The DWmegawad Club plays: THT: Threnody & No Rest for the Living

What is the DWmegawad Club?
This is a place where we settle down, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice) and take a month to play through a megawad on our own, together! Any keen observations, criticisms, or frustrated ranting about it goes here in the discussion. As long as you want to say something about what you've played, feel free to speak your mind.

Can I join?
Sure. The only rule is that you have to play at least some of the levels in our monthly megawad to contribute, but you're generally encouraged to finish the whole thing, even if you've played it before.

What levels am I allowed to post about?
Whatever day of the month it is, is the upper limit for the map you can post on. So if it's the 6th, you may discuss up to MAP06.

Do I have to post an entry every day?
Nope, not at all. This is only for our more enthusiastic members. As long as you play through it with us you’re part of the club.

When do we vote on the next month’s megawad?
Voting begins on the 25th of the current month. Remember to add one “+++” before your vote to make it easier to count. For example:

+++ Ultimate Doom

----------

>>>DOWNLOAD THT: THRENODY HERE<<<

>>>BUY DOOM 3: BFG EDITION ON STEAM HERE<<<

Are you ready for an adventure? First we have THT: Threnody, the epic Ty Halderman Tribute megawad that honors his passing in 2015, utilizing Team TNT textures and Boom triggers. Next up is Nerve Software’s No Rest for the Living, developed by Richard Heath and Russell Meakim! Reminder that No Rest for the Living is only available commercially, in Doom 2 on XBLA, Doom Classic Complete on Playstation 3, and in the Doom 3: BFG Edition. If you own the Doom 3: BFG Edition on Steam, you can located the file (NERVE.WAD) by right clicking the game on steam -> properties -> local files -> browse local files -> clicking on “base” folder -> clicking on “wads” folder. This way you can play the wad in your port of preference.

Author & maplist for THT:

Quote

MAP01 - “Eirene” by Chris Hansen
MAP02 - “Rockage” by joe-ilya, Chris Hansen
MAP03 - “Chemical Facility” by Paul Corfiatis
MAP04 - “Manly Hatred” by Chris Hansen
MAP05 - “Nukevil” by Doomkid
MAP06 - “Cut Throat” by Doomkid
MAP07 - “Fort Halderman” by Gothic
MAP08 - “Fightnancial Crisis at Enwrong” by dobu gabu maru
MAP09 - “Forgotten Reaches” by Doomkid
MAP10 - “Formalhaut” by Mechadon
MAP11 - “Parallel Dimension” by antares031
MAP12 - “WormHell” by Z0k, Fonze
MAP13 - “Binde Haldetmand Palae” by Paul Corfiatis
MAP14 - “Labout of Despair” by Philip “Liberation” Brown
MAP15 - “TY45-15” by didy
MAP16 - “Ayahuasca” by Chris Hansen
MAP17 - “Tyvivec” by Angry Saint
MAP18 - “Fallen Steward - Eternal Archive” by Mithran Denizen”
MAP19 - “Big Freaking Guardians” by Fonze, didy
MAP20 - “Sky Pillar” by antares031

Maplist for No Rest for the Living:

Quote

MAP01 - “The Earth Base”
MAP02 - “The Pain Labs”
MAP03 - “Canyon of the Dead”
MAP04 - “Hell Mountain”
MAP05 - “Vivisection”

MAP09 - “March of the Demons”

MAP06 - “Inferno of Blood”
MAP07 - “Baron’s Banquet”
MAP08 - “Tomb of Malevolence”

BONUS CONTENT
No Rest on Doomwiki
Lingyan203's playthrough: THT | No Rest
Suitepee plays: THT 1 2 3 4 | No Rest
NERVEMUS.wad (to play the proper music in Zdoom related ports)
Thread for Ty’s passing
----------
OLD THREADS
2012

• BF_THUD!
• Community Chest 4
• Jenesis
• MAYhem 2012

2013

• Memento Mori
• Interception
• 2002: A Doom Odyssey
• Hadephobia
• Coffee Break & Fava Beans & Double Impact
• HYMN
• Stardate 20X6 & Monochrome Mapping Project
• Realm of Chaos
• Back to Saturn X E1 & Favillesco E1
• Kama Sutra
• Unholy Realms & Zone 300
• Vile Flesh
• Ultimate Doom

2014

• Whitemare & Sacrament
• Scythe
• Epic 2
• Whitemare 2
• Sunder & Countdown to Extinction
• Doom 2 the Way id Did
• MAYhem2048
• Stomper
• Back to Saturn X E2
• Going Down
• Rylayeh & Crimson Canyon & Azagthoth
• Serenity & Eternity & Infinity

2015

• Resurgence
• Requiem
• ConC.E.R.N.ed & Draft Excluder
• Doom 2 Reloaded
• Valiant
• Scythe 2
• NOVA II
• STRAIN
• Icarus: Alien Vanguard
• Sunlust
• Plutonia 2
• Revolution!

2016

• 50 Shades of Graytall & Erkattäññe
• Hell Revealed
• Vanguard, Hell Ground, Bloody Steel
• Eternal Doom
• Japanese Community Project
• Ancient Aliens
• Bloodstain
• Estranged
• Alien Vendetta

dobu gabu maru said:

Ty Halderman Tribute megawad

Oh cool, I think THT is actually supposed to mean To Honour Ty, but this just happens to fit as well!
Anyway, definitely joining in on this one, but I don't have NRTFL so I'll have to miss out that last part of the month.

^ Shame you'll miss out on it--it's pretty fun. Sadly I won't be joining this month since I need to make spend my Dooming time hitting deadlines, but I'll make sure to swoop in to talk about my map on the eighth.

I already reviewed THT: Threnody for the /newstuff Chronicles, but maybe I'll jump to make some comments on few maps. Probably I'll join for NRFTL as I still have to play it.

01 - FDA. Very basic. The action is not that fun with simple situations. Feels like it lacks a certain "kick" that some megawad openers have. I'm struggling to come up with something to say but that's okay for a Map01. Some areas are kinda empty, which is interesting.

NVQ be damned, I'm totally joining in for this month!

NRFTL is awesome, but $20 is pretty steep if you don't care about any of the DOOM 3 stuff.

Wait, No Rest for The Living? Thought we were gonna do No Sleep for The Dead? Meh whatever, I have NRFTL already anyways.

Memfis said:

01 - FDA. Very basic. The action is not that fun with simple situations. Feels like it lacks a certain "kick" that some megawad openers have.

Yeah, I'm honestly surprised Chris Hansen insisted to move our map into MAP02 instead of leaving it being MAP01.

Great playlist this month; NRFTL contains some of my favorite official levels! (mostly from Richard Heath)

It's tough for me to make the time for this, but I'll at least pop in every now and again; hopefully I can take part in a few levels, especially the NRFTL levels :)

Well, that AV playthrough sure had a lot of people bail out around the E3 mark. I can't say I'm a huge fan of TeamTNT's megawads, with Evilution being the only one I managed to complete, so I don't know how much THT relies on homages and whatnot. Also, is this designed to be played from a pistol start? I'm not expecting a hardcore challenge wad so I'm wondering if continuous is perhaps more enjoyable in this case. Anyways...

Map 01: Eirene

Very badass midi for a rather soft opener. Classic map01 with mostly shotgun action against small groups of foes. Some freedom of exploration is present, evident by me reaching the exit pit while missing 10+ enemies and going back to grab that green armour and reveal more dudes in the computer room. Visuals are nice and clean and there's really nothing for me to complain about here. Decent start.

Rayzik said:

Wait, No Rest for The Living? Thought we were gonna do No Sleep for The Dead? Meh whatever, I have NRFTL already anyways.

Tbh I got them confused when I suggested it, and meant NSftD.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgS1ZoidySwNimesgBa8Lsm4gaql8L6Wj

My playthrough of No Rest for the Living

Nice Lingyan! I always like to check out legit Doom videos from folk I haven't been exposed to yet; I'll check these out some time later on :)

rileymartin said:

is this designed to be played from a pistol start?

Yes, every map was made separately and ordered later; authors had no way of knowing what state the player would be in after the previous map. Continuous play should be fun, too, but pistol-starting is what was tested the most. As antares said, every level was beaten by multiple people on UV-PS. I can also vouch for maps 12 and 19 being designed for pistol-starts.

I think every set nowadays is designed for pistol start unless stated otherwise.

rdwpa said:

Tbh I got them confused when I suggested it, and meant NSftD.

Ha, and you were the one that started everyone supporting it too!

I was kinda hoping we'd pick THT, since it's on my shortlist of new stuff I wanted to get to. GZDoom/continuous/keyboard-only/saves as usual, and UV this time because why not.


MAP01: Eirene
6:54 | 100% Everything

I did play through this level when I first loaded THT up a month or so ago. I though maybe I had saved, so was prepared to skip to MAP02, but apparently not? And anyway, it took me under 7 minutes to get through, so whatevs. It's a fine little thing, largely inoffensive. I like how the Eternal pickup sounds were used, just gives that little feeling that you're playing something different (and familiar, of course, given they're originally from Hexen, but of course used throughout Eternal Doom.) So this map looks nice, and plays with basically no surprises, except maybe the computer room that opens up, secret-like, via the switch outside its window. Mostly what little danger there is comes from mid-range hitscanners, so if you prioritize picking those guys off, you've got very little to worry about. I think it makes for a nice little MAP01.

Usual settings. prBoom+, UV, pistol starts. I think I might try to do a video for every map that doesn't have one already. I noticed that either -viddump or YT absolutely wrecks my demos, though.

map01: Eirene

Snappy little opening base, as they say. The design is smart, with good use of visual connectivity. Progress is mostly executed in the form of loops from where you are to an adjacent place you can see, the whole map being the loop that takes you to the exit area. This sort of design, as well as the amply stocked chaingun, makes it well suited to max runs; you can leave monsters behind and get them later.

rdwpa said:

Tbh I got them confused when I suggested it, and meant NSftD.

I thought it was kinda odd and perhaps a mite unwieldy you'd pick a commercial product (and that so many would get behind it), but since the Club has already played one of the IWADs I suppose it's really not too strange a happening.

Glad to see THT here, anyway. I'd played the first part of it prior to its official release but there's a lot of stuff in the back half I didn't have time for, certainly looking forward to some of those, maybe some FDAs even.

MAP01 - “Eirene” by Chris Hansen
A solid opening level which looks nice and the gameplay is inoffensive with a mix of weaklings and the odd mid-tier monster sprinkled around. Pretty easy, even for me :)

HMP continuous, with saves.

MAP01: Eirene - Chris Hansen
Time: 01:43 | Deaths: 0

A quick and easy opener from Hansen. I don't think it's the most memorable MAP01 I've seen lately, and so Threnody starts off not really seeming like a 2016 PWAD. Perhaps this is that missing kick that Memfis was talking about. MAP02 is definitely a faster paced map, and only slightly larger, so maybe it would have been a better choice for the opener, but I can't say I'd really thought about it until now so for me it's not a problem. Ultimately, there was nothing here that bothered me, so if I were playing this blind, my first impressions would be good, and indeed they were, once upon a time.

7/10

Very cool to see Threnody on the chopping block. BTW, I haven't bailed on Alien Vendetta. For the first time ever, I'm actually going to complete a megawad I failed to finish in its assigned month. Having No Rest For The Living on the docket will help, since I'm not buying it ATM. Anyway, I've played up to Map18 on AV, and I really liked that one a lot, so I'll do those write-ups soon.

Now, on to Threnody! As usual, GZDoom, UV pistol-starts, keyboard only, and savescumming like crazy.

Map01 - Eirene by Chris "The Axe-Murderer" Hansen

Well, it looks like Chris left his axe at home this time, which is not a problem, because even though this map was dead easy -- I actually finished without dying! -- it had a nice oldschool look and the play was engaging. There was a lot of verticality, some wild angles, a nice mix of rock and grey textures, and a couple nifty secrets. Getting the Backpack so late begs the question, was this mapset geared to continuous play? Won't make no never-mind to me, so I'm just wondering.

That Chaingunner in the back at the yellow key -- I think I saw light glinting on sharpened steel there. I expect more, and worse, in the future. ;)

All in all a nice opener.

https://www.twitch.tv/johnsuitepee/v/92491424 = part 1 of my playthrough, covering maps 01-08. (UV, pistol starts)

Pretty good so far. My revisitation of dobu's map that I had previously playtested reminded me of how awesome it was, which I think will take some beating for the best map of this wad!

I also liked Gothic's map 07, despite some semi-cryptic and not obvious progression at times. Lengthy, but in all the right ways.

Doomkid's map 6 was better than map 5.

I liked that map 2 felt like a semi-tribute to Ty's 'Quarry' from Icarus: Alien Vanguard.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the wad, particularly Mechadon's map 10!

02 - FDA. So much better than the previous map. The theme is actually interesting and there are many cool unique details. For the gameplay I would prefer having a few rockets or barrels to speed up the process but it's enjoyable overall. I'm a fan of the original map (Icarus 03) and I'm glad to see a decent tribute to it. Not really digging the midis so far: they might create a certain mood but aren't pleasant musically to me.

Btw something made me think that this is supposed to be played with TNT.WAD, but I guess not?

^ It was going to be for TNT originally but they decided to go with DOOM2.wad in the end.

Also regards the soundtrack, there's some pretty good songs later in the set, particularly 10 and 14.

Map 02: Rockage

Now I haven't played any Joe-Ilya maps before but have seen some rather strong opinions about them. This is a pretty good map though where the Chaingun is still king and the monster count remains low and full of easy to breeze through enemies. A few Hell Knights and a Revenenat do make an appearance though. Found 2/3 secrets and had all items and kills so not sure what was in that last one. Another fast and easy map with a good stone/cave aesthetic. Apparently a reference to Icarus map03 but I'd rather not go into that one as that's where I dropped the wad.

I played the first few of THT when it was first released but then I stopped for some reason so I should remember secrets on the first levels

Playing on UV continuous

MAP 01 : Eirene

Kills: 100% Secrets: 100%

Decent first map with a great midi track. The map flows well and combat is swift though a little bit easy. Nothing really hits you (both physically and design wise XD). However it is a decent all round!

Map 02: Rockage

Kills: 100% Secrets: 100%

The second map gets thing going and there quite a few more higher tier enemies to watch out but nothing too difficult though sometimes navigating through the water section can be a pain. Took a little while to figure out how to get the backpack secret but got there in the end :)

Threnody Map 01 -- Eirene - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Threnody kicks off with a fairly standard map 01 entry, fielding very conventional/traditional shortform map 01 gameplay but offering a bit more depth of location than usual while doing so. Any direct homages or obvious comparisons to particular pieces of Ty's work (or to Team TNT's in general) at play here elude me, though there's definitely something about the juxtaposition of traditional techbase elements with more low-tech materials ala wood beams or the significant expanses of coal-colored cobblestone which immediately puts me in mind of the early game fare of a bygone age of PWADing while working in concert with the misty, overcast sky to establish a mood that's a bit more somber than the traditionally cheap/cheerful look of many megaWAD map01s. The BGM selection is certainly a genre-piece for the slot as well, featuring a simple driving rhythm in a stylized 'martial' sonic aesthetic to express grim determination, finished by a runaway lead to hint at the adventure to come. Some new props are also in evidence, all of which seem to originate in one or another of the Raven-made idtech1 games. The trees fit in naturally enough, though the hanging corpses always look a mite janky against stock Doom assets, largely a matter of a slight disconnect in the physical scale, I suspect.

Progression here revolves around the quest for the yellow keycard, perched teasingly on the elevated sampling point above the pool of toxin in the main courtyard. The emphasis on vertical scale that this setup represents is a pleasant addition to the map 01 formula, carried on later by the artificial canyon walls (with some very light sniper staffing) lining the path to the exit point. While it's a very short/straightforward level, I appreciate that it contains a significant amount of optional stuff, which is again relatively rare in your average map 01--the lefthand fork at gamestart leads to an overlook of the exit path and can net you a security vest and a chaingun, but is unnecessary to complete the level. Visual interconnection is a running theme here, though I felt that having the window sill just past the shotgun be a bit lower in order to allow the player to see the yellow key almost from the moment the game begins would've been a snazzy touch.

Combat is mostly as one would expect, featuring basic shotgun/chaingun exercises against equally basic patrols of light enemies, the lack of a melee-oriented option for the arsenal being a minor but noticeable deviation from the standard map 01 template. A few small clots of demons represent the beefiest opposition considering your basic armament, and there's a hell knight to troll you just a little bit if you dash blindly for the exit at the end. The most involved bit is probably trying to use available barrels to cluster-kill the enemies that eventually appear in the collapsing computer-stack room near the security armor's overlook--it's tricky, but doable.

Perfectly solid map 01 with a certain sense of personality to it, though it hardly reinvents the wheel as far as any of the traditional slot-tropes go.

Threnody Map 02 -- Rockage - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
A sort of after-the-fact collaboration between Joe-ilya and Chris Hansen, the most immediately and perhaps only truly striking thing about this little slip of a map is indeed the resemblance in look and feel it bears to the main area of "Quarry", the third map of Icarus, by none other than Halderman himself. That it accomplishes this so immediately without need of any of the 'realistic' touches which characterized the main area of that source map is rather interesting, I think, speaking to the potential communicative power of pure shapes and scale in lieu of decals or minutely specific custom texture assets.

The player starts cradled in a sort of 'manger' in a shady hollow just below ground level, with imps in pens (to be released later) and a doddering circle-jerk of zombies congregated in a watery seep off in a far corner. The small outdoor section houses a winding climb to the locked exit latch, a mucky green spillway, and some anomalous floating cubes in the sky (an ilya-signature), blithely offering no explanation. The texture/flat selection in this part of the level is pretty effective, I thought, using water and natural materials with some mossy cobbles and a bit of dingy metal in concert with tastefully subdued lighting for the impression of a damp rural cave used as a makeshift shed of sorts, though some rather tacky one-off concentrations of ceiling/floor detail (with a chiefly commemorative bent, it seems) mar the otherwise clean look a bit. The back half of the level, apparently built by Hansen, is a small knot of earthen tunnels lined with the odd bit of generator equipment soaking in a few inches of standing water, which serves as a backdoor point of access for the red card's final hideaway, the initial teasing introduction of said MacGuffin being the level's most memorable bit of fun. The BGM track struck me as redolent of Eternal Doom, and I felt its gentle, sleepy thrum suited the level's more openly commemorative thrust decently well.

Actual gameplay/combat here offers very little of note or substance. The most idiosyncratic placement decision is the aforementioned knot of zombiemen near the red key's initial position, though this is really more of a sort of sight-gag (or site-gag, if you like) than a substantial gameplay element--I almost feel like having a rocket to throw at them would play this up, though shoehorning in a weapon just for that purpose would arguably skew the continuous balance a touch. Hmm....barrels, maybe? Anyway, played at a conventional/casual pace, most of the level's small complement of monsters will wander over to your position as soon as you make a noise to be summarily slaughtered (though the few HKs occasionally get stuck farther away due to height issues), leaving what is a tiny level feeling empty in short order, and with most of the remaining opposition trapped helplessly at your mercy (or lack thereof). The back half being segmented from the rest mitigates this somewhat, and there is a token, somewhat slow-firing trap installed by Hansen at the red key to complete the package, but the effect is rather half-hearted. My impression was that pretty much all of the combat and thing placement here exists more as a formality or afterthought (since you're supposed to shoot stuff and collect stuff in Doom), with the level's real reason for being resting simply on its (presumably) fond recollection of Icarus' m03.

MAP02 - “Rockage” by joe-ilya, Chris Hansen
So this review will be in two parts as Joe provided his original version during John's livestream last night.
So the Joe only version - This is actually the harder of the two versions as there was more liberal use of chaingunners and revenants. The texture usage is fine (a lot more hellish than the final version) but some of the angles and shapes used are a little odd, especially the exit door but it is perfectly playable overall.
The finalised version - I must admit I do prefer this one, textured more in the typical tech/earth locale. The progression has been mixed up with an interesting cave section which teases you with the red key before making you do more work to reach it. The map overall is fine as it is pretty short but I suspect if it was any longer then it might have outstayed its welcome.
Both were fairly easy affairs, though I did die once in the Ilya only version. Like DOTW, the throwbacks to Quarry from Icarus is fairly obvious to see and was confirmed but Ilya himself as well.

map02: Rockage

The base of this map -- the shapes, those floating cube thingies, the key keep-away gag, the motley mix of outdoors -- is very joe-ilya, with many tropes and devices that recur in his body of work, but it has received a number of touch-ups from Chris Hansen, especially in the visuals department (the fake wall near the ten armor bonus secret notwithstanding). But I'm not a fan of this map, really. The monster placement -- lots of clusters with a scattering of mid-tiers -- begs for some super shotgun or rocket launcher (or even barrel) action. There isn't so much HP in the map that the pump-action shotgun and chaingun combo gets tedious, but it's simply never smooth or viscerally satisfying.

Progress might not be immediately intuitive unless you happen to visit the first red key behind the gathering of former human troopers. Triggers there make the progress deeper into the cave area possible, in addition to unlocking the real red key. This is a neat twist in what would otherwise be (and still is, arguably) an extremely straightforward map.