espilka

if you make tribute for the Master Levels why do you change the concept and style of the maps? it's not a tribute... anyway, just my opinion.

Monti's sets would highly deserve detailed pages for their maps :)

yeah, i have my resolution set to low on Woof! but i thought i'd get away with it in Monti's maps (and other such like, like 1990s mapsets) because they are quite old school, but i do realize now i have to give up on this romantic ideal on all modern maps :) thanks! (also for your great hints on these secrets.. i learned a lot from them!)

galileo's tips on finding the secrets on these fantastic sets has been very educational... thanks! regarding secretes in Monti's maps, not just in this set but in general. i tend to play on 'low' resolution and have a really tough time finding some of the switches in particular (some of them appear downright invisible even when i know they're there), so my question is: am i just terrible at finding them, or would you guys recommend switching playing to high resolution? i guess it boils down to, have these maps been designed so as to be nigh impossible to complete with low resolution? i like these maps more than i like my low resolution so am willing to change it for these if deemed necessary :D

SI666IL was incredible, and SI666IL II is even better. it's as good as any Episode i've ever played, and better than 90% of them. of all the bizarre complaints the most bizarre is probably that it's a D1 Episode. so disappionted with a D1 episode because it is a D1 episode? level design all over the place...? Cyberdemon on UV in every mission is a reason to complain about it? in a world where people simply ABUSE the USE of Cybies for surprise and shock value? they weren't misplaced here... anyway, i think i'll be quiet (on my way out under my breath i'll mutter that i'd like to see some prominent sets made by prominent people around here being criticized for being all over the place in their level design...) why isn't this thread closed for being negative, with a cynical dismissive remark like 'enjoy what you enjoy'... ok ok i'll go!

Was always hoping deadwing's next would possibly be forthcoming one day!

Scythe is one that comes to mind - the levels are really well designed but navigation is never a problem. Maybe also Zone 400.

Couple offbeat votes: +++ 2022 A Doom Odyssey +++ Endless Torture +++ 3 episodes: Rupture / Knee Deep in 2023 / Solve et coagula

+1 Solve et Coagula by Nicolas Monti

Final thoughts - I C H I N I C H I i understand the author's previous - and first! - creation KINDa was met with mixed reviews in the DWMC, but when i played through it i have to say i immediately took a liking to the style and the ethos, so much so that i've played through it 3,5 times :D For that one, UV run is still in future as some of the maps have some excesses (perhaps three or four) that make the experience at times excruciating. Still, it's probably in my top-10 of Doom II megawads, partly because it lacks an important ingredient that for me is at least a repellent if not a downright ruiner, modernism :D and partly because the design of the maps is at core similar to this one, creative, thoughtful, and interesting. So, i had actually been looking forward to TheMightyWhoosh's next creation and played through it on HMP as soon as it came out. i was happy to quickly notice, about in the first map, that the author's original ethos is intact, but after a few maps it became apparent that the excesses had been properly eliminated. Probably the worst offender in KINDa is the infamous MAP03 (which has its virtues, don't get me wrong - i actually look forward to conquering it) with it's excessive damaging floor and ultra-obscure progression, and likely it's in great part the cause to the author's avoidance of damaging floors in this one, ha-ha! But at any rate, here the maps are all well-proportioned in every sense, without stumbling down to one of the hallmarks of modernism, streamlining. To my mind, IN is a perfect successor to and an expansion of all the OG games. One notable difference to KINDa is that i don't remember that one having much references to or feel of Doom I, but here like someone else said in a review, some maps are like Doom I with Doom II monsters - and i myself noted in few instances similarity to mapping style of pcorf's D1 megawads. But there's also plenty of similarities and references to TNT and Plutonia - and indeed, if i had to pinpoint one of the OGs, it'd still have to be TNT which this overarchingly has most in common with, even if in miniature-form. As said many times before, this is one of my Top-3 megawads, and replay simply confirms that fact. Nothing wrong with the HMP experience, but i have to admit UV experience is better, more engaging (except perhaps for MAP30... :D ), and never frustrating. i very much look forward to TheMightyWhoosh's next creation (should there be one, of course)!

MAP30 Goodbye (UV, continuous) Final map without the tedium of IoS! The map begins in a cave, and the view of the main structure coming down the elevator is quite imposing. There are at first some minor fights when collecting weapons and ammo, but the first main feature begins when opening the structure (wonderful implementation of quintessential Doom II aesthetics!), revealing three Cyberdemons facing away from you towards the Spidermummy. The others are behind them. So first there's infighting, the MILF killing at least one of the Cybers in general, with basically, a BFG9000 cleanup. This is all a lot of fun and not a major threat. After going through the YSK door, however, back to the caves and returning from there... i was pondering about calling it a run :D i think i counted five Arch-Viles, and they are bloody quick at resurrecting everybody and the kitchen sink. So it's here that i died a few times... so much so, that i gave up the idea of a deathless run, and barely scraped through using saves. There's a few times in the wad earlier that i noticed a difference to HMP - usually in form of a few extra enemies here and there, maybe less ammo, but nothing too severe - but this seemed like a major uptick in difficulty. i don't know, i always ran out of cells in the fight, so perhaps i should have collected the harder ones first for the fight, and leave myself a chance to dash into the earlier Manx cave to collect more - so, i think it may have at least partly come down to cell-collexion -management. Being the chump that i am, realizing the ending lift was a big problem on my blind run :D But yeah, though the difficulty was unexpected and some desperation started to seep into my thoughts while going through this, on HMP this is a great finale! On UV? Wenn's sein müss :D Still, it's very creative, and the design can't be faulted.

MAP29 Pop - K: 100% / S: 100% (UV, continuous) Even if clearly the main event of the map is the final against the hordes on the outside perimeter of and the three Cyberdemons inside the base, i do like the care that has been taken to build up the progression and the areas through which it is effected. In short, i happily remembered the secret Invulnerability sphere, and saved it for the Cybies, after killing everyone outside - the amount of enemies is daunting, but just running in a circle around the base will likely result in a deathless massacre. After which i went in, grabbed the Invul and managed to BFG9000 two of the three Cybies with it, and finished the third off, who kind of kept hiding on the other side or something, separately, playing hide'n'seek with him around the pillars. Final three enemies guarding the exit are the Spidermommy and two flying potatoheads, all in good fun. There's also a final Mega Armor and a Soulsphere to pick up to enter the final map with some boosted confidence. Even with three Cyberdemons and semi-slaughter scene outside, this is by far not the hardest map, nor presenting the toughest situations of the wad (at least if one first finds it and then uses the secret Invul correctly), which is interesting, but presenting very different style of gameplay and challenge, and i think as such it's a fantastic penultimate map. A lot of tense action, which if something goes wrong will surely kill, but never getting grindy or mean, nor boring, which for me in maps of this type is often the case. And now all that's left is the dreaded IoS - this really has gone by very quickly!

MAP28 Castle of Corruption - K: 100% / S: 100% (UV, continuous) The map starts with a little target- and evation-practice appetizer against eight Imps, after which the main run begins - not that anything stops you from hitting the switch to lower them and the walls immediately, but who wants to do that not knowing what's coming especially? When the going starts at first on the courtyard and around the castle there's a lot of immediate threats to take care of, after which there's many separate areas. Lots of Revenants all around, the Plasma Rifle area has a rather distressing Cacodemon and Pain Elemental ambush (but lots of plasma cells available - come to think of it, i'm always shy of taking out the BFG9000 but it would have done nicely there!). The progression requires the BK, which is guarded by a Cyberdemon. He's also guarding a pit that has a necessary switch before opening the door to meet him face-to-face, and to my mind he's best taken care of from there. The switch is guarded by Revenants, and there is also a Soulsphere, guarded by an Arch-Vile - but it always happens that the Cyberdemon hits the Archie when aiming for me, who then starts targeting the Cybie (never without much good effect!) It's useful to find the secret YSK (at the end of an awesome string of three secrets!) before going to the area behind the BK door that has a teleport - guarded by waves of Pinkies and Barons - to the exit area. The teleport takes the player to a room guarded by four (for now sleeping) Arch-Viles and a couple of Cacodemons that attack immediately. On my blind run of course i was clueless and somehow got through with the BFG9000, but the switch behind the YSK bars is the only elegant way to get through the nightmare :D Pretty incredible map with lots of engaging situations, containing also the finest (and the most meaningful) secret in the whole set, so yeah, this map is my favourite of the whole. It's a bit gruelling, and i only got through deathless on my third UV attempt, but it's beautiful, well designed, and the gameplay is tough but fair.

MAP27 Regenerations - K: 100% / S: 100% (UV, continuous) This is likely the second largest map in the set, featuring a large facility, and my blind run probably took awhile, but now it went surprisingly swiftly against expectations. Required two tries, as the finalé did get me, i am particularly good at running into projectiles and not avoiding them. Anyway, the map begins in a large hall with two connected huge pools, and this will be reused for the final fight with an additional area opened up housing the switch that's oozing blood to open path the exit. Before that, there is a network of large hallways and rooms to explore to effect the progression, to open up that area. At any rate, a secret-looking but non-secret BFG9000 is also made available, but i deal with the ending with rockets, mainly from the exit-hallway (might be useful to dispatch the cadre of enemies there beforehand.) The ending is my least favourite part, though, but i really like the exploration and incidental combat along the journey towards it. The design is as always elevated by a lot of clever little tricks, there's even a tiny switch-puzzle, and the Plasma Rifle and Soulsphere are great secrets, but i still don't know what exactly opens up one along the hallways, which seems kind of random. Nothing about the map betrayes the time-limit for its creation, aesthetically mostly in classical style, but upgraded with the usual finesse and tastefulness habitual to the author.