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The Story....! ---->
Well, actually, the story hasn't changed much since last time in
TALPOIDA. By now, you've seen the mega-huge pulse cannon, and you had
better find a way to neutralize it if you hope to be rescued anytime
soon. Unfortunately for you, the hostile forces seem to have caught on
to your presence. Your passage down the last corridor in TALPOIDA was
cut off and you were ambushed, though of course, you managed to escape
down a hidden little crevice to find yourself....in a dark and
cavernous underworld.
Welcome to DIOPATRA......!
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Hello, and welcome to the third installment in the UCA storyline!
Of the 3 thus far, this one is probably the hardest. It is designed
for single player, though coop mode is supported but not tested.
Deathmatch, however, is NOT supported, as DIOPATRA is a bit too
large and too dark to make an enjoyable deathmatch wad. Difficulty
levels are supported but limited to basically "hurt me plenty" or
"ultra-violent."
DIOPATRA is an almost completely cavernous wad. As such, it is DARK
and a bit mazy. It is rather non-linear; you have to determine for
yourself the best way to go about completing and exploring the
different sections. This is a fairly dangerous wad - as noted, it
happens to be rather dark, though I have included several lite-goggles
to help...if you find them. DIOPATRA looks and works best if you
don't jack up the gamma correction, so play this one at night or
in a dark room. Don't blame me if you play in broad daylight
and can't see much - you've been warned! :)
Oh yeah - I don't feel it's fair in dark wads for numerous imps and
spectors to be wandering around, so you will only find 1 spector
and 4 imps in DIOPATRA, and they are all restricted to a very
bright area. The rest of the wad, though, is pretty top-heavy on
demons and cacodemons. I find these enemies to be much fairer, as
the former moves a lot (so you can detect its motion) while the
latter is a nice, fat target. The cavernous tunnels are also laced with
flowing lava, so watch how you walk. The radiation suits don't always
provide adequate protection....
DIOPATRA was designed to be played right after TALPOIDA. If you
try it as a stand-alone, you will be EXTREMELY hard-pressed to
complete it. Personally, I can barely solve it as a stand-alone,
as I'm not exactly an expert Doom player. The choice is yours, but I
HIGHLY recommend playing UCA and TALPOIDA first to prep your
soldier for DIOPATRA. DIOPATRA takes me about 35-50 minutes at UV
to solve. Hmmm, maybe I'm just slow.
Some folks have asked, so...keep in mind that these wads are part of a
9-wad series. Thus, you're not going to find every big weapon in
every wad - that would be silly. If you miss a weapon the first
time around, you'll just have to wait until it re-appears a couple
of wads later. Just like in the original Id levels.
A hint on gameplay - You will probably notice a soul sphere fairly
early into the wad if you're observant. BUT, it really isn't
obtainable until very close to the end of the wad, despite
appearances. If you get it too soon, you will probably die. Yes,
that's right. You've been warned. It's not easy to get the soul
sphere.
Last point - although DIOPATRA is large at 158k, it plays smoothly
on my 486sx-25, which has a pitiful 3dbench rating of 16.6. So
there should not be any problems with slow gameplay. That's about
all I want to say. I hope you enjoy DIOPATRA. Check out UCA or
TALPOIDA if you haven't already or if you can't finished DIOPATRA as
a stand-alone. I really look forward to any comments or
suggestions, too. I did extensive play-testing, but there's always
the chance that I missed something. I haven't found any bugs, but
if you do, PLEASE tell me about it so I can fix it. Thanks! And
happy hunting!
DIOPATRA was devloped with DEU 5.1 and BSP1.0 and can be found at....
infant2.sphs.indiana.edu
my account (just email me if you can't do ftp)
Eddie Nguyen
anguilla@raphael.acpub.duke.edu
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