Discuss No Rest for the Living

Hey ya'll. I've never heard of No Rest for the Living before Doom 3 BFG. It is some sort of expansion pack for Doom 2, not to be confused with the Master Levels. I think this is some quality stuff and challenging too. This .wad / expansion pack might be 20 years old for all I know, but I'd like to hear other people's opinions on it :-)

It's a relatively recent expansion pack developed by Nerve Software in 2010, originally released as an exclusive to the XBox Live Arcade version of Doom 2.

It's pretty cool stuff :)

It's great! Since its release in 2010, I don't think there's been a mapset released that I've played and enjoyed more than I did NRFTL. It does certain things a little differently to the way I'm used to seeing them done from playing community PWADS (of course, it's not unique in this respect, but it's certainly notable) and I found it very refreshing to play.

I enjoyed it so much that I actually imposed a restriction on playing it - no idle playing; it's not something that I'll play regularly, or that I'll fire up for a quick, time killing, blast (as I have done with, say, E1, for years) - precisely because I want to retain as little information about the layouts/secrets/traps/puzzles as possible, so it keeps some of that sense of newness when I do play it.

It's let down by the final map, alas.

I don't know why but some of its levels felt kind of bland and boring.

I tried playing it and didn't like it too much, the levels seemed smashed into smaller sizes than they could've been and had me continuously crossing the same areas again and again (with new keys in hand or new switches pressed) which is a style of layout I don't like.

Still have not played this. Is it available for PC (legally)?

darkreaver said:

Still have not played this. Is it available for PC (legally)?

Get BFG edition to get it. I ended up buying it because mine was ripped originally. So it only seemed fair to buy it.

darkreaver said:

Still have not played this. Is it available for PC (legally)?

Yes, but only as part of "Doom 3: BFG Edition".

I liked NRFTL but it seems to drag a bit in places. MAP01, 02 and 05 were the standouts for me; really didn't like too much canyon or red brick stuff, the latter of which is plentiful later on.

Didn't feel official though, it felt like two dudes made an episode. Which is kinda what it is.

Also, it jarred with Doom 2 stylistically. I can't be the only person who wished they'd gone for Vanilla levels of detail, right?

I love it. I bought a cheap clearance BFG edition today just for a PC copy of NRFTL, but the asshat sold me a game without an activation code, which means I might have bought a coaster. I hoped to find it on the disc itself, but sadly not. (Anyone know if I can get it off the disc somehow, just in case I cant get this code?)

Ragnor said:

I love it. I bought a cheap clearance BFG edition today just for a PC copy of NRFTL, but the asshat sold me a game without an activation code, which means I might have bought a coaster. I hoped to find it on the disc itself, but sadly not. (Anyone know if I can get it off the disc somehow, just in case I cant get this code?)

You may have to look for an extractor to extract the files off the disc but I don't think it's legal to.

Maybe, maybe not. I own the physical disc and three console copies of NRFTL.

Fun part: I ALMOST got it on Steam today. I didnt buy it because I ONLY wanted NRFTL's wad off it, and got the disc version for my brother.

I think the final 3 or 4 maps stood out for me as really enjoyable challenge. Great look and what felt like no break from the action even if its like the same place with a flood of more enemies.

It's a really fun episode. I thought that visually the maps fell into overdetailed territory in spots, but thankfully unlike a lot of maps with excessive detail, this never affected their playability. The small secret alcoves with health/ammo got tiring after a while - the maps have some good secrets, but these alcoves seemed almost pointless and could've just been open from the start. It felt like there wasn't enough ammo for the rocket launcher, found myself SSG or plasmaing monsters I'd usually just use rockets on.

Also, I think they used the wad name generator for some of the map names. "Inferno of Blood" in particular.

Dragonsbrethren said:

Also, I think they used the wad name generator for some of the map names. "Inferno of Blood" in particular.

Too bad it wasn't this generator (still my absolute favorite thread on DW).

The visuals are a little noisy in the beginning, but I like the layouts A LOT. There are a lot of secrets which adds a lot to it's replayability, and I'm especially attracted to MAP01's motif of increasing the difficulty as you find more secrets. Many of the harder monsters are found outside the general layout and finding some secrets triggers teleport ambushes within the original play area, so you're greeted with revenants and mancubi and stuff when you return from secret searching.

40oz said:

The visuals are a little noisy in the beginning, but I like the layouts A LOT. There are a lot of secrets which adds a lot to it's replayability, and I'm especially attracted to MAP01's motif of increasing the difficulty as you find more secrets. Many of the harder monsters are found outside the general layout and finding some secrets triggers teleport ambushes within the original play area, so you're greeted with revenants and mancubi and stuff when you return from secret searching.

Mainly that map is all about trying to obtain that SSG which is behind the yellow key door. Getting it in MAP01 gives a pretty serious advantage in the following map, to the extent that it can be used given the rather harsh ammo limitations at least ;)

I'm not sure where the next chance to get an SSG is, probably because I always pick that one up and thus don't pay attention.

Ah, that's right, there's pretty much no backpacks in NRFTL. Forgot about that..

Quasar said:

Getting it in MAP01 gives a pretty serious advantage in the following map, to the extent that it can be used given the rather harsh ammo limitations at least ;)

I'm not sure where the next chance to get an SSG is, probably because I always pick that one up and thus don't pay attention.

It would be great (and logical) if it gave "serious advantage", but the next SSG is in a secret alcove on MAP02, obtainable within 5 seconds of the starting area.

vdgg said:

It would be great (and logical) if it gave "serious advantage", but the next SSG is in a secret alcove on MAP02, obtainable within 5 seconds of the starting area.

Woops, oh well :P Guess they had a good idea and then backtracked on it quickly. That seems to be a theme with some of the other weapons though, too. You can do an optional difficult thing to get it maybe 1 map early, or just skip that and get it in the next map.

How well does classic Doom handle on a PS3/X360 pad? my computer isn't good enough to handle the enhanced Doom 3 and I'm interested in the new Doom 2 levels, but the only time I played Doom on a console was the Playstation, and it didn't handle all that well.

The weapon cycling order is lousy, but luckily they also mapped them to the d-pad, two on each direction. Having sprint on the left trigger seemed odd at first, but I definitely came to like it. Otherwise it's just your standard modern console FPS controller layout; plays well enough.

Got my code. Got my nerve.wad *gives Doom 3 disc to someone else*

Sgt_BFG said:

How well does classic Doom handle on a PS3/X360 pad?

Imprecise to say the least. The dualshock aspect feels nice but if you're used to aiming with a mouse, you'll find that aiming with analog sticks take some getting used to.

The first five levels were awesome but then it slowly got slightly average, the final level was a bloody joke.

Just got it (thanks to the QuakeCon sale on Steam). It seemed pretty weak at first, and I couldn't help but feel it was yet another case of official = overhyped; but reaching the level 1 exit with 40 kills out of 130 instantly grabbed my interest. I like how much optional stuff there is in those maps, and while the layouts aren't anything special they manage to evoke this sense of adventure and exploration. Solid mapset with the added polish you'd expect from a commercial release.

You should like MAP05, Phml.

I thought it was a cool add-on. There's even an easter egg on the first map. And it got me a doom guy outfit for my xbox avatar!

Sgt_BFG said:

How well does classic Doom handle on a PS3/X360 pad? my computer isn't good enough to handle the enhanced Doom 3 and I'm interested in the new Doom 2 levels, but the only time I played Doom on a console was the Playstation, and it didn't handle all that well.

Okay so I got a copy of BFG and been playing the expansion, and I'm loving it. the first level really impressed me with its design, and how it gives you just barely enough ammo to get through, making the game really intense.