The DWmegawad Club plays: Speed of Doom

[Memfis]

+++ New Gothic Movement 2 and Deus Vult 2

gotta vote against Urania

[dobu gabu maru]

That puts NG2 & DV2 at 3 votes and Urania at 5. Fingers crossed that some of us won't have to start anti-voting.

 

MAP05: This map is a bit mean, eh? It starts off pretty bumpy with a mastermind providing fire from her cozy little bunker as you try to dance around enemies and battle for every ounce of health. Once you deal with the chaingunner warp in the map stops putting up a fight, but boy howdy is it rough on you for the first few minutes. Also, I suspect I’m going to turn into a broken record at some point, but those insta-pop-up monsters are obnoxious—the HK in the grass hills didn’t even need to do that! And others like the pain elemental and mancubus acted more like buzzkills than fun surprises. Nice map besides that; I always respect a mapper when they use a Mastermind correctly.

 

MAP06: Coming hot off the heels of MAP06, the gloomy opening and austere music here was making me brace for a brutal ass-whoopin’ that never came. I still liked the larger setpieces—the imps on the bridge with revenants sniping you to the side was my favorite (you can hop down and cheese the imps but it’s much more fun to hold your ground up top), and I appreciated the arachnatron use in the RK fight. It’s kinda funny because despite the title of the map being “Dreamscape”, it stays fairly close to MAP05 in style, only funnelling you into a cavern instead of the sewers. Entertaining stuff, though I’ve yet to be floored by Darkwave.

 

Also, that BFG fight is absurdly Ribbiksian in nature—it’s only missing a neon midtex floor… and maybe some more barons… and to be circular instead of square.

 

MAP07: Didn’t mind the Dead Simple twist too much here—I liked having to move between the manc room and the cyber demon room to promote infighting. I suspect the fight would be quite a bit easier had I killed the cyberdemon beforehand, but I’m always up for a little additional challenge. Rest of the map was kinda a dud though—cramped, blocky, symmetrical, and chaingunners everywhere to halt your speedy progress. Would be the weakest map thus far had it not been for MAP03.

 

MAP08: This is our first non-atmospheric outing from Darkwave, taking place on a big shipping floor that’s been overrun by imps. I like that the spacious setting lets you tackle the encounters according to your playstyle, letting you camp corners or dash around using the crates as cover. The double AV surprise coming out of the red key was delightful, especially since I was low on ammo—fun fight there. The mastermind was also a bit tricky, since you need to use rockets to bring her down which forces you to constantly backpedal in order to stay away from her. While I like Darkwave’s atmosphere in the other maps a lot more (it’s really not too often we get eerie, abandoned Doom husks!), the combat here hit all the right notes.

 

MAP09: What a pain in the ass this map was. It’s not baaaad, it’s just cramped, dense, and riddled with hitscanners. I cornered myself with low health in my save file and must’ve ate like 20 deaths right in a row just trying to get to the AV behind the wall of zombiemen, salty that armor hadn’t been doled out earlier in the map. By the time I did grab the green armor, it was already 2/3rds of the way over, and the last third wasn’t anything special considering how well armed I was. This initial struggle, combined with the frequently noble & AV use to soak up ammo for no other reason than to soak up ammo, made this the least fun map thus far for me. I still think MAP03 & MAP07 are less well designed, but this was just actively crass and rude.

 

MAP10: Ah, not too often do we see the Hunted gimmick accompanied by another monster! This was a pretty nifty map. The setting is fantastic: In this gorgeous verdant valley lies the temple of the twin troublemakers, the fiendish foes soundly sleeping until you trespass upon their domain. A cursory glance may lead you to believe the map is going to be a predictable outing (every trap is gonna have a vile & PE somewhere, right?), but each of the fights are fairly unique and creative! Sometimes the viles and PEs will come together, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends, sometimes with an army—there’s a whole bunch of fun, engaging, fast-paced fights that really push you to dance around enemies in order to take out the head honchos. This is definitely gonna be the most memorable map from E1, I think. Brilliant stuff.

 

MAP11: This map on the other hand… I dunno. I feel kinda bad because Joshy is a really fantastic mapper but all these early Speed of Doom entries are just leaving me… lukewarm. There isn’t the same kind of silent, unnerving atmosphere present in Darkwave’s maps, and the combat in most of these outings skews way more towards “gotcha!” lock-in and pop-up traps, neither of which is done well enough to get me excited for more of Joshy's encounters. I’m kinda scratching me head at all of this because I had heard what a good duo Joshy & Darkwave make and how influential this set is, but with the closing of E1 there was like… two Joshy maps I said were good? Meanwhile the Darkwave stuff has been a hell of a good time overall, so I can’t help but hope Joshy hits his stride soon.

 

Anyway this map. Not too much I can remember from it—that pop-up HK in that itty bitty room killed me like 5 times in a row, so that’s probably the lasting impression it’ll leave on me. I do like how frequently Joshy uses cacos to harass at least.

[NecrumWarrior]

MAP26: Blessed Hellscape

Kills: 90%

Items: 62%

Secret: 50%

Time: 25:54

 

I think I'd like to die now. This was rough. I'm really not all that used to slaughter maps yet, having only recently started figuring them out. I decided to go for the Yellow Key first since it appeared to be the easiest to grab, the only major obstacle being a giant horde of Revenants you can easily lure into the in-fighting. This wound up only being partially true since the return trip included a Cyber and several Arch-Viles. Good thing there was a shitload of Revenants firing fireballs at the bridge to draw their attention. Next I went for the stairs, which I pretty much rushed into and then cleared all the Imps with my rocket launcher, keeping them as far from me as possible to avoid splash damage. More Arch-Viles after you grab the key. Goody. I was able to get them to kill the Cyber on the perch though so they were useful. Oh I forgot to mention the BFG. After the Yellow Key I ran over to grab it and, surprise surprise, teleported to a giant room with a bunch of Cybers and Masterminds. Plus one Revenant so you can't just sit around. Getting them to infight is super easy then run for the secret teleporter for the invulnerability, which helped me to scale those stairs without much effort. Back to the Red Key. After I cleared out the remaining enemies I scavenged for ammo, at which time I found the backpack secret. Goody. I could have used that much sooner. I ran up to where the Cyber was, knowing there were some medpacks, and found a switch that led to an alternate route (I tried the outer path to the key previously) and punched the Pinkies to death before letting the wall lower. Then I casually walked past the Revenants investigating cracks in the wall and ran past the cyber, grabbed the key then made my way back while all hell was breaking loose and went back up the elevator. Nice! Barely took any damage, too.

 

Mind you, all of this took several tries to accomplish. And yet, I think it took me as long to reach this point as it did to beat what came next. A huge Slaughter Army ensues after you gather all the keys, and boy was it a pain in the ass. I managed to beat it once early on, only to get owned by those MOTHER FUCKING ARCH-VILES waiting in the cave. I really should have saved before going in. So here's what my final plan of attack ended up being. I ran around the battlefield in a figure eight in an attempt to maximize in-fighting as much as possible. I avoided combat for as long as possible except to pick off Pain Elementals as they came along, knowing that they could be an issue later if I didn't. After picking up most of the health and armor, I started to cut through the remaining demons with my BFG. It worked, eventually. The Arch-Viles took a few tries too, and I ended up using my Rocket Launcher since they can reach their max effectiveness with less risk. Once they were dropped to just a few I picked them off with the BFG, then ran through the useless Blue Armor that is useless because I am pistol starting and straight into the exit. Yay! Somebody please shoot me.

[Grain of Salt]

+++ New Gothic Movement 2 and Deus Vult 2

[tourniquet]

+++ New Gothic Movement 2 and Deus Vult 2

[DAZZER]

MAP26: Blessed Hellscape
Time - 25:40

 

Gigantic Slaughtermap which starts slow but becomes faster and faster till the end. You get tons of Spawn Ins in hellish outdoor areas. Most of the time you have to use the RL cause the start doesn't give you enough Plasma Munition to Spam the BFG. When you continue you will see lots of archviles and get a tricky fight with 2 Cybers in a Room filled with Revenants and Hell Knights. After more Spawn Ins or Monster Cabines you get to the Final Fight with lots of Cyberdemons and I believe over 200 Demons which Spawn In. You get some Soulspheres and a Megasphere. Also you get many Plasma Packs. This Fight surely is pretty hard but if you get most of the Enemies to Infight with the Cybers you just can circle around and kill the Rest with the BFG. After a Horde of Archviles you can exit. I like the way these last Maps don't really fell like Slaughter cause you always have enough Space and don't feel crowded. and most of the Time the Fights doesn't end in BFG Spamming :)

 

 

[rehelekretep]

+++ Urania

Edited April 27, 2017 by rehelekretep
changing my vote for purely selfish reasons!!

[rehelekretep]

i havent played doom since the 22nd/23rd, when i put my FDA for m22.

why did i bother coming back? m23 could just be the biggest piece of shit masquerading as a 'map' ive ever seen in my life.

now i can see why riley used one word in his write-up.

even the opening megasphere pick-up is obnoxious.

jesus christ Joshy if it was you who made this, so help me god...

[rehelekretep]

life is too short for this nonsense.

[Lingyan203]

+++Urania would be nice to do for May.

[baja blast rd.]

 

7 minutes ago, rehelekretep said:

life is too short for this nonsense.

This strategy is pretty straightforward and reliable. Here's a whatever video of me, too, for convenience. You can do another loop if you can't get in immediately. The rest of the map is pretty non-threatening from that point on -- you easily have enough ammo and stuff to get rid of the cybers. That little corner I'm facing at the end is cover from both cybs. 

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by rdwpa

[NuMetalManiak]

8 hours ago, stewboy said:

That is not something I expected to hear from anyone!

HAH, I actually really enjoyed this track and thought it fit like a glove for this particular map. While I'm here, might as well talk about some custom tracks I may have neglected to talk about:

 

MAP09: Core

 

Heard this one quite a few times already replaying Valiant MAP05. Has the action going for it, and the volume is pretty mild for this track which I can get by.

 

MAP31: Stars

 

Looks like my rage got the better of me on that particular map and I haven't really remembered to talk about Stars. It's truly memorable, amazing melody with great instrumentation, well other than the loud twinkle noises I like it *puts flame shield up*.

 

MAP32: Egypt

 

Works like a charm for an action-packed slaughtermap. Not actually a memorable tune, but it works for the map.

 

MAP16: Getaway

 

I actually talked about this one and apparently was reminded of Core, but then again, that was because the title. There really is no resemblance to Core, sorry about that. On the other hand, this is a track that screams suspense with its cymbals and such, so it's good for this map.

 

MAP23: Great Hall

 

I ALMOST called this a stewboy track, then I realized that you made Vinefort instead, which is a remix of this track! Wonderfully crafted militaristic tune that works well anywhere, it's just a shame the level it is used here is so damn frustrating.

 

MAP24: Cavern

 

Great atmospheric track that goes well with the level it's in. That's all I can say really.

 

MAP25: Deep Forest

 

Well the level it's on sure as hell ain't a forest, it's another nice little ambient tune. Not sure if it works well in the level though (it was better in Resurgence MAP10 though).

 

Yay?

[Joshy]

2 hours ago, rehelekretep said:

i havent played doom since the 22nd/23rd, when i put my FDA for m22.

why did i bother coming back? m23 could just be the biggest piece of shit masquerading as a 'map' ive ever seen in my life.

now i can see why riley used one word in his write-up.

even the opening megasphere pick-up is obnoxious.

jesus christ Joshy if it was you who made this, so help me god...

All your base are belong to us. Seriously though, just skip the thing if it's bothering you that much.

 

1 hour ago, NuMetalManiak said:

MAP23: Great Hall

 

I ALMOST called this a stewboy track, then I realized that you made Vinefort instead, which is a remix of this track! Wonderfully crafted militaristic tune that works well anywhere, it's just a shame the level it is used here is so damn frustrating.

 

Jimmy did Vinefort as well.

[Paul977]

Map 26 - Blessed Hellscape

 

Cool map name. Aside from that I'm not a big fan of this level; I've completed it two time now and not had much fun playing it althought kill all the mobs at the end is rather satisfying.

Big issue I had is to deal with the absurd large revenants hordes and friends in that gigantic open field with only the RL and SSG: a boring task which takes away 8-10 minutes of time; on the other hand all the three key fights are good. The final area was rather tricky, especially when caught in some infinity tall (saved the invuln for that part). The BFG area looks great: seems like a sort of underground lake.

Overall a step back from map 24 for what concern atmosphere and gameplay, for my tastes

[Nine Inch Heels]

13 minutes ago, Joshy said:

All your base are belong to us.

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

[NuMetalManiak]

Oh goddamnit, Jimmy made Vinefort sound so stewboy-ish, for the longest time I thought it was a stewboy remix of Jimmy's track. Thanks Doomwiki, I really should be hanging around there 24/7.

[galileo31dos01]

I'm laughing so hard with your votes, go Urania for president!!

 

MAP26: Time: 1:39:54

This is so red, like so red. What a map. Slaughter maps are intense, and this was not the exception. It started with three revenants facing opposite to me, along with several important pick ups. To the left side, lines of rockets and a megacharge on a platform, obvious trap. To the other side, the SSG and shell boxes, another obvious trap. I went for the SSG first. I almost got killed, by a cute archie that I couldn't see before, so I had to reload because that was just fucked up. Anyway, section done, moved to the other side, I love rocket lines, it feels satisfying to grab them all. So more enemies were released and the best way to keep them busy infighting was to run in circles, I mean around the whole arena. Only a couple of cacos, a lost soul and those mancubus were still alive. I said bye bye to them and before I could even walk to the blue armor between the rocket lines, a massive horde of revefuckinants (and insignificant others) instantly popped up in front of my face, and I said "fucking bye I'm leaving". But the arena was already really wide so I just spent like 15 minutes running around while shooting rockets, safest way I guess. Then I proceeded to kill the mancubus on the stairs, but more enemies appeared from the other side. Repeated the process, run around, shoot rockets, bye you. I cleaned the stairs later, and to my surprise, a cyberdemon teleported on a platform inside that tower-like. He didn't kill me, but I spent a lot of time there, mostly because I didn't know there were a lot of archviles hidden next to him, so I had to reload and try them to burn the cyber for me. Like 20 minutes to finally kill them ALL. Then, I spent like other 30 minutes of trial and error with the RK area, only to find out that it could have been much easier to go from another point:

Spoiler

Yeah, I'm not ashamed to say that I reloaded many times until I figured out this way. Anyway, finally with a key in my hand, I went for the BFG (not that I needed it, just to see what kind of trap was going to show up). Wow, 4 cyberdemons, 4 SMMs, tremendously wide arena, who was going to be the last one standing?... The answer is, a Spider Mastermind conserving a lot of health, yes I like when she wins!!

For the next part, which was the BK, I used the secret invulnerability sphere. Probably without it I would have died many times there. But I actually died in the YK part. Not because of the revenants but because of the new enemies that blocked the path to escape and everybody killed me. Honestly that part was unfair, it was too narrow to escape from all of them. Still I could do it and killed them all, consuming more time that expected. With the three keys, proceeded to the last battle, which was the most exhausting part of the whole map. Even though I didn't die there, the fact that I was running around like 8 cyberdemons, BFGing like crazy, got me really anxious. The wall of archviles in front of the exit was pretty dumb, obviously one can shoot rockets from a distance that they don't even see you, what's the challenge here? Maybe if I crossed some line they would have been released freely, I don't care right now. Anyway, I could say bye to this map.

Found 4/4 secrets, I found the plasma rifle secret at the end, I had to noclip because there was no way to lower the fort again.

I liked the midi a lot. The inverted crosses looked good. Umm, yeah, liked this, nothing else.   

Edited April 27, 2017 by galileo31dos01

[Spectre01]

Some strong anti-Urania sentiment here. Y'all actually play it beyond a few maps or are large, non-linear levels not hip these days?

[rehelekretep]

map23 fda

ok i was being a bit of a bell-end; this isnt too bad once you get into the armoury, and have the 'sniper-AV' down, but getting to that point is pretty frustrating, starting with the placement of that megasphere. it really sets the tone badly; imagine if it had just given you those few things, on top of doomguy, à la AV25? much less of a chore. still, quite tense and fun once i got a foothold. still my least favourite after 32 (are you seeing a pattern? :p)

@Spectre01 well i can only speak for myself and i dont want to no-save through 1 hour long maps :p

@Joshy im sorry Joshy i didnt mean to be rude; i always die multiple times and then cry like a baby, then come back to the map in a more calm way and finish it.

 

Edited May 9, 2017 by rehelekretep

[Joshy]

@rehelekretep No worries! I am aware that most of my maps in SoD come across less as doom maps and more as strategic puzzle levels designed to induce existential crises (I feed off that crap); it definitely isn't for everyone so it's very understandable.

[rehelekretep]

'existential crises'

goddamn hole-in-one there :D

[baja blast rd.]

29 minutes ago, rehelekretep said:

cry like a baby

I think this one was intentional. :) 

[rehelekretep]

1 minute ago, rdwpa said:

I think this one was intentional. :) 

oh god it wasnt; its subliminal now!!! >.<

[NecrumWarrior]

1 hour ago, Spectre01 said:

Some strong anti-Urania sentiment here. Y'all actually play it beyond a few maps or are large, non-linear levels not hip these days?

Yeah, I don't know what the deal is. Like, even if it ends up sucking I wouldn't think that the point of this club is to always play the best Wads, it's good to go outside your comfort zone sometimes. But I can understand people voting for something else of its what they want. I don't get the people only voting for New Gothic 2 etc just so Urania doesn't win. 

[Spectre01]

MAP27 - “Hais Temple” by Joshy

 

I remember strongly disliking this map when I first played it, mainly due to all the high-HP snipers hiding in the dark in the large central area. My usual QZDoom setup only makes the dark parts worse so I did the playthrough in GLBoom+, hence the demo attached. I still think the central chamber is a load of wank and bollocks from a gameplay perspective but the side areas are more enjoyable. This is still in the top5 of the hardest maps in the wad due to some very close encounters and significant amounts of crossfire to deal with. It's also quite a long map when played normally, with my demo being something like 35 minutes. Apparently there's a Commander Keen or some hidden bullshit as the one enemy I missed despite killing everything else and finding all the secrets. Just checked Doombuilder. Yeah, that's some Grade A Mickey Mouse shit right there Joshy! I really like the midi here though, especially the soft keyboards after the 3 minute mark or so. One of the best in the WAD. This map's alright, but I'm still not a huge fan of it or anything else post-26 really. Next up, hold fire on BFG and hope your port doesn't get shit FPS. Oh, and I forgot to complain about how shitty the mouse is during demo recording again. Why the hell do other complevels support -longtics while Boom, the most popular format for demo recording, has dog-shit quality controls. Yeah, let's fuck with player input! How is this acceptable?

sod27_S01_UVMax.zip

Edited April 27, 2017 by Spectre01

[Nine Inch Heels]

3 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

What a map. Slaughter maps are intense, and this was not the exception.

This is why I don't understand your reason to vote for Urania, when instead you can have some nice slaughter every time by playing NG2 and DV2. ;-)

[NecrumWarrior]

8 minutes ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

This is why I don't understand your reason to vote for Urania, when instead you can have some nice slaughter every time by playing NG2 and DV2. ;-)

I'm going to play enough NG2 without it being in DWMC. I know Urania is probably going to get into the club eventually and I really want to play it and don't want to wait another month. I've trudged through Speed of Doom to get here, dammit!

[Demon of the Well]

^^ Nearly all of Joshy's best stuff in SoD is in E3, Dobu. Though some would beg heartily to differ, as we've seen!

 

Map 24 -- Hell's Honeycomb - 113% Kills / 100% Secrets

Quite enjoyed this, more than I expected to, actually. The level's an excellent contrast to and palette-cleanser after the roughhousing in map 23, in almost every sense. Level progression follows the classic 3-key scavenger hunt trope, with a strange series of keyed 'airlock' chambers near the start point serving as the requisite triple-lock. The keys can be gotten in any order, and upon acquiring the first of them it's likely meet to return to the starting area to collect the BFG under glass, sealed off by the rare 'any key' lock type (however, if you know your way around, you can acquire a different BFG without the need for backtracking via another trip to Darkwave's strange black-tiled Secret Dimension, though this also requires any key). Each sits in a different corner of the titular Honeycomb, protected by its own distinct setpiece or staged ambush, ranging from straightforward space-management fights around the RSK to an almost purely cinematic encounter with a small army of imps (with arch-vile commandants) that begins pouring through the 'comb towards your position as you pocket the blue skull.

 

Strategic implications of which key you approach first are relatively limited (though of course the cyb at the RK is less threatening if you already have a BFG at that point), and the level takes a sort of strange incomplete/halfway approach to interconnectivity, but given that this is essentially another pacer/breather level I think that the somewhat even-keeled staging, which doles out the action in a very steady rhythm no matter how one plays, suits the overall mood quite well. It's an easy map for its slot, to be sure, though not entirely without teeth--the first ambush will kill you quick if you don't react properly in an instant, and it's all too easy to get spooked and die to the cheeky cyber-ninja gank squad guarding the exit (<-- speaking from experience, I'm afraid), but for the most part it's an empowering/destressing level, combining a soothing atmosphere with a selection of bloody-but-manageable one-off fights.

 

The great majority of the combat is situated in staged action such as this, with purely ambient encounters occurring almost entirely within the surreal honeycomb web connecting the different key areas together, primarily taking the shape of lurking arch-viles (all 'deaf') to be routed out in ones and twos. This is not particularly strategically deep stuff, it's true, and it could be argued that the repeated use of a relatively tank-y monster that generally needs some modicum of caution is an untoward drag on the level's pacing, but I feel that it's brief enough (esp. once you start getting plasma weaponry) to avoid feeling overbearing, and the lack of challenge is not something I see as problematic, since the moments where you're moving through the actual honeycomb are meant to be more contemplative and focused on the surreal environment--good call, whoever it was that compared this to the ice-cave segment in "Stench of Evil" from Alien Vendetta. By contrast, I must strongly disagree with the comparison to map 07 of D2INO--the construction gimmick is somewhat similar, true, but this map is infinitely more concise and focused than that one (it's medium-length at most despite its expanse), and each of its monsters/encounters is placed to serve a particular purpose, rather than simply being used to fill space. The vast majority of the secret content is also found in the honeycomb as well, inviting one to really become immersed in it for its own sake rather than simply treating it as a footpath between objectives.

 

This wouldn't work if the presentation weren't effective, of course, but as we've seen by now Darkwave certainly has a penchant for atmosphere. The hexagonal gimmick, (I think we can fairly use the term in this case), coupled with skillful texture and lighting choices and the odd bit of off-model detail where appropriate, engenders terrain nestled comfortably in the uncanny valley, a thoroughly Doom-y environment that sticks in the mind by portraying an 'organic' environment in a distinctly regimented way that stands apart from the other landscapes depicted, where one naturally just tends to accept the curtailment of realism as a side-effect of this being an idtech1 game. The cordoned-off side areas where the keys are found, essentially just big, blank stark metal housings, look sterile and uninviting in comparison, though I'd put it to you that this is precisely as intended. As a topper, Stewboy's superb "Caverns" track fits the level like a glove, again underscoring the stark contrast this has with the previous level (and, in a sense, the contrast Darkwave0000 has with Joshy) and its use of Jimmy's Eternal-Doom-with-rabies track "Great Hall."

 

Map 25 -- Death's Nocturne - 108% Kills / 100% Secrets

Quite like this one as well, and as a bonus treat it's graced with "Deep Forest", another of my personal favorite of the earlier Stewboy midis. Leaving aside map 23 and its conspicuously over-the-top spike in short-term lethality (again, note the Scythe II parallels) as something actively intended to come a bit out of left field, I think that "Death's Nocturne" makes much the same statement that "Depredation", from much earlier in the WAD, does: we are passing another threshold, descending to a deeper level of savagery. Spatially, this is one of the smallest of a small lot, being set in a series of stuffy burrows and catacombs near a narrow bloody ravine; it is also almost comically dense with hellspawn, a trait which will persist in the rest of Joshy's maps until the game's conclusion. The opening ambush, which is arguably even more dangerous than the opening state of the board in m23 (hint: automatic weapon-switch time is NOT your friend, may be best to make sacrifices to delay it) for the first 20 seconds or so, sets the tone: you will be fighting tooth and nail at point-blank range against scores of foes almost from start to finish; to hesitate is to die.

That being said, provided you don't let it cow you with the initial trauma of that first encounter, I reckon in overall impression this is another catharsis-type level, where you're set up to feel powerful provided you've got the guts to take advantage of the opportunities provided (the megasphere which instantly repairs all of your horrid injuries from the aforesaid first fight is very telling in this regard, I think). Once you finish scrabbling down the bloody defile (which involves lots of rubberband dodging and playing the SSG like a maestro) and make it into the caves proper, the density and strength of the opposition only grows, yet your arsenal improves exponentially as well, soon enough seeing you sledgehammering through thick walls of demonflesh as quickly as though you were tearing through wet tissue paper. The RL is the weapon du jour for much of this, underscoring the emphasis on momentum in these fights--if you keep it you'll be riding high, but start to lose it and the situation can get out of control in a heartbeat, seeing you overwhelmed or possibly even sort of soft-locked out of progression by ammo deficiencies. Later on, there is an eventual transition to the BFG, though the nature of the play remains much the same until the finish, perhaps with a bit more of a strategic element in that there are definitely better and worse ways of going about handling the last major reinfestation of creatures.

 

Offering a very distilled dose of wanton bloodshed in a very 'cozy' setting is the main thing I appreciate about the level, and I think it's telling that Joshy's designs seem to have so much more vibrancy when he no longer feels like he needs to hold things back. That said, I can agree that the level's not entirely sterling, mainly because I think the underground library segment, however brief, simply offers too many low-threat monsters that nevertheless need to be cleared simply because they are physically blocking the path; this type of level can benefit from breather interludes, certainly, but it also in no way needs them, and I reckon this section seems a bit off-base. Other qualms other players have noted generally get a pass from me, however: the spiderdemon, while not the most elegant enemy to actually kill given its place in the pistol-start balance, nevertheless serves a practical purpose by discouraging camping in the two most campable spots in the early going. The pop-up cyberdemon near the end strikes me as funny, plain and simple, and I don't resent him in the way I did his brethren in m15/m19 simply because you have a BFG this time, and there's much more of that basic risk/reward element to clearing him from your path (he's also easily cheesable, in fairness, if that's what you prefer to do, and thus shouldn't be viewed as too unreasonable an obstacle in the scheme of things). As for the obscenely over-caffeinated phasing vile brothers, with their many green-haired Igors blundering about to assist in their experiments, well....this mapping pair are funny guys, like I said. :)

Edited April 27, 2017 by Demon of the Well

[Demon of the Well]

If I don't vote for NG2 and DV2 it will be precisely because I DO want to play them with the Club, if that makes any sense. Realistically speaking, I'm probably just not going to have the time to keep up with this next month (still got to catch up on NEIS to boot!), and so for purely selfish reasons I'd rather see those playthroughs delayed, though of course I certainly can't hold it against anyone else if they'd rather not delay their own enjoyment just because it's more convenient for me. :)

 

Urania, by contrast, is something a lot of people here want to play, and one I don't mind missing. I gave the WAD a fair shake--played E1, and a couple of maps each from E2 and E3--and I simply did not find it very much fun. You'll not see more of an advocate for big, long levels (and mapsets that are comprised largely of big, long levels) than me, but its monster placement style struck me as utterly joyless, generally levying just enough threat or attrition to require caution and betoken repeated janitorings, while generally taking place in environments wholly unsuited to variable or improvisational playstyles. I can see the appeal in its approach to oldschool labyrinth/dungeon-style level design, and am open to the possibility that it might be a mapset that genuinely plays better on HMP or something (as the previously mentioned Bloodstain supposedly does), but given priorities it's something I'm happy to let you lot merrily have at it while I give it a miss indefinitely.

Edited April 27, 2017 by Demon of the Well

[dobu gabu maru]

28 minutes ago, Demon of the Well said:

If I don't vote for NG2 and DV2 it will be precisely because I DO want to play them with the Club

This is exactly my dilemma, as I haven't played DV2 in about 6 or 7 years but I absolutely can't commit myself to it next month. Since we're likely to get around to NG2 & DV2 next month, I don't feel too much shame in throwing out a +++ Urania.

 

Also good to hear about E3; I actually finished MAP32 a few minutes ago and really want more of that side of Joshy than the cramped, hitscan-heavy interior Joshy