The DWmegawad Club plays: ESP 2

[Kira]

On 5/7/2019 at 2:50 AM, Nine Inch Heels said:

Long rjsloth praise

Defrag is waiting for you: 

I'm happy we got a ToD month but I don't have the energy to challenge his maps at the moment :(. I'll jump in for ESP3 that's totally coming to us one day.

[Roofi]

Map 10 : NH3

 

DEMO

Pistol Start , No save

UV

Time : 12:20

 

Map :

 

Difficulty : Hard

 

Surely my favorite No Health map both in terms of aesthetics and gameplay! The whole map takes place in a mountainous environment as you can see on the layout. The green liquid does not do damage unlike what you might think at first sight.

 

This map NH is long and maybe the longest NH map in ESP2 but not extremly difficult thanks to the pretty low number of revenants and especially hitscanners. I managed to finish this map without losing health in my demo. The level still contains at least 300 enemies but Tod was particularly fair because they are mainly small armies of cacodemons and imps to slaughter with the BFG , considering you have really enough space to dodge the projectiles contrary to many NH maps.

 

The main difficulty and also the highlight of this map is its verticality. Some enemies are highly placed and have a considerable line of sight so that they can attack you more or less improbably. The weapons are fortunately obtained very early although the way to access the rocket launcher is not very obvious.

 

The progression in this level is also interesting because very varied. The areas are geniously linked each other. ToD mixed the exploration between great outdoors and little caverns very well. The numerous vanilla tricks add more excentricity and make the level even more interesting.

 

One of my favourite map from ESP2.

[TimeOfDeath666]

Here's the second session of my ESP playthrough commentary with supergun2, Part 1 is map31-21, Part 2 is map21-30.

[Roofi]

Map 11 : Subtle Shun (DWMP2017 - Map05)

 

 

DEMO

Pistol Start , No Save

Uv-max

Time : 6:30

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Hard

 

This is one of his only maps made in 2017 along with NH7v4. I think it can be easily explained by a kind of lassitude on Doom. Moreover , it's a little vanilla speedmap made in 2 days , so nothing really ambitious here but the map is fun. It was categorized among "very difficult" maps within the project although it proves to be very short. Expect to finish this map in less than 5 minutes when you know the level pretty well.

 

Subtle Shun takes place in a kind of infernal dungeon made of red bricks and metal, with an extremely simple architecture. Everything is very symetrical and square as you can see on the layout. Anyway , the visuals are not diguisting at least , especially compared to DMWP map 16 haha. I'm not really a fan of Zdoom stuff so it remains my favourite map among his contributions to Doomworld Mega Project series.

 

ToD built an extremly violent slaughtermap in a compact layout focusing mainly on the use of RL and BFG9000. As you can see on the screen , you have to kill armies of little monsters first before meeting the classic trio : Arch-vile , revenants and Cyberdemons and some mid-tier monsters which don't cause a lot of trouble.

 

The ammunition and health are quite limited, forcing the player to take risks and attack closely. There are still the weapons  dropped by the zombies in case of emergency but you usually have to exterminate groups of arch-viles that will be resuscitating everything under their feet so that using a poor chaingun will not be really useful.

 

The progression is quite interesting since the main room evolves progressively. It reminds me maps like Nina Dobrev or Peter Perv private Place but in less ambitious. Each major action will deliver monsters stored in compartments and start a new fight. The end may be confusing because you must press the metal bars to lower them . It's not really intuitive to be honest.

[Roofi]

I will not be able to write a review tomorrow so I review map 12 today.

 

Map 12 : "Fear" - (Ultimate Doom in name only E4M9)

 

 

DEMO

Pistol Start , No save

UV

Time : 38:14

 

Map :

 

Difficulty : Very Hard

 

Here is his contributio for "Ultimate Doom in name only" , a project which aim to create levels based on their original names. The map E4M9 of Ultimate Doom is called Fear, ToD had to create a level related to fear. I've to say that level is really unique and memorable but sometimes really frustrating because of deadly platforming.

 

This level takes place in a mysterious Resident Evil-like mansion lost in the middle of an ocean of lava. It is actually a sort of hub that allows you to access to 8 different areas through red teleporters. You have to kill enemies , perform some platforming and collect some keys in the mansion.

 

You have to fight 8 fears :

 

- Fear of flying

- Fear of Darkness

- Fear of Falling

- Fear of commitment

- Fear of monsters

- Fear of dying

- Fear of intimacy

- Fear of public speaking

 

The 8 sections are of unequal difficulty, here is the description of each zone, from the easiest to the hardest. This level is very hard to finish without saves due to various punitive platforming sequences. Also it's the first map in ESP2 where you are forced to do some strafe 50 jumps. Moreover, at the beginning,you must answer to the question "Are you afraid of cybers?". If you answer yes, a cybie will teleport inn front of the manor each time you complete an area, So , you have to handle the BFG to kill the cybies in 2 shot because of scarce plasma cells.

 

Flying

 

the "flying" section happens in an airplane full of motionless monsters. You have to go to the cockpit and press the control panel to wake them all up. Nothing hard here , kills the zombies and imps and go out the airplane !

 

Commitment

 

This section occurs in a church. Same principle, all monsters are immobile until we take the plasma gun in front of the organ. To go out, it is necessary to press switches scattered among the benches. Nothing special except it's slightly harder.

 

Intimacy

 

A bed surrounded by darkness. There is above a chaingun and a baron. It will not wake up if you do not take the weapon but yoiu have to grab it to go out. If you shoot, a lot of monsters will teleport around.

 

Public Speaking

 

Same principle as flying and commitment but now you rise on the desk to wake the monsters in the tribunes. A bit harder because there are more monsters, but the RL should help. You collect a yellow key that will allow you to finish the section "Monsters".

 

Monsters

 

Not really a zone . The yellow key collected in "Public Speaking" unlocks ammo and health and make a lot of monsters teleport in the hall of the manor.

 

Darkness

 

You have to fight in a dark cavern that looks almost exactly like NH4 M02. It's more difficult because of the numerous shotgunners and zombies , the terrible lack of health and also because of the omnipresent darkness. A small but deadly lava hole is located just at the beginning of the area so be careful!

 

Falling

 

The first really annoying passage that only requires platforming skills. This is a series of courses where you have to climb small platforms, walk on ledges without falling and perform strafe50 on small platforms. Luckily, the slime does only 5% damage but it's still a scary zone for newbies.

 

Dying

 

the most horrible section of the map. I advice to do this section first if you want to finish this map without saves. It mostly consists of timing mixed with platforming exercises but the mistake is fatal contrary to "Falling. You must solve puzzles involving voodoos dolls too and escape a trap with a cyber inside by pressing several switches while being invincible.

 

A really good map but one of the hardest UD maps I have ever played because of platforming.

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2019 by Roofi

[Roofi]

Map 13 - No Health 05 Map 01

 

 

 

Demo

Pistol Start , No Save

Uv

Time : 8:16

 

Map

Difficulty : Medium

 

A No Health map that stands out for its strange mixture of white rock and green grass. It's maybe the ugliest NH map I played to be honest , adding that how simplistic the architecture is.

 

Fortunately, it is far from being the most difficult NH map because a BFG is generously given at the very beginning and the ammo is quite abundant. On the other hand , the mounster count is high. This level has more than 400 enemies but they are in reality a lot of zombies among them.The beginning is very random because you have to kill lots of zombies without being able to protect yourself behind a wall. I found it was the hardest part of the level , I had to rety several times because zombiemen dealt too much damage.

 

The rest is a walk in the park. The enemies almost always come from the front so you can easily abuse of the infights mecanisms in the subterrean tunnels. Mastering the "2 BFG shot" is even not necessary  too.

 

So , ugly but fun straightforward slaughtermap.

 

 

[Roofi]

Map 14 : No Health 5 Map 02

 

 

 

DEMO

 

Pistol Start , No save

Uv-max

Time : approximately 8 minutes (forgot to note the time after watching my demo.)

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Hard

 

NH05 M02 is a short but difficult map, You have to survive 2 big fights as well as some intermediate. It's a BFG only slaughtermap.

 

The first battle occurs in a hexagonal-shaped cave. The main task is to bring the barons, revenants and cacodemons to the centre and make them infight with the 4 cybers coming out of the four central pillars. It's not very hard. On the other hand the second battle in the marbled pillars' section is more complicated since some arch-viles make the fight spicier . We are locked in this part and the only way to get out is to confront these yellow monsters.

 

The rest is not difficult thanks to plenty of cell packs, but a spider mastermind is waiting for us right at the end! It can be really dreadful when you have only 10 hp just after surviving the second fight ! The end is not very intuitive, you must jump from the cascade of water, which at first sight seemed like a deadly hole.

 

That said, ToD has some talent for making beautiful caves without having to create millions of small sectors. Many maps from the series "No health" are happening in caverns oddly. Who doesn't like cavernous maps?

 

 

 

 

[Roofi]

Map 15 : No Health 5 Map 03

 

 

I will not be able to write a review tomorrow , so here is map 15's one.

 

DEMO

Pistol Start , No Save

Uv-max

Time : 12:42

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Very Hard

 

NH5M03 is maybe my second favourite No Health map in ESP2 , just before NH3. As NH3 , you have to explore a mountainous landscape. NH5M03 , while being as long as NH3 , proves to be really trickier mainly because of the abundance of mortal pits , cyberdemons , viles ressurecting other monsters. However it's still easier than NH666 M02 just thanks to its open layout.

 

This map can be divided in two distinct parts : the "easy" part where we begin and the "hard" part where you have to walk on natural rocky bridges surrounded by lava deadly pits in order to enter in various sections. (Just look at the screen). The interesting point about this part is its non-linearity. You must indeed collect three keys in the order you want. Also , I like how a specific part is totally whereas the rest of the map has an unique path. Totally non-linear maps may be quite annoying to do.

 

As I mentionned before , this map contains plenty of arch-viles and cybers BUT I didn't find the gameplay luck-based at all. You have indeed way enough ammo to clear the map and many ways to take advantage of infighting. Ressurecting arch-viles can be really dangerous. In my attempts , I got usually hit by ressurected imps. I liked the usage of cacodemons , they have not a big chance to directly kill you but can easily destabilize your moves and make you fall in the pit.

 

As NH03 , this map has an interesting progression with lowering floors revealing hidden paths.

 

Excellent No Health map , one of my favourite level from ESP2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Deadwing]

These layouts are awesome!

[Roofi]

Let's go two Zdoom maps today , map 31 and 32.

 

Map 31 : Loink Me

 

DEMO  (require gzdoom version G3.5.1)

Pistol Start , No save

UV

Time : Unknown but long (Too lazy to watch my demo again)

 

Map :

 

Difficulty : Medium

 

 

"Loink Me" figures among weird zdoom-compatible quakish slaughtermaps Tod built a long time ago. It's a remastered version of Sloth's map 04 , a wad released around 2008. Loink Me shares aproximately the same layout as "Loink you" but the progression and the fights are not the same.

 

Like Flanagan or Squane , Loink Me consists to a huge slaughtermap with a massive architecture There is nearly 2700 monsters to kill but ammo and health are really abundant so every No Health map proves to be harder. However , contrary to all No Health maps , this map shows you how obscure the progression can be in ToD's map. The hardest task in this level is to know where to go. You have to handle the rocket jump pretty well to hope finding all the secrets , considering than some contain nasty traps involving crushers. This level has the advantage to not abuse of symetry and many secrets encourage you to explore. However finding them does not help you a lot and can sometimes trigger optional fights. The BFG is located pretty far in the level and well hidden despite being the most important weapon in the map (You can still kill the monsters with a rocket launcher).

 

Everything takes place in a kind of city surrounded by emptiness (which does not actually kill  but teleports you near the beginning. The most memorable battles happen in a huge arena located towards the center of the map. (screen) It's a fun slaughtermap thanks to the plentiness of megaspheres and invulnerability spheres. The progress sometimes annoyed me because of the gimmick often used by ToD which consists to successively shoot switches in a very short time.

 

Some interesting points to note on this map: the sky is totally black but you can see a huge lost soul in the air (not visible on the screen). The zombie men explode like lost souls when they die for some reason too.

 

Map 32 : Loink you

 

 

DEMO (require gzdoom version G3.5.1)

Pistol Start , No Save

UV

Time : Unknown but long (laziness....)

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Medium

 

The sequel of "Loink Me". The layout is more or less the same. It is curious to know here that now it's not the zombiemen who die like lost soul but shotgunners and imps. Maybe for a scenaristic purpose?

 

Here, it will be a question of reaching the "real" exit which consists roughly to fall into a big black hole. You can access almost all the areas you discovered on "Loink me" and all the weapons are given at the very beginning unlike the previous map where they were scattered. There are 6 keys on the map but only one is really essential: the blue skull key. The others allow you to unlock a not so useful super secret....

 

 

Also,you to perform some platforming in general to collect them. The most skillfull will use the rocket launcher, I configured the jump button. the difficulty is quite equivalent to "Loink me" although being slightly more difficult, since it will be necessary to clean a large group of monsters including the combo of death: Revenants and arch-viles but there are still many spheres so no problem.

 

In any case the real black spot of this map, or rather the main boring feature of some TOD maps is the lack of hint to indicate you where to go. To reach the blue key, you have to move up / down platforms by shooting well hidden switches. Moreover, this map and "Loink me" have strangely isolated monsters, usually placed far enough from big fights. Killing them does not pose any real difficulty but can ruin an uv-max.

 

 

So , both maps were fun but Zdoom slaughtermaps are not really my taste. My computer tends to slow down and I think that Doom should not be played with mouselook.

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Roofi

[Tristan]

On 5/1/2019 at 3:07 PM, Beezle said:

Alright, people have been voting on this since 3 months ago lol.

 

With this in mind, it's great to see such a strong turnout this month.

[Roofi]

ESP2 has more than 32 maps  and I'm a bit impatient. So , here is the review for map 16 too.

 

Map 16 : 37 (Doomworld mega Project 2016 - map 06)

 

 

 

DEMO

Pistol Start , No save

UV

Time : 20:58

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Medium

 

37 (nice name you will agree) is a totally abstract and ugly slaughtermaps like Split Wide Open or Merkin (maps in ESP1). ToD was the leader of DMP2016 and this map still illustrates the seriousness of the project.

 

37 is a moderately difficult BFG-only slaughtmermap because ammo and health are everywhere and the monsters placement is not really vicious. The beginning is however a little trickier due to cramped spaces.

 

The layout is quite obscure because of the total abstractness. On the other hand, "doors" or "lifts" can be recognized quite easily because they are often marked by a strong shadow (brightness 0). Similarly, the level is not extremely large, it mainly consists of a big arena and some small paths. You have to some platforming but nothing hard here.

 

Obviously the textures were used  completely at random but I love how ToD manage to make the map even more chaoctic by abusing of flickering lights ! Also the map opens in an intesting way. Despite its uglyness , 37 has nice interconnectivity.

 

 

[dac]

MAP 05 – NH666v2 MAP02

Completed : 2019 / 05 / 05

 

So, I completed this map ages ago and it left me completely exhausted and, well... I’m writing about it now. It was a bit too much. It was a bit too long. It was a bit too tricky. No health and rocket launchers don’t really mix well...

 

(I need to get back into this. A lot is currently happening in real life, and I guess this will be a good source of unwind for the next days.)

[Roofi]

Map 18 : Control your Destiny (Teledest) (ESP218.deh required)

 

Well , my Slade crashed for unknown reasons again. So , no layout again.

 

DEMO

No Save , Pistol-Start

UV

Time : 1:31

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Hard

 

Teledest is a very conceptual level, it is also the only level complevel 2 using a Dehacked in the compilation. Teledest is a challenge map where you have to pass two tests. No BFG or rocket launcher here  but just our gun with an incredible ammount of ammo ! The objective is to make Romero's head slide by shooting at him, which is actually the teleporter's destination. To win the game, you must guide it from a point A to a point B so that you don't have to walk on the lava (the red TPs deal damage too). It's also a reality map because you only have 1HP during all the level.

 

Obviously , it's not that easy. On the screen, you must dose with your gun in order to not touch the red teleporters. If he gets out of the lava zone, many cybers will appear from everywhere and kill the player in a one instant.

 

On the second screen. The romero head will be propelled by barrels and you must take the teleporter exactly when it is located just above the sector of the exit. This timing exercise requires some training. Also , take note you have to do a strafe 100 with the STEPTOP barrier , if not you will never have enough time to reach the teleporter on time.

 

Interesting level , but not really my taste.

[Roofi]

Map 20 : Mr. Graytall (50 Shades of Graytall Map 16)

 

 

 

DEMO

Pistol Start , No Save

Uv-max

Time : 14:20

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Hard

 

Let's go for Boom-compatible maps now ! ESP2 has less cl9-compatible maps  than ESP1. It's maybe one of the main thing I complaint in ESP2 because Zdoom maps are not really my cup of tea but whatever. Mr Graytall is one of my favourite maps made my ToD thanks to its creative level design and memorable aesthetics.

 

It's maybe (I'm not sure) the only time that ToD has participated in a cacoward-winner community project. ToD has never had a cacoward despite its high productivity as a mapper, it's sad but it can very easily be explained by his very unorthodox style. However , I wrote my review before the cacowards of 2018 so i'm happy he figures in the "Not the cacowards".

 

To be simple, the goal of this community project was to make beautiful maps with textures deemed to be the ugliest of iwads: Graytall, fireblu1 and Doortrack. A little bit of freedom was granted to the mappers by leaving them for example the possibility to choose a flat of their choice or the possibility to use the sky. "Mr Graytall" is one of the last maps of the wad and one of the most difficult since participating in a community project does not prevent ToD to fully keep his atypical gameplay.

 

 

TimeOfDeath is good at using"ugly" textures, maybe better than some well-known mappers like Mechadon or Dobu Gabu Maru , including his craze for making entirely black shadows contrasting with the red texture he chose. The progression is strange as in most of his maps but the level is very small . You must collect 2 keys located in two branches connected to a main room . A third branch leads to the "boss" and also to the spawn because we appear right in front of him.

 

This map has a reasonable number of monsters but there are still a lot of cybers to kill with the BFG in cramped spaces and also many arch-viles which teleport unpredictably. The level does not contain a lot of exploration. ToD likes to reuse zones to add different fights. So , this map require some goings and comings. Ammo are also quite limited , especially cells which allow you a rather small margin of error. You still have other weapons (SSG , chaingun , Rockets Launcher) to kill the monsters but be careful in any case.

 

[Magnusblitz]

On 5/16/2019 at 11:57 AM, Eris Falling said:

 

With this in mind, it's great to see such a strong turnout this month.

 

The DWmegawad Club Roofi plays: ESP 2

[Roofi]

Map 21 : Reality03 Map 01

 

 

Pistol Start , No Save

Uv-max

DEMO

Time : 2:21

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Medium

 

Well , ToD made this level well easier in ESP2 than it was supposed to be . As the title said , it was originally a reality map so you started with only 1HP. However , for unknown reasons you begin with 100HP like any standard NH map. More oddly , ToD managed to reduce our health to 1HP in teledest but not in Reality M02 nor M03. In any case , this map still brings interesting challenge considering that you have to kill more than 100 monsters without recovering your health.

 

The layout of this map is very straightforward. it just consists of a looping corridor which rise to the north with a few rooms next. The hardest thing to do in this level is to kill all the imps with your RL without splashing yourself or being stucked by imps coming from both sides. So , you have to be accurate while staying mobile. There are some mid-tiers monsters to kill in the small rooms , including arch-viles near the end but they don't cause a lot of trouble. Also , there are fortunately no hitscanner except at the very beginning.

 

So , as a NH level , it can be considered as the easiest in ESP2. R03 M02 has more monsters and trickier fights if I can compare too.

 

[TimeOfDeath666]

15 hours ago, Magnusblitz said:

 

The DWmegawad Club Roofi plays: ESP 2

And he's just reposting old stuff from the French forum, so it's more like "Nobody plays: ESP2" :)

But it's ok, I assumed that would happen with all the NoHealth maps at the start, but don't worry there are zdoom rocketjumping slaughtermaps later in the wad *eyeroll*

 

For those that prefer the dreamy midis in the first ESP, check out this album I released earlier this year where half the songs are dreamy minimalistic keyboard-only melancholic synth tracks, they're the songs called "Perverse Teleportation 1-10": https://nostrilcaverns.bandcamp.com/album/perverse-teleportation-2019

[Roofi]

15 minutes ago, TimeOfDeath666 said:

And he's just reposting old stuff from the French forum, so it's more like "Nobody plays: ESP2" :)

But it's ok, I assumed that would happen with all the NoHealth maps at the start, but don't worry there are zdoom rocketjumping slaughtermaps later in the wad *eyeroll*

 

For those that prefer the dreamy midis in the first ESP, check out this album I released earlier this year where half the songs are dreamy minimalistic keyboard-only melancholic synth tracks, they're the songs called "Perverse Teleportation 1-10": https://nostrilcaverns.bandcamp.com/album/perverse-teleportation-2019

 

Yep , indeed. I sometimes redo the slaughtermaps on godmode for the fun. but I sadly don't have enough time to complete them seriously again. I took a few months with on and off to review them all and complete each map without saves on UV (except RJ map , NIH's complete review will suffice :)

[Roofi]

Map 22 : Real Village , Reality03 Map 02

 

 

 

DEMO

Time : 11:25

Pistol Start & No Save

UV-max

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Medium

 

I remember pretty well of this map because it was one of the first ToD's maps I played in 2014 , along with his remake of Necropolis. This map is called "Real Village" and was present in the first version of ESP1. However , ToD moved it and put an other level instead (Nostril Caverns if I'm not wrong. Oh god this map , I'm really happy that this kind of level is not placed in ESP2...). I think Real Village  has better place here. Indeed , the first ESP focused more on long slaughtermaps with tons of monsters whereas ESP2 has a lot of rather little maps with a reasonable number of enemies. The map 24 is the longest map in the wad but still shorter than "Donut Holes" , "Escaping the Spiral Labyrith" or "Nostril Caverns".

 

Real village share the same remarks as Reality03 map 01 : it was supposed to be a reality map but you start with 100hp so it's a standard NH map.

 

I think M02 has some trickier fights than M01 but the difficulty is very moderate. Real Village has many monsters (aproximately 700) but at least 600 of them are just threatless imps place in the central island. The second square island we explore need some anticipation because you have to lower some walls which reveal 1 , 2 , 3 and four viles.  Keep in mind that you will have barely no wall to protect yourself once you lowered everything. So , it's better to kill the group of 4 arch viles first obviously.

 

Nothing special to say tbh , a fun slaughtermap focusing on the RL.

 

[Roofi]

Map 23 :Dead in the Knee-Deep 01 (DITKD01.wad)

 

DEMO

Pistol Start , No Save

Uv-max

Time : 14:40

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Hard

 

Hmmm , this layout looks familiar , isn't it? You probably already played the original E1M8 with its iconic barons duo but have you already played the ToD's alternate version?

 

Here , you start from the exit to reach the "begining" of this map. Fighting two poor barons and a bunch of demons was maybe too simple , so ToD put many  Cybers , Arch-viles revenants and mancubus to spice up the game. Indeed , it's a Doom 2 map oddly.

 

ToD transformed E2M8 into a strange BFG-only Slaughtermap. The map is quite short but way harder than the original version indeed. You don't have a ton of cell packs to finish the level , so it's an other cool map to develop your 2-BFG-shot skills. Grabbing the BFG is not an easy task considering that a lot cybies protect the zone. Also the large outdoors were replaced by a huge sea of lava , so you have to use the radsuit quite sparingly.

 

Not a lot of things to say about this level. Quite fun concept but hard.

 

 

[Ribbiks]

m21: I love reality maps. the exacting nature of the gameplay really appeals to me and it's fun how it turns some things on their head. Not sure from where the concept originated (are these ToD maps the first?) but I very much enjoyed these, as well as the 3-map set from memfis that it inspired (so much so that I ended up doing the same thing myself).

 

the nh/reality thing really suits the core ethos of ToD gameplay (as I'm choosing to interpret it), which boils down to forcing the player to contend with the differences between doing something and doing something well. Experimenting with small changes in tactics and movement to figure out consistent strategies is the most rewarding part of playing hard/slaughter maps imo, and most ToD stuff is at the perfect level of difficulty to be a playground for this.

 

with that said here's a demo with rather-mediocre execution ;D

esp2_21.zip

[Kira]

25 minutes ago, Ribbiks said:

Not sure from where the concept originated (are these ToD maps the first?)

My headcanon is that it's a direct consequence of reality demos existing, but maybe it's just an idea ToD expanded upon after one or two "funsies" maps. Expired License had some already so he's a good contender for first "Reality mapper". Though I guess Action Doom is a thing :P

 

Edit: wew, one of these imp fireballs was a really close call!

Edited May 21, 2019 by Kira

[Ribbiks]

m22: the train seems to have been derailed enough such that it's likely not a big faux pas to post about whatever map on whatever day. anyways, I like how the opening section in this map coerces you to get a party started via the dearth of ammo. lots of riskier options are available if you were trying to beat it quickly.

 

demo attached (slightly clueless because I didn't remember everything), these lmps are reserved for exploding-imp fetishists only.

esp2_22.zip

[Roofi]

I will be too occupied to translate a review tomorrow , so here is map 24 now :

 

Map 24 : Drown in Blood Map 26/27

 

 

 

 

DEMO

Pistol Start , No Save

UV

Time : Too long

 

Map

 

Difficulty : Hard

 

So , it's the last Boom-compatible map in ESP2 and goddamn this one is huge. Maybe one of my favourite level from ESP2 due to its size and consequently , its more pronounced adventurous aspect. It was initially designed for cooperation but Tod remasterized it for singleplay.

 

Here , you have to explore a huge menacing otherworldly castle and clean the hordes of monsters inside. For some reasons , this level reminds me of "Dholes". The level is divided in two parts: the first is to climb the big stairs to access the main building (first screen); the second consists of big fights in the central court (second screen).

 

 

I rated this level as hard because of its lenght and some mandatory sr50 jumps near the end but the difficulty is globally quite moderate , with a lot of big but predictable traps. As you can see on the layout , Dib 26/27 has a very symetrical architecture but also symetrical traps. A gimmick present in some ToD maps consists to repeat the same encounter in a certain amount of times. BFG9000 and RL are our best friends as usual. I tend to think that ToD really doesn"t like the Plasma gun haha.

 

Dib 26/27 has a blocky but massive architecture. It can recalls some slaughterwads like Sunder but without overdetailing and new custom textures. Despite its linearity , the progression can be quite confusing at times because it consists of hunting switches. You have to collect keys in the arena in the middle. Interesting thing is that level contains 10 secrets to find  , even if most of them require you to perform really risky jumps near the end , so very useless.

 

I like ToD's huge maps so this map is a highlight despite its repeatitivity.

[Beezle]

Even if you are just reposting from the French forums lol, really appreciate your demos, not only entertaining but have been helpful in some of these more difficult maps. Especially useful in Map 03, couldn't get past the damn revenants at first lol.

[TimeOfDeath666]

omg a Ribbiks sighting!

I stumbled on the reality concept by accident while trying to beat some coopbuildlm maps without dying. One of the first demos I posted here was a reality/max demo on coopbuildlm map12 without knowing what the category was called. After that, while I started playing through /idgames, I came across a map from '95 where the objective was to kill all the monsters and exit without taking any damage (according to the text file): https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/0-9/100pctv2

[Scotty]

Well, i did say i was rubbish at keeping up with these and so the prophecy has been fulfilled. Anyway, i sat down and enjoyed a few more of these maps today. I did enjoy the Time of Plays video last week, thanks for posting it :D

MAP05 - NH666v2 MAP02

 

A generally more slow paced affair here in comparison to map04, clearing out every room as you go is the order of the day thanks to the many Revenants waiting around the map to inevitably nail you with 80hp damage rolls. I appreciated this layout massively, with the map progressively unfolding into a larger area and lots of nice recycling of rooms. The water staircase trap was neat as was the following rev swarm - i don't think rocketing a bunch of revs with ever get old for me. Once i realised what was happening with the final vile rush i elected to just beeline it to the exit rather than trying to deal with that mess, as ammo was in short supply at that point.

 

MAP06 - NH7v4 MAP01

 

One map i have actually previously played before here. To call this one difficult would be an understatement - i never managed to get out of the first onslaught with over 20hp which made the rest of the map rather tricky, particularly the later SM/vile attacks. I was perhaps a bit less of a fan of this map because of how pivotal the very first section is upon the rest of the map. Still, i remain impressed at ToD's ability to cram a load of action in one small combat arena.

 

MAP07 - NH7v4 MAP02

So this map picks up where we leave off, a trend set for the rest of the NH7 section of maps. This one was a bit more run-and-gun thanks to more spacious combat areas and hitscan that was easier to take cover from - i feel that i had a bit more fun with proceedings thanks to that. The vile/rev pincer attack was probably the trickest part due to all the chaingunner corpses littering the battlefield. Some satisfying BFG action on hand here too, i always enjoy rushing two viles and trying to get the two-for-one shot.

MAP08 - NH7v4 MAP03

 

Onwards with NH7, and here we get the BFG super quickly - and a nice test of BFG skill where you have to ration cell use by maximising the effectiveness of your shots. A nice section to practice getting good with the BFG :)  Following this is a nice little encounter with some more enemy diversity, having to try to prioritise targets correctly being the goal here. The back-and-forth corridor section was kinda whatever, very easy to deal with the revs and the vile rush and the end of the corridor one of those where you'll die once then do it easily second time round. The very final vile rush of the map is where you'll be glad you saved a couple of cells beforehand, as things can quickly spiral out of control there.

 

MAP09 - NH7v4 MAP04

 

I liked the music track here, visceral and aggressive and the short loop was palatable thanks to the fairly short map length. Here you are given the choice of grabbing the SSG first or ignoring it, getting the RL and then returning to that area. I felt like the combat was getting kinda samey at this point in NH7 so it is probably for the best that the set ends on this map - not that i found the combat boring really. I was glad i only used one BFG shot on the first cyb here and saved the second for the PE's.

And so rounds off NH7. A super fun quartet of maps overall. It would be cool to see a D2All of NH7 actually, certainly something that isn't a completely unrealistic task for a top player although probably beyond my skill and patience levels.

 

As an aside i feel like ToD's "beat your own map" philosophy - something that was derided in last year's megaproject by a few people - has gone a very long way towards making gameplay (certainly within the context of the maps i have played so far in ESP2 anyway) always feel fair and skillful to beat with the right strategy, something that is so important to having a fun experience in my book, and can often feel lost in difficult maps.

[Catpho]

Yo ESP people, vote :)

+++ Sigil & Nihility: Infinite Teeth & Alpha Accident: Terra Nova

 

Two interesting takes on Doom 1 featuring custom monsters. The addtion of Romero's wad arriving next month should make this a nice combo!

[SiFi270]

+++ The Lost Episode: Evil Unleashed, Visions of Eternity, and SIGIL