Journey To Hell 2.0 is now here! (Out now on IDGames!)

[IRod54]

@Firedust I appreciate how you and @galileo31dos01 have turned into the best playtesters for this

[Rudolph]

I hear it features a new soundtrack. Could you post a tracklist please?

 

Anyway, I have a major gripe with MAP02's start: it is just too obnoxiously difficult. A cramped starting area surrounded by enemies (including Chaingunners) with little room to dodge? Come on, now...

Edited May 9, 2022 by Rudolph

[Firedust]

I am slowly getting there. Map 23 was huge and it looks like Map 24 is even bigger...

[IRod54]

3 hours ago, Rudolph said:

I hear it features a new soundtrack. Could you post a tracklist please?

 

Anyway, I have a major gripe with MAP02's start: it is just too obnoxiously difficult. A cramped starting area surrounded by enemies (including Chaingunners) with little room to dodge? Come on, now...

OK I'll get rid of those and the shotgunners 

[Rudolph]

@IRod54 Thank you! :D

 

I am not necessarily against being dropped in the middle of things, but MAP02 feels way too early for that.

 

[IRod54]

@FiredustIf you're talking about the pinkie trap it's set up to make the floor rise to the ceiling that reveals a switch to unlock the door, gotta step over 1 of the linedefs around where the teleporter flat is 

[IRod54]

8 hours ago, Firedust said:

Surely there's another way to do it? The current method makes secrets obligatory and that's not a good look.

 

Map 22: In the crate room if you fall down by the first baron, you'll get permanently stuck.

 

Map 23: Sectors 6926, 3866, and 1220 are all deaf, making 100% kills impossible because those monsters never teleport in.

 

Also, the same issue with the voodoo doll as in map 22 is present. How are you supposed to even survive the explosion? And right off the bat, you're stuck inside the cistern (if that's what it is) and have to deal with a fight with practically no health even if you come in 150/150.

I'll change that then

[Firedust]

20 hours ago, IRod54 said:

@FiredustIf you're talking about the pinkie trap it's set up to make the floor rise to the ceiling that reveals a switch to unlock the door, gotta step over 1 of the linedefs around where the teleporter flat is 

Yes, I was talking about that trap. Problem is, you're down to very low health in a very confined space with a lot of monsters and not much health to work with. I actually chose to cheese the trap by prematurely pressing the switch that hadn't risen from the ground yet.

 

Map 24: The mancubus in sector 971 is deaf and can't really see the player.

 

Also, what's the point of the super secret 'green' fight? You get no reward for it and it took me over 20 attempts to beat without savescumming. I exited with 2 health. I suggest add more rad suits and 4 or 5 cyberdemons because at the moment it's really easy to get destroyed by the archviles and there's practically no cover from them. Cybs will keep them distracted and give the player more freedom in their movement. Also, reward the player with a megasphere for completing it. It's easily the trickiest fight of the megawad so far.

 

 

EDIT: Map 25. Placing a one-time-use elevator in the starting area is a bad idea. First time I didn't actually get off and ended up stuck.

 

There's also no way to get out of sector 2658 and 2355 elevators if you stay on.

 

EDIT 2: Map 26. No rad suit before the mancubus and cyberdemon room and 10 damaging floor? Yeah, that's just not good. There's no soulsphere or megasphere before that fight so do consider adding a couple radsuits before it at the very least. The player will end up taking a ton of damage before escaping regardless of the lava anyway.

 

For the pinkie and specter fight, consider giving the player a zerk, because there's not enough ammo to take out all the monsters. I was scraping by and had to chainsaw most of them. They are really bad at infighting, keep that in mind.

 

The pillars that raised across the lava pool are damaging. Is this a bug or intentional?

Edited May 10, 2022 by Firedust

[IRod54]

Whoops I better fix that, no it's not intentional

[Firedust]

Map 27: Broken teleporter closets with pinkies, sector 3862.

[TeK (⌐■_■)]

I finished my playthrough of this finally! These are some massive, beefy maps. Pretty exhausting to play back to back, but I enjoyed the unapologetic Alien Vendetta/HR look and combat style.

 

I did run into quite a number of bugs/softlocks etc..  some of these @Firedust may have already pointed out, if so please ignore. 

 

Spoiler

These were all encountered in prboom+, playing on HMP and pistol starting each map.

 

 

 

Map 10

 

No monsters teleported in at the red key trap.

 

 

 

Visual bug

 

 

 

You can wiggle through the window and get stuck here. I tried on the other side and couldn't get through but may be safe to make sure it's impossible to get through on both sides.

 

 

 

map 11

 

 

HOM on line 5082 I think it is.

 

 

map 12

 

 

You can fall behind the crates and get stuck here.

 

 

map 13

 

 

 

These arachnotrons are stuck and can't shoot

 

 

This bridge didn't seem to work, but you can make the jump without it 

 

 

 

 

map 14

 

 

 

 

 

The torches here are only tagged to appear on hard, heh.

 

 

 

You can fall down in here and get stuck

 

 

 

map 32

 

 

 

If you jump down here before activating the walk over pad things you can't get out on both sides

 

 

 

 

map 16

 

The red key and the rocket launcher are both only tagged for hard.

 

 

I thought this switch was broken, but you can't press it head on, you have to press it at an angle like this

 

 

 

 

Some of these hanging bodies block the player, I believe there are versions that don't block the player for the neanderthals like me that still play with infinite height etc..

 

 

I don't have time to finish typing up the bugs I found in the rest of the set right now, I'll post those later today when I get a chance.

 

[IRod54]

 I know I turned off the blocking options for the hanging decorations, how do you do that for prboom+?

Edited May 11, 2022 by IRod54

[Firedust]

Map 30: The teleporting monsters ambush after you pick up the bfg doesn't quite work as intended because most of them end up telefragging each other because of map 30's special properties.

 

Only one map left to go!

[TeK (⌐■_■)]

12 hours ago, IRod54 said:

 I know I turned off the blocking options for the hanging decorations, how do you do that for prboom+?

 

I'm not sure, I thought it was possible. Someone else will have to explain.

 

 

Spoiler

Carrying on from earlier,

 

 

Map 17

 

Plasma is only tagged for hard.

 

 

You can fall down in here and get stuck

 

 

Map 18

 

 

Plasma is only tagged for hard

 

 

This switch had the same issue as the one in map 16, it needed to be pressed from an angle

 

 

Couldn't find a way to lower these bars or get out

 

 

 

Map 19

 

 

 

You can get stuck behind both these crates

 

 

 

Map 22

 

 

 

You can fall down here in the crate room and get stuck

 

 

Hanging body the monsters teleport into and get stuck in

 

 

 

Map 23

 

 

The little raised platform the box of rockets is on is set to damaging

 

 

 

 

Map 24

 

 

 

Couldn't get this barrier to lower

 

 

 

Nother visual bug

 

 

 

You can fall down in here on the way leading up to the final fight and get stuck

 

 

 

 

Map 25

 

 

 

If you miss this lift you can't bring it back up

 

 

 

 

Map 27

 

 

Couldn't get this barrier to lower

 

 

 

 

[galileo31dos01]

12 hours ago, IRod54 said:

I know I turned off the blocking options for the hanging decorations, how do you do that for prboom+?

 

Did you uncheck the obstacle flag in dehacked for every hanging decoration? Here's where it's displayed in WhackED4:

 

 

Just by doing that in your current deh and making sure it's properly imported in the main wad, prboom will read it 

[Firedust]

@TeK (⌐■_■) the bars lower for all of the screens you've posted after certain time has passed. Keep in mind that some nodes are Zdoom only so if you've been using a different sourceport, some things will be straight out broken.

 

Anyway, I am done! Overall, it took me 18 and a half hours of in-game time, which is crazy. I'll list a few general changes you may want to consider implementing and then highlight the good points so I can end this thing on a high note. Also, if someone knows how to add spoiler tags, let me know, don't want the poor folks to have a fairly big wall of text right in their faces.

 

Here are the things you should consider improving:

 

1) Screenshots. Why on earth are all the screenshots taken with the light amp on? The lighting in these maps are superb and you're doing yourself a huge disservice posting them like that, because it might shy away a number of players. 

 

2) Ammo and guns balance. Are you sure this was balanced right for pistol starts? Some maps definitely were but there were a handful in which you gave away a ton of plasma ammo and no plasma rifle or bfg. Additionally, there were a number of encounters that were straight up impossible without those weapons - Hellopolis being the prime example. The rocket launcher fight is actually undoable without the PR because a ton of monsters spawn in a very confined space and if you don't kill them quickly, you'll get absolutely rekt. If this was indeed balanced for continuous, be sure to specify so in the OP.

 

3) Restricted access to already explored areas. For casual players like me who aren't speedrunners, this is a tad annoying. Imagine coming across a goodies stack, leaving some for later, and then being unable to ever come back there? In map 29, for example, you get two megaspheres before taking the lift up to the close quarter cyberdemon fight. You don't actually need even one for the first section of the map but after that particular fight, you'll likely be on low health if he didn't aggro the monsters teleporting in. Of course, the player would want to resupply after it, but the lift is one way only...

 

4) Copy-pasted encounters. Now, this mainly applies to the middle batch of maps. There's nothing wrong with architecture symmetry if the encounters themselves are varied enough to keep the player interested - like in Demon School, you fight through two similar-looking classrooms, but the encounters are different. It's okay if the repeated sections are fairly short but otherwise they just become somewhat tedious. You know what's truly annoying? Doing the same section with arachnotrons, lost souls, and a cyberdemon 4 freaking times in map 18. Try thinking up different closet/teleporter combinations to keep the player engaged.

 

Now, onto the great things:

 

1) The visual side of things. Your lighting and texturing is impeccable and there's so much eye candy to find in almost every map. It makes sense that this megawad took you so long to make.

 

2) Sector use. You sure know how to get the most of each area as in the majority of the levels as you force the player into a whole string of fights before letting them advance. That is a clever way to make the most of your linedefs. Besides, this never comes across as taxing because, well, like I've said above, the visuals are strong.

 

3) Progression. I don't think I've ever got stuck (unless it was because of a bug). Some of the maps may be big but at no point did I get lost in them. 

 

4) The big encounters. These are your strong suit and with the exception of one (the final encounter in map 29, which is a good ol' run in circle until the monsters kill each other) they are all incredibly fun. Doom Stadium is super cool for that very reason and is one of the definitive highlights of the megawad.

 

Final note: if you're into HR or AV, you will absolutely love this. If you feel intimidated by the megawad length, just play maps 24-29, for they're the best this megawad has to offer. Thanks a lot, irod, for making this and looking forward to the final release!

[IRod54]

@TeK (⌐■_■) To lower those bars you have to shoot the switch behind the baron and for that other bar a switch rises up behind you allowing you to lower it 

[IRod54]

OK took care of every suggestion possible and now hopefully this is good to go for release on idgames 

[IRod54]

On 4/27/2022 at 8:44 PM, IRod54 said:

Wondering if someone could design me a cool M_DOOM and INTERPIC for this?

 

Hoping someone still can if possible

[ChaoticReverie]

It's rare for me to be critical of a wad, but this is truly the first time I have played something where I felt the gameplay was outright unfair. I'd consider myself a doom god skill-wise. I always play on Ultra-violence and have beaten the most challenging wads on this skill, including notable slaughter maps. The first half of this megawad is top notch. I really liked how challenging it was and the flow of each level. However, in the latter half of the megawad, things took a turn for the worst. I was finding myself in situations with far too many monsters and not enough ammo, health, armor and cover to deal with them. Specifically, I found that maps overused Arch-Viles, Cyberdemons, and Spider Masterminds which just drained my ammo like crazy. The last straw for me was when I found a secret in map 24 that spawned in a huge amount of Arch-Viles, but without an appropriate amount of cover to deal with them.

 

If anyone has completed it to the end, I'd love to hear how you managed to do that. Maybe I'm missing something.

[Firedust]

2 hours ago, ChaoticReverie said:

It's rare for me to be critical of a wad, but this is truly the first time I have played something where I felt the gameplay was outright unfair. I'd consider myself a doom god skill-wise. I always play on Ultra-violence and have beaten the most challenging wads on this skill, including notable slaughter maps. The first half of this megawad is top notch. I really liked how challenging it was and the flow of each level. However, in the latter half of the megawad, things took a turn for the worst. I was finding myself in situations with far too many monsters and not enough ammo, health, armor and cover to deal with them. Specifically, I found that maps overused Arch-Viles, Cyberdemons, and Spider Masterminds which just drained my ammo like crazy. The last straw for me was when I found a secret in map 24 that spawned in a huge amount of Arch-Viles, but without an appropriate amount of cover to deal with them.

 

If anyone has completed it to the end, I'd love to hear how you managed to do that. Maybe I'm missing something.

Hardest fight of the megawad. Walk around the central pillar until a lot of monsters teleport in, then BFG rush the spot with the most viles. After you clear that corner up, keep mopping up the remaining viles and you'll be golden.

 

EDIT: this megawad was partly not designed for pistol starts. If you were playing continuous, I find it hard to imagine that you'd struggle with ammo.

[IRod54]

I changed things up a bit there to where now there are some areas to take cover behind and now a hidden invisibility is included 

[DuckReconMajor]

Congrats on the release IRod! look forward to playing it. Could you put the idgames link in the op to replace the mediafire link?

edit: thank you!

Edited May 26, 2022 by DuckReconMajor

[NIGHTKILLER05]

Hi, sorry for write in a "more than 3 months since last post thread" thank you for this great megawad, I only want to know if the following files are neccesary if I am playing in Gzdoom/Lzdoom:

 

jth2.dbs

jth2.deh

jth2.whacked

 

I didn't find information about those in the jth2.txt file.

 

[Andromeda]

1 hour ago, NIGHTKILLER05 said:

Hi, sorry for write in a "more than 3 months since last post thread" thank you for this great megawad, I only want to know if the following files are neccesary if I am playing in Gzdoom/Lzdoom:

 

jth2.dbs

jth2.deh

jth2.whacked

 

I didn't find information about those in the jth2.txt file.

No, all you need to play it on those source ports is the wad file.

[Red Recluse]

Played with brutal mods.

[IRod54]

Since Im having trouble uploading the version with fixed bugs to idgames here it is https://www.mediafire.com/file/h2cgwc40reswbtp/jth2.wad/file

[Firedust]

Haven't you already uploaded it? Or did you do more bug fixes?

[IRod54]

2 hours ago, Firedust said:

Haven't you already uploaded it? Or did you do more bug fixes?

More bug fixes, I keep trying to replace the file that’s already there but I keep getting rejected basically