The DWmegawad Club plays: Eviternity

[Snikle]

20 - Convolute

This was a good level. Not a slog like map 19, but not too short either. I loved the outside areas, and the cyberdemon platforming section was not as infuriating as I had initially feared. Another really nice looking level too. I always enjoy layouts that include both natural and artificial areas, and this level did it well. Nice conclusion for the episode.

[tmorrow]

chapter: Descension, map21: Imperishable, by Dragonfly
uvmax, 100% k/i/s obtained

Ooohh! Our Descension chapter maps have a Hell/Gore/Alien theme! I just love maps with these themes! "Shaddup" says our marine. Our first map in this chapter has angry red and evil gray textures and an extremely intimidating red sky. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention there are also jaw dropping views!

With your marines first shot there's a shrieking roar from above and behind. "What the hell is that? Our marine replies "There's only one foe that makes that sound and we don't want to meet him". Yep, we're in hell.

Your first task is to work your way around the ravine, trying to avoid the lava and enemies until you reach the southern building. Lookee! See all the enemies trying to kill us from across the ravine! Gee! That chaingunners gun is firing constantly, how does he do that? Woah! See the pain elementals spit out lost souls that dart at lightning speed straight at us! Gosh! See those lethal homing missiles from the revenant snake and wind in circles through the ravine, chasing after us! "Shaddup" says the marine.

A building! Maybe we'll be safe here! Look, it's a plasma rifle pickup. It turns out that the building is far from a safe haven, in fact it's the opposite. After clearing out all the hell spawn, you can use the 4 switches around the room and open a swirling teleporter to destination unknown. Do you think this swirling teleporter is safe to use? "Shaddup" says the marine as he steps into the void.

The final area involves a climb up to the switch to the exit. You meet steep opposition as you climb. Finally you get to deal with those pesky demons that were taunting from above when you were deep in the ravine. You aren't so tough now, are you! Hey, look! A switch. Hey, look! It's cybie! That's a very deep pit! "Shaddup" are the last words you hear from the marine on this map as he leaps into the abyss.

There are 4 secrets on the map that will provide a super shotgun, soulsphere, megaarmor and a cell pack.

Edited March 22, 2019 by tmorrow

[Demon of the Well]

Map 15 -- Cryonology - 102% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA, 0 deaths, secret exit

Like many of you, I was unfamiliar with AtroNx before playing this level. All I can say now is that I hope to see more in the future!

 

This FDA is from the same session as m14 (and m13 in fact), so herein I'm still scuttling around with a fat lip and being incredibly wary of just about everything that exists. Holy shit, I was evidently so scared of that first astral caco possibly infinitely-talling me or something. And unholy shit, I was soooo fucking scared of that first switch! This excessive temerity throughout (almost entirely needless, in hindsight) makes the playthrough take quite a while, but this is not actually an unusually large or long map, a great deal of the map area being unplayable/unreachable or dedicated to ambient, action-free strolling, and most of the proceedings taking place in a deceptively small area that makes ingenious use of height variation and geometric transformation to keep things moving along.

 

Moreso than any other map in the set to this point, "Cryonology" excels in creating a sense of place, of a 'real' location, and the sense of wonder at exploring it for the first time is palpable. The main area, where the meat of the level proper takes place, is a derelict cliffside castle, all high drafty halls and lakes of lingering gloom interspersed with warm patches of sun-dapple and crisp little cloister-yards. Taken in at a running pace the presentation can perhaps seem a mite barren, as the scale of architecture here doesn't invite (or need) a lot of fine-grain detail to achieve its ends, but for those with more of a sightseeing mindset it hosts a lot of quite brilliant subtleties, particularly where the technique of visual foreshadowing is concerned--there is almost no point in the map, no matter how humble or grandiose, which does not provide either a tease or a new framing view (or both) of some other part of it; sometimes in a sly, subtle way, a peak through a kaleidoscope of windows and cracks in the walls that just so happens to peak at an important later area, and sometimes in a breathtaking postcard-perfect way, such as the first look from the sweeping outer stair down over the frozen bay and the ring of standing stones on a small island therein.

 

As one progresses, the scale of the place contrasts a mite oddly with its monster population, which begins rather sparse and......remains rather sparse, throughout, the exception being the spitfire massacre at the strange gazebo nestled into a defile behind the fortress walls. As a player, I love combat and detest anticlimax, and one of the most common ways of reaching anticlimax in a modern Doom map is to create a grand spectacle of architecture and then populate it only modestly (for "balance" considerations or for any other reason), but I think this map pulls it off with class. The relative emptiness of the surroundings, the long periods of quiet interrupted with the occasional brief surge of monster activity, create a very unique and memorable mood distinct from the velvet-smooth but generally 100% familiar battle cadences of earlier levels, and I reckon that populating the map with the monster density it could effectively host would in this case likely undercut its finer qualities. Not all smiles and sunshine, mind you--I think there are objective balance problems (mainly waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy too many cells througout) and feel like the gazebo-slaughter is not quite intense enough to warrant the "X-mas comes early" generosity of item placement there, but on the whole I was fascinated with how things are handled, including how a number of the more concerted attacks are tied to secrets.

 

Single biggest complaint is the same one pretty much everyone else has made: it's downright *criminal* that the secret-exit path/path of full completion skips that last walk along the frozen bay to the exit, giving a last look at the castle proper from outside. IMO this should have been the secret exit (perhaps the portal behind the blue gate could've been a teleporter to take you out here, and the regular exit kept to an exterior tower or such), but nevertheless, this is a brilliant outing in mood and setting nonetheless.

 

Oh, and not to end on a negative note, but I just have to mention this because it's something so rare--this level hosts a new Stewboy midi that I actually didn't like--struck me as more fitting of a spa scene in a Leisure Suit Larry game or the like (grumble grumble "Mexican Soap Opera" rabble rabble etc. etc.). A little too cheery for me, to say the least, though its selection makes sense in that the mood of this level is not entirely grimdark, more banking on a certain sense of wonder (albeit a lonely one) than a brooding morbidity or such.

 

[dac]

MAP 21 – Imperishable

 

That... was one hell of a chapter opening!

 

...Sorry, couldn’t resist.

 

First map of the “hell” chapter – “gore” and “alien” are promised but not yet seen – and befitting of its setting, it doesn’t play around: from spawn, hell knight(s) to the left, cacodemon(s) at one o’clock, a mancubus on the right ledge, one important armor up front to nab as we escape to find more firepower. It only gets more relentless from there as we flip switches and grab firepower to open up the map and the demons hidden in it. Our goal: open the gates to this central tower, the one that was promised in the title pic (funnily enough, this map does not feature any green nightmare demons, unlike the title) and enter its bowels from the top. And get rid of a cyberdemon in the way, one we can’t telefrag this time.

 

It’s a simple, linear map with a fair bit of terrain deformation. But as far as first good impression goes, Dragonfly hits it out of the park.

 

Everything from start to getting the (second) super shotgun, mainly the initial fight with limited weaponry and few safe spots, is magical. I didn’t expect to like a fight with a ton of lava floor, a big open space combined with a revenant and an arachnotron, but it works here. It still took me a few tries, but I came to love the chaingun-induced stunlock abuse. Granted, a lot of these deaths were caused by this:

 

Spoiler

 

 

I’ll hate these specific revenants forever, attacking me from eons away as I’m trying to clear the upper starting area.

 

The rest of the map rides this opening’s coattails, from the secret mega armor fight to the final cyberdemon and demons fight. Not that much of a jab, as the entire map is a high quality affair with a strong sense of place.

 

Oh yeah, the music add so much to this map’s mood. “Everything Explodes” indeed.

[Tristan]

11 hours ago, Demon of the Well said:

struck me as more fitting of a spa scene in a Leisure Suit Larry game or the like

 

Great, now every time I play MAP15 I'm going to be asking myself just what is the deal with eggplants?

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP19 "Dehydration" - StormCatcher.77 (99%K /85% I /75% S):

This is another big map, and could be the classic "Ragequitting" map for some. This is a pretty polarizing hit or miss map, and I just missed by a kilometer. Aesthetically, this map is totally impressive, lots of detailing quirks that makes the map feel pretty alive, the fans at the end, the fake 3D machinery and lots of minimal details that make this map feel alive. Gameplay-wise though, it take a loooong while to start, and it actually isn't that fun to play, I just died of boredom some times, I just wanted to end this map and continue with the playthrough (Almost losing myself and wanting to ragequit this mapset). It's not an interesting journey as MAP32, this is a map that takes way too long to end, specially on the red key part. Most encounters felt obnoxious for me. 
This was not that hard, just boring, and I could see why some people here did not like this one. At the start it was fine, but it felt tasteless as I made progress.
I'm not implying this map is bad by any means, it would be crazy to say it is, since evaluating this and implying it's bad would mean that you didn't even care of all the aesthetic quirks the author made to make this look impressive, it does not feel overly detailed to state that. So let us say it's okay.

Death counter: 312

Maps in order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP15 (Perfect)
MAP32
MAP18 (Great)
MAP13
MAP06
MAP04
MAP14
MAP07 
MAP10
MAP31
MAP03

MAP16
MAP01
MAP02
MAP19 (Ok)

MAP08
MAP17
MAP09
MAP05
MAP11
MAP12 (Bad)

 

I feel exhausted, and I just need to catch up, I'm pretty far behind because of this map, and my studies and my head constantly aching. But no problem, I just have a pretty long weekend to catch up and continue playing through this.

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[General Roasterock]

MAP 20: CONVOLUTE

Admittedly, the title of this map made me somewhat nervous after the previous, but this map really managed to re-hook me for this wad. The hints of teal have now fully vanished, and I feel like this map could've looked much better with it, but seeing the grunge of this map does set its mood as an episode closing. The balance of Radiation Suits was actually a lot better than I expected, as most maps either only give you one for a single pass, or an unnecessary overabundance of them just to be safe. Here, I felt like I had to properly use them, but still wasn't threatened about only having one shot at navigating the waste tunnels. Compared to the difficulty of both of the previous final maps in scale with their respective episodes, I feel this one had left less of an impact, but the previous three had already set a very high bar.

Edited March 22, 2019 by General Roasterock

[Snikle]

21 - Imperishable

Now we’re in Hell, and this first level pulls that off well. I liked the ever-expanding play area like map 10, and the level was nice and lethal. Visually great too. Some parts were pretty hitscanner heavy, but that’s not an issue. Hitscanners are fun to kill. I ran past the cybie at the end once it became clear he wouldn’t do anything but sit there and shoot me.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP19: Dehydrate

98% kills, 1/4 secrets

 

Yup, this one was a beast. It's quite linear and with around 900 enemies on UV (and no giant battles), it's just a slow steady marathon through the water/sewage base. There's a few tricky fights here and there but for the most part the combat has a very steady slope, starting out with small fry and steadily progressing up to using the medium tier monsters and then eventually using AVs and Annihilators. I think the length works against it because of this, as there's no real lulls and climaxes, just a mostly continuous assault, it starts to all feel very similar after awhile. Same for the aesthetics, too... it's very nicely detailed and impressive in terms of the work put into it, but there's nothing in it that made me really say "wow" or felt memorable. Felt a lot like a KDIZD-style map in this regard, actually... it just sorta keeps going, and going, and going. Even after the final big fight (which somewhat disappointingly is just a big rectangle) there's still monsters plopped down in the last few hallways to the end. I don't want to hate it since it's obviously an impressive piece of work, and there's nothing bad about it, but it did definitely lose my interest halfway and start feeling more like a chore than fun to play.

[tmorrow]

chapter: Descension, map22: Viscera, by Dragonfly
uvmax, 100% k/i/s obtained

@Dragonfly delivers another incredible map, this time we're in hell's viscera, not a pleasant place, but beautiful none the less. Using the first switch reveals a system of caverns and some archviles that thankfully, immediate teleport away to other locations throughout the caverns. With blood trickling down from above, clouding his vision, our marine has to establish an initial foothold from which to start the task of exploration. His first plan of action is to track down and eradicate those pesky archviles before going after the 3 keys. As he always says, "the only good archvile is a dead archvile".

You can pick up the keys in any order you like but going for to the yellow keycard right away involves waking up cybie so you might want to do that later when you have more powerful weapons and more ammo. The easiest pickup is probably the blue keycard in the south west which involves a fight with demons and nightmare demons. The red keycard located in the north east involves a megaton of imps and some hellknights thrown in. You might need to work on your strategy for this fight. My marines first attempt resulted in his mauling at the hands of several angry imps. He doesn't want to talk about it. The yellow keycard to the north involves 3 archviles, 1 annihilator and other beasties.

Our marines favorite area is the pink/magenta and gray cave decorations to the north. Anyone making wisecracks on his predeliction for the color pink should be warned that our marine has a berserk fist at the ready!

After collecting all 3 keys, a spider mastermind spawns near the exit and immediately springs into action when our marine approaches.

There are 3 secrets on the map, holding a berserk, megaarmor and cell pack.

Edited March 23, 2019 by tmorrow

[Tristan]

Time for me to make a start on Chapter 5: Descension, giving us an insight into how a fairly traditional depiction of Hell might look when coated in OTEX. I say "fairly," MAP21 certainly has that red+black with lava style, but 22 and 23 take things a bit more out of left field.

 

MAP21: Imperishable - Dragonfly

9:27, 99% kills, 100% secrets

 

Yeah there's definitely no question that we're in Hell as we're thrown immediately into the action before we've even time to look around. It's a hot start.

Get it, hot start?

 

This map is kinda burned into me at this stage because not long after it was made, me and Dragonfly stayed up until about 3am one night racing each other with UV speed runs, lol. I think 1:29 was the best I could manage. Today though, I'm not going to race, I'm going to play normally :P It's a bit of a slow and long map in my natural playstyle actually than it's really meant to be, the way the layout does loop back on itself suggests you can save some time by ignoring monsters to begin with, beyond those which you're forced to because of the pistol start. Hitscanners can be pretty nasty in some cases, with the openness creating some long range sniping positions, but overall it's not too difficult, I only died once and that was a really dumb mistake on my part, though it's the sort of map that becomes significantly easier after your first playthrough.

 

The obvious standout of the visuals here is of course that giant helltower with those chains hooking it to the surrounding cliffs. It's a brilliantly imposing looking structure and I love how you can see demons scampering about on its exterior staircase, really hammers home that sense of scale. The rest is excellently done as usual, not too much indoor action going on but you can definitely see the Gothic influences on the architecture that does exist. I can see the last cyberdemon potentially cockblocking you if you tried to run past, but that's not much of a risk when playing with saves and I didn't feel like giving up all my ammo for the next map, so I dropped into the pit without bothering with it.

 

Great start to the episode.

 

I'm not having fun with map22 today even though it's usually one of my favourite maps in the WAD. I guess I'll try again later/tomorrow.

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[Demon of the Well]

Map 31 -- Imperator - 103% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA, 0 deaths

Land of Able!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 (<3 x100)

 

Mappers: please, please use this song sometime! Or several sometimes! Always my favorite from Klem's large/classic oeuvre, only "The Wind" comes close, another of his tracks which is hardly ever used, incidentally--IIRC it only 'officially' appears in Memento Mori, just as "Land of Able" only appears in STRAIN. Until now, that is!

 

Anyway, this is Skillsaw in his typical form, a rollicking power-fantasy of a map that provides a ton of stuff to kill and offsets intense battles with extremely generous item/powerup/ammo placement, allowing players of many different skill levels to know the thrill of being an unstoppable killing machine, at least for a few minutes. The particular angle taken here is a heavy focus on the rocket launcher as a primary weapon (though it does tend to cede the spotlight to the plasma rifle during the final stretch), which is just a-okay with me, as the RL has long been my favorite tool in the classic arsenal. The lion's share of the action, particularly where the rocket-slinging is concerned, takes place in an irregular series of defiles in the north with a strange golden fluid wending through them, an environment crawling with all manner of beasties perched high and low, just begging to be rendered into so much showering demon-bolognese by a steady series of well-placed rocket shells.

 

This indulgent safari of high explosives and group-kills eventually gives way to some frenetic drop-in fights in the place's redstone heart later in proceedings, first in the form of an impromptu tribunal before a smug (too smug for his own good!) cyberdemon overseer and then as a crowded moshpit of undead and other unsavory types just before the YK. This latter is certainly the most potentially dangerous encounter--DPS is king here, and using anything but plasma is tantamount to suicide--though with foreknowledge or extreme luck it can be rendered totally harmless via a secret which allows you to excuse yourself at will. As is occasionally the case with the author's focus on nigh constant player-empowerment (even if some of it does require finding secrets or whatnot), I reckon this map is likely towards the extreme of his personal spectrum that's maybe a little too doting too often to reach its full adrenaline potential, but the focus on the RL and the clever re-use of spaces for multiple fights is just too damned much fun for me to really mind much.

 

Interestingly, OTEX is put to a very different use in this than in the maps by other authors we've seen thus far, emphasizing color contrast in a largely abstract setting rather than the more 'themed' look characterizing the mainline episodes. I feel like it actually reminds me of something specific (other than the cove/nets episode of Valiant I mean, which also had a red + tan thing going on), something from the late 90s or early 00s or thereabouts, but damned if I can put my finger on what it is (the Klem track probably also helps encourage that association, of course).

[dac]

MAP 22 – Viscera

 

Well, there is the “gore” and “alien”. River of blood and guts sometimes, Giger-esque walls other times, and even a combination of both themes with flowing, acid purple blood. Hellish marble is still present, and... Really, I’m not sure. It’s a lot of themes to take at once.

 

Anyway, it feels good to play such an arena focused map. Three keys to find, and you can go at it in any order – I went at it counterclockwise, red into yellow into blue – each within an arena ready to be drowning in demons as you pick up a key. Like skillsaw’s map 31, this is also a rocket launcher focused map, which is less harmful than I would expect it. Is it me getting better at rockets? Probably! Even the blue key fight, featuring pinkies and greenies, was not as much of an issue as I’d believe, even with all the additional weaponry from my arena tour.

 

If I had issues with this map, it’s... the initial arch-vile scare was an anticlimax. I halfway expected them to pop up in the worst places, which in these string of arenas, would have been to revive the monsters I killed while attacking me from behind hordes. Instead, they’re stuck on ledges, being a simple nuisance, and only the yellow key fight brings about a different batch of viles to torment me with. In the end, that’s just me being nitpicky.

 

(Small note on difficulties: I mainly play on HMP, but I like to revisit certain maps on UV just to see what’s different. And so far, I am noticing a recent trend with annihilators and Dragonfly’s maps: below UV, they’re simply gone. It was the case in both map 16 and 17, and it’s the case here. Not really complaining, I’m glad to not have much of them around.)

 

(Small note sequel: Haven’t seen an astral caco in a looong while. Still not complaining about that one!)

[General Roasterock]

MAP 21: IMPERISHABLE

     I can't exactly put my finger on it, but something about this map manages to both capture the classic Doom hell aesthetic, and also completely churn out something entirely new. It's probably the palette at work here, bringing out all these vibrant oranges and reds. This is truly a memorable hellscape.

     The map itself is definitely a different take on the community's perspective of the underworld. Most Hell maps that I've trudged through only think to use big burly demons, like Mancubi, Knights, and Barons, while this hell is still abundant with zombies. It's definitely annoying to still have chaingunners tapping me this far in, but it's a completely understandable choice, and brings out the gory aspect of this domain. 

     Obviously, the architecture is still on point. The titanic tower in the middle with the Cryonology chains stands out of course, along with the endlessly altering landscape revealing more demons as the rocks lower. This map is significantly harder than anything I've seen so far, and rightfully so. It's about time for this wad to separate the weak from the strong. Hell is unforgiving, and if this level is anything to go by, unforgiving won't be able to describe it.

[tmorrow]

chapter: Descension, map23: Tribulation, by Dragonfly
uvmax, 100% k/i/s obtained

Descension continues with a perfidious, pernicious, pink map. Try repeating that three times fast! Our marine is delighted with the pretty magenta/pink and gray stone aesthetic. As a reminder, any wise guy remarks regarding our marines color preferences will meet with our marines loaded fist. He very much wants to know what prize is hidden in the giant pink block taking up most of the first room. He's going to find out at the end of the map!

Don't let the low monster count fool you, the enemies you meet on this map pack a punch. The map is fairly linear and the east side must be cleared out first. The first trap involves kiting some demons, a nightmare demon and an archvile around a pretty pink fountain. The next trap is a very nasty all in attack by a pack of ravenous demons. It can be difficult to find a good position from which the punch the demons without getting chewed on all sides. Our marine was quite smitten with the 2 pink waterfalls in this area. The west side of the map is now opened.

The west side of the map has 2 adjoining chambers, each with pink walls around the center. Using the switch in the area triggers a trap that lowers the walls in each chamber to reveal 4 annihilators. Our marine preferred the pink walls over the 4 annihilators! Stairs leading up to the north reveal a bunch of revenants. You will be running the gauntlet to avoid being pulverised by these enemies. Next is a series of smaller traps, one involving nightmare demons and another with an archvile, each one transforming the environment and forming a path winding back to a ledge over the first main room.

Dropping into the main room lowers the large square pink block to reveal cybie and his friends, 2 astral cacodemons, 2 nightmare demons, 2 demons and several hellknights for an all in finale. Our marine is a bit sad that the grand opening of big pink block has revealed such an evil prize, he much preferred the room the way it was before!

The final fight can be partially cheesed. Once again, this is theoretical as our brave marine does not approve of these kind of exploits and would never, ever use such despicable tactics himself! No, no, no!

 

Spoiler

By moving to the edge of the ledge to trigger the lowering of walls and pulling back quickly. your marine will be able to take out or thin most of the enemies before dropping down to face cybie.

The secrets you can find on the map give up a megasphere and a megaarmor.

[dac]

MAP 23 – Tribulation

 

...My small notes on last map’s write just became highly ironic, didn’t they? Okay, you get to fight FOUR annihilators on UV instead of two, but still!

 

Irony aside, this is a very lo-fi, small map with few monsters in it. And on HMP, a lot of the monster footprint is taken by the demon standoff, taking out as many pink mouths as possible before the walls drop down and leaves you very vulnerable. But obviously, the rest of the horde is meaty, mean, and placed for maximum pain. There’s a chaingunner-from-behind ambush, for heaven’s sake. The final fight brings out a cyberdemon, but infighting makes it a bit easier than the one on map 21. Even if the demons are there to restrict your moves.

 

Mostly, this is a weird map, much so that I went and checked who did it and was surprised that it still was Dragonfly. This is a map that truly feels alien, from the textures to its layout to the walls closing behind you. But when you have a full megawad, I guess anything sticking out is memorable by default, and this map is it.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 32 -- Anagnorisis - 101% Kills / 53% Secrets - FDA, 0 deaths, uses 2-3 saves (I think)

This FDA is around 2 hours long, which from what I gather is somewhere solidly in the middle of the spectrum of first-time playtime. That's saying something right there! As something of a post-mortem of my general route (there being so many different possibilities in this map), I waffled around a bit at the start (which had the positive benefit of seeing me reach the ammo stockpile and circuit-completing trio of switches very early on), and then ended up getting the keys in the order of yellow-red-blue. Of that 2 hours, I think it's a great credit to the map that I spent only 10 minutes or so of it being "lost"--near the end of the run, I kept overlooking a small passage tucked away in the blue-locked building leading to one of the switches needed to complete the bridge to the 3-key 'monolith' switch's landing. The rest was me taking my time exploring (particularly climbing about in the hills), and yes, occasionally taking 5,126 years to complete fights that really only needed to take a minute or two, given adequate skill/knowledge/courage. Not for nothing--I actually found access to several more secrets than my final tally suggests, but did not register them because I didn't need the items they contained (often a ____sphere or other high-value powerup)--but even with a few periods of chiefly traversal-oriented downtime I was soundly engrossed throughout.

 

To the matter of "conveyance", since some have wondered about others' experience of this: As mentioned earlier, I only briefly floundered for what felt like progress, and even then I felt (correctly) that I was missing something in my immediate area, rather than worrying that I might've overlooked a switch clear on the other side of the map or summat. The whole color-coordination scheme of the lights/trim on the main buildings was entirely lost on me, I have to admit--this didn't even register with me until I read other posters pointing it out here. The initial population/constant projectile-rain of the main interconnecting areas doesn't exactly give one a ton of time to take this in, and so in that sense might fairly be criticized as an inadequate measure; in practice, though, I found this to be a virtual non-issue, since the layout itself connects/interconnects so elegantly, and the different major buildings are easy to distinguish from one another as discrete, largely self-contained subquests, even if one never has the "oh there are a few bits of red neon trim on this hulking edifice of pig-iron, I'll bet the red key is somewhere inside!" moment.

 

--------

 

To put it simply, this is a true adventure, practically an episode of its own in the course of a single journey through the derelict-but-not-dead expanse of some kind of geothermal reactor complex, a parasite with a carapace of rust and dust slowly and interminably draining the lifeblood from the weary husk of a dying world. Something of this magnitude, with this many connections, this many fights, this many different progression threads is naturally difficult to hold clearly in the mind all at once, but in hindsight I think the whole thing is pretty easy to conceptualize--it flows in a full circuit, in either direction (provided one hits that 3-switch battery, anyway) and entered from any point, and is entirely non-linear until the end, the sort of scheme where you can wander around for quite some time with absolutely no idea what you're doing but still be making significant progress.

 

Visually it is of course quite striking, both a function of its scale and a layout which is so conducive to complementary vistas, and through its theme, which is at once fresh in the context of Eviternity itself and yet immediately familiar, even nostalgic in its own right: this absolutely looks like something straight out of The Darkening II,  the bigger, badder brother to that set's "Toxicity" map by the same author (and indeed, there are some interesting parallels between the two which I'm inclined to interpret as a bit of a wink and a nod). The rusty, grimy, dusty theme of wasteland-industry is perhaps less vivid than the unusual theme of the episode which preceded it, but is an interesting counterpart to the arcade-desert look of Skillsaw's map just prior, and surely stands on its own through sheer scope and the creativity shown in its architectural flourishes, heavy metal art-deco brutalism. It's an interesting contrast in potentials, I thought, showing Ukiro's handiness with his own assets (and further emphasizing the versatility of the pack) but also staying well within a certain artistic "comfort zone", perhaps--suffice to say I hope to see more maps from him in future, perhaps exploring some of OTEX's more unusual thematic possibilities.

 

My only real aesthetic complaint was that I found the music track exceedingly dull, especially for a map of this length (though granted, I would generally consider "dull/inoffensive" preferable to the tendency to fit a big map with a really brazen, bombastic martial-toned midi, as has often been the case in PWADing's past). I reckon I only stayed with it as long as I did before IDMUSing to something else (take a guess as to what!!) because it sounded vaguely familiar to me, and indeed it's a Blut Aus Nord track, from the period of their Great Artistic Importance (TM) as opposed to from a period where they were actually good to listen to. Credit where it's due to Scotty for the conversion, nonetheless--the piece here reads quite naturally in Doom's music/sound format (which mellows it a bit as a matter of course), which is never something to take for granted with any piece ported over from the world of rock/punk/metal.

 

For its length, I found the whole generally well-paced, with a suitable number of landmark encounters throughout, and a good number of distinct combat ideas showcased in its main buildings, each of which has its own distinctive sub-layout and battle flavor. These range from stonefaced exercises in exacting monster placement in the context of strange, complex geometry, ala the interior of the RK bunker, to more overt displays of spectacle, ala the comically MASSIVE swarm of lost souls in the progression-agnostic 'purple building.' Some of these setups are more successful than others--the previous two examples and the final fight are stronger, whereas the yellow spire and its largely pointless arch-viles felt flatter, for instance--but the general quality and variety of design is consistent throughout, important in a map of this length. On the other hand, I think it's fair to say that the level doesn't have a very pronounced 'curve' to its overall intensity--that is, it's about as equally concerted in the beginning, middle, and end--which is perhaps less than ideal for a map that basically aims to function as a complete episode, though I think the fun/interest in navigating and exploring it compensates handsomely in this regard.

 

Is it a slog sometimes? Hmm.....yes and no. Is it consistently user-friendly? Definitely not. The connections are always there, but they aren't always smooth/fast; sometimes you have to go mountain-goating to reach a new area or return to a previous one, and not all paths/itineraries are balanced to play equally smoothly, some having the potential for a much harsher period of initial adversity or a significantly longer tail of austerity than others. As aforesaid, it's also quite possible you won't find out what you're actually supposed to be doing until quite late in the proceedings. A lot of these things, though, given the right context, I'm more inclined to view as positives, as interesting character traits, than as detracting elements. It's fascinating how the first key many will likely receive (the blue key) is the last one to be used, and how the keys have unequal roles in progression; how so much of the traversal seems secret/hidden but is actually ordinary (though not necessarily mandatory!) throughway navigation; how it takes quite an investment of time until you've made enough of a foothold to move about with impunity.

 

On that latter issue, it's certainly true and fair criticism that clearing out the map, not even for the sake of maxkills but just to make getting from point A to point B practicable, does involve a goodly bit of shovel-work after a point (all the more pronounced given the map's great length, of course), with a marked skew towards mid-tier creatures, particularly in the 'campus' areas, that don't really maintain relevance as threats/dynamic elements once one has a comfortable point of fallback. Likewise, certain batteries of snipers, perhaps most pronounced being the large clan of imps infesting the southern cliffs, at some point transition from adding welcome complexity to fighting through certain spaces (the aforementioned have an uncanny view into the yellow spiral-tower, for instance) to being ongoing nuisances that one feels compelled to silence just to have some peace of mind when ready to get on with the business of later progress. By and large, though, I reckon that these eventualities of cleanup are in most cases a necessary and, more importantly, worthwhile tradeoff for the effect they have in the map's earlier stages, driving you to commit to one of the many possible progression paths, and all of the cascading experiences thereof, rather than waffling aimlessly.

 

In this regard, there is again only really one design choice where I'm more hesitant to praise or at least play devil's advocate, that being just how drastically the HUGE ammo-dump at the 3-switch battery in the campus can influence early progression. This is of course missable until much later, but it being missable isn't the qualm I have, as from what I've seen I'm confident that nearly all of the possible initial paths are quite viable, even if some are much tougher than others (indeed, this is part of the map's appeal/fascination IMO, its 'imbalanced balance'). It's just that this is so blatantly the 'ideal' route--the 'OP' tack if you will--that it's difficult to imagine 99% of players wanting to play it any other way than beelining here first, which is a damned shame, in its way. Wholly apart from the ammo dump itself, the relative importance and relative lack of 'signposting' (if you like) of the 3-switch battery itself, which completes the level's circuit and thus allows it to reach its full non-linearity, is a strange and perhaps somewhat contradictory contrast, and of course only further incentivizes someone to always come here first.

 

The term "adventure map" is often used to describe a very linear/on-rails experience with some top-billed aesthetic or diegetic hook, and while that genre surely has any number of its own merits, to me it's maps like "Anagnorisis" that most successfully and genuinely capture a sense of real adventure, precisely because it's such a dense, idiosyncratic location that doesn't hold your hand or go overly far out of its way in guiding you along. You make your own way here--budgeting resources and fretting over forks in the path in the early going, taking needs-must detours around blockades, improvising in matters of both combat and traversal as you accrue familiarity and momentum--rather than having it made for you, and there is something to be said for that, the satisfaction you get when you climb out to a vantage on the cliffside overlooking the starting campus and feel like you *found* this spot, rather than that you were funneled there for Cinematic Reasons or w/e. Being able to create this impression and this level of explorability in a map with this size without having it descend into a senseless morass is quite the feat indeed, and I can only tip my hat to the author for a job well done. Well done, indeed.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by Demon of the Well

[Demon of the Well]

To compensate for the novel I just wrote about m32, and in the general interest of catching up at least partway, I'm going to (try to) be much briefer about the first part of the Brutalism episode, which I have to admit hadn't grabbed me as much as its Crystalline and Obscure predecessors. Still a good bit to talk about though...

 

Map 16 -- Neutralize - 105% Kills / 66% Secrets - FDA, 0 deaths

The episode opener struck me as sibling to m12, "Brisk", from earlier, in that it plays out largely as a short collection of self-contained staged encounters, the major difference being that you can mostly play these in any order rather than having the sequence prescribed to you. The highlight of these, and the most dangerous, is (IIRC) technically optional--the RL fight where you have to try to take out the Annihilator who warps in before your cover from his machine-gun disappears, which certainly is interesting, though in this case perhaps I'd have made it mandatory and had one of the weaker fights be the optional one instead, such as the southeast/RK leg. The warping monsters on the dais at each key reveal build to a reasonable though rather unreliable vile-vulture conclusion; I felt that more could have been done with this, but perhaps that would've been inappropriate for an episode opener.

 

Not one of the set's stronger maps, the design struck me as being driven/informed chiefly by the central sweeping structure leading up to the dais where the three keys sit elevated (and this is certainly a striking piece of construction in all fairness, especially with that uncanny turquoise fluidfall texture), but since only so much mileage could be wrung out of that one idea, the rest was sort of bolted on in short order. Also the first mainline level where a secret eluded me, IIRC, which made me perhaps a mite obsessive about finding all of the others for the rest of this particular play session (which was maps 16-18).

 

Oh, and the deaf hell knight who infinitely-talls the SHIT out of me when I try to leap from the elevated switch in the south back down to the central sweep is something I'd consider a legitimate and legitimately problematic bug/oversight, something to consider in future creations.

 

Map 17 -- Segregation - 111% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA, 0 deaths

A somewhat memorable opening here, a staged duel with a cyberdemon in an enclosed space (very nice work with the 'power-on' sequence and lighting contrasts, once again, incidentally). Nothing special, really, though for an audience far less attuned to Doom and PWADs than many of us here it's probably a much more novel, notable, and perhaps imposing conceit. I thought I'd be a clever dick and refused to kill the cyberdemon at first; while this maybe adds some slapstick/entertainment value to the first half of the FDA, it's not really something the design anticipates or plays with in any meaningful way (the constricted geometry of both paths out of his room means he can't go far or do much even if you try to let him), so there's no real tactical benefit or interesting consequences to doing this.

 

The level is presumably named for its path, which splits at the beginning. You can do either one you like first, but never the two shall meet, and apart from one particular piece of shared design--an open bridge construction flanked by weird little grated platforms with largely inconsequential "snipers" behind them, an iteration of which appears once in each half--the level basically functions as two separate mini-maps dovetailed together. There's a lot of monster density in relation to the relatively small/compact construction in either half, but I wouldn't say it's a particularly tricky map, less sneaky in its "gotcha" traps than m16 before it and less carefully measured/planned in its thing balance and item placement than m18 to follow. Not to be taken entirely lightly, regardless--IIRC I made a mistake vs. a revenant missile or something and went down to 10% health or thereabouts in the fight at the bridge on the east side, which conspicuously contains no healing whatsoever (it's all dumped in a pile before the dropoff)....rather strange, for this mapset at least, though not invalid for it, I suppose.

 

Map 18 -- Subterfuge - 110% Kills / 100% Secrets - FDA, 0 deaths

Rather long and probably boring FDA, this, though once again it speaks to how content I was to spend a lot of time in this map, if nothing else. I finish all of the main progression maybe like two-thirds of the way in, and then spend quite some time afterwards trying (and eventually succeeding!) to find all of the secrets. I guess I had a brainworm that I just had to satisfy in this case, both because I was still maybe just a wee bit butthurt about not figuring out the soulsphere in m16, and so many of the secrets/secret areas being enticingly visible in this one.

 

(those troll-rockets tho)

 

Versus the earlier maps in the episode, which I guess one might say are more abjectly modern, concise, and 'encounter-focused', this map struck me as a bit more of a good old-fashioned base crawl, something that might well have been at home in the days of Memento Mori II or such, with a number of different paths to explore and a lot of interesting interplay between main/obvious and secret/hidden progression. As with m13 before it, as a Dragonfly/an_mutt collab it plays as a totally coherent, unified piece rather than as bits and bobs by different authors glued together, and while some architectural tells might help me venture a guess as to who made at least some of what, the whole physical structure and level progression both read as natural extensions of the other. It was here that I started warming to the episode more.

 

I also personally liked the look of this more more than the two maps which went before. If I had to try to narrow it down to one point of differentiation, I reckon I'd point to its more varied and complex selection of textures and colors, giving more depth to the layout both in purely visual/screenshot-y terms and as a sense of place, versus the more abstract tu-tone look seen earlier in the episode. The true star of the show in this regard, though, and an unexpected and most pleasant surprise, is the BGM track, AD_79's "Impermanence", which I adored, perhaps second only to Klem's "Land of Able" in my affections re: the Eviternity soundtrack thus far (and of course the two styles are so different that this is more than a bit of apples-to-oranges comparison anyway); moody, melancholic, dramatic, and with a pace-y forward momentum, it was likely the prospect of getting to listen to this track for a few more minutes which helped influence my decision to stay and try to find everything. I've yet to encounter many tracks from this author, but if this one is anything to go by, I certainly hope that changes in future.

 

edit: d'oh got the song name wrong damn

Edited March 24, 2019 by Demon of the Well

[Budoka]

MAP19: Dehydration by Stormcatcher.77
---------------------------------------

 

I'm a little surprised by @Demon of the Well's dismissal of the color coding in Anagnorisis. I mean, it's not exactly a subtle thing, it's everywhere. This makes me wonder if perhaps his regular playstyle is a lot more frantic than what I pictured in my head for someone who produces such lyric write-ups.

 

Also, @Eris Falling, but regarding my comment on this episode being too similar to E2, while I said that back in my MAP16 review, that was a comment regarding the entire chapter, not the early portions in particular, seeing as I've already played the entire thing on PrBoom+ before the club session even started. If anything, I would agree that the first couple maps in E4, 17 especially, do a better job at forging a unique identity than the later portion does.

 

But let's get to that. I'm afraid this is going to be a short review for a long map, because Stormcatcher.77 treats us here with an extremely long, drab, ultra-linear tech map in which, with barely any exaggeration, and as many other members already mentioned, nothing happens. Nothing. I mean, the combat setups look designed and professional enough, but they also come across as if they're there to get the job done and no more. There are also a few increases in tension, but they're few and far between, and they're tiny at that. There are puzzle elements throughout, but even that doesn't get very involved.

 

If "Anagnorisis", "Crynology" and to an extent "Frimaire" showed us how to do epic scale levels right, then "Dehydration" shows us how to do them completely wrong. If we were to use more examples for comparison, then we all know Alien Vendetta contains a number of examples of what this map is trying and spectacularly failing at ("Beast Island", "Lake Poison", "Misri Halek", "Demonic Hordes" and a few others). Long-form maps can be memserizing, but in order to achieve that they have to actually get the player engaged. "Dehydration" fails to do that.

 

@tmorrow: @General Roasterrock may correct me if I get this wrong, but I think what he meant is that there is a certain "spirit" that one experiences while playing through most of the maps in Eviternity, and that said spirit is entirely absent from this map, which feels like it doesn't belong. In which case I would agree, and this is perhaps the only map in all of Eviternity which I consider to be outright bad, in fact I had to space my playthrough out both times in order to have the strength to make it to the end, which was not the case with MAP32. Sure, this one looks just as professionnally-crafted as the rest of them, but that's really all it's got going for it. In fact, we're coming up to a map that is an actual retool, but with a genuine effort in the overall design that ironically makes it feel a lot more appropriate for the set than this one is.

 

Although, one thing I love about this map is the name. "Dehydration" ? Hey, it's a literal marathon level. Too bad it's not a particularly thrilling one.

 

MAP20: Convolute
-----------------------

 

Much like with E3, the chapter closer is by far the most interesting level in the lot, though the contrast in quality is a lot harsher this time around. So much so that in fact, MAP18, while alright as a whole, almost feels like a failed prototype of this one. Progression here is as open-ended as it gets, but at the same time very intricate and tricky, and just about every combat setup presents a genuine threat regardless of how or when you tackle it, and is satisfying to overcome, feeling fair without feeling dull. My standout segement here would be the entire final part, from the moment the surprise vista to the outside opens to the final teleport spawn at the very end.

 

I'm actually curious as to how many strikingly distinct UV-Max speedrunning strategies will be developped for this map over the long term. In any case, this is Chapter IV over, and I think it's going to go down as a mix of fine moments and missed potential. Not bad, but not on the sheer brilliance level of its predecessors.

[ukiro]

2 hours ago, Demon of the Well said:

It's just that this is so blatantly the 'ideal' route--the 'OP' tack if you will--that it's difficult to imagine 99% of players wanting to play it any other way than beelining here first, which is a damned shame, in its way.

 

First, thanks for such a thorough and thoughtful writeup! I nod in approval for pretty much all of it, including the criticism (although I stand by my choice of midi!).

 

That said, I just wanted to weigh in on the above since it's been hinted at in other people's reviews too, that the ammo stash in the hexagon platforms makes it a must-have in any route: The idea was to let the player think this and of course this ammo helps tremendously for max efforts, but for a 3 key run (not the single key speedrun trick), this area is not at all mandatory, nor are the three switches here needed for progression. The fact that you felt so certain it's a crucial part of the route is perhaps both an achievement and a flaw of mine, but it was designed this way mostly to bribe more people to do the (completely optional) orange building.

 

I also want to applaud a deathless UV blind playthrough here—this is seriously impressive. I don't have your skills, so when designing it I had to constantly make assumptions foe what's doable blind, and the fact that it was possible makes me very happy. You have some spectacularly good instincts and even if you initially didn't realize the color coding for key locations, your attention to your surroundings and presence of mind is quite remarkable. For me the biggest WTF moment of all is the handling of the yellow key area without using the safe room! I actually tried my best to make this impossible even with the BFG. (if you're curious what solution ordinary mortals have to resort to, see here.)

[Tristan]

MAP22: Viscera - Dragonfly

9:30, 100% kills, 33% secrets

 

Hmm. I'll stand by this being one of my favourites, but only for HNTR. For the most part, this hits a balance which -  it will come to no surprise to anyone - I think is difficult to obtain: archviles that aren't useless but not a pain in the ass to deal with, however the yellow key fight fell into the latter category this time around. Getting hit once I could live with, but I like to be able to at least see where I'm going so 1 hit doesn't turn into 3 every single time. I got so irked here I forgot the megaarmor secret.

 

Anyway, annoying stuff out of the way, the rest of the map is great, and more my difficulty despite coming in from a pistol start - I had overwritten my save before my mild ragequit yesterday and wanted to start over. The map has quite an alien feeling to it unlike the previous map, you'll notice there's no lava to be found in this network of tunnels beneath the fiery hellscape of Imperishable, it's all blood and a strikingly bright purple goop which is as dangerous to walk on as you'd expect it to be. The MIDI by Nabernizer gives a definite mysterious feeling to the map, which suits it nicely.

 

The cyberdemon broke for me - I had enabled a compat flag in PrBoom+ that prevents monsters getting stuck on edges, which happens a lot during normal play for me and also breaks the carousel teleports, but in turn it ruins the fact that this guy needed to cross such a line to actually enter this small arena. Fucking hell I miss GZDoom. It's a double shame because I'm fairly sure Dragonfly took this method of deploying a monster from none other than my abandoned TNT project which as I explained way back on page 3 was also ultimately the origin of the Nightmare Demon, which of course, also made its debut on this map in terms of development chronology, the gang in the blue key fight being the first custom monsters placed in the project.

 

The red key fight is definitely my favourite, it pays to gather as many rockets as you can before you trigger the fight, and I just find it a lot of fun to blast through all those imps, which make up a huge proportion of the monster count here. The blue key fight by comparison is a tad underwhelming and it's writing this now that I realise that the route I've always used for this map, yellow -> red -> blue is literally the reverse order of difficulty. The resources you get from the blue key fight though still come in handy because the final obstacle is a duel with a spider mastermind that appears in the start location, where the exit to the next level is also waiting for us.

 

MAP23: Tribulation - Dragonfly

6:54, 100% kills, 50% secrets

 

Of course, you can't introduce a very distinctive visual theme like the pink of MAP22 and not use it again - this map uses pink pretty much exclusively, taking us even further away from the traditional Hell style. It's quite a short map, feels like it's meant as a bit of a breather before we go into Mechadon's contribution. The layout here looks very strange, with lots of odd angles necessitated by the central hub being an equilateral triangle, yet this clearly didn't phase Dragonfly as the visual work is no less than the usual. I love that use of down-scrolling textures on the east side with the pink ooze.

 

The map can pack a few punches in spite of its low monster count, but it feels like it's in more of a punishing sense this time, not seeing as much health here as I might expect to from a Dragonfly map, but this might be because it's all stockpiled at the end, where if you get the megasphere secret, you can ignore the soulsphere that's given out immediately after it as you go into the last fight. Not a whole lot to say, probably one of the weaker maps of the episode by virtue of the others being as good as they are, but still decent in its own right.

 

[tmorrow]

5 hours ago, Demon of the Well said:

This FDA is around 2 hours long

 

What an excellent play through of map32, congratulations on a successful FDA, way beyond my skills. You found yet another route through the map that I haven't seen before. I was not aware that you could climb up the lava near where cybie is guarding the red building. I'd always come down the other way. As does everyone it seems, in the middle hexagonally tiled building, you dispensed with all of the archviles before belatedly discovering the crusher switch. Fortunately there's surplus ammo on the map so the penalty is not high. As @ukiro noted, at the yellow key, you were daring to take on the archviles with bfg rather than retreating to the room full of rockets and a rocket launcher and blasting them through the windows.

[tmorrow]

2 hours ago, Budoka said:

but I think what he meant is

 

Thanks for your insights @Budoka on map19, I can understand better some of the other peoples perspective now. Would that some of the criticisms were more specific and direct so I could appreciate them better. I'm sorry that several people have not enjoyed this map but I'm starting to see why now. I can happily say I enjoyed it quite a bit for reasons I've stated earlier so I guess my overall experience of Eviternity as a whole may be more positive as a result.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP21: Imperishable

 

I've got a few days to catch up on, so starting with this map... wow that's a hot start to the new episode, isn't it?  Sure, the souped-up pistol means you're not as vulnerable as you might be, but you're dropped immediatly into a place with a hell knight, a mancubus, at least one merrily free-roaming cacodemon, and enough imps to keep you tap-dancing about while you thin the crowd and score yourself some breathing room.  Things let up a bit after that, but this is no friendly, welcoming, and gentle warm-up to the WAD's fifth episode, not with revenants, mancubi, significant numbers of cacodemons, and an arch-vile turned loose against you, and a Cyber-Demon standing guard at the exit to bar your progress.  The environment is one that could be an alien planet just as much as a traditional Doom hell, with its commingling of black basalt and searing red and orange rock textures, structures to the north and south bored horizontally into the rock-face as though fearful of both the scorching heat of the sun above and the churning instability of the mantle beneath, while the centre of the map is dominating by a tower-fortress that flares outward at its apex to resemble nothing so much as a stake, spike, or nail driven into the planet's surface.  With many floor/wall sections lowering to grant passage during the player's looping progression from the base of the tower to its midpoint portal, there's a sense of instability here, of a burning-hot planet wrapped in the thinnest of rocky crusts which perpetually shift atop the molten sea beneath, magma bubbling up between those flimsy plates and charred boulders like blood seeping out amidst the gruesome ruin of a partially scabbed-over wound; it's a landscape that's lavish in its vividness and its hostility to all life, especially that of the invading marine.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP22: Viscera

 

The loading screen hints at a lurid magenta-and-black hellscape ahead, and this map doesn't disappoint, though the depicted scene is only one part of this unfolding subterranean nightmare.  If the surface of the alien Hell-world was a chaotic place, then this first step into its black underbelly is an ordered one, consisting of a fairly conventional hubspoke layout dominated by a trio of arenas in which the keys necessary to unlock the exit are secured.  They're all laid out in the open, daring a bold marine to invade and snatch them away; that each key releases a wave of teleporting monsters when collected comes as no surprise.  Variety in the gameplay here is going to come primarily from the order in which you choose to collect the keys, since each arena hans you a rocket launcher and some ammunition for it; I ended up going for the south-western challenge and its blue key first, and then looping around to the north to grab the yellow and red keys before making my back to the hub to confront the Spider Mastermind that's unleashed as a last obstacle to the player's escape.

 

MAP23: Tribulation

 

...Because it's a triangle, geddit?  I'm not convinced shape-based puns as level names were good when Ryalyeh presented its players with Octagony, and I'm not convinced it's any more clever here.  Compared to the preceding couple of maps, this feels to the rest of the episode much like MAP12 did to the winter wonderland of the third chapter, in that it embodies the theme solidly enough, but doesn't seem to aspire to more than leading the player by the nose through a succession of plotted-out combat encounters.  In this case those encounters are laid out as a pair of loops bracketing the triangular central arena to the east and west, rather than as an ascending linear crawl through ice caverns and vaulted chambers, but I don't know that the revisint of the central arena adds much, since it's not much of a gameplay space until your third and final visit when it serves up the map's boss battle against a Cyberdemon and his retinue.  This one didn't really stick the landing for me.

[General Roasterock]

MAP 22: VISCERA

     If I haven't mentioned it yet, I have to say that the transitions between levels really make Eviternity feel more like an experience than just another set of levels. Plummeting down a seemingly endless bloodfall to reach the bowels of Hell is definitely more memorable of an entrance than "standing on teleport pad with exit signs". 

     I do feel that this level was definitely weaker in areas than the previous. The initial Arch-Vile scare fell a bit flat for me, as not only is it starting to become a bit overdone when it comes to introducing them, but it wasn't even the correct number of Viles in the level, as two more teleport in during the Yellow Key fight. Plus, the Viles aren't even the most threatening part of the map, as Dragonfly has managed to create not one, but two intense Imp fights in this wad. I made several attempts to brave the hordes, but I couldn't help having to escape them to get some air.

     In fact, most of this map's difficulty feels to be focused around the environment rather than the monsters. The strobe effect Blue Key trap that manages to hide the Nightmare Demons closing in, the aformentioned Imp slaughter, and even a singular Cyberdemon in a ring, which shouldn't have been hard at all, make these enemies much harder.

     My only unpopular opinion would be regarding the vibrant pinks in this map. I do think it looks great as a contrast, and I would rather it be there than not, but I can't help but notice the splotches of brown that were used in compromise. They make for beautiful setpieces, but I do think one shade of brown could've been sacrificed to help the intensity for these textures.

[ukiro]

49 minutes ago, General Roasterock said:

I do think one shade of brown could've been sacrificed to help the intensity for these textures.

 

OTEX is compatible with the vanilla palette. As such you can desaturate the blue or even tweak the green to be more teal, both of which were done for Eviternity, but sacrificing one color for another does not work while maintaining this compatibility. That said, the COLORMAP lump in Eviternity is tweaked a bit relative to the vanilla version, and does allow for the magenta hues to maintain their saturation a tiny bit longer than normal. They do fare much better in hardware rendering though, I have to admit.

[General Roasterock]

22 minutes ago, ukiro said:

 

OTEX is compatible with the vanilla palette. 

Yeah, I understand that vanilla only has like 3 or 4 shades of purple, and I'm still unaware of the process for changing an actual Doom palette, so I'll just leave it to the professionals.