Return to Hadron E2 - Limit removing E2 replacement.

[cannonball]

So over a year ago I did an episode which was a mixture of revising old maps from Concerned as well as replacing some of the maps I disliked most with brand new ones. Well since then I have been slowly doing a similar process for episode 2. This is a limit removing map set so anything apart from Vanilla/Choco doom will play this.
Pics




Download
http://www.mediafire.com/file/11214pgta091usm/hadrone2.zip

Enjoy :)

Maplist

E2M1 - Flesh start
E2M2 - Logistics complex
E2M3 - Comm centre
E2M4 - Mortuary
E2M5 - Bunker
E2M6 - Aqueduct of agony
E2M7 - Core processor
E2M8 - Ground Zero
E2M9 - Descent into darkness

The pics above are taken one each from E2M1 to M7.

Lastly a great thanks to tourniquet for playtesting this thing on UV.

[Salt-Man Z]

Sweeeeet.

[Zapzop]

Awesome. You finally did a sequel!

[JohnnyTheWolf]

A sequel to what?

[Xaser]

JohnnyTheWolf said:

A sequel to what?

Do you ever do any basic research or exercise any reading comprehension skills before asking questions?


(This question is rhetorical, BTW; the answer is "nope.")

It's literally in the thread title. Engage your grey matter on occasion and stop wasting so much of our time, please.

[Reisal]

Added to my list of evergrowing queue to play on my Youtube channel.

[durian]

Just played through the first three maps and really enjoying so far - good work!

[JohnnyTheWolf]

Xaser said:

Do you ever do any basic research or exercise any reading comprehension skills before asking questions?


(This question is rhetorical, BTW; the answer is "nope.")

It's literally in the thread title. Engage your grey matter on occasion and stop wasting so much of our time, please.

You know what you could have done to save yourself so much of your time, though? Posting a download link to the prequel in question or - even better - not responding at all! Next time you feel like being a condescending asshole for absolutely no reason, follow your own advice and "engage your grey matter".

[Salt-Man Z]

Next time someone asks what an "Episode 2" is sequel to, nobody say anything, cool? Good talk, everyone.

[Salt-Man Z]

ConCERNed E2 was awesome, so I'm excited for this.

Can't wait for Hadron E3. :)

[JohnnyTheWolf]

The thing is, Episode 2 replacements are not necessarily sequels.

So no, it was not immediately obvious what this project is supposed to be a sequel of and the OP put no link to the original episode.

[Xaser]

JohnnyTheWolf said:

The thing is, Episode 2 replacements are not necessarily sequels.

So no, it was not immediately obvious what this project is supposed to be a sequel of and the OP put no link to the original episode.

Yet the first episode is easily located via typing "Return to Hadron" in forum search, /idgames search, or even Google -- the first result for me is the /idgames page, and DuckDuckGo yields kmxexii's review as the first result so it's not even history-biased. Given the project is explicitly labeled "Return to Hadron E2" (note the lack of "E2" at the end of "Doomed Deja Vu"), it's not at all a stretch to at least try and search around for something else named "Return to Hadron."

As for why I'm being a meanie-head about this, this inquiry is just the latest in a long line of questions from JohnnyTheWolf that have obvious answers, are lacking context, or are answerable via basic research or even his own personal experience. Semi-hypocritical as this is, I'd advise folks at this point to take Salt-Man Z's advice and just don't respond to such things in the future (though I'm extending the definition of "such things" to "practically every question this guy posts" :P). It's reached the point of absurdity.

Since I've already pooped in cannonball's thread enough, I'm gonna put a lid on my participation here. I owe cannonball an in-depth playthrough of the episode now, so hold me to it, folks. :P

[TheOrganGrinder]

Three maps in and I'm very much liking this. It's got that signature cannonball fondness for treating the level as a single unfolding/evolving playing field defined by a single dominant or central space, and your secret-hiding methods really click for me - I love the use of gunfire-activated switches in non-obvious places to hide major caches of gear. Map 3's exit, with the smaller yellow-locked door immediately behind the larger blue-locked door, gave me a chuckle - it's a little reminiscent of the big door encountered at the midpoint of Portal 2, but just as a way of playfully snatching away the player's sense of progression and brazenly throwing another obstacle right in their path, it's delightfully cheeky.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

Xaser said:

As for why I'm being a meanie-head about this

Again, if you had "engaged your grey matter", you would have sent me a PM and explained your grievances in private - and hopefully in a civil manner - instead of turning it into a public spat like a complete shitbag. But I guess you have so much time to waste that you just had to try to throw a tantrum about a handful of harmless posts I made on two different forums over the last few months, because apparently it really offends you when a random forumgoer occasionally makes honest mistakes or does not immediately know the answer to his own questions.

But hey, since this is really the first time you have ever come across as a condescending asshole and you never struck me as petty before, I am just going to assume you are currently going through a rough patch in your personal life and this is not the usual you.

[dobu gabu maru]

Goddamn the cannonball train keeps rolling! I love that E2 of Concerned in no way needed a replacement, but now that it's here I'm more than eager to see what you've improved. I'm still sticking to my guns that I have to finish my maps before I start playing new wads, but man, I think this is the highest priority on my list.

[baja blast rd.]

Here is a playthrough of e2m4. Goal was a sub-5:00 max, a speedy but humble goal. I got it, 4:59!!! chaingunning the spider at the end with very low health (I always tank damage in speedruns because I'm so focused on shooting). :D

Very fun map.

[Aquanet]

Played the first five. The great style for big, evolving encounters takes a while to get going, then hoo wee. Instead of slaughter-ish or orchestrated feeling, the setups feel more incidental and often trickle you to death. Secrets generally give a feeling of clandestine spaces, which is nice. Looking forward to the rest.

[dew]

JohnnyTheWolf said:

A sequel to what?

The prequel is obviously Visiting Hadron for the First Time E1. You may not have heard of it, because the Cacademy snubbed it in favor of Back to Saturn IX, the 10th episode of the 6th season of the Planetary Saga.

[tourniquet]

Some of the dopest Ultimate Doom maps I've played in a while, can't recommend them enough.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

dew said:

The prequel is obviously Visiting Hadron for the First Time E1. You may not have heard of it, because the Cacademy snubbed it in favor of Back to Saturn IX, the 10th episode of the 6th season of the Planetary Saga.

I do not believe I was very active on Doomworld at the time and I am still trying to catch up with seemingly decades of maps and mods. The Classic Doom community is so ridiculously productive, it can be quite hard to keep track of everything! :P

But speaking of Back to Saturn X, is there a "Visiting Saturn X for the First Time"? I mean, with a name like that, it obviously must be a sequel too, right? ;)

[Marcaek]

yeah return to hardon looks good a+ cannonball

[Xaser]

Awwright, started a playthrough as promised and I've been enjoying the hell out of it. E2M4's easily my favorite thus far; cool layout and lots of hectic action in the cave-y bit. Also quite fond of that RK well experience... I knew something was coming but wasn't able to figure out what until it happened. Good surprise, that.

To toss in a bit of nitpickery, the automap could use a little secret/hidden flag TLC. There are many instances where secrets or traps are spoiled by gazing at the map, like this bit in E2M1. I can't help but look and now I see it coming. :<

Aside from the above, no complaints/errors/shenanigans so far aside from my own incessant self-rocketing, which has become a bit of a tradition at this point. Damn caco piles! :P

[Steve D]

Well, I'm glad I finally managed to snag some Doom time just as this episode hit the forums.

Played the first 3 maps, so now it's time for some praise along with some bitching and moaning.

M1: First thing I noticed is horizontally misaligned Stonegarg right above me at warp-in. I misplayed the opening fight several times, making it the most difficult encounter of the episode so far. I like the way you transformed the map, though it's been so long since I played Concerned that the only thing which seemed familiar was the crushers.

After the opening, the map settled down into dribble-in encounters, super-easy but occasionally annoying as Lost Souls stumbled in while I was exploring. Would have preferred a good Lost Soul trap that would hit me with several of them from fairly close.

I figured out the shootable switch and the other secrets with great ease, and because I found the yellow key, I was able to grab the Rocket Launcher. The RL was a useless bauble at this point, so I question its purpose. But getting it when I did encouraged me to play continuously, which made the next 2 maps dismayingly easy, though I'm sure the hammer will come down soon enough.

M2: Dead easy on continuous, but nice-looking and with a pleasant layout. There are lots of drop-offs -- a theme in all the maps -- so any time monsters threaten you when you're up high, you can typically leap into an open area and escape. I like that you used a fair number of Cacos, though you might consider increasing the overall monster density. There were a lot of Specters, but they weren't much threat. I enjoyed snagging the Backpack and Plasma Gun in this map.

M3: Tough opening, even on continuous, thanks to the high snipers. Overall, this map showed more teeth, though some areas were campable. One complaint is that key doors were in darkness -- I prefer to have them lit for easier navigation.

This map had 2 major highlights. One was obviously the big Cacop/Imp reveal. I successfully managed to die the first time through that fight. Pretty proud of myself, I must say. The second highlight was the drop-floor to the Baron chamber. I managed to survive even though I accidentally selected the RL instead of the PG and plugged him at point-blank range. But fortune favored me largely because I'd already grabbed the secret Soulsphere, so I switched weapons and walked out of there at 120%.

As with the previous maps, I maxed this one, finding every secret except the Blue Armor without aid from the Computer Map. I appreciated the jumping puzzle hint for that one. I also liked how switches always opened up something nearby.

Overall impressions: Given that I went for continuous, I accept that this is a casual playthrough, but the first 3 maps still seem quite easy, perhaps easier than the originals, though it seems like they might be hectic ammo searches on pistol. OTOH, they're much better looking than the originals. You've turned somewhat representational maps into abstract Doomy ones. The pace is good and the atmosphere is strong thanks to all that dim lighting. Looking forward to more.

[Steve D]

M4 - Mortuary: The best-looking and fightingest map so far. I managed to survive with only minor savescumming, so it's still fairly easy on UV-continuous, but I had to work a lot harder in this map because of all the Barons.

Speaking of Barons, the yellow key fight was my favorite, since it forced me to use the PG until I opened enough clear space to blast away with the RL at all those Barons and Cacos.

I found all the secrets except for the mass of rockets in the aforementioned yellow key fight. Finding the Soulspheres early allowed me to save one for later, thus making certain I went into M5 in the peak of health.

Layout was more loopy this time, hence a bit confusing, but also giving alternative ways for entering some of the fights.

The final fight was too easy to cheese, just camping in that room, spamming rockets through the windows at all the Cacos, then getting an angle on the Mastermind and dusting it off with the PG. The main thing it accomplished was draining my ammo a bit.

Still waiting for the map that beats me up and makes me cry. ;)

[cannonball]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts so far, it looks like I might need to beef up the end of E2M4 to kill SteveD though. I will also do a bit of automap cleaning at some point as well.

[Firedust]

Hi, just made it to m6. Absolutely loving this so far, awesome episode. I kinda disagree on what everybody's saying bout the difficulty. Cmon guys, it's only episode 2. Draft Excluder is far more challenging than that. I personally think it would be weird for episode 2 to be as difficult as episode 4. Or maybe that's just me.

[boris]

Really cool maps. I like the interconnectivity and the secrets.

E2M6: I somehow managed to get the cyberdemon walk into the starting area and then trigger the line that closes the area, trapping the cyberdmon. You could also trap the other players in a coop game.

E2M8: that map is really dark, to the point where it felt more like luck to survive than skill, simply because I could't see the enemies until like 0.5 seconds before running into them. Also I kind of cheesed the fight by retreating to the room after the red key door, where I could take out quite alot of monsters until one of the cybers came so close that I had to run out.

[baja blast rd.]

Here is a "speedy casual" sub-5 for e2m8. Two-shotting cybers when utterly terrified is hard. This isn't the most aggro possible strategy, but I'd rather not try that now. It's a dark map even in GlBoom+ gamma two and higher, can't imagine how it must be in software.

[baja blast rd.]

One more for e2m9.

It's easy for the engine to fail to tag the blue armor secret because it's such a narrow sector. The player can skip sectors like that while moving quickly, which is likely to be the case. The soulsphere secret, eh. Very unlikely for the player to find it at any point when it's useful. As a purely aesthetic consideration, it's kind of weird that the light doesn't make a switch sound either.

Items in the start room could be arranged a bit better -- backpack should be right in front of the player, to make the required circuit less awkward.

Apart from that, I liked this. Favorite encounter was the one-on-one battle with the cyber in the red key area. I think I grabbed the red key without triggering the linedef in this demo, which is just a minor bug I guess (most people will probably just hump the skintek or something).

[Steve D]

rdwpa said:

Here is a playthrough of e2m4. Goal was a sub-5:00 max, a speedy but humble goal. I got it, 4:59!!! chaingunning the spider at the end with very low health (I always tank damage in speedruns because I'm so focused on shooting). :D

Very fun map.

Awesome run! I especially enjoyed your hellbent for leather battle at the end. No way would I survive such an attempt. Kudos!