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Katamori

What are you playing now?

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Revisiting Containment area. Lots of effort, a huge crate maze with good lighting, in 2000 it must have been rare to see this size+detail. Unfortunately, the author's idea of fun is different than mine. Take the wrong teleporter? Instant death. A crusher out of nowhere. And the worst cyberdemon placement I have ever seen, the one at the yellow skull key. Dying here does not make me want to restart. 2/5

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Completed Realms of Chaos yesterday, I'm keen of extraordinarily aged megawads since these show a lot of quirky design decisions that nowadays wouldn't get a free pass, at least not without proper playtesting. Those who want to try this, expect some inventive mazes, a kind of airport and seaport too, sandbox maps, Icarus-styled tech bases, but also some forced backtrack included, overly boxy rooms, not a lot of light variation outside of pitch black tunnels or full brightness everywhere, misaligned textures impossible to miss, and some wall humping to find secrets. And for gameplay, a bit of everything, incidental 90's, some claustrophobia and some giant spaces with a few bugs roaming, nothing offensive, unless the hitscan hell nature gets on your nerves, I only disliked the odd placements far from my aim. Oh, and, a surprisingly easy Icon of Sin setup at the end. Get some custom music too, it definitely helps.

 

Also went through Breach, a single map by Viggles. One of the best examples of ultra atmospheric environments with just stock textures, a must play definitely, as it's also pretty fun and rich in vanilla incidental and set piece combat. 

 

So now I'm about to try The Beginning of The End: Part 1, a couple episode replacements for knee deep and shores of hell. These are vintage and include new sounds effects in a separate wad, fortunately, because damn they are so out of place. Expecting nothing but fun Doom I gameplay, lots of cacos and barons!

Edited by galileo31dos01

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Flotsam wasn't my piece of cake. I'm not a big fan of slaughtermaps and hellish platforming.

I do appreciate it visually though, there were a lot of beautiful maps in there.

 

Bloodspeed was really fun, it got progressively better as it went on. The final episode stood out a lot. Especially loved StormCatcher's map.

 

DyingCamel's Demons #2 was very solid, a lot of great maps in it (Favorite one being MAP12 - Moonshrine), the quality was much better than the first pack IMO. The Rocky Islands map was quite unfun IMO, for the same reasons I disliked Flotsam.

 

I was gonna play Spooktober Community Project next, but since Eviternity comes out tomorrow it takes immediate priority. :)

 

Happy birthday, Doom! \o/

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Finnished The Beginning of The End 1 the other day, a very different thing from all Romero-ish Doom wads out there, pretty fun and recommendable. I noticed a bunch of design choices that are trademark from NaturalTvventy, such as crossing pain sectors without protection, legions of sergeants, texture mishmashes that flow on their own way, that maps don't feel purely "techbase" or "hell" but everything together, so to speak. If anyone wishes to play, there're two things to keep in mind: from pistol starts, many times weaponry isn't for free or easy to find, save for the shotgun, and the chainsaw is your backup tool or primary for ammo conservation. I say this because the player will have to SG barons and cacodemons at least once in a while, and in other cases patient infighting can do the job, or zerking if available. The second is that armor can be stingy, whereas hitscanners are abundant. Keep those things in mind and play however you want, it's all good imo.  

 

Then I played Abyssal Speedmapping Session 1 in ZDoom, fairly decent maps with some visual glitches here and there. The second map had little to no ammo, so I surfed on imps and exit the map :P

 

Now I'll be playing Xarathustra by psyren, same guy who made Crimson Canyon and other sets. I found it once by accident and apparently got very little recognition, unfortunately. The maps lack custom midis, but a quick trip through them revealed that thematically they're all similar to each other and the gameplay doesn't varyfrom monster spams every room, so maybe I'm not adding anything this time. Hopefully this could turn out fun.

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Playing Shaitan's Luck (I saw it mentioned here few ages ago). I'm not sure if I will endure the whole MAP30 with all those monster spawners but it was an enjoyable journey of challenge oriented and slaughter maps with the pre-2010's era, though It's kinda rough overall. The music choice was very cool.

 

18 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

Now I'll be playing Xarathustra by psyren, same guy who made Crimson Canyon and other sets.

He also made Rylayeh right? I tried to play it and also Crimson Canyon but lost interest quickly in the first maps. I wasn't enjoying the gameplay and maybe I also made the mistake to pistol start them on a blind run. Visually were quite good and with many interesting structures. I guess I really should give them a second chance.

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On 12/4/2018 at 8:51 PM, Salt-Man Z said:

Playing through UDTWID, and it's a blast (and a beast!) Not sure it really "feels" TWID, though.

I echo that sentiment. The only thing that's ID in that episode is the texture use. The maps felt a whole lot easier than the original. That brutal one-two punch of e4m1-e4m2... so hard to survive every goddamn time.

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4 hours ago, gaspe said:

He also made Rylayeh right? I tried to play it and also Crimson Canyon but lost interest quickly in the first maps. I wasn't enjoying the gameplay and maybe I also made the mistake to pistol start them on a blind run. Visually were quite good and with many interesting structures. I guess I really should give them a second chance.

 

Yes, Crimson Canyon should be fine on pistol starts, the last two maps are the most strict in ammo management iirc. Psyren's style is a bit weird, there's a very slight NRFTL vibe in Xarathustra in terms of layout design, except no room is particularly memorable or striking so far, you spend most time indoors in small rooms connected through doors/lifts that look samey, and the maps are basically spams of zombies and other enemies for each room, which doesn't demand much attention aside from not being chipped away by sergeants. There's some charming exploration to be done, though the complexity of the maps makes me feel fatigued at the end. It's not something I would recommend and probably not the strongest outing by the author (still have to play Rylayeh and Azagthoth), but those who like to combat spam with spam might find it up their alley.  

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I'm just done replaying Rylayeh for the third time or so and it's as enjoyable and distinctive as I'd remembered, I think this has definitely cemented itself as one of my favourite WADs though I'll acknowledge its unevenness and its various quirks.

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With the upcoming Sigil (yes, I'm completely hyped for it), I realized I've never played Plutonia or TNT Evilution. Resulting from some reviews I decided to play through TNT first to "be done with it" and then start with Plutonia.

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Last week I finnished Sunlust on hmp and pistol starts. That was amazing, simply a great experience, and how much you learn from that wad is incredible, no disliked maps. Then I played H2H-Xmas for the mood, and it was a bit boring overall except for the cute tracks. Props for having that many revenants in whatever fights. Lastly I played 4 Seaons of Doom by Forli, I can't say I had fun with every situation, particularly in the third map that seemed to have so many sergeants and brutal fights, compared to the health/armor you can get, but that's fine. The music and colours were really nice though, and some inventive scenarios. Yea, apart from the third map, it was fun overall.

 

I have started Equinox by B.P.R.D, it's charming throughout from a thematic side, whereas hallway-centric combat not much, but the combo is decent enough. This seems like starting each map individually would not suit everyone, I started map 04 with full ammo and left nearly naked, that even using the chainsaw where possible. 

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Played Crimson Canyon, it was pretty good. The first time I dropped it at MAP04, which isn't particularly interesting but this time I think it was allright. Combat is very meaty and frontal and pistol starts weren't hard (aside a couple of maps in the middle) since you are drowning in ammo from all the hitscanners and the secrets. It ended in a strange way, the last couple of maps didn't seem to fit with the overall theme of the wad, they felt more like bonus maps. I think that 40oz took some inspiration for UAC Ultra from here, especially from the first techbase levels and the red rocks and lava outdoors of both mapsets gave me a similar feel, though I will never know this I guess.

 

For these holidays I also replayed Doom 2, thing that I didn't do in years. It was nice to revisit and see all those details I have forgot and I also pistol started it for the first time. It was harder than expected, some routes are clearly easier and not remembering exactly where some secret or supplies were gave me some trouble. I was surprised that you don't have the SSG on many levels.

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2 hours ago, gaspe said:

I think that 40oz took some inspiration for UAC Ultra from here, especially from the first techbase levels and the red rocks and lava outdoors of both mapsets gave me a similar feel, though I will never know this I guess.

 

That's exactly what I felt yesterday when I played that wad, the hot red rock areas instantly brought me to the CC outdoors areas and, ironically the combat in both share a few similarities, most likely the frontal corridor-centric combat. UAC Ultra does have an amazing rusty metal setting throughout, and occasionally brings a pressure trap to distinguish from the casual. It was fun overall, though uninspiring at times. 

 

Also Equinox was so it's own thing, definitely not something I would revisit with a different mindset, but the setting and music was gorgeous. This is one rare case where continuous DOES make a huge difference. Whoever feels like counting each bullet and exercising the "don't kill what you don't need to" strategy might find Equinox appealing, otherwise it is best to not go with the thought of UV-maxing each map, specially the latter ones. 

 

Gonna be playing The Evil Unleashed by The Innocent Crew (Moeller brothers), a '94 e3 replacement for Doom. Already expecting a lot of fun.

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Finished Eviternity RC2 (current internal build) on HNTR, PrBoom+ CL11 in two very long sittings, probably about as much Doom in these last two days than most of last year combined haha. This was my first proper playthrough, some maps I admit I had never played before during development. I still don't know how to feel about MAP19 but otherwise very solid stuff, especially given the fairly short amount of time it was made in.

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Other than Scythe 2 I'm currently blasting through Doom 2's early levels from July '94 as well as Eviternity, admittedly much slower than I would like but better than no progress at all. I suppose my place is starting to fill, gotta finish something soon.

 

I was pretty surprised by many of D2's early maps, many of them are almost identical to the final product while others are radically different, an example for the latter being The Catacombs which is more complex and confusing. Despite this, I do wish some of the design decisions seen in this iteration of the levels made it into the final product, I absolutely love the organic interior of the Imp building seen in The Factory, it looks amazing.

 

 

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Finnished "The Evil Unleashed" the same day I started it, definitely high quality wad for '94 standards, and a bit wonky but charming for today's standards. Nothing head-scratching unless you go naked each level and ache from armor shortage (rocket supplies barely exist too), or if you don't care about using the shotgun for about everything most of the time, otherwise it's a nice candidate for ol' Doom I fans. 

 

Currently going through Hadephobia by various people. This might have the longest background story I've ever seen and to be honest I kinda threw the towel after the tenth or so chapter, since the maps are already self-explanatory about their context. It's been pretty fun and rich in comfortable dooming while providing lots of eye candies and phenomenal aesthetics, which is what I needed at the moment. The TNT and stock tracks would certainly sound better if this could be played in Crispy Doom (my preferred port), but so far I'm really enjoying the design and music selections, maybe random instapops because they feel completely unnatural. Anyways, to map 17 and beyond!

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Speed of Doom. Talk about an overrated wad... This wad's idea of difficulty is just reusing the same traps over and over again every single room until you get unlucky and die because of one of the Archviles or something. EVERY SINGLE key and switch opens a wall behind you with a bunch of enemies. It's not even unexpectable or surprising, it's used everytime, this wad doesn't seem to try new tricks. The worst one is when you step into a room and a horde of enemies suddenly raises from the floor. It happens in every God damn room too. I'm not even mad that this wad is difficult or anything, it's just straight up annoying and uncreative. The monster placement in some areas feel extremely uninspired and generic. Not to mention the mediocre flow the wad has.

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Stardate20x6 by Ribbiks. Beautiful map-set so far(on map05 now). A little slaughter-y for my taste at times but still incredibly fun.

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Rudy's Revenge.

 

Also how dare you call Speed of Doom mediocre. It's like one of the best megawads ever.

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Finally finished up Fall of Triton. Wow. Just absolutely sprawling and looong; took me close to 12 hours to beat, with all of the bonus levels. It gets pretty repetitive and grindy in the back half, but that's part of its appeal, in my opinion. It really feels like an nigh-eternal descent into hell. Bravo.

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I played through Action Doom on Contra mode a couple days ago. It was pretty dang fun, and extremely impressive. Mind you, the final boss was really obnoxious. Not hard, just really annoying. Having just finished Streets of Rage 2 (holy shit, that game blew my mind), I'm eager to check out Action Doom 2.

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I finished DTS-T yesterday, now I'm playing A.L.T for 3rd time alongside with Temple of the Lizard Men. Let's see where they will lead me. 
 

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I'm maybe 60% through Action Doom 2. I really love the visuals and attention to detail, but unfortunately, the combat is a bit dull, and the dark and gritty story clashes with the quirky, cartoonish style that's featured in the game. The homophobic jokes are also kinda lame. 

 

edit: Actually, I'm done with this. I'm sorry, but I haven't really enjoyed my time with this WAD very much at all.

Edited by Ajora

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8 hours ago, Ajora said:

edit: Actually, I'm done with this. I'm sorry, but I haven't really enjoyed my time with this WAD very much at all.

Yeah I kinda have to agree, while its very original and I really appreciate what it was going for, the combat is kinda clunky. Liked the 1st Action Doom a lot more. Right now I'm currently playing through the Joy of Mapping series, about halfway through the 3rd in the series. Briefly played 4,5, and 6 beta and really love each one in the series, it seems like each time they get better and more maps are added. Thinking of also giving Bloodspeed a try as well since I hear such great things about it.

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Playing Going Down (on HNTR) with Smooth DOOM, Bolognese, Perk's Sounds, and Sev's HUD. The combination works well, including for the final boss.

Edited by dugan

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Hadephobia was a lot of fun, definitely recommended to players who like it casual, long, mainly linear, and with an emphasis in story-telling, sometimes over gameplay. There's also pretty random bonus content, with map 35 being my favourite from the three. One big gripe was how most of the maps had points of no return. I wanted to backtrack and find the rest of the secrets or monsters left alive, but I was denied the chance. An odd design choice that neuters any sort of exploration for completionists that don't find all the things along the way. Other than that, Hadephobia is a win in general. 

 

After that, I played NOVA: The Birth on true pistol starts for scientific purposes. Great experience, I must say this turned into one of my favourite community wads mainly consisting of (ex)beginners' works with only Doom 2 resources. There's a lot of regular and fast-paced action, few longer affairs, and non-traditional maps like a massive metal puzzle or basically slaughter. Good quality stuff to be seen. 

 

Now I'm deciding whether to pistol start Bloody Steel or not because I don't want to stay with the pistol longer than 3 minutes like in the first map, while running away from sniper zombies. I'll check in the forum what others opted for. If someone has any recommendation, so be it!

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Bloody Steel has been conquered, played each map individually and it was all fine. The maps are intentionally adventurous while keeping up the action on point, lots of sniping on one side, and slaughter-esque set pieces on the other side. Thematically like playing a different FPS game, though I'm not familiar in general with games of that genre to put an example, just picture any involving construction sets and caves, and mansions. So this was something fresh and interesting to play through, I would recommend it for those looking for a sort of adventure in realistic places (with "realistic" I mean non-fictitious typical places in Doom). On playability notes, a bunch of maps cannot be fully maxed due to, either broken teleport lines in monster closets, or them never waking up. In addition, the bonus map lacks a key that supposedly activates extra stuff in the level, seems like this didn't undergo enough playtesting. Also, the music was so in low quality that it barely registered in my mind.

 

I'm probably going to play Sector 666 by Skillsaw, his eldest release. Was meant to be Epic 2 but I wasn't expecting Bloody Steel to take place in an egyptian theme at any point and I'd like something different :p

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