement. Don't remember much of the final areas (probably I didn't go that far too often), but my memories of this level are definitely positive.

[vdgg]

MAP24. Wow. I decided to replay it just now, and I like it much more than before! What makes it attractive is a brutal pistol start on UV. There is also a big, cool area with railings, slime and a yellow key, which reminds me of Obituary (17 maps, hint for one of the nest DWMegawad Clubs...) Not sure why the yellow key is so annoying to grab. A good level, different from MAP22, on par with MAP22. Quite a surprise and this is a bit contradictory to what I said in my previous post.