The DWmegawad Club plays: Speed of Doom

[gaspe]

MAP15: It's in line with Joshy's previous tech levels, but a bit more expanded. Enjoyable level overall but it feels clumsy with its harmless spiderdemon, the eastern section with the mancubi, the arachnotron that teleport but are inoffensive this time, the caged cyberdemon. The spiders were used well in the start, especially if you pistol start they make a good pressure as you don't have a strong firepower yet.

[rehelekretep]

map15 fda

in lieu of a write-up, i present to you one of the luckiest escapes ive ever had ;D

 

Edited May 9, 2017 by rehelekretep

[rehelekretep]

map31 fda

not sure what to say about this one. it suffers (through no fault of its own!) of being homage'd so that it no longer feels fresh.

the action is OK, if a little rev-heavy and slightly repetitive. i think the highlight was the corralling of the massive hordes of revs with just the pg/rl at the start when you drop down into the interior of the base. once you get the bfg it becomes a little bit run-of-the-mill.

Edited May 9, 2017 by rehelekretep

[Spectre01]

54 minutes ago, rehelekretep said:

does anyone know why free-look players always look slightly lower than the standard height? its something ive noticed in the few demos/videos ive seen...

At the start I was focusing mostly on the Baron projectiles, which basically flew across the floor. It doesn't affect aim while recording so you can look wherever you want. Looking down slightly also gives you a better sense of the terrain and helps to keep your perspective more on what's happening instead of the top half of your screen just showing the skybox and whatnot.

[Joshy]

2 hours ago, rdwpa said:

Heretic, a skilled player, has some FDAs for SoD hosted on DSDA. The death counts can serve as a general proxy for how hard maps are, which can be useful for those who want to continue playing without saves on all maps but the most lethal. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Game:      Doom 2
Pwad:      SOD.wad (Speed of Doom [version 17.03.2010])
          http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/wads/SOH/SOD.zip
Category:  UV-FDA
Exe:       PrBoom-Plus 2.5.0.7 -complevel 9

Map: Total: Last:  Ds:  K/S:   
01    4:21   4:16   0  100/50
02   14:14   7:42   1  100/40  -skipsec 388
03    6:38   6:31   0   98/66
04   16:32  15:37   1  100/100 -skipsec 50
05   15:44  15:39   0  100/100
06   21:04  18:00   2   84/42  -skipsec 178
07   26:50   9:16   3  101/100 -skipsec 1048
08   13:48  13:40   0  114/66  !
09   13:30  13:25   0  114/100
10   16:16  16:11   0  103/80
11   19:49  19:42   0  106/50
12   24:14  13:46   1  102/80  -skipsec 621
13   18:27   9:28   2  100/0   -skipsec 533
14   36:37  30:50   1   80/50  -skipsec 338
15   20:33  20:27   0  102/0   !
16   28:09  10:01   3  100/100 -skipsec 1081
17   10:38  10:33   0  100/0
18   64:37  23:14   7  102/80  -skipsec 2477
19   17:48  14:31   1  101/100 -skipsec 192
20   33:34  33:29   0  104/75  !
21   19:19  19:12   0  100/100
22   15:09  15:03   0  103/66
23   36:29  24:50  12  109/100 -skipsec 694
24   44:11  17:35   4  102/71  -skipsec 1589
25   31:17  12:47   2  113/100 -skipsec 1107
26   34:14  34:08   0  103/25  !
27   44:41  32:22   7  101/33  -skipsec 732
28   40:05  38:19   1   99/0   -skipsec 100
29   60:54  33:03  13  100/100 -skipsec 1662
30    8:01   3:03   3  157/100 -skipsec 292
31   23:02  22:57   0   98/75  !
32   45:00  22:04  15  101/100 -skipsec 1372
33   65:32   9:29  10  106/75  -skipsec 3356

Nikolay "Heretic" Kamnev
evildoomer@mail.ru
 

 

Joshy wins the pelt battle 55-24, not including map33. 

 

Fuck yeah

[Nine Inch Heels]

I felt like chiming in here, because these two maps are something I have a lot of fond and not so fond memories of. Back a few years or so, when I started to rediscover my love for this game, I was looking all around the internet to see what's "hot", and eventually stumbled upon SOD and these two maps, among other things like "no guts no glory" from AV. Back then I was in a spot where I would have deemed pretty much anything remotely close ("remotely close"... yes, I make a lot of sense today) to sunder as virtually impossible to beat (for me that was the case back then, to be quite honest). So these two became kind of like my entry-level-drug for slaughter maps, which I had a growing interest in.

 

MAP31: 101001010

Not gonna lie, when I first started playing this thing, it tripped me up like no tomorrow. For a newbie such as myself back then, this thing looked ridiculous, but somehow felt "within reach" at the same time. Not to mention that "Stars" by stewboy was something that just mesmerized me. Still to this day, when I hear "stars" in another wad, it's this map that I think about, and when I close my eyes I can almost see it. So, I liked the map back then (still like it today), I liked the music, unsurprisingly I played it often enough to know what's up with it. Eventually I had a first successful UV max clocking in at 12 minutes or so. Just thinking of that gives me good feelings. Eventhough I would consider this map as too easy nowadays, back then it was hard for me to do at all. It felt like an accomplishment, it made me smile.

 

Now that I played it once more, I think this map is still a really good entry-level-map to get into slaughter, however it is lacking some things that would have made it a bit more "timeless" for me. rdwpa is probably right about the absence of arch-viles. Eventhough they don't fit in terms of theme for this map, because the intermission screen says something like "unforgiving world governed by technology", they really could have spiced things up quite a bit. Be it for the sake of area-denial or the usual revives and ouchies, Viles would have been great here. I am not sure if this map would be better if it was a pure BFG-spamfest. I could imagine it being a lot more fun already, if the ammo management had to be centered around the idea of viles to begin with, while providing a little more ammo in general as well. I guess this map is simply to easy to route around the keys and/or keens, so a little something more to make it a nice, nigh timeless warm-up slaughter would have gone a long way, I believe. Of course, dropping in 80-100 viles in specific locations would work fine today, but I think at the time, that would have thrown a lot of people off the wagon.

 

That aside my biggest gripe with it as of today is, that it barely requires any strategical thought on the player's side, for the mere purpose of beating it. However awesome the geometry may look (and it looks classy even to this very day, in my opinion), it creates problems in the sense that it doesn't quite allow/encourage things like crowd-shaping-scenarios/"tricks". For the most part it is about funneling things and holding the trigger down, if I were to play it simple, which is way too enticing to do here. That's something I am not so keen on. It's almost like the layout of the map made the author hesitant to drop the hammer where he could have, but maybe that's just my perception, or my personal bias, for that matter.

 

MAP32: The Pyramid of Death

Back then this map seemed like a "major league" kind of ordeal to me. Being as inexperienced as I was at the time, it took me a while to figure things out on my own. Sure, I could have "copied" a run, but I wanted to do it all myself. I don't remember how many attemps it took me to get out of the starting area to begin with, but it's somewhere in the 20 attempts vicinity. Unbeknownst to me, there was an insta-pop cybie waiting with open arms, which is just utterly abusive in my opinion. Hashtag: Backtosquareone.

 

For the first time I decided to IDDQD the whole thing in order to be able to take my time and look at all the pieces on the board. This map, in a sadistic manner, changed the way I approached the more difficult maps back then and until this day. I started routing doom maps like I used to route shmups I wanted to score very high in. In that sense, this map opened up the door that I had to walk through in order to even consider getting at things like Sunder.

 

Still to this day, this map can quickly put you out of your "misery", and I have something like a love/hate relationship with it as a result. On occasion you just end up getting mauled somewhere, if things go horribly wrong in spite of the player following a reliable route. Thus, this map became something that I had mixed feeling about, because it didn't quite feel like it respected my time, if that makes any sense.

 

Looking back at it today, I feel like the timing on the flyers is absolutely whacky. I think they should start spawning in at the starting area once the player gets past the third cybie, thus pushing players towards the arena with the invul-sphere. If this map did that, it would be a lot better in my opinion. That's not to say I like floaty rubbish in wide-open areas to begin with. I simply feel like the timing on these flyers is not in line with how quickly the arena with the invul-sphere can be cleared. The cacos and PEs are like a good minute or so late to the party, probably even more, now that I think about it.

 

Back when I beat it for the first time, it didn't feel quite as good as beating map31, to be honest. I still have a hard time putting my finger on why that is exactly, but all things considered it was probably just an issue of my joy being tainted by a pop-up cybie, annoying flyers and two pairs of viles on either side of the pyramid, and the viles that spawned in on the pyramid iself later. The first things that came to mind when I beat it were "OK, that's good enough for today. Should I play it more tomorrow? Nah, let's move on to the next." Truth be told, it would be weeks until I returned to this map for another full run. It was satisfying to see I could still do it, but this map is nothing that I would ever want to optimize to a higher degree.

 

EDIT: Good grace... NuMetalManiac hates these two maps with a fiery passion O_o

Edited April 15, 2017 by Nine Inch Heels

[rehelekretep]

great point about the flyers!

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP31 1010011010

 

Yeah fuck this map. Obviously a world of technology would just doom us all right? What about the actual annoyance the monsters have here? Pop-up monsters make a return, and both revenants and arachnotrons combine battle formation with the already annoying as fuck mancubi using both ground and sniper tactics (in the case of the arachnotrons). If you don't hate these monsters yet, you will with this map. And the boss-type monsters do make themselves rather known. It's a hold-BFG fest in this one for the most part, unless you want to be an expert purveyor in the arts of infighting, which is fine I guess, but ah. Hellbound obviously took inspiration from this very map, even adding the Commander Keen scavenger hunt for the secret exit. If there's one thing that makes this map good, there's no arch-viles to speak.

 

MAP32 The Pyramid Of Death

 

One thing I really hated about N.G.N.G., which was mentioned here in the text as one of the maps obviously mixed into this conglomerate slaughtermap, where those asshole cyberdemons on the bridge being towering hulks who were full-stop roadblocks. The other thing? The barons in the moat. The most durable-non-boss enemy in hordes in a moat both feels stupid and a chore. Looks like both made it here, along with the almost usual slaughter tropes. If anyone survived that beginning on their first try, they cheated, no fucking doubt about that. And I'm playing this on ITYTD for the record.

 

So yes, BFG these bitches as much as possible, especially cybers, revenants, barons, zombiemen, mancubi, arachnotrons, spiderdemons, is that every one here? Yeah I think it is. Fuck all of them. Go to the northern part where the next juicy key to get is, and then bitch about it more when they are all on these embankments, now arch-viles and demons have been added to the mix. I try to stay as far away as possible, and then players 10 and 11, the hordes of cacos and pain elementals, come in from behind. Oh yes, and an arch-vile only pickup in the invulnerability, get out of here lol.

 

As for how to solve this level's switch ordeal, Joshy basically pulls a Whispers of Satan and makes switch presses entirely symmetrical, from the first to the last. Might as well hit them while fighting goes on anyways, looking out for new arch-vile popups at the red and yellow platforms (where's the fucking cover?), and then the semi-finale where another bridge cyber makes his presence known along with the archie on the pyramid and the demons that are actually more annoying than the cyberdemon himself. Fucking hell, this is probably the hardest slaughtermap I've played, ever. Not even recent slaughterfest maps could get up to this monstrosity. And yet the lost souls were the least of my worries again. No wonder they're my favorite enemies.

[NecrumWarrior]

Okay, four maps to get through today since I'm behind from visiting my mom. Better get started!

[Grain of Salt]

4 hours ago, rdwpa said:

Heretic, a skilled player, has some FDAs for SoD hosted on DSDA.

Where can I get sod_old.wad? The mekworx link is dead.

[baja blast rd.]

It's bundled in the link at the top of SoD's DSDA page. Last time I tried, you also had to use sodfinal.wad as a resource wad.

[Grain of Salt]

Thanks! That's weird, I thought I already had the DSDA version of sodfinal.

[The Bandit]

1 hour ago, Grain of Salt said:

Where can I get sod_old.wad? The mekworx link is dead.

I've got older versions of Swift Death with an unreleased map.  I guess I'll do a max of this one crazy map.  I forget which #.

[NecrumWarrior]

MAP14: Sledge (It hits you like one)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rr15bpd2kqzba7z/SoD_M14_Necrum_GZ24.lmp?dl=0

Kills: 57%

Items: 35%

Secret: 0%

Time: 12:13

 

Hoooooooolyyyyyyyyy SHIT! That was awesome! I am legitimately surprised I survived that map. I laughed; I cried; I shouted in victory; this is a great fucking map! It starts off in a slightly jarring fashion: the enemies are facing away from you. There's been so many instant encounters in this friggin WAD that it's a godsend when I am afforded a chance to think about my strategy. In fact this whole map is about strategy, despite its slaughtery appearance. I had a blast shooting my way through the initial horde, and had a pretty good feeling at that point that I was going to enjoy the whole map. That was only partially true. So you fight a few more smaller groups of enemies before reaching a large cavern where you can get the Yellow Key you need to progress. At this point the map throws a Cyberdemon at you, which actually seemed fitting as we haven't seen one in quite some time. I ended up kinda cheesing it, but had I desired to I could have fought the thing head on. Then the map splits off in two directions. I took the path to the Blue Key first, and in some respects I am glad I did and in others I wish I hadn't. If I had gone the other way I would have gotten the Plasma Rifle sooner which I think would have been useful for the ensuing chaos, but the Blue path actually gives a better route from the key to reach the Red one. I got the Rocket Launcher and dispatched the Arch-Viles without too much trouble, and when I emerged I discovered that the cavern had been populated by a literal army of demons. This frustrated me to no end so long as I tried to actually kill the horde. Eventually I got it in my head that I might be able to rush the key and head for the exit, so I started trying different routes around the demons until I found a way to run straight across the cavern, hitting the Blue Switch on the way, rushing past the Revenants for the Plasma Rifle then ignoring the Arch-Viles to head up stairs to the Red key and some needed armor, then doubling back to hit the Red Switch and then heading across the bridge. The next part took a few tries but once I knew where the switch was it was a simple matter of blasting through Revenant with the Rocket Launcher while still invincible to hit it, then making my way back out and heading for the door. It was exhilarating. Visually the map is quite striking but I didn't have much focus on how things looked as I was quite occupied with battle most of the map. This one is going on the list of favorites.

 

Favorite Maps:

1. MAP14: Sledge

2. MAP12: The Meat Grinder

Edited April 15, 2017 by NecrumWarrior

[Crusader No Regret]

Recollections of SoD

 

Map 11: I want to say there are no chaingunners in the alcoves at the start on HMP.  However, besides the archvile greeting and the death exit, I don't remember this map at all.  I did try this from pistol start a few times since the initail "unfair" perception I turned into an exercise in manipulating monster movement.  To an extent, the archvile can be lured into positions where it is possible to escape from its line of sight in the starting chamber.  And now I picture some evil mapper pulling an 'evade archvile in awkward space while waiting for a timed door to open."

 

Carryover gives the "nuke with BFG" option for an easy out.

 

Map 31: First things I remember about this map are the Keen scavenger hunt and the limited arsenal.  Only rockets and plasma to play with with BFG being key locked.  Another gimmick I didn't realize until I checked out the Doomwiki for giggles is the monster selection.  Only five kinds appear and they're the ones that have some kind of mechanical parts/cybernetics.  An interesting connection with the tech theme.

 

It's a relaxed and easy map overall where the player is free to set their own pace.  So if it's feeling too easy, rush forward and set lots of opposition loose.  Bit with dozen of revenants on the disco floor may be a bit tricky but the rest is only dangerous if one bites off more than they can chew.  There is a secret that requires shooting a distant switch so it is possible to make it missable but given that there's no reason to pistol anything, it falls into "it's your own fault" if it happens.  This is one of those maps I would enjoy revisiting without saves.  I wonder if someone will take up doing a Reality maxrun; it appears doable even with an aggressive approach.

[Nine Inch Heels]

@NecrumWarrior If you're interested, here's a somewhat "iffy" run through map 14 I just now put together, based on what I remember about the map, without giving a lot of thought to routing it properly for that matter. That being said, the time of 1m:56s can be easily beaten with proper planning. It's arch-vile jump free, so if you'd like to try and see if you can do it fast, maybe this helps:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cmvacupsm4c00hv/sloppySODm14speed.lmp?dl=0

Plays back with GZdoom 2.4.

Note that I have infinite tall actors and other classic doom "traits" enabled in my compatibility settings.

If you play it as freely as GZdoom etc allows, you should be abe to get faster results relatively quickly, if you want.

 

Other than that, I never gave sledge alot of love. It's fun, but it didn't hit me in the right places, unfortunately. From my point of view, this is more fun to run through, rather than clearing it. At least for me that's the case, because somehow it doesn't put a lot of pressure on me. I don't really feel inclined to clearing it, because most of the things are just too easy to get rid of. I'd really like to see a "modern sledge", though. More revenants, more cybies, more viles, more HKs, in the very same layout. Gimme some more rockets for that, some cell charges here and there, and I'll be a happy little kitten.

[baja blast rd.]

9 minutes ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

I'd really like to see a "modern sledge", though. More revenants, more cybies, more viles, more HKs, in the very same layout. Gimme some more rockets for that, some cell charges here and there, and I'll be a happy little kitten.

I'm on it!

 

[NecrumWarrior]

25 minutes ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

Plays back with GZdoom 2.4.

I am running that version and it doesn't want to load for some reason :/

 

Also, please no at the Arch-viles, I don't want to have a heart attack over here.

Edited April 15, 2017 by NecrumWarrior

[Nine Inch Heels]

3 minutes ago, NecrumWarrior said:

some reason

Could you be a little more specific? ;-)

[NecrumWarrior]

4 minutes ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

Could you be a little more specific? ;-)

If I knew specifically what was happening I wouldn't say some reason. :P

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/93856159814068826/6F01E037449CF4463660DB271BE23129B005498B/

Edited April 15, 2017 by NecrumWarrior

[baja blast rd.]

The most common reason for that error is it's not in the right folder (or more generally, not where GZDB is looking for it). 

Edited April 15, 2017 by rdwpa

[Nine Inch Heels]

5 minutes ago, NecrumWarrior said:

If I knew specifically what was happening I wouldn't say some reason.

is it just me or is there a "space" between the <filename.> and the <lmp>? Because that would explain it. Other than that make sure it's in the proper folder, like rdwpa said.

Edited April 15, 2017 by Nine Inch Heels

[Spectre01]

7 hours ago, NuMetalManiak said:

And I'm playing this on ITYTD for the record.

That's interesting. Any particular reason for that? I didn't think people used that difficulty all that much.

[NecrumWarrior]

I got it, turns out @rdwpa was right and it needed to be in the GZDoom folder. I thought I could load it like I would a WAD in my launcher. New to the whole demos thing and all.

 

@Nine Inch Heels I enjoyed watching your demo. Speedrunning isn't really my thing, more of a clear the room player, but this was a situation where I had to take some leads from speedrunning demos and videos I have seen for other maps to try and conquer a situation that otherwise seemed unwise to engage in.

 

Also I forgot to mention that I didn't care much for the music. I don't think it's awful but it does sound weird in some places where it switches from a minor to a major.

[NuMetalManiak]

28 minutes ago, Spectre01 said:

That's interesting. Any particular reason for that? I didn't think people used that difficulty all that much.

I've probably mentioned this before, but it always bugs me that since most people play on UV, they tend to misplace their things on certain difficulty settings. I'm quick to point out whether crucial things such as keys and teleport destinations are missing on certain difficulty levels. I was the one who pointed out this discrepancy on NEIS E3M6 if you were wondering.

[galileo31dos01]

MAP31: Time: 1:34:18

Wow suddenly all is black and blue around, and grey. So obviously, in a hard wad, the most difficult levels must be 31 and 32, that's law. So far I found myself dead 7 times, not too much, some could have been avoided but, dumb me... Anyway, this started with some arachnotrons near and far, and a wall of revenants, and some mancubus. My strategy was to lead the arachnotrons one bye one to shoot the revenants and the remaining enemies to fight with the mancubus as well as the new spawned enemies. I failed a couple of times but the third one was my best run. The next part was a failure after another, until the fourth attempt where I managed to wake all of the revenants while I was running around them shooting rockets as best as possible. Obviously the SMMs didn't make it, but they helped a lot. So that worked out fine, once I know what to do, the rest is easy... The following parts turned out fine for me, I managed to pursue infightings whenever was possible. Before that, I found a "7" in front of some metal bars, I thought "that means that there are 7 switches to open the door to the secret exit". Turns out they wasn't "switches" but commander keens, I loved that idea! Reminded me of Plutonia 2 ... After the blue key, it was time to hunt the yellow key. So I grabbed the BFG which I already had but it's always nice to grab another one. Headed to the blue door, and oh my... dumbness began... eventually a horde of revenants popped up but they weren't a trouble, the following hordes of arachnotrons and mancubus who started to infight immediately, and a SMM behind were the problem. My idea was to lead the plasma and fireballs that were coming to me, to the big spider. She eventually retaliated. But for the first time ever, she killed EVERYBODY and still turn out alive. I underestimated her and I was wrong, because she then killed me, in the dumbest way, instead of covering I had the crazy idea to "commit suicide". Actually, I was running around trying to get a lonely arachnotron to shoot her and that went bad. So in my second attempt she died in the battle, and I killed the rest of the enemies. Then I proceeded to grab the YK, which released a new horde of revenants and cyberdemons, and while I was watching them, another horde from behind was released. Obviously, massive infightings. It was still dangerous to stay there so I came out of that area. I heard 3 cybers exploded. The last one, who found me in the other area shoot a rocket, and for some reason the "strafe right" key didn't work (?) and he killed me... oh WHY THESE THINGS HAPPEN TO ME?! 

In my second attempt things went so much better but it lasted a long time. Ok once everybody in this map was eliminated, oh wait, there still are 7 keens. Thank goodness I found a computer map, that helped me a lot. So, again, once everybody in this map was eliminated I proceeded to the secret exit.

About the layout, loved it. The music was fine but only once the map was totally cleaned I got to listened to it carefully, it's a nice tune. Found 4/4 secrets. Excellent map!

According to the intermission text screen, the next map is a cross of Go 2 It (played), Go 4 It (played), and three other maps I would like to know where do they come from: Pharaoh, No Guts No Glory, Playground. Someone please?

 

Also, I used idclip and found a voodoo doll, why was there a voodoo doll? Does someone know?   

Edited April 15, 2017 by galileo31dos01

[Grain of Salt]

3 minutes ago, galileo31dos01 said:

Also, I used idclip and found a voodoo doll, why was there a voodoo doll? Does someone know?   

To trigger one or more line actions or to kill the player on cue. Many potential reasons tbh.

 

Also, the three maps you asked about are from TNT, Alien Vendetta and Hell Revealed 2 respectively.

Edited April 15, 2017 by Grain of Salt

[Spectre01]

Voodoo dolls in Boom are frequently used with scrolling floor closets to trigger multiple actions when the player only crosses a single line or flips one switch.

[galileo31dos01]

1 hour ago, Grain of Salt said:

To trigger one or more line actions or to kill the player on cue. Many potential reasons tbh.

 

Also, the three maps you asked about are from TNT, Alien Vendetta and Hell Revealed 2 respectively.

Oh yeah, TNT's map 31, how could I forget... I still have Alien Vendetta in my to play list, but none of the Hell Revealed wads

[Demon of the Well]

Map 14 -- Sledge - 101% Kills / 100% Secrets

At 700 monsters on UV, this is naturally the first map (of several) in the set where folks will begin to trot out the term 'slaughter.' Not particularly appropriate, IMO--bodycount aside, the placement density just isn't anywhere near there, given how airy and open the setting is, and the Teen Choice Awards (TM) revenant mob fight at the end doesn't really count since it's another just-for-the-hell-of-it V-sphere spree ala the closing encounter of map 10, earlier--but that's all mainly semantics, I suppose. It occurs to me that this is really quite a lot like the later stages of Doom 2016 in terms of framing: a mostly linear series of big freeform arenas (with some minor CYOA elements) populated by heterogeneous flash-mobs upon or just after the player's entry, with the only really ironclad precept of strategy being to stay on the move (Darkwave does actually have a few anti-camping measures, ala the second cyberdemon who appears on the pedestal at the path fork, chiefly around the keycard/powerup rooms, though only the most indolent of players will likely fall afoul of them). Run and kill, kill and run, occasionally run and don't bother to kill because the bad guys are more than happy to off each other for you in most cases.

 

It's a Jerry Bruckheimer production of a Doom map, large, loud and often brainless spectacle for the sake of it, but of course this doesn't mean it's not fun or that it has no depth--quite the contrary. Given the openness and minimum of progression-stalling lock-ins or the like, almost goes without saying that it's highly amenable to triggering the vast majority of the population to be active simultaneously (which makes for quite the min-maxy BFG slaughter roundup, something like a lite version of m28, if you plan things out right), but even played more conventionally there's some nice scope for varying experiences afforded by the choice of routes following the acquisition of the yellow key. I tend to favor the left/west fork first, myself, simply because I'm personally more partial to the RL than the PR as a general rule (it's also somewhat better for culling the handful of arch-viles which emerge in the distance in a couple of spots), though the other choice is equally as viable. Dig the RL 'trap' fight, incidentally, the "moving wall" thing is easily one of my favorites of the assorted vile-based memefights. The conceit of only one of the soulspheres at the keycard caches being (conventionally) reachable in a given playthrough has always struck me as a mite odd--not like it's a terribly stern or austere map to begin with, after all--but this is a harmless/interesting quirk rather than any kind of balance issue, of course.

 

The pleasant action is set against an open subterranean backdrop of huge caves, with a hardened bunker complex of some sort (which I imagine to be the setting of m15 up next) crouched in the lee of a massive bloody cataract. Returning to SoD after not having played it in many years, it has thus far struck me as being slightly less visually lush than I had remembered--a side-effect of ever-escalating aesthetic virtuosity in community standards, I suppose--and while I was somewhat surprised at how simple the lighting scheme here is (the great majority of weight being pulled by simulated contrast, imagine it would look unfinished to me in GL), the overall presentation is convincing enough. It's very clean-looking, the wide palette of textures and contrasting colors and rough organic shaping of the caves/terrain nicely offset by the striking verticality and long views over/across the main area. Inquisitive players will also be treated to another of Darkwave's hidden 'art fights' in another BFG-bearing pocket dimension--seriously, if the sequence of events there doesn't get at least a little bit of a smile out of you, I cordially suggest you find a different game to play. Something about the BGM track does indeed sound 'off' here, incidentally--whether or not this is the original mix, there's something like an HD (still midi) version of it in other PWAds, and so it's probably bordering on the uncanny valley just a bit for some.