The DWMiniwad Club Plays: Pumpkin Hell, CABIN, Tartarus, Terminal, OiTL, ChordG, and more

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Tartarus

Ultra-Violence mode || GzDoom || Vanilla+ mod

Status:

Deaths: 30 (I will not go into detail about each death that I had throughout the game, I will only say that my deaths are divided into three parts: 1. in falls to the void; 2. In deaths by Archviles; and 3. in kills by any enemy other than an Archvile.)
Saves: 7
Time: 1:57:52 (Bullshit dude)



 

This level has been quite a challenge, I can literally consider it as hell itself in all its presentation and details in each place that the marine has to go to explore, to begin with, I must comment on the good points that this Wad/map has quite a lot structured, and among one of those good points that I see, is the fact that it has some really charming visual details, really great, so much that my GzDoom was not executing it correctly, but I will mention that in the bad points, for now Let's continue on the good stuff, the way the Wad is structured I like a lot, I mean, stone structures turned into floating platforms in certain parts of that site, corpses everywhere, even at the beginning you can see a baron of the dead hell clamped on one of the pillars of that shrine from earlier in the game, each of those details was really cool, just like the cage fighting arenas are too, Like the part where you go for the yellow skull key, among other examples, all of this gave me a lot of pleasure to see, because of how great the level looked, I guess that made it feel more alive... or something.
 

Anyway, now that everything is good is known, at least in what has been my point of view, it is time to talk about all the bad things that it has, to begin with, what I will complain about in the first place, it will be the The fact that, when you fall from any high zone into the void, you quickly become an Instakill, which is really annoying, taking into account that certain areas are really reduced to fight against demons, such as the fact that you go for the red switch, and suddenly 2 cyberdemons appear, hitscanners on the sides and 2 Archviles in the middle, there the situation is screwed, because any bad movement, or a strong attack, takes you out of the area directly to a death instantaneously, I have seen other wads that do not get to perform such acts of death by falling, that really disappoints me from the map, like, another thing that I hate a lot, are the damn reduced spaces for combat, since what is this? Well, apart from there being roads like this in outdoor areas that guarantee you a direct fall to death, there are also in closed areas that are very annoying, for example, in the part where you press a switch and groups of Pinkys come out to want to attack you, well, that is the least, what There is after that combat is the really horrible thing, quite a few dangerous Hitscanners (Shotgunners and Chaingunners), and that after a few movements of the stage, on top of that, they send you to an Archvile to resuscitate those bastards over and over again, without leave you at no time room for a fight of that level, it really is frustrating to be dealing with many stupid Hitscanners and a fucking Archvile that is reviving them every 5 seconds... I could also mention the room where there is enough rocket ammunition, already that, when you press the switch in the left corner, ordas of enemies will appear, but... you know something? I will not take it into account, since, at least they leave you free to escape from all those enemies, after This can be killed later when you don't have enough ammunition, but that last thing is simply child's play before the real fucking Slaugther that one must deal with, and that is... the straw that spills the glass, it is takes the final confrontation, a Slaugther that is much more ruined in difficulty than the "Map 11" of the Wad "1K lines: Community Project" and that is saying enough, since, it is almost impossible to get out of there alive in the first try, what's more, this final part of the wad is the one that absorbs more attempts, because even having 2 MegaSpheres and the BFG 9000, having quite a few Archviles throughout the area, and Cyberdemons as well, along with many Revenants and other enemies including Hitscanners, no It is a lot of help if you think about it more carefully, as I said, it is almost impossible to win it, but for this, you need more luck than agility itself, which I do not like very much about playing the game. slot machine to know in which attempt I will have the victory , that's just adding extension to the gameplay but in a pretty cruel way.
 

In conclusion, this Wad that I have tested, visually and structurally they look very great, really good, but unfortunately, another thing that also screwed up the gaming experience, was the fact that my GzDoom did not run it correctly, since, When I was getting to the area of the floating structures with waterfalls of blood and all that, I started to get a little lag, and frame drops, which, in a way, ruined the game experience, but what if I say , is that this map, in the gameplay and gameplay, really disappoints in certain parts, it makes one feel frustrating because of how the enemies are handled in specific parts of the level, to the point of becoming extremely stressful dealing with so much shit in screen as if this was a damn Roguelike or something, so... in order not to lengthen this further, I will say that, enjoy the Wad/map only halfway, after that, everything already seemed total absolute shit, hoping that the rest of the maps that still to be completed in the club, do not sin from this and are much more enjoyable than just putting uncontrolled killing for the sake of pleasure so as not to give little playability to the level.
 

 

14 hours ago, guitardz said:

Tartarus by @RonnieJamesDiner

 

This amazing map has all the atmosphere you could ever want in a Doom map.  This should be set as the gold standard for hell themed maps in any UDMF format WAD moving forward.  I first attempted to play this on UV when it was first released and made it as far as the final battle where I just couldn't prevail.  This time I played it on HMP and found it to be...way too easy, lol, but still very enjoyable.

 

 

 

And finally, I just realized, thanks to this video, that on the "HMP" difficulty, this level gets absolute nerfs in really ugly areas on the "UV" difficulty, like giving you Invulnerability spheres in parts with enemies (the encounter with the Cyberdemons and the final battle of the map), besides that the Chaingunners are mostly changed by Shotgunners, and many of the traps were removed for this difficulty, making it more accessible to play, when the harsh reality is that her true anal pain comes from "UV" to Nightmare.

[Repugnus]

Tartarus

GZDoom | No Saves | HMP

 

I'm gonna preface this by saying that I played this first on UV, and it was pretty fun up until the fight with the Cyberdemons/Archviles for the yellow key and the final fight. Both encounters were absolute horseshit and I had to resort to savescumming just to beat the level. Died more times during that playthrough than I would care to admit.

 

Anyways, I decided to try it again, this time on HMP and it was a lot more pleasant. That's not to say it was a walk in the park in terms of difficulty, but at least this time I didn't feel like I need to save to win. The biggest differences between difficulties were most Revenants were now replaced with Imps, most Chaingunners were replaced with Shotgunners, and the author was way more generous with items and powerups. Thank god. Too bad none of that will save you from the instant death pits, another big issue I had with this map, which was the cause of my only death on the HMP run when I was flung off the edge by an Archvile, while still under the effects of an invulnerability sphere. The visuals were definitely the best part of this map for me. The hellish, narrow cliffs reminded me of Sigil and at times I was also reminded of a lot of modern Quake maps. Also, I appreciated how the mapper reuses areas, which transform and get filled with enemies depending on where you're at progression-wise.

 

Overall, my experience with Tartarus was frustrating at first, but once I started my second run, it got a lot better. I'd only recommend UV saveless if you're hardcore and have a lot of time on your hands.

 

HMP Stats:

Deaths: 1

Kills: 93%

Items: 73%

Secrets: 60%

Time: 21:56

 

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

8 minutes ago, Repugnus said:

I'd only recommend UV saveless if you're hardcore and have a lot of time on your hands.

@Repugnus Here is a player who had almost two hours free to complete it and with the minimum possible saves on the entire map

[Repugnus]

3 minutes ago, ElPadrecitoCholo said:

@Repugnus Here is a player who had almost two hours free to complete it and with the minimum possible saves on the entire map

You deserve a round of applause for having the patience to do that. Having to restart this level, only to die again 15 minutes in after being pushed off a cliff was just too annoying.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

42 minutes ago, Repugnus said:

You deserve a round of applause for having the patience to do that. Having to restart this level, only to die again 15 minutes in after being pushed off a cliff was just too annoying.

thanks partner, and indeed, I am a witness to that, that is why the "UV" difficulty sucks for me

[RonnieJamesDiner]

I appreciate the reviews, and it was a pleasant surprise seeing the map included in the Miniwad club this month.

 

This one came with a lot of lessons learned on my part, especially the approach to difficulty. HMP really does nerf the map to high hell, because I decided to just go with two difficulty levels: UV and "everything else", which basically meant the map was either really tough, or really easy for most people (without any middle ground). It's probably not an approach I'll ever use again.

 

And the two yellow keys were an attempt at non-linearity, but admittedly not very well thought-out. I always like the idea of trying to make stuff non-linear, but it usually ends up being a lot more challenging to implement "right", than I realize.

 

As far as the death-pits surrounding the entire map, that one was completely intentional, and I have zero regrets. 

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

@RonnieJamesDiner Well, that already explains a lot of things, thank you very much for clarifying certain details that we were not fully understanding, dude

 

18 minutes ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

As far as the death-pits surrounding the entire map, that one was completely intentional, and I have zero regrets. 

You Crazy Bastard.mp4

[VanaheimRanger]

I really like the death pits.  It's a lot better than inescapable pain sectors any day.

[John Wheel]

Peeking at guitardz's video I discovered one thing. Long, long, long time ago I turned off the fog and dynamic lights on GZDoom (almost everything I play is vanilla/Boom-compatible, so those effects would be a nuisance if anything). So from my point of view the map wasn't a scenario hidden in red mist, but a giant obsidian structure against raining blood. Which I think looks prettier and more interesting, but that's a personal opinion.

 

 

And hey, rd did warn us this wad was a hard one on UV.

 

16 hours ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

And the two yellow keys were an attempt at non-linearity, but admittedly not very well thought-out. I always like the idea of trying to make stuff non-linear, but it usually ends up being a lot more challenging to implement "right", than I realize.

 

Not sure if it helps, but after clearing the hitscanner pit and finding the three keyed door I proceeded counter-clockwise around the main tower, not like I saw any other option. So I found the red key, used it to get the yellow key, found the second yellow key, skipped it and then took the elevator to get the blue key after completing the round trip in a rather linear fashion. Not that I think that affects negatively to the map, mind you.

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

2 hours ago, John Wheel said:

And hey, rd did warn us this wad was a hard one on UV.

 

@John Wheel Well, to be fair, she had commented that "none are at 'niche' difficulty." Which implied that something extremely difficult could not have been expected, since, when they say that a map can be a challenge, it is like for example in the case of "MAP 26" of Scythe 1, that is a challenge and it does not put everything so screwed up because at least there is a certain free space to fight, and it does not put you like 10 Archviles at once in one place, even in that the level is patient... Hmm, now that I think about it , I think that the map of Tartarus could have some similarity with the "MAP 30", since, if the two maps share something in that aspect, it is the traps of closed spaces with complicated enemies, such as the Revenants or the Archviles. (Well it's just my opinion about the map that I've played)

[John Wheel]

Dunno, I have seen and played harder maps. When talking about niche difficulty I assume stuff like Sunder, Italo-Doom, Dimensions, NoYe or Tarakannik. The current scale of wads difficulty is just too big to divide it in easy, medium and hard, I'm afraid.

[baja blast rd.]

Yeah that distinction can be tricky. Some maps out there are hard enough that most people would prefer to not even bother on UV: think Italo Doom, No Chance, Dimensions, the harder Stardate 20x6/20x7 maps, etc.

 

These are more along the lines of "hard, and many people will end up dropping down to HMP anyway, but dissuading people from trying UV at all would be overly protective." Because a lot of people end up feeling more like this (about UV): 

 

Quote

The fights themselves were challenging but not too much so, and I felt that you could always figure out what do without having to die multiple times.

Quote

I finally ended it after dying 6 or 7 times lol ( always due to the Archies grrr )

I enjoyed the run and it was hard enough, but not too much so it's not a die and retry experience ;) 

 

I will figure out a more accurate way to phrase that though. :P 

[VanaheimRanger]

3 hours ago, John Wheel said:

 

Hey, that does look pretty sweet without the fog.

[VanaheimRanger]

Terminal by @Marnetmar

An interesting little subway station of sorts with some hell themed spaces here and there.  A solid limit-removing map that didn't overstay it's welcome.  I am still not sure why it was in the E2M2 slot...

 

[DoomguyMurdersTheseBarz]

Tartarus

 

Judging from everyone's responses, I made a good decision playing this one on HMP. I can't even imagine doing that late-stage fight without invulnerability. Oof. 

 

Anyway, this map is great. Architecture is gorgeous, and the layout itself is surprisingly intuitive for something so open-ended. It's rare that I don't get lost even once in a map like this, but I didn't. Encounters themselves are hectic, but low hitscanner count means less strict prioritization of kills. If you're firing into the fray and not getting hurt too bad, you're fine (which, come to think of it, is very Quake-like, so I agree with @Repugnus). All in all, if I wanted to show someone what was possible with Doom mapping, and didn't want to show them anything scripting-heavy, or anything brutally difficult, I might consider showing them this.

 

Terminal

 

A map of this scale for Doom 1 is unusual to me. It's hard to have large arenas without access to the super shotgun and not have them be a slog. In this instance, though, I think it works, owing to a keen understanding of what exactly makes Doom 1 different. One thing that interested me in particular was that Pinkies become a legitimate threat without the SSG, essentially filling a role similar to Hell Knights in Doom 2, boxing you in and overwhelming you. 

 

I think the best example of how different a Doom 1 encounter can be is the room right after the yellow key door. The room itself is quite a bit larger than a room with similar enemy count would be if this were Doom 2, and that's intentional. Since your best crowd-control weapon is the RL, you're forced to maintain distance with enemies much more than you would in Doom 2. The whole fight had a definite "hold the line" feel that isn't really possible when your mainstay weapon kills half the enemy roster in one hit. That's just one example, but the whole map takes those nuances into consideration, and is a lot of fun for it.

 

Also, sometimes it's nice not having to worry about Archviles.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

37 minutes ago, guitardz said:

I am still not sure why it was in the E2M2 slot...

 

Possibly for that sweet, sweet, "The Demons From Adrian's Pen"...  

[VanaheimRanger]

15 minutes ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

 

Possibly for that sweet, sweet, "The Demons From Adrian's Pen"...  

It is a good music choice.

[John Wheel]

Terminal

PrBoom+ / UV

 

An Ultimate Doom map, so you know what to expect: a lot of zombies, a lot of imps and a whole lot of shotgun. And it delivers, but that description would do the map a huge disservice.

 

The place itself is a sprawling train station with lots of nooks and crannies to check out and reasons to go back and see if you missed something interesting. That doesn't mean it becomes disorienting, although using the automap is recommended to explore the titular terminal. At every point you have at least one clear way to follow and all rooms loop nicely witch each other. Visually speaking, I don't think I have seen architecture like this before. Everything looks so natural that the scenery goes a bit unnoticed, and you have to take your time to appreciate how pretty, well structured and well thought everything is. The author went for sheer polish and elegance instead of trying to use striking visuals, and it pays off. Love it. Still, that part when the lights go off and you have to make your way out through the darkness is very memorable. Beautiful usage of chiaroscuro, and the black tunnel with the corpse at the end is creepy in the right way.

 

Combat is pretty easy and relaxed, but not boring. Most pickups come in the form of armor and health bonuses and small ammo, which works great with the natural attrition of UD gameplay style. Also, you don't use just the shotgun, the chaingun gets some love too, and by the end the author wants me to go wild the rocket launcher, and I was happy to oblige. Even if it was easy I ended saving here and there because the idea of repeating all that exploration all over again if I got caught on a devious trap was daunting.

 

Which was a good idea, because after an impeccable run without deaths and every enemy properly exterminated I got caught under the crusher like an idiot. Ha.

 

The last room is a bit of a navigational puzzle with the crushers and teleporters. Not exactly bad, but not the high note I was expecting for the ending.

 

Overall, a fantastic map with well implemented ideas.

Edited October 6, 2020 by John Wheel

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Terminal.wad

 

Ultra-Violence mode || GzDoom || VaF mod

Status:

*Deaths: 1 (killed by crushing a pillar in the final area of the map)
*Saves: 1 (Safe storage in the same area to avoid being crushed again)


 

On this map, I could summarize it as the simple fact of saying that it contains quite a few Hitscanners, Imps, and Pinkys. The structure of the map is something really great, it makes you feel as if you were in a real space hangar with multiple enemies, everything seems to indicate that the level will be promising, and in fact it was, after having killed everyone, only the one The complaint I would have would be the one at the end, the fact of dying from being crushed by one of those huge pillars that are before the exit of the level, but otherwise, the whole Wad was really interesting, very enjoyable (except for the part of the trap at the end) and entertaining, and also, I say this because when I lost, I had to play everything again, since I had not created any Save until the part of those cases, very good job here buddy.

Edited October 7, 2020 by ElPadrecitoCholo

[Repugnus]

Terminal

PrBoom+ | No Saves | UV

 

This map does quite a nice job emulating the aesthetics of the Shores of Hell, although I would say it's slightly more difficult than any of the maps contained in that episode. Luckily you're provided with more than enough ammunition to deal with the legions of Imps you'll find wandering around. One of the most notable parts of the map is when you pick up the red skull key and the lights turn out, revealing fleshy walls behind the computer walls you just passed. The bit once you go through the red door with all the blue lights was also really cool and the sudden spike in difficulty after that was a nice surprise. I'm just glad there was no homing missiles to worry about since this is a wad for the original Doom. Thankfully, I was not killed by the crushers in the last stretch of the map. They did still feel like a middle finger from the map's author, and I was way more cautious during that last stretch than I was with any other section. Overall, it was pretty nice.

 

Deaths: 0

Kills: 86%

Items: 78%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 15:16

[SP_FACE1]

Orange is True Love

Pretty-hard.

[DoomguyMurdersTheseBarz]

Orange is True Love

 

Played on ITYTD with occasional god mode. Well, only once, specifically...

 

Map 01: The Bat House

 

Yeah, immediately after figuring out what this map wanted me to do (goad six archviles and one cyberdemon into infighting to death while dodging down tight corridors), I turned on god mode and punched everything until the level ended. It was cool in theory, but maps like that always make me feel like I'm waiting for a winning lottery ticket, for the enemies to move in a way that doesn't guarantee that I die. Maybe there was a way to beat this map without all the RNG, but I didn't wanna die a hundred times to figure that out, so I don't regret opting out of this one.

 

Map 02: What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse

 

Now this is more like it. Still mean, what with the small space and hurt-floor everywhere, but a lot of fun, and very intense. I'd liken it to the end of map 1 of Cabin, with its "last stand" feel, but meticulously balanced, to the point where I thought this was a Ribbiks map, rather than Grain of Salt's contribution (looking at their wiki page, they've made some great maps, and should really consider making a full wad of their own). I'm still glad I played this on lowest skill, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

Map 03: Big Durst Energy

 

I like this one a lot too, even if a large portion of it ran about as well as Nuts on my computer. It plays almost like a scaled-up version of a Sunlust map, with nearly every fight eliciting the immediate response of "how the hell am I supposed to do that?" but always being beatable with enough strategy and persistence. The ending of the map, where you're essentially trying to damage-race way too many enemies in narrow corridors, comes off almost like a parody of hyper-modern mapping principles, but still feels earned, and very satisfying.

 

All in all, barring some early frustration, a testament to the skill of two top-level mappers. And when I found out these were speedmaps, I was legitimately floored. 

[VanaheimRanger]

Orange is True Love

...why is the BFG the way that it is??

[Capellan]

Pumpkin Hell (HMP)

 

[Pseudonaut]

Orange is true Love

Map01: UV-Max in 4:24
It's a very short map, so I played it multiple times on both HMP and UV (with saves at first). Only six enemies, but it's five arch-viles with one cyberdemon in a single claustrophobic encounter, and weaponry is very limited. On HMP (and HNTR), you get an SSG with just the 8 shells that come with it for ammo, plus a very weak pseudo-BFG. On UV, there is no SSG, and the map is otherwise the same. Three megaspheres are provided, and you're quite likely to need them. The intended strategy is to get the cyberdemon to damage the arch-viles so that they attack it, eventually killing it to open the exit. Getting all the kills can be difficult depending on the outcome of the infighting (and maybe a little RNG), as the remaining arch-viles must be finished off with your very limited weaponry. I had one run where most of the viles were still alive when the cyb died, and another where only a single vile remained, which made me realize that it's probably possible for all the arch-viles to die while the cyberdemon still lives, which I'm sure could still be dealt with, but I think I'd rather deal with the alternative. This provides an incentive to save your ammo until the end. This is a really clever and unique map, and I had a good time playing it.

 

Map02: UV-Max in 2:14
Another very short map, and it's a little more conventional than the previous, but it's action-packed. In this case, the weapons are all handed to you at the start and monsters begin invading your little island (surrounded by damaging floor) once you hit a switch. The most threatening ones are the revenants, which spawn in immediately along with several imps and cacodemons to further limit your available space. Arachnotrons and mancubi spawn toward the end, which can be intimidating if you're low on health (as I often was by this point) but they're not a big deal compared to what came before. Killing all the monsters permits you to exit. I was killed several times by this map, but I had a lot of fun.

 

Map03: No Demo (UV-Max with saves)
This is the hardest level to do saveless just because the previous levels were very short while this is more medium-length. I decided not to try recording a demo for it. It wasn't until this map that I noticed the cyberdemons in this wad have greatly reduced health, about as much as a baron I think. There are lots of tough encounters, with a few standouts. The SSG area with the perched cyberdemon may seem insurmountable if you don't know that sniping the cyberdemon is a good idea, rather than waiting for a telefrag or crusher; neither of those options are provided here. Pressing the yellow key switch will spawn a replacement for that cyberdemon along with several arch-viles who are quite difficult to control and have plenty of corpses to resurrect. Elsewhere in the map, a megasphere is guarded by two arch-viles who I found difficult to control just because I kept trying to do this part early while low on ammo, but if you can spare some SSG or plasma ammo, I figure you can trap them in the room where they spawn and take them down without too much trouble. The fight for the yellow key is confined to a small arena where several cacodemons and many imps and shotgunners will spawn; the rocket launcher is viable for a short while in this fight, but you'll eventually run out of space and need to switch to the plasma gun. The final fight puts two cyberdemons behind a horde of arch-viles (which thankfully are imprisoned by monster-blocking lines) in an area with many pillars which make it feel claustrophobic, but also provide you your only cover from the viles. Making the cyberdemons hit the viles works well enough at causing them to infight, but there's still plenty of risk that a rocket will get through (especially as the crowd thins) and hit you, the intended target. I waited until the viles were dead before finishing the cyberdemons off.

 

Overall, this is a great wad with really fun and challenging gameplay, though it isn't very hard by Ribbiks standards. It should be noted that there's almost no difference in thing-placement between the difficulty settings. Maps 2 and 3 aren't nerfed at all on lower difficulties, and the first map barely is. I recommend ITYTD for anyone who finds UV too hard.

 

Demos:

oitl_demos.zip

[baja blast rd.]

Had a demo of OITL map03 laying around from a couple of years ago, so I'll just add that. 

 

 

Random thoughts: 

 

- Soulspheres and palette work are cool. GoS handled that stuff, earning the title of palette maestra ;).

- That central cyberdemon plinth is an homage to No Chance. Homage is too strong I think; rather it looks like it's just imported from it. 

- A lot of fights rely on deaf monsters, and are thus about defusing things one by one and standing in the right places to not wake up everything -- e.g. that big HK/rev fight in the cave section.

- 1000 HP cyberdemons are great custom monsters. They preserve the exact mechanics of regular cyberdemons, which are cool and do things cybruisers don't, but lower HP means they are adaptable to fights with weak weapons or spots where you have SSG/RL/PR but want to cut out the clean-up phase. Also lets you use looots of them sans BFG or alternative clean-up methods, as seen in some of Ribbiks' other works from the period.

- Big Durst Energy is a great name. 

- This map is quite pretty. Every area is its own visual concept, a mode I find more interesting aesthetically than a lot of the more uniform, ultra-tidy looks of SD20x6 and SWTW.

Edited October 10, 2020 by ‹rd›

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Orange is True Love


Ultra-Violence mode || GzDoom || Smooth Doom


Map 01 (The Bat House):

Status
*Deaths: 0
*Saves: none



This map was really strange, it has a good structure that makes me think of a kind of Japanese temple, or something similar, with a lot of suspense and terror at every step, but for very bad reasons, and that is, having 5 Archviles, and 1 Cyberdemon, the thing was not going to be anything easy, besides that, everything that was inside that temple seemed to be a strange maze, there were roads that made you go round and round, and it was like playing cat and mouse , in which, I was the mouse, the Archviles were the cats, and let's say that the Cyberdemon was the Dog that loves to bite things and animals of all kinds, so, neither slow nor lazy, I started to run everywhere avoiding encounters with the Archviles, although I was not so successful at it, I received 3 to 4 hits for them, and although there were many Mega Spheres, they were not enough to get rid of such a tragedy, but the good thing was that I managed to get that Cyberdemon kill all 5 Archviles completely, just for him Then, I come and kill that big monster with the... BFG Cellgun 9000?, yes... that weapon was total garbage in my opinion, but hey, with that crap I managed to kill the Cyberdemon at the end of the day, how incredible of this was surviving the first round of the game and not getting my butt kicked so fast.

 

Map 02 (What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse):

Status
*Deaths: 1 (Killed by Revenant)
*Saves: none



In this following map I can only summarize it in an understandable way... ehem, it is a small Slaugther in which, you only have to resist until you kill the 60 enemies in total, I recommend using the cell weapon a lot for strong enemies and the Super Shotgun.


Map 03 (Big Durst Energy):

Status
*Deaths: 11 (Summing up the deaths, I was only killed by these 5 enemies: Archvile, Revenant, Hell Knight, Cyberdemon and Lost Soul)
*Saves: 5



This was a very challenging map, it was here where I have died many times than expected, it had such bad traps that I was really forced to jump in certain areas so as not to be in the center of the battle, and in others I simply had You have to look for a good place to do "Saves", although in the latter there were only few, but in any case it is very frustrating to leave yourself stuck in places that are considered Mini-Slaugthers because of so many enemies that are present, it's difficult to get out alive from a piece in certain areas of the entire level, which by the way, the structure that this level has is fantastic, looking like a huge castle or fortress, which I liked a lot, in addition to the very striking orange colors that combine with the site architecture. Now coming back to the difficulty of the map, it really is overwhelming, not only because it contains 4 Cyberdemons, but there are like 15 or 20 Archviles in total throughout the level, which, is almost at the end where everything begins to get ugly with those bastards hanging around there, fortunately in the last of the level to complete it they are not a big problem, but in the part where you must use the yellow key on a switch, that is where there is a lot of conflict, and although they do enough Soul Spheres in that area, that does not mean that getting them will be an easy task. there are also other strong enemies, Revenants, Hell Knights, Mancubus, etc. but they do not represent much danger in that part of the Archviles if you carry the rocket launcher with you, but instead, in the part where there is a small river, one that is in the left corner from where you start the level, you will find 3 Imps and A lot of ammunition for shotgun and cell weapon, but you will also run into a set of enemies that only go from Revenants, Elemental Pains and Hell Knights that will make things very difficult, I really lost several times there for not being able to understand the fact that I do not know everyone died using my weapons (I used a lot of the cell weapon and still did not win), until I realized that you had to "hide" in the "room" of the Pain Elementals, and there use them as a shield to kill the rest of the enemies and so on. I did not enjoy the map as much as I expected, so it was certainly unfair in some parts, but it is not that I hate it either, I had a little fun throughout the killing, and also... orange is true love.

By the way, I was also recording the game I was playing, so, most likely, I upload the video to YouTube to leave a certain witness of the progress I made.

[Capellan]

CABIN

Not really a fan of this one.

 

 

[Capellan]

Terminal

Played this with infinitely tall monsters on, despite the text file.  Didn't actually prove to be an issue.

 

 

[John Wheel]

Orange is True Love

PrBoom+ / UV (but difficulty settings are non-existant for the most part)

 

I tried this one when it came out, played a few minutes and decided to file it under To Play Later After Playing Some Classic Hard Wads. Well, it's being a couple of years, and the moment is now, I guess!

 

The first map pits you against a Cyberdemon and some Archviles on a Pac-Man maze. I spent some time walking in circles and avoiding attacks trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. Maybe there was some trick to the neutered BFG, maybe there was some puzzle, maybe it was about Archvile-jumping. But nope, you do have to hide on your favorite corner and coerce the Cyberdemon into killing the Archviles. I mean, the level is hard, but it's an exercise on patience more than anything since the Cybie never retaliates due to the Archvile infighting exception. Once the Archviles were dead, I finished the Cyberdemon with the BFG-turned-pea-shooter. Fortunately, the Cyberdemons in this wad are rather fragile (reminds me of the mini-Cyberdemons from STRAIN) and the Archviles already made a number on it. I couldn't find the exit, though. I used IDCLIP and IDDT, bumbled around and found nothing. I wasn't liking the map, but come on, give me a reason to not despise you at least. Since all monsters were dead and I was almost dead too without spare megaspheres I was going to pistol start the next one anyway, so I IDCLEVed my way to the second map.

 

Visually was nice, but the exterior decorations and the katanas seemed random and out of place. The bats are cute, though.

 

On the second map you are on a dilapidated house surrounded by an endless swamp and, more importantly, enemies. Using whatever was left by the previous occupant you must survive the night. This map I liked a lot. It's short, it's sweet, it's memorable enough despite being so simple and it's fun fighting to the bitter end, wasting every single bullet, looking for whatever passes as cover. The Arachnotrons and Mancubus teleported when everything else was dead, so they were inoffensive and just too easy to dispatch. A pity, that. But I enjoyed the map all the way.

 

Random note: Castlevania jokes are always funny.

 

The third and final map is much more traditional than the previous ones. You run, you hide, you shoot, you look out for keys, you get caught on ambushes... the usual. It's like a less refined and smaller version of the kind of stuff you can find on Eviternity o Vanguard. It's not bad, and I had fun, but it didn't leave much of an impression on me because I have already played similar stuff. The last fight is a bit odd. The Revenants can be taken down without harm which seemed weird, so when the Archviles appeared I though they would go on a resurrecting spree... but they can't get out from the central area on their own. They are stuck with the Cyberdemons on a narrow space and you have lots of columns to hide from them, so the only thing they can do is die. Everything else is cool, though.

 

Overall, it was okay, not my favorite wad ever but cool. The second level is my favorite by far, what a thrill.

 

@Capellan You are supposed to shoot the switch on the other side on Cabin's second map. Not that you are going to like it any better. And it can't be finished: it's a bonus/epilogue map.

 

On 10/8/2020 at 11:25 AM, SP_FACE1 said:

Orange is True Love

Pretty-hard.

 

I unironically love this.