The DWmegawad Club plays: Zone 400

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/Blind/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 05 - SOUTH

100% kills and secrets

Time: 5:32

 

This one is much easier than the last, and honestly, the last level only had that one tough fight. It looks a little cramped at first, due to the fact we've got  several handfuls of pinkies to make mincemeat of with the SSG provided and the room we're in isn't that big. I'm pretty sure the most damage I took in this map was from a pinky bite here, and it wasn't much. Once you take care of them, you can leave, shoot the chaingunners to your left, then head right to a switch and hell knights. There's a lot of switches in this map, most lowering walls to new areas, shortcuts back to old areas, and revealing enemies. Like these chaingunners and revs. It's still pretty linear, and eventually you'll find a blue skull switch, that really just lowers the skull (normal design is that you'd need the skull for this switch since the skull texture is around it, but not this time). You'll also spot the map's lone secret here, which you can find back in that initial hallway and hitting use on the lit-up gargoyle. Behind the blue key door you've got some hitscan, arachnotrons, and a baron, plus the plasma rifle at the other end of the room. Nothing that hard here, especially if you can get the chaingunners to infight the spiders. More infighting can occur behind the yellow skull door, since as soon as you open it, you'll find a big variety of enemies in front of you. Hope the revs and mancubi infight for maximum efficiency. Once you grab the red skull at the top of this room, the walls will lower back to the blue door path, and some cubbies with cacos and a pain elemental will open. Have them eat plasma for breakfast, and open the exit door for the final pinky, ending the map.

 

Level was simple enough. More Plutonia elements here like the last map. Again, the modest detail works, and the map opening up on itself a bit is nice. MIDI is pretty brooding; it should have been used in a more intense map I think.

[dei_eldren]

MAP06 - Oates (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 100% (60/60), I 100% (19/19), S 100% (1/1), T 11:02, D 0 - The maps keep getting not only more challenging, but also better visually and layout-wise.  Visually this map again would not be out of place in Plutonia, and i enjoy the well-designed  somewhat Spartanesque aesthetics, and the subtle ways by which the monotony is always broken.  There's a lot going on in this map right from the start with a whole assortment of enemies firing and charging at you, near and far.  i played a second run of this from pistol start, when ammo at the beginning was (as usual) barely enough.  Also the placement of the SSG is such that in the heat of the action it could easily be missed, and it's near necessity for the Revenant.

 

The setpiece of this level is behind the YK door, a nukage pool with an encircling walkway (with those imposing beams arching over it for a second i thought we're back in Base Ganymede!), with a higher ledge next to it upon which from Imps and Sergeants fire relentlessly.  There are also Cacodemons, and Hell Knights (sorry, i often confuse HK and Barons in my reviews, can't ever remember which one it was...) All is quite chaotic at first, but the old proven order of first getting rid of hitscanners, then Cacos, then HKs and then the rest, worked like a charm, as there's quite a lot of space to run around.  That said, my demo isn't the most elegantly played run ever, but it got the job done anyway.  After getting the RK there's another ambush from a monster closet with a Revenant and other miscreants, but now i also had the RL so no need to fear a missile in the face so much.

 

After this, there is behind the RK door still a horde of Imps and couple of Barons guarding the secret holding the plasma gun and Mega Armour among other goodies, which comes a bit late, as there only remains a few teleporting Imps to dispatch.  Good for continuous run, anyway, and i for one think it's only right the author has also given those playing continuous the advantage that it naturally and traditionally should.  i still suspect at some point this will get so difficult and unforgiving i'll only play continuous.

 

i enjoyed everything about this map, and i'll mention one nice feature - the difficulty does not come from unfair design or ambushes, or even the scarcity of ammo or health, but everything really is possible to solve on a blind run (at least on HNTR and i think HMP, too, so far) with half-decent gameplay, if not always deathless at least without frustration.  A lot of nice little design-touches, and i think the linearity is not bothersome at all because of the high interconnectivity of the areas and their arrangement as in the previous level(s).

 

Here's recording of my second HNTR-run, pistol start: dei-z400-map06.zip

 

And here a few pictures from my blind run.  From next level i'll have some nice action pics (for sure, since i played it already) that i often forget to take.

 

Spoiler

 

[Capellan]

 

[cannonball]

MAP05 - “South”

This one despite aving a low monster count, still feels like it contains a lot of bloat for very little effect on difficulty. There are a lot of nobles that off little threat during the middle and latter stages, even the spiders can be taken out with ease. The start is by far the toughest part given the resources are barely enough to clear everything, after this the map feels very straightforward. The way the map unravels is quite neat, but it feels like a missed opportunity to create some more interesting encounters.

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP05: South - dsda-doom - skill 4 pistol start - one restart, a couple rewinds

 

Tried to slow down and savor this one a bit more, after failing to run around the chunk of pinkies a couple times.

I got a lesson in ammo management and even had to use my fists a few times! Sometimes tight ammo can be fun, I think it works better in smaller maps but I'm not sure.

However, once the path to the final door opened and meatballs of doom hissed into the room I bolted. I couldn't help myself! 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Pseudonaut]

Map05: FDA in 4:45 (one death at the start).

z405fda.zip

 

The beginning is the hardest part for pistol start, but it's a lot more doable with foreknowledge. From what I can tell, the best strategy (not shown in the video) is to run out of the pinky room immediately after you grab the SSG, run straight for the box of shells down the hall, then kill the chaingunners. The rest of the map is ezpz

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP05 - "South" (100%K/I/S):

A mixture between a temple and an abandoned phobos base, can't find the right style to this map, but I like how it interconnects itself with other sections of the map, opening itself more and more as you progress. I can't analyse its difficulty since I think I'm getting helped by the continuous gameplay aspect, but other than not getting stuck by the meat walls at the start, there isn't many difficult point in this level. Nothing that blew my mind here. OK map.
 

Deaths: 2 (UV Continuous/Chocolate Doom)

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP04

MAP02
MAP05
MAP03
MAP01

 

 

[Doritos420]

Map04 - Allambie

The opening visual for this map is great. A bit intimidating seeing the revenants perched up there but you can also see the super shotgun just within reach. Cheeky trap having a bunch of imps looking over it as well. The vines plus the drum heavy music track creates a great jungle like atmosphere. The room past the yellow key door was extremely deadly. I ended up making a b-line for the rocket launcher while shooting at the pain elemental. I got the rocket launcher but hit a lost soul, and the splash damage drained my health from nearly full  to 5%, then I got hit with an imp fireball which brought it down to 2%! Ended up having to kill everything with very low health, dodging all the projectiles while trying to grab the health packs near the switches. Ended up barely making it through. The archville scared the hell out of me though because I was only up to 56 health when I fought him. The last little ambush near the end was a bit startling too. Very fun level, probably my favorite thus far. Well done.

 

Map05 - South

Fun little map. Very devious start with the room full of pinkies and just enough shotgun ammo to kill them all, but if you  just use the shotgun, it will be a disadvantage when trying to clear the chain gunners in the next hallway. Feels easier than the last level, a couple fun battles and some atmospheric foreboding music. Unusual weapon combo too, was mostly using the chaingun and the super shotgun for this level. I liked the secret in this level, very well telegraphed. The area that drops you in a room full of imps but presents you with a handy berserk pack was pretty fun as well. Amazing with what can be done with just 400 lines, I especially liked the area right before the exit.

[Thrustpeak]

UV | Pistol Start | Crispy Doom

 

MAP06:

 

Yet another great midi for the 3rd consecutive map rocking the Plutonia look. Ammo was tight this map—especially without the secret plasma rifle by the flickering candle—but I ended up having exactly enough to finish it. From pistol start I've noticed that the real challenge of each map has typically been the start, but once you get a weapon or two they end up relatively simple affairs. Still fun, but—despite how my gif may make it seem—the difficulty feels frontloaded. With plasma the end would have been a breeze.

 

Last kill with my last shot

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP05: South

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/1 secrets

 

This level sees a repeat of the Plutonia-esque overgrown base theme from MAP04, and is a more cramped affair than the other maps we've seen in the wad so far. I enjoy how this level progresses, the way the walls open up to expand the explorable area as you make your way through. The level's one secret is pretty neat too, giving you a nice window to take out some of the imps before you have a run-in with them later.

 

Combatwise, it's one of the easier maps so far. The initial room might be somewhat of a threat from pistol start, as you start in a room with a bunch of pinkies and not enough SSG ammo to take them all down, but just borrowing a chaingun from the chaingunners outside alleviates that. Otherwise, this level does throw monsters at you in decent numbers in relatively cramped areas, but their placements are straightforward and easy to deal with. Pretty much smooth sailing the whole way through.

 

A breather, it seems. But still a nice map.

 

 

MAP06: Oates

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/1 secrets

 

Continuing the viny base theme still, this level throws a decent few more monsters at you than the previous two. If you are playing from pistol start, this level really doesn't play nice with its ammo. The most notable moment in regards to this was obtaining the yellow key, where I ran out of the necessary ammo and had to lure the enemies that ambush you out of their chamber so I could ransack it of goodies.

 

Ammo starvation aside this level is a bit less straightforward with the combat overall than the previous map, making use of some monster placements on tricky ledges, whether it be the arachnotrons near the start or the nukage pit beyond the yellow key door, which is full of fodder enemies ready to take potshots at you from the perimeter while you navigate your way amongst the other threats littered around the room. The hitscanners here are wont to get a few good hits on you, so keep an eye on that health.

 

Another good one. Figured I'd knock these two off after midnight as I'll be out the next few days, will do some catch up when I get back.

[Biodegradable]

MAP06 - Oates

UV | Continuous | GZDoom and Vanilla+

 

Oh man, this map was fun on a bun! I REALLY loved this one. The flow of the progression, the varied combat, the way everything looked AND fuck me, that is one generous secret, Pcorf! You spoil me, fam. I also love how I had a bit of an epiphany regarding the radsuit placement. At first, I really didn't understand its purpose-but once my Dooming experience popped a few synapses in my brain as I gauged the area-it clicked with me. I don't know, I just personally loved that little moment. It shows I've come a long way in just a year of playing hehe. Honestly, I think this one's my top favourite map so far. :^)

 

 

[pcorf]

1 hour ago, Biodegradable said:

MAP06 - Oates

UV | Continuous | GZDoom and Vanilla+

 

Oh man, this map was fun on a bun! I REALLY loved this one. The flow of the progression, the varied combat, the way everything looked AND fuck me, that is one generous secret, Pcorf! You spoil me, fam. I also love how I had a bit of an epiphany regarding the radsuit placement. At first, I really didn't understand its purpose-but once my Dooming experience popped a few synapses in my brain as I gauged the area-it clicked with me. I don't know, I just personally loved that little moment. It shows I've come a long way in just a year of playing hehe. Honestly, I think this one's my top favourite map so far. :^)

 

 

 

Note: This is the old version with the node building bug. I have since released a new version.

[rehelekretep]

10 hours ago, Pseudonaut said:

From what I can tell, the best strategy (not shown in the video) is to run out of the pinky room immediately after you grab the SSG, run straight for the box of shells down the hall, then kill the chaingunners. The rest of the map is ezpz

 

thats what i did to spice up the start of the map and almost died lol

[Steve D]

On 8/4/2021 at 4:55 AM, Biodegradable said:

According to The Wise Elder Doomer, Steve though, this is a ruse and I should prepare for Pcorf's hidden sense of cruelty. Fortunately for me, this map felt like a bit of a breeze in all honesty and I had a good time with it.

 

I know, Bio, I know. You place your faith in Wise Elders, convinced they'll lead you to The Promised Land, but then, this barmy jagoff delivers you to a malarial swamp! Now your kids are down with fever, your spouse is stumbling around in a daze, and you're being eaten alive by mosquitoes. It looks like time to replace the elders. ;D

 

I counsel patience. You may have noticed certain similarities between the opening of Map06 and Map03. You start by gunning down hitscanners on a path around a central structure. As you go around this structure, you are fired on by a sniping Arachnotron, only this one is more effectively placed. This time you have a Revvie on the ground, and it sure seems like there's more mid-tiers than before. Kinda like Wise Elder Steve said. And of course, you died. 

 

You'll be doing more of that in the maps to come. Trust me. ;)

[Biodegradable]

45 minutes ago, pcorf said:

This is the old version with the node building bug. I have since released a new version.

 

Does the bug make it impossible to finish the WAD? I really don't feel like starting over.

[Book Lord]

MAP 06 – Oates

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

 

After emerging from a narrow tunnel and dealing with hitscanners, I reached an open area with metal pillars, a ledge with Imps and YSK, and a lot of cleverly placed enemies. They did not just appear in front of the player, but came from various directions, sometimes unexpectedly. Once the key was taken, a closet opened with a classic flock of flyers.

Spoiler

The locked door led to a large outdoor nukage basin, surrounded by a respectable number of ranged attackers, some on the same level and others on a ledge. An obvious lift permitted to get up there, even though it was improperly marked as a lion door. The BSK was trapped as expected, with a large wall opening and revealing demons, including a faraway Pain Elemental. His relentless spewing and some brutal Lost Soul bites forced a swift flight and camping by the door.

Spoiler

I found a generous secret stash by the RSK, which replenished my meagre stats, then a last, inoffensive ambush with Mancubi and Imps was triggered. Not a bad map, its highlight was surely the monster placement at awkward angles, especially in the starting area. It was slower and less action packed than the previous entries, but not a breather by any means.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP06 - "Oates" (100%K/I/S):

Another short map with nice fights, died many times because of stupidity, the second time was nearly at the end, trying to get 100% kills without ammo, and just berserk, after that, a tilt outrage came through. But it was my fault, I did not find the secret before the blue key, that fills you with an exagerated ammount of supplies, that I got at the last attempt, finishing the map fully stocked for MAP07. I think this is a better map than the previous one for little reasons, mostly combat, and better setpieces than in MAP05.
 

Deaths: 7 (UV Continuous/Chocolate Doom)

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

MAP04

MAP02
MAP06
MAP05
MAP03
MAP01

 

[Fairen]

Map 6: Oates - UV

 

Starts off by gunning down a handful of maneaters; sticking the super shotgun behind two revenants is probably not fun for a pistol-start, but your imagination may differ. Work your way up to the yellow skull key, which opens an alcove revealing a few lost souls, cacodemons, and an arachnotron perfectly-positioned to start killing his own friends. It's a laugh! Yellow door leads into an open room with an acid pit in the center; it's a wide-open area with hitscanners sprinkled all over, some too far for auto-aim, and I can't go for that. Obvious unopenable doors that open to reveal monsters when you grab the nearby key? Say it isn't so! This leads into a corridor, with a semi-clear secret. Oh mega-armour, you make my dreams of ending levels with 200%'s come true. Grabbing the key of course reveals monsters, but given that you can just blitz to the exit door, using mancubi for the last ambush is kinda out of touch. "Gwaahh! Flamethrowe—oh, she's gone."

 

Did I finish with 100% kills? Well, some things are better left unsaid. I did get all of the items, though, so my possession obsession remains fulfilled.

 

Spoiler

I'm not sorry.

 

[LadyMistDragon]

UV - pistol start

 

Map 05 - South

 

We find ourselves in what seems to be more of a temple than anything, but such signs of technology such as the lights you see occasionally either suggest there were ongoing archaeological excavations or perhaps a base like Control from Goldeneye 007. Despite what a colleague said earlier, the heavily percussive music complements the temple theme, imo.

 

This map was kind of boring, if we're going to be honest. The combat was nice 'n tight, but it felt rote in a way that's better experienced than explained. The only challenging part was at the beginning, where I had to restart once after trapping myself. It's easy to avoid if you just move around the room and fire at the pinkies more directly in front of you as you move. The chaingunners in the hallway to the left should go down fairly easy.

 

Not long after this is a switch which opens a timed door to the map's secret. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, but you'll feel thankful for the health cushion, as the various encounter revealed as you're traveling through and hitting switches in a circular fashion will probably eat at your health some. Unfortunately, this ends with a switch with the blue key symbol around it. Like probably a nymber of you, I thought it required the blue key, but after about 5 minutes, it was clear Paul was once again trying to pull a fast one, so I hit the switch which ended up lowering the chamber with the blue key.

 

The only other thing of note was the red key chamber, which was surrounded by wooden textures. Corruption perhaps?

 

 

Map 06 - Oates

 

You know, I don't think this is the name of a street, but rather the name of that infamously cheesy 70s soft rocker. "Watch out boys, she'll chew you up!!" Yeah, that wouldn't be a half-bad description of this map.

 

EIGHT FUCKING TIMES. That's how many times I died, trying and failing to get the two Arachanotrons at the right end of the outside courtyard from where you start to infight with literally everyone to compensate for the essential paucity of shotgun ammo available to you. Turns out that on the stairs leading to the exit door, there's actually a Super Shotgun, concealed by a stair texture with an essentially identical color! Again with the tricks, Mr. Corfiatis! I could have avoided probably ALL of my deaths if I had known about that! The pillars in the middle can also shut down Archnotron fire for some reason, so keep that in mind.

 

Though I should still say that when you pick up the yellow key in this room, you'll trigger an ambush with probably 3 Lost Souls, 4 Cacodemons and an Archantron presenting prime infighting opportunities. The pillars in the middle se Thankfully, you're rewarded with a large chunk of ammo, preparing you well for the next section.

 

Behind the yellow key door is a slime courtyard because the UAC truly has their finger in the pocket of....it doesn't really matter, but I do want to know why you see the skyscraper texture is used in the area behind the blue key door. I think the red-brick arches with corpses hanging from them. are probably just corrupted facility architecture And you've got LOTS of enemies. One of them was a Chaingunner on the surrounding ledge that sliced off quite a bit of my health before I started firing bullets at his location. Thankfully, he was killed by an Imp before he could shoot me again. The nearby rocket launcher oddly enough triggers no traps, though you'll probably want to use your now-plentiful shells on the Hell Knight instead, since the blue key trap includes a Baron of Hell among other enemies.

 

Behind the blue key door, the hallway curves at the point you'll see a candle in the middle. I presume this is supposed to mark the secret, but this seems like an awfully subtle clue, given how other mappers just spread these babies around. Oh well, the ammo there is still very useful for the final ambush, taking place at both sides of the starting hallway containing a Manicubus and a group of Imps each. At least it wasn't a shitty meat corridor!

 

Honestly, the wad would seem to be heading up a difficulty curve from here. The next map has something like 130 enemies. I'm looking forward to seeing what's next!

 

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[rehelekretep]

map06 fda

pretty sedate 3-key run through a nukeage base/sewer? i did like the height variation in some of the combat although there was a bit too much ledge sniping for my liking. i tried punching the last mancubus which luckily i was able to do. i was - again - expecting a vile or cyber that never arrived. also got hit by a random explosion; i cant tell if it was a rev rocket or a barrel blowing up. if you watch the demo let me know lol.

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP06: Oates - dsda-doom - skill 4 pistol start - several rewinds

 

Awesome music. Started off sounding like a ska cover of I Will Survive.

However, I did not.

Here is the intensity I felt like this map pack was building up to. Monster closets opened up and weren't quite as easy to just run around.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[FistMarine]

MAP04: Allambie
A somewhat Plutonia inspired map, though not very difficult and it certainly lacks secrets. There are 3 revenants at beginning of level and some imps on the ledge behind you. I cleared the first couple of parts without any damage, so I ended up saving all my health and armor, which is always appreciated.
And then cleared the next room that requires yellow key (with imps on ledges, baron on the bridge, etc) carefully by luring the cacodemons in front of the door and the rest, while sniping imps on ledges. All was going good, right? Unfortunately at the part with the archvile, he somehow had to resurrect a GHOST CACODEMON, as I had this feeling when the caco's corpse got crushed by the door, something bad might happen and I was right.
I killed the archvile but was out of rockets (since my rockets kept missing the archvile that was dodging them) and the few rockets I had left (or remaining in the level) weren't enough to kill the cacodemon that was chasing me through the level, then there's another ambush upon grabbing the last key and after clearing the ambush, I initially ended up finishing the level (just to get out of this nasty situation) with the berserk missed and the ghost cacodemon still haunting me.
Why is it like most times I get ghost monsters, a CACODEMON has to become a ghost? Although just a few days ago I was playing Doom Core and also got a ghost monster, though it was just a ghost zombieman in that case, plus I had plentiful resources to get rid of it. To me it seems most times I get nastier enemies as ghosts and this is why I generally try to avoid killing stronger enemies below the doors but sometimes you can't avoid it and have no idea when an archvile will show up to somehow resurrected those crushed corpses! I suppose it could have been worse if the baron was crushed and resurrected but thankfully that didn't happen!
Anyway, I reloaded the save and redid the last part of the level, I ended up taking a bit more damage than previous attempt but at least this time I was able to get rid of this shit and collect everything before exiting the level with a nice 100% everything.
Also because there are no secrets available on this map, vanilla ports score 0% secrets at end of level, though since this time I'm playing on PrBoom-Plus, I get to score 100% secrets as well! :P

 

MAP05: South
Another map mostly on the easier side, you start surrounded by demons and all I did was try taking them out with the SSG as fast as I could. Of course one time I get cornered and one demon takes a healthy bite, taking me from 157 to 130 health (with green armor) and makes me question what's with the RNG as of lately, because I'm sure I could have avoided a lot of damage if things like that didn't go wrong. Well besides that, the starting room isn't too bad on the continuous run and I took it slowly and killed most enemies without taking much damage. I still ended up having a bit well above 100% health when I finished the map.
As for the rest of the map, there's some traps that aren't too difficult to deal with (though you certainly should pay attention and hope you don't get surrounded or something) and a secret (rocket launcher, green armor and few other goodies) that is easily found at beginning by pressing on the light up lion switch and should prepare you for the rest of the level. There is also a berserk pack and another green armor found shortly after but I didn't actually need another green armor, so it ended up unused, while the berserk was grabbed at end of level because I thought I would need it to refill my health, due to health being scarce in general.
Some stronger monsters show up later but if you take them from behind the door, you should be able to minimize the damage and end up conserving health and armor. Overall, the map wasn't too difficult...on a continuous run at least. I can imagine it's much harder on a pistol start.

 

MAP06: Oates
Another easy map, at least that's how it felt to me. You start surrounded by various zombies and it's time to use your chaingun to quickly get rid of them! Then you should look for some chaingunners and revenants, which I noticed them in time before it was too late, since I was busy with trying to take the arachnotrons up there and some imps on ledges. After clearing the beginning parts with minimal damage and taking slowly, then seeing the yellow key knowing that a trap was about to happen, so I grabbed it quickly and run back down. Some cacodemons got infight with the arachnotron and it was quite amusing to watch them infight, until a lost soul somehow manages to get around and hit me once in the back, ruining my enjoyment of watching them infight.
Well after clearing the lost souls and the last cacodemon (that didn't infight with arachnotron), I took the injured arachnotron and continue my way through the level. I took it slowly, sniped those hitscanners and imps from ledges, waited for hell knights to come closer to door and killed them there. Then I proceeded. Take the lift, grab the blue key and then go behind the yellow door and wait for those monsters to come closer. Yeah, I know, it's boring having to lure the monsters and pick them off that way (basically the easy way out) but I want to make sure to not take any damage or minimize the damage in general when dealing with traps like these instead of having to sit there and fight in same room and then run the risk of something bad happening. Sometimes running from traps is a good idea, unless the mapper locks you in same room with the ambush.
That's not to say the ambush was difficult (it wasn't difficult at all), just that I prefer the more careful approach and saving the health for the tougher encounters. So after that, open the blue door, take out the imps and the baron, then before grabbing the red key, look for that wall in left and press it! It is a very valuable secret that contains a plasma gun, two cell packs AND a blue armor, as well as other goodies! This is a secret that you definitely DON'T WANT to miss! Anyway once ready, pick up the red key but DON'T drop down! What I did was instead go all the way back (because I knew an ambush happened when I noticed some walls lowered and heard some imps) and decided once again to be smarter, so I went back and picked off the imps and mancubi from the entrance of yellow door. I ended up doing without any damage, I don't know how well would have went if I did the intended way but that's another instance where you can avoid most of the trouble if you handle ambushes like these in different ways than what the author intended, or at least that's what I think so. Either way, the careful approach ended up saving my ass most of the time, so I recommend doing that! Also the blue armor was much needed, especially for the next level...

 

MAP07: Jerling
Well, things surely get much harder from there! And in many Doom 2 megawads, MAP07 is usually the first map that kills me. Although thankfully that wasn't the case here but there were definitely some nasty parts, especially near end of map. At beginning, instead of taking down the hell knight in my right and having some cover, I ended up grabbing the soulsphere and trying to take out all those monsters, then realized how many monsters are there (especially some dangerous ones), so ended up retreating for a bit...only to realize that hell knight was there blocking my cover, so I didn't have much cover and was forced to think fast and stay in the open and absorb damage while using my rockets and then plasma to quickly get rid of monsters as soon as possible.
I ended up clearing the starting room with nearly 120% health and armor, I kinda wish I hadn't wasted the precious extra health/armor like this but at same time I'm glad I ended up clearing the starting room without too much trouble as it could have been much worse.
Once you are done, kill the imps and cacodemons and prepare for the next part! Grab the radiation suit, kill the pain elemental and then the arachnotron, press the switch and prepare for another tricky part! You have to kill all those demons and two hell knights that try to overwhelm the place but at same time watch out for those two spectres teleporting behind you! So kill them (the hell knights managed to get infight with few demons but that was it) and then move on to the next room. I ended up clearing this part without any damage, so it was good that it made up for all that damage I took at beginning of level!
Moving on, the next room is quite tricky but not too difficult. You have to carefully take out all those various monsters and I would suggest carefully approaching this room as you don't want any monster surprising you from behind! I couldn't make the arachnotrons infight with mancubi, so I had to take them all out myself. I think some hitscanners managed to get infight with arachnotrons but they didn't last too long. So to take down those arachnotrons, I used the RL and chaingun sniping. There's a couple more monsters waiting you up there (some barons and imps), take them out and grab the yellow skull key sitting on the throne. I expected a trap to happen but thankfully nothing happened! There's a secret BFG that you can see but can't reach yet! I couldn't actually figure out how to get it, so I ended up grabbing it at end of level AFTER consulting an YouTube video. Thankfully there is a complete playthrough of the wad and it can be helpful for levels where I can't figure out the secrets or something.
Anyway, to reach the secret, press on that switch on the throne and it will temporary lower a lift that allows you to get up there and get the BFG. Despite pressing the switch earlier, I couldn't figure out the secret myself, so I had to watch the YouTube video, I know shame on me on this part. :P
Now comes the fun part. You will open the door and notice a bunch of cacos are just standing there with backs at you AND a Spider Mastermind! Don't fire yet and you know exactly what you have to do! I ended up making the spider infight with all the cacodemons. The spider obviously won, so all I had left was take down the spider myself with plasma and SSG! I did all of this without any damage, which was cool and felt rewarding! There is the red skull key that I didn't grab yet and I'm glad I did because I needed to take down those two arachnotrons down there AND an archvile that was just waiting there. You will soon realize why you need to take these down there before grabbing the red skull key. As upon grabbing it, surprise! A bunch of revenants and barons have showed up! Makes me glad I cleared out the whole thing without any damage!
However the map is not over yet and there is one more big obstacle you have to do before finishing the map! Behind the red door, there are various monsters, which can be easily taken from safety. Funnily enough, a chaingunner got infight with the revenant and the chaingunner won. After clearing out this part, there is a surprise archvile, which managed to resurrect that revenant, meaning I had to kill that revenant myself after all! Hehe.
I was also lucky to not get zapped by the archie as I managed to run away in time, so I ended up conserving that precious health and armor for the next part. Once I was done, I took the lift, grabbed the blue skull key and now came the last fight of the map and the hardest so far! There are many monsters getting unleashed and some of them managed to teleport behind me or even activate the lift and try to ambush me. I managed to survive just fine with a combination of SSG and Plasma but I must have dropped to around 50% health and armor at one point. This meant that all the extra health was gone and the remaining blue armor had to be replaced with a fresh new green armor. Still it's a good thing I managed to survive all of that! And once I finished the map, I looked to see how to get the BFG secret and after that, level 100% complete!

 

I went ahead and played for a couple extra levels until I reached MAP12 and stopped there for now. I won't spoil what happens in next maps. I'm a bit burned off from so much vanilla Doom at the moment, so I will return to Zone 400 in a week or so and then continue writing and posting my thoughts on the following maps, so until then, take care everyone!

 

Some screenshots (forgot to take one for MAP04):

Spoiler

 

[King Know-Nothing]

Oop, fell a bit behind, but gonna work on catching up!

 

Map 04 - Allambie

 

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

 

Will say starting level with an immediate view of both the exit and revenants was a nice touch. The first room or so were easy enough to clear out, mostly low-tier hitscanners, imps and pinkies once you deal with the revenants. I will say, I expected a trap here or there in the first two rooms, but it really plays it by face value, which is by no means a bad thing, but it does kind of show how other WADS have really beaten the paranoia into me. That being said the traps that are in the map were ones that particularly delighted me.

 

The bridge room with the imps, cacos, hellbaron and a pain elemental was a welcomed change of energy from the first portion. Dodging imp fireballs while trying to take out the baron went a lot better than I thought it would to be honest, but would probably have been a bit tougher if I had not door fought most the flying enemies. However, this did set up a great trap with a teleporting archvile that led to a definitely 'ohshitohshitohshit' moment where I immediately turned around and ran back to find it. The teleporting cacos from earlier almost guarantee at least one revived enemy, which I think it is a rather clever move, though is fairly low impact, thankfully.

 

The final trap getting the blue key is a nice final attempt to catch the player off guard, and backing up and falling into the now shrunk pathway in the room with the blue key was startling at first, but having the choice to press a button and open up the room again was a very welcomed one.

 

Map 05 - South

 

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

 

I will say, there is something amusing about a horde of pinkies just standing there, shuffling, as if waiting to either get slaughtered or fuck your day up. Shooting through them, I did end up getting stuck for a moment as they got a few bites in, which made me a bit more cautious on the rest of my playthrough. Honestly, its a good immediate lesson that a lot of this level focuses on space. At first it is somewhat cramped, though never frustratingly so, but then does one of my favorite things in mapping, by slowly opening up with each switch/button. It isn't to any extravagant degree, but enough that I really enjoyed how the rooms changed. Will say that finding one of the secrets early on that let me take out the enemies in a later trap is very satisfying and I think a good use of a secret.

 

That being said, I think the encounters in this one were more tame than in the last couple, but that might have been a mixture of some luck dealing with the blue door room and going for continuous play.

 

Map 06 - Oates

 

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

 

I am definitely starting to feel the ammo drought a bit more, to the point where I had to punch out the final two imp. If I did this map from pistol start, I absolutely would have been in a lot more trouble with this one. In the first room, those sniping arachnotrons were a bit of a hurdle, but I was able to slowly wrangle most of the enemies on the floor well enough that I didn't have too much trouble dodging their projectiles and eventually taking them out when everything else in the room had been dealt with. The yellow key trap didn't give me too much trouble, thanks to all the space I had to move around.

 

Taking the yellow door room cautiously did seem to make it far easier to handle, as most things could be hit from the door (feel like I need to stop door fighting so much with this WAD) which I imagine isn't the intended way considering all the hitscanners and imps on the higher ledge, but it worked well enough that I was at least able to have a bit more fun with the hell knights. The trap for the blue key was more lively than the first and had me moving a bit more actively. The real highlight was the red key trap with the mancubi and other monsters. Moving back and forth to avoid fireballs from both sides was really more intense than the lot of the map and closed things out well enough. Fund the secret at the end, which gave some much needed ammo heading into the next map, but I fear it won't last lone.

 

This is probably the least cohesive map in terms of visuals and flow, and to a degree I was struggling to find things to say about it. Its not bad, but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

[Andromeda]

3 hours ago, rehelekretep said:

map06 fda

also got hit by a random explosion; i cant tell if it was a rev rocket or a barrel blowing up. if you watch the demo let me know lol.

You mean the one @ 6:04? The baron's projectile hit a barrel slightly behind you :P

 

Here's another angle:

 

[Lorenz0]

MAP06 - Oates / GZDoom / UV / Continuous

 

Probably my favorite map so far, though by a small margin, since I maintained a pretty even level of enjoyment throught the whole wad. The monster

placement in this one is done very well, far better than in the last map, with numerous traps that force you to move and weave between projectiles.
Interesting texturing too. It kinda seems like a mix of a few themes that shouldn't work that well together, but I think they do.

 

MAP07 - Jerling

 

The hardest and the longest map so far. Right from the start you're welcomed by a large group of monsters that's easy to make infight, but taking some damage is unavoidable. Not a fan of the pinky assault afterwards, since you're clearly meant to do it with a chainsaw.

There was one thought I had consistently from this point onwards - there is not enough health. In the next area you're killing a lot of hitscanners that always managed to sneak a few shots on me and usually kill me, since I was pretty low on hp. I don't really mind it in this case though, this room was pretty well designed as a whole. (The secret was also pretty cool.)

I can't say the same for the next area though. Regardless of if you have a bfg or not, you have to engage in a waiting game with the spider mastermind and wait for it to infight all the cacos for maximum efficiency. A few mean archviles later and we're onto the blue key and the final fight. I had around 18 health at this point and not even the bfg could make me survive more than a few seconds after entering the chaingunners' view. After giving it a few tries, I backed out into the elevator I came from and rushed for the exit, skipping the fight xD

A few low points, but a pretty good map overall.

 

[rehelekretep]

2 hours ago, Andromeda said:

You mean the one @ 6:04? The baron's projectile hit a barrel slightly behind you :P

 

Here's another angle:

 

hah thanks - it was a shock for sure, lucky me!

[Fairen]

Decided to go back and pistol-start all the maps so far, and as it turns out they don't play much differently—you typically get the super shotgun and chaingun early on anyway, and ammo is generally tight but not much too so. The biggest differences is not having as many rockets for the imp/revenant tower in the corner of Map 3 and the Big Stupid Room of Being Big and Stupid in Map 4 (in which I just killed the floaties and baron and left everything else because I could not be bothered with only six rockets).

 

Also noticed that in Map 3, in the area with the blue key past the yellow doors, you can rocket-jump onto the ledge with the medkit and backpack, skipping getting the blue key and triggering the ambush. Even though you can just immediately run away from said ambush and go through the blue door to end up in the same area, sans one rocket to the vicinity of your face. It's...something, I guess?

[Capellan]

 

[dei_eldren]

MAP07 - Jerling (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 100% (89/89), I 100% (19/20), S 0% (0/1), T 12:51, D 3 - At the starting arena a veritable horde of hitscanners with two Mancubes, and running atop the higher ledge filled with Imps, Cacodemons appear.  Yeah, this is about my nightmare Doom-level.  The small boon is, i get the first shot, and was able to kill a group of hitscanners with a Chaingunner with a rocket, after which i simply grabbed the Soul Sphere and ran up away from the main arena, where the Mancubi couldn't easily hit me.  From there it was pretty methodical to disentangle the situation, with enough health to take a lot of hits from the Imps.

i killed everything first, before going to the small nukage-section, where a Pain Elemental and Arachnotron were waiting, but i was lucky on my first run that the PE took all the hits.  Pressing the switch, was expecting the BK to lower, but no, instead another ambushed was launched, mainly of Pinkies and Invy-Pinkies, and i think a couple of Hell Knights.  On the continuous run i had enough ammo, but on my second run, from pistol start, i was happy to have the Chainsaw for the demons, as there simply wasn't ammo to shoot all of them.

 

The entrance to the building has opened, but involves a claustrophobic and paranoid corridor with Cacodemons, some Lost Souls, and also Mancubi and hitscanners, before arriving at a nukage-pit, at the other end of which are two Arachnotrons guarding the RK.  Here is also the only secret of the map, which involved a mad run taking me more than a couple tries to get right, but granting the BFG and some health (i did not get this on my blind run, but only on the second.)

 

If things haven't been interesting so far, and they have, the next room was simply lovely, i loved it.  A row of Cacodemons facing away, and i was just standing there wondering what the hell to do, not seeing what was behind them.  So i decided to grab the goodies on offer behind their backs, when all hell broke loose.  Not because i'd woken them up, but instead the Spiderdemon behind them!  So they all attacked her, while i ran to the safety behind the door and watched the proceedings.  On both runs the Cacos won, and it wasn't pleasant to kill them after doing such a good job, but... it's only a game.  Besides, they did try to kill me next.  That's one of the most satisfying cases of infighting i've ever witnessed in my own games - and definitely the sexiest catfight that could take place in Doom.

 

So, the next problem was the AV, which i was able to blast with rockets on my blind run without dying, and i don't honestly remember what was after it, there was few more monsters, probably nothing too severe after getting finally the BK required for the exit.

 

It was a lovely level, despite the nightmare start...it's in fact exactly the kind of Doom i don't want to normally play.  But it was really fun :D  The layout was in a way linear, again, but i loved the interconnectedness, again, and the way it all comes together at the end.  For some reason, in these kinds of short levels, i love placing the exit right next to the beginning, because it always signifies an interesting and intricate layout.  i really wouldn't imagine this level of complexity was achieved with 400 lines only.  But the difficulty... if this goes on, soon we will find the limits of my skills.  The death-count is an approximation, but it would not have been more.  Despite the difficulty, as good as the other levels have been, this is yet again my new favourite.

 

No demo this time...i did record my second run from pistol start, but, my death by the AV was so embarrassing i don't want to share it (until that i was actually pretty pleased of the run) :P  Seriously.  i took a shot at him with the BFG, and then he was no longer in front of me (reminding me of what happened to me in my favourite map of Doom Zero...) and i simply lost my head, knowing full well i'd die right then and there.  Nor was i in the mood to go through it again after that inglorious end.

 

Spoiler

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by dei_eldren

[Book Lord]

MAP 07 – Jerling

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

 

The beginning felt like stirring a hornets’ nest with all those monsters facing the opposite way, but pressing the first switch really started wreaking havoc. The way the floor opened up, with all those Pinkies teleporting randomly around me and flooding the courtyard below, was a genuine surprise and instigated the wrong choice of jumping down to my death. The subsequent throne room was one of the most appealing I admired in Zone 400 and featured a varied host of enemies. It offered the first opportunity to secure a BFG9000, by means of an unmarked, though thematically appropriate, secret switch and speed challenge.

Spoiler

Beyond the yellow door the first Spiderdemon awaited, just to be whittled down by a prolonged infighting with her Cacodemon worshippers, which I immediately identified as suitable meat shields. She went down with only 4 more shotgun hits. The real challenge came after taking the RSK, in form of a line of Revenants and Barons. I could have rolled out the BFG but I preferred the lesser weapons instead, probably not the safest approach. There were Arch-Viles here and there, but they were alone and in tight spaces. They attacked on sight because of -fast parameter and I could easily hide behind corners.

 

I really enjoyed the chaotic aggression after picking up the BSK. It was the third time that the starting courtyard was filled with monsters and the resulting carnage was an amazing spectacle to behold. An excellent map that appeared longer and richer than suggested by its small size.

Spoiler