The DWmegawad Club plays: Rowdy Rudy's Revenge! & Rowdy Rudy II: POWERTRIP!

[Endless]

14 minutes ago, Silhou3tte said:

As long as it’s not episode 4 and 5... for obvious reasons, namely I don’t want to play thy flesh consumed times two

On a scale from 1 to plutonia on UV, how difficult is it?

Way harder tha Plutonia. WAY HARDER. But awesome still.

[Catpho]

+++180 Minutes Pour Vivre

Yeah like Endless said it's pretty difficult, but only around the last dozen maps or so will start getting on your nerves. The French crew really love those polished modern hardcore sets, so slaughter is a common component in the last episode of their megawad. I think it should still be mostly an "advanced casual" (nicked the phrase from dew) mapset if you play on HMP or below tho, unless you've never played a slaughtermap in your life :)

[Roofi]

+++ 180 Minutes Pour Vivre. 

 

Yeah the last maps are long and hard but the great majority of maps are still very accessible for a regular doomer !

 

[Silhouette 03]

6 minutes ago, Endless said:

Way harder tha Plutonia. WAY HARDER. But awesome still.

You mean pour vivre? I physically cannot wait.
My obituary is going to say: died due to a burst blood vessel due to sheer rage.

By the by, congratulations on the Wadazine taking off. Really enjoy reading your analyses and suggestions on mapsets. I hope to eventually have something as good as those mapsets.

 

2 minutes ago, Catpho said:

+++180 Minutes Pour Vivre

Yeah like Endless said it's pretty difficult, but only around the last dozen maps or so will start getting on your nerves. The French crew really love those polished modern hardcore sets, so slaughter is a common component in the last episode of their megawad. I think it should still be mostly an "advanced casual" (nicked the phrase from dew) mapset if you play on HMP or below tho, unless you've never played a slaughtermap in your life :)

To all those who keep voting for extremely difficult Wads, Please stop voting.... It’s like you people enjoy my pain and misery ;)

 

Who knew the French were so hardcore.

 

[Catpho]

180mpv is not harder than your average skillsaw mapset if you play on lower difficulties, if that's what you were fearing :D

We were just giving a disclaimer for the "UV or Bust" crowd ;)

11 minutes ago, Silhou3tte said:

Who knew the French were so hardcore.

Yeah, but they also make good maps. They are my personal mapping idols :)

[Silhouette 03]

7 minutes ago, Catpho said:

We were just giving a disclaimer for the "UV or Bust" crowd ;)

I’m just really.... really... stubborn.

8 minutes ago, Catpho said:

Yeah, but they also make good maps. They are my personal mapping idols :)

My kind of people :)

[Biodegradable]

I appreciate you guys answering his question cos I myself had no idea what kind of difficulty curve Pour Vivre has only that it looks cool and beautiful and I saw Bridgeburner play a few maps in a stream and it didn't look too hard for me hehe. Fully expect some slaughter towards the end as that's to be expected with modern megaWADs. I'm stoked other folks wanna play it too. :^)

[Silhouette 03]

11 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

I appreciate you guys answering his question cos I myself had no idea what kind of difficulty curve Pour Vivre has only that it looks cool and beautiful and I saw Bridgeburner play a few maps in a stream and it didn't look too hard for me hehe. Fully expect some slaughter towards the end as that's to be expected with modern megaWADs. I'm stoked other folks wanna play it too. :^)

You playing it too? Cause misery( the fun kind) loves company ;)

[Biodegradable]

I'll be playing it regardless, but I'm hoping it'll get enough nominations so I can play it along with the club in March. I miss participating hehe the last few megaWADs haven't really piqued my interest.

[Silhouette 03]

Map 16: Grim sector

Inspired by E1M3 much?

 

If I had to point out a chief inspiration for this map it would be E1M3. The layout( of the first part of the map) has the unmistakable layout of my favorite map of episode 1. The layout splits off again in the map's midpoint, with the jungle theme taking center stage once again. The map has excellent detailing, with chunks missing from the walls littering the ground and vines hanging from the ceiling. The extreme difficulty of the previous map is also noticeably absent, despite the second most  irritating cyber-demon placement in the conversion, the first being in Map 12. Overall, a nice "breather" map.

 

The next map is definitely going to break me....

 

Silhouette's stats:

Kills: 100%

Secrets: 83%
Deaths: 5

Punishment meter^TM: 75%

Exhausted from keeping track of all these trademarked meters: YES

 

Map 17: Plutonic relations

The next map broke me...

 

One might make the case that this is one of the most difficult maps so far. An immediate hot-start and a revenant horde is my evidence. Relentless and Unflinching in it's sheer cruelty, you'll be taking on hordes of higher-tier enemies. The room with the doors that both open when one is opened is a prime example of evil, with hit-scanners as a starter of torment, revenants as a main of suffering, and mancubi as a devilish dessert.

 

You also fight 3 flying spider-demons during the course of this map, in two separate encounters. In was in the second encounter that I discovered that these spider-demons infight, making said fight much easier.

 

What are you waiting for? KILL ME NOW!

 

Silhouette's stats:

Kills:98%

Secrets: 0%

Deaths: 9

Willpower: 45%

Stubbornness: 95% 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gaspe]

MAP16: If the previous level is a nice showcase of modern mapping Grim Sector is on the opposite side offering a large sprawling adventure with an old-school feel. This is amplified also by the areas that have a distinct recall to the style of KDitD. I liked how the author didn't follow some of the conventions about the visuals even if some parts look a bit crude but there are cool details like when the base is ruined and with vines growning over the place. The gameplay was slow compared to the trend of fast action set in most of the other maps and makes this quite an oddball of the wad, with a mostly uneventful cleanup of rooms that tries to go for a more atmospheric approach. Some places are also just empty. There's also to say that you'll spend a good part of the map before finding the SSG or the PR, and the only RL is near the end of the level. The eastern part of the map from a techbase turns fully into labyrinth of caves where you can play cat and mouse with a cybie. I liked that sort of temple ruins that are in this part. The hunt for the secrets for very fun, I only missed the first green armor though.

 

MAP17: Doomkid wasn't afraid to go hard against the player in the first Rowdy Rudy and he didn't disappoint here. If the name wasn't clear enough the overall style and challenging combats geared to use few monsters but well is obviously insired by Plutonia even if my impression was to play something more in the vibes of early HR2 or an Alien Vendetta lite. I missed the secret BFG and at the last area I didn't go to explore the side corridor with the PR so I just sneaked past the spiderdemons distracted by the infighting to reach the exit.

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

+++FreeDoom Phase 1, let's try the free alternative!

[MtPain27]

MAP 13: Mutagen Plant

 

This is probably in my top three maps of the month so far, a Romeroesque techbase that melts into a rugged outdoor slugfest. For a Rowdy Rudy level there sure are a lot of enemies here, nearly 300. After you acquire the red key and hit its corresponding switch, you'll be swarmed by demonic forces from the outside, and map author Moustachio is kind enough to give you an invuln to deal with it. I played this map twice and had twice as much the second time when I threw caution to the winds and just blitzed through it with the powerup. The yellow key fight at the end fucking rocks: it's you versus two arch-viles and a teleporter that veritably gushes flamethrowers, revenants, and RPG guys, and you're on the clock, since the fight takes place over poison floor and the backup rad suit is pretty hard to snatch before clearing out the opposition. This is a winner.

 

MAP 14: Rumble in the Canyon

 

Holy shit, it may not be quite as tough as it looks owing to your surplus firepower, but Rumble in the Canyon is blistering. The first moment that will knock you back on your heels is when the walls lower, unleashing an ambush of revenants, pinkies, and two cyberdemons. You'll get your first BFG* (I think, I haven't found every secret) right before this...funny story: I totally missed it on first playthrough. That made the rest of the level...interesting.

 

I recommend darting past the wave of red, BFGing the arch-viles that try to stop and frisk you, and carefully picking your way around the big cavern area until the threat of imminent death subsides. That room can get a little insane, especially if you didn't find the BFG and were forced to skirt past the AVs; they can ruin your day. Further on, you'll encounter another big room with a cyberdemon and a whole lot of peripheral mancubi and revenants, whom you'll want to get rid of as soon as possible. That room caps off with several more teleporting AVs, who will probably sting you once, but won't be able to do much damage if you know they're coming. Rumble in the Canyon is one of the prettiest Rudy maps I've played so far, an elegant blend of jungle landscapes and techbase elements, well lit, with some snazzy geometry. 

 

*Nice alpha BFG, Doomkid!

 

MAP 15: Jungle Hijinx

 

Kind of a deceptive title, as a good chunk of the level takes place outside of nature. The opening fight in the round is a master class in applied pressure, the hitscanners and mancubi pushing you into a pack of pinkies, which push you back into the main room, where an arch-vile has appeared, and so on. I got out of there with about 4% health, but found redemption in the form of a secret soul sphere, which you acquire by interacting with a toilet in front of a lavafall with a dead pinkie in front of it. That sight belongs in a museum. 

 

When you step into the jungle, you can take an immediate right to hit a teleporter, which takes you to a megasphere. With all the flying and perched foes you'll probably be taking a lot of BS hits, and pistol starters should make sure to keep an eye on your ammo. I have to say I'm starting to grow a little weary of the constant cliffsides, narrow valleys, and troopers hiding in the bramble, though I got a big laugh out of the line at the coke machine in the secret waterfall cave. I'm not a big fan of the toxicaco/archie squeeze when you grab the plasma, and the final fight is a complete mess. I know you get a megasphere and BFG but holy hell, man. Cybers, arch-viles, a whole line of RPG guys, and a lot of other nonsense I didn't even bother to jot down. I couldn't figure out how to get the invuln, and I'll be scanning the thread after I post this for if anyone did, because I'd like to avenge myself one day. Jungle Hijinx is rough going, but we're getting near the end, so get used to it.

 

MAP 16: Grim Sector

 

Not sure what happened here. Grim Sector is an extended riff on E1M3 with Led Zeppelin playing in the background. It's incredibly slow and honestly not impressive after the pyrotechnics featured in most of the double-digit maps I've played thus far. The secrets are numerous but not essential; shimmy along a particular ledge in the caving section and you'll find the automap. Aside from the cheapo cyberdemon in the Slough-of-Despair-esque latter half, I hardly broke a sweat. I think this map could have been walked back a few slots or pumped up just a bit. For ~25 mins of gameplay, the action was really thin, as if it were retrofitted minimally for Rudy inclusion. 

 

*My plan is to wrap up RR2 (MAP17-20) tomorrow and give my final thoughts. See you all then, and I look forward to reading through everybody's conclusions! Also, I don't know what it is, but I'm on board with +++ 180 Minutes Pour Vivre

[Omniarch]

I must say I am rather burned out. I don't think I'll be able to finish Powertrip! in time, especially since Feb is only a 28 day month. Sill, I'll try to share my thoughts on every map up to 13 along with my overall conclusion tomorrow. Sorry to all the mappers' whose stuff I missed out on, but there can be too much of a good thing, and Rudy is very much a good thing.

 

Also, +++ 180 Minutes Pour Vivre

 

I've never played any of the (in)famous French Doom community's output, so this'll be a first for me! Also, its just a collection of speedmaps. How hard could it possibly get... right? r-right guys??

 

...

 

I'm dead meat, aren't I?

[Dalish]

+++ 180 Minutes Pour Vivre seems like a good choice imho

[Silhouette 03]

Map 18: Drowning pits

Being chased by a relentless group of barons while exploring a massive flooded cave system was not how I thought my day would go, but here we are.

 

The barons at the start force you to run like hell and leap into the flooded area that is swarming with caco-lanterns. This is probably a sign of what is to come. The teleporting barons in tight areas are a similar situation, forcing the player to move and plan their actions very carefully. A lot of the traps in the map seem to follow this trend. While I admire this from a design perspective, I can't say I enjoy this type of trap. I don't enjoy claustrophobic areas while fighting high tier enemies. The map as a whole seems to be incredibly claustrophobic.

Can't say I enjoyed this one.

 

I love how every monster can be used in multiple contexts to screw me over. It's almost refreshing.

 

Silhouette's stats:

Kills: 100%

Secrets: 0%( I CHOSE to not find the map's only secret... so.. Ha)

Deaths: around 10

Claustrophobia meter^TM: 95%

Exhaustion meter^TM: 85%

 

 

 

 

[gaspe]

MAP18: What a hot start, barons  following you and fire cacos awating you on the pit below if you want to escape. I guess the idea is go immediately to grab the RL guarded by the chaingunners, even if I took it when everything was over because I opened my way in the nearby room which looked like a safer space to get a foothold to progress. The little cave maze is well designed because when you alert the psycho-imps you don't know from where they can come but if you just wait for the to come at the entrance you'll have an easier time to clean the remaining revs. Despite the very harsh first encounters the map becomes way more manageable in the last parts. Pretty cool the idea to having to flood that room to be able to reach the exit area.

 

MAP19: Despite the name it's a harder take on Dead Simple, and with wide arenas where mancubi and the arachnotrons (or better their equivalents on this wad) are as the 2 main groups of monsters. Coupled with revs, avs and a duo of cybers guarding the last key. It's pretty fun, and you can choose if tackling the monsters yourself or trying so set up some infighting.

[Aaaaaaaahhh!]

I've had a lot of fun following this playthrough. I'm not going to give a detailed critique of everything as I'm a bit late to the party, but I will say that I feel like the flame thrower dudes should explode like a barrel when they die. Will be lurking and playing with the club for the next  .wad. 

P.S.
Hi, I'm Aaaaaaaahhh!

[riderr3]

+++FreeDoom Phase 1

[Silhouette 03]

Welcome to the club and Doomworld,@Aaaaaaaahhh!! you'll be playing through 180 minutes pour vivre next month. Enjoy, man!

[MtPain27]

MAP 17: Plutonic Relations

 

Doomkid's sendoff map, Plutonic Relations is compact and feisty, starting with a revenant runaround, and quickly leading to your second major Flying Mastermind encounter...it won't be the last. The arch-vile placements are predictably nasty: I'd say if Rowdy Rudy learned one thing from Plutonia it was how to place a dastardly arch-vile. After slumming through the opening encounter, you'll drop into a drainage ditch and do battle with two more Flying Masterminds and their consortium, but by my reckoning, this fight really unmasked them. I had nothing but a bullet belt and few shotgun shells (minus the SSG) and I was able to stunlock them with the regular old chaingun and finish them with my auto shotgun. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. If you want to make the final fight even quicker, you can find the BFG behind a secret wall marked by a pair of green torches, but it's far from necessary. This map was a pretty good time; short, intense, and appropriately hard.

 

MAP 18: Drowning Pits

 

Here's a map I really wanted to like: I read a few posts from the folks above about the baron-pressured hot start, and decided to go at them a little differently. First I tried blasting through the shotgunners, turning around, and knocking out the barons before they closed in, but that was a no-go. Next, I spotted a few barrels by the balcony of plasma soldiers and thought, 'hey, I can take them out right away,' but that was a mistake, since they block the flame cacos from choking you when you enter the shotgunner hallway. The hitscanners opposite the plasma guys are a nuisance, and the elevators in that room which can provide an escape route (into more hitscanners) are entirely too slow. And then there's the revenant/imp/triple-fire-caco ambush by the water-lowering switch which, with a pack of pinkies, makes a Rudy sandwich of you...

 

I could keep going, but I didn't like Drowning Pits very much, so I don't think I will. This map doubled down on crampage, darkness, and gotcha traps, and I may not know exactly what Rowdy Rudy is all about, but I know it's not those three things.

 

MAP 19: Cyber Factory

 

Oh yeah. This map is the bomb. The choice of MIDI is perfect for the industrial atmosphere, and like Speed of Doom MAP 31, this is a mostly-mechanized monster map sprinkled with arch-viles and liberally stocked with rockets and cells. I love the decision to keep the monster count low, it propels you right into the final map refreshed and ready to go. Rudy rarely drags, but I think it never hurts to amp things up down the stretch with a short, explosive level like this one. 

 

They could have called this map "The Revenge of the Mini Mastermind": just look at all of them, stumbling around, infighting with all the mancubi and each other--how cute! You can use them to bother the mancubi by the yellow key, but they're so invested in killing each other I don't wonder why we haven't seen them in such numbers prior to this map. The final fling with the cyberdemons, revenants, and arch-viles is a blast, and overall, I'd say this map was considerably easier than a lot of the latter half, but I'm not complaining. 

 

MAP 20: Death God's Shrine

 

Despite "Master of Puppets" being a Doom MIDI match made in heaven, and the impressive monster count, I was a little disappointed by Death God's Shrine. It's the only Rudy map that approaches slaughter: you'll be felling something like 300 imps along with a healthy stock of revenants, whose numbers will undoubtedly be padded by the arch-viles that map author xdarkmasterx places every five feet or so. The room with the plasma rifle* is potentially the messiest in the map, followed closely by the double fisted death punch of imps and revenants (with an arch-vile chaperone) you meet behind the red door. 

 

The second half of the map is more of the same stuff that annoyed me about MAP 11: darkness and high arch-vile density, with the solution being "take out the rocket launcher and hold down the trigger...hopefully you won't eat too much splash damage." The last big fight (before the blue key) is pretty cool, I'll admit, blowing a hole through a pack of imps to evade the revenants collapsing around you, then looping around and finishing them off. There's an optional invuln that you have to fight pretty hard for: I actually got it after I'd already killed everything else in the map, so it's quite unnecessary, again. 

 

I'm really glad there's no Icon of Sin, but I don't know...I didn't expect the Rowdy Rudy saga to end with a flipped switch. A flipped switch and a big explosion, maybe? Ah well. 

 

*A giant flock of RPG guys and revenants

 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

Rowdy Rudy 2, both as a level set and a DeHackEd creation, decisively improves upon its predecessor. The weapons are the highlight: they're satisfying to use, and despite their completely foreign calibration (compared to Doom II), they feel neither overpowered nor underpowered against the new monster roster. The rifle is a genius addition and the auto shotgun is unbelievably effective, arguably better at stunlocking enemies than the chaingun, and I found myself preferring it over the SSG, whose fast reload I never really got used to. The reworked BFG is also great, but radically underused. I mean, we got a BFG in MAP 07 of RR1, and every map after that had one, but in RR2 it felt scarce and not terribly helpful except for in MAP 14. I'm bad at finding secrets, so maybe I could have taken advantage of it more, but the map that needed it most, MAP 20, decided to skip out on it for some reason. Hmph.

 

As for the monsters, I have a few notes. The psycho imps are a solid addition, even if they're a little redundant with the plasma guy in play, because of their sturdiness. They were the curveball enemy of the wad, I never had a go-to weapon for them, and they always took more hits and dished out more pain than I expected. The two caco varieties, I confess, became really infuriating by the end, especially the flame caco, he can get locked in an industrial freezer for all I care. Those citrus-y bastards* are too quick, sneaky, and dangerous to be used as much as they were, and that goes for both wads. I think the regular caco's lower damage balances out his mobility and relatively high HP, which is why giving the flame caco MORE health and damage doesn't make much sense to me: even with RR2's powered up weapons I hated dealing with them. Both arachnid enemies were a joke. There's exactly one instance where the Flying Mastermind bullied me in RR2 (MAP 12), and the mini-mes were downright hilarious: I couldn't take them seriously due to their small stature and weakness to the chaingun and shotgun. Last but not least, the RPG guy: I guess the Rowdy Rudy crew did a good job, because I hate him. He's ignorable in Lunatic, but a sonofabitch in these wads. 

 

These maps did frustrate me at times, but they're undeniably well made. The rugged jungles, techbases, temples, and occasional hellish encroachments are distinctly Rowdy Rudy: for a project with so many different authors (with a bit more than half as many maps as a regular megawad), it coalesces pretty well. I probably gave myself a harder time than necessary pistol starting every map, but if I hadn't, I'm guessing the experience would have been quite easy, so that's a score for this wad's accessibility. Rowdy Rudy 1 & 2 are worthy additions to anyone's wad library, and I'm happy to have gotten the time and proper motivation to play them!

 

I confess, though reviews didn't take much out of me on the daily, I completely understand the discomfort and mild panic of falling behind in the DWMegawad Club now that it's happened to me, and I have to hand it to everyone who's participated in these writeups. It takes a lot of dedication to post here more or less every day, no matter how much you like the wad(s) we're playing. Looking forward to the next one!

 

*Get it, they're lemons and limes!

[Omniarch]

Right, time for my end of the month wrap up!

 

While I did not finish Powertrip! in the allotted time, I can say with certainty that this wad deserves all the acclaim it has received. This is without a doubt one of the finest partial conversions out there, with meaningful, well thought out mechanical deviations from vanilla and a strong sense of identity independent of Doom, but still rooted in its action-schlock sensibilities (with just a dash of horror).

 

Doomkid has done great work here, creating this new universe and inviting a variety of talent to flesh it out, each leaving their mark on the whole. Well done to you all!

[Doritos420]

Sorry I'm a bit late to the party, based on all the positive feedback I'll have to try Rowdy Rudy I & II at a later date (along with Ray Mohawk).

 

Looking forward to 180 Minutes Pour Vivre with everyone, hopefully I can get through some of the later levels as I don't have too much experience with slaughter maps.

[NeedHealth]

Don't forget the 2 extra maps!

[DFF]

I've been slacking off, so i'm gonna machinegun through these maps. wish i could give longer reviews but i don't have the time
Map15: Jungle Hijinx by Aurelius
GZDoom | Kills: N/A | Secrets: N/A | Expert, Fast Monsters, Pistol Start

 

One of my favorite maps in terms of aesthetics in this WAD, very beautifully done. Combat here is very tight and rather hard. There is every monster under the sun all mixed into this very deadly jungle base. Everything is setup very well, however doing a pistol start on UV+fast monsters is too much, and I skipped the map (i already played it earlier so i wasn't as worried). the starting room is just too difficult as the SSG trap opens up so many high priority targets, and there are too many pinkies to deal with the arch-vile, who usually instantly attacks when the door opens and does not teleport. I had to rush down killing the mancs to escape, no ammo to kill them and go back for secrets. Then the jungle proved way too hard with how many different enemies are shooting you and with so little health. I did give this map at least 25+ attempts first.

Map16: Grim Sector by Doom_Dude
GZDoom | Kills: 94% | Secrets: 66% | Expert, Fast Monsters, Pistol Start

 

another great map that is rather large both in map size and in spacious design. Detailing here is simpler, akin to RRudy 1, but still very tasteful and there are many little set piece bits that make the map come alive. The first half of the map is rather health starved but was not too terrible. Secrets here are plentiful but many are difficult to find. All are creatively done and the ones I found were very pleasant to uncover. My only complaint from those is that the BFG secret was accessible after killing the cyberdemon, and there wasn't really a good opportunity to use it after getting it. Great map, love the alt-E1M3 design. the second half was a bit confusing but not bad.

[Walter confetti]

+++ Heretic

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

+++Heretic (second time I mention a wad)

[RottingZombie]

Got busy and took a few weeks off from Doom! Replaced my monitors and went on a pinball binge. Just got around to Map06 of first Rudy wad! Enjoyable map, even after getting cooked by a flame-o-demon. Will catch up on this excellent set now.

 

              K     I     S

Map01 - 100 100 100

Map02 - 100 100 100

Map03 - 100 085 050

Map04 - 100 100 100

Map05 - 100 096 075

Map06 - 100 090 000

[gaspe]

MAP20: Not the best midi version of Master of Puppets, it sounds weird in some parts. For the finale we get a slaughterish map with the rather standard way of alternating a hard setpiece with a calmer part. The thing that surprised me was the very tight ammo balance that is maybe too strict and I think that if you aren't careful you might find yourself with very low ammo. The first encounters don't give you great chances to cause infight to spare some ammo. I first went to unlock the secret invuln which will drain you most of the ammo you can find in the areas near the start. At least it was of a great help to clean the flooded cave. The RSK is the easiest of the fights and it can be solved with some good old circle strafe while letting the monsters infight. The YSK is the harder and it's only a matter to figure out the optimal strategy, though continuous players with a bfg and a good stack of ammo have more choices. I agree with MtPain27 that the ending itself is disappointing, it needed something with a better sense of accomplishment to give a proper closure to the wad.

[RottingZombie]

Damn, I think I spent most of map07 under 10% health. Some tough situations with flame meatballs and hitscanners attacking through windows while I'm trying to go through a door. I like the music, but it got a bit repetitive by the end of the level (I took around 10 minutes).

 

Rudy1 -   K     I     S

----------------------

Map01 - 100 100 100

Map02 - 100 100 100

Map03 - 100 085 050

Map04 - 100 100 100

Map05 - 100 096 075

Map06 - 100 090 000

Map07 - 099 100 050