The DWmegawad Club plays: Urania

[Spectre01]

MAP24 - “Epileptica”

 

Similar in concept to the previous map, minus the damaging slime but with even harder omni-directional combat. A major theme here is also automatic lifts which slowly rise and lower. This didn't bother me too much actually and I liked jumping over to the BFG secret from one of them. Speaking of BFG, there are plenty of cells in the map and lots of high-value targets to use them on. Don't know if there was a backpack that I missed but it certainly would've been nice for hoarding some ammo here. Big fan of the rusted tech theme as well as this cool room with the Megasphere and Quake symbol. The beginning certainly dips into the "too hard to be fun" territory for some people but things even out once you grab the BFG.

[Spectre01]

MAP25 - “Mt. Incubus”

 

Strange but cool map that's definitely a breather compared to the other E3 maps in Urania. There's a BFG side quest that's cool to unlock and it's also very easy to jump over the wall into the huge outdoor area. Not sure how intentional that is since the ground just meets the sky texture at the edge. The finale is a bit of cinematic mini-slaughter as the path to the titular mountain lowers and a horde of demons pour down the river of lava. The E3 background sky is absolutely perfect for this map too. Chill map. 

[Spectre01]

MAP26 - “Mephisto’s Coliseum”

 

Wow, this must be the shortest map in the entire megawad! As the title states, the entire map takes place is a large arena consisting of a single event. Namely a fight to the death between Doomguy and upwards of 200 enemies. Very chill level which doesn't threaten you much beyond the first 30 seconds after you grab some armour and kill the shotgunners. There's also a Vile that needs removing with a Rocket Launcher, after which you're free to run laps while clearing out Pain Elementals and other clutter. A Cyberdemon joins the brawl quite soon too and you can mostly ignore him as he infights with everything else. Took me like 8 minutes but can definitely be finished much quicker. A nice change of pace before what looks like a return to form with long and hard maps that we're all here for!

[Deadwing]

MAP25 - Interesting level. I think some areas could've be improved visually, but in other hand other areas looks cool enough. After you teleport in the beginning, it's very intense and run-and-gun gameplay, but not nearly as much as the previous 2 levels, so you can breath this time. Heights has also a big role here, but unlike these slow lifts on previous levels, this times you can teleport back easily to the upper ground. Progression wasn't obtuse too, though I've picked the RK but I don't remember using it haha The biggest downside is the MIDI, which is only some very loud drums and a guitar soloing (?), but not as offensive as map 6/21 haha. Pretty cool ending with a cinematic battle. The two masterminds didn't gave any trouble. One was killed by in-fighting and another I just needed to throw some rockets to finish it.

7,5/10

 

MAP26 - The shortest level so far. It took 5 minutes for me to finish haha It's a good change of pace, though all I did was to actually kill the baron's blocking the way and a Arch-ville. Not bad, but nothing outstading too. The arena was so huge that all I had to do was run like hell hehe.

6,5/10.

[Paul977]

10 hours ago, AD_79 said:

-I want to see exactly how people can compare Urania to Plutonia, as from what I have seen they are almost completely unlike each other (Urania seems wayyy more inspired by TNT than Plutonia, considering the large map sizes and levels directly inspired by TNT).

Utterlry true

[Demtor]

+++ New Gothic Movement 2 and Deus Vult 2

 

They both seem very unique and I liked the month we did two together. After a quick look at each, DVII's map 1 music is the bomb. I want in!

[Demtor]

Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see, one chance out between two worlds, fire walk with me. – David Lynch

 

MAP25 - “Mt. Incubus”

gzDoom/BDoom - HMP – continuous/saves

 

If the gimmick last map was slowly rising and falling lifts, this one is lava walking. Starts off with the switches below you'll have to find to progress above. It's a bit frustrating at first but it was pretty fun once you figured out the only way back up is “through the sky, maaaan.”

 

Then you wind up running through a lava tunnel maze, which was an interesting timed trial. The goal being to reach the switch and drain the lava before your EV suit wears off. The assault from the specters was kind of fun, but the lights should be blinking or something at that point as it was way too easy to spot them. The following squad of CG’ers with HK’s was a nice surprise as they seemed out of place after punching a bunch of demons. Perhaps I am too used to them sitting in cubbies/windows in this wad as opposed to actual roaming and being active enemies. Something I’ve missed since MAP04 - “Guerilla”.

 

Thanks to continuous play I never bothered to unlock that BFG though it seemed like a neat concept. By the time I realized I had found the exit, I wasn’t going to turn back.

 

Speaking of finding the exit... hah! I loved the ending fire run. I rushed down that corridor towards the mountain spamming BFG fire with reckless abandon. Excuse me. Pardon me. Coming through. Oh… sorry about that. Nice touch. Felt good to play something shorter for a change. The dual SMM’s pissing everyone off was kind of funny to watch too.

 

Yet another hauntingly familiar metal song. However, with the horribly redone midi version of it, I’m at a loss on this one. If it’s another Maiden song, it’s a damned shame they couldn’t get a better arrangement.

[Demtor]

 

MAP26 - “Mephisto’s Coliseum”

gzDoom/BDoom - HMP – continuous/saves

 

Not a whole lot to add here. Fun times running around and figuring out which door leads where. Thankfully I noticed the large skull switches embedded in the stepped seating. Tons of ammo left over for a continuous player. Very nice. Good time to practice my no crosshairs RL aiming. Needs work apparently, heh.

 

Well well well, I’m finally caught up! Wow. This wad has been a challenge in more ways than one.

[Spectre01]

MAP27 - “Creeping Horror”

 

Massive underground cave/mine map full of huge rooms, plenty of enemies and ammo to shoot them with. Plenty of infighting opportunities too compared to other maps in the set, which may explain my ammo surplus. Nice ruse with the red bars blocking the exit teleporter just as you think you're done with the map.

[Rathori]

+++ Stardate 20x7.

Since 20x7 is now on idgames.

Edited May 31, 2017 by Rathori
Nope, just 20x7, because 20x6 has already been played.

[CapnClever]

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|HMP|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP23: Grossfalls uses a similar aesthetic found in Plutonia's Speed though certainly not the namesake. Immediately moving from the level start is a must, though this doesn't change the Urania formula once safety is reached. The map itself is fairly easy to understand and navigate, though progression is a fair bit more puzzling and requires significant exploration into damaging floors. Encounters include incredibly thick layering of enemies that are to be dispatched slowly and carefully, as well as a small horde of enemies every time progression is made: nothing new here, though finding ways to handle said encounters is what grows more difficult. Grabbing the necessary armaments to defeat everything is a must and should be scouted out as soon as possible (though don't be upset if the BFG is unattainable, there are very few places where it is efficient anyway). Another incredibly dense map from start to finish.

 

I managed to find a Megasphere lazily floating in the mud on UV where there wasn't one on HMP, struck me as odd that the extra monsters are being compensated for with extra goodies, especially when the opposite was true not four levels ago. The scaling of these maps is really starting to show, and almost every (and I do mean almost) pack of enemies gets at least one added to it as the difficulty level goes up.

 

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP24: Epileptica throws everything at the player from the beginning, and there's little left to throw afterwards. After an ominous starting room, a truly massive flood of enemies is ready to attack you from every conceivable angle: this is countered with a relatively simple circle by which the player can cycle quickly through each projectile and enemy until arriving at a more defensible position. Progression is relatively short in this map, though not lacking in a curveball here and there, but this is greatly slowed by the implacable march of sluggish platforms traveling up and down. In some cases the elevator-like travel will make a given encounter far more difficult than normal, just because of the lack of mobility when trying to simply see the enemy. Weapons appear to be in relatively easy positions but the sheer magnitude of the first fight makes their capture take much longer than expected (fortunately the BFG is both easy to procure and incredibly handy). The ending is more of the same, though combined with doubled mid-texture camouflage it will still require a measured pace to complete.

 

I skipped HMP after noticing that UV gave me the following extra from the start:

• Megaarmor instead of armor
• Four extra rocket boxes
• Two extra plasma cell packs
• Extra box of bullets and box of shells each

While this wasn't specifically tested by me, I supposed that the beginning of the level might actually be harder to handle on HMP given this change in resources and decided that playing through in this manner wasn't worth the trouble. Also for some reason HNTR gets a chainsaw at the beginning and it's removed on later difficulties, even though it's only marginally useful at that very beginning anyway and would have been a decent way to play that out.

 

I'm also beginning to suspect that playing these maps on pistol start, regardless of map foreknowledge, is a terrible idea. MAP19 is an excellent example, as my reward for agonizingly defeating a monstrous horde without a rocket launcher... was a rocket launcher. Only one on the map, too! The difference in experiences between continuous and pistol start border on insanity at times, especially when I'm maxing out on rockets or plasma long before I pick up the respective weapon. And I still can't figure out why there were so many bullets on MAP32, a level where you'd virtually never want to use bullets. For those of you playing continuous, just imagine that finding weapons on every map is about as difficult as the average map progression of the set.

 

[CapnClever]

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|HMP|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP25: Mt. Incubus is a level in two parts, cut between a cluttered start and an open finish. Getting a solid foot in the ground is a challenging thing here, beset by enemies from multiple vertical layers as well as little safe floor to stand on. In the first half: handling the setting slowly and carefully is practically mandated, but the limited radsuits available turn this into an odd race against time; with practice it plays fairly competently. In the second half: movement becomes more straight-forward (and straight-back with the occasional trap) and acts more as a breather after the beginning. Progression travels simply from blue to red key, and secrets are fairly easy to come by. The ending plays out amidst a tumultuous array of monsters, easy enough to avoid and dodge around to reach the exit itself.

 

Didn't figure out all of the steps necessary for the BFG but didn't really need to, either: the final fight, even on UV, is pretty easy to half-skip. Had some infinite actor antics early on, making the rough start even rougher, and collecting the rocket launcher was effectively progression (for better and for worse). It was a breather compared to the previous map, anyway...

 

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|HMP|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP26: Mephisto's Coliseum plays with a ruckus of an encounter from which the player can choose your their level of inclusion. There is but one setpiece, and quite a big one at that, but never quite approaches full capacity relative to the occupants: thus, it is possible to dodge just about everything and progress at one's leisure. Finishing the map is handled along the perimeter and is fortunately unimpeded by the fight (save the numerous members of that crowd). Whether you choose to play out the entire show or exit much earlier than that is up to you: calling this a playground rather than a coliseum may have been more appropriate.

 

Ended up finishing in under 2 minutes by the time I got to UV, though it took a few tries to work out the route. It's really way too open for the amount of enemies in it, and if you think I'm going to bother fighting it out given all the maps that came prior then you're sorely mistaken.

 

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|HMP|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP27: Creeping Horror is quite a long endeavor with some back-and-forth, and it makes good use of the space. Following a tight start, the level quickly engulfs the player in its massive volume, and there are a few different ways to approach from above and below: while it does inevitably return to a switch hunt, much is kept in pace with the enemy count and there is never a dull moment. Moving to the second half is much more linear in nature, complete with an arena, and while it goes somewhat slow it is an adequate counterpoint to earlier. The finale returns the player to the great openness and throws a new horde: an unfortunate backtrack is required at the very end, as if expecting the player to seek a premature exit.

 

For all my messups in playing it, I liked this map a lot. Very few hitscanners in the open section made the fights therein a lot less frustrating, and the overall progression was a load off my mind. More importantly, unlike a number of other maps, the layout made me want to progress and explore everything, and so I did, and so the switch hunt barely felt like one. Definitely a keeper.

 

I'm actually done with the set but, as per tradition, I'll review the rest over the next couple of days with a summation thereafter.

[Spectre01]

MAP28 - “Disaster Area”

 

Massive sandbox city map roughly split into two sections, one with brick buildings and Cyberdemon turret and a second with some black buildings and network of water tunnels. There are several teleporters at the start but the one taking you to the red building with the SSG and armour is probably the best for starting out. Quite a bit of visual and gameplay variety here with a mixture of cramped buildings and tunnels as well as huge open fields. Visually, I thought the Revenant pit was quite distinct as well as the small cemetary.

[CapnClever]

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|HMP|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP28: Disaster Area portrays a disheveled city, and the progression has felt the effects. From the beginning there are four different options on where to start the level proper, some much easier than others when lacking weaponry. Though the map has the appearance of something on the sandbox side, encounters are mostly kept to the insides, with the outside acting more as a place for the occasional cyberdemon to roam. Progression is fairly nonlinear and finding the proper key-switch-door sequence, as well as some creatively-hidden pieces, without backtracking is its own challenge. Combat is bunched and is mostly there to impede progress, but a couple of interesting fights do play out (such as in the middle building on the left side).

 

Hooooly crap that elevator-jump was annoying. I get that it was a timing puzzle and that was kind of neat, but the exact positioning needed to make the jump was too tight. Also of note, I believe this is the first level to require straferunning to progress? I never know if it's considered bad manners to require it to complete levels (on the off-chance there are people who honestly don't realize it's faster), but I thought I'd point it out.

 

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|HMP|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP29: Ghostwalker keeps things simple with progression and instead focuses on enemy placement, and does it ever. Dealing with the enemies in this map requires very careful handling, between the platforming, the crushers, and the cramped locales. Clusters can be found all over the place: sometimes teleporting in, sometimes revealed, but always invading what little space is available. Gathering the keys necessary to finish the level isn't much trouble, and aside from an odd platforming staircase progression will flow easily after taking down the incidental hordes. Plays pretty fast but the intensity of the fights is what makes this an appropriate penultimate level.

 

Grabbing weapons early is super important on UV, and picking up the BFG on the first pass is just as important but also really hard to pull off, not to mention snagging the blue key in such a way that doesn't completely drain your plasma. Some of the fights are a pain, but most of them work pretty well.

[dobu gabu maru]

On 5/27/2017 at 4:50 AM, Rathori said:

I've been needing an excuse to play 20x6 for quite some time.

Stardate 20X6 has already been covered by the club.

[Spectre01]

MAP29 - “Ghostwalker”

 

Welcome to Hell marine. Generally, the map29 slot in megawads is reserved for the defining level of the set - the strongest showing of what the megawad has to offer. Of course that's not always the case but more often than not it's one of the better maps in a megawad. What we have in Ghostwalker is an oppressive hell fortress that completely disregards any notion of "fair and balanced" nonsense and is specifically designed to torture the player at every turn. This is evident right from the awesome starting room where you're quickly forced out by demons attacking you in total darkness. Once you enter the map proper, you know the drill, everything you alert starts converging on your position and you really need to mind your ammo or run the risk of getting completely screwed. Traversing environmental hazards such as lava, crushers and platforming over the void is also a big part of the experience and radsuits are sparse enough to carefully make you consider their use. There is plenty of meat here on UV, including 30 Barons, 54 Hell Knights and 27 Mancubi. 15 Viles are also scattered around the map and they have no problem resurrecting hordes of dudes that you've already killed if you aren't quick enough to take them out. I grabbed the BFG pretty damn late so killing those was quite the challenge. There is a descent amount of cells and rockets scattered throughout which at least gives you the tools to handle groups of mid/high-tier enemies.

Considering how I was forced to load a previous save the most here, I'd consider this the hardest map in the set to max saveless. Although I'm sure just like map32, it becomes more manageable with a planned approach. Great map overall and an excellent midi choice too.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Spectre01
Critical image linking failure

[Spectre01]

MAP30 - “The Tyrant”

 

Well, at least the black and white goat head is cool. This map is about 90% good, until you unlock the actual spawning Icon of Sin. Now, I know a large percentage of players these days instantly write off a map as crap if it's an IoS, which is a sentiment I don't always agree with. What is crap though is every IoS fight like the one in Doom 2 where you have to time rockets while riding up an elevator. That is simply annoying and not at all fun to execute. By all means, make your IoS encounter balls-hard but once the player solves the "puzzle" or what not, let him get to the correct spot to simply pump rockets into the boss brain and finish the map. Good examples of IoS fights like this are the ones in Plutonia 2, Bloodstain and Hellbound. The reason I bring all this up is that Urania's map30 doesn't follow the good examples and instead makes the encounter Point Dreadful with a timing lift straight outta '94. The majority of the map is a pretty good puzzle where you manage radsuits while clearing out enemies, flipping switches in flesh towers and teleporting around the map's perimeter while avoiding Cyberdemon rockets and Arachnotron plasma. I cannot be assed with riding the damn lift up 3+ time so bless GZDoom and freelook.

 

Final Thoughts

As far as long megawads go, Urania is really up there and probably longer to finish than mammoth wads like Hellbound. Overall, it's a very consistent wad that picks a design trope and sticks with it. The trope, of course, being huge, non-linear maps with often obscure puzzles and very difficult incidental combat. There are a few concept maps which break the mould, such as 10, 18, 32, 26 and 30, but otherwise you mostly get what you expect. Which isn't a bad thing if you're a fan of this style but it may disappoint those seeking something more "conventional". Being a solo project not based on community feedback during development creates some interesting and unusual design decisions which makes this wad stand out from other megawads released in 2016. That's a good thing as far as I'm concerned and I encourage @riderr3 to continue making the maps he wants without being influenced by certain vocal individuals and armchair game designers who think they know what "good Doom gameplay" is supposed to be. Urania has exceeded my expectations going in and I'm happy it wasn't another Plutonia, PL2 or PRCP clone. I found every map to be consistently enjoyable, which doesn't happen too often. The only other recent megawad I've rated 5/5 was Ancient Aliens. Overall score: 5/5.

 

Top 5 maps: 06, 19, 23, 29, 32

[Deadwing]

MAP27: Very cool initial area. This level also didn't felt as dickish as what I would expect from Urania. This is also a bit too linear (!), and remembers me a lot from TNT, for some reason. I didn't like that much the larger areas, but I never liked big scales on Doom, it feels weird and empty. The big square marble room (from Spectre01 screenshot) could've also been more interesting too. In the end I was digging more the early cave area, until it became some mixture of themes (which is common on Urania). From gameplay perspective, it's pretty good so far. 7/10

 

MAP28: Holy shit, that MIDI is awful haha This one is definetly the worst one so far (beating the annoying one from maps 7 and 21). As for the map itself, this is some sort of very TNTish (?) city, with huuuuge buildings and huuuuge space between them. Too much for my taste, unfortunaly. Actually this level doesn't feel like Urania at all, except for the obtuse progression. No Chaingunners melting you from weird angles, a lot more simple and squary architecture and lots of empty space. Most foes except for hitscanners are actually harmless (like the two roaming cyberdemons). Not my style at all/10.

 

MAP29: The final "normal" level for this, and, IMO, by far the most oppresive and hard of the set. I can't even believe I got to beat this thing. The level itself is much more enclosed and favours run-and-gun gameplay: You can't kill everything behind cover because enemies are in weird angles and there's too much HK and BoH to eat your ammunition, it's best to save it for the arch-villes, and yeah, there will be a lot of them here. Thankfully progression here isn't obtuse at all (it was fairly easy to find all the keys), so you'll able to manage the surviving enemies (or barely manage like me lol). Visually is more interesting than the previous two levels, though I still prefer the earlier style. I guess I should've switched to HNTR here, so I think things would've gone smoother. 6/10

Edited May 30, 2017 by Deadwing

[CapnClever]

^{Chocolate Doom / Ultra-Violence / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP30: The Tyrant pulls off one giant fake-out to finish the set, only to quickly replace it with another one. The start is a grandiose, Icon of Sin-esque layout, with a number of monsters scattered around to give you trouble, at which point the player realizes there's no spawner and therefore they can act at their leisure. After some simplistic switch-hunting and finding enough ammo to kill the monster blockers, a final switch reveals that yes, this is actually an Icon of Sin fight all along, and everything leading up to it is to throw the player off the trail. The rocket timing is rather nasty here, but given the size of the arena and only one enemy per spawn cycle, the real challenge is having enough rockets to finish the job. An appropriate capstone to the Uranian experience.

 

The double reversal is pretty well-done, all things considered: first I was expecting IoS, then I wasn't, then it actually showed up. Elevator timing is probably too strict but I wouldn't actually know, because I landed three-for-three on two cycles (I examined it later though and it looks incredibly precise). With all the other facets of difficulty this mapset throws around, it's no surprise that IoS would follow suit.

 

Gonna stick the retrospective in a separate post because I expect it to be Demon of the Well-sized.

[Demtor]

 

MAP27 - “Creeping Horror”

gzDoom/BDoom - HMP – continuous/saves

 

Yes! This map was a lot of fun thanks to having a ton of ammo from last map. I ran around with a RL and just let loose! I even splattered imps and CG guys. OMG that felt great. Beautiful doom has a way of making small fry enemies explode in a way that makes me grin, every time. It’s so fun.

 

Tough level still. Lots of crossfire and plenty of upper tier baddies. Whenever I made a mistake, there was always plenty of med kits laying around and whenever I ran low on rockets, I found another box! It was so awesome! Whatever I needed was almost always within reach if you could survive long enough to get at it. Even the armor was relatively numerous and easy to find. I basically sprinted around this big cave system with little regard to my well being and destroyed anything that moved with lots of rockets. It was a blast. Literally and figuratively. This was one of my few favorites.

 

The whole back half with the marbled temple area was a fun fight too. I liked the weird gruesome detailing in some of the corners you run past. Returning again to the caves after wards to find even more enemies, AV’s and a cyberdemon stomping around was as fun as the first time around even if it was blatant padding for content complete with a carpet yanking exit. Fooled you!

[Demtor]

 

MAP28 - “Disaster Area”

gzDoom/BDoom - HMP – continuous/saves

 

This map is a tale of two cyberdeomons from two different cities. Starts off in a weird valley with little zombie men walking about that ends up teleporting you in to a smaller graveyard. An interesting concept that opens up to exploring some large buildings before dumping you outside in to a a very big area turning it into a spread out styled map that looks like crap if I’m being honest. Oh well. The beginning had a different tone with a promising built in story but other than that, meh.

 

I spent A LOT of time on it while listening to podcasts but even then I was a bit bored. Just a lot of running back and forth hoping to find some hint at progression besides aimlessly wondering around. Gotta love it when you have the red key to finish the map, finally figure out how to reveal the blocked off section and the door behind it still won’t open. *eyeroll* I’m beyond burnt out at this point with Urania’s puzzle style. It's needlessly complex and tiresome to me.

[galileo31dos01]

20 minutes ago, Demtor said:

that ends up teleporting you in to a smaller graveyard.

That's because you took the teleporter that takes you to the graveyard, the others take you to different places. 

 

10 hours ago, Deadwing said:

MAP28: Holy shit, that MIDI is awful haha This one is definetly the worst one so far (beating the annoying one from maps 7 and 21).

Really? I thought it was the best one lol 

[CapnClever]

Urania Retrospective: Second Half

 

The second verse is much the same as the first: meticulous and careful play is encouraged, and you will be exhausted going through each map. Unlike the first half, however, much of the final 15 maps throws you into the fray, requiring some very specific methodologies to survive safely. In terms of pistol starts, weapons become more difficult to access, even acting as progression itself at times, and much in the same way that the progression itself follows. Barons and Hell Knights become more and more prominent with each map, sometimes even taking the role of turrets themselves in place of hitscanners. Key usage becomes more spread out and interwoven, often involving key-switch-door at very different points of the map rather than fairly close by. In spite of these changes, however, the gameplay carries the same weight and texture as it did before, and the entire set certainly belong together as a unified whole.

 

In general, I think I preferred the second half to the first. There are some maps I had a downright miserable time playing (looking at you, MAP24) but there were also some very flavorful appearances to be had (MAP19, MAP20, MAP27). The best way to explain the positive points is that having less to think and worry about simultaneously produced a more enjoyable experience. Uranian maps often take the difficult levels of progression, scarcity, and the various facets of combat, and raise all of them to intense heights at the same time: this is what makes them so exhausting, and probably what makes them such a turn-off to most people who are only looking for one or two aspects. Even I like to be challenged in a variety of ways, but to receive this variety all at once is, to me, like merging a number of ice cream flavors into a single, massive sphere of indistinguishable, raw taste; or like combining a great deal of paint colors until the whole bucket turns brown. There are quite a number of clever pieces and parts here, make no mistake. It's just really hard to appreciate them when drained by the whole of the set.

 

At my amusement, I decided to dub a particular mapping peculiarity a "Uranian teleport", which is composed of the following:

• An input teleport pad of 32x32
• A Baron or Hell Knight placed on top of the pad
• Block lines prevent the Baron/HK from leaving the pad

After skimming the mapset, I counted no fewer than 10 occurrences of this exact setup, and a few of them on level exits. This isn't exactly a lot, but it's the most egregious case in which such progression-blockers exist in the mapset: were I to additionally count up instances where monsters precisely block switches or passage or keys, I wouldn't be surprised if the magnitude increased fivefold. All this is more of an aside, but it should be considered a note of how much I dislike this type of progression.

 

EDIT: Full review's up! Find it in the Downloads section.

Edited May 31, 2017 by CapnClever

[D4NUK1]

Heya, im new here, but this its like the more fun part of the forum, can i join next megawad :D?

[Demon of the Well]

Hello, and welcome. You can certainly join for the next megaWAD(s), Dobu should have the new thread up in 24 hours or so.

[Nine Inch Heels]

3 hours ago, jamondemarnatural said:

Heya, im new here, but this its like the more fun part of the forum, can i join next megawad :D?

If you want to familiarize yourself with the concept of this "club", be sure to check out the first comment of this thread. In general you can come and go as you like, but you're encouraged to finish the whole "dish". Writing lengthy reviews on a map by map basis is entirely up to you, some people do that, others don't.

 

Next month is probably going to get a little wild. ;-)

[Rathori]

On 30.05.2017 at 4:16 AM, dobu gabu maru said:

Stardate 20X6 has already been covered by the club.

Damn, I actually did check for it in the OP before making that edit, but I missed it anyway. Lots of WADs there :P

[Deadwing]

MAP30: An Icon of Sin level with some interesting puzzle until you get there. Fun level, I beat the IoS using mouselook though, sorry lol I hate that lift gimmick that is present on every IoS level. The puzzle itself is mostly switchhunting while managing radiosuits (because you'll be on acid all times) and two cybers, a SMM and some snipers. You can make one Cyber deal with the SMM, and the other isn't hard to kill. 7,5/10

[Deadwing]

Final thoughts:

Going through Urania was definetly a brutal experience, but still quite interesting if you look design-wise. Due to how diverse the Doom community is, it's definetly not for everyone, which is why lots of people won't like it and curse the creator. Fortunaly, I'll go into the group who approves it, although I won't be ready to face another similar mapset for a loong time.

 

IMO, you'll probably enjoy Urania if you like exploring the environment, doesn't get easily lost (aka good sense of direction) and like to take encounters slowly while facing some brutal traps. (so you don't mind dying... and dying a lot). This is some quite demanding combo, and you will definetly feel your head drained after finishing a 1-hour non-linear level. Players who prefer a run-and-gun style and are used to slaughter maps will certainly suffer a lot here and get melted by a group of chaingunners buried underground or hidden into a barely visible window. Players who get easily lost on a linear level (or a small non-linear) will definetly get stuck all almost every level due to obtuse progression. Players who aren't very skilled won't be able to handle this even on ITYTD, since they probably won't be analyzing the environment the way it's needed.

 

In other hand, you won't find anything similar (I guess) design wise: This doesn't play anything like Plutonia or its clones, with exception of the texture sets: Plutonia is all about short easy-to-progress levels, with few but tough monster placement (mostly traps or frantic start). Urania is none of that (except the traps): Levels are long, grinding gets quite high later on and you will lose lots of time checking the landscape actively to find any chaingunner hiding around or looking for progress.

 

Regardless of the characteristics, Urania is a quite diverse mapset. Almost no levels looks like each other and every one of them is easy to remember. Even if this is famous for the big non-linear adventures, you'll find lots of short combat-focused levels, or some very cramped ones, others more spacy, others too spacy, a linear-adventure and some gimmicky ones. 

 

It's quite "irregular" mapset too. It's like a product who could get a good amount of lapidation which could make the whole experience go a lot smoother: Some MIDI's are awful (map 28, 6 and 21 are the worst, but there are others), the obtuse progression sometimes will annoy a lot more than it needed, some maps definetly doesn't look as polished as others (with simple looking squary rooms with 64-wide hallways/maze, while others are definetly pleasant to look) and some encounters and mechanisms could get some good tuning (map 24 wouldn't be any near as bad simply if the lifts weren't too slow). IMO, Urania's quality would definetly be improved if it got through a "beta testing" phase (aka releasing posterior versions before going to /idgames), although someone could say this gives some charm to the mapset.

I definetly liked more the first episode, where the design ideas was refreshing and new. Going through Guerrila (map 04) for the first time was definetly a very pleasant experience. Second episode was pretty good too. Unfortunaly I didn't like that much the third half, which features the hardest levels and some very different ones from what you would expect (like 28, which is a very large super-boring TNTish city). But, summing everything, I think the balance is positive.

 

For people who are thinking playing this, I certainly recommend going on HNTR (I've played on HMP), probably with pistol starts. Don't think that harder = better experience: In Urania you will already suffer a lot on HNTR, and you will probably only get more grinding and frustration on higher difficult. I think HNTR will probably bring the best (and probably less frustrating) experience.

 

4/5

Best levels: 20, 4, 21 (play with a different midi, plz), 6, 3

Worst: 24, 28, 29, 8

Edited May 31, 2017 by Deadwing
Updated with score and less horrible grammar lol

[CapnClever]

Something I happened to notice rereading the thread:

On 5/3/2017 at 11:29 AM, Demtor said:

MAP01 - “Bolt Hole”

 

[...] Perfect fitting music too. [...]

On 5/25/2017 at 3:34 PM, Demtor said:

MAP22 - “Sicknology”

 

[...]

 

 

TEERRRRIBLE music. What is this garbage? Take a 15 second fast riff and repeat it forever. The worst.

 

These levels used the same song. Granted, "perfectly fitting" and "terrible" aren't contradictory to each other, but there's a definite mood-swing between these talking points. I'll chalk it up to Urania giving you a hard time. For those wondering, music also repeats on 4/18, 7/21 (already mentioned), 9/23, 10/32, 11/27, 14/19, and 17/24. Nothing against the mapper, of course: repeating songs sometimes makes sense to return the player to a particular aesthetic theme.

 

I never really talked about the music here, which is equally... difficult, so to speak. Many songs are hard-hitting, filled with percussive intensity and powerful guitar-esque notes. It's very similar to "Hell Revealed 2", which I've heard is equally polarizing. Personally it's not what I expect to hear in Doom and, given the setting, works less often than not. It goes back to the intensity point I made earlier: constantly repeating this high-octane, sick-riffing aural barrage (not to be meant negatively, mind) is going to numb the listener over time. Having listened to many different genres over the years, I've come to understand that it's important for music to have the same ebb and flow evident in other media: the pacing is critical to retention. So, as with the maps keeping the difficulty high at all times, having the bass drum and high-hats chiming in so frequently and for so long is a desensitizing experience. It's not as uniform as the maps (there are more "song breathers", if you will) but it's something that reinforces rather than alleviates the intensity.

 

Some songs work with the Microsoft GS Wavetable, some of them don't. I'd be interested to know if riderr3 had his own preference of soundfont when collecting this (or even which source port/driver as those can significantly effect voices), because there are cases such as MAP03, MAP12, MAP17/MAP24, and MAP28 that really don't fit the instrumentation of the "default" set. Then there are more isolated examples: MAP29 does a fine job except for when the choral instrument kicks in and completely ruins the mood. Many of these would be improved by some basic alteration of what instrument(s) go to which track, or quite possibly using a different set of voices.

 

Normally I wouldn't bother with music (it's one of those aesthetic things) but over the course of streaming my viewers were constantly complaining about the tracks, so I thought I'd toss a couple pennies to discuss that aspect.