Nostalgia - now on idgames! [32 Maps] [Doom 2 format]

[myolden]

1 minute ago, BeetBeardTheBrave said:

I love this set so much.  @myolden Have you considered making a "new game plus" or "Nostalgia Hardmode" where you have the same layouts and music but monster placements that lean more in the Obzen/Plutonia levels of difficulty?  I'd love to tear through this set and sweat a little.  

 

Alternately, If you don't have time, I'd love to do this, and put it out.  With your blessing, of course.  But if you'd rather it be untarnished, that can just be a personal project.  Whatever the case, thanks for making this - it's a banger. :D

 

That's a really interesting idea, I hadn't thought of doing something like that before. I might give something like this a shot at some point.

[BeetBeardTheBrave]

1 minute ago, myolden said:

 

That's a really interesting idea, I hadn't thought of doing something like that before. I might give something like this a shot at some point.

I think enough people consider this a "classic" wad at this point.  At least, I know its a lot of people's new favorite.  I think it would be welcomed with open arms.  But don't stunt your own creativity for it if it's a lot of work.  Just an interesting idea. :D

[50milliarden]

First time poster here, loving this megawad!

 

One fun thing I noticed: in map 24 there's an alternative way to reach the soul sphere secret.

 

Spoiler

From the start, at the right side of the gate, you can easily step over the right flaming barrel that's supposed to obstruct the path, then walk around the building, going south through the narrow alley and arriving in no man's land. Going all the way west and then north, into another alley at the east side, the north and east till you reach the gate again from the "wrong" side. The building with the soul sphere can be accessed through the window, using the sidewalk and left flaming barrel as stepping stones.

 

If this was intentional, it was a really fun super-secret!

Edited November 17, 2023 by 50milliarden

[myolden]

30 minutes ago, 50milliarden said:

First time poster here, loving this megawad!

 

One fun thing I noticed: in map 24 there's an alternative way to reach the soul sphere secret.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

From the start, at the right side of the gate, you can easily step over the right flaming barrel that's supposed to obstruct the path, then walk around the building, going south through the narrow alley and arriving in no man's land. Going all the way west and then north, into another alley at the east side, the north and east till you reach the gate again from the "wrong" side. The building with the soul sphere can be accessed through the window, using the sidewalk and left flaming barrel as stepping stones.

 

If this was intentional, it was a really fun super-secret!

 

I assume this was in Nostalgia 2? This was not intentional, as I usually have infinitely tall actors turned off when I play (usually in DSDA Doom) which doesn't allow you to step over the barrel. But it's a funny little thing anyway haha.

[50milliarden]

25 minutes ago, myolden said:

 

I assume this was in Nostalgia 2? This was not intentional, as I usually have infinitely tall actors turned off when I play (usually in DSDA Doom) which doesn't allow you to step over the barrel. But it's a funny little thing anyway haha.

 

Ah crap, posted it in wrong thread. But yeah, it was a funny little quirk that worked so perfectly that I half-assumed was intentional.

[NightFright]

I might be late to the party, but in MAP21, this lift only lowers and won't go up again once you are in the pit with the exit door. Not sure whether this is a port-related issue only. Happened to me with latest Woof! dev build.

 

[myolden]

6 minutes ago, NightFright said:

I might be late to the party, but in MAP21, this lift only lowers and won't go up again once you are in the pit with the exit door. Not sure whether this is a port-related issue only. Happened to me with latest Woof! dev build.

 

Very strange. I imagine this has to be port related, as that's just a standard repeatable lift. 

[NightFright]

Will open a Github issue for Woof, I guess. Since this is a showstopper, it can be assumed this would have been noticed and fixed pretty much early on during the testing phase.

[NightFright]

Update:

It was a port bug. Basically, if you saved the game after calling the elevator (before it went back up) and loaded that savegame afterwards, the lift got stuck and the switch wouldn't work any more. It's fixed now.

[RaRu Des2122]

I wanted to play through this megawad for a record for a very long time and this desire strengthened after the release of Nostalgia 2 and Obzen. Now I'm absolutely sure that I will record them all and I want to start with the first of them.

 

By the way, I removed the status bar from the second part of Nostalgia to the first because I like its soft brown color on which all the numbers are clearly visible and at the same time it is not the usual white.

 

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@myolden, I also wanted to ask you this: are there any plans to make a megawad in the same spirit for the first Doom?

[myolden]

49 minutes ago, RaRu Des2122 said:

@myolden, I also wanted to ask you this: are there any plans to make a megawad in the same spirit for the first Doom?

 

A few people have suggested/asked about this and I can say this much: it sounds like a really cool idea!

[RaRu Des2122]

 

It is only the fourth map and it is already the leader in the whole megawad of the number of secrets! It took me quite a long time to visit the first three of them, not to get burned on acid and connect their search and the search for the blue keycard with a single route because at first it seemed to me that there were not enough radiation suits.

 

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This map has a quite difficult ending for an early stage of the megawad. However, if such short levels were also given to the player very easily, it would be much more boring ;))

 

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Aha, a direct reference to the original MAP06 - poor spiderdemon... It's funny that in the 90s there was a metal song with such a suitable name for this situation!

[RaRu Des2122]

 

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I don't know why, but I always approve of those cases when the seventh level of any megawad is not another variation of Dead Simple or does not contain a reference to it.

[RaRu Des2122]

 

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The urban episode begins much more dynamically than the techbasic one. Firstly, there are as many monsters here as in the previous map - which means a non-decreasing degree of sharpness and quite meaty gameplay for a map of this size. Secondly, we will need all three keys here, each of them will have to be beaten off from a quite big group of monsters and in very cramped rooms. And they will stick a rocket launcher in all of them quite annoyingly :))

[Zesiir]

I'm a sucker for old-fashioned Doom design, so I will definitely try this out! I won't review every map, but I'll post some kind of conclusion here once I've blasted through this pack. I will play on UV.

[RaRu Des2122]

 

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I've never seen any bad maps with trains and underground! And the optional basketball court which I strongly recommend visiting and which I brought to the preview is also pleasing to the eye. And anyway, I generally consider the second episode to be the best in this megawad because it turned out to be the most detailed and the most reliable!

 

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[Zesiir]

I had a ton of fun with this WAD. 32 relatively small, action-packed maps with great design both in their arena's and general themes like Techbase, Hell, etc. You can tell each map has been tested rigorously, and all of them offer interesting enemy encounters that leave you wondering what's ahead. I found most secret areas, they were well-placed and made sense for the individual map designs.

 

Some arenas felt a bit copy-pasted in their design towards the last chapter, in where you have to go a long detour to get a key, pass some very suspicious walls that look like they might lower, grab said key and the area fills up with monsters. You started to expect what to come, even if enemy variety was kept interesting. Especially with clever use of Arch-Viles to re-populate areas you've gone through, but that never got old.

 

Plenty of Doomcute design was used in the City chapter, but I'm a fan of small details and I thought it looked great.

And of course, my ears approved of hearing Doom 3's plasma gun again. Works surprisingly well.

 

All in all, a terrific MegaWAD if you like smaller maps with tight, frantic combat and surprises around every corner.

 

Some minor oddities;

 

Spoiler

 

This corner in MAP09 has something invisible obstructing the player when approached from the right angle:

 

 

Personally I'm not a big fan of placing monsters that drop items atop places where you can't reach them. The player should always be able to collect items.

 

 

That door is THICC.

 

 

 

[RaRu Des2122]

SECRET LEVELS: 

 

 

 

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Egyptian and Wolfenstein style... Good choice!

[RaRu Des2122]

 

But maps with cemeteries, unlike maps with the subway, I came across much less often but there were no bad ones among them either! And this one was no exception: all these tombstones, chapels and dungeons look very atmospheric. You really believe the environment around you, in general! In some ways, this map slightly reminds me of a map with the same number from Scythe.

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A beautiful map showing the smooth transition of a partially destroyed city by hellish forces to a well-preserved port where the player must win back the ship invaded by the spiderdemon. And yes, the Tristan Clark's track "Atmosphere" is a literal delight to the ears and an incredibly suitable choice for almost any level!

 

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Edited March 17 by RaRu Des2122

[RaRu Des2122]

 

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This map is the only one from Nostalgia that does not contain official secrets. And it is the second and the last map in the megawad where you can meet spectres! (the first one was MAP10) In total I came across only six of them (not counting those who will be spawned by the IoS on the last map). Why are there so few of them, @myolden?

 

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Contrary to the first impression, there are enough ammo for all the monsters here, even if you don't make infight them each other. But in this case, there may be a lack of space so I would still recommend doing it. The beginning of map with a large number of cacodemons capable of not releasing the player for a long time from the start reminded me of the E3M1: Hell's Keep - which, in general, is not surprising because they both open hellish episodes.

[RaRu Des2122]

 

The source of inspiration is guessed from the very first second again, although this map is much simpler due to the lack of a cyberdemon on it and the ability to get a BFG9000 almost immediately after the start. And wow! - once again there was a song with an extremely appropriate title! :D

 

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By the way, about the absence of cyberdemons... Of the eight remaining maps, it will be observed on only one more. And the local cyberdemon is located quite inconveniently for fighting and if it weren't the BFG9000 from one of the secrets, I would hardly have killed him so quickly.

 

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A flesh-filled hell begins... Almost all the maps in this style (including those in Nostalgia 2) that I came across are slightly uncomfortable to play: a lot of heavy monsters, few useful items and any convenient shelters. And this map was no exception either.

[RaRu Des2122]

 

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The most densely populated and definitely the most difficult map in the megawad. The main danger on it is revenants of whom there are a lot and from whose missiles it is not so easy to hide. This has a particularly strong effect after taking the blue key.

 

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Fortunately, we will get the necessary respite before the final three levels. This map is the last one in the megawad which is not inhabited by spiderdemons or cyberdemons...

[RaRu Des2122]

And the last part!

 

 

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Very hard ending came out! Two cyberdemons and a crowd of hellknights are pinching us from two different sides and also receive air support in the form of a pack of cacodemons and pain elementals! It's good that the cyberdemons are almost motionless, otherwise the passability of this place would be a big question... But after defeating them all we can exhale noisily with almost complete satisfaction and prepare for the last step that separates us from the victory!

 

After that megawad I realized how beautiful Tristan Clark's music is...

 

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The battle with the Icon of Sin at this level is very simple but you should not delay its destruction too much because the number of monsters will increase very quickly from the beginning. Fortunately, the level is very small in size so we won't be able to postpone it for too long even if we want to :D

In general, this is one of those rare maps with a functioning IoS that I liked.

 

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I will summarize the overall results and the traditional selection of favorites among maps and music a little later. For now I want to thank @myolden for this small and quickly completed but very beautiful, stylish and high-quality megawad! I wish you further creative achievements and I assure you that I will not limit myself to recording only the first part of Nostalgia!

[RaRu Des2122]

Top of the best maps: 

 

Map06: Spirit Crusher

Map11: Rapture

Map13: Sludge Factory

Map14: Beneath

Map16: Fear of the Dark

Map17: Ars Moriendi

Map26: Sepulchular Slaughter

Map31: Powerslave

 

Top of the best soundtracks:

 

Map06: "Jade Empire" by @stewboy

Map10: "Fire Hive" by @Jimmy

Map17: "Atmosphere" by Tristan Clark

Map20: "Turbulence" by Frank Klepacki

Map21: "Mystified" by Tristan Clark

Map24: "Mandalia Plains" by Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata

Map29: "Aorta" by Tristan Clark

Map32: "Rotted Roots" by @Jimmy

 

Appearance of monsters on the Ultra-Violence difficulty:

 

[gemini0]

Finally finished this for the first time. All I have to say is, this was amazing, and once I really got to playing it through properly, I couldn't put it down until I was done.

How you managed to make Hurt Me Plenty! feel this hectic is beyond me, and with such a low monster count too...

[LibertyRPF]

I'm just 5 maps into it, but so far I love it.

 

My favorite way to play is with Brutal Doom Platinum at UV in Tactical mode, so it's pretty challenging, but I love the architecture and relatively small maps:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bedingungsl.Grundeinkommen]

Just played the first 20 maps of this for the first time ever (PS UV MAX) and I loved it!

Edited April 13 by Bedingungsl.Grundeinkommen

[Custom Longplay]

First 8 Maps from the Megawad Doom 2 - [Project Brutality - Nostalgia] - [4K60ᶠᵖˢ]