The DWmegawad Club plays: Bloodstain

[Megalyth]

I've wanted to participate in one of these for a long time, and I just happened to catch this one at the beginning. I'd also never heard of this map set, so the opportunity to play something new and engage in a time-honored Doomworld tradition was too good to pass up.

I'm using GzDoom, keyboard and mouse, playing continuous on Ultra-Violence, most likely with a pitiful amount of saves.

Map01 - Inception

Kills 100% / Secrets 100%
Drink of choice - Ice water

A benign opener that lacks any real danger. The use of monster blocking lines in some areas allows the player to simply stand in the doorway and plink at imps with essentially zero risk. The only trap that poses any threat is the shotgun pick-up, but only because (as DotW mentioned) it forces a weapon switch. I knew the platform was going to drop because there was nowhere else to go, but it still annoyed me. The revenant at the end is utterly pointless.

I found the visuals pleasant and clean save for some alignment issues in a few places. Some simple but effective architectural tricks add depth to the cluster of buildings and yards that comprise the map. High-lights for me are the start area, which begins the map with a nice view, and the 3D bridge area for the unconventional architecture and mid-texture use.

The music is grating as all hell and I can understand why it was unused in Plutonia 2.

I probably sound hyper-critical, but I didn't dislike this map entirely, just a few aspects. It needed a bit of extra alignment work and someone to say "no, don't do that" regarding the shotgun trap.

[Spectre01]

Map 02: Brass Square

As the textfile says, this is the smallest and shortest map in the megawad and reminds me a bit of Scythe 1's opening map. You're given a shotgun at the start this time and it's quite easy to rush into the square with the nuclear fountain and start clearing dudes while grabbing the green armour. In case you missed the first one, there's another backpack secret right above the staircase of the left building that requires some simple ledge walking. You can also climb the red brick one for a Berserk and ability to snipe some dudes in the right building before you ride the elevator up there. It's also possible to straferun from the red building to grab the Chaingun on top of the nukage fountain, although this is significantly easier in Zandronum than in glboom+. The final secret is beyond the blue bars and involves lowering the left-most window ledge which provides easy access to the Chaingun. It's better than your regular shotgun for taking out the triple Caco ambush. I always did that part by camping the window and chainsawing them as they float by, but in glboom+ the chainsaw mechanics feel a bit wonky and the range seems to be much lower. 4 shotgun dudes in the exit room and you're done.

Just like Scythe map 01, there's little to say about this map, but the background buildings make it seem larger and more authentic. Short, simple map.

Here's another demo while the maps are short and easy. Also I hate the punching/chainsaw mechanics in glboom+. Feels so much better in Zandronum.

Spoiler

http://www.mediafire.com/download/4ah9salo98osqrc/BStain_map02.lmp

[Frisky]

"Shoot at the until it dies"
I love you

I can't wait to see the one guy in the DWmegawad club who can't get past that one level

[Demon of the Well]

Map 02 -- Brass Square - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
I would agree there's something of the original Scythe's early game at play in this map, with its straightforward 'shoebox of weaklings' flavor and its workmanlike usage of the 2.5D space, where the player has to traverse the Z-axis quite a bit in order to reach full completion. The shift towards muddy/coffee-colored masonry leans further in a Plutonian direction thematically, though something about the hazy lighting, the cobbled 'Old World Village' feel of the main square and the carefully placed techlamps as skyline detail also reminded me of Mordeth of all things, for some reason. The skyline itself is rather nice throughout, I must say--looks more naturally varying than a lot of what I've seen in other AAA WADs--but there's also some obvious polish issues in the presentation that I'm surprised made it into the idgames version of the set, like the texture misalignment on the grey building to the right in the opening shot or the really blatant skybox tiling-fail visible from the berserk pack secret. I suppose the latter could actually be a principled design decision, but that doesn't really jibe with what's seen in the set's most obvious influences, and so is a little baffling.

Not much to report on the combat here, very basic scrapping with more smallfry (and a trio of cacos at the end) who are fairly densely positioned given the map's small scale and tiny expanse. Again, both of the melee weapons make an appearance here if that happens to suit your fancy, but I ended up using very little but the shotgun this time, myself. I reckon the neatest bit about the design is that the reward for clamoring up to the berserk pack secret is not really the pack per se, but rather that it gives you a chance to snipe into the blue keycard's tower, a much more tactically sound strategy than taking the blind lift up from the outset and being filled full of lead by the guards. This is a much more natural use of a boundary space between the player and the enemies, far more satisfying when the player is presented the opportunity to manage the pace somewhat by strategizing within the context of the environment, as opposed to having it hamfistedly done for him via blocking lines.

The chaingun 'secret' here is kind of a miscall, since it's both easy and intuitive to leap from the 'zerk secret to the chaingun, making it quite likely many will miss the actual secret sector (which is a little scrap of ledge beyond the blue bars that can be manually lowered to create another jumping point) even though they obtained the secret proper. Backpack doesn't even count as a 'secret' by any reckoning, IMO.

[Magnusblitz]

Been voting for this for awhile, even though I'm kinda prepared to end up saying "overrated" at the end based on some of the other analysis I've seen... hopefully I'm wrong! But following Ancient Aliens certainly won't do it any favors; not really a fair comparison.

In any event, playing UV for now, though I might lower it later. I'll also try playing continuous to offset that, seeing what others have recommended.

MAP01: Inception
100% kills, 2/3 secrets

Pretty bland opener, to be honest... it's a bit too conventional, almost feeling like a cookie cutter modern-day MAP01: mostly pistol work with some berserk/shotgun action, with the opposition consisting of small fry like zombies/imps/demons with a couple of low-threat middle-tier monsters (hell knights). None of it is threatening, aside from a couple of imp-drops as noted, but even these are toothless given that the player will probably be sitting at 100/100 given the large amount of health, armor and paucity of danger.

I admit that the map probably does less for me than most simply because it hits a couple of my pet peeves... I absolutely detest pistol work, so even the bit of it here bored me to tears. And brickwork techbase is also one of my least favorite Doom themes... I love techbases, but I want them to be techy, not just a bunch of brick and masonry with some light strips and switches. Add in some underwhelming lighting (the whole level is pretty much 128-160) and I found this to be pretty forgettable both gameplay-wise and aesthetics-wise. Not a strong opener. One aspect I did like was the use of visual space to make the areas seem larger, helped make the map seem bigger and longer than it was.

[rehelekretep]

demo here

well - i have no idea why this isnt in the map01 slot, and map01 isnt in the map02 slot! the midi is less hectic, the map is basically a straight line, the threat is lower. no clue
i think it wouldve worked really well if the exit to this map, led into the prison/base of map01.

+ i liked the MIDI

- really dull map - essentially a straight line with a few branches that dont even loop or anything

[NuMetalManiak]

man I don't even know why I bother with you guys. I only know that song from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (like the last great game of that series smh) but it's just so god damn memorable for me. in all honesty I've still got my favorite metal genre under my belt and will hold onto it forever defending it at all costs. I could care less about your jokes and you can care less about mine. Deal? I bet you'll decline it though. Flip a coin.

MAP02 Brass Square

Now this is even easier. There's really nothing much to this map, but I like slow starts. And the secrets are easy again and I get a chaingun this time. I wonder if a MIDI exists for the ORIGINAL version of Dead Souls as well. I've heard this one dozens of times.

[joe-ilya]

MAP02

Another great map, this time the symmetricity is completely gone and a lot more easier than MAP01 for the lack of many mid-tier monster and just a few cacos guarding the exit in a perfect manner.
Should've been swapped with MAP01, that doesn't make it worse BTW.

5/5

[baja blast rd.]

Once again I ended up writing things that people already said, making this a pointless read. I would go to my usual strategy of talking about my pet topics, but these maps have been a bit too small and conventional for that to be easy.

map02

This map is TINY. The playing area is roughly 1800x900, which is in legitimate "restriction project" territory. But it feels slightly larger than it is, owing to the encircling cityscape, which, amusingly, takes up more real estate than the map itself. The design scheme is much like map01, but with more varied and egalitarian texture use and somewhat less sophisticated geometry. So if map01 and some of e1's other bases take more after Scythe 2, map02 is patterned more after the original Scythe, with some additional modern polish. The blend of textures looks pretty good. I like the Doom II redbrick alongside the medley of Plutonia bricks. Along with those cute trees, they give the map a somewhat pleasant atmosphere.

Gameplay is very much what you'd expect from this sort of map, although a lot more free-flowing than map01, a byproduct of the higher monster density and the absence of blocking lines. Weapon handouts are also well considered: a free shotgun at the start, and a chainsaw you can use on imps and on the cacodemons that warp in near the end. The secrets are easily the most notable part of the level. All of them are in plain sight, "hidden" in a variety of ways, from slightly camouflaged traversal to a standard-issue misalignment. It's possible to jump from the berserk ledge to the nukage fountain chaingun, which then makes the secret window ledge amusingly worthless.

[dobu gabu maru]

esselfortium said:

Madoka is beyond fantastic, and Gargantia is another great example I've seen of him taking his favorite thematic ideas to pull out a totally different type of story and conclusion than what's commonly expected from him.

Agreed on Madoka; that Homura episode is still insanely good. And I haven't seen Gargantia yet—will definitely have to put it on the "to watch" list.

Demon of the Well said:

Anyway, Bloodstain, to whit, is an exceedingly (and presumably intentionally) traditional megaWAD in more ways than one, including its approach to thematic transitions, it seems. Looking at things from a bit of a different angle, this DOES set it pretty far apart stylistically from the vast majority of its contemporaries, in fairness.....

What's old is new again, eh? And regarding the tech -> whatever -> hell transition, I totally agree that there are plenty of ways that it can be presented as novel and intriguing. Going Down is perhaps the best modern example of it being done right, since it follows that exact formula but places the entire adventure inside a single "complex", and has its own twists on each locale as well (I love that hell is filled with its own brick 'n mortar buildings). I think one of the issues megawads face with this structure is that you need a "hands on" visionary to influence its direction, otherwise you kinda get a directionless, generic amalgam of each setting. And even if you're stuck with stock textures, there's still plenty of little touches you can do to give each episode its own flavor.

For instance, back when I was a wee mapper, I wanted to make a megawad (called STALKING DEATH) where most of the levels were connected. For instance, almost all of E1 could be seen from MAP03 alone. I move ol' redrock hell to E2, wooden techbases are used for E3 (I wanted to have the player marching towards a "Hag's Finger"-like structure), and the last three maps were the real hell, where you weren't given any weapons and had to defeat enemies utilizing infighting & crushers, all while plunging deeper and deeper into a dark (and I mean dark—0 brightness) flesh pit. Though I scrapped the project I still think there was plenty there to differentiate it from its peers, and this is without even utilizing Boom features for level gimmicks or custom textures.

Anyway, back to what I'm supposed to be doing.
MAP02: Nifty map! I like what it did with its small amount of real estate, which was pretty much fill it with hitscanners and watch the player panic. Two small touches I enjoyed were the blue key markings on the blue key pedestal, and how the exit room had that pyramidal roof. This was a much better showing than MAP01, harkening back to some early Doom wads with its humble size and need for speed.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP02: Brass Square
100% kills, 3/3 secrets

A tiny-ass map here, but like last one it seems larger due to the use of vertical space, as well as having a large chunk of the map (containing zombiemen no less) in a walled-off area behind the start. Not much else to say about it... it's a bit overloaded on supplies, which takes a lot of the toothiness out of it.

[Benjogami]

MAP02: Brass Square

FDA

I enjoyed the backpack and berzerk secrets, as well as the tie in to the chaingun (actually, I opened the map in DB2 to find the secret that I missed, and it turns out that I got the chaingun incorrectly, so I take back my praise!!). The secrets are pretty easy to find (except that third one!), but I probably wouldn't have found them otherwise, so that's cool. They reward observation.

The midi is a nice-sounding rendition of a good song. Does it fit this map? Sure, why not.

The 2 throwaway cacos at the end could have been used for a cooler reveal later in the wad, but we've all seen plenty of cacos by now, so why not throw them in?

[SoundofDoomDoors]

MAP02: Brass Square
100% Kills/66% Secrets

-I got the chaingun in a nonstandard way too (SR40). No idea how you get it legitimately.
-Hitscanners are used well here to keep the pace high.
-It just doesn't last long. Early Scythe is a good comparison, and I LOVE Scythe.
-The cacos drag a bit. I guess he used a skeleton at the end of the last map, so that's out. Maybe a hell knight in the exit area would have been less spongy than the three guys I killed to top off my monster count.
-It's not as tight on anything as the first level. Perhaps that's my carryover talking.
Overall: This is my kind of pacing. The caco sponges at the end are ominous.

[baja blast rd.]

Here's a UV-Max for map03 (2:24). (Not going for a record pace.)

http://www.mediafire.com/download/4brt3th4kwg6st8/bstain03_rdwpa_uvm.lmp

map03

This map is simple and somewhat fun to play with a number of (aggro) styles. Once again, a variety of weapons are available, and all of them are reasonably fun to use here and there. Downsides are the geometry is awkward in a lot of places, because of the small scale and intrusive detailing. I don't really like this detailing style; it seems to exist purely for polish, and it doesn't really have much of an identity. But it looks nice here, especially the hexagonal nukage cracks, and it even helps cultivate a sense of place -- that of a dilapidated, well, what the map name says.

This map also introduces those, uh, assassin-looking things, which are kind of odd. Their death animations are poorly animated, and given their DPS potential, they occupy a weird valley of HP between the usual cast of hitscanners and the mid-tier monsters. At 120 HP, they aren't sturdy enough to meaningfully function in a tankier role, but they also can survive a bit more punishment than it looks like they can. I'd have more fun fighting them at either 90 HP or 200. But given the enemy placement tendencies of the wad, it's probably a good thing they don't have more. :)

[SoundofDoomDoors]

Since rdwpa played early, I decided to follow suit.

MAP03: Conquered Quarters
100% Kills/100% Secrets

-I went for a rambo approach to the opening half or so of the map. It was great. Pipicz leaves a lot of everything lying around. I bet he likes playing the same way.
-The new hitscanners reduced me to 20 health. Then I went back and found the secret with the two spheres. Perfect timing. I wasted the last guy in the exit room and left with a big grin on my face.
-They seem to occupy a niche between a shotgunner and a chaingunner, but have more health than either of their vanilla cousins. First impression: I don't like it. I'm used to the soft but powerful custom enemies from last month's wad.
-The hexagonal detailing pipicz uses on the floor here in the outdoor areas is something I've seen before. z86 does it a lot in Hellbound. I picked up the idea from him and it even shows up in my DUMP 3 map, so I like it. rdwpa is of course entitled to his own opinion.
-The point blank hell knight to the face when you get the SSG is a dick move.
Overall: Other than the hell knight, I love this map.

[baja blast rd.]

I change my mind about map03. The lift into the imp/demon moshpit is really bad. The monsters can be alerted (by sight and sound!) while the lift is lowered and then block it or move into position to get an infinite scratch in. Even you get a clear pass, sometimes an imp attacks instantly. Monsters left alive can board the lift while you're trying to descend it. Monster blocking lines would actually be useful there.

SoundofDoomDoors said:

Since rdwpa played early, I decided to follow suit.

This thing revolves around dobu gabu maru time, tbh.

SoundofDoomDoors said:

-The hexagonal detailing pipicz uses on the floor here in the outdoor areas is something I've seen before. z86 does it a lot in Hellbound. I picked up the idea from him and it even shows up in my DUMP 3 map, so I like it. rdwpa is of course entitled to his own opinion.

I don't understand the last sentence.

[Spectre01]

Map 03: Conquered Quarters Demo

The difficulty gradually ramps up. This map shows some more teeth than the previous two and introduces a new enemy as well! The level is quite fast and compact, continuing with the Scythe 1 feel. However, the main arena this time can be dangerous as there is a horde of Imps to distract you on the ground, two Cacodemons and a large number of various snipers scattered around cages and elevated parts of the map which you'll visit later. It's a good idea to use the starting room as cover to take out as many threats with the regular shotgun you're given. The next step is to rush the backpack and Chaingun in the top left corner, which lets you make short work of the hitscanning dudes and Cacodemons. There's also a Chainsaw and Berserk if you'd rather use those on the floating tomatoes.

We find our first SSG of the wad in a room with some Chaingunners and a simple 3 switch "puzzle". Grabbing the boomstick exposes a Hell Knight and six Imps in a very cramped area, so if you run in there with 33 health or something, you're gonna have a bad time. The main building is packed with Imps and Demons/Spectres, so it's a good idea to lure some down the elevators so you don't find yourself cornered and bitten to death after going up. I find punching to be the best way to clear that area.

There are some dudes and Imps in the adjacent building that opened up, but upon grabbing the yellow key, there's a triple Chaingunner warp-in to the right as well as mid and low tier enemies in the starting room. I like how the map progression loops around like that and uses the small space really well. After riding the lift up, there's a VERY useful secret Blur Sphere in the closest cage, which then teleports you through the other cages and gives you a Soulsphere as well. It's a good idea to move fast here while you have the invisibility since the final area is hitscanner heaven. After clearing all the weak dudes comes the most dangerous part. Now, the first time I played this I think I died almost instantly. When you open the door, you are greeted by an ambush of 5 or so autoshotgun Z-Sec zombies, two of which warp in behind you. These guys fire 3-shot combos and have enough HP to require a good SSG blast to take down. Having invisibility makes this section easy though, since you can run back while avoiding most of the damage and then use the SSG to clean them up. Beyond the exit door is two more of those lads, so keep that SSG handy.

Fun map with some interesting encounters and good detailing. I especially like how the nukage pools leaking through the tiles look with the dirt texture around them. The midi kicks ass too. Also, my impression posts apparently end up looking like a walkthrough.

rdwpa said:

Here's a UV-Max for map03 (2:24). (Not going for a record pace.)

That's a rather ballsy demo m8. I thought you were well-known for playing cautiously? :P

[Steve D]

Map02 takes us into the Brass Square, and there's little more to it than that. However, I thought it was a fun little romp, and since I played it just before breakfast, with bright light streaming in through my windows, I had the added difficulty setting known as, "I can't see a damned thing!" :D Thus, this hitscanner-heavy map succeeded at placing me in dire peril. I found myself shooting back in the general direction of where I thought the enemies might be. My guesswork paid off, since I prevailed and managed to not die.

Luckily, the Cacos were highly visible thanks to their blinding red color. Since I found every secret except the Zerk after all the monsters -- except the exit Sergeants -- were dead, the Chaingun did me no good against the Cacos, but will be handy in the next map. And no, I didn't do the SR50 jump to the CG from the Zerk platform. "Damnit, Jim, I'm a keyboarder!" and I can't do things like that. ;D

As DotW observed, the tiling sky texture viewed from the Zerk platform was a jarring note in a modern map. There were also some poorly aligned brick textures here and there, enough so I noticed them even while playing in Mr. Magoo mode.

However, I thought the city motif was nicely done, and the map had some bite-size charm. And if we must have a difficulty curve, this was a nice climb up the ramp.

rileymartin said:

Plutonia pretty much did just that where it starts hard and maintains that difficulty throughout the whole wad.

Funny, after all these years, I still haven't played that one. Perhaps it should go on the DWMC list sometime?

[Megalyth]

Map02 - Brass Square

Kills 100% / Secrets 100%
Drink of choice - Apple juice

A fun map, though extremely short and easy. Decent architecture and no apparent texturing issues, nice music. Not much else to say.

Map03 - Conquered Quarters

Kills 100% / Secrets 100%
Drink of choice - The rest of my glass of apple juice

Seems like we're getting to the meat now. This map has more substance than the previous one, despite also being on the small side. A more open lay-out in the first section makes play more dynamic, and the presence of tougher enemies (including a custom monster) upped the challenge a bit over the first two maps, but it's off-set by plentiful health and armor.

Visually the map looks nice, good texturing and detail, and improved use of lighting. Simple details like the support beam ledges and everyone's favorite missing hexagonal tiles add character, along with good use of decorative sprites (if a tad samey in places). Quite a few mis-aligned textures (although not overly glaring) could have been easily ironed out with a few minutes of extra work.

A fitting music selection, lively enough for battle yet subdued enough to avoid cacophony.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP03 Conquered Quarters

Another open-aired, yet still small and Scythe-like, level. Gotta love that SSG secret and the switches for it. Mini-puzzles like that are just cute, man. Also the string of teleporter secrets where it's possible to telefrag some enemies, tons of small enjoyment. The SS is replaced by a rather generic soldier, though.

[mouldy]

I already played half this wad on UV, I had to stop because the gameplay was getting a bit grindy but I figure I will have another go on HMP in the hope that with fewer monsters things will speed up a bit. I'll be doing pistol starts.

MAP01 - "Inception”

Compact starter map, would have gone a little quicker if I didn't get momentarily confused by the switch that opens the bars to the blue key opening another set of bars as well. I like the cheeky shotgun drop trap, and the fact that it is copy and pasted for the exit trap. Speaking of the exit, thats a peculiar way for a door to open, not sure the revenant could even do anything apart from get shot to death. Would maybe have been better to try and hide the rev behind a central wider bar so that a hasty player might not notice it is there. Otherwise its just a meat wall. Then again a surprise rev in that small room would be a bit harsh for map01.

MAP02 - "Brass Square”

Wow that felt brief. I'm not complaining mind. It was basically 3 rooms, not much more I can say about it. The chaingun makes a guest appearance, wish i had got that before killing the cacos.

MAP03 - "Conquered Quarters”

This one killed me, after running outside to escape the yellow key trap i hadn't noticed the chaingunners who materialised. After that I rushed my second attempt and nearly bought it at the exit, I had forgotten about those new enemies. Tough bastards they are. I'm already starting to notice the ongoing theme of this megawad which is using monsters as angry scenery. They are sprinkled about the place, decorating shelves and stuck in walls like living gargoyles. Nothing unusual about that in the doom universe, though it can drag a bit clearing them out if there are a lot of them.

[rehelekretep]

demo here

ok, getting a bit more fun now!

+ loved the broken flooring with dirt and nukage showing through
+ really like the colours in this map
+ nice detailing
+ cool MIDI
+ custom enemies! a nice surprise i wasnt expecting

[Jayextee]

MAP02 - Brass Square

Eyes are very funny things, or more specifically the tear ducts. Associated primarily with heightened emotions such as happiness or despair, tears actually serve to protect, clean and lubricate eyes -- removing dust, dirt and other particulate matter; and also preventing eyes from drying out, which may damage them.

On average, we tend to blink and remove these tears 14 times in a single minute. Apparently during computer use, this is reduced by half to a mere 7 times per minute, and during one of these seven blinks I fear I may have missed this level.

MAP03 - Conquered Quarters

But oh, sweet, I have a chaingun now (Hey SteveD, that was only a SR40 jump! Depending on your keyboard setup it's totally possible. :P ) so it turns out blinking regularly is a vital human function, even for us Übermensch classic Doomers.

*cough* A better map. I don't mind short maps, but seriously MAP02 took the biscuit somewhat. This too is a very short map, but not without its entertaining moments. First of which, the tiny switch-hunt for the SSG; it's clear the author wanted me to have the thing as much as I wanted the thing, so why not? Neat Hellknight/Imp reveal as I got the thing - totally expected but not unwelcome boomstick fodder.

Next surprise moment was the ambush of repurposed SS Troopers at the end, one I was not prepared for, taking me down to 14% health sadly. Luckily, I did save the berzerk pack early on for such an event (having encountered chaingunners influenced my decision there) so I trotted back for it to refill before exit.

[Benjogami]

MAP03: Conquered Quarters

FDA skill 3 100 kills 100 secrets

Lots of through-the-door combat on this one. The yellow key ambush is particularly unfortunate, because it had so much potential, but the revenant couldn't come through the door to play. He made the HK mad, and I waited a long time for that infight to resolve because neither could charge in and seal the deal. They just danced side to side on the other sides of the doorway, taking opportunistic potshots, much like I did at a couple other spots in the level.

The bones of midi are really good in this one, but there's some excess fat: a pleasant, sunny-day interlude in what's otherwise a groovy bass and rhythmic guitar grinder.

Others have covered it better, but yeah, the custom hitscanner guys seem entirely extraneous. Barely heartier than a chaingunner and much less threatening. It's sorta like fighting chaingunners but in slowmo.

I stumbled straight through the level to the exit, so I took the time to look around, get the chainsaw, berserk, chaingun, SSG, and blur sphere that I missed. I don't think the SSG secret should have been marked as such, but it was a neat little "puzzle" and encounter. The blur sphere secret was really cool, and the extra stuff was a good way to make that secret rewarding, because of course the blur sphere by itself isn't much of a reward.

[Steve D]

Map03 takes us to the Conquered Quarters, which might be putting the cart before the horse, given that we must actually conquer the quarters first. ;D

There were things I liked and disliked about this map, though in the end the disliked parts seem to carry the day.

I managed to die straight off by running outside at the start, at least once I'd cleared some of the Imp clutter that mobbed the door. Definitely a twist on the Toxin Refinery "Door Fight" style of opening, but somewhat easier because the Sergeants were elevated snipers rather than on-the-ground threats. I was doing okay, but I fell for the Caco distraction and couldn't locate a Chaingunner that buzzed me now and then, but just as I killed the Caco, Chaingun Charlie walked around the corner and took me out. Having died this way, I assessed the opening as one big distraction fight, where Meat was used to lure you away from the hitscanners that posed the only real threat, and those fuckers were everywhere.

Thus chastened, I resorted to door-camping the start, and this map encouraged camping on about 4 occasions. The next one was the Imp/Pinky elevated room. I tried shooting the feet of some Imps, but lost patience. rileymartin said you can lure some Imps down for slaughter, but the way things turned out for me, I might as well have waited for Miley Cyrus to knock on my door and say, "Steve, I've been dreaming about you, and I have this sexual itch that has to be scratched." Right, so obviously I had to ride the lift up and take the health loss -- yet still ruefully note another Medikit in front of a switch! ;D

Next came the nifty bridge room to the yellow key path, with elevated hitscanners plus Imps and Chaingunner below. Yes, this is turning into a door-camp spectacular. Then we have the misfiring yellow key trap. I think it was poorly-designed, because the instant I grabbed the key, Chaingunners teleported onto the ground immediately to my right and were quickly dispatched, while big monsters roared inside the start room. I chaingunned a Revvie at the door, then chaingunned a Hell Knight at the door, then chaingunned and shotgunned a Revvie restrained by a block-monster line at the door on the other side of the room. Everything was dead yet I hadn't set foot inside the place!

At this point, I figured I'd encounter more heavies, so I took the opportunity to grab the SSG I'd left behind. I actually enjoyed this trap. At least it worked. ;D But it took a lot of health outta me and, unlike some of the more intelligent players, I'd grabbed the Zerk early thinking there'd be a lot of Pinky action. Psych! Thus, I was at 55% health when I encountered the Z-Sec Assassin Jagoffs at the exit. Talk about getting a barbed-wire broomstick up the ass!

I died several times, although I almost made it on 3 occasions, but with health down at 5%, I couldn't get past the final 2 jagoffs. Without more health, I was essentially stuck. Now, I had earlier spied the Soulsphere hiding in an Imp sniper hole, and I tried like crazy to find the secret path, failing miserably, of course. So I decided to pause for awhile and read the thread, to see how others were reacting to this. As luck would have it, rileymartin saved my ass by describing the secret path. As I took this path, I had sentimental memories of Slava Pestov's teleport ladder from Map08 of Realm of Chaos. Now armed with a Blursphere and a SS, I cleaned out those jagoffs at the exit with no problem.

But IMO, that's part of the problem. The first thing I noticed about these new jagoffs was that an SSG blast did not take either of the first 2 down. Then I noticed I had 2 behind me and 2 more in sniper holes above. 6 rapid-fire shotgun jagoffs who don't die easy is nasty business for any player who comes in with half a tank of health. And then 2 more behind the exit door, and no cover at all. And on top of that -- fuck you, continuers! -- no traditional 2 Medikits at the exit. The beauty of designing for pistol start is precise balancing, and for pistol-starters, pushing that exit switch at 1% health and zero armor is victory. For continuers, it's disaster. Especially the way Map04 starts. Heh, I can imagine Pavel saying, "All you assholes who laughed at my first 2 easy maps, how you like me now!" :D

Okay, okay, I apologize! :D :D :D

After the really nice MIDI in the last map, this one was almost good but ruined IMO by the keyboardy sounds. As with the earlier maps, this was nice-looking, complete with the fancy groundwork around the nukage sectors. I guess that the exit, which in my case required 2 secret items to beat, dragged it all down for me.

@Jayextee -- actually, I can do SR40, I just need a bit more ramp to get a running start. ;)

[Aquanet]

MAP03: Conquered Quarters

HMP, pistol start. I generally don't like custom enemies that are small and tough and sort of hard to pick out in the crowd, for example recolored strife troopers. These here guys encourage cover-taking and swearing, a role already filled by the chaingunners.

This is a favorite map type of mine with little buildings and Scythe-like progression. Good looping around. The revenant-behind-the-door fight is kind of junk, but I love the SSG room. I suck at secrets and appreciate it when there's a nice difficulty scale ranging from pushover to mysterious.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP03: Conquered Quarters
100% kills, 2/2 secrets

I had planned to launch another complaint about this level being over-stocked and far too easy (even after the stupid imp/demon lift), and then I opened the last door and got ripped apart by the Z-Sec Troopers. Okay, now I'm actually gonna look for secrets first, and found the SSG and blur sphere and finish it up. Another tiny map, and the texturing scheme continues to make me weep (seriously, check out that final area... four different beige brick textures, so it's both busy AND boring at the same time!), but at least this one actually forced me to try a bit, even though the amount of doors keeps things wildly in the player's favor. I have no idea why a second lift needed to rise in the bridge room, weird choice there.

I generally like seeing custom enemies thrown in, though I'm not sure how meaningful the Z-Secs will be... Benjogami makes a good point that they're just like slower chaingunners, both in their threat (since they shoot slower like the Nazis) and time-to-kill (since they have more HP) which is generally the wrong direction to move in, IMO.

[40oz]

If anyone wants to watch some demos, here are some of mine. I don't believe in FDAs, these are "first completion attempts" basically. So theyre kinda like FDA's except theres some pre-knowledge in the first half and the second half is just winging it after I gain ground.

People give this wad a hard time but I liked it for what it is.

MAP01: Inception

MAP02: Brass Square

MAP03: Conquered Quarters

[baja blast rd.]

Speedruns and casual repeats are > FDAs for sure, except for the rare people with an artistic sort of FDA style.

[Spectre01]

Map 04: Fallout Shelter Demo I recorded this before playing the map "proper" in Zandronum so it's full of wallhumping as I forgot where all the secrets were. :P

This is an interesting map when played pistol start, especially when you spawn into a rather nasty gangbang with just your pistol. I quickly take a hard right and weave past the enemies to grab the green armour and then head up the stairs to the blue key area for the Chaingun and Shotgun. There's some nice background detailing there with the rocks and slime falls. Using the high vantage point, it's convenient to thin out some of the Imps and Demons below, then jump down and do some Berserk punching on whatever is left. I found myself doing some Muhammad Ali boxing for a bit on the lost souls, demons and Revenants that show up. There's a standout wall texture to the left which opens up a secret, with another switch on the control panel to reveal a shortcut back to the blue door and a nice blue armour.

There's a very telegraphed trap at the switch at the end of a long hallway which is best handled by rushing back and punching/shooting the closet demons that aren't infighting. Lowering the blue key spawns two Mancubi which you can take out from the balcony near the switch. In fact, it's probably better than fighting them from the hallway in the starting area where there is less cover. Past the blue door and up some stairs is a notable SSG pickup trap which releases a TON of Chaingunners and Z-Sec in very close proximity. It's best to quickly switch to the Chaingun and take out the enemies as they come while taking cover behind the pillar there.

There's also a dark room with plenty of hitscanner traps, which I find best handled by triggering and then luring the enemies out into the bright area. There are two secrets behind the slime fall opposite and to the right of you after the dark room. There's a Rocket Launcher pickup and a Soulsphere that triggers a mild Imp ambush. After riding the elevator up and taking out those 3 annoying Revenants, and surprise Fatso, you meet the first Archvile of the wad guarding the red exit door with a bunch of other friends. Few ways to go about this: You can head down to the red key balcony and shoot from there, using the left and right slime pits as cover. Or, you can run back to where the SSG was and fight from there. Playing with mouselook is much nicer here since you can actually see what the hell you're shooting at below you. Four Revenants past the red door and exit and you're done.

Pretty standard techbase map in the style of map 01 with some smooth difficulty progression as the wad moves along. For the 2EZ! crowd, it definitely gets harder and map 06 is probably where I feel the wad really kicks into gear.