The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom 404

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP08: Random Access

 

The looping layout here is very pleasant, especially the way it's initially disguised by changes in elevation and texture that make it not so apparent that there even is a loop until you suddenly find yourself somewhere you've already been.  It's a design that plays very nicely with the warp-in of mixed enemies that follows passage through the red door; retreating in one direction around the loop equates to advancing in the other direction, and the elevation changes give the lost souls that form part of the repopulation a degree of freedom that the other monsters lack when it comes to outflanking and surprising the player.  On the other hand, there's a tendency for the action in the map's largest spaces to cluster around the elevated edges of those spaces, giving the gameplay a "crunchy" texture with most of the action taking place in corridors and along catwalks.

[Spectre01]

MAP09 - “Hard Drive” FDA-Max: d404-S01-09-FDA-Max.zip

Looks like Plasma and Barons is the major theme here, with the RL room proving to be the most dangerous due to the setpiece lock-in nature of it and limited space. I managed to snag all 3 secrets without too much trouble, just by looking for any standout textures. I like the use of the compblu texture combined with the torn wiring.

[Hells Kitchen]

MAP07

Ye Olde Dead Simple. Didn't have much trouble with the mancs and spiders as there was an ample supply of rockets and the pillars offered a good amount of cover, even if I did splash damage myself. Derp. The caco wave IMO put more pressure on as unlike the initial fight they can corner you if you don't pay attention. My favourite part was the caco and imp combo at the end. I got them to infight which was quite satisfying, and it required surprisingly little ordnance to finish the last few cacos off. 

 

MAP08

Nice looping layout which shows its teeth after the red door. Pretty simple for the first half, but those sneaky chaingunners in the imp room did fuck me up a bit. Things turn nasty after the red door with a mix of heavy weights, souls and hitscanners pouring in from both ends to trap you in the corridor. Suffered my second death of the wad here. It's a catch 22 of sorts - deal with the hitscanners and risk getting cornered by the hard bodies; or vice versa and get turned into swiss cheese. In the end I emptied the rocket launcher, which is still dangerous as these fuckers march up on your ass at a moment's notice. 

 

Survived the second attempt with 10% health, and with some stragglers wondering around, a peak around any corner could've been the end of it. Got the spider to infight with the guys on the ledge, good stuff. 

 

MAP09

It appears we are within the confines of some marble stronghold here. The first secret was a WTF moment, flipped the switch, a little area behind the start opened, and what, 4 shells and lift with nothing?  Later on it opened up revealing a whole new section of the map, with a SSG and only then the real secret was revealed. The baron room was hectic, I used rockets, but it's pretty tight so gotta be careful. Finished them off with the plasma and SSG. Pretty generous ammo here. It was those bloody chaingunners on top of the lift which got me, not the barons. The cacos, demons, and shotgunners after the yellow key were easy to clean up and some of them took care of themselves as they funneled through the newly opened door. Had to make sure nothing was coming in from the secret room though. 

 

I tried to get the chaingunner to hit the barons in the yellow door room, but the son of a bitch refused to fire, so the barons followed me out. Once I cleaned them up, ONLY then that bastard ass Plutonia native sneaked around the corner and proceeded to almost kill me. Shit! Easier than the last map, but visually nice with a couple of moments. Got 2 of 3 secrets.

Edited October 8, 2018 by Hells Kitchen

[gaspe]

MAP08: Good old sewers. It's tricky in its nature, since initially is a easy level and then suddenly the whole maps gets flooded with monsters. Not so much health around, I had stay below 30% most of the time.

 

MAP09: This does a better job at conveying the virtual setting of the episode. Though seeing TEK walls with marble reminds me more of 94's wads. I was glad to see a prominent usage of barons.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP09: Hard Drive

 

Okay, this one I like, unreservedly; the atmosphere is strong, the music hits the right balance of playful and creepy, and the gameplay has some real teeth to it.  As with the preceding map there's a point where the point at which the previously cleared and "safe" areas of the map repopulate, with monster closets and additional connections popping open to return the whole playground to a dangerous state.  As with @Hells Kitchen I found that the Barons of Hell in the cathedral area were less of a threat than the chaingunners that put in an appearance later, raining down bullets from the pulpit.  I think I'm finally starting to get wise the the WAD author's use of secrets, too, or maybe there's just something about their placement and concealment that I found more intuitive this time around.

[Phobus]

MAP07 - It starts off with a bit of Dead Simple, but turns into something else, thankfully. It's a reasonable setup, with the rockets being limited enough that you could run out and the health not being so plentiful that you don't have to be clever with the pillars and later with the added space. The secret in this was pretty sneaky and not overly generous.

 

MAP08 - This felt very '94 Doom II in appearance to me, with the mixed themes and brown textures, but it plays well, with it's small looping layout, mix of open and tight spaces and interesting "organic" flood of enemies once you make some progress. I found health a bit tight here and one of the secrets (the one between the corridor and the walkway in the largest sewer room) to be somewhat lacking in clues (not so many walls to hump, though, so not so bad). On the other hand, the one with the ICKWALL switch was really well-telegraphed, I thought, with a subtle design cue that immediately leapt out to me. The theme of "texture variance to hint at secrets" is executed to varying difficulties in this WAD. I didn't notice what was introduced in this map, to be honest, but I enjoyed the experience anyway.

 

MAP09 - Another good map where health, even with all of the secrets, can be quite tight if you start taking hits. With all of the hitscanners for attrition and the Barons to punish mistakes, it's definitely a map where hits can be taken, too. Like @TheOrganGrinder I found the secrets very intuitive here and wondered if I might be wising up to the ways of A. Windsor. Contrary to the other players commenting here, the chaingunners were no threat for me, but momentary hesitation in the face of all of those Barons did leave me at serious risk of dying.

 

 

I'm amused that computer terms are being used for level names. Particularly with the next map being FAT32 and having 32 enemies on start-up. Manc map?

[Magnusblitz]

MAP07: Firewall

100% kills, 0/1 secret

 

Dead Simple plus a cacoswarm, F-. Okay, not really, and the setup is different just enough to keep it fresh (on Dead Simple I pretty much always just end up running in circles taking pot shots with the SSG, here it's more hide-and-peek with the RL and columns) and the caco wave actually does work quite well in this room.

 

Texture problem: Playing the updated version I see you fixed the METAL columns being mis-aligned but the southeastern lift out of the sludge is still mis-aligned.

 

MAP08: Random Access

100% kills, 1/3 secrets

 

Definitely a Doom II vibe to the texture scheme here, and this one has a large enough layout it starts feeling like a 'normal' level. It also feels like the first real spike of difficulty to me, as the main fight teleporting various monsters into the rest of the level caused quite a few deaths - good pincer setup, can't really run away (as the enemies teleport all over) and a big variety of enemies means its easy to take damage while switching tools/approaches. I agree with the others that health is a bit tight here, I ate some chaingunner hits early on in the map and used up the health provided, but none shows up after the map is repopulated with monsters so there's no recovery... nothing like blitzing the map's last few enemies with only a couple shells and 10% health hoping you'll draw first.

 

MAP09: Hard Drive

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

 

Boxy will be the order of the day for a 404-linedef limit set but this one felt extra-boxy at first, though there's some angled walls in the latter half to help even things out. Felt similar to last map in that the layout eventually turns out to be a big loop with a bunch of monsters released into it, although unlike last map I found the best thing to do here was hole up in the baron den and just let the enemies trickle back to you. Health is again sparse if you lose too much early on before the last fight.

[Capellan]

2 hours ago, Phobus said:

MAP08 - I didn't notice what was introduced in this map, to be honest, but I enjoyed the experience anyway.

 

 

This map has the introduction of a gameplay mechanic - teleports - rather than a new monster type.

 

[Summer Deep]

MAP07: Pretty straightforward, did what I imagine most others here would do, namely take out the isolated pair of Mancubuses first, then use the generous cover of the pillars to deal with the rest. Rinse and repeat for the Arachnotrons. Interestingly the larger group of both these types remained clustered fairly closely together and didn't try to 'fan out', which might have made things a bit trickier.

Didn't fancy my chances against the Caco Swarm in the outdoor area, so after a somewhat desperate rush to collect supplies I barged into the indoor area, where it was 'dead simple' to remove them as they came through the entrance. Most important not to open the door too early in here! Couldn't find the secret before leaving.

MAP08: Lulled into a false sense of security by the essentially humdrum first half of this level, then all hell breaks loose when the player advances into the corridor behind the red door. I tried blasting a pathway through the throng with the chaingun, then the SSG, then the rocket launcher, but was overwhelmed each time. Even when I eventually got as far as the area with the two thick pillars, it was absolutely swamped with enemies. Eventually made it on the sixth or seventh attempt, running around like a headless chicken much of the time, and being reduced to punching a sergeant to get his gun when the ammo ran out at 14% health. My one clever move was to have taken out the Arachnotron in the large hall before advancing down the red-door corridor, otherwise it'd have been another restart. Only found one secret, could desperately have done with at least one more. 100% kills anyway.

MAP09: Not as tough as the previous level, but follows a similar pattern, in that the first half, up to the yellow key room, is straightforward. Didn't even try to take on the Barons in that room, just ran around them in bizarre oval-shaped circles between the two alcoves before getting out when the door opened and then unleashing a mixture of rockets and plasma. Final room was a bit tame, for some reason I was expecting a more threatening situation, maybe an AV or a bunch of Revenants. Wonder when those will show up?

100% kills, 2/3 secrets. Once again, secrets only found after all opposition had been dealt with.

Edited October 9, 2018 by Summer Deep

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP10: FAT32

 

Musically this one is a bit more playful and a bit less creepy, though there's still an entertaining balance struck between the two; it reminded me more than anything of some kind of demented circus reel, and in that context I guess the mancubi that populate the level are playing the role of scary clowns?  You're handed a super shotgun right away and a plasma gun shortly thereafter, and so it's mostly a question of picking which of those two tools is better for the job facing you at any given moment, plasma for opponents at longer ranges or when facing crowds in close quarters, super shotgun when the intensity lets up a bit and you can dissect the encounter in a more clinical manner (as if a double-barreled shotgun were some kind of surgical implement).  One nice thing about the secrets here is that two of them loop around to other parts of the level, breaking up the hubspoke layout a little if you're willing to nose around a bit.

[Phobus]

MAP10 - I also got a creepy circus vibe from this music. It felt somewhat unsuited to a map that, visually, was all over the place, but that's probably because that is "pure" Doom II to me. I was doing really well for a non-damage run until the bit with the nukage pool. I saved before going in there, because I knew full well I was going to be surrounded. Two deaths later and I'd cracked how to beat it, but then I took a few hits at the exit, so even within the consistency of my save-state, I took damage. Plenty of health to patch myself up after. The chaingun secret seemed remarkably difficult to notice compared to the other two.

 

Also, and I apologise if this has already been fixed, but I'm playing the older version to preserve my saved game, I noticed this ceiling inconsistency:

[gaspe]

MAP10: It was allright I guess but this is what I consider to be a filler level. I didn't get much from this gimmick of using only mancubi, plus it's very neglected visually.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP10: FAT32

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

 

Not sure on the approach to when Capellan names his levels but I'd be surprised if this one wasn't name first, level letter given the obvious pun. Mono-enemy levels can get a little blah after awhile but thankfully this one doesn't outstay it's welcome, though at points I was really wishing I had a rocket launcher for faster killing. I really did adore the music track though, that made the level for me.

[obake]

MAP06 - Interface

Quite fun. A little chaotic, but that's not a bad thing.

 

MAP07 - Firewall

Fine "Dead Simple" style map. The author loves using Cacodemons.

 

MAP08 - Random Access

First death of the wad. That teleport trap is vicious. I like the intertwining layout of the map, though the secrets were meh.

 

 

Edited October 9, 2018 by obake

[Capellan]

11 hours ago, Phobus said:

MAP10 - Also, and I apologise if this has already been fixed, but I'm playing the older version to preserve my saved game, I noticed this ceiling inconsistency:

 

Already fixed, but definitely call stuff out when you see it, regardless.  I'd much rather get duplicate reports than not get told about something!

 

 

5 hours ago, Magnusblitz said:

MAP10: FAT32

Not sure on the approach to when Capellan names his levels but I'd be surprised if this one wasn't name first, level letter given the obvious pun. 

 

All maps in Doom 404 are name first, level later.  Episode 1 names are mostly story-related.  For episode 2 (non-secret levels) I wrote down a whole bunch of IT-terms first, then looked for Doom interpretations of them.  Episode 3 is basically the same as episode 2, except that I also made goofy puns out of the terms.

 

Conversely, my single maps for projects (MM2, CC4, Deadly Standards E1 and E2, ASS33, and something else I contributed to recently) tend to be 'start building the level first, then name it when inspiration strikes'.

[Spectre01]

MAP10 - “FAT32” FDA (2/3 secrets): d404-S01-10-FDA.zip

Hey, it's because there are 32 fat dudes on this map! So the gameplay here can still be engaging despite using only the Mancubus, as it's one of the better projectile enemies along with the Revenant. Like the encounter at the satyr switch before grabbing the Plasma Rifle requires some good positioning and close-range dodging. The other traps you can simply run back from are less effective, such as the final room where it seems like you're required to run back out since you can't simply handle 9 Mancs appearing around you with the health and weapons given. The midi is certainly quirky as well, and some bits reminds me of a D_RUNNIN remix.

[Pirx]

MAP08 - “Random Access”

 

this episode starts with a more abstract style, you got uploaded to virtual land. i remarked the looping design, of course, while exploring an easy map, at this stage. then a large number of enemies warps in as soon as you open the red door, and they're coming from all directions. the few rockets collected before (if playing from pistol start) come handy here, fired at choke points (like below from where the green armor was), but there's still much ssg-ing needed and aligning enemies, because the ammo is just sufficient. return to the large mud pool, which has a path around it leading to the exit. nice map, chill music.

 

 

 

MAP09 - “Hard Drive”

 

marble, compblue and barons, a e2m4 vibe. many barons, actually, the biggest fight here, you need to control that mob because they can easily box you in. also, there are some closets that open and make your life miserable if you just run around. but there are plenty of rockets and several hundred cells, enough to blast everything quickly, including the doors with health. i found only the one baron in the cage annoying as i had to kill him with the shotty (yeah i could have come back with plasma, but he threw too oftwen snot at me while i had no better weapon). the last 2 rooms (baron and arachno) are a bit standard with enemy in front of you, perhaps those could teleport in or in your back to make it more interesting. well, i came loaded with almost 300 cells at this point, a situation very different from the shotgunning at the start of the map, but it felt a bit anti-climactic after the baron herd fight.

 

 

 

MAP10 - “FAT32”

 

a lot of fat, actually. a simpler map with only mancubi in it. left-right-left, repeat, hide, and that's it. i did the final room in a very safe way: by shooting the mancs with plasma from the entrance. there's just enough of it if you use the ssg until then, so you don't have to enter the room to pick up the cells here and expose yourself to their erratic crossfire. it's a quick map, which is good. @Spectre01: ah, 32 fatsos. lol. also, what circus music.

[Hells Kitchen]

MAP10

Ah, I get it, FAT32, coz there's 32 fat bastards. I was expecting a computer/techbase theme to go along with that map title, but what we got instead is some sort of underground base. Visually, it was a rather ugly mish-mash, by far the weak point of the set in that aspect. I'm playing continuous so went in loaded for bear.. err.. fat ugly tubs of lard, with the plasma taking care of most of 'em. The trap in the nukage room was potentially the most dangerous bit, but easily nullified by quickly running back out the entrance and just hosing the fat bastards down with the plasma from said entrance. I did enjoy the cheeky music track, I felt it fit the level nicely, but overall I agree with @gaspe this just felt like filler and is definitely the worst map of the set thus far.

[Summer Deep]

MAP10: Not too big a deal. The switch device doubles up as a surprisingly effective shield against the five Mancubuses who
protect the red door, and I only suffered a minor hit while sheltering behind it. 

 

100% kills, 2/3 secrets. A bit disappointing that those secrets only contained a 25% health pack and some 1% armour
bonuses.

 

 

 

MAP11: Didn't seem as hard this time as when I played it before on continuous. Working out the trigger for the huge Caco
wave seems to be the key here. My strategy was: (1) Brief visit to platform to pick up green armour, then decamp to solid
ground in front of blue door to dispose of enemies. (2) Return to platform to collect pickups, taking care not to trigger
Cacos. (3) Pick up rad suit and return to slime to collect all ammo. (4) Final visit to platform to activate switch, dash
to blue key, then enter blue door. (5) Do what is necessary indoors.

 

The main fight is straightforward if you can take out the vast majority of the Cacos and PEs from the stairway as they
enter the building. Main danger arises when you have to leave your pitch to top up on rockets and chaingun ammo. The Hell
Knight and stray chaingunner can cause problems, and you can also be in trouble if one of the PEs slips through the door
while you're scavenging.

 

98% kills, 0/3 secrets. I knew where a couple of the secrets were, but didn't go for them as I'd blundered into the second
rad suit during the fighting, and had used it up. Strangely I got a 100% items rating, even though I know there was a Soul
Sphere and Mega Armour I didn't pick up - not really sure how this system works: maybe they didn't count as they were in
'secrets'?
 

Edited October 10, 2018 by Summer Deep : Punctuation

[Phobus]

MAP11 - Coming into this map continuous allows for a lot more breathing room in these fights. I'm sure there's plenty of ammo for a pistol starter, as I left with only a few rockets shy of full ammo and there were definitely spare ammo pickups, but to have it front-loaded meant I could take on the initial guard from the platform you drop on to, then get stuck into the level proper. The astral dreadnought (cacodemon swarm) was the clear highlight of the map, taking up valuable platform space and proving a serious drain on ammo, requiring movement, switching of weapons, readiness to take some damage to get a radsuit (I found the secret one, luckily) and target prioritisation. After that it was pretty plain sailing. The SSG secret was very clearly there, but I could not find how to open the way to it and ended up leaving it, as I already had 50 shells and both shotguns from prior maps. The blue armour was nice and intuitive and the radsuit was a text book texture cue.

 

Pretty good map!

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP11: Infinite Loop

 

So I guess the elevated platform that dominates the central arena here isn't a figure-of-eight so much as a lemniscate?  I feel like there was a pretty significant difficulty spike here, with a map that's "busy" with various monsters attacking from multiple directions and elevations even before you throw in the cacodemon swarm that's makes up the bulk of the population and the meatiest part of the progression.  It works well here as an arena-style mini-boss battle coming just before a screen of intermission text, though we're still mid-episode and the theme isn't changing quite yet.

[Capellan]

MAP11 hates you and wants to eat your face.  :)

 

[Spectre01]

MAP11 - “Infinite Loop” FDA (2/3 secrets): d404-S01-11-FDA.zip

So it's like OO of Destruction? The Caco-swarm is quite intimidating, but not an immediate threat if you can run around the nukage with a radsuit. Those spiders and Chaingunners are more of a priority. Apparently it can be triggered before flipping that switch lowering the blue key. If so, that basically spells death if you can't run inside the blue door, as there isn't enough ammo outside to kill everything. Never did manage to get that SSG, but grabbed the much needed radsuit and the blue armour after everything was already dead.

[gaspe]

MAP11: Nice tribute to 'O' of Destruction. The first cacodemon trap is very harsh and will almost certainly kill you the first time, mostly becuase you can trigger it by accident before you had time to properly explore the area. The only radsuit nearby is inside one of the pools and the ammo you need is all on the damaging nukage. I guess continuous players can manage it with less worries. It isn't a big deal because it's at the start of the level. After the blue door is well thought enough so you can't just rush in but the map kinda ends there.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP11: Infinite Loop

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

 

If they hadn't already, the kid gloves definitely come off here, as the cacoswarm trap will be quite rough as it's very easy to unknowingly trigger it simply by passing close to the switch that lowers the blue key. I think for a blind playthrough this is probably a few guaranteed deaths until you learn the level, as you really need a radsuit (or the blue key) to deal with the cacoswarm. And you probably won't purposely dip into the middle of the infinity symbol to grab the suit there unless you've already spawned that cacos at which point it's too late since it'll be impossible to escape. So, once I finally learned the level a bit after a few deaths, I ended up jumping to the middle, looping around the infinity symbol to get the goodies, hit the switch, grab the blue key and the secret radsuit then hightail it into the blue door area to deal with the monsters from there.

[obake]

MAP09 - Hard Drive

Not my favorite, to be honest. I appreciate the added variety in aesthetic, but the gameplay was just not as fun. (It didn't help my computer was lagging, either.)

 

MAP10 - FAT32

A map utilizing my favorite Doom monster. Nothing spectacular, but a fun concept, and well enough execution. I especially like the trap room with the lowering floor.

 

MAP11 - Infinite Loop

This traps here were nasty. Though the concept of the map having the infinity symbol is fun, the actual gameplay was where I felt let down.

[Spectre01]

map10 actually made me suspicious of approaching switches before exploring the area, since that one also triggered the Fat Guy Party early in the nukage room.

[Spectre01]

MAP12 - “Machine Code” FDA-Max: d404-S01-12-FDA-Max.zip

Spoiler

It's called that because the automap looks like it's made up of 1's and 0's.

So this one introduces the Revenant and provides some rather tight ammo unless you maximize infighting with those Hell Knights early on. The SSG is strangely obtained after the Plasma Rifle and Rocket Launcher, and didn't give me much mileage. Chainsaw gameplay makes another return, as there are a number of Pinkies/Spectres you'd rather not waste ammo on. I can't say this underground industrial style is my favourite aesthetic though.

[Phobus]

MAP12 - Nice enough map that does a "1s and 0s" automap visual gimmick and introduces the Revenant pretty well. I'm glad I came in with the SSG, as it was my workhorse. Ammo seemed reasonable to me, but then I did find all three rocket launcher secrets. Actually, as a point of contention, I find the fact that maps often have the same secret three times in this set a bit weird. Like, MAP11 didn't do it, but a lot of the other maps have had each secret be the same thing. That kind of made sense when it was just a bit more health and ammo, but to get a rocket launcher and extra couple of rockets three times in a short map is a strange thing. Perhaps it's to avoid having the order you find the secrets in affect the usefulness of the rocket ammo? Once again, the music choice stood out as being odd, as well.

 

Still, a good playing experience.

[gaspe]

MAP12: This was rather annoying on pistol start, the map is stingy with the ammo and the good weapons are obtainable too late except few rockets you can find in the secrets. I liked the "cold" aesthetics with lots of grey.