What are you playing now?

[HitelbeVettBor]

I recently downloaded a newer version of BTSX because in the older version the 100% kills was impossible to obtain on Map07/Metal Mothers. I decided to start from the beginning and now I'm at map six again and it is very difficult to handle it. I like Doom Center too.

[Chris Moyer]

I just finished CZECH Box, a very new WAD which just had it's final release a couple weeks ago.

 

CZECH it out! ;) I highly recommend it.

 

 

[Horus]

Just finished Ancient Aliens. Awesome megawad, did start to get a bit repetitive towards the middle, which is where stewboy’s secret map really helped as he has a very different mapping style to skillsaw.
 

Likewise the guest mappers helped keep things fresh towards the end. 
 

Top 3 maps:

 

L27: Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (lovely adventure breather map with a chill midi)

 

L26: Egyptian Metaphysics (love chaingunners used correctly and I think Tarnsman got them spot on here, with the interesting blursphere mechanic, influenced the starting section of my second 64kb map)

 

L16: Leave Your Sol Behind (opening space area looks awesome and love the jetsetting theme of this map that takes you to different worlds)

 

Next I have a few different WADs on the go (CC4, Cyberdreams, Sunlust) that I’m kinda dipping in and out of.

[sincity2100]

On 2/4/2020 at 4:19 PM, Tartlman said:

you might want to take a break before you do map19 then...

Oh boy...

[Summer Deep]

Just completed Doom 2 MAP29 The Living End from a UV pistol start, with 100% kills, secrets and items. For most of the time it seemed like an impossible task with the ammo available, but I somehow managed to see off the Cyberdemon at the end with about half a dozen chaingun bullets remaining. Seems to me that the difference between just about surviving this level and getting through in relative comfort rests upon finding a plasma rifle or BFG. I was unable to do so (but surely one or the other exists somewhere?), very frustrating as I had 380 unused cells at the end.

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by Summer Deep

[HitelbeVettBor]

6 hours ago, Summer Deep said:

Just completed Doom 2 MAP29 The Living End from a UV pistol start, with 100% kills, secrets and items. For most of the time it seemed like an impossible task with the ammo available, but I somehow managed to see off the Cyberdemon at the end with about half a dozen chaingun bullets remaining. Seems to me that the difference between just about surviving this level and getting through in relative comfort rests upon finding a plasma rifle or BFG. I was unable to do so (but surely one or the other exists somewhere?), very frustrating as I had 380 unused cells at the end.

 

I never UVmaxed that out before because I was only able to do it by abusing the save/load feature XD

[Summer Deep]

^ I must have saved about 7 or 8 times, otherwise it'd probably have taken me a week to do a completely clear run. I don't regard using saves in these circumstances as abusing the system, especially when I found myself at around 30% health and having to tackle a pair of Revenants with my fists on the edge of a nukage pool (albeit with 'Berserk' power).

 

:)

[HitelbeVettBor]

13 hours ago, Summer Deep said:

^ I must have saved about 7 or 8 times, otherwise it'd probably have taken me a week to do a completely clear run. I don't regard using saves in these circumstances as abusing the system, especially when I found myself at around 30% health and having to tackle a pair of Revenants with my fists on the edge of a nukage pool (albeit with 'Berserk' power).

 

:)

I can relate to that because most of the times I struggle with one level at a week and map29 was just an exception to this. :D

[galileo31dos01]

On 2/8/2020 at 4:17 PM, Summer Deep said:

I was unable to do so (but surely one or the other exists somewhere?), very frustrating as I had 380 unused cells at the end.

 

Yes, at the upper closet of caged chaingunners somewhere around an inverted C-ish shaped ledge. To get there you have to bribe the caco guard first.

[3saster]

On 2/8/2020 at 11:17 AM, Summer Deep said:

Just completed Doom 2 MAP29 The Living End from a UV pistol start, with 100% kills, secrets and items. For most of the time it seemed like an impossible task with the ammo available, but I somehow managed to see off the Cyberdemon at the end with about half a dozen chaingun bullets remaining. Seems to me that the difference between just about surviving this level and getting through in relative comfort rests upon finding a plasma rifle or BFG. I was unable to do so (but surely one or the other exists somewhere?), very frustrating as I had 380 unused cells at the end.

 

Color me impressed that you did it without the plasma rifle, the level is very obviously designed for it by how much ammo there is and the nature of some of the encounters. With the plasma rifle, you can go through it quite smoothly, I'd recommend you try it again, with the plasma rifle this time. To find the plasma rifle, try taking a trip into the blood at the beginning next time...

[HitelbeVettBor]

I never played through the Plutonia's first ten levels but Map11/Hunted is a favorite of mine because I like those Arch-Vile encounters along with the SSG. I also have a picture here and it is not 100% because the encounter of the last four enemies but I'm happy with it.

[HitelbeVettBor]

I tried Russian Overkill just now and it will be great for some casual playarounds. I will not post here for a month to let other people talk. EDIT: Maybe I was wrong because that playaround maybe will not be casual.

Edited February 12, 2020 by HitelbeVettBor

[galileo31dos01]

Restarted Hellscape yesterday now that I can put mapping duties secondly. Lutz appears to be a master of light gradients, as well as beautiful, not-at-all tacky texturing contrasts. I wanted to incorporate the first in my most recent map if nothing else but to be like "oh yeeeah" whenever I looked at my lamps or torches glowing. Lighting has become a priority of mine to be more positive about the visuals I create, so everything that looks inspiring scores a point in my book. The downside on the first 3 maps is the gameplay, partially, I don't mind it being slow-and-steady/step-by-step, it just has a few too many gunners sprinkled on every place you go, corner-abusing and chaingun-tapping perched nuisances in between SSG grind that's good enough before bed time. I know that 24 is chill, so that's for later. Idk what will be next, really wanted to tackle the Running Late series, more doomerboards stuff, 3hda and the like.

 

A month I played Vispire by Valkiriforce. Was neat for the most part, very trademark-ish as everything he does with an old-school tint you just know when you're playing a valki map. Save for two maps, think they were 12 and 14, one has a timed assault you can cheese by hiding behind the exit until it's on the ground, thankfully as that map wasn't fun at all, barely made it with 3% health after a tenth try of getting bullet-raped and incinerated since the teleportations are random and spammy, and the other had obnoxious lifts and a HK pushing you off that first lift, hate that kind of monster usage. But to valki's credit, many of his specific concepts were cool, such as a RL bridge fight with pinkies and HKs interfering, or an island with "portals". 

[Hcoop111]

community chest 1,2,3 and 4 

[dac]

Cooling off Mapwich by going through that gigantic behemoth that is Jodwin's Jade Earth.

 

For one, I don't want to see green marble ever again for at least a month or two. For two though, I am in complete awe at how much of a pacing master Jodwin is. Had to be with how huge that map is, and the encounter variations are quite good themselves, but the resource distribution steals the show like nothing else on that map. As in, every time I was about to, or just did, run out of armor, there was another waiting just around the corner. Health was as if Jodwin knew exactly how many times I got hit, and what hit me, and for how much (!!!), distributing just enough to keep me at around 90-100. And for a map with 1000+ monsters and a fuckton of arch-viles in the most powerful positions, ammo was juuuuust the right kind of stingy, where you quickly learn rockets and plasma are special and there is still a real danger you'll run out of shells and bullets, but once again a box of ammo is in the next room and you'll always have rockets and plasma when an especially evil encounter happens. Not much of it, but enough to weaken.

 

My dream goal is one day, I'll create a map like Jade Earth. Just, not all green.

[galileo31dos01]

Hellscape is done. I keep my thoughts on every aspect mentioned on my previous post: amazing laborious visuals, excellent lighting, and gameplay is 50% hitscan abuse, 10% CG-tapping fat-HP turrets, 10% cool secret hunts and 10% "wow, a threatening revenant who's not high up in a cage", and I'll say a last 20% of immersion through the context of an invasion of professional architects and construction builders of hell. Actually, the hitscan abuse percent would be 90% if we specify significant monster ratio per setup, so nearly every scripted or incidental encounter had a bunch of shotgunners and chaingunners sprinkled around the room (often tedious pain elemental cleanup too), along with anything else who usually were opaqued by them bastards. Come to think, the original doom 2 levels had a lot more variety and focus on dynamic monster variety, here in Hellscape you want to have your body secured all the time because those zombie parties next door aren't taking any marines. Maps 24 and 26 are very "innocent" and fluent in comparison to the slogs in maps 25 and 27, so those first two top the list of approved. Map 23 was a missed opportunity for satisfying barrel chains, but the combat was engaging enough. Maps 21 and 22 had those scenarios where in your limited mobility the snipers get prime opportunities to laugh on your autoaim, yet they were momentary and didn't ruin the whole maps. Map 28, dunno, I loved the fact some ideas retained the monsters used in the original setups, almost shocking to not see new scanners in them, but the spiders chamber lost a bit of the spectacle factor with them clogging the only entrance, which then was compensated by the setup with a worthy av-jump secret, so it's somewhere there on the top too but not quite. Map 29 was where some seconds in and I dialed down to HMP in hopes to find a way through less hitscan bullshit, since UV starts one step forward two steps backwards. It still had lots of pointless imps and one fight I skipped due to, you guessed, hitscanners in the open, but I found it neat that you can't simply ignore the end-of-level "boss" this time. Finally the IoS never looked so fancy, despite repeating the exact same mechanic of the timed lift, I found it fine for the two minutes I spent there. So with all this said, in my opinion Hellscape stood out for its representation of the original levels looking majestic, over the pace of the gameplay which had as many pros as cons. Considering that it lives for the original narrative, I would fit it in a category where wads like Hellbound, Doom 2 Reloaded, Hadephobia and plenty other narrative-based stuff belong too, so if that paints good for you then a trip on continuous is the way to go imo, not that pistol starts are impossible, but you need to know where secrets are to ease the journey a little bit. Finally, it works all fine in pr/glboom+ with block hanging bodies OFF and "Linedefs w/o tags apply locally" ON, at least with it I had access to a secret in map 22 that I didn't have before.

 

Oof that was a lot of writing. Currently going through UnBeliever, a Heretic mapset by Ryath who is a promising author as everything he made that I played was very enjoyable. The first episode is about scrambling the inventory and sector specials, three maps in and I got to use morph eggs efficiently like never before, awesome.

[E.M.]

I just played through Perdition's Gate. It was nice and challenging and I liked the custom textures throughout. Some encounters even reminded me of Plutonia. The final level was a letdown, though. Your only major obstacle are two cyberdemons and an archvile, and you can cheese that fight by standing between the stairs and one of the pillars. If you do that, then the cyberdemons won't even notice you. Once the wall lowers, just ran past the archvile and you're done. I still liked the overall experience, though. It almost makes me want to make a map in that style and using those textures.

[sincity2100]

I already finished Map19 from Eviternity, it was actually better than Map32, it's much simpler and to the point, and it doesn't throw you in a huge map and tells you "oh,we're gonna leave you there and make you squeal", just because Map19 is a linear map doesn't make it dull or uninteresting, BTW I like long maps but I don't like Overcomplicated maps to  be more specific.

[Hcoop111]

mapwich 2019 . _. hehe

[galileo31dos01]

Played Xenomorph Base yesterday, the 4th iteration by doomerboard mappers. Lovely stuff, every map was good fun. Whoever downloads this candy, get the patches first, important to play third map in a solid form.

 

I may jump on Running Late later and the sequel, or finnish UnBeliever, dunno, because it's a fine wad when Heretic in general doesn't hold my attention for too long without some Doom in the middle, like it happened with HoCX and HUMP, but this is an exception as Ryath's wads tend to be unusual gems. 

[HitelbeVettBor]

I'm recently bored with vanilla-style doom because of the spasmodic trying of UVmax at every map but I've tried Convoluted Doom during the month along with Compendium (I found the last one just now) and it looks promising. Here is a picture :)

[3saster]

 

Finished Okuplok Slaughter Map. Holy moly was that a monster of a map! The in-game time says 5 hours, but in reality it took about 15 hours real-time, over a few days. For a map that's kind of a successor to Holy Hell, this is FAR harder. Health is way, way more scare than it should be, and some of the encounters are ridiculously cruel. This is the most difficult map I've ever played, with OR without saves. Curiously, there weren't a whole lot of pain elementals, and while there are lots of archviles, they are mainly used to lock-down areas with "archvile towers", or the occasional fight were you just fight a bunch by themselves, and are rarely used for resurrecting monsters. Despite the difficulty however, there was a lot of creativity in the various different encounters, and to beat them, you need both a good strategy AND a lot of raw reflexes/"twitch" skill (and gratuitous use of saving and reloading, lol). It was a lot of fun, and there is something damn cool about the feeling the Hell is literally sending entire armies after you. If I had to complain about something, it's that the lack of healing combined with the sheer amount of reflexes required makes some of the fights impossible to beat without saving every 10 seconds. There is of course, the infamous revenant room, but I actually found this room with archviles/HKs/Cacodemons to be the hardest, at least with the strategy I used. I pushed forward as far as I could into the archvile cubbies before the HK army caught up to me, then slowly blasted the BFG while being pushed back. There was just enough ammo to clear the HK army before they closed in on me, but there are also a few hundred cacodemons firing from outside, and it is impossible to keep track of all the shots being fired from multiple angles. The ending area was also kind of under-whelming; it starts with an army of demons, followed by an army of revenants, but there is enough space that it just turns into pumping rockets/cells into them for 10 minutes, without much thinking. The actual final fight is also kind of underwhelming, 2000 demons really isn't the climax I was expecting, it was quite easy. On the whole though, the map is a lot of fun if you want extremely challenging fights, and don't mind some grindy gameplay and abusing that save-reload feature. Favourite fights were perhaps the canyon area with the castle, where you contend with 2 entire battalions of barons while avoiding all the cyberdemons, and finding every opening you can to not get squeezed in. I also enjoyed the imp army fight in that same area, along with the HK/Revenant fight in the area just after.

[Hcoop111]

1 hour ago, HitelbeVettBor said:

I'm recently bored with vanilla-style doom because of the spasmodic trying of UVmax at every map but I've tried Convoluted Doom during the month along with Compendium (I found the last one just now) and it looks promising. Here is a picture :)

i just downloaded convoluted doom from moddb  ..any good?

[E.M.]

So I decided to play around with the Pingas mod. It's funny, but my problem with it is that there's not enough Pingas. Every single sound effect should have been replaced with Pingas. If you're gonna make a Pingas mod, then there should be a deafening cacophany of Pingas.

[Hcoop111]

all of theese in no order just swap between 

[seed]

Are ports included in these folders too?

[Walter confetti]

Good morning Phobos - Reached MAP15, a modernized version of Evilution MAP15. Pretty solid mapset so far.

 

Also yesterday I've completed Gamma Station by Wesley "beast" Werner, is a interesting techbase with some (pretty good) fleshy sectors and cool vanilla trickery, similar to Doom 2 MAP04. A pretty classic wad that can be completed in 12 minutes...

[Hcoop111]

8 hours ago, seed said:

Are ports included in these folders too?

Some are ports - ive got a much bigger library ...like....thousands of wads in a file called doom wads...i for real scoured the net for a whole week or two downloading whatever i could find day and night o_o drove me nuts

[PetalousPanoply]

Going through Eviternity, catching up with last years' Cacowards. It's really good but I'm also super rusty and the third episode is already giving me trouble. Love it though.

[ironicmoustache]

Getting back into Doom after some time away, going through Memento Mori as I realised that I've somehow never played (all of?) it, despite having played—and mostly enjoyed—Requiem. Up to map 24 now, including both secret levels, and I've enjoyed most of my time with it. MM definitely doesn't hit the same peaks that Requiem does, but part of me feels like it's a bit more of a steady ride in terms of the overall experience and quality of the maps. I remember feeling a bit annoyed at times with level progression in some of the maps from Requiem, but that hasn't really become an issue with MM generally.

 

Quite liked Milo Casali's sort of slaughter-lite (I say that because the player controls the pace of the level) map 23, might be time to slowly dip my toes into those waters...

Edited February 28, 2020 by akhlq