The DWmegawad Club plays: Super Mayhem 17

[Magnusblitz]

MAP25: Bastille Bowser

99% kills, 3/4 secrets

 

This one has a decidedly modern style to it, with large open areas and lots of staircases in a sort of circuitous layout that reminds me of Skillsaw maps. Plenty of room for the player to move around, but also lots of chances for monsters to correctly pursue since the staircases are big enough for them to path properly. I enjoyed being given the rocket launcher straight out, and the parcelling out of rocket boxes kept pushing me ahead deeper into the map, and the monsters showing up were never too tough that I felt like I needed to stop before moving on, so things kept moving at a great pace. I was happy to let the cyber infight, and was happy when he teleported away for later to infight some more. If anything it might be a little too easy, especially given that I didn't find the SSG until after I finished the map, and I never really thought twice about it since I had more than enough rocket ammo to satisfy. But better too easy than too hard IMO. Fun map.

 

(And yeah, how did that HOM sneak through?)

[rehelekretep]

still plodding away here!

 

map31 fda (dnf)

i play doom to kill things. my perfect map would be 0 secrets and the puzzles = monster encounters. im sure this is a good map but i just couldnt be bothered to figure things through. this is not to denigrate dobu or anything i just get frustrated and annoyed when i cant work these things out >.<

 

map32 fda

the drab surroundings mattered less to me than the actual fun i had in the level. i always like maps that give you some armour and rockets and just let you go for it. because i found all the secrets without much trouble i decided to do a max demo as well. enjoy!

map32 max 4:39

[Marcaek]

Map25's HOM doesn't appear in GLBoom+, which is probably what I tested the map with after making some unrelated changes: it must have broken after those somehow.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 23 -- Down the Wrong Pipe - 104% Kills / 50% Secrets - FDA

As mentioned earlier on, I reckon this is the stronger of TMD's two maps in this edition of Mayhem. While more compact and not as structurally striking/airy as its sibling in slot 19, it uses a similar style of monster/placement in a much more concerted way in a more focused space, as a result avoiding that feeling of haphazardness in its gameplay and offering a surprisingly visceral combat experience early on, contrasted with a more coherent Kaizo-Mario-style sequence in its second half.

 

That first area is an abstract Doom-y sort of place comprised of three linked halls with a dead-end chamber at one end, somewhat unattractively textured (at this point I'm sure everyone knows to take my carping about the whole Mario aesthetic with 'several' grains of salt, surely) and modest in aspect but well suited to the CQC scrapping which takes place there, nonetheless. Teleporting monsters and other tricks, ala the three blue doors which all fly open in concert as soon as you fit the key to one of them, keep some measure of heat on by constantly siccing mid/upper-tier beasties on you from your flanks. Prime material for SSG wetwork, this, saddled to an effectively deceptive ammo balance which can leave you feeling well-stocked at one moment and tugging nervously at your collar the next, especially if the vile happens to get out of hand. The tight-but-not-quite-cramped confines behoove some greasy dodges and perhaps some more involved infight shenanigans, which carry the action fairly well until the second half.

 

The second half, situated Down what was evidently The Wrong Pipe, is realistically significantly more deliberate/cautious in pace for most players (don't want to fall off into black, in Mushroom Kingdom rules that generally spells death) but doesn't sacrifice much intensity, playing on nerves and a dirty trick or two to see you slip up and slip off. In truth, the platforming aspect itself here is very light/simple, but navigating it while the enemy firepower generally occupies superior positions is easier said than done. As with the earlier half, there's a sense of a lot of different action happening in stages in quite a small space, which is welcome, though on the downside the segment seemed to end in somewhat untidy way, requiring an inelegant reverse backtrack at the end at a point where it still seems like the room might have some development remaining.

 

Nevertheless, a quality "deep cut" sort of map for the set.

 

Map 24 -- Bowser's Daddy Dungeon - 100% Kills / 50% Secrets - FDA

I have been known to criticize speedmaps in particular for often seeming like stream-of-thought collections of geometry and textures with no real gameplay ideas to fill them out and give them purpose. Rottking's map here struck me as something of the contrary case, a collection of short and largely unrelated gameplay ideas he had in his head that he decided to put down all together at once, resulting in a strange underground tower-mansion-castle-garden-playroom-zoo sort of place whose capricious and largely unplaceable form seems dictated by function, rather than the other way around. The overall impression is, aesthetic/concourse sensibilities aside, something like a whimsical old 90s romp. In the good way, I mean. :)

 

Overall flow, connection, and progression are all a bit clunky here, at least in purely pragmatic 'flow' terms, and certain bits seem to exist for no real reason other than to express a random idea (i.e. the sideswapping coin hallways, the blue armor room, etc.) largely unrelated to the main goals of the level (which are seldom clear), but this is something the map owns, and for the most part manages to make work--it's sort of Petersenesque in its way, though the size/time constraints for maps in the project mean that you never end up too far off course. Combat comes in irregular spurts of brief intensity intermingled with lighter incidental fair and a sort of sniper-dominated central space to keep less battle-suited parts of the map from feeling entirely empty, but while the action has enough violence to satisfy and a traditional thing balance (i.e. RL is the Big Gun here) tight enough to keep one alert and engaged, fighting's not really the central point, wandering around and traversing the weird, vertically-inclined space and looking at the idea exhibitions is, and fittingly enough the level's "combat climax" didn't really work for me--the arch-vile is presumably supposed to warp around the four pipes, I guess (?), but he just stayed in place and got blasted when I visited.

 

This is also one of the nicest looking maps in the pack that still seems to embrace the Mario look rather than ignoring or trying to subvert it, along with m04 and m08, IMO--it's shadowy and looks like a hangout for Bad Guys for sure, but is a very far cry from grim. Texture/color combos are smooth and sensible as opposed to foaming-at-the-mouth bright and cheery, and there's an incongruity (or what I perceive as incongruity, as a Mario outsider) to some of the asset use that has a peculiar charm, ala the ship-rigging/net stuff that cordons off the big central tower from the long, squat entry halls. The greater part of the map also possesses a striking sense of height and scale to it, always something that appeals.

 

Not really 'frontman' material, I suppose, but as with m20 an enjoyable map that does its own thing and feels like it's coming from a rather different headspace design-wise than many of the other maps.

 

Edited April 28, 2018 by Demon of the Well

[Da Spadger]

+++ Mayhem '16 + Dimension of the Boomed

 

Because it is dope.

[Nine Inch Heels]

+++ Brutal Doom

 

+++ Mayhem '16 + Dimension of the Boomed

Edited April 28, 2018 by Nine Inch Heels

[dobu gabu maru]

Currently a 3-way tie between:

- 99 Ways to Die, The Trooper's Playground, The Talosian Incident

- Mayhem '16, Dimension Of The Boomed

- Plutonium Winds, Master Levels

 

22 hours ago, Catpho said:

Whats your vote btw @dobu gabu maru?

I typically don't vote unless I have a vested interest in something winning/losing. Some of the mapsets seem neat but I got a lot of other Doom stuff to work out before I start thinking of another mapset to start.

[Catpho]

They sure are not letting Adam have it easy :P Even though Quake's grim look will a nice change after colorful mario, and im not in the mood for those 90s stuff (ive played 99 ways, and it quite bore me tbh, havent tried the rest tho)

Apparently i was evil for a second. Phew!

Edited April 28, 2018 by Catpho

[Magnusblitz]

+++ Mayhem '16 + Dimension of the Boomed

[mun]

Map 26 - Bowser In The Black Abyss by Marcaek and rdwpa

A memorable boss map for me. The cubes that form the map remind me of those slaughter maps appearing in the late 2000s and early 2010s, which is kinda cool. The fights preceding the boss were tough and great (What's with that void garden?). The boss fight itself is the best boss fight I've ever played in a wad, even though in the tradition of every Bowser fight ever it's still sorta easy due to large monster horde that infights with Bowser. Guess a deal with the devil never ends well...

Map 27 - Congratulations! by leodoom85

Nice.

[Crusader No Regret]

I have thoughts but haven't felt inclined to put them down for the most part.

 

Map 14: N/A

 

     Being pursued by enemies one lacks the firepower to combat reminds me of Deus Vult 2's balrog chase map the most.

 

Map 32: DNF

 

     I have no nostalgia for Mario Land so some of the impact is lost on me; I'm only aware of the music connection because I intentionally looked it up.  Once the novelty of the setting wears off, the map is left with it's gameplay.  There were some early pain elementals when all I had was rockets, a memorable setup that killed me my first attempt with lost soul swarms.  The layout isn't really navigation friendly; jumping down to reach items results in a long trek to return to the previous position.

 

    My other death is quite embarrassing.  I found a secret passage to a BFG that released a cyber into another part of the map.  Wandered into its line of sight without being aware of it until I got splattered.

[Poncho]

Map23: Down the Wrong Pipe

Okay, so the first part looks like an area you'd see in a cavern map, and it works decently, I suppose. The Arch-Vile that's revealed after the BK door is annoying, since it can revive a Mancubus and other mid-tier monsters, but it's nothing too awful. But then, the second area is just a slap to the face. First of all, you teleport in and are immediately shot at by 2 Shotgunners and a Chaingunner. That's just unfair. Then you have to deal with more Chaingunners (who are far away), Revenants, Lost Souls and Cacodemons. Oh yeah, and a Spider Mastermind, all while traversing thin platforms. Listen here, I like The Chasm (Doom II Map24), since it didn't bombard you with enemies on its ledges, save for the final room. Here, it's just daft enemy placement for the sake of "difficulty". You get to telefrag the Mastermind, which is cool, but for that trouble, you get a few Arachnotrons and an Arch-Vile, so it's not cool. All-in-all, a not-so-fun level.

 

Map24: Bowser Daddy's Dungeon

This level is quite wide-open; even the corridors are pretty huge. And with 125 monsters (that's including Lost Souls, btw), the map isn't very densely populated. However, the traps, which sort of predictable, are adequate in their job to create true (that means "fun-and-fair") difficulty. The Mega Armour secret is something I couldn't figure out, though (maybe I'm just retarded, though, and it's really easy to get). The enemy placement is standard but, at times, deadly, and for that, I complement this level. The only part I really disliked was the placement of the Arch-Vile at the very end. He can light you up instantly and get a cheap hit, which is always bullshit. Oh well. Decent map.

 

Map25: Bastille Bowser

Oh damn, is that Bloody Tears from Castlevania!? What a great track to use on such a great level! The city itself looks badass, the music keeps you engaged, the low-ish enemy count is deadly as hell, the secrets (save for the Berserk) weren't bothersome to acquire, and the ammo/health distribution is perfect. The RK trap is pretty cool (just one Pain Elemental if I recall, and the Cyberdemon instantly teleports away, which is a cool cinematic, I suppose). The final battle is tense as hell, but I somehow completed it in one go: just get the Spider Mastermind to infight with the Arachnotrons, get the Cyberdemon to fight the Revenants, then hide behind the globe-like thing surrounding the exit teleporter. This map is just... wonderful. One thing I suppose I can criticise: there's an enemy called the "Bowser Coop", according to the Doom Wiki, and you can see him behind a glass pane to the north of the map, but I beat the map without killing him. Bit of a shame. However, the map is great as it is, so it's nothing too major to complain about, I suppose.

[rehelekretep]

map16 fda

^{glboom+ / uv / pistol starts / saves}

really weird map. the balance felt completely off. i ran around the perimeter after leaving the first room and once i had red and gold keys i had to punch out a lost soul and then take a complete chance on running for the blue key. then i just about survived the 3-door key room and then accidentally exited the map when the 2 viles appeared and things started warping into the basement room. that exit room wouldve been much better with a switch to exit the map. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[rehelekretep]

map17 fda

^{glboom+ / uv / pistol starts / saves}

another map that doesnt shy away from giving you some firepower early on. you have to be a bit more careful in this one with the many block corridors giving you chances to be good at doom. couldnt work out the megasphere secret. the cyber that warps in after the rk seems a little unfair - i only survived it with a frankly ridiculously lucky squeeze past him in between rockets. the map actually peters out a bit after that as you return to the exit room arena and theres just some shotgunners and hks to clean up before you leave.

[Salt-Man Z]

+++99 Ways to Die/The Trooper's Playground/The Talosian Incident

[Pirx]

13 hours ago, dobu gabu maru said:

Currently a 3-way tie between:

- 99 Ways to Die, The Trooper's Playground, The Talosian Incident

- Mayhem '16, Dimension Of The Boomed

- Plutonium Winds, Master Levels

 

I typically don't vote unless I have a vested interest in something winning/losing. Some of the mapsets seem neat but I got a lot of other Doom stuff to work out before I start thinking of another mapset to start.

 

 

hey dobu, what's the score now? i'm really torn between helping capellan to get his wish and the stunning quake in doom.

[dobu gabu maru]

14 minutes ago, Pirx said:

hey dobu, what's the score now? i'm really torn between helping capellan to get his wish and the stunning quake in doom.

 

Mayhem 16 and 99 Ways to Die are tied.

 

LOOKS LIKE THIS ONE IS GETTING DOWN TO THE WIRE FOLKS

[baja blast rd.]

+++ Mayhem '16 + Dimension of the Boomed

[Pirx]

 

that's funny. i'll think about that.

 

 

here some quick observations i made before i barely got to touch my pc. perhaps i'll finish halfways  :p

 

 

MAP13 - “Koopa Anomaly” by rf’

 

snow again, but not slippery, and mixed with lava in parts. i can see where the "conventional doom layout" comes from, but nevertheless i found it very enjoyable, especially the staircase ambush. the battle with the 2 cybs is solid, but not very engaging, as the cybs stay in front of the door far away from you, where you can snipe safely at them after killing the vile that comes via teleport.

 

 

 

MAP14 - “Absolute Zero” by Obsidian

 

what are 2 or 3 archviles at the start vs a pea shooter intended for? likely to put you on the run. or, you're stubborn as dotw in his fda and punch them to death. which i did too, while thinking that obsidian can't make a map that stupid. restarted and see, it's much better when you run first and get a better weapon. tbh i found the icy sections aggravating as you're suddenly as nimble as a beached whale. strangely calm, dreamy music.

 

 

 

MAP15 - “Ziegenhaus” by Xaser

 

more of a "Knochenhaus", bone house, as there's barely a noble, but revenants everywhere, with multiple angles to fire from, and support from their team medics. fortunately you're given a decent amount of rockets and cells for this urban warfare in a kind of demented village. it's technically excellent in xaserian fashion, with those muddy textures contrasting with mario's colorful world... i imagine that this map would have made an even better impression if it was all in a gritty, decayed texturing, think silent hill...

 

 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP26: Bowser in the Black Abyss

97% kills, 0/2 secrets

 

An appropriate finale map, with the initmidating-looking castle and some decently tough fights. As rdwpa suggests, leaving enemies alone for the second wave can make things easier, and I ended up doing that for the red key fight. The figure-8 by the rocket launcher gave me some (good) trouble, and on the third run I ended up being cheap and just taking the elevator out and then killing everything from safety. Favorite fight was definitely the one with the pillars lowering one after the other, really great design there as the cover starts to evaporate and more and more enemies get added to the mix. The final fight was a wee bit underwhelming for me, since the revenants distracted me from Bowser I aimed at those first, and then everything else was infighting with Bowser and it was just doing a bunch of circles around the room until everything was cleared out and it only took a couple rockets to get him to go into his shell. Little bit anti-climatic there, but I still appreciate a good boss replacement over an Icon of Sin any day. Apparently I missed a secret cyber fight, ah well...

[Memfis]

Who the hell plays Mayhem after Mayhem coupled with a wad that isn't finished and will get more maps in the future?

[rehelekretep]

holy crap im agreeing with Memfis!

[Urthar]

It's a fair point. Though, DotB is complete barring bug fixes. 

[Poncho]

Map26: Bowser in the Black Abyss

An appropriately difficult final [proper] level. There's a secret teleport directly to your left when you start. This secret - which involves about 6 Arch-Viles and a Cyberdemon - is actually, arguably, the hardest part of the map, since the pillars aren't terribly thick, and trying to dodge both rockets and Arch-Vile blasts in quite the challenge. A BFG is your reward, though. The next two encounters - the right-side being a double-circular-esque close quarters combat situation, with an AV and some Lost Souls and Revenants thrown into the mix, and the left side - which pits you against teleporting Hell Knights, Barons and Pain Elementals, as well as a Revenant, another AV and a Mancubus - are difficult but still very manageable (getting the second and final secret is a pain, though). Once you get the Red Key, you gain access to the castle, where you enter a teleporter. This trap is difficult, but it's more annoying than anything, all because of the roaming AVs. Once they're dead, it isn't too bad. After this is the final encounter with Bowser himself and his remaining minions! I like the music change, and the fact that these remaining baddies do NOT includes AVs, Cyberdemons and whatnot, though there are several Chaingunners. Luckily, items teleport in regularly, so you shouldn't be truly overwhelmed (I got past this on my first go, to put that into perspective). Once you're cleared the bodyguards and if Bowser is still alive, just employ a psuedo-Mancubus dodging technique (he fires Mancubus fireballs). When he shrivels up into his shell, ascend the stairs to find the missing princess!

 

Map27: Congratulations!

An ending level, where the enemies are unkillable. Cute, I suppose.

 

When it comes to overall presentation, Super MAYhem 17 comes across as a mixed-bag. Some of the maps are good, but some are certainly sub-par. The choice of theme is definitely interesting, and some of the Mario gimmicks are interesting (I like the psuedo-repeating maze part in Map18 [I think it was that map]), but some levels just fall flat on their faces.

 

On my previous ratings of stuff I've done on these threads, I rated all the maps in "good" or "not so good" categories. Since this is more than 15 maps long, I'll just make a cute little Top (and Bottom) 5 maps of the WAD.

 

Top 5:

1. MAP25: Bastille Bowser
2. MAP10: Shifting Sands
3. MAP07: Groovy Hills
4. MAP16: Skyward Vivarium
5. MAP18: C'mon Peach, You've Got What You Want, Now Give This Plumber Cake!

Bottom 5:

1. MAP22: Chocolate Starfish Islands
2. MAP12: Cool Cool Shotgun
3. MAP02: All Along the Bowser Castle (unpopular opinion, but hey)
4. MAP23: Down the Wrong Pipe
5. MAP20: Transformation Palace

So, my final rating for Super MAYhem 17 is an average 2 / 4.  Some levels were pretty damn good, but others were honestly dreadful and a pain to sit through. Only die-hard fans of the MAYhem series will truly enjoy this. Or if you're less susceptible to anger outbursts like I am.

Edited April 29, 2018 by Poncho

[Demon of the Well]

Map 25 -- Bastille Bowser - 102% Kills / 50% Secrets - FDA

While not particularly long in terms of runtime, I reckon this is one of the physically largest/tallest maps I've seen Breezeep create, good to see him branching out in that regard. A relatively straightlaced take on the Mario texture pack, depicted here is part of an imposing grey castle-town sort of place, all ramparts and battlements and beetling streets, very vertically inclined with only a couple of yards and one recessed pool area to expand in lateral chunks. Like a few of the other maps, it opts for plain fullbright lighting over large stretches of its real estate and so looks a mite static (to me) in places, but the texture scheme, dominated by subdued greys, browns, and blues as it as, offsets this--no eyestrain here to speak of, aesthetic quibbles/bugs aside. :) Interior spaces do use some reduced lighting, and there's been a lot of attention paid to detailed architecture and scenery which sits outside of the actual playable space, so the overall impression is of a full, developed presentation which has made certain choices, as opposed to something like m09, which sort of looked like it lacked lighting because it ran up against a due date (whether this is or is not actually the case). I think the highly stylized "sky", such as it is, does this map no favors, but on the other hand the music track's great, one of the many renditions of "Bloody Tears" from the Castlevania series--Castlevania, now there's a Mayhem theme I could get behind!

 

The map's enjoyable, being both vertically inclined and fairly roomy in most places it feels good to move around in (with a few designed flying leaps to reach items/armor to highlight this), and avoids any obvious pitfalls re: pacing or fight design or such. Considering the mapslot, however, to some degree it's perhaps inevitable that there is an overriding impression of how relatively easy the level is--stone castle theme aside, it could've easily fit somewhere inside of the first 10 maps or so--which some say may see as slightly odd given that it's the penultimate map proper and is designed for straightforward action rather than anything highly conceptual (read: it doesn't really fit the Limbo Model). Speaking for myself, I don't think there's anything wrong with having an easier map in E3 (or a genuinely hard map in E1, for that matter) in the service of contrast, and so for the most part don't see this an issue, but at the same time I can't entirely ignore that, again/still, I played quite badly and yet still managed to survive, and so in that regard I do think like the heat needed to be turned up a little in places. The fight for the RK in particular seemed like it needed to be bigger.

 

As an aside, while I only found a couple of them in the first playthrough, the secrets in this map are fun to locate, doing a good job of playing off of how nice it feels to move/poke around in the layout. In balance terms, though, they don't really fit naturally (i.e. there's really no call for a BFG here, secret or otherwise), which underscores that the level could've been even more enjoyable with a bit more violence/intensity, IMO.

 

 

Also, I am formally changing my vote to +++ 99 Ways/Playground/Talosian Incident.

[mun]

4 hours ago, Memfis said:

Who the hell plays Mayhem after Mayhem coupled with a wad that isn't finished and will get more maps in the future?

 

4 hours ago, Urthar said:

It's a fair point. Though, DotB is complete barring bug fixes. 

 

If you talking about the wad being unfinished (In beta or bugfixing) then this club has already played this and this in their beta forms. (DOTB maps are finalized)

I think it's fine to play two Mayhems because Mayhem 16 is very different from Mayhem 17.

[cannonball]

Map25 - Bastile bowser by Breezep

The visuals and layout here are fantastic, in fact this is probably the best map in that regard. The gameplay on the whole is pretty laid back, enough to keep you engaged by never too difficult. The only exception is the final area near the exit which in my opion doesn't quite work as the archvile ended me quite a few times with myself pondering how I could avoid being fried apart from getting another monster to distract him. But otherwise this is probably one of the strongest entries in the set.

 

Map26 - Bowser in the black abyss by Marcaek and Rdwpa

I must expect I was expecting something nastier here, only a couple of deaths in the red key trap, rocket launcher room and the red cube arena. The fights here well designed on the whole. The sergeants and lost souls create real hassle in the rocket launcher area, the red key fight was tricky but fair. I really liked the cube area with the cubes slowly revealing monsters one by one. The end boss fight was a cute touch but never felt too challenging. That said I really enjoyed this map and a great closer to the set.

 

Overall this was an above average community mapset, probably on a similar average level of quality as 50shades. Most of the maps were pretty decent and for the most part even the maps I didn't like I appreciated the ideas that went into them. Overall this is a great addition to the community and I am very glad that I played this.

 

Highlights

Map02,10,15,31,21,25,26

 

Least favourites 

Map14,20,22 and 32

 

In regards to 14 and 22 whilst I didn't enjoy them, I would class them as bad maps, I just found the quirks of the maps difficult to handle.

Edited April 29, 2018 by cannonball

[Benata]

I wonder what the may will bring. I may join the may mwd.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP23: Down the Wrong Pipe

10:00 | 98% Kills | 100% Items | 100% Secrets

Didn't enjoy this one much. The interior section is fine, but that "outdoor" area just looked slapdash with the black texturing, the platforming was a nightmare, and the way the "edges" of the star dropped away without warning were super obnoxious. Missed a kill somewhere, but couldn't go back from the exit area :grumpy face:.

 

MAP24: Bowser's Daddy Dungeon

14:38 | 100% Kills | 100% Items | 50% Secrets

This one, on the other hand, was a lot of fun. I liked big, monolithic architecture, and wending my way around the grounds was cool. Again, missed a secret by not being allowed to backtrack.

 

MAP25: Bastille Bowser

30:59 | 99% Kills | 88% Items | 75% Secrets

Loved this map. The architecture here puts everything else to shame. Just a feast for the eyes. And the use of "Bloody Tears" was fantastic. Combat was generally fair, even during the tougher fights. I spent probably 10 minutes hunting for that b-wing secret, but never found it...

 

MAP26: Bowser in the Black Abyss

11:41 | 94% Kills | 98% Items | 0% Secrets

Bowser's castle certainly looks cool from the outside. I didn't enjoy this at all though. Just about every fight obliterated me repeatedly. Bowser himself was very neat, but ended up a bit of a pushover. There were so many baddies filling the space I didn't even notice that the exit had opened and spent far longer than I needed to mopping up.

[Pirx]

Well in case no one voted yet...

 

+++ TTP + 99 ways + the other one  ;)

 

Quake 16 next month.