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The DWmegawad Club plays: Plutonia

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MAP 02: Well of souls, UV, Continuous

Map 02 starts about as expected. You activate a lift that lowers you down as you're assaulted by chaingunners revealed to be in alcoves as the watery lift descends. Still not cruel enough. The entire map plays like a scene from an Indiana Jones film. A corridor with different buttons that trigger different traps. Check. A crusher that lowers as you run under it. Check. Were the Casali's Indiana Jones fans? Perhaps. 

I suffered my first two deaths as a result of the floor lowering in the room with the yellow key switch and being given several dozen new holes by hitscanners. the final section of the map has probably the worst trap. The wall raises and you're stuck in a canyon like(?)area with two revenants on the other side,and Cacos on on your left and right. Suffered my third death here. I remember on my first playthrough of Plutonia I could not work out that shooting the computer panel raises an invisible bridge, the last crusade style. Cool effect though.

Side Note: Plutonia's jungle setting is honestly really cool and unique, a breath of fresh air after endless techbases, hell and abstract city maps in Doom 2 and TNT. Also the Plutonia Midi pack's track for this map is one of my favorites.

Deaths: 3

Kills: 100%

Secrets: 100%

Therapy visits: 2

lead poisonings: 2

 

 

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i resolved to play plutonia without saves back in 2017, and completed the endeavour in 2019. i stand by my original assessment that it is my least favourite of the iwads. i actually cant put my finger on why i dislike it - yes it is hard, but i enjoy many more difficult wads. i think the liberal use of hitscanners in open areas is just tedious. i also think the geometry of the maps is not as inventive or weird as doom, doom2, or tnt.

 

here are the demos if anyone is interested, not fda's but do include deaths in some maps as i worked out best strategies

 

 

 

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“2: Well of Souls” knows that slowly descending gantlets are my bane, but I guess two chaingunners in two alcoves is manageable. I never really though about the optimal move in the hall of skull faces, so I just click them until they stop clicking and never think if I could spare myself some trouble. The cliff with the invisible bridge, I go there early to get the fight over with. It’s a nasty fight but rockets take away the revenants quickly.

 

My first go around was pretty rough. By the time I was opening up those skull switches, my health was dwindling and I died in that big grey room with the hitscanners and the revenant on the stairs. My next attempt went a lot better aside from taking a revenant rocket to the face early on. I didn’t open up all the skull switches and I utilized a lot of infighting, both in the yellow key switch pit at the end of the skull switch hall and later in the big grey room. Despite the rocky start of having subpar health and then losing most of it to that revenant rocket, I left the level in good spirits.

 

After hearing it loop a few times, ‘Trigger’ by Mr Freeze & Bucket grew on me. I especially like the part where the song quiets up and the song is just the synth chords and the percussion. Even after I was finished, I had this one in my head. It feels a lot more fitting to the level compared to ‘Dark Halls’, which is a song I like but doesn’t feel like it belongs in Plutonia.

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MAP02: Well of Souls (HMP/continuous)

8:55 | 100% Everything

Not a big fan of this one. I've long harbored a hatred for the skull-switch hallway: I know something bad happens with every switch, I just never remember what; this time the first switch I hit dropped the floor out, so I just ran for the stairs--and right under the crushers (still lived, but just barely!) That was on attempt #2; the first attempt I didn't bother with the hallway (since I hate it) and instead found my way up to the canyon, where I was immediately rocketed to death. The second time I remembered that I too had rockets, and dispatched the revvies relatively easy, though I still got tagged a bit by the chaingunner up in the exit room. A long time ago, the invisible bridge tripped me up and I remember getting stuck there, but I don't remember how/if I solved it; probably I just noclipped over. This time I remembered the bridge, but only shot the computer panel on a whim; I didn't even realize it was the mechanism to raise the bridge! (I did not know about shootable switches for an embarassingly long time; they tripped me up in a late TNT level as well.) Not a fan of how you can't backtrack from the exit room, as I hadn't explored the canyon floor yet, but I still maxed everything, so no biggie I guess.

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MAP03 - "Aztec" by Milo Casali

FF05393A98C56D2D93BCEB3944ACB9268E459420

 

Looks like the teleporter at the end of Well of Souls warped you out of the Congo and all the way into some Aztec ruins in central Mexico. A truly wild development!

Right off the bat you want to watch your step as both starting and final Plutonia Teleporters™ are surrounded by inescapable slime pits of death. The bridge flanked by Mancubi and Chaingunners also leads to death so either save or don't catch yourself slipping. Weapon progression kind of blows from Pistol Start: You get a Rocket Launcher at the start, an entirely useless Chainsaw in a secret, and have to pilfer the Shotgun and Chaingun from their respective owners. Why does this map not give you an SSG like the last 2 did? I have no idea, since it has around the same number of mid-tiers and rockets are nowhere near generous. That's just 90's Pistol Start balance for you: You never know what you're in for. Playing with Supercharge makes this less of a slog compared to vanilla, which I have played before, as those early weapons pack more punch.

 

The narrow curved hallways are annoying enough to navigate in GZDoom and even worse in classic ports as you get stuck on walls and rubberbanded. The area seen above with the invisible bridge lined with torches is the best looking and most fun. Otherwise this is one of the weaker Plutonia maps and likely to end up in my bottom 5.

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Day 2 ~ MAP02: Well of Souls ~ DSDA Doom ~ UV-Max ~ NM100s ~ Pistol start ~ Midi pack

 

Demos - pl map02.zip

UV - 0 deaths: Another chill map. Here you can see that Plutonia isn’t kidding around anymore - you press a certain button, and a trap will surprise you from behind. Or a crowd of monsters will get unleashed. It’s all about remembering where the traps are and how to take care of them. And of course, don’t hit the switch that opens up the army of lost souls. They don’t count as kills, and should not be involved (unless you want to waste all the ammo). At the end I like to shoot the console that reveals where the invisible bridge is, run across, hide, and clear stuff out as it comes to me. This way you aren’t exposed to the revenants and cacodemons from all sides. About the pistol-start experience: This was the map where I realized that Plutonia was made with continuous players in mind. In some of the traps/rooms you can find rockets and energy cells sitting on the ground. The only weapons you get here are both shotguns and the chaingun, making it a little grindy. I don’t mind a little super-shotgunning, but perhaps it isn’t the best idea to listen to me on this.

NM - 60 deaths: Zero secrets, so this is a NM-Speed demo. The lack of armor makes this brutal. Using the best strategies is really important, otherwise, you will get turned into swiss cheese from all the hitscanners in difficult positions. Infinite height sucks. But, with a little luck and persistence, you will succeed. The first time I completed this map it took lots of tries and dying. Second time was after I finished all the maps, and the experience from that certainly shows.

 

Favorite area

doom00.png.16e0e750ebccb631a1e23f211a6d415c.png

Cool how you can see the exit from this spot.

Edited by Starduster

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MAP03: Aztec

    Now THIS was a map that gave me trouble. As @Spectre01 noted, you do not get the SSG in this map and man does it show. Instead, you do get a RL, but this is a high risk, high reward kind of deal since almost all of the combat in this WAD is at very close ranges, and firing that thing in the tight curved hallways is certain death by Good At Doom™.

 

    I died about 8 times practising for a saveless PS run, and every time it came down to either the first Archvile or the Red Key trap. Eventually I devised a strategy for the first Archvile (drop into the pit with the Spectre, kill it and the Chaingunners and then dispose of the Archie), but the Red Key trap is RNG. It all comes down to whether the Baron gets in front of the Achvile (which you DO NOT WANT) or the other way around (which you DO want). In the video, the former happened but I managed to bodyblock the Archie so he does not end up resurrecting the Baron.

 

    The final room is easy by comparison. Once I realized I could backpedal into the hallway after triggering the Chaingunners and the Revenants, all was easy. TBH I expected the corridor to close behind me.

 

    The Continuous playtrough by comparison was a cakewalk. The SSG makes this an absolute breeze, and TBH I can see why it was omitted, @Spectre01. It makes the map too easy.

 

The Video:

 

 

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Map03: UV-Max in 5:09 (also NM100S in 2:48)
This might be the only map in Plutonia with no SSG. It has a few good ideas, like the placement of that first archvile with apparently no cover. It's sure to induce panic in an unprepared player, but there are at least two consistently viable strategies, one of which can be put into effect immediately: just run into the pit behind him (the floor isn't damaging) and there's cover. Otherwise, if you know it's coming, you can trigger the linedef with the right timing to make the revenant hit him, and they'll infight. Probably the best part of this map. The other archvile encounter basically has one strategy, and it's cheesy: grab the key, run out into the tunnel (which will be used for cover from the archvile and chaingunners), and slowly shotgun or chaingun the vile to death while it occasionally infights with the other monsters, including a baron, which will also be slowly shotgunned or chaingunned to death. Those curved tunnels are pretty annoying to navigate (slightly better if you're using GZDoom, where collision works differently). The bridge area with the pain elementals has a lot of potential for aggravation and chaos. I think the best strategy here is to immediately take them out with rockets, hopefully missing few or no shots, and the rest of this part will go much more smoothly. Any strategy for a quick UV-Max heavily relies on how your scarce few rockets are used, as no other weapon in this map even comes close to the rocket launcher in terms of DPS. Interesting map, but not one of my favorites. It's just kinda awkward to play much of the time.

 

pl03stuff.zip

 

 

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Map 03: Aztec UV, continuous

The Aztec people must have had it rough if this is their domain.

The moment you move off the teleporter you're given a number of supplies. This is going to be tough. The map itself is nonlinear, which is great since I love nonlinearity in map design, each pathway branching off in different directions. As you make your way down the tunnel on your left the floor drops you into a room with a mancubus and a chainsaw( which can only be triggered once). The room with the red keycard presented me with three deaths, as the moment you kill the shotgunner guarding the key and walk up to the pedestal  two barons  teleport in, you hastily attempt to back up and are greeted by an archvile. Most evil trap in the entire map. The Casali's once again show off their invisible bridge trick, this time with chaingunners in the front, arachnotrons on every ledge and pain elementals spewing lost souls in the air. The very definition of FUN. The rest of the map is pretty easy(for plutonia, anyways).

  Deaths: 5

Kills: 100%

Secrets:100%

Misery: 75%

Rethinking the choice to play this WAD again: 100%

Edited by Silhou3tte : Grammar errors

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(Crispy Doom, UV, Pistol Start, No Saves)

hc_plu02.zip

MAP02 - Well of Souls

 

I really like the "deathtrap dungeon" segment after the intro. There's an overall excellent collection of gags, combined with the structure where the player gets to try their luck and wonder what fresh hell awaits after each switch.
The run from the end-of-hall switch all the way to the chaingunner arena is a hell of a thing, but I found it really satisfying to reach the point where I could get it consistently, threading the needle between the zombies and avoiding scraping the walls of the tunnel (as that will get you crushed).

 

I think that the Revenant on the staircase blocking the arena's exit is a fantastic use of the monster, as it compounds the pressure put on the player to clear the gunners quickly along with drawing attention to how those death machines are significantly debuffed when they have to fire their missiles down into the ground (which safely detonates them before they can turn around).

 

And then we come to the bridge of souls, as it were.

 

When it comes to Plutonia's teaching style of "get killed, then work backwards from there to figure out how not to get killed", I normally will argue that each setpiece battle is entertaining enough on its own merits to be worth revisiting and working out a strategy for. But the invisible bridge is perhaps too trolly. It's some cryptic shit to throw at a player in the middle of an action scene when under fire from across the gorge. I do at least appreciate how the conspicuous window to the tech panels set in the rock face has them positioned far enough away that the player automatically understands that trying the Use key is not an option.

 

The blue armor buff (to tank the hits while out on a limb like that) should presumably allow Continuous players to rocket down the baddies before focusing on how the heck to get off that ledge. But Pistol Starters have no choice but to close the distance before going for either switch. I prefer to just roll the dice and hope that the Revenants miss their shots - if you get across immediately you're home free, and the level's so short that I don't mind having to reroll until it works.

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6 minutes ago, head_cannon said:

 level's so short that I don't mind having to reroll until it works.

 

I guess this is another one of Plutonia's strengths. If you do die, there is no replaying a 30-minute level to get to where you died. You can take each map in about 5-10 minutes and figure out each fight at your strongest, while the memory is still fresh.

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Hello, DWMC members and fellow Doomers! Long time since I've been active! So, we're tackling Plutonia, which is without a doubt the main attraction of Final Doom and considerably the best of the official id-released wads. Since I'm playing Hell Revealed at the same time, I might as well join in a take on Plutonia with the rest of you guys, and just like my TNT Evilution rundown, I'll be doing a retrospective of the wad. With that out of the way, let's get started with its origins.

 

The Plutonia Experiment is the second half of Final Doom, created exclusively by the legendary Casali brothers. Even though Team TNT never had any involvement in the development in this wad, due to Dario and Milo Casali still being members at the time, it somehow counted as a TNT project. Because of how well-crafted the levels were designed and the new graphics gave it a unique, vivid look, Dario Casali got the job at Valve Corporation, who were impressed by the levels he designed, and he would go on to work on Half-Life. As for the development of Plutonia, it all began when the two brothers submitted eight maps of their own to id Software, and having impressed the big guys, especially American McGee, they would get them to create a megawad for Final Doom, so they set off to create more maps, which included their small level pack, and the rest is history, from September 1995 up until January 1996, Plutonia was completed. Some of these maps were also originally TNT maps that got rejected due to being large and difficult, and I'll be getting to the difficulty in just a short bit. Even though we've been given a full list of who of the brothers designed which map, I do kinda question a couple of them, because according to the credits, Milo designed more maps than Dario, when in other sources, it says that half of Plutonia's map was designed by each brother, so I would assume that both Milo and Dario made 16 maps each to complete the full 32 level set. Not to mention that a few of the maps attributed to Milo looked more like Dario's while one attributed to Dario looked more like a Milo map. I will discuss those as we progress through the wad.

 

Now with the story, like TNT Evilution, The Plutonia Experiment has its own story taking place after the events of Doom 2. To prevent further incursions of demonic invasions, the newly refounded and reorganised UAC corporation decided to work on a new technology on closing interdimensional gates using Quantum Accelerator Devices. The project began innocently, but eventually was regaining too rapidly. Naturally, demons came pouring into the research complex, but fortunately in its maiden test, the Quantum Accelerator Device performed perfectly and closed the invasion gate, even as far as splitting a cyberdemon in half. Then, the next day, a ring of seven gates opened throughout the base, and the Quantum Accelerator closed all but one in time. However, the army of monsters that poured was much too powerful and numerous that they overwhelmed the marines and killed or zombified them along with the scientists and bureaucrats within. The Quantum Accelerator and its prototypes are guarded by a demon Gatekeeper including the last Gate of Hell, and you along with several marines have been summoned by the government to the ravaged complex. You know that the other marines will not stand a chance, and only you can enter the complex by yourself and face the Gatekeeper to save Earth once and for all, which will not be an easy task as the powerful army of demons stand between you and the Gatekeeper, and they are awaiting your arrival...

 

The Plutonia Experiment has been well received and considered by many to be the most memorable of the official wads. One of the most notable, and nasty, aspect to the wad is the intense difficulty. While TNT Evilution was a bit more challenging than The Ultimate Doom and Doom 2, there was still a natural, steady and accommodating progression in the difficulty curve and it was still easy enough for amateur players to enjoy. The Plutonia Experiment, on the other hand, consists of 32 adrenaline-charged levels and they don't let up, clearly made for the veterans of Doom who are looking for an extreme challenge. It really is a prerequisite to play the other Doom wads, because for the most part, from the first level to the end, Plutonia's difficulty goes all the way to the top. You will not be prepared for how hard, brutal, and insane this wad is going to be. The Casali Brothers make no attempt to make this an easy game or even giving a sense of progression, they really stick it to you and will start ramming you right at the very first map. Even on I'm Too Young To Die/Hey, Not Too Rough, this wad is relentless. Plutonia could very well be seen as the Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels of Doom in that sense. With that said, it's time to take on the hardest official Doom wad, and I'll be playing on Hurt Me Plenty in vanilla. Let the insanity begin!

 

Map01: Congo (Milo Casali)

107% kills, 0% items, 100% secrets

Time: 05:53

 

What a way to introduce you to Plutonia! It really sets the tone for what you will be in for, and it's not going to mess around. Right at the beginning, you got shotgunners looking down at you, chaingunners up ahead that can mercilessly snipe at you, and they're everywhere in the map, including some mancubi, arch-viles (one of which will continuously resurrect a sniper chaingunner in the central area), a pain elemental, and revenants. Did I forget to mention that on multiplayer there's a spider mastermind in the central area which you face at the beginning? Well, there is! So yeah, this is a very intense map for a starter, and this probably the "easiest," though really there's little to no discrimination of the difficulty in the upcoming levels, with the exception of the brutal secret levels, but we'll get to those when we do. True to its name, it's got a jungle theme going, which is prevalent in most of Plutonia, and the design architecture is very reminiscent of Tom Hall, of course, I will talk about the level aesthetic differences between the two brothers much later on. Although there's the custom Plutonia MIDI pack, I'm sticking with the original soundtrack, since first time playing and hearing the tracks from the first Doom game gives a sense of nostalgia when playing Plutonia.

 

Map02: Well of Souls (Dario Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 0% secrets

Time: 06:38

 

The map initially starts off peaceful, but once you hit the switch to lower the water, get ready for some chaingunners to pop out, and when you reach the bottom, you got imps to contend with. There are two routes, one leads to nowhere except being able to snipe some revenants, which I advise doing so they won't pose a problem as you'll be back in that area later on to collect the yellow key. The other is the way to the tunnel in which you got some switches to hit, many of which reveals more monsters, and the farthermost one lowers you to an area where you'll be surrounded by chaingunners and even a baron for good measure. Make a mad dash to avoid the crushers and you'll fall into a basin with pinkies, leading to another cavern with some chaingunners and a revenant. Collect the red key, return to the ambush area to hit the switch to open the door to the red key, and you have the ending which can be pretty tough as you have to battle revenants situated at the other side including some cacodemons. Shoot the computer panel as it raises bars indicating an invisible bridge, but be quick so the revenant missiles won't get you. If you can get one or both revenants to infight the cacodemons, you should be fine, and there's the exit guarded by chaingunners. Pretty tough cookie from start to finish.

 

Map03: Aztec (Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 08:45

 

This is without a doubt the hardest map up to that point, but the worst is definitely yet to come. Another jungle-themed map in the same vein as Congo but it sure emphasises on tight winding corridors, and you have two routes to tackle, though the first one to take is the one leading to the southeast section, and get ready for a revenant in a far-off distance including an arch-vile that will rise up as soon as you enter the chamber. But that's not all, you have chaingunners awaiting up the stairs, and as soon as you step on them, an alcove opens up to reveal more chaingunners. You'll soon come to the bullshit section, which is a large chamber with arachnotrons stationed on the corners, a couple of pain elementals, and you've chaingunners at the other side guarding the blue key, not to mention the revenants that will appear when you step on the invisible bridge. Dash for the chaingunners, grab the key and gun down the pain elementals while watching the arachnotrons, then take the teleporter to take out the two arachnotrons on the south corners and then shoot your rockets at the remaining ones, and then hit the switch that will lower the barricade, but watch out for the hidden chaingunners. The corrider to the northeast section from the start has a trap that will lower you to an area with health potions, a mancubus and a chainsaw, and heading for the red key room is booby trapped as some monsters including another arch-vile and baron will surround you. Continuing up the main path will lead to another bullshit area, thankfully not as bad as the southeast one, with chaingunners and mancubi, including revenants that pop out of the ground and trying to push through will open up a couple of walls revealing pain elementals. After that onslaught, the rest is breathable as you have the red key to open the door to the switch that opens the barrier blocking the switch to lower the exit teleporter, but its guarded by one more revenant. Overall, this is a very tough map, every single area is dangerous and the arch-viles are placed in positions where they can fry you with ease, so they're very deadly. If you play this on multiplayer, just when you think the southeast bullshit area with the blue key can't get any crazy, there's a cyberdemon on the invisible bridge. Have fun with that.

 

That will do for me, and I'll come back to play a few more levels after the next couple of days. Plutonia's only going to get more wild and woolly as we press on, that's for sure. Going to play some Hell Revealed while I'm on my break. Catch you later, guys.

Edited by T-Rex

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1 hour ago, Pechudin said:

 

I guess this is another one of Plutonia's strengths. If you do die, there is no replaying a 30-minute level to get to where you died. You can take each map in about 5-10 minutes and figure out each fight at your strongest, while the memory is still fresh.

Oh, absolutely. This "all killer no filler" style of design is one of the things that appeals to me the most about Plutonia. Trying again isn't a colossal, unthinkable setback in this context, and the majority of maps have a brevity which makes me feel like my goal of nailing each individual challenge is something that's always within reach.

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I literally died at the death pit at the beginning of “3: Aztec” my first try. I hate that archvile trap in the south room from the start, but I’m happy to say I made good use of cover while taking out the room’s multiple chaingunners. The invisible bridge room is another good challenge. After carefully taking out the pain elementals (which involved some waiting), I ran up and down the bridge, firing rockets at the arachnotrons and after they were all dead, I took out the revenants and went about my day.

 

The red key ambush is tricky. One time, it wasn’t an issue, but when the archvile fell back behind the hell baron (which I read is a serious issue for a lot of runs on this level) I switched to rockets and killed myself trying to fire them from the curved hallway. That room where you have to shoot at mancubi through the vines can go to hell, though. At least I had the forethought, after I killed the two mancubi in that room, that the growling sounds I was hearing was a bunch of infantry ready to appear and shoot me, so I was ready when I crossed that bridge and it surrounded itself in chaingunners.

 

A pretty good level although I find the long narrow halls more annoying than atmospheric.

 

The midi-pack theme ‘Jade Empire’ by Stewboy was triumphant. It has that pseudo-chill vibe that I get from a lot of the Ancient Aliens soundtrack. It lifts your spirit like a good RPG overworld theme would– it’s cathartic without being too relaxing or strangely anodyne for music that’s playing while you kill demons.

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Finally returned back at home, so i can back to play on this. tried to playing it on Delta Touch, but the controls are ass, especially with freelook on.

 

MAP02: A more iconic map than Congo imo, sets in a moody canyon looking place surrounded by water, you push a switch and reveals more of the canyon and a light brown structure that is... a catacomb? A abandoned temple? Anyway it's brown, like many stuff in Plutonia. Also, this levels contains some pretty cool vanilla trickery, like a raising invisible bridge (activated by shooting at the only computer screen in the map, semi-hidden in a cavern... ok) and a instant raising floor that leads to the exit. Monster placement is pretty challenging and now adds revenants to the mix, good! Better than Congo and a charming map, overall.

 

MAP03: It's BSTONE2 and vines extravaganza time again! This map looks like an evolved version of Congo, with a much more enlarged layout and more traps and special effects like a invisible bridge (this time is static) surrounded by columns with torches on it, instant pop-up monsters and a.... chimpanzee / monkey head on automap? It also contains a escapeless damaging pit in the same area, fantastic. Gameplay is more intricate due to the semi-maze nature of the layout, and monster placement is getting harder than the previous map.

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There is some Serendipidy about the DWMC's choice this month. After years of inactivity I have been meaning to join in on a playthrough when I have reached a point in working on my own megawad where I don't feel guilty procastinating on progressing with it. At the same time, I intended to play through Plutonia as I want some influence of this in the next batch of levels I make.

 

Obviously I have played parts of Plutonia before but, like many classic WADs, I have never had the time (or honestly discipline) to play through it from start to finish. I have always admired the more with less design style of the Casali brothers so I am looking forward to giving this the attention it deserves as well as reading along with everyone else's experiences.

 

As I am rusty and this has a reputation of being quite difficult, I am going to play HMP. However, I will balance this off by restarting levels as a pistol start if I die. I am planning to use PRBoom+ but I have previously run into issues with port lagging so I might switch if that happens.

 

1. Congo (Milo Casali)

Considering Plutonia has a reputation of smaller levels this is quite long for a MAP01, requiring two keys to complete. Outside of this the map does a good job as acting as a manifesto for the rest of the game with it's early introduction of key monsters chaingunners, revenants and arch viles - with chaingunners already deployed in traps that can tear through your health if you're not aware where they are about to spring from. For a first level it is also not shy with the munitions with the rocket launcher, super shotgun, back pack, blue armour and large amounts of health and ammo being available. This does mean that your ease of passing can depend on what route you take. I like the hints of jungle in the level theme and it features one of my favourite music tracks from Doom 1.

 

2. Well of Souls (Dario Casali)

I really like the starting area with the lowering water so by association I have always considered it favourably. However, it doesn't really hold up as a great map. It feels like Dario had a few seperate ideas and linked them together by hallways. Contrary to the start area I was never keen on the last area with the crystal sector bridge. I always felt like being closed off on a narrow ledge prone to the distant revenants firing homing missiles as being unfair - however, I suppose that is something I will need to get used to. For fun I will pit the Casali brothers against each other to find my Plutonia champion. So far it is 1-0 Milo.

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You thought I voted for this and wouldn't participate? No way, let's go! Actually, upon reading @Walter confetti's first post in this thread I reconsidered my decision to play it and will instead do my writeups entirely from memory, should be fun!

 

MAP01: Congo

 

I remember the first time I played Plutonia back in 2005: I was fresh off ragequitting TNT MAP27 on my UV continuous playthrough and went straight to Plutonia without finishing the other half of Final Doom first. I knew of Plutonia's reputation and so was surprised to see how accessible the first level was. I mean, Milo is considerate enough to give the player a shotgun, a megaarmor, a backpack and ~60 shells before unleashing the action. There's a few potentially nasty traps here, like the duo of chaingunners ambusing you before entering the super shotgun room, the rising revenant in the crossroads before the red key (which I remembered being an arch-vile before watching a video) and the memorable rocket launcher trap, reminiscent of a similar setup in E2M2 but obviously much more dangerous (at least to a player who'd only played the other IWADs, like me at the time).

 

I like to think of these traps as a teaser of things to come, because they lose much of their threat if the player collects the free megaarmor at the start. Oh, and don't forget the arch-vile/chaingunner setup, a rather crude implementation of a very effective trick when used right, like in the later levels (and one of the few things that still gives me trouble in Plutonia to this day!). The secret is rather well hidden and for little reward, which is unusual in this wad. Visually this level is sound and Plutonia on the whole certainly aged well since 1996 in that regard, the levels are still a pleasure to look at even if wads nowadays are easily 10x more detailed.

 

It seems the Casalis stuck to a theme and perfected it, with careful texture usage, good architecture and (mostly) interesting layouts. The levels do look samey if you binge play through them, but at the same time they're quite short so it doesn't become annoying. But enough rambling, adequate starter which leaves the player wanting more.

 

MAP02: Well of Souls

 

Yeah, this was the level that made me ragequit in my 2005 playthrough: I had a short fuse back then and I called it quits when I kept dying near the invisible bridge, oblivious to the fact that I'd taken the harder route at the start. When I returned to Doom in 2010, I managed to complete the other three IWADs on UV pistol-start saveless armed with one formidable weapon: persistence. Afterwards I sought to finish what I'd started, which is completing the 31 levels that had gone unbeaten five years earlier.

 

To start off, this lovely named level still killed me a handful of times, but I persevered and I'm here to tell the story :P @Silhou3tte hit the nail on the head by saying this level plays out like a Indiana Jones movie, as it's exactly what I was thinking before reading their writeup. The two most "cinematic" bits are the whole sequence leading to the yellow key and obviously the invisible bridge, which is a very neat trick. This is where Plutonia starts taking the player's kiddie gloves off, because while the encounters aren't particularly dangerous yet the lack of armor really hurts - one or two hard hits and you're a goner.

 

One of my personal favourites, shame about it being impossible to backtrack at the exit because otherwise it'd be an excellent level in my book.

 

MAP03: Aztec

 

The steep difficulty curve continues here, as does the "branched progression" evidenced in the previous level. Unlike his brother Dario, Milo is more than happy to adequately kit the player at the start (assuming they don't fall in the inescapable pit beforehand) with a megaarmor, rocket launcher and a backpack - how generous! Keep the rocket supply under control though, as you'll need them to defang the most troublesome encounters taking place around each of the keys. The blue key area lifts the invisible bridge from the previous level but dials the difficulty to eleven - chaingunners, revenants, pain elementals and arachnotrons provide a very well designed fight where the best solution is actually to flee - grab the key as quickly as possible and enter the newly revealed teleporter to get some breathing room as it's ill-advised to stay in the middle of the crossfire. 

 

On the other hand, collecting the red key unleashes a teleport trap in a very cramped room - a quick but effective attack is the best approach, otherwise you risk having the arch-vile perpetually raising the baron back from the dead. Worth a mention to the insta-raise arch-vile at the start of the blue key leg, a surprising appearance that ends up being somewhat innefective as it's easy to dispose of it as long as you have the ammo to spare. The mancubus/chainsaw secret baffles me though, because the chainsaw is the last weapon you'll want to use on a mancubus :P 

 

Still, neat level - can't say I'm a fan of the narrow curvy corridors but otherwise I like it a lot. Oh, and here's the current UV Max record courtesy of @GarrettChan that shows how having some foolproof strategies can make a level much easier:

 

 

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MAP04 - "Caged" by Dario Casali

9E14217C310D019CE723C7642ECE0A12EC1C97AC

 

Aesthetically this map draws a lot from Doom 2's map26, The Abandoned Mines, with heavy use of metal textures and orthogonal walkways barred with impassable midtextures. A similar theme is revisited again in Plutonia's map15. The opener is the most deadly yet, with the player flanked on all sides by hitscanners, a couple turret Revenants, and a sizeable group of wandering Cacos. There is also the small matter of damaging slime filled with Spectres. I don't like their placement as they are tedious to remove from above with Doom's autoaim and no freelook. And in the case of the Plasma Rifle and path to the Yellow Key, they are often successful at infinite heighting the player. They serve no gameplay purpose other than to exacerbate some of vanilla's janky behaviour. 

 

My patented opening strategy is to immediately boot it to where the floating arrow is pointing above. The room with the frozen Chaingunners is safe from any crossfire and you can chill there while killing the 5+ roaming Cacos. Thankfully you get the SSG and armour at the start and other resources are quite generous. The rest isn't too bad, assuming you don't get shredded by Chaingunners or walled in by the 4 Barons past the Yellow Door. Just run out of there and waste them on the bridge with your rocket cache. Continuous players get a 100 Cell bonus for taking the red teleporter before the exit, but are also punished by having to once again flip the switch past the Blue Door to leave. You actually flip a switch to complete the map, rather than simply walking into the trademarked teleporter, which breaks Plutonia's exit convention. Overall, this is a solid map.

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I took a couple months off from Doom. I am going to join for this playthrough even though I played plutonia.wad a few months ago. I've started and made it through map04 so far on HMP. Normally I use Crispy Doom but this time i will be using GZDoom 4.4.2.

 

I'm using these wads:

 

psxsounds.wad

plutmidi.wad

jovpal.wad

 

This will give it a nice dark vibe.

 

Here's my config, which I load via autoexec into a fresh install of GZDoom each time. I keep my .ini file blank and read only, other than a path to my main soundfont folder.
 

Spoiler

 

//==============================================================================
cl_capfps "true"                  //limit fps (35fps like Doom)
cl_run "false"                    //always run
//disableautosave "1"               //never autosave
freelook "false"                  //always mouselook
fluid_gain "1"                    //default .5
fluid_patchset "SC-55"            //set to SC-55 by Trevor0402
fluid_reverb "true"               //reverb for SC-55 font
fluid_reverb_level "0.25"         //how much reverb?
m_filter "false"                  //
m_noprescale "true"               //
m_use_mouse "0"                   //use mouse in menus?
mouse_sensitivity "1.5"           //
nomonsterinterpolation "true"     //classic movement rather than smooth
neverswitchonpickup "false"       //switch guns on pickup
snd_mastervolume "1"              //
//snd_mididevice "-2"               //set to timidity
snd_mididevice "-5"               //set to fluidsynth
uiscale "2"                       //
use_joystick "false"              //
vid_scalemode "2"                 //
//==============================================================================
am_colorset "1"                   //map colors like Doom
am_showkeys "0"                   //show keys (cheat)
am_showmonsters "false"           //no data on map
am_showsecrets "false"            //^
am_showtime "false"               //^
cl_bloodsplats "false"            //no blood splat
cl_maxdecals "0"                  //no decals on walls
cl_rockettrails "0"               //no rocket smoke
//compatmode "2"                    //
crosshairon "false"               //turn crosshair off
r_drawfuzz "1"                    //fuzz-type, 1 is vanillaish
r_fuzzscale "true"                //scale fuzz pixels
r_dynlights "false"               //software dynamic lights off
r_fakecontrast "1"                //1= vanilla i think
transsouls "1"                    //opaque lost souls
vid_gamma ".9"                    //darken it up a bit, more CRTish?
vid_rendermode "0"                //software renderer
wipetype "1"                      //screen transition

//Binds=========================================================================
bind 1 "slot 1"
bind 2 "slot 2"
bind 3 "slot 3"
bind 4 "slot 4"
bind 5 "slot 5"
bind 6 "slot 6"
bind 7 "slot 7"
bind 8 "slot 8"
bind 9 "slot 9"
bind 0 "slot 0"

bind X "slot 1"
bind C "slot 3"
bind E "slot 4"
bind F "slot 5"
bind Q "slot 6"
bind Z "slot 7"

bind W "+forward"
bind A "+moveleft"
bind S "+back"
bind D "+moveright"
bind mouse2 "+use"

bind m "exec freelook.cfg"

bind kp0 "snd_musicvolume 0"
bind kp1 "snd_musicvolume .1"
bind kp2 "snd_musicvolume .2"
bind kp3 "snd_musicvolume .3"
bind kp4 "snd_musicvolume .4"
bind kp5 "snd_musicvolume .5"
bind kp6 "snd_musicvolume .6"
bind kp7 "snd_musicvolume .7"
bind kp8 "snd_musicvolume .8"
bind kp9 "snd_musicvolume .9"
bind kp. "snd_musicvolume 1"

bind KP/ "fluid_patchset SC-55; fluid_reverb true; echo SC-55 by Trevor0402"
bind KP* "fluid_patchset CT8MGM; fluid_reverb false; echo CT8MGM"
bind KP- "fluid_patchset The_Fairy_Tale_Bank; fluid_reverb false; echo The Fairy Tale Bank"

 

 

@Starduster thanks for the tip; placed in spoiler :)

Edited by RottingZombie

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Day 3 ~ MAP03: Aztec ~ DSDA Doom ~ UV-Max ~ NM100s ~ Pistol start ~ Midi pack

 

Demos - pl map03.zip

UV - 0 deaths: This beautiful jungle setting, paired with stewboy’s “Jade Empire” makes for a really cool first experience. No SSG on a pistol start, which makes everything more interesting. You have to get a little creative with how you deal with the encounters and balance rocket ammo. It’s an okay map in my opinion. The hallways make it obnoxious to speedrun because of elastic collision and whatnot. I enjoyed dealing with the archviles placed in difficult positions. For the first one, you can wait for a revenant rocket to hit him, or just fight him right away. If you end up in a spot where there is almost no way to hide from his attack, hug the base of a torch and it will absorb a lot of the damage. doom04.png.74ebbea4aa3f69e4fd039f920f8e743a.png

I actually learned this from watching JCD’s NM-Speed and NM100s full-game attempts. By the way, it is never a good idea to use rockets in the curvy hallways. I can’t think of an exception to this. 

NM - 10 deaths: Very easy in comparison to the first 2. Even easier if you opt to skip the red key and perform the glide at the end. My route is this: 1. Don’t shoot, and get the red key; 2. Go for the other key, run past as much stuff as possible. No need to stick around and kill stuff; 3. Head back the way you came from the red key halls. The stuff that spawns in the red key trap will wake up whenever you shoot and will populate this area. As there is no way around those guys, just kill whatever blocks your path forward; 4. Get the supercharge secret; 5. Exit and stuff.

 

Oh boy this area

doom02.png.49a259fb283566772b695d28c2578db1.png

The pain elementals here cooperate (by not infighting/not spawning clouds of souls/moving into convenient spots) about 50% of the time. If they don’t cooperate, it takes a lot longer to clear out and ammo suffers as a result. One of the most annoying areas in the WAD in my opinion.

 

Map04 is coming tomorrow. I think you guys will really enjoy my Nightmare! 100% demo of it, I've got a surprise at the end :D.

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(Crispy Doom, UV, Pistol Start, No Saves)

hc_plu03.zip

MAP03 - Aztec

 

What a creepy, disorienting dungeon crawl. While I admit that the way that the player backtracks across the different wings of the dungeon can be a little tedious, I respect the decision to let the player get lost in these samey winding corridors. I dig the hostile vibe here. When that first gunshot is answered with a chorus of roars, it really adds to the paranoia one feels when following these claustrophobic, winding tunnels and never knowing what's around the corner.

 

I think the cause & effect is demonstrated clearly enough that I don't feel bad about metagaming here, stealthing the beginning to avoid waking up the offscreen red-key guardians. Besides, the brutality of MAP19's opening segment did a pretty good job at teaching that "don't break the silence" concept on my first playthrough.

 

The Arch-Vile boss fight in MAP01 seemed audacious when I first encountered it, but this map escalates the concept even more. There's a showdown with one of those minibosses on each of the key routes, and while the close-range skirmish with the red-key Arch-Vile is a traditional exercise in fleeing into cover, the really interesting encounter is with the fiend who blocks the blue-key cavern. I think Plutonia is really ballsy here in the way it asks you to quickly discern how to get out of sight when you find yourself suddenly face-to-face with Arch-Vile #2. The dive into safety required here was actually kind of a novel, outside-the-box tactic for me back when I was learning - realizing it felt like a minor breakthrough. How ironic that the surest way to avoid being incinerated is to plant your feet on the smouldering soil of the pit below and hug the wall until the magic dissipates.

 

The process for stealing the blue key & getting out unscathed is less cheesy than the red key setup, and a pretty thrilling run when all goes well. The magic inviso-bridge is more clearly-presented than the one in the previous map, and the monster placement applies a consistent pressure. How effective or ineffective the Pain Elementals are at blocking the bridge is something that can sometimes seem annoyingly luck-based, but otherwise I'm a fan of this encounter.

 

I like how the side-room full of skull-faced pillars executes the old "zombie, zombie, zombie, Revenant!" gag. The Supercharge contained within is something I originally would use immediately to tank the damage one takes upon stealing the red key. Now that I've learned the stealth route, I instead save the powerup for the grand finale. That overgrown bridge is deliberately designed to be a position that's overly-difficult to try to hunker down and fight from - I always just run right across, chaingun-blazing, and hope to force my way through a gap in the twin Revenant guardians. Being able to soak the additional damage really helps when attempting that kind of risky YOLO move.

 

Just like with the small ammo cache in the previous map, I appreciate the nod to Continuous players with the exit-room medkits here. Having to give a small hop over a lethal pit to enter & exit the level is weird and unnerving, but at least it's near-impossible to miss as long as you look where you're going and don't get clumsy. I do wonder, though, if the entrance was designed to allow even more stumbles than it already does, since this was the era where mouse-users would also accidentally move themselves slightly forwards & backwards as they made use of the peripheral. In any case, I kind of like the look of the empty air around the dimensional portals. It's like these devices (which cleave through the fabric of the universe) have kind of severed themselves from the nearby reality.

Edited by head_cannon

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Maps 03 and 04

I've always enjoyed map 03, especially coming off of map 02. As noted, the difficulty doesn't let up and the higher tier enemies are still present. The archvile trap is particularly nasty.

Map 04 has a rough start, but isn't all that bad once you get into it. There are enough crevices to hide in that you shouldn't get too beat up too quickly.

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MAP04:

    I honest to God struggled to remember what map followed the yesterday's MAP03. I guess that's indicative of what I think about this map. Compared to the previous one, this map is a breeze. The only tricky bit is the start and choosing where to run to carve yourself a safe corner, and then work from there. Just like @Spectre01, I found it the easiest to run straight to the sleeping Chaingunners and work from there. There is a shellbox and even a Berserk pack in case you need some health. After that, the map is easy.

 

The Video:

Spoiler

 

 

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17 hours ago, T-Rex said:

Did I forget to mention that on multiplayer there's a spider mastermind in the central area?

I was wondering when someone would mention that. So much so, in fact, that I just played through the first four maps using -solo-net to get the co-op experience in single player. Not sure how much longer I'll do this since this is shaping up to be quite a painful experience... *eyes MAP32 nervously*

 

Pistol starts on UV and -solo-net, using the dsda-doom source port, going for all kills and secrets, and no additional wads except for the Plutonia MIDI pack.

 

MAP01 - Congo

I find it positively hilarious that the very first monster you'll see in a co-op playthrough of Plutonia is none other than a spider mastermind. Almost as hilarious as TNT MAP01's cyberdemon. Milo Casali apparently also thought that 14 extra revenants would make for a jolly co-op experience. To balance this, you're provided a rocket launcher and shotgun right from the start, with a super shotgun nearby, and a lot more rocket ammo throughout the map. The plethora of rockets actually makes this somewhat easier than the single player version of the map. Rockets are a scarce commodity in the single player version of this map, but with the co-op item placements you can fire rockets at everything you want and still have plenty left over. The spider mastermind is also more tedious than an actual threat, as you can easily hide behind cover and SSG it to death. As a result, the map comes across as less tightly constructed than in single player, but that's only to be expected.

 

I quite like this map in single player. It is of course a brutal wake-up call for those expecting the gentle introduction of other IWADs, but more than that, it's a microcosm of many of the quintessential elements of Plutonia, such as arch-vile resurrection setups, surprise pain elementals, and of course, chaingunners everywhere, without getting too extreme in any of these. That's saved for the rest of the maps.

 

MAP02 - Well of Souls

My least favorite of the early Plutonia maps, this map is more obtuse than anything. The skull switches, the crushing ceilings, the weird progression where you have to run through the skull switch hallway on your way to the yellow key and then again to press the yellow switch and then a third time to reach the door that the yellow switch opened, and of course, the invisible bridge... ugh. Co-op doesn't change this map much - no changes to monsters, just some extra weapons that I assume are intended for deathmatch. At least that means you get a rocket launcher to use the rocket ammo placed in the map, which you normally can't do if you're playing from a pistol start.

 

MAP03 - Aztec

When I first played Plutonia on HMP difficulty, this is where my playthrough came screeching to a halt. This map is all about nasty traps - aside from the traps and the invisible bridge fight, there isn't much to the map aside from awkwardly narrow corridors (seriously, would it have hurt to make them a little wider?). The main changes for co-op are a cyberdemon on the invisible bridge, several more pain elementals, some extra weapons (including a super shotgun and a BFG), and a lot of extra rocket ammo. Similar to MAP01, rockets go from being a carefully-managed resource to something you can spam everywhere. The cyberdemon might be tricky if you're trying to take it down quickly with the BFG while being assaulted by the other enemies around the invisible bridge, but I opted for a slow strategy of rocketing and shotgunning it while peeking out of cover, and that wasn't too hard. The bridge near the end with the chaingunner and revenant ambush actually gave me more trouble, not least of which was because the surrounding pits are inescapable.

 

MAP04 - Caged

The co-op additions for this map are more subtle than in maps 01 and 03 - nothing dramatic like a spider mastermind or cyberdemon (though there are two arch-viles compared to single-player's zero), just a bit more of everything. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, I had quite a bit of difficulty with this map. A couple extra cacodemons, pain elementals, and revenants are apparently enough to push this map from "tight but manageable" to a bona fide bloodbath for me. As in single player, the beginning is the toughest part. You can't waste any time running to where you want to go, but I always screw this up because every direction looks the same to me, especially with the screen tinted bright red from the pain.

 

By the way, @dobu gabu maru, the map list in your opening post has the wrong title for MAP15 - it should be "The Twilight".

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Map04: UV-Max in 4:19 (no Nightmare run for this one lol)
This map drops you off in a crossfire of several hitscanners, which should prompt you to run like hell and try to figure out what to do. With a decent route worked out, it's a lot of fun. About half the monsters wake up immediately, including a couple of pain elementals and many cacodemons, so no part of the map is really safe and you've always got something to shoot at. There are also multiple useful areas available at the start: the secret plasma gun, the yellow key (if you can slip past a wall of cacodemons), the switch that enables you to reach a mandatory switch later in the map (though this one can actually be skipped), and the stash of rockets (though the rocket launcher is behind the yellow door.) As a result, there are many routing options here.

 

pl04stuff.zip

 

 

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MAP 04: Caged, UV, Continuous

Caged is basically The abandoned mines, but much, much more difficult.  You activate the switch that allows you to access one of the teleports and once you step on that teleport, there's no going back. You teleport into an arena, ambushed from literally all sides by hitscanners and revenants. My best strategy is to run like hell(pun intended, come at me!) to the corridor with the large arrow in the sky. The casali's play a nasty trick in the next area by making chaingunners raise up and not attack you, stuck in an invisible container until a certain trigger is....triggered(great writing, Sil) . This area also nets you access to the plasma gun, if you're willing(and stubborn enough) to  strafe jump from platform to platform. Suffered four deaths in this area due to hitscanners, and infinitely tall actors( I have this on for.... reasons). Three(?) pain

elementals decide to spawn in and infight, making my attempt to kill them an unpleasant experience. The only other noteworthy trap is the room with platforms over a damaging floor with a switch at the far end, where barons spawn in. Fortunately, you're given enough  rockets to deal with them. I hate this map, yet the worst is yet to come....

I genuinely feel sympathy for all you pistol-starters.

Deaths: 9( I think I lost count, so....)

Kills: 100%

Secrets: 75%

Construction of Casali brothers voodoo doll: 85%

Premonitions of evil: 100%( actually that'd make a good WAD name.... nobody steal that!)

     

 

 

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vacations are over and so it's time to get back to work and my daily dose of DWMC, Plutonia here I come! HNTR, continuous, with saves aplenty. 

I've played Plutonia several times but I think I've never finished it before, so.. Let's go! 

 

MAP01 :  The infamous "surrounded by shotgunners" start.. By the time I reached the chaingunners I was out of ammo. Second run and third run, I run towards the chaingunners, die once and then on the third one I finally kill the chaingunners before they kill me. I kinda hate this level. Out of ammo, and dead again. Fourth attempt. This time I'll use one of the doors in the starting room, to try and grab me a shotgun, which I now remembered is how we should do this. Now, armed with shotgun and a blue armor, I can finally bring the pain to the chaingunners. Not wanting to face the mancubus or the revenant yet, I return to another side door. Entering the small warehouse, I now have an SSG as well. Into the sludge room to grab a rocket launcher. Arm it and get rid of the rev, then the manc. And then, into the cross shaped walkway. Quickly dispatch the rev, remove the pain elemental and his lost souls, grab the armor, press the switch, forget about the manc and get blasted.

 Restart before the rev+PE, be better prepared, RL the manc, grab the key. On the way back, enter the secret for shells and a tiny bit of health. Red key in hand, I go for the blue key. Press the switch, grab the key, remove even more chaingunners.

There, 8m51 seconds, 5 deaths, 100% K/I/S.

 

MAP02 : Pressing the switch makes the water drain. With some fast foot working I enter a niche and then fall down at my own speed. I then enter this corridor with several skull switches, and I die. Restarting I take the door instead, a revenant is there across a chasm. No path through here so I go back to the skulls, but instead of pressing the switches I climb some stairs, and I'm greeted by a blue armor, a revenant across another chasm and cacos.. And I'm stuck. Can't go back, can't go forward. Back to the skull corridor. First switch : two chaingunners from behind. Second switch : two HKs and several specters from behind. Third : a bunch of lost souls. Fourth : the ground falls. Oh and three chaingunners. And then, crush. Second try into it, I outrun the first crusher, barely survive the second and then fall into a water pool where some pinkies say hi. As I approach the stairs, a rev. Grab the yellow skull, go back to the start and get killed by a lost soul from behind. Go again, and die to the new skull switches trap. Again, and this time I went down the hole, activated the yellow swicth, grabbed the red key, and only then did I press the remaining skulls. Then, it's back to the chasm and the invisible bridge, and out of this godforsaken level.

7m52s, around 7 deaths, 100% K/I/S, although there are no secrets.

 

MAP03 : Instant death by toxic sludge. Next, going up for ammo (and armor). Going down, sludge is no longer toxic. Kill a manc, grab a chainsaw. Move on, grab the red key, get fried by an arch. Another go, this time I go by the other side, find a secret, tons of chainguners and revenants.. Oh gods, now I remember why I never finished this. A soulsphere that barely gets me over 100.. Again into the red key room.. Oh, an arch wasn't enough, there's also a baron. Because fuck you, that's why. Now, follow the path into a pair of vine hidden mancubi. And as soon as you kill them, a trap. 4 chaingunners and 2 revenats. Again, because fuck you. I'd like to remind the jury I'm playing on EASY. Oh, you though the 4 chaingunners + 2 revs was evil? How about a pair of PEs? 'cause they are coming too! Back to the red key.. Insta death to the arch. And again. Different approach, go through the other vine path and discover nothing but pain. Back to the AV. Finally got rid of him, and this time I saved after. Now, the invisible mancs, the chaingunners, revenants and PEs. 2 attempts later.. No, 3, I decide "fuck this" and run straight to the teleporter. And then die as soon as I return.. Yet another try, this time I killed everything.  Aaand, I'm missing the blue key. Back to the start, I guess? Oh, there's a path on the room above the lava floor. That I missed because everything is so.. equal. now, 2 deaths to chaingunners too far away to shoot at after, frustrated, I finally get rid of them, and the spiders, and the PE. On the other side, another PE and two more spiders.... Somehow, falling into the sludge I tricked the PE to come out and play with my SSG, so one thing less to worry about. Kill the spiders from the bridge, and finally I grab the blue key. On my way back I still manage to get ambushed by two chaingunners and killed one final time. Finally, blue door, grab the medkits and finish.

11m53s, 10 deaths, 100% K/I/S.

 

MAP 04 : So, we start on a sludge pool with 4 teleporters. Picking a random one I'm, brought to a room with a blue armor and a switch. From then on it's shooting at everything. And die. Then again. And again. Yeah, fuck it, not in the mood. Maybe later?

 

(so far, I'm not enjoying it, in fact I'm finding it frustrating, evil and annoying)

 

EDIT, back to MAP04 : damaging floor everywhere, found the yellow key and the secret blue armor. Found the secret soulsphere. Open the yellow door, press a switch and HKs. Killed them, and now what? Ah, I see. Totally un-intuitive. Same for what to do after the blue door. But I found the exit. Still one secret down.. It's the plasma gun.. Done.

 17m06 seconds, didn't count deaths but I guess it's about 5. 100% K/S/I.

 

so far, 45m44s of frustration. 

Edited by kalaeth

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2 hours ago, RonnieColeman said:

That pic looks great. Which palette is that?

 

It's Juno from Instadoom but it doesn't look that good. Download Coldpal from idgames and run Plutonia with Coldpal Lite - wonderful colors, waterfalls in map02 almost look lifelike.

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