The DWmegawad Club plays: Zone 400

[Steve D]

43 minutes ago, Kyka said:

Map 02 was certainly tougher, though no deaths so far. Great midi too.

 

Thanks for watching! I haven't done my playthrough vid for Map03 yet, but except me to die at least once. IIRC, I died 2 or 3 times when I played it in July. The monster count is higher and the traps more fierce and clever than the first 2 maps. That will be a theme going forward as Paul gets more and more vicious, much to my delight. ;)

[Kyka]

Mr Corfiatis is certainly a talented and relatively prolific mapper. His style reminds me quite a bit of Dutch Devil, if you know that mapper.  I have watched several of @Biodegradable playthroughs on the DWMC, but this month I will try to watch your playthrough. Forgive me if I miss some.

[HavoX]

My summary for MAP02 today:

100% Kills

100% Items

and 100% Secrets.

 

I did do a pistol start on UV, of course. I was doing so well, until near the end when I was at 27% health, trying to get through the hallway (after the elevator) filled with a Hell Knight and a couple of Imps and Pinkies. I was starving for ammunition, so I tried to trick them into infighting.

Didn't work. Died.

After several fails and reloads, I managed to squeak by into the blue keycard room and grabbed a nearby medikit, and after more fails, managed to trick the Revenant into fighting a Hell Knight.

 

Overall, an intense, simple but deep, map.

[Biodegradable]

56 minutes ago, Steve D said:

The monster count is higher and the traps more fierce and clever than the first 2 maps. That will be a theme going forward as Paul gets more and more vicious, much to my delight. ;)

 

Cheers for the heads-up, Steve-O! ;^P

[FistMarine]

Let's do this!

 

PrBoom-Plus 2.6 (UMAPINFO fork) - Complevel 2 - UV continuous (getting 100% everything in each level) with saves - Modern controls (WASD + Mouse) - Blind run

 

Note that I haven't actually played Zone 300 before I started playing Zone 400 (to get an understanding of the Zone series), though I'm somewhat familiar with Paul Corfiatis' works, such as 2002: A Doom Odyssey that comes in multiple editions and maybe some older megawads he designed in 2000s. I only remember playing through 2002: ADO (both the v2/v3 release and 10th anniversary) and Whispers of Satan, in ZDoom ports many years ago (possibly with a gameplay mod loaded) but when I get to replay them in following months, I will use something a bit more vanilla, except for the secret levels that might require ZDoom.

I also re-downloaded the Zone 400 zip file (from Paul's website) because when I downloaded it a week ago in preparation (just to have the wad ready to play), the wad was dated 18th July but now I noticed the wad was updated once again a week later, so I ended up playing the latest version this time around (which is dated 23th July, I know, timezone difference) unless it's going to get updated again in the future. Without further ado, let's begin!

 

MAP01: Coombe

A nice opener. You get to fight mostly zombies, imps and demons with only two middle tier DOOM 2 enemies (a Hell Knight and a Revenant) showing up later in level. Although there is a lack of armor, things aren't too difficult if you manage to wisely conserve your resources. You get a few health/armor bonuses and some stimpacks and that's it. I rarely got hit and still ended up with full health at end of level, I only picked up a stimpack at 99% health but that's because I had finished the level, as normally there is no need to grab health items when near full health, only when you are exiting the level.
There is a single chaingun secret to be found, which kinda got spoiled by PrBoom-Plus automap feature where it shows up secrets marked on automap by pink (like in ZDoom ports), though it seems this feature is enabled by default even in prior versions such as PrBoom-Plus 2.5.1.4 (the version I used in all these years, before switching to 2.6 for the more recent wads). I find this a very useful feature, though a bit cheating but hey if it helps me finding secrets easier, I'm okay with that! Though at least the secrets seemed to be found easily in this wad.

 

MAP02: Tait

This map introduces a few more tricks but it's still not difficult overall, especially if you take your time and don't rush. There are two secrets available that can make your life easier. An early SSG secret AND green armor pickup, that requires getting down in acid and grabbing the radiation suit before grabbing the goodies. Then later (before grabbing red key), there is a backpack + rocket launcher secret indicated by a green wall.
Anyway, about the fights, when you begin you should clear the zombies with your chaingun (assuming continuous run) and then try to take down the hell knight on the platform, though I would suggest looking again and take down those two lost souls first in the sewers. Then after taking down the hell knight, look for remaining zombies and another two lost souls and then proceed further. At this point you should grab the SSG and armor secret to make your life easier in next rooms. Just be careful with those damn shotgunners sniping you from up there where you can't see them (when grabbing the SSG and armor).
After clearing these parts, continue your way and now when going into the next room, be careful with those chaingunners. I suggest sniping them from around corner, the bullets should reach them, just wait for them to get a bit closer. And then kill the cacos and carefully take down those imps on ledges and crates, there's lots of them and they might snipe you! Then there's another hell knight behind the door but with SSG, he should go down easily! There is a berserk pack I didn't grab since I already had full health or was close to 100% and didn't feel like wasting the health, I tend to usually save the berserk pack for later, though I ended up grabbing it at end of level while I already had 100% health, when I backtracked for the last item.
The switch should unlock the next room, after that you will hopefully see the secret wall that I mentioned earlier (backpack + rocket launcher and other goodies), then you will see red key and ammo boxes but don't grab them yet! This has unleashed a bunch of cacos and some imps, so don't sit there and instead return to earlier point where you came from (the door you opened earlier) and take down them from safety! I took a fireball to face one time from a caco hiding in sewer but other than that, this section wasn't too bad, as doing the way I did should avoid most of the damage. Once all cacodemons are dead, clear out those imps on ledges and then go back to grab the goodies, including the red key. Then open the red door.
There are some demons and a revenant. Kill them and proceed further. You will have to take the elevator but down there are some monsters awaiting you, including a hell knight. Have your SSG ready and hope things go as planned! I got lucky I didn't take any damage, I even got cornered by imps (after killing the knight) but somehow I got through just fine with my chaingun. At end of level there are few more monsters and a revenant waiting that can be sniped with chaingun. What's interesting is that there is the exit door that requires a blue key, yet that key is found in same room, just requires activating that switch, grabbing it and level complete! Before I completed the level, I went to grab the rest radiation suits and the berserk pack, so I score 100% everything!

 

MAP03: Dial

Another interesting level with a few tricky traps but nothing particularly difficult to handle. You get to fight stronger opposition (arachnotrons, pain elemental, barons, mancubi etc) in this level but with careful planning and not rushing blindly, the encounters can be easily done without too much trouble.
At beginning I took care of those zombies/demons (plus that revenant in corner, guarding the rocket launcher) and then the arachnotron that tried shooting at me. After that I proceed carefully. The first key found in starting room doesn't unleash anything but the rest two do, so be careful when grabbing them.
What I did in those cases was have the door open, grab the key quickly (both the one in the dark room and the other one in the red building) and get out as fast as possible, so then I take the enemies out easier. This resulted only in minor damage and I imagine doing the proper way would have been difficult to handle and I didn't want to take any risks. In the yellow key case, the lights turn off (there is a Light Amplification Goggles in the room, that I only found when I was done with the map), in blue key case, it reveals zombies and two mancubi from the walls.
Also there are three secrets to find and they are easy to find/reach. You get a soulsphere that you can reach from a teleporter, a rocket launcher that you have to strafe into and I guess the plasma counted as third one, I forgot what was the third secret as I don't have secret notifications enabled but I have the automap stats enabled at least. I then grabbed the soulsphere (and the green armor) when I finished the level, so I started the next level with 200% health and 100% armor!

 

A few screenshots

Spoiler

 

[Salt-Man Z]

Just want to chime and say: I've been playing this for the past couple weeks, 3-4 maps a night, on and off, with I think 4 maps left to go. It's really pretty fantastic, sometimes quite amazing what pcorf can do with just 400 lines. Quite vicious, even on HMP. Great stuff!

[King Know-Nothing]

First time joining in on one of these, might record some footage one day, but for now going to keep it to text.

 

Map 01 - Coombe: GZDoom/UV/Continuous/With Saves

 

100% Kills, Items, and Secrets. 0 Deaths.

 

I remember being rather impressed with how much they could get out of 300 line limit in the previous Megawad and, with current first impressions, it doesn't seem the slight loosening of line restrictions will diminish that impressiveness at all. As far as Map 01's go, Coombe does a solid job of starting out the set with a breezy opener that's easy to navigate and telegraphs its combat fairly well. The progression felt fluid and natural, never really obscuring the way despite having you circle around back to the main room a time or two, and even when I got a little careless with ammo it was easy to recover.

 

A part I particularly enjoyed was how, at the start of the map, you can spy an ammo pick-up a little ways pass the initial zombie men which foreshadows a shotgun just around the corner. It gives you the choice of either firing off your pistol and letting them chip away at your health before you know what the item situation is, or running for it and hoping there is a shotgun (and not more hitscanners) in order to take care pf the encounter the little bit quicker. Its always the little things that make me smirk.

 

I honestly ran past the secret the first time despite the inset wall being rather easy to see, so that was definitely on me, haha.

 

MAP02 - Tait

 

100% Kills, Items, and Secrets. 0 Deaths.

 

I really dig how the aggression immediately begins to scale up in this one. I imagine that opening is significantly more intimidating on pistol start than with continuous play, but I had the chaingun which made quick work of the hitscanners. Dropping into the nukage to grab more items and sneak around to take out future encounters is fun and I love how it gets turned around on you with the cacos coming through those gaps so you can't rely on just blocking them off with the door.

 

The second room with the myriad of enemies trying to snipe at you was a good bit of fun and had me moving a bit more aggressively which is never a bad time. Coming back to the cacos and imps lining the first room was a really fun 'uhoh' moment, though the revenant behind the red door was the one that made me fall back into the nukage, which is funny in hindsight. The one that really caught me off guard was the trap at the bottom of the elevator, fairly small space to have those enemies suddenly staring at you. The one thing I did initially question was bothering to put a blue key in the room and forcing you to run up to the exit to press the switch just to get it and run up again, but I guess that is partly forcing you to deal with the mob if you tried to run past it, but I had taken the demons out before hand so it seemed a bit odd.

 

This time I did get the secret as I went past it, so go me haha. Also would like to point out that this level looks even better than the first and neither would feel out of place in the original IWADS.

[rehelekretep]

map02 fda

i enjoyed this loads more than 01: the combat is quite simple but makes you think and have to move around. the cacos without the rocket launcher are a menace as they can enter the main sewer hub from various different angles which almost caught me out. the midi is awesome too.

[TJG1289]

Looks like we got a decent amount of people taking part this time! That's awesome

 

GZDoom/Blind/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 02 - TAIT

100% kills and secrets

Time: 5:53

 

Difficulty picks up considerably here, especially if you don't find the 2 secrets in this level, though they're both pretty easy to spot. The opening room features some hitscan and a hell knight that isn't too bad. You can find the first secret by jumping into the nukage, grab a rad suit, and head over to the building opposite from the start to just walk in to a room with a green armor and SSG. Get back up to the ledge to go into this building proper, and into a pretty big room with chaingunners, sniping imps, and 2 cacos. Nothing to dangerous here, especially if you've got the firepower. Cross the nukage, SSG the hell knight, grab the berserk, and hit the switch opening the path to the red key. You should be able to easily the differently textured wall here to find the second secret: a backpack plus rocket launcher. Immediately use it on the red key trap, the first challenging fight of the WAD. Back in the opening room, you've besieged by something like 6 cacos, and a ledge of imps. You don't have a lot of space to move, unless you want to fall back in the nukage and grab a rad suit. Spend a few rockets, and SSG the cacos and imps. Behind the red door is a hall of pinkies plus one spooky boy leading to a lift that takes you down to another hall of baddies. The final room features some steps, imps, pinkies, and a rev at the top. You'll notice a blue key as well here. The switch is literally right next to the blue door at the top of the stairs. I guess this is to prevent just rushing the exit? It seems kind of pointless to me. Anyway, head past the dead meat into the exit.

 

The level itself was much bigger than I expected, compared to the first. It's nowhere near huge, but still quite big. The modest detail is nice, and the MIDI was pretty good, but not as memorable as the first level. Then again, it's hard to determine a song's quality when it's my first time listening to it, and I'm not 100% focusing on it. Either way, it's still a fun level, and the difficulty increase is nice.

[Fairen]

Map 2: Tait - UV

 

I didn't care for this one as much as the first. The hell knight in the starting area is just a nuisance rather than a threat, and there's way too many sniper imps in the area with the first cacodemons. (A whole staircase of them...around the corner so they're not even a threat until you're in the center of the room?) The cacodemon ambush when getting the red key is kind of excessive given that you'd only have the shotgun and chaingun without secrets (though the super shotgun and rocket launcher are pretty easy to find). The elevator that follows with a hell knight at the bottom is a pain, because the demons along with him make it quite likely you won't get him before the elevator goes back up, meaning he'll be right in your face the second time you go down. And once again, there's an instance of "use a switch to lower a nearby key to open a door that could have just been activated by the switch"...except this time the switch is right next to the door in question. (Maybe it's a way to use up the last few linedefs?)

[dei_eldren]

 

MAP03 - Dial (HMP, pistol start): K 100% (102/102), I 100% (33/33), S 100% (3/3), T 12:57, D 0 - i'm not gonna recount the dire experience on my blind run on HNTR, suffice to say i died thrice on it, but my second run, on HMP, was much better experience, of which the proof is below in the form of my FDA! 

 

Still obviously, something about the level attracted me as i felt compelled to try a run on HMP.  It's quite a simple level in four different arenas that are likely to be dealt in order.  The start was chaotic, with a variety of enemies on different fronts, and scarce enough ammo readily available to having to scour it from wherever one can.  Ultimately it was again just enough - my health went really low, to something like 11%, and i was really worried about getting killed until the courtyard was resolved.  

 

Behind the first, RK door, is perhaps the highlight of the map, after killing the Imps and Pinkies, grabbing the YK shuts out the lights, and opens two closets with Lost Souls, and one with a Baron.  Luckily, goggles were available, too, and what resulted was an enjoyable combat against them.  i killed the Lost Souls with the SSG and finished off the Baron with rockets.  This place also stands out visually, and on the whole i can say i like the simple visuals, as i'm not a fan of too much eyecandy in Doom levels to begin with.  Coming out, there are two Cacodemons and a Pain Elemental to deal with, but there's enough plasma for them not to be a big problem.

 

Behind the YK door is the BK, and the worst ambush of the map of Chaingunners, Mancubi, and lots of hitscanners.  Since i knew it was coming, i ran out immediately, and killed all others but the Mancubi from the courtyard.  Since i had got the secret Soul Sphere i probably would've had enough health to blast them away with plasma, but why take such risks when one can conserve health?  

 

Behind the BK door is the exit, and of course some more enemies.  After killing the Chaingunners, Sergeants and Pinkies, there is an Arachnotron on top of a ledge above a nukage pit, who only poses a threat if one runs into the room unawares.  The switch is at the other end of the walkway at the edge of the nukage pit, and pressing it opens the last monster closet of two Revenants and a Baron.  First i launched rest of my rockets on them, and finished with plasma.  Easy-peasy!  Ha-ha, not at all, 'twas intense as fuck, but i really enjoyed this level, even more than i did the first two, so, i'm a bit surprised.

 

i have to also mention that pcorf did really well with the difficulty settings, at least so far, and i hope that even as things get more challenging, HNTR would at least remain doable for me, as almost inevitably HMP will at some point get too stressful, once the Arch-Viles and Cybies are introduced.

 

FDA on HMP (only did one HNTR run prior): dei-z400-map03-hmp.zip

[Capellan]

 

[Thrustpeak]

UV | Pistol Start | Crispy Doom

 

Map 02: Tait

Nothing lurking behind at the start here so grab the shotgun and get to blasting along to another great original track. A dip into the nukage earned a not-so-secret secret SSG—would be a much harder map without it—then it was onwards through the door. Shotgun ammo was running a bit low, but getting the chaingunners to kill eachother, looting their weapon and ammo, and diving into the nukage once again gave ample space and ammunition to deal with cacos and imps flanking the room. The hell knight behind the door almost depleted the now dwindling ammo supply, but behind him was enough supplies to restock as well as a berserk pack (kind of wish it was before so he could have been fought mano a mano). Flipping the switch opened the path forward—which contained a secret rocket launcher—and soon the starting room (with a resupply of foes) was in sight. After the cacos and imps were dealt with it was through the red door, and face to face with a revenant guarding an elevator. The next section felt a bit awkward as heading down found pinkies and a hell knight blocking the way forward, and attempting to fight them off from the lift ended up becoming a game of peek-a-boo as it continually rose back up. After that a singular revenant is the only real remaining threat between grabbing the blue key and the exit. Like map01 it was a fun, short, linear trek through another stony fortress that wasn't too challenging. 

 

Up and down up and down.

 

Edited August 2, 2021 by Thrustpeak

[cannonball]

Map02 - Tait

This map is rather mixed, there are a few neat encounters in this one, however we have two secrets that house weapons I would consider very desirable if you don't want to end up in a hefty mid-tier grind. Given the secrets are extremely easy to find then I do question the rationale for making these secret in the first place?

The ending behind the red key door is very questionable, the fight at the bottom of the lift is irritating and the blue key itself serves essentially no purpose (I mean you hit a switch next to the exit door to collect the required key, no trap, no fight, nothing but a waste of 10 seconds.

Overall, some better fights but some very questionable decisions in terms of design in this one.

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP02: Tait

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

MAP02 has a bit more complexity to its layout than the introductory map; the rooms are larger and have nukage on the floors below to avoid. It's slightly more difficult than the first map too, and can be a hell of an ammo choke if you fail to locate either of the two secrets, containing an SSG and a rocket launcher, of which I located the SSG secret in my playthrough. With the SSG in hand the level is no big obstacle. We see mid-tier monsters come through in greater numbers this time, with a couple of hell knights and revenants, as well as some small caco swarms which do a nice job of applying pressure in the nukage flooded base. You do get plenty of rad suits though, so they aren't so much of a big deal.

 

A good second map, and another midi that I quite enjoyed too. Hoping all the midis in this wad are as great as they've been so far.

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP02: Tait - dsda-doom - skill 4 pistol start - a few rewinds

 

A swift and punishing step up from map01, or maybe i just went in a bit too hot lol. I needed a few rewinds this time.

I didnt find the SSG + armor secret until late in the map, which contributed to that as well.

Great music in this one, though I'm sure this is a WAD i'll only comment if the track is not great

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Steve D]

@DuckReconMajor Props on your, "No guts, no glory" playstyle. Makes for fun viewing!

[Pseudonaut]

It isn't the 3rd in my timezone yet but it's not a big deal.

Map03: FDA in 8:47, includes one death in the first 10 seconds or so, but the run went well otherwise.

 

I probably won't feel like viddumping most of these FDAs. Here are the demos for this one anyway (one for each attempt):

z403fda.zip

Good stuff, even better than the previous map. I did some fucking around with SR50 and was able to skip the blue key ambush altogether (still went back and triggered it because I wanted the kills). I played again after recording and found a way to get the rocket launcher with normal straferunning, so I guess I grabbed it in more or less the intended way.

[Doritos420]

Map02 - Tait

I would say a bit of a harder level than the first. Feels like I was deprived of health and ammo throughout most of the map due to the sheer number of enemies. Luckily the secret super shotgun is pretty easy to find (always nice to have a few telegraphed secrets). The secret rocket launcher however was a bit harder to get to, ended up finding it after trying to scrounge for more health before tackling the last area past the elevator. The fight past the first elevator was a little irritating as the enemies will crowd the exit out of the elevator, but otherwise an enjoyable level. Again another rocking track to listen to while blasting demons.

[Thrustpeak]

UV | Pistol Start | Crispy Doom

 

MAP03: Dial

Assorted zombies to the left and right, pinkies closing in, and an arachnotron lurking on the side while zombies both atop the middle tower and within the red-bricked fortress take potshots—This was definitely the most harsh start yet. Getting the arachnotron infighting with the pinkies afforded some leeway, and—once the ever-reliable super shotgun was in hand—clearing out the start was a much simpler matter. Grabbing red key, chaingun, and not-so-secret rocket launcher and popping through the next door towards the yellow key was met with sudden darkness. As closet upon closet of lost souls opened up, retreat seemed wise, and cowardice was rewarded as (after dealing with the cacos and everyone's favorite meatball) plenty of new goodies awaited outside. With supercharged health and plasma in tow, mopping up the enemies inside was a cakewalk, and the now unnecessary light amplification visor and berserk pack could be grabbed without resistance. The difficulty of the blue key fight felt a little bit too easily negated as the opening next to it allows an easy escape, and the finale through the blue door felt less threatening than the start. A map about as fun as the previous 2, but I feel like getting locked in at both the yellow and blue key fights could have upped the challenge and enhanced the experience.

 

Zone 300 showcased pcorf's love of lost souls and it seems time has not changed his feelings

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Thrustpeak

[Biodegradable]

MAP03 - Dial

UV | Continuous | GZDoom and Vanilla+

 

Heeding our friend Steve's warning thanks to his experience with Pcorf's work, I was prepared for PAIN. Thankfully, I think I overestimated this particular map in regards to its cruelty. It's certainly devious with some spicy traps and set-ups, but was otherwise as just a fun a romp as its predecessors and is my favourite so far. I enjoyed the situations it presented me and I also liked the shake-up visually compared to MAP01 and 02. MAP03 would also claim my first death of the run thanks to the rather nasty blue keycard trap. There's a good measured increase in difficulty without being a bastard, which I for one definitely appreciate. ;^)

 

 

[Fairen]

Map 3: Dial - UV

 

A step up from the last map. Starts off with a nice arena, with some overlooking monsters on raised areas. The one annoyance here is the revenant surrounded by imps on lower ledges which the auto-aim will prioritize, when you just want to rocket that revenant ASAP. The WAD finally introduces key ambushes in this map, though the first throws a rather excessive amount of lost souls at you, accompanied by a bunch of barons, in pitch-darkness so the only real option is just to immediately book it (which then turns the monsters within into a shooting gallery as they can't open the door and so you can gun them down at your leisure). The second key also has the "just hop out the window" problem, too. Though I do like the touch of distracting the player with the apparent exit only for monsters to be around the corner.

[Doritos420]

Map03 - Dial

Surprisingly large level that “dials” up the difficulty once again. The opening courtyard can be quite deadly (especially if you get stuck on an enemy as you’re getting shot at by the chaingunner). The yellow key room was quite spooky, was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and the enemies to come out of hiding. As I suspected there was a monster ambush and  the lights went out and tons of lost souls appeared, with some hell knights to block your retreat. At least you can grab the visor and plasma rifle soon after to deal with everything. Speaking of which, the secrets here were surprisingly easy, I wouldn’t even had considered the plasma rifle a secret. The next area with the red key ambush was actually really fun, with the plasma rifle and toxic barrels you can blast through the enemies very quickly. The next area of hallways was a bit strange as you can easily leave the level while missing a few of the hallways containing the remaining enemies. Overall though I enjoyed the level. The music as well was a departure from the heavy metal inspired soundtrack we’ve gotten so far, but it was still very well done. So far the soundtrack has been top notch.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP03 - "Dial" (100%K/I/S):

First death came from low health because of UV-Continuous, second one was just a distraction. This map bumps difficulty a little bit more, finally putting us in a more interesting setup. Bad choice of textures here, as I feel those vivid brick textures feel off for me, like Wolf-3D textures, ugly map but effective, with really nice combats here and there, my only problem is some of the aforementioned "meat halls", that seemed to be abundant in Zone 300,  at places, not a really bad thing anyway. This map felt like it got longer than expected, also, I think you can skip the blue key grab with the ledge near the stairs, but not a big skip, it's just to avoid a monster closet full of easy to avoid enemies. Nice fights here and there.
 

Deaths: 2

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

MAP02
MAP03
MAP01

Leaves me wanting to play more, that's what I needed, simple gameplay.

[LadyMistDragon]

(UV, pistol-start)

 

Map 02: Tait

 

I just wanted to take a moment to say I'm really surprised a guy who makes trance music is doing such a blatantly metal-styled soundtrack like this. More emotions running through this one.

 

This isn't too distinct visually from the last map, beyond the layout having a more blatantly circular feel to it, along with the presence of 2 slime pools. These pools will force you to approach combat with more deliberation, particularly as there are Lost Souls hanging around in the corners of the starting courtyard. The sergeants facing away from you when you start also underscore the danger. The Hell Knight on the platform running through the middle make it a bad idea to stand still. And you're not overloaded with health in this map, so you'll have to keep moving. Unfortunately, this area would lead to my first death later, as I though it would be stupid to drop into the slime to access a likely secret (there is combat ammo, berserk pack, and I believe shells) and I had no health to deal with the Cacodemons and distance chaingunners at the same time.

 

To be honest, my gameplay was quite sloppy in this map. The massively obvious green-textures secret on the way to the hell knight you saw at the beginning contains a rocket launcher and rockets. Pick this up unless you want the Cacodemon group that ambushes you to lull you into oblivion. I forgot to pull out the rocket launcher, causing me to fall into the slime and die, again after being attacked by some foes on my far right. Thankfully, there were no embarassments in the exit room, though one could have some trouble with the Revenant.

 

Map 03 Dial

 

The music here has a strong Celtic influence. Eventually, the percussion comes in but it has heavy feelings of nostalgia. In more ways than one? Possibly.

 

So you start out in a tiny cube with a switch in front for some reason. The place you are raised to is an outside brick courtyard with an ugly brown tower in the center with a torch on the top, and a Revenant on top of a structure consisting of those ugly Doom II skyscraper textures with Imps on the lower ledges. I think things just got serious.

 

Don't stop moving, expect to lose some health, and WATCH YOUR AMMO. It can be very easy to run out here if you're not paying attention. Prioritize your targets, and I wouldn't necessarily count the Spectres/Demons among them. There is a box of shells on top of the tower where the red key's also located, but I ended up suffering my only death here because I forgot about some Imps I'd left alive. Not to say that dealing with the Revenant is exactly a picnic either, especially as auto-aim will likely cause you to shoot the Imps below if you're using the Super Shotgun. A slight return to the bad old days of 2004-07? Because it sure felt like the player is being taunted with a chaingun being below the Revenant (unless I'm forgetting a chaingunner in the courtyard).

 

I never really though to run across and grab the chaingun with the fallen chaingunner, and I didn't realize I had a chaingun until I was behind the red key door. That may have been a blessing in disguise though, for reasons I'll soon get to.

 

After SR running off the linear ledge and failing to get to the platform where the Revenant is along with a rocket launcher four times, I eventually just gave up and ran straight, reaching the rocket launcher on the first time.

 

After opening the red key door, I was confronted by some Imps and pinkies. It was here, bemoaning my lack of shells that I suddenly realized I had a chaingun. After this, I walked to where the yellow key was and suddenly, everything went dark and several hell closets opened containing Lost Souls. I fired some rockets at them, but they honestly didn't seem to do very much and you're not exactly swimming in them. After some running and chaingunning, I found some goggles which made things much easier. Presumably, you might want to target the barrels, the obvious issue being the Lost Souls are too scattered to do much damage and you might have blown them up already if you foresaw the risk. Anyways, handle the enemies and inevitably run out of rockets, then you'll notice the corners that the Barons presumable came from. The one to the left of the entrance has a backpack, while the one on the right leads outside to the second secret with a plasma rifle. You're immediately attacked by a Pain Elemental and a Cacodemon pair so get ready to spend much of the plasma you have. You'll have enough to deal with the next key ambush though.

 

Basically, you'll use the yellow key to access the corridor you saw at the beginning with the hitscanners. Once you reach the blue key though, you'll come across a truly sadistic ambush. A manicubi pair will filter out of some shiny red corrupted tech closets with an assortment of lower-tier enemies that includes Chaingunners. The worst part is that you've hardly got ammo at this stage, so you'll basically have to pick times to rush in from your hiding place on one of the stairwells leading here, grab ammo from your foes, and hope you don't sustain much damage in the process. At a certain point, you'll be able enter the corridor again without being cut to pieces, (possibly, because I ended up with 2 percent health). You'll want the health in the closets in any case.

 

Finally, enter the last hallway and deal with a garbage meat corridor that was something pcorf did in Zone 300. Fire at barrels where it's appropriate, kill the Revenant and Baron near the slime pit at the end and open the exit. Mission complete.

 

Great map, though the placement of the first Revenant was honestly, stupid.

 

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[Steve D]

6 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

MAP03 - Dial

UV | Continuous | GZDoom and Vanilla+

 

Heeding our friend Steve's warning thanks to his experience with Pcorf's work, I was prepared for PAIN. Thankfully, I think I overestimated this particular map in regards to its cruelty.

 

Nice work, Bio! But trust me, the monster counts will continue rising, including greater numbers of mid-tiers, and the traps will get bigger and nastier. That's not a complaint, btw. ;) Indeed, that's why I like what I've played of this megawad so much. Short, punchy maps with good looks and plenty of action. However, lower-skilled players like myself have to be careful to avoid ending up in unwinnable situations due to ammo starvation, which is why I'm playing continuous. Players with greater skill also need to be wary of ammo starvation if they pistol-start. IMO, one should never count on finding secret ammo stashes to get them through in a pcorf map, though the secrets in these levels are far less obtuse than those of his past work.

 

I think I'll start blind runs again on Map14 and 15, but I've seen other people play further, and E3 seems to contain some serious brutality. We'll see, 'ey? ;)

[Book Lord]

Hi everyone

 

This seems an interesting WAD to play and maps are bite-sized. I could play along with the club as I did for Bourgeois Megawad, but I have a question: is there some kind of Dehack application that increased monster speed in Zone 400? I tried playing MAP01 and MAP02 with my usual UV -fast (and pistol start, even though I prefer continuous), but I was a bit overwhelmed by the speed of monsters (especially on Tait), which looked faster than usual. I just played Base Ganymede with fast monsters and had no particular problem, but if the monster speed has been increased beforehand, maybe that parameter is not necessary.

 

I replayed maps without -fast and noticed the firing rate looks increased a bit as well. This might be a welcome change for normal gameplay, but for -fast it changes the usual balance.

[Steve D]

Zone 400 Map03 Dial, UV continuous, Keyboard Only

Kills - 100%  Items - 100%  Secrets - 100%

Death Count - Zero

 

Three cheers for foreknowledge! When I did my blind run back in July, I died right at the start, and then at least once more when I got caught flat-footed at the BK trap. But this time I sailed through with no trouble, in spite of grabbing that early Medikit when I was at 94%, and then that Zerk when I was at 68%, but I blame that one on the wonky visuals of the GZDoom Light Goggles. It looked like a Medikit to me. D'oh!

 

This map features good verticality with the central structure, and the whole playspace is nicely stitched together, so getting from one place to another was a breeze. 

 

I made some inefficient choices here and there gameplay-wise, and sheer luck saved me from getting raked by that Chaingunner at the end. My proudest achievement was the expeditious dispatch of the Pain Elemental. That and saving the secret Soulsphere until the end so I could go into Map04 at 200%. All that and a UV-Max, too! :)

 

I reckon I need to do something about thumbnails . . . ;D

 

Edit: Shame on me for not mentioning the wonderful midi. It's the kind of calm, relaxing midi that works so well for a fast-paced map like this. Also, I'd like to ask @pcorf if the killer midi for E4M1 of Death Tormention II is his, and if so, what is its title?

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by Steve D

[Book Lord]

4 hours ago, Steve D said:

However, lower-skilled players like myself have to be careful to avoid ending up in unwinnable situations due to ammo starvation, which is why I'm playing continuous. Players with greater skill also need to be wary of ammo starvation if they pistol-start. IMO, one should never count on finding secret ammo stashes to get them through in a pcorf map, though the secrets in these levels are far less obtuse than those of his past work.

 

I noticed that MAP02 was all but generous with ammo on a pistol start (excluding secrets, one of which I didn't find). I was constantly running out of bullets and shells.  Probably I'd better play continuous as usual for my blind runs, not sure of the -fast monsters though. The rate of fire of the first Cacoswarm seemed a bit overwhelming, even though I survived on my first attempt, with 9% health...

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/Blind/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 03 - DIAL

100% kills and secrets

Time: 7:59

 

I was not expecting the WAD to get this challenging already. I can only imagine how annoying this opening room must be for pistol-starts. Thankfully, I'm not doing that, so I was able to kill everything at once. We got hitscan on ground floor, an arachnotron over by the red key door, fodder enemies on the elevated pillar in the center, and a bunch of imps, a chaingunner, and a rev on a box pyramid. Once you take care of them all, head up the pillar to nab the red key, then strafe jump to the secret rocket launcher and rockets where the rev was. Open the red door to take out the imps and pinky family inside, and notice that this is a pretty big room for such weak enemies. Once you grab the yellow key, the lights go out and several closets open up with way too many lost souls and 2 barons. One of these closets has a light amp, so grab that quickly, and save the berserk for when you need health. It's tempting to rocket the barons, but the lost souls make that tough to do. You'll also notice a path opened up back outside with a plasma (and this is a secret for some reason). Grab it and use it on the pain elemental and cacos that have appeared back out here. Go through either yellow door to head up to the elevated area overlooking the first room. Once you grab the blue key, 2 walls lower with shotgunners, chaingunners, imps, and mancubi. You may want to jump down to avoid most of them, but I went back up to get better shots with rockets. The blue door path is the final part, which is just a square path with fodder and a perched arachnotron at the end. Though once you hit the switch to open the exit door, the wall next to you lowers with 2 revs and a baron. Rocket the baron (or get it to infight), and you should be golden.

 

Pretty solid map. Definitely much harder than the last. Ammo is pretty scarce here, but like I mentioned there is a berserk. Design's not too bad. Detail is gonna be sparse due to the nature of the WAD, but it's fine here. The MIDI is fine for the most part, but I don't know if that's supposed to be an organ, accordion, or bagpipes at one point, but whatever it is, it sounds out of tune and dissonant. Other than that, the track's more subdued prog sounds decent enough.