The DWmegawad Club plays: Base Ganymede

[TheOrganGrinder]

E3M9

 

Brief and ferocious and probably more of the latter when approached as a standalone level from a pistol start, vs. finding the secret exit of E3M6 and coming here with a full arsenal and a fat backpack of ammunition.  I feel as though most of the damage I took here was self-inflicted through my own misjudgments, sitting on the starting platform and soaking up stray fireballs out of a sense that jumping down into the blood would expose me to more fire from unexpected quarters - "better the devil you know," which in this case was not necessarily true.  I think the brevity of this map is what sets it apart from the rest of the episode, since it's thematically quite consistent with the surrounding maps otherwise.  One regular level and a boss battle to go before we've wrapped things up.

[DuckReconMajor]

E3M9 - dsda-doom - skill 4 - rewind feature used

 

Probably the most hellish the theme has gotten. Quite fleshy.

This map's got some shotgun ammo, but overall is a great excuse to go on a long chaingun gallop. Lots of bullets around and a backpack to hoard even more. Secret rocket launcher (which I missed) notwithstanding. 

There's yet again a part (behind the yellow door) that would've felt right at home in Sigil. I joked about it earlier but I wonder if it's just a Doom 1 thing. Or did Romero have good influences?

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Book Lord]

I've fallen behind because I am on vacation... but will continue posting my reviews from the mountains, at a slower pace.

 

E3M6

Doomsday Engine, UV-Fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

I associate this slot with the archetypal sandbox map, Mt. Erebus, one of my favourites from Ultimate Doom. E3M6 of Base Ganymede cannot differ more from that design: it was small in size, very linear in its progression, and most action took place in confined spaces. Continuous play did not require rushing forward into the hitscanners to pick up the chaingun and ammo at the start. It allowed for a more cautious approach, so I relaxedly cleansed the area from hellspawn and contextually I was able to locate both the exit, demanding a RSK, and the secret exit, which required further actions to be unlocked. It was easy to find the YSK in its good-looking but not so dangerous room. The highlights were two monster closets by the entrance and a winding staircase, whose elevation effectively concealed some Lost Souls.

Spoiler

There was only one other direction, and I promptly went that way. Some flying monsters ambushed me from behind a fake wall, concealing a non-secret berserk pack dropped in scorching lava. In the next tiny room, the key found its use for rising yellow bars and bringing me before a switch, whose function was to open the door and release an easily camped Baron of Hell. The next spooky cavern was very dark and held the hardest encounters of the level.

Spoiler

Firstly, the entrance was at an unfavourable angle and every monster saw me before I could turn, forcing me to retreat and perform inefficient moves. I had to kill Cacodemons before they began infighting with Imps, the latter shooting from a cliff behind a lava pool. The RSK was shining bright up there, but taking it triggered the inevitable teleport of 3 ½ dozen of Imps. I did not survive the first time due to bad movement and use of chaingun. This attack justified higher firepower for sure. On the way back, a detour had been foreseen with plenty of monsters to kill, including a tetrarchy of Barons.

Spoiler

Once the last hooved bodybuilder bit the dust, there was nothing left except leaving through the exit. Hey, but which one? Something was still missing, so I made a quick tour and tried to uncover the mystery. This time, the gargoyle face behind the Baron foursome gave me a clue, which along with sixth sense led me to a secret closet and to the unveiling of the secret exit. I jumped into the fleshy pit with both fear and anticipation, hoping to finally get a secret level that was worth the visit. Episode 3 subverted some habitudes of the previous two, so maybe this is going to be a nice one. As for this map, it was a competent graphic and design exercise, but not the most fulfilling in the gameplay department. It was entertaining but not memorable: sometimes it was brilliant, sometimes if felt unassuming. In my opinion, it was one of the less convincing entries of the episode, being too small and short to make a lasting impression.

Spoiler

 

[Book Lord]

E3M9

Doomsday Engine, UV-Fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

What will be my reward for finding the secret level of episode 3? But of course, a hot start in a room chock-full of Imps shooting as there was no tomorrow, Demons roaming under my feet and Lost Souls ready to dart at my face from the very first tic! I scrambled to get out of that disgraceful mess as soon as possible, securing a relatively safe spot by the yellow door, just to find out that Khorus did not intend my life to be that easy. Two closets opened and more Imps and a Sergeant chewed up another morsel of my plummeting health. When the storm calmed down, I looked at the unreachable chaingun and ammo on a ledge, behind my back at the start, and asked myself the reason of that item placement. Punish pistol starters daring to IDCLEV to the secret map? They can just pistol-restart it at any time! Definitely a nice way to introduce the secret level.

Spoiler

Visually most of the panorama was of the flesh and gore type, a pattern seen many times in Base Ganymede. There were unique details like the out of place marble inserts and the thin carvings, like the “U” glowing rune and a red hot “S” near the door. The “things to see” ended pretty much here though. What really stroke me was the criminal attack to my health, that nothing in this veritable demonic rectum was about to restore. Only a Stimpack and a handful of Armour Bonuses were available to mend the grievous wounds, but why not use them as bait and teleport some more Imps, just in case the damage done was not enough? The YSK was not far, protected by clumsy former humans and harmless Lost Souls behind a corner.

Spoiler

Beyond the door lay an ordinary wood & lava chamber with Demons, Imps and Shotgun Guys looking for more cheap damage. I reached the unmarked teleporter at the end of the caged ledge, and the exit was soon within reach, in the depths of FIREBLU. So, was that really it? No, there was a hidden rocket launcher, a weapon whose only purpose at that point could be rocketing yourself against a wall, as a punishment for your obsession with secrets.

Spoiler

Maybe uncovering this secluded place was a bad idea. With this last entry, the author clearly proved he has never cared for secret levels, and for secrets as a part of Doom gameplay. He squeezed them in the WAD because he had to, then showed little care for them. Secrets were exceedingly difficult to find and often not rewarding at all. It was like Khorus wanted to punish players for ever thinking that secrets should exist. The same with this map, basically a cramped hellish level with fodder enemies to mow down with rudimentary weapons. Was this nonsense worth the waste of another combat armour to that crazy hot start, and the subsequent concern of starting E2M7 with a measly 27% health? Of course not. Enough with the rant, it is too late to say I will never play a secret level by the same author again. Let us see if I can survive the next map in this condition.

[LadyMistDragon]

E3M9 - Flesh Cave

 

A short and breezy underground map, this is the 3rd map in a row where I didn't even come close to dying. The three Lost Souls in the opening room were less of a threat than I thought, and the Imps in the side alcoves and demons on the floor were largely avoided. You'll probably want to look to your left for the chaingun, otherwise, it'll be a bit before you can pick up a shotgun and survival is probably not guaranteed.

 

Not like it matters very much though. This map has possibly the smallest monster count of any map thus far, is not the easiest. The flesh walls of the tunnels really add ambience. The red line to the left of the yellow key door was a nice touch, especially as there are nothing but wood textures in the next, and possibly hardest section. A teleporter at the end takes you to the flesh chamber with a shotgun, where the bars in front of the exit chamber have lowered.

 

This....kind of fits as a secret map, but the difficulty might be lacking a little.

Normally, I would wait to nominate because one generally ends with better results that way. However, it's been getting some rave attention lately so I'm putting forward +++ DBP 37: AUGER; ZENITH. Quite possibly among the best-received DBPs yet, and that's taking in the ever-beloved Evil Egypt. Since that only comes to twenty-two maps however, I'll just take off my second choices for now (and it isn't DBK, however good that is).

Edited July 26, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[dei_eldren]

E3M7 - Broken Bodies in Death Rock Dance Hall (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 100% (146/146), I 100% (8/8), S 100% (1/1), T ~13:00, D 0 - Rough start, with Demons, Imps and Lost Souls, but at least with my luxurious 1% health i'm still alive to witness it!  There is one medikit in the room, so many thanks for that to the author.  All the weapons, sans BFG, seem to be on offer for pistol starters, but luckily i am carrying that one, evening the scores a little bit vis-a-vis my failing health, and soon the first hurdle to reach the final boss-level, which i am awaiting for with some trepiditation, has been overcome.  The killcount is not massive, but neither is it trifling.

 

The task is again to collect all the keys to open the path forward, but this time it doesn't have the feel of Paths of Wretchedness, while the sections are not similar, but varying aesthetic styles, again brought beautifully together as is Khorus' wont, they all feel part of the same overall structure.  Monster ambushes are only becoming stronger, and reflexes are again tested, as you don't wanna get caught in the middle of them, but it's interesting how Khorus has all but abandoned the use of unfair tactics in Episode 3, a wholly welcome improvement over what was earlier.  i still haven't got over the true evil of E1M5 - the Nukage Garden.  There's much more Barons on this level on HNTR than before, and also a good amount of Cacodemons.  All is challenging, but very manageable with half-competent play.  A Spider Mastermind also came to the help of her minions, but with enough plasma presented no lethal threat.  i do wonder how this level is on pistol start, but on the other hand, i do like to be rewarded for nonwasteful play, too, so if i were overpowered slightly, i'm not complaining and i'll take it

i must also mention the rare Soul Sphere Khorus blesses us with on this level, i would have likely been done without it, at least not able to survive without deaths on a blind run, as well as the Mega Armour gained outside near the switch that opens the teleport to access to the BFG (so it was here after all, just later) with the RK.  The little outside area for some reason was my favourite part of the map, i can't exactly say why, but i liked the bloody soil, the marble terrain, combined with the architecture and the classic run across standing metal beams to the switch, and the resultant ambush.

 

Which isn't to say i didn't like everything about this level - i did.  Except for the secret, it made no sense to me to press the wall to open another part, and i can't even remember what it yielded, but it wasn't anything memorable.  A funny stimpack to reward the player for victory on his way towards the finale... i think it's his sense of humor :D  So far, this whole episode has largely been a winner for me, and nearly washes away the bad taste left by few poor decisions in earlier levels.  i hope that the ultimate level will not disappoint...  here's going there!  4.5/5! 

 

The name.. i realize now too late that i should've named all the hell-maps with lines from songs of Misfits and Samhain (and a good few of them could've been from All Hell Breaks Loose, and at least one from London Dungeon).  i was just looking at the considerable carnage of the last room at the end and that line came to my mind.

 

No demo this time, thanks to all who bothered to check my demos out! 

 

Spoiler

Edited July 25, 2021 by dei_eldren

[TJG1289]

Alright, I've got my three nominations:

+++ KINDa - I kinda (pun intended) forgot about this WAD after I nominated it last month so I still need to play it. Again, it got some good reactions in its thread, and at the very least Doomkid nominated it for a Cacoward, so there's gotta be some quality to it.

 

+++ Zone 400 - Newly released sequel to PCorf's Zone 300 is getting a lot of praise as well. Only 400 lines in a level, so I figure that means we'll get some nice short levels. Perfect for people playing a level a day and who have busy lives

 

+++ DBP37: Auger; Zenith - I've already threatened to write a 21-page thesis about why I love this WAD so much, so this would give me an excuse to talk in-depth about each level. We all know the rave reviews this one has been getting, and I would love an excuse to replay it. It's only 21 levels, so to add to that we could do another DBP like Luminous Gloom, or something else like the first DBK: Dungeon Synths. 

[TJG1289]

E3M6

(UV/Continuous/Saves)

100% kills and secrets

Time: I forgot to look before leaving the intermission screen

 

Got a red marble hell level here that seems rather easy. It appears to me that the episode is getting easier as we go on, which could be due to the fact that we have all the big guns now. This level also is under 200 enemies and has no boss monsters either. It's a pretty linear level. The yellow key room is pretty big, but there's not much in it, and nothing teleports in when you grab the key either. No challenge grabbing that key here, plus there's a rocket launcher here too which is nice. Lowering the yellow bars nets you a plasma and a switch opening the door ahead and revealing a baron in the column in the room here. It's like they knew I just picked up a fresh plasma and needed to make sure it wasn't faulty. The red key room is also big with not a ton in it, but at least there's a decent amount of cacos to apply pressure, and grabbing said key unleashes a lot of imps. And zombies. And a new path with shotgunners and barons. Rocket and plasma them, and don't forget to find the secret in the red key room to hit a switch allowing access to the secret level. Decent level

 

E3M9

100% kills and secrets

Time: 3:16

 

Well that was short. We got a mostly flesh-textured level that doesn't feature anything stronger than a pinkie here. At least we have a hot start here, which is something that hasn't been seen in a while. Grab the chaingun and unleash lead. By the time everything in this room is dead, you'll have already killed about 2/5 of the demons in this level. The fleshy path to the yellow skull will feature some imps teleporting behind you, some zombies standing around, and some lost souls guarding the key. Behind the yellow door is a room with sniping imps and some pinkies (plus the lone secret, an unneeded RL). By the time you jump into the teleporter at the end of this path, you're back in the path leading to the yellow skull, with the exit opened up. Again, that was short. Starts out strong, but immediately peters out after.

[cannonball]

E3M9 - Short, violent, but otherwise very easy. I mean it is quite a fun map but not exactly something you would remember after an hour or so. However compared to the other secret maps, this was probably the best effort.

[Endless]

Time to catch up!

 

E3M4 | UV Continous | Played on GZDoom & DOOM Retro

 

Large and complex. We return this time to the classic tech-base. A bit of a break in terms of overall visual consistency, but the design and layout make up for it. Like the previous level, we need the three keys to advance and this time the linearity is up to us. Multiple paths to take and all free, that is, we can go first by the blue, or the red, or the yellow; we choose the path. I love this approach to progress, it creates a great sense of progression and allows us to explore the map fully, as well as giving it a certain replayability quality. A fantastic style that combined with an excellent design and a pretty fiery gameplay creates an intense map that is longer but always constant. The fun is maintained at all times and the gameplay pushes us to be more careful while improving our reflexes. Khorus is a master at creating this sense of progression, something I really love.

 

E3M5 | UV Continous | Played on GZDoom & DOOM Retro

 

A bit of gothic hell with nice fortresses to complement. A good visual style complements a much shorter map that takes us along a simple linear path without major complications. Oceans of enemies in multitude and a few traps in each area. The map is quite simple both graphically and in layout. The gameplay reminds me more of the early maps; tight and steady, with action always in motion and offering more than enough freedom to fight gloriously. Not bad, but I think what I enjoyed most about this map is the final battle; we unexpectedly teleport to a great void, like a giant cavern in the darkness or a lost temple in an unknown void. Multiple demons led by a Cyberdemon make for a cool, well-designed battle that I really enjoyed. Fun and a different ending, not bad at all.

 

E3M6 | UV Continous | Played on GZDoom & DOOM Retro

 

A small map with a progression in snail shape, a quite understandable layout and in on its entirety linear. With a more intense combat system but at the same time a little simpler compared to other maps; this map does not make greater use of traps and the combat is established as we progress and we encounter different enemies along the way. Of course, teleporters with demons are always present, but they are not as abused as other times. On the other hand, ammo and items tend to be a bit more plentiful here, especially plasma ammo which we can use to do wonders for the previous enemies. The visuals, in turn, go hand in hand with the style of gameplay. They are simple, modest and simple in their architecture, but well established and with a solid work of consistency, giving it more than enough flavor to be enjoyed by the eye. It reminds me, personally, of those great maps in the late 90s and early 2000s. A clean, but simple style. Is not the best, but hey, this still is pretty fun.

 

E3M7 | UV Continous | GZDoom & DOOM Retro

 

Hot and a little more complex than the previous map. While the previous time we had to go for only one key, now we have to go for all of them and in a concrete way established on the basis of steps. The path is, practically, straight in all its function, but the speed of combat and varied encounters make it feel fun and engaging. The space is larger and now we are in a lighter environment to move in full, compared to other maps more tightly packed, here we have attractive and fun combat arenas, as well as a final scene proto-slaughter with interesting combat. The visuals are solid and attractive and combine well the interiors with a bit of exterioes, offering more height and at the same time a bit of depth. Not bad.

 

E3M9 | UV Continous | GZDoom & DOOM Retro

 

It is secret alright, but isn't as special as you might think. A simple map that kind of feels lazy at times. The design is very modest and the combat is super easy, flows with little problems and feels just okey-ish. Nothing out of the ordinary and it's a bit dull, but hey, at least is fun.

[Book Lord]

E3M7

Doomsday Engine, UV-Fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

Courtesy of the detrimental visit to the secret level, the hot start gave me some trouble. The large room contained a Baron, several Imps, a swarm of dashing Lost Souls and Pinkies running like cheetahs on steroids, instead of grazing peacefully as on regular UV. At least there was enough ammo, but the health stinginess was meant to last for a good third of E3M7. The column at the centre had 3 switches blocked by coloured bars, instantly giving away the hub-and-spoke concept. YSK was near but seemed inaccessible for now (it was not), so I went for the elevator in the north-east.

Spoiler

A Cacodemon assembly set the fireworks in the red stone area on the top, but I had readied my plasma gun and they were no match for it. At such low health, I was dying repeatedly for unknown reasons. I noticed that a lonely Sergeant was taking pot shots at me from a ledge, so I had to take care of him first. This crimson-cladded zone was the theatre of a teleport ambush, which I placidly camped from a narrow passage, then continued outside with dozens of Imps and flying monsters tried to surprise me by suddenly attacking from concealed positions. I liked the use of the environment in the outdoor area, although it would have been better with additional Cacodemons and less fodder.

Spoiler

I have grasped the meaning of Soul Sphere freebies in this WAD, so I collected BSK and returned to the hub, knowing that a Spider Mastermind was around. The switch pillar was an effective cover but reaching the opposite side under the boss’ gunfire instantly vaporised my excess health. She stood no chance after that and I finished her off with the single shotgun.

Spoiler

The blue switch revealed a new branch in the north-west, leading to a round wooden chamber with an alluring BFG sitting with RSK on a pillar. After a lot of incidental combat, I saw a switch on a ledge in the corner of a blood pond. A second switch opened the way to that ledge, but it featured a Spectre teleporting right behind the player. I do not like these traps because you cannot do anything on -fast, especially in Doom where you have no SSG as the default equipped weapon. Only plasma could save me from being ripped apart (after dying first time). The following teleport around the pool was predictable and easy to handle, thanks to a free megaarmour. I eventually snatched both the key and the BFG and went back to the hub.

Spoiler

A big, BFG-oriented ambush was out of question at this point. It exploited the same interesting trick as the single Cacodemon in E3M5, with a fast lift prompting the appearance of a host of assorted enemies, including many Barons of Hell. I handled the situation by circle-strafing around them and tossing big balls of plasma, but the movements of Lost Souls and monsters coming late to the party confused me a lot, so I won at a high cost. I replayed the encounter taking a more cautious approach, and I found that retreating in the NW tunnel was a lot safer. This is what UV -fast forces to do sometimes, while maps are still unknown, and a single mistake has severe consequences.

Spoiler

I was mystified when the RSK switch opened a path… that was closed. I remembered the YSK upstairs and moved there, triggering the monster closet that I thankfully missed on my first visit. Picking up the key set up a third teleport wave in the hub room, which was a bit unthreatening at this stage. This was a nice entry, working as expected from a last level. I only think it should have received a full-fledged third section in the south-west, leaving the big ambush as a memorable final showdown.

[Thrustpeak]

UV | Continuous w/ Saves | Crispy Doom 

 

E3M7

Once again three separate paths to trek down for a key of each color with every return to the central room having a new encounter waiting. The spider-mastermind was easily dispatched with BFG, and for the big slaughter-liteish brawl at the end I got them all to infighting to thin the herd before finishing off survivors. More challenging than the previous 2 maps, but it still feels like less of a challenge than has been seen elsewhere in the wad. While I expected to see an increase in frequency, teleporting demons and evil placement of monster closets has felt strangely absent in the latter half of this episode. For the prelude to the finale I would have expected to have everything this wad has taught us—first and foremost being check your back—be tested, but it feels like this maps placement could be swapped with any other in this episode (or even with latter maps of previous episodes) and it would not feel out of place. It was a fun map that I enjoyed playing, but as the penultimate challenge it felt a bit lacking. 

[Thrustpeak]

My votes for next month: 

 

+++DBP37: AUGER;ZENITH - lots of positive buzz, and—having played the first map—I feel like I can get a sense of why. The cyberpunk aesthetic alone has me sold. I'll probably play this whether it's chosen or not, but—seeing a few votes for it already—it feels like it will have a pretty good shot. Only 21 maps so my next 2 nominations will be on the shorter side to serve as potential supplements should it win. 

 

+++DBK01: Dungeon Synths - Another fairly recent release from DBP veterans that's smaller map total would make it a perfect accompaniment for DBP37

 

+++Arrival - Might as well keep with the 2021 trend and nominate a 3rd release from this year. Similar in length to Dungeon Synths, I believe this would also work well to go along with AUGER;ZENITH.

 

[Doritos420]

I'll post my vote now. I'm a bit burnt out on vanilla doom textures after Doom Zero, Bourgeois Megawad and Base Ganymede back to back.

 

+++ DBP37: AUGER;ZENITH - The cyberpunk asthetic looks cool. Feels like a nice change of scenery 

 

+++ DBK01: Dungeon Synths - To pair with DBP37. Never heard of it before @Thrustpeak mentioned it. Looks pretty fun and whacky. Feels like a good contrast for DBP37.

 

+++ Zone 400. This Summer has been super busy for me so some short maps would be welcome.

[Doritos420]

E3M9 - Embracing the Flesh

Spoiler

Another relatively short action packed level. Very fun little hot start. Totally missed the secret rocket launcher on this one. Not much to say about this map really, doesn’t really stand out to me (besides the fleshy textures). Feels a lot like a continuation of the previous map to be honest. Fine stuff, just wish there was a bit more to it with it being a secret map and all.

 

E3M7 - Monument

Spoiler

I played this one pretty late at night so my brain is a bit fried. Not a bad level, but I feel a lot of the hell levels tend to feel a bit samey (that could just be me though). Also it was surprisingly easy for a penultimate level. I liked the hot start and then the last arena fight in the same area with the newly acquired BFG. Somehow found the secret with ease though I can see it stumping someone. Also the caco ambush after you take the elevator was intense.

[TheOrganGrinder]

E3M7

 

This is a pretty classic hubspoke map, with two spokes (blue and yellow) accessible at the start of the map, and the red spoke opening up once the blue key has been retrieved and used; you've got some freedom to pick your order of progression, but given the increasing scale and difficulty of the encounters, yellow seems intended to be played before blue and red.  The central hub is well-used as the site of multiple battles over the course of your progression through the level, against foes ranging from the usual rabble of imps, lost souls, and shotgun sergeants up through Barons of Hell to the Spider Mastermind herself.  You're well-supplied with cells and (eventually) a BFG to make fittingly short work of such foes; on continuous play you may be able to one-shot the Spider Mastermind with a BFG carried over from an earlier map, but from a pistol start you'll probably want to dash past her and pick up the BFG in the red spoke of the map, a task made less painful on Hurt Me Plenty and lower by the invisibility sphere located by the blue skull key.  The combat is a bit too intense for the creepy music track to really contribute to an atmosphere of horror and gloom, so instead it creates more of a sense of tension and anticipation for what's to come on the following and final map of the WAD.

[cannonball]

E3M7 - A rather lackluster penultimate map. The yellow key is clearly encourage to be taken first, there is a rocket launcher sort of hidden that I missed, however I got the blue key without it, which is somewhat telling given how useful the rockets would have been. In all honest the initial ride to the blue key area is probably the most troublesome location as monsters can quickly get the jump on you. The mastermind placement is okay I used the remaining barons at the start to infight with her. The worst fight probably involves the red key area, the switch that unlocks the red key and BFG releases monsters that can be neutralised by standing in the blood pit below. The end fight was a bit meh, it could have been executed better...

[dei_eldren]

E3M8 - the Final Triad (HNTR, continuous, blind) - This was a really good one for a boss-level, in fact it's one of the best ones i've played.  Quite traditional, with nice building up of tension before the first boss is met.  i died three times, once by Cyberdemon, once by the first Spiderdemon and once in the last room.  

 

Episode 3 - the best of the WAD, maybe also the easiest, but at least some of that is due to the fact that Khorus did no longer persist so much on teleporting enemies either to your face or behind you.  Properly considered, there is not a bad level here, there's just the baggage carried over from earlier ones that somewhat at first coloured my judgment (and it's not that the earlier levels were necessarily bad in themselves, either, just that some of Khorus' design choices or maybe his lack of attention marred the experience at some points - but a couple decisions were just obviously true evil.)

 

In conclusion - the WAD has both brilliant and poor design, which does not make it an average WAD because nothing evens out at any point, one just has to accept the bad with the good. Playing it gave me a lot of enjoyment, and some frustration, but all in good fun anyway, and if my words have been harsh at some points, it's because complaining can be fun, too :P  And even if i would not have had the endurance to play this outside of the Club, guess what?  It's actually going to be on my next top WADs list, when i update it someday, because there's an inherent quality apart from all the problems, and really, only one or two unforgivable spots.  And they don't actually matter that much.  A unique experience that didn't remind me gameplay-wise of anything else i've played - only in the best possible way some maps actually reminded me of (both visually and at times even in gameplay) Si666il!

 

Thanks to all who wrote reviews and/or made videos,and thanks to all who read/watched my stuff - i had a blast with the Club!  i hope to be here again for the next one, but somewhat depending on whether or not i think i can play what's going to be selected!  If it's something that i really feel is beyond my skill-level, i'll be back on 25th of August to cast my vote again - but i'll do my best.

[Book Lord]

E3M8

Doomsday Engine, UV-Fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

E1M8 put the Spiderdemon in the middle of a platforming arena of death, then E2M8 used teleport shenanigans to transform usually immobile Cyberdemons into unpredictable and fleeting enemies. The author had not many options left for the boss of Episode 3, so he opted for a short thematic preamble. The first open area could be easily recognised as the exit of E3M1, but the Ganymede base had almost disappeared, nukage had been replaced by blood, and a varied mob was ready to assail incautious Doomguys trying to grab the available weaponry.

Spoiler

A bizarre intestine/tentacle passage, opening midway into a slime-filled cavern, connected the E3M1 dejà vu to another known section of the base, this time the warped YSK area from E3M2. The key was replaced by a BFG and the one-way staircase was surrounded by odd spine structures. Previous passages were clogged by organic growth and the nukage had been transformed into harmless blood. The combat was very ordinary throughout the intermediate part, leaving the time to recognise already seen places, until the hallway broadened a bit and a Cyberdemon came in sight. I was expecting a boss behind that corner, and I happily inundated him with plasma. On the contrary, I could NOT anticipate that the eye switch opened a closet with a Spiderdemon on the opposite side, instead of the nearby bars. Therefore, I was riddled with bullets. The introduction came soon to an end, with the most unremarkable gate pad leading to the endgame arena.

Spoiler

 

 

 

The only combination we did not see yet in Base Ganymede was a double Spider Mastermind encounter. Here they were, one on a platform behind the player, the other on a twin podium on the opposite side of a central tech column. The wisest thing one can do, almost impossible to think on a first run, is to not move at all. The only threat at the teleport destination is a squad of shotgunners, easily dispatched by a rocket or two. Imps will follow shortly. If you move around the column or try to pick up any of the ammo scattered around, closets will release more Imps and Barons. When this happens, you will be under Spiderdemon gunshots, with the situation already turned into a mess that BFG may not be quick enough to sort out.

Spoiler

You know I did exactly like that and struggled a lot with this boss fight, which had area denial by the Spiderdemons as a fundament. Khorus was accurate in his design: the bosses cannot infight and turn everything into a joke. Moreover, there are only two little spots where you can stay safe. Only a detail eluded his attention: a closet trigger line to separate the player from the southern row of clips and from the Invulnerability (only on HMP and lower skills). As it is, there are several ways to turn the battle into an easy victory for Doomguy, starting from the second attempt though.

 

I found the first area with the corrupted E3 landmarks to be quite atmospheric. Probably the tour could have been stretched for some more and the teleport leading to the last area should have been given extra importance and effort. This was a suitable conclusion for the third episode, way more challenging and profound than Dis, but as in the last three maps Khorus did not go for the extra mile here.

[DuckReconMajor]

E3M7 - dsda-doom - skill 4 - rewind feature used

 

Wow we really get hit with the kitchen sink in this last normal level.

Another key hub level. I like the way this one progresses. And each time a new wave spawned in I was given just enough room to regroup a little.

The Blue key area was super cool. The outdoor ring path reaching toward the blue key on the other end I thought was very well done.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

E3M7 - Coruscating Factory

 

Hellish as they come, though largely indoors. After the last few maps, Khorus finally dials up the difficulty again, to the extent that while the enemy count remains below 200, what's there is used in a far more deadly and efficient manner(my health was below 50 for a bit). The start requires your immediate attention once again, but you'll get enough ammo for the plasma rifle and chaingun to handle the welcoming community. The central structure here contains the keys that you'll need to proceed If you want the rocket launcher and not leave it for half the map like me and wonder why I have no bullets whatsoever, the room concealed by vines off the first hallway you can access has one. The path to the blue key heads through red brick, with shotgunners placed sadistically enough in this section you'll really have to be careful. The Lost Souls at the other end of this area are not quite the threat they seem at first. The rocket launcher is obviously intended in part for the Imp group in the rock formation in the middle. This loops around to a platform with a Supercharge and the blue key, along with a switch that lowers the lift back to the central room. Before returning, you'll hear the mechanical whirring of the Spider Mastermind. She's not quite the easiest fight in the world, but it's still easy to duck behind pillars here. After pressing the switch behind the blue door, you'll enter into the final area, a largely darkened wood and marble cave area that isn't terribly challenging, despite the spectre that teleports behind you when you hit a certain switch. The ambush that occurs picking up the red key is not quite impressive. The one that happens when you return to the central room is though. Be glad that you were automatically teleported to the BFG just a minute earlier because this might just be among the hardest fights in the wad. I came out without dying, but it was close.

[Thrustpeak]

UV | Continuous w/ Saves | Crispy Doom 

 

E3M8 

Unlike the other episode closers this one was fairly straight forward. A quick trip down memory lane with earlier locales now corrupted by hell and then a fight featuring 2 spider masterminds. Not the most challenging finale, but I enjoyed it significantly more than the others. I kind of wish there was a few more nods to earlier maps (also maybe one more bigger fight before the final double spider showdown), but overall it was a positive note to end on. 

 

Despite my recurring nukage complaints, I had fun with this wad. I wish the difficulty had continued to ramp up—odd that episode 3 was possibly the easiest—but the maps were generally satisfying regardless. I enjoy short, fast-paced romps and a lot of these maps delivered on that. 

 

This was cool.

[FistMarine]

Hello everyone. I am sorry for not joining earlier but I've been burned off from so much vanilla Doom as of lately that I didn't feel like doing Base Ganymede immediately after I had done previously earlier this month (or was it previous month?), The Ultimate NMD (a 3-episode megawad for ultimate doom) and much like in case of Base Ganymede, the initial releases consisted of separate releases of E1 and E2 and then the whole trilogy (BGComp). I decided to do all 3 releases, including replaying the first two episodes on the whole release. So I did the same with Base Ganymede last week when I got around to doing this (which meant doing E1 & E2 twice) and yesterday I did the whole E3 and since E3 is fresh in memory, I will talk mostly about that episode but I will also try to not repeat what others said and finally, I will do a comparison between the two earlier releases and the final release, in case people are curious about the differences between the releases, which I noted down below.

 

I played on Chocolate Doom 3.0.1, keyboard only, UV continuous (with trying to get 100% everything in each level) with frequent saves. I only remember playing many years ago (in 2012 or so) the first 2-3 levels of first episode in ZDoom (back when it was my most used source port) and didn't remember anything more than just a few areas, so now I ended up playing through the whole thing mostly blind, with occasional peeking at YouTube videos, especially to see the secrets and maybe some parts I couldn't figure out. It felt refreshing at times but unfortunately there were quite a lot of issues that plagued the first two episodes and kinda dragged down the experience, which I will be talking about below.

 

Also I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself at times, I didn't have time to read all the pages, so I will try my best to just talk about the general experience I had with the wad and I also noticed the author was reading the comments of the topic, so I appreciate if Khorus gets to read all my thoughts about the megawad! Maybe there will be a new version in the future that fixes the issues that people have reported and maybe an E4 as well?

 

E1 overview:

Spoiler

E1M1

A nice opener. You start in a small room with a few zombiemen. You get to pick up 5 armor bonuses (which in the initial release, were scattered around in acid, while in final release they are all placed on top of each other) which provide you an early armor boost before you get the actual armor. When you arrive at next corridor, make sure to go to left, kill the few zombies/imps and grab the shotgun, you will need it! Open the big door quick (and hope you don't take acid damage or try at least to minimize the damage) and try killing those demons quickly and whatever other zombies/imps await you, then you can progress. I usually do this so that I don't get surrounded by monsters from the next areas because you don't have a safe place immediately and you can't stay too long in acid, plus health is scarce in general. Though I didn't have any problems with the health and I was at 100% or close to 100% health most of time, so don't worry about health, it's just about enough to keep you healthy! And make sure to grab the green armor as soon as possible, you will need it! There is a red key that activates a trap with imps but those are located in the next room, so I am not sure if it was meant to spawn them in same room you pick up the red key or just provide additional enemies to kill?

 

The level ends on the acid, so you must quickly traverse to the exit to avoid taking too much damage. I saved and tried crossing while picking up that stimpack but I had to also open the red bars, so it was difficult to time it perfectly to finish with 100% health as more often than not I would pick up the stimpack as soon as I took damage or miss it entirely, which meant finishing with 96% health. The good thing is the next level has a few stimpacks at start in case you are less than 100% health.

Also the initial release lacked the secret area entirely (which meant it was one of the levels that scored you 0% secrets at end of level in vanilla ports), in final version there is a secret that you have to activate when you reach the big room, press on that wall surrounded by lights, turn around and pick up some shells and a medkit from a small wall that opened.

 

E1M2

Continuing from where the first level ended, you must traverse an acid corridor and then reach a base full of zombies and imps and even some demons. You will notice that this level contains a few radiation suits, so use them wisely! You will also get the chaingun for first time. There is a single secret to be found in the updated version, press on the computer panel to lower and reveal a rocket launcher! The secret didn't exist in initial release.

Not much to say other than the level is fairly straightforward and if you use the radiation suits wisely, you shouldn't have any problems with the health, though I did make use of every health pickup when I played initial release, so I ended up with 88% health at end of level.

What's weird is I got 3 crashes in the UPDATED version, something about visplane overflows, which happened in main room at around the place where you find the armor. It's not the only level that crashed like that but I just found it weird, probably another instance of the wad being tested only in ZDoom ports.

 

E1M3

This map starts you under attack from a few zombies and imps, so take them out and carefully approach the next room. You will find another chaingun and lots of clips, so you know what weapon to use for a while. You will also find the first backpack a bit later, actually two backpacks!

There are a few interesting parts about the level, such as an ambush that reveals two spectres in front of you but ALSO one behind you! What I did was simply turn around and quickly run and kill that single spectre, then kill the others. These kind of traps are frequent in the wad especially later on but with being quick and having fast reflexes/reactions, you shouldn't have trouble to deal with these kind of traps, just take it slowly like I do and check corners, you will avoid a lot of damage that way instead of rushing and falling into the trap (hehe). So when doors start opening, try to run! Of course it doesn't always work but it's worth trying, I avoided a lot of nasty traps by just running and even killing an enemy that teleported in my face that tried to block me.

Anyway, other highlights of the level include two teleporting barons and horde of imps that happen later in level. I saved a berserk pack for the end of level just in case but since I was already at 100% or so health, I didn't any benefit but still it was appreciated, probably meant to punch all those imps/demons to conserve ammo but since melee fighting in vanilla Doom is risky, I decide to just use my weapons. There is a level in E2 that is berserk-only focused though...

Also there are some traps at end involving barons and other nasties (plus those spectres in acid that guard the radiation suits, I just killed from up there), they can be easily killed by grouping them together and using the rocket launcher. Just be careful to not have a lost soul flying in your face while this happens! :P

 

In the initial release, there was only one secret to be found (in the room with blue key and cacodemons), in final release there's three secrets to be found and those additional two secrets are related to the secret exit that was added! Ah yes, the initial releases of E1 and E2 didn't have any secret levels, so if you played the outdated versions, don't bother finding any secret levels because they weren't any! :P

 

E1M9

This map didn't seem too difficult, though it had a hot start and it's best to select your chaingun, run in circles and start firing and kill all those zombies quickly before you lose too much health! Later in level there are a few ambushes but nothing that really stops you, if you know how to deal with most situations, damage taken should be minimal. There is a single secret to be found which involves finding a teleporter in acid (make use of those two radiation suits that are provided) that gives you a rocket launcher. Then when you finish the level, you are given as a reward, a berserk pack, for getting all your health back! And of course make sure to grab the armor before exiting (if you saved it for end), so you have both health and armor at 100% to start the next level! Though now that I think of it, I don't think my armor had gotten below 100% as I rarely took damage, so that green armor went unused.

 

E1M4

This map doesn't have any secrets on either releases, so all you get is 0% secrets at end of level in vanilla ports.

As for the map, it was fine. Some good fights and you get the plasma rifle! Though you should save it for some problematic parts in following levels. I also recommend making careful use of the provided radiation suits, so use them wisely!

 

E1M5

The first map that contains BOTH a spider and a cyber! The map also contains almost 300 monsters, so be prepared for what awaits you! There are some devious traps at some points and you need to make usage of the radiation suits once again to minimize damage. You will get to fight a spider halfway through the map (on same area you get the plasma and some health bonuses) while some monsters teleport, so make sure to take cover when the spider starts firing at you and also focus on firing on those monsters too! Then near the end of map (after the yellow door), you get to fight many monsters if you go for that acid area to collect the radiation suit and other goodies, so put the plasma rifle to good use, though preferably not all the ammo as you will need it for the following part! Then when you reach the last room, try killing all those imps and shotgunners on ledges. As well as those demons. Collect all the ammo, press the switch and prepare yourself! A bunch of cacos AND the cyberdemon get unleashed! What I did was make most of the cacos infight with the cyber, as the rocket splash damage may have reached them and this helped me clear most of them and only focus on the cyber. Funnily enough, I handled the cyber fight much better on the initial version when it was a blind playthrough, I had dodged all the rockets correctly WHILE I was also getting attacked by one or two leftover cacos. In the updated version, I actually died once as I didn't dodge one rocket correctly, I just stopped while moving to dodge in opposite direction as the cyber probably started firing immediately after he fired the third rocket, so that fooled me and I died! Reloading the save and redoing the battle, then grabbing the red key and finishing the level.

Also the initial release had no secrets to be found but this time the updated release has a chaingun secret near beginning (with a semi-hidden switch in lower corner of the door) and at a later point, near a radiation suit, there is a platform you have to hop into to "collect" the secret and ammo clips/shells.

 

E1M6

Not much to say other than on the initial version I took damage at some parts and nearly died when the baron surprise teleported and hit me with a fireball that I failed to dodge, so my health was around 40% until I managed to recover with medkits. Didn't help that those cacodemons that got unleashed (from grabbing yellow key) have also hit me a few times, thanks to their infinite height and biting me from meters above me. In the updated version I still took some damage at beginning from those enemies from ledges and those two surprise shotgunners when opening that door, so I didn't get to have a break in this map, I had to spend time with like 50-60% health at times until later part in map.

 

Anyway to talk about the map, at one point it seems you may get locked (also that acid isn't damaging that you have to progress) and get teleported to a red cave with imps and such. Then you get to fight a cyberdemon! At least I handled the cyber in both versions much better by just circle strafing in the arena and I was able to never get hit. I recommend to try sniping those imps before stepping in the room, so you will have a much easier time with a single imp left alive or else they may block you and prevent you from dodging cyber rockets.

 

There are two secrets to find. One is a radiation suit present in the red cave, before you face the cyberdemon. This radsuit will help you move in lava and grab the plasma rifle! Then the second secret (which was added in updated version) is a berserk pack to be found in exit room with the cacodemon. There is an unmarked berserk + radiation suit secret located near where yellow key is found. Basically where some shotgun guys were found, so if you are low on health, now it's the best time to grab that berserk pack to refill your health.

 

E1M7

Once again another map that has no secrets in both versions. However the map is quite action packed with nearly 150 monsters, though thankfully not very difficult at times. To me the standout encounter was when you reach that part with those buggy switches (that only sometimes work) and raise that lift to put you in an arena with many imps, demons and lost souls. I had to shoot the lift a few times in order to activate, so I'm not sure what's that about because sometimes I would shoot and nothing happened. The way I handled the last room was killing all those barons earlier slowly and carefully, then finally grabbing all the goodies and preparing plasma to kill the SPIDER that gets teleported. And then the last spectres. Unfortunately there is a death exit and that means you start the next level with just the pistol! I wonder what the next level could be?

 

E1M8

To be honest, I really didn't enjoy this map. In fact, I could say it fucking sucked! I died 5 times in the initial release AFTER I consulted an YouTube video just to see what's that about. Didn't help that the initial release had THREE spectres and an imp (the imp I just sniped with my pistol from starting area), while the final release had 3 imps and a demon, so at least the final release is much easier but the map still sucks and I hated it due to lack of supplies besides a shotgun at beginning and two stimpacks (and a medkit) scattered at some points! I still managed to die once to the spider in the final release at part where you get teleported around its cage but knowing what to do in the map made it a lot less painful to retry (even with saves) and the map was at least slightly better balanced.

 

All you have to do is just run to the bars and avoid the crusher (that got me once in first attempt and reduced my health to 40%, which meant I had no chance to survive), go to teleporter, then run to kill demons/imps or whatever, activate the lift, hide from the spider firing at you, shoot a switch from far away (painful at low resolution when playing in chocolate doom) and carefully platform to the teleporter while you are being shot by the spider! In the initial release I made it with 11% health on 6th attempt, while on updated version I did it with 38% health on second attempt. VERY ANNOYING MAP! Probably the lowest point in the megawad and I'm not afraid to say that I absolutely fucking hated this map and ruined the experience of the first episode! Instead of an epic finale after the solid E1M7, we get this shit!

 

E1 overall: Good for the most part, besides the final map. My favorite maps were probably E1M9 (which was added in BGComp), E1M4 and E1M7.

E2 overview:

Spoiler

E2M1

This map starts you under attack from a few imps on ledges and you must be quick, so kill those two zombiemen and go to left, kill more zombies and clear the next room. In the initial release I actually killed those imps on ledges at beginning with pistol but this costed me about half of health (maybe a bit more), so it's not recommended, just kill the zombies and run to left as I did on the updated version. Eventually you get the chainsaw that is absolutely required to cut those demons down. Then carefully progress and kill those imps and shotgun guys, shoot those switches, activate the main switch on bridge and prepare to cut more demons/spectres. Go back outside and you will notice the shotgun is now available! But wait! Now you get two demons teleporting AND some shotgunners unleashed, so kill them quick and grab the much needed armor and a stimpack! You will notice when you return to beginning area, more monsters have appeared, so take them down. Also when you approach the right side, some cacos will get unleashed, as well as a surprise spectre, so run back while shooting at the spectre and hide behind the door, to minimize damage, though this approach is a bit slow. Also grab the radiation suits down below if you want. The map is not over yet, so proceed carefully. Also kill those teleporting shotgunners on ledges near exit.

The map has no secrets in both versions.

 

E2M2

Once again, you start under attack from various monsters, so make sure you have the shotgun selected and time to kick some ass. Eventually you will get the chaingun and things get a bit more faster paced.

I don't have much to say about this map, it was fine, though I really hated how it crashed Chocolate Doom few times at the near beginning part where the green armor is found. It only happened on the complete version and besides the visplane overflow error, one time it simply froze and seconds later it said that chocolate doom exe has stopped working. No idea what was up with that but I really hate when a vanilla compatible wad gets mostly tested in ZDoom, even though I'm not a fan of having to put up with vanilla limitations (low resolution, infinite height, blockmap bug, etc) in general and forcing myself to use Chocolate Doom to get the intended experience that the author wanted (and also an extra challenge), so maybe limit-removing would have been better if it was labeled as such. Maybe I should have used PrBoom-Plus to play this, oh well. Good thing I'm saving often and using multiple slots, so it's not that big of a problem but still the game crashing suddenly really takes away some enjoyment.

 

As for the map, some good fights, with a few annoying teleport traps behind you at some points, with the biggest offender being that small room where you activate a switch and a shotgun guy pops out in front of you, while a spectre behind you and some imps/demons get revealed at same time. Also there are 3 secrets to find in this map!

 

E2M3

Interestingly, in the E2 release, this map is shown in the intro demo how to quickly complete it, which spoiled the map a bit, I admit. In the final release, there are 4 different demos shown, though I will talk about that later when I make my overall thoughts and talk again about differences between the releases.

 

The good news is that this map isn't very difficult and the two secrets available aren't very hard to find either (I found the radiation suit secret at beginning by accident, though the second secret which requires jumping into that acid pit is a bit trickier). The bad news is there are a few parts that can prevent achieving 100% kills (at least in vanilla Doom), as well as getting locked in final room without being able to backtrack for remaining stuff and that there is a death exit, which means earlier you finally get a precious blue armor but then you lose it entirely and most likely there isn't another one for the rest of the episode!

 

I will not go into too many details but I will say you can kill the three barons at beginning if you have enough ammo, I used the shotgun since I had plenty of shells and with the backpack, you should get close to 100 shells and you can afford wasting at least 30-40 shells for those barons, so you don't have to deal with them later. Also watch out for that beginning trap with shotgun guys appearing behind you!

 

At a later time in level when you get the yellow key, there are supposed to be teleporting ambushes. Unfortunately I found out after I had saved game and quit for a break (that was when doing the E2 release for first time), when I returned and picked up the yellow key, the monsters didn't teleport anymore, due to fact the targets are not preserved in saved games in vanilla Doom, so monsters remained inactive in their closets and initially I finished the map with only 86% kills because of that, so I ended up replaying the map from an earlier saved game. What I found the solution that worked for the most part was backtracking to the starting area and using chainsaw to wake them up those monsters, since they somehow wake up from the beginning and after reloading my saved game from halfway of E2M3 (or beginning of map?), I replayed a couple minutes until I finished the level in one go with everything 100%. The more problematic level was E2M5 because even going to beginning part of map and using fist or chainsaw, it still wouldn't wake up monsters later in level but I will get to that map shortly and rant about it. I will say that knowing this trick makes dealing with those key traps much easier but where's the fun with that? If you can get all kills, then I guess you can do sort of unintentional glitches that work in your advantage but it doesn't always work, so use at your own risk!

 

E2M4

After the forced death exit, you are supposed to use the berserk to punch those imps at beginning, though you can also use pistol but I wouldn't recommend since you will run out of bullets and you should save them for more trickier parts. Funnily enough I tried this on the updated version and then when I ran out of bullets and tried punching imps, the game crashed with the visplane overflow, probably for the better since I could have died and it saved me from one death. Also no secrets to be found on this map.

 

Anyway on my first playthrough of the map, I had to watch an YouTube video just to see what's this map about and then after getting the hang of it (though it sucked taking two imp fireballs to face that did a lot of damage, leaving me with 61% health until I found much needed green armor that's guarded by two lost souls) and it was quite fun to punch monsters and make those imps explode with just your fists! I didn't enjoy punching the baron (that shows up on the soulsphere) as I got scratched (or took a fireball to my face) because I got down to 52% health in both initial and final release (almost like I repeated the exact same mistakes) as it's very difficult to time it and I avoided some slashes/fireballs just in time. So grab whatever stimpacks are left and THEN the soulsphere. After some more ambushes, next you are supposed to avoid imps and dodge cyber rockets until you get the blue skull key. This worked fine in both times, I was able to dodge the imps and get to the blue key safely. Problem was the next room where you are supposed to telefrag the cyber because I'm not exactly sure how you are supposed to do this safely, it is entirely RNG dependent. He got me once in the initial release, even with 150% health I simply died in one hit but after reloading save I tried again and it went smooth, no more rockets to face. On the updated release, I had 172% health, so this time I take a rocket to face but survive with 17% health and telefrag him. Then I teleport to part where I face imps, grab medkit and key, punch imps, grab radiation suit and prepare myself for the last room which contains a cacodemon and some demons. In my initial playthrough, since my health was high, I simply punched the cacodemon and demons and I still had a bit above 100% health. On the last playthrough, I used my shotgun (that had 6 shells) to kill the caco safely and then punched the demon. All I had left were 40 or less bullets and only 42% health. This meant starting the next level was much worse than from a pistol start in the updated version. And now it's time to rant about the next level...

 

E2M5

OK, I admit this level pissed me off at times but not because it was difficult (it wasn't very difficult actually), it's more because of the damn design choices! Not only the fact I started the map with low health which made it such a slog (in the updated version) but also in initial release (when I didn't have problem with health), the glitch with saving/loading made the cyberdemon not show up anymore and you could even fucking softlock yourself! Or at least softlock one of the secrets if you missed it. I ended up replaying parts of the level (in the initial release) until everything worked fine. But there are also more issues that didn't get patched in the updated version and instead it added another issue of its own, involving the secret exit!

 

Let's talk about the beginning part. There is an unnecessary shotgunner pop up that left me with 11% health in the updated release because all I had was pistol and had to attack immediately, there wasn't time to pick up the shotgun first because it takes time to switch weapons. And then get shot by another shotgunner and have 1% health left. I do eventually survive through all of this but still died twice because of that dumb secret found in acid which I will rant shortly after!

 

Some traps were annoying and unnecessary. I feel like this and E2M6 are the worst offenders but the traps are in general present throughout the wad and most were ok to me but some were absolutely horrendous. I still think that some traps were just put there to punish most unsuspecting players. There is this caco swarm trap that I initially avoided by accident when I saved/loaded to take a break (in the initial playthrough) and then shortly after I watched an YouTube video in advance for secrets (which I'm glad I did), then when I came back I skipped the trap, went to beginning of level to use fist to wake up monsters and THEN the cacos showed up when I went back to that area! This is what I mentioned earlier with skipping teleporting monsters if you have to quit and come back or just die and have to reload the save anyway. Why couldn't the monsters just spawn immediately as soon as you grab the key or make them hear you when you are inside that area? Why it has to be the beginning of level where they hear you? I don't understand this behavior and haven't noticed in any other levels I played so far, monsters would usually spawn fine.  And the worst parts are the next where you can get softlocked! Before that there is that bullshit secret that requires traversing in acid in order to pick up medkit & berserk on top of each other (WTF? Why? Couldn't that fucking medkit be placed somewhere else on the safe nearby corridor instead of wasted like this), box of bullets and computer area map! You need like 22% health to safely make it but since I was at 20% health, I died twice getting to this fucking shitty secret because of taking 7% damage and I needed two more health points to survive the third hit, so I died in front of that stupid secret door twice, then I looked on YouTube to double check the exact location of secret (since one time I tried opening wrong door/wall) and eventually on my third try I made in in last second. No I didn't want to risk doing most level with low health and it was perfect time to grab that berserk.

 

There are a few annoying ambushes that can be easily dealt with (after you get the plasma gun) and make a backup save here! The next parts are the problematic ones. There is an ambush involving cacos and pinkies, then on the part with shotgunners on ledges and stairs above lava, first kill that baron that pops up in front of you, then immediately rush in lava to get that secret BLUE ARMOR (the last secret of the map) which you will need it! Also interestingly I got the rare ouch face when I got the medkit as soon as I took damage! Then take the teleporter to get back! Grab the goodies in the next room and you will have to face off a teleporting cyberdemon that blocks the way to the switch that lowers the bars! Oh and yeah you can't backtrack anymore to the previous room, so if you missed the blue armor secret, too bad! And if you saved and reloaded earlier, the cyber doesn't show up anymore, no matter what you do and you must reload an earlier save if you want the cyber to show up again!

 

After finally doing this properly, you get closer to the final part of the map with those shotgunners and imps and grabbing the red key teleports more monsters, so carefully take them out and I recommend saving all the plasma ammo for later! You will see why!

Grab the radiation suit, take down the monsters you see, watch out for two teleporting imps behind you and hope you have a backup save because here comes another rant! If you drop down (the normal exit, which is where you are supposed to go in the initial release, as E2M9 didn't exist back then), you have to fight 4 barons and two demons (that block exit) if I'm not mistaken, so use plasma. For some reason, when I reloaded save to check for other stuff I may have missed (probably I was nearly dead so I just rushed to the exit), two of those barons didn't teleport anymore, so I had to replay that last part of the map to get 100% kills!

 

On the final release, there is a small switch behind torch you have to shoot and this is the entrance to the secret exit! What I did was save before dropping down, KILL all those barons and demons, exit level for 100% kills, then go back and go to secret exit, which meant only 97% kills are possible if you choose the secret exit! I really want to question why didn't the author add the teleporter down there and fix these teleporting monsters, so you can get 100% kills AND the secret exit. Is it too much to ask? That was probably my least favorite level of the episode (alongside E2M4 and E2M6), some design choices I absolutely hated!

 

E2M9

The secret level wasn't too bad, the only highlight was the last fight with those cacos and barons, I took a bit of damage but thankfully I used the RL/Plasma in time before I got surrounded. There is a single secret to find, a green armor (which I didn't need) behind yellow key. After I was done with last fight, I got teleported to starting area and then the exit was open. An interesting and not too difficult secret level.

 

E2M6

Another annoying level filled with lots of traps (as well as 3 bosses present), though thankfully it can be done with being careful at times and conserving your supplies. At beginning you will notice there is a spider mastermind to your right. What I did was take her down with the shotgun (since I had plentiful shotgun shells) in both playthroughs and this way I no longer had to deal with this spider at beginning, so I could take it slowly. Later in map there are so many ambushes, like by the time you reach the plasma gun, there's ambushes at nearly every corner, including walls lowering revealing monsters, monsters teleporting in your back or around you, all I'm saying is why? This made the most boring map of the mapset and dragged for so long. At least the cyberdemons aren't difficult to take down, one is stationary on a platform guarding one of the keys and another is at end of level, guarding the exit. Two secrets to find: one is a wall that reveals medkit, it's found on the lava caves and another is a backpack found near end when you press the switch.

Also those imps ambushes near end almost got me, on the room after the spider. I survived with 40% health on my initial playthrough, so I ended up exhausting almost every health and grabbed the soulsphere at this point to fight that cyber (though I didn't take any damage at least), while in the updated version I ended up picking up the soulsphere at 100% health, so I started the next level with 200% in latter's case.

 

E2M7

This level felt shorter and easier. There is a single secret to find, a fake wall containing a medkit. There is one major flaw in the initial release: a baron (the last enemy of level) stuck inside floor, while being able to slash you from down there thanks to infinite height and almost killed me (went from 132% health to 2% health in 2-3 slashes thanks to this shit) and got me confused until I eventually avoided him, which meant finishing the level with 98% kills (I think? I forgot the exact percentage but I know it was just a single enemy missing) because I couldn't kill that baron even with the 20 rockets I had by firing at the wall and hoping splash damage gets it, then I reloaded save to get my health back and tried to not bump into it this time. Thankfully this baron bug was fixed in BGComp, the baron pops out from ground normally when approaching the platform and you can kill it, getting 100% everything! In the updated version I actually took a bit more damage from various monsters (including the lava that you had to traverse that didn't hurt me before) and ended up at end of level with 150% health, so it's good I still got half of that soulsphere left.

 

E2M8

There is an invulnerability secret to be found at beginning of level, so don't miss it! Once you grab goodies at beginning and teleport, you have to fight TWO cyberdemons! In both playthroughs I ate a rocket (probably ran into it while cybers were busy infighting with barons/imps) and ended up barely surviving in both cases (though in latter case I went from 150 to 60 health, so the rocket must have been weaker). Won't enter into anymore details since I've been writing for a few hours and I will say that the fights were interesting but also annoying with the teleporting cybers that was difficult to hit. I'm surprised I survived those rockets...

 

E2 overall: It was fine in some levels but those levels in middle of episode were really annoying and I thought this was the weakest episode so far. Thankfully things get better in E3.

Note that I have to make a separate post because I ran out of space while writing the message, so expect E3 overview soon along with some screenshots!

[FistMarine]

E3 overview

Spoiler

E3M1

A somewhat difficult opener that has you under attack since beginning, plus the damaging acid and the limited radiation suits, I wonder how I managed to survive all of that. I will say that I wish the armor was given earlier and health is scarce, just barely enough to get you through. I had around 85% both when I finished the level, so it's not too bad if you know how to deal with the most cases but the beginning parts the most difficult where you will be taking damage, plus that trap where I get locked with imps and zombies was the one that took half of my health (as in went from 67 to 33) interestingly and not that baron that teleport behind me at one point that I avoided in time. There are two secrets to find: a chaingun secret (look for a small button to lower the platform) and a backpack secret in acid, accessed by jumping on a ledge where imps used to be present.

 

E3M2

Another somewhat difficult map but also very annoying at times, especially near end. There is that horde of imps at beginning that you must quickly deal with (using the chaingun and radiation suit) and dodge all projectiles before it's too late. Then there is a spider mastermind that this time you won't be able to easily get rid of it, so the only option is to ignore the damn spider! Just focus on the imps and rush to the right, the radiation suit should expire soon. You are provided two more in same area, so save them for when you have to cross the acid. Right now you must get the blue key and then rush to the lift and after that, you will not have to deal with the spider anymore, as you get to telefrag her later! But until then, you have to deal with various monsters and traps.

I will not talk about the middle parts because it would take me forever but instead I will talk about the final parts and the two secrets, one of which can unfortunately be no longer accessed if you don't get it the first time. The second secret is found just before exit, allows you to telefrag the spider and get a berserk pack!

 

Anyway, there is that room you get locked inside with the eye switch, that's where the rocket launcher secret is found. I happened to miss it first time and although I handled the horde just fine first time (barely surviving), I ended up with 99% kills and 50% secrets, so I had to replay that part again and this time I was unlucky enough that I actually died once by getting surrounded by cacos and other shit, so I'm going to count in as actual death (the only death of this episode, thankfully) despite finishing the level earlier. There is a cacodemon that seems to be stuck inside wall (???) and can be seen and killed with chaingun from the place in the screenshot. I wasn't able to kill with other weapons because on first attempt (when I didn't get the first secret) I was out of bullets and could no longer snipe it, so this time I had bullets and eventually I was able to hit and kill it from the position in the screenshot I will attach below, to help others get 100% everything. I'm still not sure what was with that cacodemon but that part at end kinda ruined the map for me, plus you could even softlock yourself if you stepped off platform and tried to go back from the beginning of level, then find out you can no longer get in that room. I seriously wish the map was tested more because it is clearly rushed and had these many annoying things I dislike in general about Doom maps (one time secrets, stuck monsters, getting softlocked, bullshit traps, etc), though telefragging the spider was incredibly satisfying and rewarding.

 

E3M3

This level wasn't too bad for me, I somehow managed to get through the two nasty teleport traps just fine (the cacodemon swarm upon grabbing red skull key and that part with a baron and imps in close spaces) which are probably the most dangerous parts of the map and can get an unprepared player quickly. There is that trap with 3 cacos (that guard yellow skull key) that almost got me but thankfully didn't take too much damage and I had the plasma in hand, so I will say I was lucky in this map with how I handled the encounters.

Oh and there's an invisibility secret located in the red cave (which I don't think is possible to backtrack anymore after teleporting), I only found it by watching an YouTube video while taking small breaks and instead of quitting the game, I paused it and watched the videos on my mobile to see where secret was, as I didn't feel like quitting and then doing the glitch with monsters not teleporting. So the map was fine but I imagine would have hated it if I had bad luck in it. :P

E3M4

Probably one of the best maps in the episode. It has almost 300 enemies and you get to kill a lot of zombies and imps with your chaingun. There were some nasty traps, including an imp trap that almost got me near yellow key (I was trapped between imps and got down to 30-40% health) but after surviving that, I decided to get the blue armor, thankfully it's not the only blue armor present in the episode and good thing this level is generous with supplies! I wouldn't have enjoyed the level as much if it had less supplies!
There are two secrets to find, a soulsphere that can be unlocked by finding a switch outside and shooting it with pistol (good luck finding it with the low resolution!) and a medkit secret located with blue walls, not sure how to explain better. Also in the acid corridor with those stairs you have to raise, there is a radiation suit and a berserk, which at first I missed but then when I saw I didn't get 100% items, I wondered where was last item present in level!

There is a cyberdemon at the end of level which I killed safely with the shotgun and chaingun, shooting it in head. The good thing is I ended up saving all the plasma ammo for the next levels.

 

E3M5

Another interesting level and not very difficult, even if you have to kill a spider and a cyber, you are given so much cell ammo and even a BFG that you can easily take them down and I recommend taking the spider from far away with plasma, avoids most of the bullets that won't even reach you, as you can see in the screenshot. The only difficult part is that baron that teleports behind you in the room with switch and cell packs, took a fireball to the face but since I still had blue armor and extra health, wasn't much of a problem. I also saved that blue armor for the end of level so I end up with 200% armor before finishing the level.

Two secrets to find: two cells located on the platform with torch (near the blue armor room) and a pillar you can lower before you fight the spider.

 

E3M6

Another short and easy level, there aren't many problematic fights to be featured, especially with all the supplies you have gathered so far. Two secrets to find: a lion switch that unlocks secret exit and the secret exit itself.

The only thing I don't understand is why was there a hidden berserk in the lava behind that fire wall? Had to grab it (even though I was at 100% health) and sacrifice 10% of my blue armor just so I can get 100% items. Not cool!

 

E3M9

Another nice short and easy level, though the only part I don't understand is what exactly is the reward for this level? Because all there was, was a single stimpack to heal up some damage I took, as I started the level with 100% health but I finished with just 79% thanks to taking 3 imp fireballs to the face, mostly at start of the level!

There is a single secret rocket launcher to be found. Would have preferred a bigger reward for finding the secret level. Still, it's definitely worth visiting, I wish the megawad had more short and easy levels like this one.

 

E3M7

Another interesting level and also not very difficult, many encounters can be taken with the plasma or BFG, such as the spider that will teleport later in level in that starting/central area. It also has solid fights, including the horde at the end of the level. You are also given a soulsphere, BFG and a blue armor in the level but I wish the blue armor wasn't put in the way where you are forced to pick it up since I already still had the blue armor from E3M5. At least I didn't take much damage and you are also given another blue armor at beginning of E3M8...

Also there is a single secret to be found with a cell pack, you have to press on opposite corner and it will lower the platform with the cell pack. Cool stuff!

 

E3M8

The final level! You get to revisit parts of the previous levels and you get to fight one cyber and THREE spiders! Though at first when you get to fight the cyber, you then get to fight a spider and when you teleport to last area, you get to fight two different spiders! They can't get tricked into infighting but with all the supplies you have at this point, you have more than enough to take them out! A great final level! I enjoyed this one!

 

E3 overall: Despite some annoying early maps, starting with E3M4 (and especially the second half with the hellish levels) are very well designed and I was surprised by how good they felt, though I found weird how there were many short maps near end to conclude the megawad. But it was a much needed break after those long and boring levels that felt like taking forever, at least I remember some levels taking me 40+ minutes to finish.

E1 Deaths: 5 (E1M8)

E2 Deaths: 1 (E2M4)

BGComp Deaths: 5 (E1M5, E1M8, E2M5, E3M2)

Total Deaths: 11

 

Base Ganymede: Complete overall thoughts: It wasn't too bad, while E1 had that disappointing final map and E2 felt annoying and disappointing at times (and even frustrating), E3 makes up for that and gives you some very interesting maps, especially in the second half of the episode. There are also less buggy maps and they also have at least one item/secret present in level to get 100% everything, though E3M8 (just like E1M8 for example) didn't have any items or secrets in the level, not that it mattered since there is no intermission screen for EXM8 type of maps in vanilla Doom, it was only added in more recent source ports and official Unity ports.

 

Screenshots (E3 only because these are only ones I saved)

Spoiler

I hope to be more active in the next month, as I enjoyed being part of the club! Thanks to everyone who participated and read my messages, I will try to read all the pages until the end of the week.

 

Votes for the next month:

+++ Arrival

+++ Wonderful Doom

+++ Zone 400

[Doritos420]

E3M8 - Base Consumed

Spoiler

Surprisingly atmospheric and a bit relaxed for the final level. I think that you sort of revisit locations from previous levels (tried to look some up but I can’t remember which ones exactly, so maybe I'm just misremembering), now with the fleshy texture overtaking it. It gave me a really creepy feeling. The beginning area was really suspenseful since I was waiting for some sort of underhanded trick or surprise that actually never occurred. The map was fairly straightforward. The most difficult area for me was the cyberdemon part where you can flip the switch behind it to let the mastermind free and to let them infight. Fun little area here, died a few times from a rocket to the face. The last arena was pretty busy, but still not too crazy. The BFG makes fast work of the masterminds so you can actually make it out pretty much unscathed if you’re lucky. To be honest this finale seemed easier than E1M8 and E2M8.

 

Overall Thoughts

I enjoyed the wad, but was not blown away by it.  I would say most of the maps are good to average, but the maps that were well done I really, really liked. So thinking about the wad frustrates me a bit because I think it could be even better. My favorite part was exploring areas and unlocking places. Felt like the E1 was more exploratory focussed and E3 was more combat orientated. To me E2 was the weakest of the three episodes, with the overreliance on popup enemies and cheap teleporter traps. Though they were used in E1 and E3 it felt like it was less obnoxious in those cases, or used less so. I also think the secrets were a weak part of the wad. Many weren’t telegraphed enough and were only limited to a max of 2 in a map. I really enjoyed the initial episode 1 levels, I liked the continuation of the areas level to level when it was implemented. Bosses were a bit hit and miss for me. Ammo and health was dispensed sparingly which added a bit of difficulty to the wad, but not so much to be unmanageable or frustrating which I appreciated. A lot of the combat was very thrilling and intense, but there was a definite overreliance on surprise teleports and monster closets. The levels themselves played really well. I never got stuck or lost so that’s a definite plus. As for texturing, it was done competently. Not crazy detailed, but I would say it was well done. One negative I would add would be a lot of the hell maps kind of blur together and aren't very memorable. I didn't notice this problem as much for the tech bases (but maybe that could be because I just prefer techbase levels).

 

TLDR - I liked it, but can see why it's not everyone's cup of tea.

 

Standout Maps - E1M3, E1M5, E3M2, E3M4

Worst Map - E1M8 (by far).

 

Thanks to everyone for playing along this month. It was fun reading through all the responses. Hope to continue with the club next month as well if time permits.

 

[LadyMistDragon]

E3M8

 

After laying waste to Hell's most notorious legion, you come across a teleporter that takes you back to the base at the episodes' beginning. But it's clear immediately that something's wrong. The nukage has turned to blood and the sector you're in is covered top to bottom with flesh-colored walls. For whatever reason, there seem to be more bodies than before. It feels a bit like Hell is attempting to rebuild, but you're here to put an end to their plans for good. The opposition is stiff but easily handled. Getting the first Spidermastermind and the Cyberdemon can be tricky, due to the angle of the hall the Mastermind is at, but it can be done. Eventually, you'll teleport to a large outdoor area with two Spidermastermind, and a not-quite insignificant amount of foes that are still easily dispatched due to the amount of room you've got. The Masterminds are easily dispatched with BFG shots, but on the other hand, they are up on raised platforms, so that may not quite be the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. Still, it wasn't terribly difficult.

 

 

Closing Thoughts

 

I can see why Ultimate Doom speedmaps aren't made more now. I think excessive pop-up ambushes/cheap teleport traps are inevitable after a little bit. All the same, the difficulty lull toward the later half of E3 was just strange. It just seems like if you really want the basic combat concepts explored here to work, you need to keep up the pressure without making the ambushes seem pointless, like they were at a couple of spots in E2. All the same, things picked up toward the end and there were still some impressive visual setpieces. Overall, I can recommend it, but you probably shouldn't play through all the episodes at once.

[cannonball]

E3M8 - Retracing some of the earlier levels briefly is an interesting concept, especially as the previously traversed base has undergone some redecorating thanks to the hellish presence. The combat plays second fiddle here. Now the boss fights, well I think that you can tackle the first pair either one at a time or run past the cyber and release the mastermind. The first requires good BFG usage on the cyber and a bit of luck with the spider whilst the second carries initial risk but probably results in the whole room being easier to deal with. I took the second option and finished the spider off. The final room probably could have been extended further and have been more climatic, but overall the concept is competently done. 

A reasonable conclusion, albeit not overly exciting.

 

Overall the best word to describe this wad is.... uneven.

The one interesting trope on offer is that instead of having a strict theme for each episode, we have a running theme of generally increasing hellishness as the episode progresses, the trouble with this is you end up with three episodes that are structured in a very similar way. This probably doesn't work to the wad's advantage. The difficulty and length of the episodes also appeared to be rather uneven, the first two sort of have a upwards curve in difficulty, but E3 probably saw the most difficult maps appear in the first half, whilst the latter half was actually fairly easy. In terms of general competency, I will say that the wad improves as you go through it, E1 is pretty rough at times, whilst the final episode feels much more competently designed, however after playing this again, I would probably say this falls short of being a classic and at times the speed-mapping element of the wad really shows through, either in terms of a dodgy map design or some questionable encounter choices. This probably could have used a little more polish and perhaps a rethink in each episode progressed. Still, I had fun doing this.

[Book Lord]

Final Thoughts

I experienced a full assortment of feelings while playing Base Ganymede. It was an immersive, advanced, and fulfilling Ultimate Doom experience, going further and further with stock vanilla resources and squeezing them to the last drop of juice. It had glorious moments where the inspiration reached its maximum, but it included several inconspicuous if not properly annoying design choices. At the end of the journey, I am convinced that Khorus accomplished a lot with his effort and that his 2012 Cacoward was well deserved. Almost ten years later and after a comeback in recent projects, I dare to say he left a worthy legacy with this solo work.

 

The three episodes have been designed over a long time frame, beginning with Episode 1 in November 2009, adding Episode 2 about one year later and releasing the final 3-episode bgcomp.wad in January 2012. You can see the mapping style undergoing a continuous refinement, since the architecture gets more and more interesting, and encounters are designed in more attractive ways towards the end. Episode 1 served as an introduction and outlined the overall style, but visually it was a notch below the others. Episode 2 displayed greater graphic prowess, then failed to improve accordingly in the combat department. It used a lot of expedients and stretched some of them way beyond the acceptable level. Episode 3 had the most polished gameplay and featured the best maps of the WAD in the first half, then ran just a little out of steam in the second, revealing a certain urge to wrap the megaWAD up.

 

The maps depict a solid and conceptual tech-base, with a prevalence of structures and industrial facilities over high-tech factors. This means less computer stations and more liquid processing, with radioactive waste being so commonplace that at some point I thought it was part of the natural landscape of Ganymede. Outdoor areas follow a rigorous texture scheme, just as if only one type of rock were available on this moon. The oversized Jupiter in the sky deserves a special mention for creating wonderful sceneries. Another signature of Base Ganymede are the square metal structures overlapping the playing zone, appearing in many places and with various functions, sometimes as pipes, sometimes as mere decorations. Each episode unfolds the thematical progression tech-base -> hellbase - > hell, E1 being the slowest and E3 the quickest, with E3M4 acting as the oddball one (but IMO a wonderful tech-base). The representation of dark demonic fortresses and hellish areas was atmospheric and gorgeous at times, but I think the author’s sector magic is always superior on tech-base levels.

 

I must make a disclaimer before discussing combat. I played for the first time ever on Ultra-Violence, with -fast parameter, using savegames mid-level (not during encounters). On these premises, some situations have been unforgiving and frustrating, but I have always found a way to overcome them without resorting to cheat codes or quicksaves to trick the RNG, and I was not forced to turn the difficulty down. If I died because an ambush caught me off-guard, I just reloaded a savegame and replayed the encounter with the benefit of foreknowledge. I do not think I am exceptionally good at this game; I play -fast because I like the aggressive behaviour of low tier monsters. Doom II enemies do not change so radically in their -fast incarnations. Ultimate Doom is where the difference really shines.

 

Khorus’ focus were the ambushes and combat set pieces. He perfected established techniques to cause sudden and spread-out teleport traps, which were introduced gradually and soon became a typical part of the gameplay. I can see people getting annoyed, as there are moments where this is blatantly overused (E2M5 comes to mind) and requires adapting your gaming habits. I was not kidding when at some point I wrote I was walking backwards inside new areas. As for repetitiveness and boredom, there is nothing like that on UV -fast. Every Imp or former human is a potential threat, and behind every corner lies a challenge. Still, by the end of Episode 2 exhaustion was looming and I was relieved to see less insistent and more ambitious teleports in Episode 3. Hence my positive opinion on the combat, but I perfectly understand anyone who does not want to practice ridiculous anti-harassment techniques.

 

Another characteristic of the gameplay is the lack of resources. The first two episodes are exquisitely mean with their ammo and health placement. As a result, I was hardly carrying an ammo stockpile on continuous, except in the late Episode 3, and had to save rockets and cells for the bigger fights. The security armour becomes a hard-won protection, while the megaarmour is elevated to the rank of exotic item, along with the sphere power-ups that are infrequently seen. Radiation shielding suits are always provided when needed but be prepared for plenty of nukage crossing in this WAD.

 

A separate chapter is required for the secrets. This aspect of Doom gameplay is obviously not the chief interest of the author and felt forcefully executed most of the time. The secret stashes were tiny, irrelevant, and barely marked. Besides a few exceptions, they were unrewarding and not worth the effort. Unfortunately, the same could be said for the three secret levels, lacking any distinguishing trait in gameplay, setting, or rewarding mechanism. The first versions of E1 and E2 had no secret levels at all; they were added in the final release, perhaps as a response to criticism. Secrets in Base Ganymede can be summarised as an “optional waste of time”, that shows both lack of commitment and a concealed animosity, as if Khorus wanted to punish players for ever thinking that secrets should exist.

 

My recommendation after the DWMC playthrough goes to players looking for a modern take on Ultimate Doom gameplay and ready for a challenge, whatever the cost. If you are convinced that the basic bestiary is way too limited and that without your SSG and hordes of Revenants, Arch-Viles and Mancubi your Doom experience will be bland and tedious, it is advisable to pass on Base Ganymede. If you are intolerant of hazardous floors, surprise teleports and resource starvation, it is probably better to find your groove elsewhere. In other words, this WAD can be unforgiving and nasty, it has no qualms and will use attrition and deception without shame. It will stubbornly try to break you, at the cost of repeating itself sometimes, although not to the point of being unfair (well, E2M1 and E2M4 were obviously not designed with -fast in mind, so they were borderline hard with that setting).

 

Khorus may not have my unconditional support, yet he has earned my greatest respect for developing such a project alone. We might argue that an Ultimate Doom megaWAD is not complete without Episode 4, but probably the author himself recognised he was running out of ideas at some point. This is not entirely true, because certain mechanisms have not been used to full extent. The amazing tech-base of E3M4 showed that he possessed excellent creativity and mapping skills to disengage from self-imposed monotony, and the overall higher quality of E3 begs for more levels in the same vein. Who knows, maybe one day we will be playing a 4-episode Base Ganymede? Never say die!

 

Best maps:

E1M5

E1M7

E2M3

E2M6

E3M2

E3M3

E3M4

[Book Lord]

Thanks everyone for sharing thoughts throughout this month, it has been a pleasure to read and follow the thread. Thanks @Khorus for showing up and best wishes for your infection, I hope you get back in shape soon. I don't know how many agree with me, but I would really like to see you develop a 4th episode for Base Ganymede (could be Ultimate Base Ganymede...how original, but ok nonetheless).

 

I won't give any votes for the next month, as I don't think I will have enough time to dedicate to a full megaWAD. I will follow you and join you as soon as I can for more Doom adventures!

 

[TheOrganGrinder]

E3M8

 

"This level starts where the last level ended," is not a new thing in the annals of PWAD design, but the author puts a little bit of a twist on it here, with structural elements of E3M1 and E3M2 forming as @Thrustpeak puts it "a quick trip down memory lane," a sort of miniature obstacle course or lead-in that allows you to stock up on weapons and supplies before the final big battle in a way that feels more involved, more fully-realised than the classic MAP30 start room filled with guns and power-ups.  Incorporated into that is what's best described as a boss rush: you've got Barons of Hell, a Cyberdemon, a Spider Mastermind, and then once that's all out of the way, two Spider Masterminds and assorted followers making up the final encounter.  It's a good use of the limited available assets and the preamble leading up to the final showdown adds a lot to the experience.  Overall I'm glad that I stuck with this third episode despite my misgivings and complaints about repetitiveness and the strong temptation to call it quits after E2M8; there's a lot to enjoy about the back one-third of the WAD.