The DWMegawadClub Plays: Dawn of the Dead & Earth & Classic Episode

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP07 The Emerald Tower (100% K/ 100% I/ 100% S):

It's just a filler, and it makes its best to make itself feel like a good map, with that really nice trick of showing you where to go from far away, a trick that we don't often see even on newer mapsets.
It just a straight-forward map with a demon ambush (pretty easy if you have rockets from the previous level or find the SSG secret). If you fall into the trap with no guns, you can just punch them with berserk, making the fight more interesting.
This map is just a tech demo, but by any means, this is not saying it's a bad one, in fact, it's one of the best since is not annoying to play.

MAP08 The Ammo Pit (38% K/ 66% I/ 0% S):

Nice view from another tower far in the distance, I didn't think you have to make progress through it, I thought it was part of the scenery.
Apart from that, the map gimmick is an ammo pit, or should I say, a waste ammo pit? This gimmick is nonsensical on a Doom map, make some enemies infight to get some ammo to deal with the roadblock enemies you will encounter ON YET ANOTHER dark cave system. At least you can see it on the automap.  Grabbing ammo comes from the price of absorbing damage (or even dying) to those annoying arch-viles, that serves no purpose other than revive more enemies so they infight and you can grab more ammo. (Sometimes you'll have to waste it anyway)
If you don't grab ammo, the map will be one of the most annoying things you'll ever encounter yet on this mapset. I've managed to find a berserk pack. I've started save spamming and trying over and over to kill barons and medium tier enemies with only fist on short corridors only depending from RNG so I don't die and I can finally progress, I've lost the account of how many times I died, so let's say I died 20 times.

If you can't make your gimmick work well on a Doom map, don't do it, nobody likes cheap gimmicks on Doom maps, at least, I don't fancy them.

Death Counter: 47

 

MAP04 (Ok)
MAP07

MAP06
MAP02 (Mediocre)
MAP01

MAP05
MAP03 (Awful)
MAP08

These two maps were really polarizing, in one hand you have a really short OK map, that's simple and does not get you in your nerves, and in the other hand, you have yet the worst map in the mapset. I just want to end this, having to play Classic Episode is going to be a breath of fresh air after ten days of breathing Radon.

[gaspe]

MAP08: This one has an interesting gimmick: all the ammo of the level is located in a pit with a group of various hitscanners and arch-viles in the middle. You have to cause infighting and let the arch-viles to resurrect enough hitscanners to have ammo for all the level. Again the main part of the map is a maze like system of dark tunnels and caves. Avoiding monsters there is difficult in these cramped spaces. I almost ran out of ammo when I reached the exit tower you can see from the start, at least I already visited most of the maze and the remaining monsters that spawned can be skipped. Around the middle of the level you can find a berserk pack if you want to save ammo, or at least have more chances.

[Walter confetti]

MAP08: A really enjoyable and epic level and finally a understandable cave maze, since is been showed on automap! Yay! Sure, every now and then i've walking around the caves with the automap on, but is for the other parts of the level is really, really cool! The cave work is pretty amazing, it reminds of Karst Caverns, also the new texture works and effects are pretty good, overall i really enjoyed this map! Also this time monster / health balacement is better done this time...

 

Anyway, the only problem i've got is that i killed the viles and all the monsters first in the ammo pit, so i find myself at the half of the map without any ammo, luckily there was some more to take over and to finish the level with some ammo, at least. Also find this bug on the tower invisible lift, is also pretty hard to understand that you have to push the lift "door" to lower it again. At fisrt i've had to idclip to pass that part, since i had only the red key with me...

 

Overall pretty enjoyable map! Also, enjoyed the 1492 music theme used here, gives more epicness to the level imo.

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

MAP09

ZDoom 2.9 pre-2175, HNTR, pistol start, saveless

This map is pretty fun.

You start on one island and have to get to the other. It's a hunt for the blue key, that quickly turns into a hunt for the red and yellow keys, too.

The randomizer teleporting is used probably to the best effect here, where the monsters are at advantage in almost any situation they could be in.

The blue card is hidden away on the cliff face, and you need the red card to get in the brown structure, and the yellow to get back to the first island.

It plays out rather quickly, much to its benefit compared to the previous.

Available secrets give out a plasma rifle and rocket launcher, and there's a secret megasphere with cells immediately before the exit, which are useless to pistol starting players, but very nice for continuous players.

[Capellan]

EARTH MAP09

This map dumps the dark ashwall tunnels in favour of the map's other signature structure: big empty boxes. As usual, the bulk of the monsters teleport into the level once you make a noise, though at least what is already there is reasonably likely to actually prompt you to fight it – unlike the 'ignore the trooper' exploit someone of you found on map03.

 

Apart from the mean-spirited placement of the blue key, there's not a lot to say about the gameplay or visuals of this one. The two island layout could actually look quite nice if there was proper attention paid to design, but there isn't: even the attempt at portraying directed lighting gets forgotten in the eastern part of the big building, while all the exteriors are flat and bland.

 

[Walter confetti]

MAP09: It's another ok map, good little detailing work, decent health / enemies balance and decent usage of teleport monsters. It was a ok map, i don't have many things to say about it. I found weird the blue key placement like @Capellan did, nothing that make me scratch my head but... it was an strange place to put it. I don't recognize the song used in this map, over the fact that sounds like 60s/70s british pop or whaever. Going for the next and final (?) map!

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP09: Islands

 

This one's got a pretty clear concept and sense of progression that falls over a little bit in the details; your objective is pretty immediately established as "go to the other island to get the blue key," but I'm not sure if the distance between the two islands is intended to completely defang the potential threat posed by the inhabitants of the other island, reducing their attacks to a stream of serenly floating projectiles that telegraph their presence but pose little to no danger, or if it's the unintended consequence of a design decision made for aesthetic purposes over gameplay reasons.  I feel the WAD's trademark population randomiser serves little purpose here; it's interesting to encounter varied groups of enemies in different parts of a maze, certainly, but this map is open enough, and the teleport landing spots clustered closely enough together, that the monsters are largely going to end up all part of the same encounter anyway.  Similarly, I feel the layout of the western island, especially the placement of the keys, works to defeat the clear telegraphing of objectives, resulting in a sense of "muddling through" and tackling obstacles only because they're all that's there rather than out of a deliberately communicated sense of progression.

 

@Walter confetti it's I Think We're Alone Now as popularly performed by Tiffany, though I first encountered it in the form of the parody cover I Think I'm a Clone Now by Werid Al Yankovic.

[Capellan]

23 minutes ago, TheOrganGrinder said:

it's I Think We're Alone Now as popularly performed by Tiffany.

 

And subsequently referenced in Mega-Python vs Gatoroid, wherein Tiffany and fellow 80s starlet Debbie Gibson battle each other, as well as the aforementioned giant reptiles.  What a great terribad movie that is.

 

[tmorrow]

map09: Islands

Our marine has arrived on an rocky island in a rugged fjord and needs to find his way to another island covered in enemies. I swear I heard the marine exclaim "yay, no tunnels". You can actually see the enemies on the second island and they can see you, so a a whole bunch of infighting can ensue before teleporting over. The starting island only has 3 mancubi to contend with initially.

The second island can be cleared fairly easily. There are 2 buildings to explore and the island for the two keys you need to get back to the starting island, which has become infested with nasties while you were away.

The 4 secrets provide several goodies, most notably the plasma rifle and a juicy megasphere, the later being almost useless for the pistol starter since it isn't available until the end but those playing continuous will be overjoyed to discover it going into the final map.

[Grazza]

39 minutes ago, tmorrow said:

map09: Islands ... juicy megasphere, the later being almost useless for the pistol starter since it isn't available until the end

FWIW, it can be grabbed through the wall.

[tmorrow]

1 hour ago, Grazza said:

FWIW, it can be grabbed through the wall.

 

I guess I should have expected my bold words to be contradicted by one of Grazza's deviously sneaky pickups! :-)

[gaspe]

MAP09: Enough of dark cramped tunnels it's finally time for some action in big (and empty) areas. The fights at the buildings were nice, a not so threatening chaos with running to cause infighting, some nasty flying monsters and a final clean-up of the buildings. The random teleports made less sense to repopulate the first island, to me all the monsters spawned on the lower tier and aren't able to climp up at the top where there's the exit. The view of the island is nice enough, not outstanding but since it's for vanilla I understand that it's hard to make it better than that. The tanbrown building is made of empty bland boxes, at the entrance there's a big picture of a real life cliff. I liked the secrets hinted with those tiny windows, though I found them when I already killed most of the enemies. There are also a couple of secrets that are accessible when you get to the exit, a reward for continuous players.

[Capellan]

EARTH MAP10

A distinctly lacklustre finale, alas, as you roam around and over a boring hill, waving nonchalantly at the cyberdemon in passing, to grab a key. Use that to climb a staircase, cleaning up a few speed bumps along the way, and you get another key for your "efforts", which you can use to call a lift and leave. Optionally, you can pick up a secret megasphere right before you do so, but there's not much point, is there?

 

 

EARTH OVERALL

The author of this set occasionally stretches himself to deliver a memorable visual, but far more frequently it's just a maze of functionally identical ashwall tunnels or sterile boxes. It's an odd combination, with thoroughly bland-looking places sometimes having some clever visual element (the start, the lights in the dark cavern with the long lift, the directional shadows). Why go to so much effort in only a handful of places? It's a mystery.

 

On the gameplay front, there are also questions. Monster placement is often semi-randomised, and frequently feels quite incidental, even when the monsters actually begin in place. The author seems far more interested in Doom as a game of exploration and observation: find the right tunnel, spot the hidden staircase. Did he see combat as being a peripheral part of the experience of the maps, included only to meet an expectation that "Doom means shooting"? Would he perhaps have been happier to not include monsters at all? Would the maps be better if he had fully committed to that?

 

This is definitely not a mapset I will play again, but it's an interesting one to think about.

 

 

 

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

MAP10

ZDoom 2.9 pre-2175, HNTR, pistol start, saveless

It's a short one, just a battle at the top of the hill and a quick key hunt.

You fight for the red card, then you go to the red door, which is a one-use door, it turns out, and get the blue card from the brown building.

There isn't much to it, though the distinct lack of a chaingun really screwed my process when attacking the shotgunners at the top of the brown building (no chaingun resuilts in switch to launcher, and immediately self rocket).

There's another megasphere secret at the exit, which makes no real difference given this is the last map unless you intend to carry through to Circle of Death/Hunted/Storage Facility/MAP11 of whatever IWAD you're using.

 

The wad is far better on HNTR than UV, if only because then the combat isn't hard for the sake of being hard, and while it still leaves much to be desired, it's for sure that the combat is far from the wad's strong point.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP08: Ammo Pit

97% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

The title gimmick is polarizing it seems, but I liked it. Having both the map named after it and a helpful sign I think makes the intended use clear, so I let them do their thing for awhile and had plenty of ammo to use even after I finally cleared it out (I think on my third visit to the pit?) Then it's back into the caves, which thankfully show up fully on the automap. This cave system is a lot larger and has less helpful landmarks than the last ones, so I think being able to use the automap was a good move. The actual combat is pretty boring though since the constant spaghetti corridors means the monsters are mostly just ammo tax doors. Was a bit surprised to get to visit the silver building seen from the beginning; I think it worked out a lot better than the tease of the Emerald Tower last map. Music seemed too upbeat and epic for another cave-crawling map.

 

MAP09: Islands

85% kills, 0/4 secrets

 

Speaking of ill-fitting music, hoo boy. Also, I guess two islands is technically enough to qualify for the map title, but would even one more island have been too difficult? Anyways, we escape the cave tunnels but that just leaves us with bland building interiors, including yet another moment where I get to shotgun barons on the other side of 64-wide doorways. The teleport randomizer doesn't do much since most of the enemies will clump up anyways and the ones on the opposite island won't do much (really should've had the islands closer together). At least it's a quick one as long as you can find the blue key.

 

MAP10: Hill

73% kills, 2/3 secrets

 

The weapons at the start are HNTR/HMP only, so on UV you can't even fight the enemies on the hill if you wanted to (which I didn't, I generally avoid killing cyberdemons unless I have to). So run up, grab the key, then enter into another annoyingly-cramped building (died on the first run-through by slipping off the stairs into the arms of a revealed baron), get some shotguns and the other key, then run to the other building and leave. Underwhelming finale that doesn't really feel like a conclusion.

 

I agree with @Capellan that while the mapset is certainly not worth re-playing, it is interesting to think about. There's some interesting ideas here and there, whether it be the gameplay mechanic of the random teleports, or some of the interesting visuals like the opening waves crashing on the beach or the large ripped-open elevator, but most of the actual gameplay will be tripping through dark tunnels or brainlessly plinking at barons in tiny doorways.

 

[tmorrow]

map10: The Hill

Whee! We get to play king of the hill with cybie and his friends. Cybie will reign supreme for quite a while until you can snatch his red key for access to the northern tower, clear it out and collect a super shotgun and some ammo. The red door to the tower seems to be flaky and you can only use it once from the outside. Make sure you pick up everything you want in the tower before leaving.

At last our marine makes it home and takes the lift up to to his penthouse pad, furnished with a large grandfather clock, TV and even a hidden recuperative megasphere. Somehow I don't expect our protagonist will be able to relax for long ...

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP09 Islands (62% K/ 0% I/ 0% S):

I liked this one more than the others, but due to its "openness" I just skipped most of the enemies. Blue key grab is a little bit nasty, and there are some weird inconsistencies with progression. For example, one wall in the "pyramid" lowers by grabbing the blue key, but the other one, lowers when you hump it.
The nice "shading" effect is not present in every single point (Technical issues?) and you can find the Sprite overflow limitation here, due to having so many trees on screen, although that is not a big problem, its uncommon and not game-breaking here.

I loved the big frame on the fortress.
You can find yourself out of ammo if you decide to fight every single monster, so try to at least reduce them, specially hitscanners and pain elementals, don't mind the bruisers or the pinkies here.
Here the monster randomizer works at its best (It usually does on big arenas like MAP04) 

Death Counter: 57

 

MAP09 (Ok)
MAP04
MAP07

MAP06
MAP02 (Mediocre)
MAP01

MAP05
MAP03 (Awful)
MAP08

This is at the moment my favorite map, let's see how this mapset ends and redeems itself.

[Walter confetti]

MAP10: ... what a lame final boss map, expecting something more epic, like another MAP08 in style...

Is a large open greenfield with a giant turd hill with a cyberdemon, some monsters and the red keycard.

Get the red key, go to the brown tower, get lost in the darkest hallway you ever seen in the story of darkest hallways that is also a "fake" eternal stair that leads you to the beginning of the stair (for watch where you have to go, i'd used the idbehold l cheat. Yeah, i cheated quite a lot in this episode), get the blue key, go to the gray tower, reach some guy (or yours?) apartment (with a amazing animated pendulum clock texture, i must say i really liked this) and exit from this, also having a secret megasphere if you want to

Spoiler

take a look at the TV in the apt

... and that's all. The end. Meh.

 

Overall, some nice vanilla doom trickery, few good maps, but overall it wasn't that great as i remembered, but it have it's epic moments and a great work on graphical department... a cool mapset.

 

And tommorow, it will be time for classic!

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP10: The Hill

 

...As in, "King of...?"

 

Your competition for that title is (predictably) a Cyberdemon, who does his very best to lord it over the host of lesser demons and is readily enough distracted by the task of whipping them into a respectable fighting force, though the changes in elevation as you scramble up and down the hill mean that his rockets are less easy to guide into the back-end of a Baron of Hell than might otherwise be the case.  Still, there's not so much of a challenge to be found there, and I actually lost more health retrieving the blue key from the northern tower than during the midfield brawl which is the map's centrepiece.

 

Overall I would describe this as the sort of WAD that motivates my participation in the Doomworld Megawad Club: not because it's a an especially good WAD, but because it's interesting and different and not the sort of WAD that I would otherwise play.  The Club prompts me to look at things that I otherwise would let pass me by, and I'm appreciative of that.  In this case, the WAD is one that's full of atypical gameplay and experimental design elements, and whether or not they work, I can't deny that they've given me some things to think about.  I'd point to the use of large groups of enemies that begin play off-map or in waiting rooms, lurching forward to teleport in a disorganised fashion across every level except MAP07 and MAP10, as the WAD's defining feature, a crude but ingenious attempt at randomising gameplay and extending replayability, filling even the unexplored spaces of each map with lively critters, that flies in the face of modern sensibilities of carefully choreographed encounters and deliberately placement of each individual monster to achieve some finely calibrated effect.  In some places it's interesting, in others it serves to illustrate why gameplay often benefits from careful monster choice and placement and why a revenant, a shotgun sergeant, and a mancubus aren't readily interchangeable.

 

Despite the level-by-level storyline that's spelled out in the accompanying text file, I think the WAD suffers from a lack of clear direction and a sense that many of its maps exist primarily to show off the map author's talent in crafting scenic vistas and the effects of his patented monster randomiser.  The bouncing back and forth between fantasy and technological themes doesn't do much to ground the player in what is ostensibly Earth's environment, nor does the fact that you end the episode plopping down to relax in your comfortable living room lend much in the way of gravitas to the preceding ten maps.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP08: The Ammo Pit

42:58 | 100% Kills | 66% Items | 0% Secrets

Ah, there's the titular pit. I spent the first 8 minutes circling the pit without firing a shot and getting everyone to infight. The last vile took forever because he refused to resurrect the manc, but eventually a chaingunner and zombieman took him out, and then then all that was left was the chaingunner, who I dispatched myself. Pretty sure I ended up doubling the monster count there. I didn't need all that ammo at the time, but boy howdy did I need it later, as I completely ran out exploring the caverns. Once you hit that first drop-off, there's only a couple of ways back, and they were literally the last things I found. If I had found the path back up first, my experience would have been much different. As it was, I used up probably half my stock getting out of the caves, and then blew most of the rest dealing with the mob outside (all those fricking lost souls!) Back into the caves and I was chainsawing cacos and revenants, and had to zerk punch the baron that blocked the way back to the ammo pit. I pretty much facepalmed when I eventually realized I could have scaled the hillside at anytime to take the shortcut back to the Pit. The tower at the end was cool inasmuch as it was clearly visible from the start, so hey that's neat, but the interior was completely wasted (another victim of the randomized baddies? I had a single revenant.) And the nifty-looking elevator was a little awkward, especially when you're being attacked by a dozen lost souls. So: pretty neat level, some nice visuals (especially being able to look outside early on) but man was it a slog. I'd enjoy myself a lot more a second time through, I'm sure.

 

 

 

MAP09: Islands

17:51 | 100% Everything

In theory this map has a fun concept: start on one island, teleporter over to the other, get the keys, teleport back. In practice, the first island is literally nothing but the start and the exit, and the second island is mostly a big empty building (structurally, I mean.) The combat on Island 2 is actually fairly satisfying, inasmuch as it's pretty much nonstop. And hunting the keys is decent fun, though the blue one eluded me on my first trip; seeing as how this mapset likes to punish you for going over the edge of the map, hiding a key on the cliffside was kinda mean (though it was actually signposted fairly well.)

 

MAP10: The Hill

9:15 | 100% Kills | 28% Items | 66% Secrets

A big pile of dirt with mobs of monsters on it, capped by a cyberdemon. Cybie will take care of most of the opposition for you, you just have to get his key, go to the northern building (by far the most interesting bit of the level, which is not saying much) and then head to the southern building to exit. Oddly, the exit building has a less-interesting version of MAP08's elevator. The exit room was pretty nifty, though. But otherwise it was a fairly limp ending to the WAD.

 

OVERALL

I'm surprised at how "meh" I feel about this set, especially considering I remember loving Phobos, which came out the same year. Some decent ideas and architecture here, but a lot of the weaker bits (random monsters, pitch-black winding tunnels) get way too repetitive to be very enjoyable.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP10 The Hill (100% K/ 100% I/ 100% S):

This is just an arena with a cyberdemon and tons of bruisers and imps, which you can skip easily (you are probably going to do so if you pistol-start, since they provide you no weapons) although I tried to get them infight to reduce them, just for the sake of it, and it was fun, but really unnecessary. The only problem you could get by not killing the cyberdemon is getting sniped on the weird elevator at the end or at the top of the BK tower, in really unlucky situations. All in all
the map is just an ok ending. 
Still surprised by the fact you don't get any VPO's.

Another thing to add, what's the purpose of the megasphere secret at the end? questionable decision.

Death Counter: 58

 

MAP09 (Ok)
MAP04

MAP10
MAP07

MAP06
MAP02 (Mediocre)
MAP01

MAP05
MAP03 (Awful)
MAP08

The ending is just average, but is the finale the wad deserved, nothing too bad, nothing too good, it's just there. Fighting the Cyberdemon is in most cases optional here. Good thing is that we are finally over with this.

Final thoughts on EARTH at the end of the month.

Time to fly back to Phobos with Classic Episode tomorrow.

Edited February 19, 2019 by DJVCardMaster

[gaspe]

MAP10: It sucks that on UV you don't have weapons on pistol start, but there are some bullets and cells anyway. Though the map is made of a large flat area and avoiding the monstersis easy. There's a final confrontation with a cyberdemon that guards the RK at the top of the central hill, and like in Tricks and Traps you have some use to use to distract the big bull. The exit building was cute with the TV and the clock.

 

This wad was rather underwhelming, I already played Phobos and I think it's far better than Earth, having more cool visual trickery and with a better sense of gameplay from what I remember. I also checked out some maps of the Pleiades series which also showcased some nice detailing. Roger Ritenour is a very capable author that knows how to create some interesting visuals and realistic details, in this set apart from few moments (like MAP01 starting view) all you have are cramped tunnels or bland big areas. I don't so much to use the expression "it hasn't aged well" but I guess this was more impressive in 98' and was a sort of milestone for what I tried to do, the theme is rather unique (I wonder if the Alien Vendetta ashwall caves were inspired by this wad). For vanilla isn't so easy to make those kind of big and open spaces, sometimes there's the addition of shadows that gives that step up for the realism but it still doesn't hide so much how the level are lacking. While playing I thought many times of the Talosian Incident (that we played not so long ago) since they both share a similar minimalistic style but the Talosian Incident does a much better job and has more interesting details. The mechanic of the randomised monster placement is very interesting, in these layouts of spaghetti corridors and huge empty boxes it doesn't shine so much, I don't think even a normal monster placement would have been better but it's always cool to see something different.

Well, at least I can say that I played it now.

[Capellan]

CLASS_EP e2m1

Hmm, I think I have played this before. Certainly the pillars rising to the red key and the parkour to the blue both felt familiar.

 

Visually this is very much in the e1 style, as you would expect given the title. Check out all that startan and brown1, baby! The gameplay is definitely a bit more modern, though, with higher density of monsters than the IWAD. That's probably to be expected of a 2002 release, of course.

 

This is a pretty fun romp overall, though I feel like using all three keys on the opening map is something of an overkill. The red and yellow could probably easily be excised, to be honest, without much impacting the flow of the map. Not necessarily in a bad way, though. As someone who appreciates optional content, I might actually like it better that way.

 

I also appreciate the map's inclusion of plenty of lines that aren't on a straight east-west or north-south alignment. The computer banks near the red key bars, for instance, is a nice touch. Some of the startan alignment around there is pretty shonky, though! :)

 

Good stuff, despite the mis-tiling startan.

 

 

[Aquila Chrysaetos]

Classic Episode

E2M1

ZDoom 2.9 pre-2175, UV, pistol start, saveless

Back to the IWAD styles, this is a welcome change from Earth, which did not hold up well over the years.

The style is E1, for sure, and visually it's rather nice.

Gameplay leans a little heavily on shotgunners for my tastes, with only the shotgun to face them.

Still a strong opener, though I am in agreement that the use of all three keys immediately makes the map feel a bit clunkier than it should.

[Walter confetti]

E2M1: A somehow hard start for this episode, i died quite a lot of time in this map from the shotgunners and imps combo in the middle of the map, however is kinda short and it have a strong Episode 1 fell on it. Enjoyed it!

[Magnusblitz]

CLASSIC EPISODE

 

ah yeah baby inject that sweet Phobos STARTAN right in the vein ahh yeah that's the stuff

 

E2M1: Foray

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

Nice opener, I was initially worried from the opening rooms it might be a bit slow-paced but that clearly did not turn out to be the case. Lots of shotgunners and no armor (aside from the secret vest that I only found after killing everything, sadly) means it's quite easy to get big chunks taken out of your quickly, and I did actually suffer one death on the first playthrough. It's got a good layout, very nice use of windows and height differences to let you see the other areas without being able to reach them right away, but also still keep some mystery and create the 'I wanna get there' feeling. Agreed that three keys is a bit of an overkill, and I didn't quite like the approach to the exit. Also not sure what's up with that exit door in the middle of the map, looks like it's for DM, but then they shouldn't've put the eye-catching exit door on it IMO.

 

[DJVCardMaster]

We got back to Phobos to take care of some leftovers. Time to check out Classic Episode by Jan Van der Veken, Anthony Soto, Nick Baker and Travers Dunne.

E2M1 "Foray" - Anthony Soto (100% K/ 100% I/ 100% S):

We are up to a really solid first map, already one of the most solid E1 homages I've played, though is not in a horseshoe layout,it really works, since I feel like I remember playing this, although I never really played it. Weird sensation.

It shows you a really difficult start on UV, giving you a free look of how the difficulty of the overall mapset is going to be.

Death counter: 0

Maps in order of preference: 

E2M1 (Great)

I'm already liking this more than Dawn of the Dead

[galileo31dos01]

Ok, might as well give Earth a proper closure and move on to fun stuff:

 

MAP07: The Emerald Tower

 

Simple enough, I suppose Roger's idea to 'zerk a horde of pigs was to test your balance, and that's understandable, if too easy. Three of the tower's guardians soaked up all my bullets and had to punch the last one because the entrance was closed. The tower looked vibrant. 

 

MAP08: Ammo Pit

 

Lol at the concept, manipulating archviles to gift you ammo, something that barely any other wads use, outside of rare opportunities. And that's it, another cave system where you can't see anything and it's so confusing to navigate (automap gets to be helpful, finally). After a good half-an-hour of wandering around, hoping to see a way back to the pit, I found the outdoors section where the exit was located. At that point I wanted to leave the fuck out, but I was missing the red key, which was at the opposite side of the damn cave. Omg, turned idclip, got the key, run back, had a bunch of snipers interrupting me at the elevator, plus a lost soul stuck in a point where I couldn't kill it, and then skipped the map. Was already done anyways...

 

MAP09: Islands

 

This map I don't recall much, something about scavenging keys on islands and more randomness. Nothing to bitch here. Still was in a salty mood from the last map heh.

 

MAP10: The Hill

 

Had to kill a baron of hell standing above my FOV. Kind of a bland final map to be honest. It does get points for the DoomCutery in the exit room, plus a secret health sphere to leave in perfect state. 

 

Proper closure he said...

[T-Rex]

Hey, everyone, I'm back to continue on playing through the wads picked. So now, it's time for Earth, a 10-map episode designed by Roger Ritenour, famed for his 4-map episode Phobos, which along with Earth was listed in the top 10 wads for 1998. Here, you are battling through a rugged coastline infested with demons. This mapset consists mainly of natural environments, including ancient ruins, coastlines, mountains, underground caverns and a few bases as well. There is a great deal of realism applied and there are some really neat graphical effects including waves crashing. One of the most notable oddities of Roger Ritenour's level design sensibilities is the randomness of the monster spawns. To explain it perfectly, in most wads, monsters that repopulate maps spawn in exact locations, whereas here, Roger has set various spawn points in different locations, and any of the assortment monsters can spawn at these locations, so they're not always the same, giving the maps different challenges each and every time. One of the most annoying aspects of Earth, however, is that a good number of these levels are dark, so navigating through these dim tunnels can be a hassle unless you consult your automap. Anyway, let's dive right in to Earth, playing on Ultra-Violence difficulty.

 

Map01: The Ruins

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 12:31

 

You start off in a vista where you can see the waves crashing below, which makes the episode start off very beautifully. In spite of the action you'll be getting yourself into, Roger Ritenour selects a rather light-hearted midi rendition of "Stand By Me," which felt rather peculiar, but humorous, nonetheless. Immediately, you'll be picking up the shotgun, and rightfully so as there are some medium to heavyweight monsters to contend with, including hell knights, barons, cacodemons, pain elementals, revenants and mancubi. Watch out as you enter the first dark cavern as that opens up an alcove with monsters already spawned within. Soon after you get the red key, you can enter the ruins, and you'll need to find a switch to raise the bridge for the yellow key. Radiation suits are there so you can wade through the toxic sludge, and I dig the deep water effects. The fun of the map is searching for secrets, 10 in total, and some of them are found either in the toxic sludge tunnels (the rocket launcher) or humping walls (various goodies including a backpack, soul sphere and partial invisibility). There is also a secret that will allow you to kill the mancubus via a crusher. Decent starter, but mostly good for the exploration. Combat is nothing impressive and it mostly amounts to random monster spawning.

 

Map02: The Tomb

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 16:48

 

Here the map starts off overlooking a large pyramid. Unfortunately, you won't find any Egyptian hieroglyphics, but still it's another ancient ruins map like the previous. You have to go around to the back and climb up near the top and find the way in. Once you do, you'll teleport into a hub where you'll be hitting some switches revealing various passages to take. Random enemies also repopulate the base, and while the last map had fairly tight ammo, here you receive a lot more to spare and you'll soon be getting the plasma gun and BFG90000 as you search every nook and cranny for secrets. The first two keys are pretty easy to get, while with the last one, it's guarded by some monsters that did not spawn around. Use the BFG if you already found it, otherwise, you might want to have the monsters infight with each other. Layout is somewhat puzzly, but thankfully they're not as cryptic as Jim Flynn's maps or Eternal Doom. Once you found the blue key, the six passages are sealed off, leaving you to exit the pyramid. Overall, this is yet another exploration map. Despite the monster spawns, they're yet again not that great, and the rooms fell somewhat empty with all the resistance being disposed of.

 

Map03: The Mines of Moria

117% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 13:13

 

Eh, I'm not too fond of this map. It takes you into some rather deep, dark caves, so dark that it's almost impossible to see when an enemy is coming up at you or about to open fire. Doesn't help that now the map introduces arch-viles that will revive some of the monsters that you have already killed. Sometimes, they're spawned in spots that where the claustrophobic layout of the tunnels make it difficult to manoeuvre, rendering you helpless as they set you up in flames, so while the enemies are a hassle, it's the level design that will work against you at times. Thankfully, the map does offer a few neat visuals and there are a couple of lava pits as well. Neverthless, you'd want to turn up the brightness level, because the confusing layout of the tunnels will have you running around in circles, and the monsters can easily corner you if you are unlucky. Although you can collect all three keys, really you only need two to exit, unless you're trying to 100% everything, of course. This map is somewhat linear to a certain degree, but there's a sense of nonlinearity with all the multiple passages to take as you make your way through. The saving grace is that once you reach the end, you'll get to see Baphomet's face just before you hit the exit switch.

 

That should do for me. I'll continue on with the next couple of maps tomorrow. For now, I'll be playing some Commander Keen and Quake II. See you all then.

Edited February 20, 2019 by T-Rex

[tmorrow]

e2m1: Foray

The Classic Episode opens with a tight, compact facility where you can get the drop on the enemy from several angles (and they can get drop on you too). All enemies are tier 1 to lull you into a false sense of security for what you will face in the later maps.