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dobu gabu maru

The DWmegawad Club plays: 1000 Lines 3

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MAP23 - Exile's Path (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 100%, I 100%, S 100%, T 22:16

 

Spoiler

Seven shades of Shiva rising, let's do the war on drugs...

 

The jungle in this map for some reason reminds me a lot about one of the true action classics, Predator, but in fact Apocalypse Now (not a big fan of this movie - my favourite thing in the movie is the classic line 'never get out of the boat') is a more appropriate association with this bedlam.

 

Come the final mise-en-scene i was still feeling hopeful, but fuck it if i didn't think of quitting before finally managing it by grace of... luck?  No, in fact, i got it once by luck, but was so unhappy that i tried again until i felt i had actually managed it myself ..  At first i kept releasing everyone first and then trying to somehow manage it with limited plasma, then i tried not opening the monster closets at the back but the limited space didn't help much.  Last i somehow started getting it by first very forcefully targeting the bloody fucking Arch-Vile and his buddies the bloody fucking Pain Elementals, just killing the riff-raff that got close to me while doing that.  Succeeding in destroying them meant that victory in the whole fight was pretty much sealed.  i probably should have gotten the Soulsphere for this, but had decided to save it for the end. Wenn es sein muss...

 

Yeah, i didn't enjoy that fight, but was happy to succeed in it.  Other than that, before the map was pretty nice, with lots of interconnected open areas hunting for switches and keys with very tough opposition from the start.  The new monsters were totally out of place where i met them - there was two of them at a distance at one point, and i just killed them with rockets. 

 

Nothing wrong with the map except that the last fight ruined the experience for me - i liked the layout and the design, and the preceeding fights, but this was the kind of encounter i don't enjoy at all.  Oh, i did get the secret Soulsphere at the end.  i sort of stumbled upon the switch to raise the bridge for it.

 

Only last part of my excursion is on video because Crispy crashed after attempting that fight maybe ten times, so it's my attempts after that, and my search for the Soulsphere, that are are documented.  So the first or second map in the set that i didn't enjoy, with the difference that i think i'd enjoy MAP08 on second run but this one i wouldn't.  i wonder if the difficulty is starting to ramp up and is this the direxion it's going to go? 

 

 

 

Top 1000 maps in four sets

Spoiler

Episode 1

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10


Episode 2

MAP16 - Corruption - 9.5/10

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP20 - Wall of Omens - 9/10

MAP18 - Farewell to the Dark Ages - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

MAP17 - Ceremony of a Thousand Stars - 9/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP19 - Gutter Waltz - 8/10

 

Episode 3

MAP21 - Skull - 9/10

MAP22 - Crossbones - 8.5/10

MAP23 - Exile's Path - 5/10

 

Come Together

MAP16 - Corruption - 9.5/10

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP20 - Wall of Omens - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP18 - Farewell to the Dark Ages - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

MAP17 - Ceremony of a Thousand Stars - 9/10

MAP21 - Skull - 9/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP22 - Crossbones - 8.5/10

MAP19 - Gutter Waltz - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP31 - Farfarout - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10

MAP23 - Exile's Path - 5/10

 

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1 hour ago, rehelekretep said:

the switches in map15 dont work in complevel -1 for some reason :(


Being a vanilla mapset, the intended complevel is 2, any particular reason you are using -1?

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Map 22 - Crossbones by Dreadopp

 

So this is cool. A sort of Duke Nukem 3D-esque continuity is present here, though what starts out as a cave quickly becomes an extensive grotto surrounding a pirate ship along with some other very cool and open outdoor areas. Not much harder than the last map but I like maps like this and besides, "Sanctuary" complements the mood wonderfully. I was killed once by one of the Revenants in the platform round where the cyberdemon's at because I was playing in an inexcusably clumsy manner almost from the jump. I sort of liked the underground Revenant trap but dodging around those rockets by using the nearby pillars as cover is just the natural strategy here. Also, rocket carelessness made the Cyberdemon section harder than it likely needed to be. The fact remains that most of the fights had at least some teeth, so while they weren't really hard, there was at least a little more happening than the last map. Getting burned by the first Arch-vile at the blue key ambush when they were nearly dead made me grit my teeth and they weren't even finished off with the rocket launcher!

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1 hour ago, Horus said:


Being a vanilla mapset, the intended complevel is 2, any particular reason you are using -1?

so i can use saves and record a demo at the same time: normally switches are not an issue playing with unusual complevels so i am wondering what particularly Bauul did

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Saves also work in complevel 9 demos, for what that's worth. Just need to exit the game and run it again using the same demo name to "load" your save IIRC.

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MAP22: "Crossbones" by Dreadopp

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/1 secrets

 

Seemingly somewhat of a "part II" to the previous map, with a pairing name and starting from where the previous level ended. Skull had you finish the level by pushing a switch wired up to some dynamite, and Crossbones has you venture into the hole created in the rockface. What you have is a complex of caves and cliffs, with leaves draping down from above that are attached to massive tree trunks. It's another great looking level, the area where you walk on a ledge to get to the blue key especially caught my eye with its layout and lighting. 

 

This is another one that's a bit on the easy side, although more difficult than the previous one in my opinion. Venturing through a wrecked ship eventually has you in another ledge area with a cyberdemon atop a skullmound at the centre, a room that looks very intimidating at first but is made simpler by the fact only harmless water lies below you, so you can always drop down for a bit if things feel dicey. The one time I died was after grabbing the green key, where a hellscorcher immediately teleports beside you and proceeded to, well, scorch me. A cheeky little trap. My favourite parts of the level were the post-key fights, both taking place in front of the wrecked ship. Just nice quick arena-ish battles with lots of room to run around and a fair amount of enemies to blast.

 

Another very nice looking level, really digging the visuals of this episode so far. Enjoyed this.

Edited by DisgruntledPorcupine : grammar

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MAP23: Exile’s Path

By Misty

 

Kills: 100%
Items: 100%
Secrets: 100%
Time: 9:18

 

Perhaps the first “real” map of E3, Exile’s Path doesn’t take it super easy, in the green key fight, ammo is rather strict so don’t waste too much because there’s no Berserk to be seen, the purple key subterranean zone features my favourite usage of the Chaingunner 2000 so far, you’ll wanna be weary of them as they can deal alarming amounts of damage in a hurry if you let them, the blue key fight killed me an alarming amount of times, the Hell Knights really like to get in your way while you whack the Arch-Vile, after that it’s nothing to worry about, you’re pretty much home free except for one more Arch-Vile if you’re scared of them and a few Cacodemons, yet another solid outing from 1000 Lines 3

 

Grade: B

Difficulty: B

 

Playthrough video

Edited by NiGHTS108

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MAP23: Exile’s Path (99%/100%/100%)

1.       Hell knight projectiles are seekers

2.       Cacodemons are more aggressive

3.       Collecting keys give monsters a random buff

 

Another compact level taking place in naturalistic caverns and cliffs, features harmless golden water and the damaging red lava. Most of the monsters are stacked closely together in spite of their average numbers, which only makes them easier and faster to kill in resulting chains of explosions. The aggressive spewing cacodemons whose partially invisible poison spits can ignore my armor are now requiring even more attention than before.

 

For most of the part the walkthrough went smoothly, until the last leg of the map, where I had to deal with a pack of cacodemons, one of which was invincible. But the real nightmare came when I encountered the arch-vile with a rocketeer curse! Imaging yourself fighting a monster which is nigh impossible to hit, can possibly flame-blast you even behind the cover, while resurrecting others right on the fly! Not to mention two pain elementals. Thankfully, the horde included several packs of zombiemen, which fell down very quickly in a chain of explosions, giving me some kind of breathing space to deal with the rest. Not having the BFG really taxes me, thought the splash damage from explosions helps to reduce the overall stress while dealing with 25 different card effects.

1000 lines map23.jpg

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MAP23 - Exile's Path

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

It's Misty's turn and they're taking us on a wild safari. A hot start from the get-go as we descend and loop around a fierce jungle of PAIN. Things get nasty quick with surprise ambushes, sneaky Cacos hiding in lava falls, sniping Mancs and tons of hitscanners. This one really cheesed my onions at a certain point with a rather prickly valley that took a good few tries to kill everything and make it out with a decent amount of health. Ammo appears to be a little scarce because I was almost completely drained by the time I reached the exit. I can only hope tomorrow's mapper was kind enough to leave supplies at the door.

 

 

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I decided to give these next two maps the added challenge of playing them at 4:30 AM right after I got home from work instead of going to sleep like normal. I'm doing some weird sleep schedule changes for Christmas so I can wake up at like 8 AM instead of my usual 2 PM by planning on not going to sleep when I come home tomorrow and pulling an all-nighter (in the day). So if this text is even more rambly and stream-of-conscious than normal, with sentences that don't make a ton of sense, it's cause I'm tired. But how will it effect my play?

 

GZDoom (pre-cell clip fix)/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 22: Crossbones - Dreadopp

100% kills and secrets

Time: 10:05

 

We've got some nice level connectivity immediately here, with the start being a new hole in the wall we made after hitting the exit switch last map. I don't know why the zombies ahead of me aren't reacting to it, but who cares. This map takes place in some caverns and clearings in the middle of the jungle, and it's very nice looking even though it's simple geometry and texture usage. Even with needing 2 keys, it's still pretty linear, and the 2 paths to those keys are on elevated pathways in clearings over some water. Both clearings have the same kind of trap: enemies are wandering initially, but get halfway through and more appear. The first time it's not too bad; it's just cacos interfering with the imps and knights already there. But the other one is a cyb, along with imps and knights. I got incredibly scammed here. I jumped down to the water to grab the armor bonuses, jumped into the teleporter, and teleported INTO a cyb rocket. I'm assuming there was a hell knight nearby it was infighting that caused this. Thankfully, I saved the secret soul sphere since I already had 195% health when I initially found it. Grabbing each key starts a wave back in the central hub area. The first one has an archie, so I think that one's a little more dangerous, even if the second features more mid-tiers like mancubi, hell knights, and pyros. Thankfully, its nothing you can't handle. Pretty nice little map!

 

Map 23: Exile's Path - Misty

100% kills and secrets

Time: 10:54

Deaths: 1

 

This map may feature a lot of lava, but the map itself looks like a big snowflake to me. Even though the map is kinda small, all the different small notches and alcoves make this feel like it's more than 1K lines at times. It may be my favorite map design so far to look at. Gameplay-wise, it's pretty good. Encounters here can be a little more intense. Idk how non-pistol starters are gonna have enough ammo for the early fight with a bunch of hell knights and a single baron. The green door area has a lot of alcoves that open up with imps, mancubi, and lost souls, but that's just RL fodder. You get a decent amount of rockets here, so go to town. Make sure to check the lavafall for the secret switch to access the soul sphere! This map does have my first gameplay design complaint I have with the WAD, iirc. The blue key is pointless. You grab the blue key before the blue key switch is even revealed. Couldn't the blue key just have been another switch or something? It's very weird. The final area does have a pretty nasty surprise fight. You jumped down and dealt with the stuff in the lava, get back on the grass, wander around, and 3 walls lower instantly revealing a ton of zombies, 2 pain elementals, and an archie. I got my death here, since I still had imps wandering around the first time, and I manage to backwards run in a way that an imp got in front of me as I fired rockets, meaning I face-rocketed myself at point blank range. I still don't know exactly how that happened. Still, those PEs and archie is a mean combo. Overall, the map is fun, but the blue key usage needs improving or should be changed.

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MAP22: Crossbones. Played on UV, pistol start. Kills 124/124, secrets 1/1. Completion time 12:22.

 

A nice, short level with a couple of tight fights, especially the one with the CB turret, which I'm surprised I survived first time without midfight saves (other than that I left CB alone until I had cleared the rest of the level). The archvile spawn managed to off me a couple times instead, but that's on me. I liked the general layout, how it looped in on itself and made good use of the central hub. I mean, nothing groundbreaking here, but the mappers are working on tight restrictions. The one qualm I have with this level is that the CB had to be taken care of the hard way instead of telefragging it or something. Not a big deal, it's a sitting target far away, so it's not like it's some sort of close quarters BS either.

 

 

MAP23: Exile's Path. Played on UV-PS. Kills 161/161, secrets 1/1. Completion time 17:16.

 

At first I wasn't so enthusiastic on this one. I don't know why; perhaps because it felt like a series of small rooms with enemies clustered on you (even if we are not talking about hardcore slaughter densities). Perhaps it was because seeing the numerous rad suits near the starting area, I was expecting to wade through sprawling ravines of damaging floors. But then the level grew on me, my fears didn't come thru. I really enjoyed the final fight with cacocloud, an archvile and slew of other enemies. Too bad I only found the secret at the end by accidentally bumping into a fake wall, which kind of was a bit disappointing, but at least it wasn't some random wall, but the lessons learned from early Valiant levels should have paid off earlier.

Edited by RHhe82

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MAP 23 - Exile's Path by Misty:


The most "fine" map so far, Exile's Path is a well constructed map, with a good layout and nice enough visuals. I like the use of the yellow liquid textures here, I've only really seen them in industrial environments (and Eviternity map31) before and they contrast interestingly with the jungle - more unusual than just putting water here and I like it. The lava seems slightly less necessary as there are lots of radsuits laying around so the damaging floor is almost never a threat, though it does add some more contrast to the visuals.

 

The gameplay here isn't great at first, the first area is a dull slog through mid-tier monsters who aren't really any threat unless you don't spot the SSG and nearly die trying to save 30 seconds like I definitely didn't do! The green key trap is really disappointing - couldn't you have replaced those hell knights with imps or revenants? After this, the map improves. The first lava canyon is entertaining, and the map does gain points for letting me blow up packs of lost souls with rockets.

 

The best part of the map is the final area, the cacodemons force you onto dry land as they normally end up blocking off the radsuits, and this springs a small horde of zombiemen and an archvile on you, which is a fun fight to do. Difficulty wise, this feels like it could have been Map 3, not Map 23 - this episode has been pretty easy so far, easier than the first two were in their first few maps. Overall though, this map is another perfectly solid map, though not the most interesting one in the set.

 

Bug - I managed to fall into the illusopit with the cacodemons in, on a raised lava area directly after hitting the blue key switch - you sort of have to strafe-run to get there, so it's not a massive deal.

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map21 fda

strange choice to put the green armour in a bush. my thinking was "as a doom mapper, there should be some armour by now, green armour is more likely, green = green bush." im not sure if that deliberate "this is a doom map, what would the mapper do?" is intentional but it rather breaks immersion in an otherwise immersive map.

map22 fda - very confused as to how that pirate ship got there

map23 fda - i hate lost souls!

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MAP23 - “Exile’s Path” by Misty

The combat for the most part was rather dull, especially very early on when you have to SSG a cluster of hellknights on a ledge you need to get to, this is then followed by another cluster of nobles that you need to SSG to leave that section of the map. It gets a little better as thing progress, though for the most part everything is in front of you and easily killed. 

The exception is the final area, now this was a real pain. The infinite height issues are a starting point as you are at real risk of being unable to fall down or be mauled to death in the process. I got a few horrid damage rolls in the this area (Notably mancubi taking more rockets than usual to die whilst seemingly landing an 80 damage hit every time and killing me). The archvile/PEs/Zombies are a nice cluster but for I was able to leave this fight until I had killed the rest of the monsters.

Overall - This one I feel could have been made better by simply changing some of the monster types used or using the layout more effectively for encounters. In the end it felt a little underwhelming and when the heat did take off, it instead provided a rather frustrating experience. For the most part this was surprisingly easy, well except for the last room.

 

 

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MAP23: "Exile's Path" by Misty

UV, pistol start, no saves

Kills: 161/161, Secrets: 1/1

Deaths on map = 0

Total Deaths = 16

 

I share similar opinion as cannonball for the most part. The combat for the most part of this cave-like map is fairly dull and mostly involves using SSG or assault rifle to kill enemies in front of the player (mostly low or mid tier enemies). The damaging floor portion just after the green key door is somewhat interesting, with mancubus and pyros at different points. But even this part is fairly easy due to abundance of radsuits. The only secret of the map (a soulsphere) is here which can be accessed by finding a switch behind a lava wall.

 

Oddly enough though, I didn't struggle much at the final area unlike some other players here seem to be (though foreknowledge probably helped me too). I lured most of the cacodemons from the lavafall by getting to the edge, but not falling (and even if you fall, there is a lift to take you back). Then I made sure to jump down and grab the radsuit and kill all the spectres/imps etc. and also the mancubui guarding the exit. Only then did I proceed to the shore and given that I managed to spare my rockets, I was easily able to kill the archviles and used the assault rifle to finish off the 2 PEs.

 

Map rating (from favorite to least favorite for each episode):

Spoiler

Episode 3
Map22

Map21

Map23

Episode 2

Map18

Map17

Map19
Map14
Map15

Map20
Map16
Map12
Map13

Map32

Map31

Episode 1

Map11

Map06

Map10

Map08
Map07

Map03
Map01
Map02

Map09

Map04

Map05

 

Edited by ReaperAA : Accidentally wrote HMP instead of UV. I played the map on UV

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I have fallen behind, trying to cach up a bit. I have played all the maps till map 24. But writing about them is comepletely different story...

 

MAP32 - Vintage Murderfest by Roofi

Played with GLBOOM-Plus, pistol start, UV difficulty

 

When I was playing 180 minutes pour vivre, I was absolutely amazed by the Roofi's mapping style.

He made 7 maps for 180mpv, and each of those 7 maps is unique and unforgettable. Moreover, those 7 maps explore 6 or 7 completely different approaches to doom gameplay. Roofi seems to be a master of using both novel and old-school ways to craft Doom maps. Needless to say, I was hyped to play Vintage Murderfest! I typed -idclev 32 as soon as I completed map03.

 

Vintage Murderfest lived up to my expectations. It proved to be an unique blend of modern and old-school slaughter gameplay. It combines boldness and chaos of old-school slaughter-style maps with modern attention to little gameplay details. To top it off, Vintage Murderfest also offers an opportunity to fight inside the monster teleport closets! That was completely unexpected.

 

The structure of the map is simple, yet effective. Initially, the map seems to have the have two yards, connected with two passages, two corridors on the sides of those yards, and two rooms, each connected to one of the two yards. But after activating the green switch, the map transforms: two half-circle sections open up. Those sections connect the two side corridors, creating a closed circular loop around the two yards. Those half-circular sections also double as teleporter closets: both sections are full of monsters, and those monsters teleport into the yards. But, unlike normal teleporter closets, those sections are fully accesible to the player! If you want, you may try to destroy revs and/or HKs before they exit their rooms...

 

Green switch monster wave is not the final battle on Vintage Murderfest. After activating the blue switch, the loop around the map once more acts as a teleporter closet: 16 (?) archviles get released into the outer looping corridor, from which they quickly teleport into the yards. But again, it is possible to hunt down some of the archies before they leave their spawning area...

 

My strategy for the map was as follows:

1. Clear some imps/pinkies at the start and activate the secret skull switch. Use the secret teleporter.

2. Inside the secret, save invul for later. Grab the ammo and weapons and proceed to clear all revs from the second yard. After the revs, open the green key room and clear all the pinkies.

3. Don't grab green key yet. Gather 100 rockets from the key room, and proceed to clear all the mancubi and hell knights around. Refill rockets and gather 600 plasma.

4. Now let's be quick: grab green key, grab super-charge, ignore everything and run to the green switch. Grab combat armor, activate green switch.

5. Use the secret teleporter, Grab the V-sphere, and go to the south part of the outer circular corridor. With 600 cells and 100 rockets burn all revs and a cyber before the V-sphere runs out.

6. After completing step 5 and using all of the V-sphere duration, we get a blue key and a very strong vantage point to rocket all the monsters in the outer loop. Clear all of the outer loop using rockets. The second cyber should be avoided, if possible. That way he will eventually teleport to the yard.

7. With outer loop clear, proceed to destroy monsters in the yards using rockets, SSG and infighting.

8. After everything is dead, refill ammo and HP, and activate the blue switch.

9. Ignore the cyber, quickly clear all the archviles inside the outer circular corridor. After no archies remain in the outer corridor, deal with the cyber.

10. Now all monsters are concentrated in the yards! Clear all the viles using infighting and BFG through the windows, mop up other demons, than exist the map!

 

I managed to clear the map with one save only. The single save was made before step 4. With the plan outlined above above, I managed to disarm both green-switch and blue-switch monster waves, and create a strong defensive position in the outer corridor. This way, I could completely avoid chaotic fighting in the yards.

 

I had great fun playing Vintage Murderfest. This is a grade-A map32 slaughter. At first, the map looked insanely difficult. But with the right strategy, the map proved to be very approachable. And looking through this thread, I see that many other strategies are possible. It is always a pleasure to have a plenty of strategic choice! What a wonderful map!

 

Map 16 - Corruption by Pegleg

Played with GLBOOM-Plus, pistol start, UV difficulty

 

After the crazy kaleidoscope of maps 14, 15, 31 and 32 we return to normalcy of maps 12 and 13. Or so it seems at first...

 

The first 2 thirds of Corruption resemble a more compact version of map 14. Like the beginning of Bad Manor, this part of map 16 involves fights against diverse mixes of opponents in both closet spaces and open areas. Lots of annoying flying imps here, and don't forget about the revs - pretty usual stuff so far.

But the last third of map 16 is different. The main feature here is the big room with monster magical circle in the center. If monster steps inside the circle, it gets teleported to the side of the room. This creates quite a memorable chaotic encounter! Pegleg also provides a lot of rockets to that fight, encouraging us to  embrace the chaos. After the crazy teleportation room is clear, you have one last fight ahead of you. Two archviles and some nasty midtiers will teleport into the magic circle room. The room has very little cover, so at first that fight seems extremely difficult. But not all hope is lost! First of all, at this point nothing stops you from exiting the map. Secondly, at this stage, the entrance to the room becomes open, and you may return to the previous area of the map. So in reality the final fight is not that hard.

 

The whole map presents a good set of approachable challenges. This feels a bit like a breather map, which is very welcome at this point of the episode! And the whole magic circle gimmick is amazing! I wish more maps used similar visible monster teleporters.

 

Map 17 - Ceremony of a Thousand Stars by AD_79

Played with GLBOOM-Plus, pistol start, UV difficulty

 

Whoa! That's quite an unxepcted turn of events! The whole map is placed inside the canyon, and veritacilty is the name of the game. The nitpicking part of me wonders, how those canyons are related to Tudor England, but other parts of me are enjoying the ride!

 

This map feels both less and more cruel than map 16. On one hand, the monster density is lower. On the other hand, you never know, what ambush awaits you behind the next corner... And inescapable pits do not help at all!

 

Very nice map.

Edited by Azure_Horror : clarified my comabt plan a tiny bit

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MAP24 - Efflorescence (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 100%, I 86%, S 0%, T 21:47

 

Spoiler

And i head on down the delta, in the shadow of the sun...

 

A map of a rocky jungle with rivers and waterfalls terraformed and combined with stone buildings, opening passages and changing layouts, starting with hitscanners and projectiles coming in from above from different directions.  Reminds me in structure of some hell-themed maps of Eviternity (i don't know if it's me or the maps, but i can't shake off that association.)  But damn, this place really could be where Kurtz has made his kingdom come...

 

The finale here is also insane, but at least there's space to move.. in fact, i thought i'd bail out, and ran to some approximated direction just to get away from the vile Arch-Vile, and ended up far away from the exit.  Bailing out wasn't easily allowed, though in the end i managed to leave with some monsters still left to kill, apart from those resurrected by Archie.  Devious design, i'd say.

 

But not that the proceedings before were insignificant or uninteresting - for example, the combat surrounding the Emerald Key, was tough and engaging.  Starting going down to an underground river cave, Mr. X was a rather unpleasant surprise, but i survived him with some health problems only.  Going up the lift to a passageway surrounded by rock there was an ambush of Revenants and Imps, which killed me a couple of times, thanks to the homing missiles and my insufficient level of activity, before getting it right.  Next thing i know the whole passage is falling, becoming submerged in water, and there's an attack of some Pinkies, only after which the Key was available, and more combat was imminent.

 

A damn fine creation, beautiful and challenging, with a very chaotic ending, but in a different way to Exile's Path, which made me feel almost hopeless due to its lack of space, while here i felt i had enough freedom to be proactive, so i felt this not to be meanspirited.  Very interesting to play through, and despite the difficulty not frustrating.

 

 

Top 1000 maps in four sets

Spoiler

Episode 1

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10


Episode 2

MAP16 - Corruption - 9.5/10

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP20 - Wall of Omens - 9/10

MAP18 - Farewell to the Dark Ages - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

MAP17 - Ceremony of a Thousand Stars - 9/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP19 - Gutter Waltz - 8/10

 

Episode 3

MAP24 - Efflorescence - 9.5/10

MAP21 - Skull - 9/10

MAP22 - Crossbones - 8.5/10

MAP23 - Exile's Path - 5/10

 

Come Together

MAP16 - Corruption - 9.5/10

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP24 - Efflorescence - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP20 - Wall of Omens - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP18 - Farewell to the Dark Ages - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

MAP17 - Ceremony of a Thousand Stars - 9/10

MAP21 - Skull - 9/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP22 - Crossbones - 8.5/10

MAP19 - Gutter Waltz - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP31 - Farfarout - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10

MAP23 - Exile's Path - 5/10

 

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Map 23 - Exile's Path by Misty

 

This map takes a fairly sharp turn from the previous two maps by ditching indoor areas entirely, choosing instead to set the entire map inside a collection of ledges and lava pools and rivers, underscored by the lonely and sad "Smog."

 

There is definitely far more incidental combat and things ramp up rather nicely from a pistol start, though you should immediately get going so as to not take so much damage from hitscanners. Chaingunners are on your left, but they are partially concealed by trees so keep a look out. Since I spent some time here, the ledge with the assault rifle had already come down I believe because I didn't pick it up right away and was killed within 2 seconds while running to the other end of the lava pool. After that point though, mishaps are minimal. Thanks to another poster, I ended up picking the Supercharge behind the green door(probably telegraphed by the rad suit near the hidden switch that allows you to access it), which makes the final battle much easier. There are also a number of encounters with Cacodemons, Hell Knights and Revenants that are easily handled, though there's basically no room to move in the place they inhabit so I patiently waited by the entrances and waited for the Revenants to come to me.

 

The only other location of note is the somewhat scenary-worthy location behind the green door. Some Imps will fire at you from below, and to be honest, they really didn't seem worth the time so I dropped down and headed to the other end of the lava pit. Within 2 seconds, the final ambush was unleashed, Arch-viles, two Pain Elementals and lots of others. Since I didn't know where the Arch-vile emerged from, I ended up running around until they were blocked off and I was slowly chewed to death by the ever-grim Imps. The second time around, though, either the Arch-vile didn't take off or I was slightly quicker because they went down fairly quickly despite taking my health down below 100. Since I had plenty of rockets left, the Pain Elementals also proved to be easily disposed of, though I emerged quite wounded indeed.

 

Not quite the step up from the previous two maps I was expecting, to be honest.

Edited by LadyMistDragon

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MAP24: Efflorescence

By Dragonfly

 

Kills: 99% (sucks)

Items: 91%

Secrets: 33%

Time: 13:44

 

Quite possibly the hardest and best stage in the regular ordering so far, Dragonfly brings the heat for the first time in quite a while, the heaviest action hits early, lowering the blue key kicks off a cavalcade of Cacos and a rude Arch-Vile on an already not-super-easy cliffside, this fight is one of my favourites in the megawad so far, word of the wise, these lowering pentagram switches mean big trouble, you'll want to be careful of Arch-Viles in this map, Dragonfly places them in quite inconvenient places for you but if you're aggressive with rockets, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, it's a good lookin' map too, I like the usage of marble and water here, and you may want to be careful with ammo as well, the later Cyberdemon will punish scattershot slayers, unfortunately I couldn't find the Berserk so I dipped on 100% kills here, Efflorescence is one of the best maps so far in 1000 Lines 3, it's a nice jolt of energy after the last 3 maps, thumbs up!

 

Grade: A

Difficulty: A-

 

Playthrough video

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MAP23: "Exile's Path" by Misty

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/1 secrets

 

An adventure through tropical cliffs, with rivers of golden liquid and lava flowing through the level. This map is one of the less spacious maps in the set so far, opting out of showing you more wide open landscapes and instead giving you a sequence of tight paths among the rivers and rockface. I kind of am a fan of that, I find with the more tight maps the 1000 line limitation becomes even less noticeable and plus it's a nice shakeup gameplaywise. The melodic AD_79 midi is also a very good one.

 

So far the tropical episode does indeed feel like a bit of a vacation. Funnily enough I think I've had an easier time with the first 3 maps of this episode than in any of the past episodes, although I fully expect to get wrecked a little bit in the coming maps. This one is still a slight curve upwards in difficulty from the previous map though. The layout of this one is relatively linear and easily digestible, and combat is mostly incidental encounters as you follow along the path. While you are given a relatively low amount of space, it isn't felt a whole lot or the most part and most damage you might take would come from a few hitscanner surprises. The main exception to this is a very fun fight near the end, where you drop down past a lava river and the walls in front of you instantly drop to reveal an archvile, two pain elementals, and a bunch more enemies. Luckily I was quick on the draw with the rockets and this one didn't kill me, but I could definitely see that fight having gone south for me in an alternate universe. Gave me a good surprise and was a fun encounter.

 

Another relatively breezy map, but I enjoyed the layout and look of it.

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MAP24: Efflorescence. Played on UV-PS. Kills: 202/202. Secrets: 2/3. Completion time 32:10 (stretched by looking for the final secret without results).

 

I wouldn't call it a difficulty spike, but there were a couple of tighter fights here. That's partly my own fault; I accidentally wasted a shellbox pick-up near the start, and I insisted on getting wise with ammo management, trying to make enemies infight as much as possible, and especially trying to punch imps and barons with a berserk fists. I'm not very good at it.

 

Once I let go of silly shenanigans, the level became a tad more manageable. Needless to say, I enjoyed it, the tight fights (each involving archvile or two) were challenging enough for me, but not too much. While I'm sure restrictions were adhered to, the level felt sprawling, it was hard to realize that there indeed was only one central area, around which the rest were built.

 

Once again the one complaint I could think of is that the designer just had to put a cyberdemon in. It wasn't too bad to deal with, but I don't know. I was slight surprised to meet old friends from the Mars episode!

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MAP24 - Efflorescence

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

Oh boy, it's time for that fella whose work always makes me swoon with his beautiful designs but also terrifies me with his wild and harsh combat. Dragonfly hasn't disappointed me with anything of his I've played and this map is no exception. Complete with his own music, DF takes you on a captivating journey of discovery and danger as the map morphs and changes shape as you progress, revealing very dastardly surprise ambushes and well-crafted demon team-ups. Combat becomes quite hectic rather quickly and a novice played could become overwhelmed quite quickly. Fortunately, my Baptism by Fire via community-made maps these past two years has me prepared. I held my own and did away with just about every nasty blighter thrown my way, but also knew when it was better to make a mad dash/tactical retreat, such as the hit and run job I did with the purple key and evading the Cyberdemon. Lord knows, I needed what was left of my ammo for what lay ahead. While DF gives you just enough ammo for the majority of the map, I simply had to make one last dash for the exit as I didn't have enough to take on the two Archies guarding it. Is it predictable for a fanboy to put his top favourite mapper's map into his best maps list? Yes. Am I going to do it anyways? You bet your arse, mate. For real though, I think I can justify it as I found the map really intriguing, fun and challenging. The map's progression alone was elegant in its simplicity and combat was a thumpin' good time. I only expect the best from Dragonfly and he delivers it every time. :^)

 

 

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MAP24: "Efflorescence" by Dragonfly

UV, pistol start, no saves

Kills: 202/202, Secrets: 3/3

Deaths on map = 0 (I had "oh f**k" 1% health moment though :D )

Total Deaths = 16

 

After the first 3 maps of this episode being mostly breezy, Dragonfly steps on the gas with Efflorescence. As soon as you step on the water near the start of map, you have to come face to face against a group of imps, an archvile and a couple cacos with an SSG and an assualt rifle nearby to help you. The first secret (which lowers sector with a berserk) is opened by a switch which is behind the bushes near the assault rifle. After you kill the starting enemies, you can start ascending to the high rocky grounds and deal with the mixture of hell knights, revenants, imps and mancubus along the way. The path connecting the middle ground and the highest ground hides the second secret passage (with a backpack) behind the bush. Once you press the switch with the rocket launcher, the blue key is revealed, but along with it, a group of enemies are also revealed. A closet with an archvile + baron and also a soulsphere near us, a group of revenants on the middle rocky ground and a dozen-ish cacodemons below near the water.

 

Once you deal with all this stuff, you can go through the blue key door and press the switch to open up more of the map. From here on, you have to go to the 2 paths to collect the green and the purple key. The purple key path holds the 3rd secret, a plasma gun, which requires dropping at the right spot right at the start of the path. The purple path also has a 2-archvile ambush, but can be easily avoided when you can just jump back to the lower main area of the map. The green key requires going through one of the 2 lifts and which holds a couple of ambushes for us to deal with. One of the ambushes makes use of the Plasma Troopers (which make a cameo appearance since Episode 1).

 

After press the switches behind the 2 keyed doors, you are greeted by a cyberdemon, who is fairly harmless and is easily deal with. Once the bull is out of the way. You can progress through the lift and deal with the couple of remaining enemies along the way to get to the exit. A really fun map (as expected from the lead mapper of Eviternity) and definitely a big step up from the previous 3 maps.

 

Map rating (from favorite to least favorite for each episode):

Spoiler

Episode 3

Map24
Map22

Map21

Map23

Episode 2

Map18

Map17

Map19
Map14
Map15

Map20
Map16
Map12
Map13

Map32

Map31

Episode 1

Map11

Map06

Map10

Map08
Map07

Map03
Map01
Map02

Map09

Map04

Map05

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MAP24 - “Efflorescence” by Dragonfly

 

After seeing some comments on the difficulty, I left this map thinking that I must have played on the wrong difficulty, or the wrong map entirely. Ok this is tougher than anything this episode has thrown so far, but this is still a pushover if you take thinks nice a casually because in several instances the monsters can be provoked into fight each other than focusing on you.

As an experience I liked this, some of the nastiest moments actually come from the rather surprising incidental combat where some monsters are placed in a "Gotcha moment" kind of way. The first archvile just sitting in the open waiting for you to pick up the SSG, and the nonsense that comes from the lifts near the green key. 

As for the larger setpieces, the combat is very hit and miss. Some fights are really fun to get your teeth stuck into, most of the blue key and opening the door hub provide lots of thrills. However the purple key fight can essentially be ignored in its entirely, there it is, the key and the escape route to an area you never have to visit again. The green key fight was fun and a great example of the power the assualt riffle carries as I leaned on this heavily here, good pressure from the demons and revenants.

Now you just have incidental combat left and a few little reveals that are generally fun, however the cyberdemon is a complete dud. I am not entirely sure why he is here, there is little challenge (I would have taken the couple of archviles approach here), the final room is interesting purely because of the fact that everything is present and is just waiting for you to come into view, as opposed to spawning in at once. A banana skin for first time players, however the SSG is more than up to the task.

When I look at this, I don't actually see a traditional Dragonfly map here, it almost feels Eternal-esque (Substitute Egyptian textures for the jungle aesthetic and you might get something like this). As such there is a captivating element to this that makes this map very endearing. A little adventure that holds your attention for the entire sitting. There are a few questionable combat decisions, but not the kind that really aggravates the player. Overall this is a fine map and certainly the best jungle themed map so far.

 

 

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40 minutes ago, cannonball said:

After seeing some comments on the difficulty, I left this map thinking that I must have played on the wrong difficulty, or the wrong map entirely.

 

I'm sure this is not a newsflash, I'm not trying to be sarcastic either, but people are of different skill levels. I couldn't beat In Kasei Valles (map11) on UV, and I have yet to beat MAP32 at all. Perhaps you had little problem with them, but then again, you probably have played custom pwads for far longer than some of us (and in my case, that's not assuming very much).

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1 hour ago, cannonball said:

however the cyberdemon is a complete dud. I am not entirely sure why he is here, there is little challenge (I would have taken the couple of archviles approach here)

 

I do agree with this. 2 archviles would probably be a better threat here than a cyberdemon. Not to mention that the cyberdemon can be skipped by luring him away from the lift (like what Biodegradable did).

Edited by ReaperAA

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Map 24 - Efflorescence by Dragonfly

 

Dragonfly once again brings his British education with a map title not used in daily or any other kind of conversation really. I think I like the jungle beat of "Hourglass", though I'm not really sure. It is cool how it hints at transition at the end of the loop.

 

The map is probably the most impressive visually so far, with a natural collection of caverns, trees and canyons all blending quite harmoniously together to create an environment of intrigue and of danger. You can only hope you're in for it and this map does NOT disappoint. As per usual with Dragonfly, I found 1 secret with no clue as to the location of the rest.

 

I do somewhat echo cannonball's observation on the overall combat challenge but as a late Dragonfly map, it's not that bad. My somewhat sloppy gameplay led me to die twice. Not so much at the rocket launcher trap, where you're attacked by an Arch-vile and Baron of Hell which might kill some people, but I've adjusted over the months and it was easily handled. There are quite a few Cacodemons revealed in the glen you came from and I did end up taking quite a few unearned falls thanks to Dragonfly inexplicably forcing you into platforming when crossing the rivers here, but yeah. The vast amounts of Revenants in the same area was kind of annoying, however, and I ended up dropping to the valley floor on a number of occasions whilst fighting them

 

That didn't hold for the challenge unleashed by the switch behind the sapphire door. This was the first of many ambushes keeping the map under 1,000 lines by opening up monster closets. Unsure where I should turn, I faced the longest and outside wall, behind which were Archanotrons. I fired in their direction, but I failed to realize Spectres were emerging from the other closets. While I adjusted by running back, I didn't realize how many there were and I shortly blew myself up. But with foreknowledge, this was easily handled.

 

Now you can access the canyon-filled northwest. A Mancubi sniper will fire at you that was too far for me to risk my limited ammo with, so I immediately plunged down, missed the 'secret' plasma rifle right below me and engaged in not-especially-great combat with a trio of Barons. It's fights like these I think cannonball was talking about because the lack of ammo arguably led to dullness. At least the purple key trap was somewhat decent, some hitscanners, lots of Imps, a baron there somewhere and two Arch-viles. While I did have enough rockets to dispatch them, I can only thank Dragonfly for leaving the Supercharge in a vined room nearby, otherwise, things would've been much trickier.

 

Another cavernous area will open up. Press the switch here, you'll end up unleashing a Hellscorscher with an inexplicable bodyguard of....plasma troopers. It's especially strange because a later trap (heading toward the exit) in a darkened area only unleashes chaingunners. Anyway, take the lift up and come to the sapphire key, guarded by several Revenants, demons, and Imps. Honestly, you have to play aggressively here, lest the Revenants take you apart. The succeeding trap is kind of lame, though I should probably give Dragonfly credit for only placing a single Archanotron on the ledge you accessed this place from.

 

After this, you unlock the main door, unleashing a Cyberdemon I had not the ammo to handle because screw infighting. The Revs and Cacos near the blue key trap don't wanna? Well, screw them, I don't play this to wait around for infighting. It was really by accident that I discovered there was also a group of Rev I could fight.

 

Anyway, there isn't much to talk about from here until the exit, other than the constantly shrinking ammo supplies, and a an ambush near the cavernous exit involving two Arch-viles, a Baron, two Revenants, a chaingunner or two, and some Imps. To say I was shocked when I only died here once from a resurrected chaingunner and somehow killed everything here with still some bullets left over was quite an understatement.

 

To conclude, I again agree with cannonball, but most of the fights were active enough not for that to be such an issue.

 

Spoiler

Map 20

Map 11

Map 07

Map 10

Map 17

Map 12

Map 32

Map 18

Map 16

Map 08

Map 02

Map 13

Map 24

Map 19

Map 15

Map 14

Map 09

Map 31

Map 23

Map 04

Map 06

Map 03 

Map 22

Map 05

Map 21

Map 01

 

 

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MAP24: "Efflorescence" by Dragonfly

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

 

The most jungle-y map of the episode so far. Dense foliage covers much of the level, to the point it can actually even get a bit difficult to spot a projectile coming at you at times. It's worth it though, this level looks fantastic, the flora, the cliffs, and the whole layout feels pretty immersive which is a nice accomplishment given the limitations. Definitely among my favourite looking maps in the entire wad so far. The midi, made by the mapmaker, definitely feels does feel tailormade for the map. Fits the explorative jungle vibe quite nicely.

 

Combatwise this one finally starts to get the ball rolling on the difficulty. Nothing too brutal here, but no walk in the park. The more difficult parts of the map seem to come towards the middle of the level, the fights on the green key path can be a little dangerous, and if you're caught off guard by the hellscorcher + plasma zombie (what is this, a crossover episode?) ambush there's a good chance you'll get roasted immediately. The purple key path is a bit less dangerous when you realize you can run away and hide below, but two archviles is always a nasty surprise. I have to echo the sentiments others voiced, I found the cyberdemon when you're coming to the home stretch a little odd, plenty of space to avoid his fire while you slowly SSG him to death, just kind of felt like a time-sink. The final fight gave me a bit of a scare but the monsters aren't able to get past the doorway to exit the room, so you have an easily accessible chokepoint to take care of them from.

 

Incredibly nice looking level, and the combat was fun. Nice to see the difficulty get a bump too.

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