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dobu gabu maru

The DWmegawad Club plays: Micro-Slaughter Community Project & Haste

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MAP09 - “Infinium” by Scotty

 

A simple three key hunt (Technically one path gets you two, whilst the yellow key is on the other path). This one is a lot more free flowing and contains some bigger "Popcorn style" fights compared to the last few. Nothing sophisticated, but pretty fun to play around with. The biggest grievance were the chaingunners in the blue key section that seemed to be able to nail me virtually anywhere (Even through masses of other monsters). Otherwise the combat is fine, I like the central cyberdemon that has sights on you in every fight, but you can also telefrag him via the only secret in the map.

Whilst the visuals are serviceable, there is some nice contrast between the metal and blue of the sky/water along with the lighting. The gameplay whilst not extravagant is pretty solid. Overall I liked this one.

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MAP09: "Infinium" by Scotty

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/1 secrets

 

Scotty's 4th contribution is a blue, black, and silver techbase with flooded lower areas. Similarly to Scotty's other maps, it gives you two options for which keys to go for at the start, and is also easier than the surrounding maps in my opinion. The midi is a very good metal track by Jimmy Paddock, and it's another BTSX track, this time from MAP19 of Episode 1.

 

This one brings us back in the direction of more slaughtery fights, featuring just under 400 monsters. Starting with the blue key fight, you have a rocketfest with revenants, cacos, hell knights, and a few pain elementals. The area this takes place in is quite spacious, so you shouldn't have too much trouble keeping good motion as long as you keep shooting. Definitely try and take down the chaingunners above relatively quickly though, they can be a bit of a pain. Also take note of the cyberdemon, who will be able to see you in any of the map's fights until you get rid of him, so try and remain out of his sight as much as you can. Past the blue key area is the red key fight, which gives you a ton of cells plus a BFG, but save the BFG for later. This fight is pretty easy to take care of with rockets, the structure in the center of the area tends to keep the enemies grouped together so your rockets can do a lot of damage. That said, the cyberdemon has better sights on you in this arena than in the last, so you'll have to be extra cautious about him. After this fight I plasma'd the cyberdemon to death, which I later learned isn't necessary as the map's lone secret lets you telefrag him. Argh.

 

The switch ahead lowers the soulsphere, but also a large caco-cloud with some lost souls to help them out. I take out the BFG here and try to get rid of the two archviles that come out, and also use some blasts on the caco-cloud. After those few shots, rockets take care of the rest just fine. On the yellow key path, you'll get a pop-up ambush with some archviles. I took my lone death in my blind run here, if you let those archviles get too mixed in they can be an annoyance. If you're read to melt them with the BFG it's not so bad. Use a few blasts on the crowd and rocket the rest from the cell-cache area. After the lift full of revenants and arachnotron you can get the yellow key, and the yellow key door houses a bunch of pain elementals. This part can get quite hectic as any army of pain elementals tends to, and although you might think BFGing them while in the closet is safe there is actually a teleporter at the back that some of them will use, so avoiding a little bit of chaos is difficult. When you have all 3 keys, unlock the 3-key door to unleash one last army of revenants. BFG as much as you can and clean up what remains.

 

This was a fun return to slaughter, albeit it's a very forgiving map. Nonetheless I enjoyed it, and judging from what I've heard of MAP10 onward this feels like it could be a calm before the storm.

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Haste Map09:
Fun fights while a distant cyberdemon constantly harasses you. Or at least that's what I thought this was; even having played this map before, I assumed you needed some combination of keys for the secret switch that telefrags the cyb, but you can actually do it within the first 10 seconds of the map. This cyb doesn't seem very useful for infighting, so it's probably best to get him out of the way early. Just not immediately, since the chaingunners are a problem, but they should mostly kill each other by the time any key is obtained. The start of the map gives you a choice between two fights, one of which gives you a BFG straight away, so that was the route I took. Throughout the map, the only resource you have to be mindful of (other than health and armor obviously) is cells, as every other kind of ammo is in excess. The more cells are conserved early on, the easier the latter parts of the run will be.

 

 

has09-1300.zip

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Haste MAP09 - "Infinium" by Scotty
This map, and others here and in MSCP, makes me realize just how much I love this use of blue in Doom, the colours really look great. Gameplay wise I was a bit put off when I saw the monster count, but got more confident when I saw how many of them were imps at first, and when I found the secret and telefragged the cyber (a very nice touch). Unfortunately the map later got more BFG spam, with plentiful ammo and lots of soulspheres. Bizarrely most of the healing is actually in one of the 3 arenas, so saving them for later when you really need them is a good idea. The blue arena was a bit of a sore point, with hitscanners whittling down my health from too high to do anything about without mouselook, and cacos flying off into the distance where they can be barely reached; switch hunting in there was also the least fun. The red key was just BFG fest; the archvile at the end is largely ineffective because of how long it takes to reach the arena, but I do like the almost cinematic effect it gives as you see it run around the lap and towards the stairs. The yellow key arena was probably my favourite, including the showdown with the cyber, though I would've preferred it to end with something other than a revenant wall. Especially since the map finale is yet another revenant wall (this one rather easily dispatched though, considering the elevation difference makes homing rockets less potent). I still liked the map overall.

 

Haste MAP10 - "The Green Mind" by Nirvana
Slaughter and platforming, my two least favourite Doom tropes in one package. Needless to say I savescummed liberally on this one. Once you dispatch the hitscanners (or let the knights/barons dispatch them for you) the combat is not so bad, but those pointy platforms were very frustrating. I ended up getting the secret without even knowing it was one, just from trying to figure out the progression. After getting the yellow key I gave up and cheated to get back to the main area. I exited the map with only 80% kills but didn't want to go back for the rest. I realize most of my dislike is down to personal preference and those who do like platforming in their FPS will love this map. If I'm honest, I ended up liking the map more than I expected considering how much I'm not the target audience, I guess this speaks volume to its quality. It looks visually quite nice, it's one large open area and the green and blue contrast quite nicely with the occasional brown. The music is lovely too.

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MAP10: The Green Mind. HNTR, PS, 143/146 K, 1/1 S, 11/11 I. Comp. time 12:23

 

At first glance, I didn't like The Green Mind. It felt too open and too abstract, but once it gets going, it's actually quite fun. Perhaps not my style of map, because of the beginning confusion, and one other thing, but for example the fight that ensues when you press the yellow and red switch was fun in such an open arena. Also, once again the visuals are good.

 

But then there's the platforming, that's really not my cup of tea. Or I don't know, I wouldn't mind that much, but here it is very easy to fall down to the slime void where you (apparently) can't get out of. I didn't really midfightsave here, but I really scummed with midplatformsaves. Surely all you need is skill, and in this case have a really good grasp of doomguy movement and possibly use automap to position yourself -- at least that'd be my guess on how you would consistently manage the starry platformlets here.

 

One final gripe, albeit a minor one: I think three revenants failed to teleport in at some point, I think near the yellow key plateau. Did I have bad luck, is this some HNTR specialty, or a bug?

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Haste MAP10 - The Green Mind by Nirvana

HMP /100% kills /  1 secret

 

I'm always up for some Nirvana abstraction, in spite of their penchant for empahsizing design over gameplay - which is actually right up my alley, as in my book solid atmosphere and architecture can redeem any gameplay flaw. 

 

No getting out of death pits, as it rightfully should be. The platforming is unforgiving but doable, once one gets used to Nirvana's signature spiky angles. Some interesting use of what I think are rarely used Plutonia textures. The MIDI from Secret of Evermore is an instant winner, as is any MIDI culled from that game. Gameplay-wise, there is some light slaughter but the only true pain point will come in one of the floating side islands, where real estate is scarce and you'll be asked to navigate quite the nasty mob. 

 

Not to the level of I_G's contributions (or maybe even Nirvana's own MAP05), but definitely a step up over many of the wad's previous offerings. 

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MAP08: The Cradle

By Insane_Gazebo

Kills: 100%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 10:43

 

Gazebo's 3rd contribution to Haste is a fortified wooden structure above a deep blue sea, similar to The Wheelhouse, The Cradle mostly consists of a few distinct areas revolving around a central hub but it flows a lot more than that previous example, I think the best fights take place in the central hub area I mentioned, I really like the opener of Revenants, Hell Knights and Cyberdemons, the building in the middle adds a lot, it makes Arch-Vile encounters more interesting, and in general it's fun to unclog that thing, I don't love the other fights around the sides as much though to be honest, like this tense Baron jumpscare is clever but doesn't do a lot for me in the fun department and the Revenant fight nearer to the end is kinda annoying, especially that stupid Arch-Vile that drops in and erases your hard work with the SSG! I do find this platforming sequence around the wooden fort's exterior oddly satisfying to run on though, so it balances out in the end

 

Grade: A-

Difficulty: A-

 

 

MAP09: Infinium

By Scotty

Kills: 93%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 100%

Time: 9:17

 

I like Infinium, it reminds me of Italo-Doom, which is a good thing for me, I'm thinking of the simple yet snappy aesthetic and how big the combat is, there's a number of likable moments in Infinium, I enjoy the two basin fights that lead to the blue and yellow keys, I think the one with the BFG may be better to go for first, because... uh... y'know... BFG? Here I suggest cleansing the area of Arch-Viles ASAP, as everything will generally deal with itself, after you open the door to the switch that lowers the lift to the red key area, be sure to deal with the Pain Elementals as if you don't they can be problematic later as I demonstrate, I found the blue key area surprisingly difficult actually, not sure what it was, maybe just a bad day, Infinium I don't find the most memorable map in Haste, but it is pretty damn enjoyable

 

Grade: B+
Difficulty: A

 

 

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MAP 10 – The Green Mind by @Nirvana

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HMP, Pistol start, blind run w/saves

 

Nirvana created Firebug, one of the most atmospheric maps in the first half of Haste, and I was surprised to find his second entry, The Green Mind, much less to my liking. It was another small-sized level with a limited monster count and a prevalence of combat puzzles over proper slaughter scenarios. The graphic outcome did not hit the spot, at least in my book: it was an isle of water with some weird, flooded buildings, suspended in a featureless black void. It looked surreal, but also overly simplified, purely instrumental to the gameplay, and dull. It was exactly the opposite of the previous Egyptian-themed level, that was tangible and harmoniously decorated.

Spoiler

650898159_HasteMAP10.jpg.fd22c417c680b414afe37fa25d8a9152.jpg

The first moments required careful promotion of infighting and to keep an eye on the Arch-Viles, while snatching the weapons under the nose of various monsters. I used Hell Knights and the Arachnotron to kill the Revenants in the SSG shrine, then I noticed that in the starting structure there were two strange lifts leading to the chaingun and to a security armour. The pickup triggered a large group of fodder enemies to warp in. Once the elevated Arch-Viles were out of commission, I collected the RK and then ventured into the southern island, laying beyond a series of slender pillars. Falling off the edge meant death without appeal, an outcome shared with the optional platforming for the secret Soul Sphere.

 

Once on the round island with the ruins and the YK, I grabbed the plasma gun and prepared for the worst. It was an Arch-Vile trap, one of those where a player feels more comfortable with a BFG. My deaths happened here since cover was non-existent, and much depended on random monster behaviour. When the three AVs decided to attack together, they always blasted me before I could interrupt line of sight, and they invariably threw me into the lethal black void.

 

The only slaughter-ish stuff on the agenda was the horde summoned by the double key switch. Except for the Arch-Vile in the starting edifice, who received the usual priority, the rest of the crowd was easily outrun and evaded. The Imps were decimated by infighting, but I still ran out of ammo against the Barons. I checked the AV closet and discovered the rocket launcher, that allowed to wipe out the Nobles along with the last Revenant squad. Most of the difficulty of The Green Mind derived from deliberately obnoxious monster placement and unforgiving leap challenges. This fact, combined with the visuals that were a step down from Nirvana’s gorgeous MAP05, made me dislike this entry more than it really deserved.

 

Time: 15:57    Deaths: 4 (in combat, dozens for jumping mistakes)

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(Played on UV with pistol starts on Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 10: The Green Mind by Nirvana

100% kills, items and secrets

Time: 8:27

 

Now this is a map I really want to like, I love it's atmosphere and visuals, but it's sadly not very fun despite it's openness. Nirvana crafted a superb environment, he worked very well with the greens, water and that void like borders, the music is excellent and gives the map a unique, dreamy and surreal feel. However, I have one major issue with this map, The first word that I would use to describe the gameplay is “painful”, it's a painful combination of sniping enemies, restrictive weapon dispensation, annoying ambushes, frustrating platforming, and the fact that the map is entirely surrounded by an inescapable pit makes it even worse. The goal  is to get the blue key, which needs the yellow and red ones. You start off with hell knights in front of you, but I would recommend, turning on your left, lowering the lift and open the door to get a chaingun, then do the same thing to the right to get a green armor. After you're equipped, go to the back, kill the chaingunner and the imp on the pillar, and later grab the easy-to-miss SSG guarded by  4 revs and kill them as well as the horde of hitscanners who teleport in when you shoot. After that, get one of the 2 keys needed to unlock the blue one. I started with the yellow, that is in an “island” that you need to reach navigating one of the worst platforming sections I have ever beaten. I know that I suck at it, but I am 100% sure I failed it over 70 times in total to both leave and enter the area. That island also contains one of the most infiuriating cyberdemons I have ever seen, he likes to destroy your platforming and to kill you from absurd distances. When you have beaten the platforming, grab the plasma, press the switch to access the yellow key and take out the teleporing archies and later the cyber without falling down. Then, go back and for my case, grab the red key, which is guarded by a few archies and a chaingunner, and later have fun killing around 15 revs with limited cells and only an SSG, plasma and single mancubus for infighting! While I think that going for the red key first can allow you to use the cyber to kill the revs, I don't like doing it as I despise his placement and want to take him out as soon as I can. The only way I found to make this fight less annoying without using the cyber was to liberate the blue key, which spawns lots of hell nobles, arch-viles ruining your work, imps, a cyber and pinkies, but also makes infighting easier and gives you a rocket launcher. After that, open the exit and you're done with this pain! I dreaded replaying this map this month, while the visuals, atmosphere and music are impeccable, the gameplay is just aggravating for me, but I guess this level is just not my cup of tea.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 9

Map 6

Map 8

Map 4

Really like :

Map 5

Map 2

Map 3

Map 1

Like:

Map 7

Dislike:

Map 10

 

 

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MAP10 - The Green Mind by Nirvana:

DEATHS - 9 (all of these were on the platforming lol)


Sometimes, even though a map is designed with choices that I really dislike, I can't help but find myself enchanted by it. This hasn't happened in a while for me, but something about this map just draws me in. The music helps to an enormous degree, it's morose, but also mysterious and it lends a real off-vibe to the level, which the bizarre visuals only add to. The gameplay here is quite odd as well, if you come in with a full pack of ammo from map09 and a BFG, you'll most likely breeze through the map, and even from a pistol start, I wouldn't call the combat in this map particularly challenging.

 

The hard parts are the two platforming sections, one for the secret soulsphere, and the other mandatory one with the cyberdemon overlooking you from close range. I got the red key before attempting it, spawning in a horde of revenants, which distracted the cyberdemon for long enough that I was able to do the platforming only falling off a couple of times. The yellow key island contains the hardest combat in the map, there are 4 archviles here and you don't get a BFG to deal with them. I got incredibly lucky to not get blown off the platform, after getting hit by two of them at the same time, but getting the cyberdemon to infight with them helped to clear the fight.

 

I only died once on the platforming on the way back, and then triggered the finale which is a large horde of fodder, a few archviles, some hell knights & barons and a cyberdemon. The hard part about this fight is getting the rocket launcher to deal with the archviles and once they're dead, you have so much space to work with, the horde really doesn't pose much of a threat. I can't really explain why I like this map so much as I pretty much always dislike maps with mandatory challenging platforming in them, but I just really find it enchanting.

 

RANKINGS:

Spoiler

Really Liked: MAP04, MAP06, MAP07, MAP08, MAP10
Liked: MAP01, MAP02, MAP03
Mixed Opinions: MAP05
Didn't Like: MAP09

 

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MAP10: The Green Mind, by Nirvana

DSDA, pistol start, HNTR and UV

 

I’m reminded of a Pirates of the Caribbean quote... “This is either madness... or brilliance. It’s remarkable how often those two traits coincide.

 

Thankfully, I enjoyed Nirvana’s MAP05, because The Green Mind feels like its bigger, weirder brother with arguably 15% more creativity, 43% more insanity, and 100% more of an unexpected ass-kicking waiting for me on Ultra-Violence. I can not understate the degree to which I appreciated doing my initial blind playthrough on HNTR; learning the layout, the tricks and traps and breadcrumbs of goodies; reaffirming the weakest link in my skill chain – platforming – but given the opportunity to confront that shortcoming without a Cyberdemon laughing at my miserable exhibition; and generally, coming to grips with the bizarre, yet strangely mesmerizing design at work here. I really love this map, and I’m not even sure I understand why.
 

Platforming aside, HNTR seemed to remove just about every serious threat from the level, playing heavily on its ambushes and fascinating form. I had a good time just exploring the ideas here, engaging with the variety of fights as they sprung from the void. And then, I dove into The Green Mind on UV, and this was an experience to be had for sure. Just like Firebug, I’m a little weary of attempting to dissect any single portion of the map – it begs to be played – but I would be remiss if I did not give special mention to one fight in particular.

 

The Yellow Keycard island, on Ultra-Violence, with the Cyberdemon and the flock of Arch-Viles, is probably my favorite encounter up to this point now, in Haste. Very intense, very fun; I’ll remember this fight for a long time, I’m sure, and it confirms for me just how much I treasure these sorts of “quick-thinking, quick-reaction” encounters in Doom. I vaguely remember using Cybie to aggro the Viles at every opportunity, and then entering into an epic duel with each of them one by one when the moment seemed right, whittling them away until I was left with the big cow for a final showdown at the edge of oblivion. I say “vaguely remember”, because the whole encounter was a blur of adrenaline and dopamine. Just... lovely, lovely stuff.

 

Unfortunately, the Vile replacements for Easy difficulty on Yellow Keycard island (Revenants 52, 172, and 87) are Ambush flagged inside of their teleport closet, preventing 100% kills. A very minor oversight, though. 

 

This map is the bees knees; it’s weird, but it’s the bees knees. Brilliant stuff.

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Haste Map10 - The Green Mind by Nirvana

UV, 100% kills, 1 secret

 

Being a second take on the same untitled genre as Map06, this one provides similar sandboxy gameplay, with total freedom of movement and rapidly accumulated punchiness when you use said freedom recklessly. Unlike previous one, it also features artsy organic visuals and some deadly platforming. Thankfully, the only mandatory platforming section (the one leading to cyberdemon area) can be approached first things first, which means it doesn't ruin saveless progress for those who struggle with platforming. In terms of combat, I personally find the main challenges of this of this map to be threat management (mostly avoiding unwanted fire) and making cyberdemons kill archviles, which requires certain tricky indirection. Overall, a great map with somewhat more focused combat ideas than its predecessor, and some pleasant stylistic developments.

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MAP10 - “The Green Mind” by Nirvana

 

In my opinion this is by far the hardest map so far, I suffered a lot of deaths to this one. However I really appreciate the effort put in to make every monster as threatening as possible, how the combat requires you to move around a lot, but also know where your limited cover is when the archviles light you up. You feel extremely vulnerable in this map, a feeling that hasn't really occurred in previous maps where there are a lot of power ups to see you through. Just a single soulsphere, and even this is only found in the only secret area. 

My least favourite section was the platforming to the yellow key island, this felt particularly harrowing as the cyberdemon is taking pot shots at you (Now at close range). The fights on the island itself are well crafted.

The final fight contains a lot of archviles and not much ammo to deal with them, so the cyberdemon has to be used as your own unlimited source of rockets. It took a couple of attempts but once the archviles are slain then it is a case of finishing the rest of, this didn't take long at all and I never took any of the items from the sectors that contained the hellknights. 

Overall, this one was really punishing, but I really enjoyed the craftsmanship that went into this one to make it so hostile, yet never over bearing. The only change I would make would be to make the platforming a little easier to the yellow key Island.

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Haste Map10:

It took about 100 attempts to do this, but most attempts died to the platforming within the first 30 seconds. For the route, I decided it was best to do all the hard shit first, and this was the first attempt that made it past the archvile island. Had one attempt where the hell knights trapped and killed the cyberdemon, which seems like a good thing, but I didn't have nearly enough ammo with this route to deal with the viles myself. This entire fight can be made easier if you kill more enemies in the main area and grab the SSG, but the more you postpone the platforming, the more time and effort goes down the drain when you fall off a platform or are rocketed while attempting to cross them. Unquestionably the hardest map in Haste so far.

 

 

Demo

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MAP10: The Green Mind

By Nirvana

Kills: 100%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 100%

Time: 9:10

 

Okay, gonna be real with you

Your perception of difficulty for The Green Mind essentially entirely revolves around your ability to deal with platforming

I love The Green Mind, I have a huge soft spot for these quiet void maps that are unconventional at best, similar to the work of one of the mappers in this wad we'll see later... I'm hearing a lot about the platforming here, it's very prevalent as I mentioned, maybe I'm just too patient for my own good, but I didn't find it very bothersome, sure, you do need to get to the Cyber island and back at least twice, but I don't know, it didn't bother me, this is one of those maps I have a hard time really putting my finger on why I like it so much, the star of the show, clearly, is the blue key fight when you hit the red and yellow switches, despite the water island not being the most dynamic setpiece in the world, I think Nirvana's Hell Knights, Imps, Cyberdemons and Arch-Vile placements really carry this fight, a lot, I find this actually to be maybe the easiest map in the wad to be fair, this blue key fight isn't tremendously scary all things considered, as stated, I have a hard time saying why The Green Mind is my favourite Haste map thus far, maybe I'm a sucker for these drug trip maps, I don't know

 

Grade: A

Difficulty: B-

 

 

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MAP10: "The Green Mind" by Nirvana

UV, pistol start, saves

100% kills, 1/1 secrets

 

Nirvana brings us another visual standout here. Green brick structures and vegetation in a field of water, suspended in a pure black void. The barren empty feeling in a colour palette that feels full of life is great. The midi is also fantastic, it's another track from Secret of Evermore like Nirvana's previous map. Its main melody reminds me of something out of Nier, which might be part of why it resonates with me a lot. 

 

Warning: extreme subjectivity ahead. So generally, the combat in this map is only slightly difficult. The initial stretch can take some time to figure out and the cyberdemon staring you down from the other island is quite dangerous. Your first priority should be to hunt down the SSG and take down the enemies in that general area. Opening the doors to the chaingun and green armour will start teleporting in waves of low tier enemies, most of which are hitscanners. This part can be surprisingly dangerous as the hitscanners can overwhelm you pretty easy, I found it best to hide by where I get the SSG and let them come to me for a bit. Killing all the hitscanners will net you a fair bit of ammo for the next enemies. The archviles and chaingunners on pedestals can be awkward to take down, but with proper care it's not too bad. Grabbing the red key unleashes a bunch of revenants, but they are prime fodder for the cyberdemon.

 

So, to get to the elephant out of the room, this level has some tricky platforming in it, both to get the soulsphere secret and to get to the cyberdemon's island to progress. The platforming isn't remarkably difficult, but it is tricky enough to be an obstacle and you have to hope that the cyberdemon doesn't nail you when you're doing it in both cases. This is a very personal thing, but tricky platforming tends to be a complete buzzkill for me in these levels. Part of it is definitely me not being very good at it, but really the difference between it and anything else in Doom is just that my eyes glaze over when working at it. It never really feels fun or rewarding to do for me, just a chore that was given that makes things more difficult in a very dull sort of way. Anyway, digression over. Obviously this is what I used my saves for, heh.

 

Once you get to the cyberdemon island, he's pretty easy to take care of. You get a plasma rifle along with some hell knight buddies to distract him and whittle him down a bit for you. The next fight is probably the trickiest combat part of the map, the switch in the small green maze unleashes a few archviles, two of which will usually block your escape from the small corridor. It can be very difficult to avoid a zap or two, but use all your plasma to get them started and escape the confines of the corridor for safety. After they are dead, you can platform back and hit the key switches. The final fight feels surprisingly kind of tame. Your main objective is to go get the rocket launchers, which will be complicated by a few archviles and a cyberdemon, but once you can get them to kindly move aside the rockets will help you out a lot with the bunched together enemies. Prioritize archies of course and get that cybie infighting. There's a ton of space to roam here, so you shouldn't find yourself cornered too easily, but if the imps start making things dicy you can just gib them with rockets.

 

So despite me hating the platforming, I do overall like this level. Without the platforming it's probably one of my favourites in the set, but it is just a very subjective thing holding me back from loving it that much.

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MAP 11 – Wanderlust by @Archi and @Insane_Gazebo

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HMP, Pistol start, blind run w/saves

 

Land ahoy! Doomguy started already on a pier with fences, staring at an evil castle and catching sight of sailing ships docked in the harbour. The main gate was sealed, and the only door was locked. The RSK lay not too far, along with a dead marine that dropped an SSG. Looting the fallen body unleashed the first, small ambush, featuring assorted monsters and an Arch-Vile appearing on the escape path. To defeat the mob, but most importantly to survive the next assault, I collected the rocket launcher in the closet. Trying to open the red door triggered the second trap, consisting of a group of Hell Knights, Revenants, many Arch-Viles and Mancubi on pillars. I was dying too much and started getting anxious about this combat layout by Archi, with map detailing by Insane_Gazebo.

 

Once I took control of the antechamber and flicked another skull switch, the YSK on the pier became available, along with other items that were previously hidden. I knew something bad was about to come, but how could I be prepared for such a mayhem, handled without the BFG in a hopelessly inescapable, terribly narrow environment? The pier was surrounded by a ludicrous number of Spider Masterminds (12), that interdicted it for the duration of the battle. The passages between the castle walls were swarmed by hundreds of demons, demanding to exploit the Invulnerability to cause the maximum number of casualties. Still, there were three Cyberdemons to bring down, and way too many monsters that gradually teleported in. For the first time, I watched the video of a better player to get a clue. Switching from rocket launcher to plasma gun at the right moments was essential, and it completely changed the outcome. I progressed from pathetic face-rocketing to better weapon management, learning an important lesson. Still the fight lasted quite long, and the time spent killing the stragglers and trying to make the Spiderdemons infight caused a bit of frustration.

Spoiler

988305705_HasteMAP11_01.jpg.bdcb5616672d3a3d6185a91d6ec2775d.jpg

Wanderlust promised a long journey with its title, and there were more encounters in store in the castle’s inner sanctum. A cross-shaped room contained Arachnotron snipers, partially deaf Revenants on the floor, and many stationary Arch-Viles. The Cyberdemon on the throne was activated by pressing two switches, then a third one deconstructed the throne to pick up the BSK and access the BFG. Even though there were two more Cyberdemons and many other baddies in this fight, the BFG simplified it too much. Probably, the big gun was aimed at the last ambush: again Cyberdemons, and 6 Arch-Viles ready to go on a resurrection frenzy with the pile of corpses outside. I dispatched them as fast as possible, risking an inglorious death under the chaingun of the last Spiderdemon.

Spoiler

1604985422_HasteMAP11_02.jpg.b94da5ebacc94f6cb7d1e5c0da3da4c3.jpg

The combat was very challenging and equal to UV, as no skill levels were implemented; it was also instructive and entertaining once the strategy was fully grasped. The map’s visuals had a strange, uneven quality to them. The areas looked good with mostly stock textures, and the hand of Insane_Gazebo was quite evident over a rather basic layout. Still, the texture choices and juxtaposition were not as flawless as in the project leader’s production; some did not perform as they should, considering the complex geometry. Most likely, it was the result of intense reworking, carried out to improve the graphic quality but trying not to subvert the original choice of textures. Not impeccable, but indeed a memorable map, Wanderlust was the first one to almost break my spirit with the unfettered ambushes in the first half.

 

Time: 19:55    Deaths: 14

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MAP11: Wanderlust. HNTR, PS, 432/432 K, 0/0 S, 10/10 I. Comp. time. 17:51

 

Ooh... wow. This is the point where I just start using midfightsaves. The main attraction, the first big fight when the masterminds appear at the sea, is such an inferno that I don't think I could make it one go, not even on HNTR, unless I was missing some clever strategic insight, which is quite possible. I'd just try and get as many enemies to the mastermind crossfire, and then make my way inside the building and to the top of the stairs, and then sink remaining rockets and hope that afterwards the enemy lines have thinned enough for me to wander around the pier area.

 

The Throne Room fight I didn't find that fun, I'm not sure why. Dealing with the cybers felt like a chore. I'm just generally bad at sensing incoming rockets, making survival in a cyber-infested arenas hard for me.

 

In general visual terms the map was great. It almost feel redundant to say that. It's just another reason I wish I was better at this sort of maps, because in general they are a joy to behold.

 

In addition, well, I haven't talked that much about soundtrack this month. Both MSCP and Haste have great music that fits the maps, and Wanderlust is no exception. Of course, as someone who has loved metal music ever since hitting teenage years in mid-1990s, and especially as a finn, I recognize Nightwish from both the soundtrack and the title of the map. 'Pharaoh Sails to Orion' is a great song and fits Doom, but somehow it irks me that the level title is also a Nightwish song :P I'm glad Pharaoh... was chosen, and I guess 'Pharaoh Sails to Orion' is less fitting for a level title? (What about 'Sailing to Orion' orsumthin'...)
 

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MAP11: Wanderlust, by Archi w/ Insane_Gazebo

DSDA, pistol start, HNTR and HNTR (or, UV and UV?)

 

Me thinks the difficulty settings may have been forgotten on this one! To be honest, I was a little relieved to realize that fact after my HNTR run – if that had been “easy mode”, anything worthy of UV would’ve surely been a sucker punch to the back of my skull. This level also happens to be an absolute riot to blast through, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to go back and polish some of the ditsy, rickety reactions I had during the first go ‘round. Case in point, I never noticed the BFG becoming accessible at the start of the main Blue Skull Key fight, until I had already soldiered my way through it with the RL and Plasma Gun (it was a long, hard-fought victory, but a very fun challenge). Decimating that horde with the BFG on the second playthrough was incredibly satisfying.

 

Wanderlust isn’t a particularly big map, but damn if it isn’t packed to the gills with action, and out to draw blood. I’d like to personally nominate that Invulnerability Sphere for a Best Powerup Timing Cacoward this year, giving me a glorious ray of sunshine before finally wearing off, and leaving me in the eye of a shitstorm so viciously frenetic that I think I stopped breathing entirely. If I wasn’t adept at weaving through waves of demons in tight quarters, I certainly am now!

 

Wanderlust leans on the “consecutive series of arenas” formula, and it’s the sort of manic slaughterfest that I’ve come to love as part of the genres variety of mapping styles – even the variety already seen throughout Haste. Fantastic map!

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MAP11 - Wanderlust by Archi & Insane_Gazebo:

DEATHS - 8
Not too sure what to think here, while the map looks fantastic and I think there are a few cool moments here, a lot of this map's ambushes seem very slapdash and not particularly thought through as if they were the first version of the fight finished. This does add a spontaneousness to the combat, but it mostly feels either too overly harsh or too easy without striking a good middle ground at all. The hardest fight in the map for my money is after getting the red key, the red door lowers a wall with a few hell knights and 3 archviles behind it - this would be fine were it not for the fact that you're very limited on ammo at the start, and all of the rockets are placed behind the archviles without a very good way to bait them out.

 

There's then a big fight with the majority of the map's monsters which is entertaining but very mindless - I don't mind a decent mindless, "hold the fire button down" fight every so often if I'm being honest so I liked this part. The fights in the blue key room are laughably easy, the cyberdemons in this room all got killed by single digit revenants they're placed behind, it's just odd. The map ends with a surprise middle-finger as a few archviles appear from behind a large wall along with two cyberdemons and this really only serves to kill the player once before letting them exit. Overall, this map is fine and I am probably being overly negative here, but it feels very much like a beta version of the map that wasn't given the love it deserves, gameplay wise.

 

RANKINGS:

Spoiler

Really Liked: MAP04, MAP06, MAP07, MAP08, MAP10
Liked: MAP01, MAP02, MAP03
Mixed Opinions: MAP05, MAP11
Didn't Like: MAP09

 

~~~

Now for my votes for next month, may change these as more come in but I'm gonna play along pretty much no matter what shows up :P
+++ Uprising

+++ Cydonia & Arrival

+++ Judgement

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+++ Hexen: Beyond Heretic

or
+++ DBP37: Auger;Zenith and Heartland

 

Copied my own comment from last month (which in-turn was copied from the month before that)

 

Quote

A part of me want to see Hexen win, if only to see how dobu gabu maru manages the hub progression :D. for variety and also since Heretic has already been covered. It would be interesting to take a break from Doom and discuss about Hexen's design and where it succeeds and at what parts does the game fall flat on its face.

 

Alternately, I vote Auger;Zenith and Heartland. Yeah I know almost everyone here has played both of these at least once, but having a DWMC for these wads would be great. I particularly want them to win because I love the "realistic environment" elements in them that I would love to write about. I also added Heartland since Auger;Zenith only has 22 maps and Heartland having 7 maps fill the remaining days of the month.

 

I also wanted to vote Devilution. But I will wait until it is in Release Candidate stage before I start mentioning it.

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(Played on UV with pistol starts on Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 11: Wanderlust by Archi and Insane_Gazebo

100% kills (with cheats), 70% items and 100% secrets

Time: 9:47

 

The only collaboration between 2 authors in Haste's normal map order, Wanderlust is a towering fortress built in the middle of a seemingly endless lake. Again, the visuals are on point, especially the detailing and the cute boats you can see far away in the water. The music, a midi rendition of Nightwish song, rocks. The combat is still pretty good, but it is flawed, we will get to that later. After a light ambush with spectres, imps, revs, hell knights and an archie, you will get to the first big fight of the map when trying to open the red door. Sniping mancubi, revs, hell knights and arch-viles are revealed, which can get pretty tricky if they overwhelm you and/or you didn't grab enough rockets. The second big fight is my favorite, after grabbing an invulnerability, tons of revs, imps, pinkies, hell knights and cybers are teleported on the ground floor, most of them from the lake, while 12 masterminds spawn on the water. The invuln isn't gonna last long enough for all of this, so don't get overconfident! However, this fight prevented me to get 100% kills without cheats on my 2 playthroughs as one of the imps on the lake couldn't be killed without idclipping and would not teleport to the central area. After that, you plunge deeper into the castle to find a group of revs, 8 sniping arachnos and 4 archvile duos who are the most dangerous part of this area. After that, wake up the cyber on the throne, and lower the walls with the spiders to reveal the red key, but also alcoves with other cybers, cacos, revs and hell knights. This encounter can be pretty difficult, but if you manage to grab the BFG fast enough you will be fine. Ater that, you go back outside the castle to kill a group of archies and 2 cybers and you're done! However, that last fight can be cheesed easily, the 2 cybers can wake up and try to shoot you before the encounter is triggered, but they only hit the archies, who will then kill themselves with their magic. When I triggered this encounter, only 2 archviles out of 7 were still alive, and 1 immediately took a cyber rocket and died, I honestly felt bad for them! Despite it's flaws, this map is really fun, pretty and perfectly scored.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Love:

Map 9

Map 6

Map 8

Map 4

Really like :

Map 5

Map 11

Map 2

Map 3

Map 1

Like:

Map 7

Dislike:

Map 10

 

 

+++ Ray Mohawk's Manic Monday & Ray Mohawk 2 : Ray Wrecks Havoc!

+++ TNT: Devilution

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Okay I'll third vote now. I can always revoke a vote if need be (ie something else catches on that is of interest). This will also by my definitive votes post.

 

+++TNT2

+++Judgement

+++Uprising

Edited by FrancisT218

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Vote post. I'll just copy my last month's suggestion, replace Haste & MSCP with something else:

 

+++Auger;Zenith (22 maps, right?) & Morbid Autumn (10 maps, both DBP sets)

+++Cydonia & Fractured Worlds (23 maps (MAP21 is credits) + 10 maps (MAP16 is credits?) = 31 actual maps)

+++Arceon (6 maps was it?) & Lost Civilization (apparently 22 maps)

 

Although once again I'm debating whether or not skip a month. Club's really fun, but my backlog of wads already covered by the club is still one big pile -- but then, all the maps mentioned already belong to that pile. On the other hand, it looks like I'm moving in May (or June) and most importantly my two year creative writing studies are ending, and I really want to put all my energy (left from daytime job) there for the final weeks. But on the third hand, Doom is a way to relax...

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Played with pistol-starts on UV on DSDA-Doom

 

Map 10: The Green Mind

 

Abstract water ruins. The map is super open and hitscanners and projectiles harass you from afar at the start. There is some pretty lethal platforming, which I normally like, but the shape of the platforms is annoying. I like the maps nonlinearity. The final fight where you rush to the rocket launcher and hunt down the four archies is super fun. I really enjoy the maps easthetic. The watery platform floating in a void and the really tall ruins creates a really nice atmosphere. Fun map, just a bit painful.

 

Map 11: Wanderlust

 

Green marble castle. This map feels much like Rush. Probably the most slaughtery map in the set. This one has absolutely insane usage of the boss monsters. The fights feels really overwhelming, but are suprisingly manageable. I felt so out gunned for the most of the map, which made getting the BFG feel so much better. Visually the map is pretty basic, but it still looks nice. Liked this one.

 

Both of these maps also had really nice music.

 

+++ Judgement

+++ Cydonia & Arrival

 

My rankings:

Spoiler

1: The Cradle

2: Concrete Vice

3: Wanderlust

4: Floodplain

5: The Green Mind

6: Infinium

7: Firebug

8: Magma Templum

9: The Wheelhouse

10: Snoutish Pug Nose

11: The Barbican

 

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Votes for May:

 

+++ Hexen: Beyond Heretic

+++ Number One Kill (9 maps) + Number One Kill Extra (1 map) + Number One Kill the Next Generation (22 maps)

 

Third vote saved for later. 

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