The DWmegawad Club plays: Disjunction & Scythe X & Counterattack

MAP05 - "Felt"

your doom2 library, fun to explore as it features plenty of secrets. perhaps a bit too much of them, even. i got tired of searching bookshelves for secrets after a while. resistance is moderate throughout, and the many secrets keep one fueled for the final confrontation, which is rather simple though: fire rockets in front, 2-shot the cyb, fire rockets into the side corridors. one fine example of a library map, however.

MAP06 - "Serpent Temple"

great texturing here, reminding of quake's temples of ancient evil. some ruins built into caves. unfortunately i found the many narrow corridors annoying, especially when i was wielding only a shotgun. the final fight is well introduced, how you slide down those stairs into a dark cave... iirc, i watched a demo where the player achvile-jumps onto the ledge at the end, pretty much cheesing the fight, but i saw no vile here? which amounted to some cursing, because the cacos blocked my way very skillfully.
 

switching here to scythe x too, because the later maps of disjunction will take a while, and i don't see me finishing this month anyway. i'll finish them in parallel, or whatever,

MAP01 - "Service Entrance"

standard base, good visuals, although nothing outstanding. i have echo magnusblitz here: the chainsaw is found very late, why not give it in the beginning to bash some zombie heads in, instead of plinking away with the pea shooter. it's all too obvious.

MAP02 - "Garbage Disposal"

same as before, regarding the berserk. very dark in parts, the corridor with the trash compactor and the hitscanners hiding there, the only potentially dangerous bits.

MAP03 - "Training Center"

i'm wondering a bit here, as i remember scythe2 for its difficult late maps, but there we're still killing imps with the shotty, and there's enough ammo for everything. a map with a central hub. the imps coming out of the floor at the yellow key were something one doesn't see often today in maps. 

Scythe X MAP02: Garbage Disposal

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

Another cozy map, and combat is largely of the 'shooting fish in a barrel' variety with small fry mostly being in front of the player in small groups. Some nice barrel opportunities at least. There are a couple of bits that might wake you up like the crushers and the chaingunner reveal.

To the brave souls advancing to the last 4 levels of Disjunction on UV: godspeed. Played MAP08 and MAP09. After they pounded me trap after trap, starved me of health and ammo, they swallowed me whole! FloatRand is not a mapper, he's a butcher! UV is death!

MAP06 - "Serpent Temple"

A stunner, perhaps one of the best in the set so far imo. A temple with delicate and smoothly curved bricks making up it's architecture is a very striking choice. While regular features for temple settings like vines, flooded areas still make an appearance and show off pleasing color combinations, i enjoyed floatRand's take of adding tech bits and flashing lights. FloatRand seems to have a knack for creating colorful and energetic visuals (and has fantastic lighting skills!), and this temple is very much carved in his unique mapping identity.

The gameplay here is a literal giant switch hunt. Each of these switches are guarded by a fight, thankfully they are not as brutal as what comes next but they did engaged me and kept me on my toes. Great for a map with a mysterious mood and seemingly encouraging exploration. Very inter-connective layout helped!

A delightful journey. Sometimes i find it hard to believe this was made by a newcomer.

Some screenies:

1 hour ago, Catpho said:

MAP06 - "Serpent Temple"

A stunner, perhaps one of the best in the set so far imo

Following up on this - I couldn't agree more. In addition to everything I later started to notice how fitting the bridge is:

Rather, it's just a good section, but sometimes i thought it's something more for the map. And another small 3d bridge is good fit too.

It seems now the map for me firstly associates with this long bridge span. No, not so.  It's better to say that without this part I do not take

Serpent temple.

map10 fda

map11 fda

jesus christ 10 & 11 of Disjunction are beasts

m10 in particular is hideously nasty to the player - the last 2 fights are actually easier and less frustrating than the preamble to them!

m11 felt quite old-school and nicely climactic at the start but i think it unfortunately lost its way when you get to the evil tower; frustrating platforming while taking out annoying enemies with somewhat limited ammo (of course could just be me using too much up in stupid ways)

all fdas in 1 zip

on to Scythe X!

scythe x

glboom+, uv pistol starts, no saves cl2 D:

map01 fda

i dont have much to add beyond what everyone else has said. the chainsaw is in an add place, and theres no berserk, so the combat is very plinky and almost entirely without threat. the rocket launcher does add some possiblities for splatting but (judging from the ammo but no rl on m02) this is meant for continuous play.

map02 fda

a bit more like it, still quite dull tech-base and uninspiring combat but there are crushers! which actually killed me the first time i played the map. couldnt find 2 of the secrets aside from the blursphere - hopefully one was an armour or a berserk?

this isnt directed at Scythe X specifically but i wish players would just dump the map01 tropes completely. you can have a low-threat opener with high monster counts, or a map completely devoid of enemies as an intro, or (one of) the hardest maps first. this game's been around for so long, we dont need to be eased in with the same map01 as doom 1 and 2 had...

map03 fda

this is a LOT more fun. gives you lots of weapons, lots of traps, enemies coming at you from different sides. i liked the vent double secret a lot as you can see the venting along the corridors and it gives you a nice hint that you can go through to reach the ba.

1 hour ago, rehelekretep said:

jesus christ 10 & 11 of Disjunction are beasts

m10 in particular is hideously nasty to the player - the last 2 fights are actually easier and less frustrating than the preamble to them!

m11 felt quite old-school and nicely climactic at the start but i think it unfortunately lost its way when you get to the evil tower; frustrating platforming while taking out annoying enemies with somewhat limited ammo (of course could just be me using too much up in stupid ways)

Did you play the original Map11 with a horde of Cacodemons, or the updated Map11 with only a few of their brothers left? These 2 maps are just terrifying if you can't handle your resource properly.

Scythe X MAP03: Training Center

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Bit more to this one, with a couple of fights with monsters coming from multiple angles. Still lots of small fry (zombies, imps, pinkies) but at least you have to be somewhat awake now. Interesting little choice at the start as you can either charge straight ahead or take the longer circuitous route. And I agree that being able to see the vent shaft from the outside was cool.

11 hours ago, GarrettChan said:

Did you play the original Map11 with a horde of Cacodemons, or the updated Map11 with only a few of their brothers left? These 2 maps are just terrifying if you can't handle your resource properly.

i have no idea; i played the one in the OP link. the cacos werent that bad so im assuming no hordes

m10's caco horde was annoying but the endlessly spawning viles were worse!

I was curious to go back to Scythe X after a long time, I played the first 3 maps and "idcleved" the rest. For the gameplay the start is less impressive compared to the previous wads of the series, but for what I remember it gets more difficult quickly. Even though I don't like so much the excessive monochrome visuals the overall design is improved, it keeps the same simplicity but it's more detailed and elaborate.

The style of the first and second episode of Scythe X is like a polish and improved version of Scythe's opening 10 maps. I agree that it could have been better with more thematic diversity, but tbh Scythe X shows Erik at the height of his mapping.

Not playing along this month (still working on Struggle, among others) but I will say that:

• Disjunction is now on my list of WADs to get to, because I don't already have a million in the queue, thanks.
• Counterattack is on the shortlist, but dorking around in MAP01 (as I have a couple of times) gets me a little worried that it might not be my bag.
• Scythe X is one I have played already, and I found it to be a lot of fun. Part of that might be because it's only the first episode, and so doesn't have the chance to turn ridiculously difficult like MAP30 of Scythe 1 and the back third of Scythe 2, and can thus remain largely enjoyable.

Really enjoying Scythe X so far, with the exception of those yellowish orange lights used as borders all over the place. I always think they're signifying the yellow key, heh. But this is just pure, good Dooming, I love the compact maps. I actually played well ahead of where we're supposed to be because the maps are so quick and I was enjoying them so much!

MAP03: Training Center

Another 100% that was a piece of cake, Another fairly simple and basic tech base map. I liked the Vent secrets as I felt it add a bit more substance to the map and you could get around to different areas. There are a few monsters closets along the way but only filled with imps and zombies so you have something to shoot at on your way around.

MAP04: Air Cleansing

The wad finally begins to start up with this map. The Layout's a bit more complex and the combat's here a little more challenging with some well placed enemies and plenty of traps for the player. The secrets still felt a bit uninspired though, could be i already played this wad before though. Plenty of health and ammo from a pistol start and you get a rocket launcher too even though there's not much to use it on. Several well placed barrels near groups of enemies allow for plenty of explosive action as well.

MAP05: Long-Range Teleport

You could view this map as a bit of a mini-boss of sorts, a bit of interesting design at the beginning as you can choose between taking either the Rocket Launcher or Chaingun and the other one gets barred off. I took the Rocket Launcher as there's a big horde of Cacodemons to fight. After clearing out the initial area our first fights places us right between said Cacodemon Horde and a cloud of lost souls, and then 4 Mancubis to get to the exit. Nothing too hard so long as you're ready for it, but plucking the last Mancubis too death with the shotgun was kind of annoying. If you played scythe you know about the fake death exits and this map ends with one, Not a big deal if you're doing pistol starts of course.

MAP04 - "Air Cleansing"

doesn't look like some tech facility with air ducts, filters and such. rather like a warehouse in green and grey tones with a large fenced area in the middle and occasional crate hopping. we continue killing small fry, now with some added chaingunners. several closets with tightly packed meat and barrels together, for some reason, and even more hilarious with the universal gibs mod i recently added to my gzdoom startup. there's plenty of stuff for such opposition and lack of serious traps, 2 blue armors, 1 soulphere, 1 blur sphere, one can comfortably stroll around.

MAP05 - "Long-Range Teleport"

a kind of story map, as it doesn't add anything, and offers an underwhelming gameplay. the opening lets you choose between getting the chaingun or the rocket launcher, as they're both in closets that close as soon as you enter one of them. ok, maybe there is a way to get them both, but i didn't try harder. as soon as you enter the open area, you get assaulted by a dozen of those annoying lost souls (and, guess what, i had chosen the rocket launcher). make your way past those cacos into the warehouse and cheese them from here, plus the mancs that spawn outside. that's the whole map. and, guess again, the long range teleport gets you a fresh pistol start on map06.

MAP06 - "New Arrivals"

a floating platform in the void, still light opposition, and it ends really abruptly. i mean, that's not even a proper exit, it's a hole in a wall.

MAP07 - "Hydroponic Research"

this one is tougher, thanks to some hitscanners on crates in the beginning and a trap that throws you from an imp clusterfuck right into the arms of some hell knights, but again, the map is generous with health, and there's also a plasma gun with enough ammo to toast almost everyone (which i managed to find after i killed most baddies). there are some mancs that appear to trigger a map07 tag. hydroponics my ass, i didn't see a single vegetable.

MAP04: Air Cleaning

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

As @Pirx said, not really an air purification plant or anything, more of a warehouse. I like the looks but the gameplay was a step back. There are some nice moments - like the wall of enemies opening up right as you grab that shiny new rocket launcher - but overall it's just too dang easy and non-threatening (unlike last map, we're back to everything being in front of the player). There's also some weird choices like having a jump for the invisibility sphere right before fighting a bunch of imps (instead of hitscanners, where it would be useful) and an end-of-map free backpack, which is useless to pistol starters and probably unnecessary for continuous players. I realize that Scythe's bite-size maps aren't served well by playing them one a day and that they play better as part of a whole, but I still think this one could've used a bit of a shot in the arm.

MAP05: Long Range Teleport

100% kills, 1/1 secret

An episode-ender, and I feel like they should be climatic somehow, and this is most decidedly not so. After a choice between the chaingun and rocket launcher (as much as it pains me to say so, if you're on a pistol start, take the CG, it's far more useful on this level than the 7 or so rockets you'll have to use) you drop into a little gulch and get to fight a pincer group of cacos and lost souls, and then go back to fight some mancs. Neither fight is tough (well, the caco one can be if you took the RL and have infinite height turned on, making running past the cacos difficult) but they are boring since regardless of the weapon you took you'll be plinking away with the single shotgun at some point, and the hallway has plenty of cover for the latter portion. And that's it, episode over, disappointingly.

MAP06: New Arrivals

100% kills, 1/1 secret

Still a techbase, but now INNN SPAAAAAAACE!!... Still short and with not much opposition, but there are some wide sightlines for the chaingunners to get a good bead on you if you're sloppy I guess. I agree it ends too quickly, could've at least made me grab another keycard, re-filled the center and gave me some more hellspawn to kill.

I got sidetracked with Eternal Doom, PSX Doom, Ancient Aliens, and mapping, so I fell behind, but I'll play catch up and write as I go.

MAP03

GZDoom 1.8.2, UV, continuous, Boom (strict)

It's another techbase, but this time it's dark outside. It's a key hunt, find the three cards to exit. Resistance is like wet toilet paper here, with only the hitscanners being any real threat.

MAP04

We go from green to grey with brown slime here. Short and sweet, the resistance isn't really worth noting. Easy map, quick to do.

MAP05

Another really short map with a choice. Get the rocket launcher or the chaingun. Being me, I choose rocket launcher, even if I have to reload to get it because I chose chaingun first and didn't realize what would happen. The map only really would be difficult if you started from pistol start, rather than continuous. This one ends you with a death exit, so ending with 6 health doesn't really matter.

MAP06

We're in space, now, and with a fresh start. Combat ramps up a bit here, but remains manageable. Shotgun, chaingun, and launcher are all quickly available, and the only secret is easy enough to figure out.

Disjunction MAP06: Serpent Temple

100% kills, 2/4 secrets

As others have said, this one looks really nice, with a pleasing brown/green color combo and lots of nicely curving architecture. I always appreciate maps that have a unique 'goal', in this one, it's the five serpent switches ... something I think always helps give a map a unique feel. Each area is different with easy landmarks so you won't get lost at all. I admit I did feel some frustration early on at the lack of the SSG, especially since a lot of the fights were single mid-tier monsters that didn't feel any more dangerous for the lack of the SSG, just that they took longer to kill with the popguns. But the level stays about at this level and never gets too grindy, thankfully. Checking DB2, seems like there is one on ITTYD and HMP, just not on UV, which to me just makes me feel like it's a bit of a dick move at trying to create some artificial difficulty that doesn't quite work.

I dropped Disjunction earlier this month as much of it had not been particularly enjoyable for me & I had some other things to do, but I've played the first five levels of Scythe X so far, all in one run.

Aside from the crusher trap on Level 2, which managed to contribute to me dying TWICE, what you get here is pretty much nice 'fast food DooM' with good visuals. There isn't much of a challenge, but you'll probably nonetheless have fun playing/looking at it & you could most likely beat the whole episode on your lunch break.

Disjunction MAP07: Gamma Sector

90% kills, 1/2 secrets

Bite-sized map here, back in the grimy techbase theme. Even with the small size I missed out on some of the monsters (in the second secret perhaps? Couldn't figure out how to open that closet near the blue door). Nothing too memorable here gameplay-wise but it's fine in the moment, and some areas (like the plasma gun room) look cool.

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Scythe X MAP07: Hydroponic Research

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Another oddly-named one, as there doesn't seem to be much hydroponics here, unless you count the trees in the red key area, but even those seem to be in soil... in any event, this is the map where Scythe X finally takes the kid gloves off and provides some action. Lots of hitscanners at the start (especially if you're greedy like me and run forward to grab the armor) and a decently tough ambush on the blue key. Subtle use of the MAP07 manc tag to open the bars.

(And looking back I just realized I basically copied @Pirx's comments)

Scythe X MAP08: Solar Power

95% kills, 1/2 secrets

A lot of monster meat packed into this small map, and you'll loop through it a few times. Early on ammo is at a premium so make sure not to miss; later on it's just managing the groups of monsters in small areas. A nice combative map if not an especially outstanding one, though the solar panels do stand out visually. I ended up running from the mancs and final cyber since there's no reason to really stick around and fight them.

MAP06: New Arrivals

We found ourselves on a space ship after our near death experience, besides that this is basically the same old. It can be a bit tricky with the hitscanners in the wide open areas. Definitely a map that's way too short, I spent more time figuring out the secret then actually playing the level, then again i'm really bad at finding secrets.

MAP07: Hydroponic Research

So I guess the brown water makes this a Hydroponic station, fair enough. This was the first level where I was actually at risk of dieing, mainly due to a pretty intense beginning with numerous chaingunners and cacodemons to deal with until you finally get some peace. If you get the plasma gun secret the ambush with the imps and hell knights is basically no threat. Even then it's not that difficult though.

MAP08: Solar Power

This one is hot starting off with many enemies in a tight area and no where particularly safe to hide, you also got those cacodemons flying around outside which are just annoying. The rest of the map can be a bit intense too with traps about every step of the way it seemed. The whole map loops around once to get the keys to head through the next door so that was a nice way to get some mileage out of a rather small map. The solar panels with the mancubis on them was cool of course, but the final cyberdemon just seemed unnecessary so I ran past him. I couldn't figure out how to get to the blue armor so I just gave up and left a secret behind.

1 hour ago, DavitW said:

 I couldn't figure out how to get to the blue armor so I just gave up and left a secret behind.

Figured that one out completely by accident. Funny enough that was the one I got and couldn't figure out how to get the fenced-off berserk pack...

14 minutes ago, Magnusblitz said:

 

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Shooting one (both?) of the little power icons out on the solar panels behind the mancs opens up the wall to the blue armor

 

Figured that one out completely by accident. Funny enough that was the one I got and couldn't figure out how to get the fenced-off berserk pack...

Thanks for that, I probably spent 5 minutes humping and shooting anything that looked remotely suspicious before giving up. as for the berserk pack there's a little computer screen to press on a wall near the small red key door to open up the back wall.

Heh, funny; likewise I think I humped every screen except that one for some reason.

MAP09: Holding Area

99% kills, 1/2 secrets

A bit more small-scale in fights than the last one but still provides plenty of monster meat to chew through, and in tight, close conditions... this time with darkness too in spots to make things interesting. The map flowed nicely for the most part though I did find there were a few spots where it was too easy to retreat and made the fight dull, such as the manc ambush when you return outside after the red key, or the hell knights perched on the staircase after the AV. Ammo is tight too so be careful aiming. Nothing wowed me visually but I did appreciate some of the subtler details like the texturing on this staircase or how well these computers in the box frames work.

MAP08 - "Solar Power"

you start surrounded by bad guys and have to watch your ammo here for the first half of the map, i was constantly on my last shells and bullets. it gets better however once you open the door to the outside area and pick up the rocket packs there. the map lives up to its name as it has mancubi on solar panels outside. oh and thanks for the hint @magnusblitz, i was getting frustrated with that blue armor still on the pillar after i pressed or punched everything around. i wrote some other dwmc month that we tend to notice similar things. i found the access to the berserk pack, at least, but the berserk was more of a 100 health pack at this stage. the cyb was kinda lost outside, he can be cheesed from the upper platform when he wanders below and can't aim upwards. 

MAP09 - "Holding Area"

now this involves lots of crates, as the name says. still, the building resembles more a dark fort than a plain cargo area, with pleasant visual details. some good hell knight use in very dark and cramped areas where you see them only when they throw flames at you (and i insisted on keeping my somewhat darker settings for the atmosphere and challenge). a bit of parkour gets you a soulsphere, which is very helpful against the knights in the small chamber with the pillar in its center. other fights are less interesting, like the point and shoot at the mancs that spawn outside.