The DWmegawad Club plays: Slaughter Until Death & The Evil Unleashed & Obituary

[Capellan]

34 minutes ago, Demon of the Well said:

After I got done killing all of the imps out in the yard, I saw that there were windows on some octagonal chambers high up along the east wall where the gunswitch could be targeted from normally, but I never ended up finding my way into them, thinking at the time that they must be involved in the one official secret (apparently not?).

 

Yeah, that's how you reach the secret exit 'normally'.  There's a teleporter somewhere that takes you to those chambers - probably somewhere in the secret section but I don't recall exactly and don't have the WAD on this computer.  You can then shoot the switch, teleport back to the main level, and walk easily to the secret exit (assuming the barriers have lowered, which they do when you find the secret in the lava and moving platforms room).

 

 

34 minutes ago, Demon of the Well said:

some of the other disasters from around the same time, ala Lord of the Flies 

 

Heh. :)

 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2017 by Capellan

[rehelekretep]

ob03 fda

fun little map. lots of meat in small corridors but luckily we have the SSG now. although as a result the SG/CG combo to start the map off feels very sloggy (especially if you have to repeat it after being blind-sided by a rocket-zombie - we were warned!). the progression is fine, with all the doors being signposted or at least near enough for any backtracking to be OK. the rocket-zombie windows were the standout for me, was a lot of fun baiting them to explode themselves and their buddies.

[Demon of the Well]

^^ Don't take this the wrong way, but the last time I replayed that, however many years ago it was (probably spurred by a post about it on the Onemandoom blog, I suspect), I was frankly shocked to find your name on one of those maps. It's, well....it's really bad, man, haha. Maybe the Club will play it someday, see how many others share my opinion. :D

[Magnusblitz]

MAP03: Chambers of Confusion

97% kills, 0/1 secret

 

I actually ended up liking this map more than I expected, it's easy to blaze through (thank you SSG) and it seems apparent that care was put into making each room interesting, whether in terms of looks or combat or whatnot. Lots of spots where the rocket troopers exist only to blow themselves up (or other monsters, I managed to get that last baron by the red door down to 3 SSG blasts). The yellow key cage battle is underwhelming by today's standards, but the red key fight holds up well I think - cacos and demons is an underused combo, and the pillars create a nice battlefield where the demons work as moving obstacles but the cacos have free reign above.

[Capellan]

Just now, Demon of the Well said:

^^ Don't take this the wrong way, but the last time I replayed that, however many years ago it was (probably spurred by a post about it on the Onemandoom blog, I suspect), I was frankly shocked to find your name on one of those maps. It's, well....it's really bad, man, haha. Maybe the Club will play it someday, see how many others share my opinion. :D

 

It's only what, 8 or 10 maps?  I doubt we will play it.  And I can't really argue with the "bad" assessment.  It's a pretty random collection of dehacked and sprite edits, and the level quality is dubious.

[T-Rex]

Time to finish of TEUTIC. Only 3 maps to play.

 

E3M9: Savage Area (Thomas Moeller)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 17:30

The secret map for this episode can be quite brutal. To start, after taking out a cacodemon and a few small baddies, you'll reach the room with the two cacodemons and barons along with some imps. Best method to deal with them is by getting them to infight. Then you reach the nukage area, where as you as you near the large room connected, a bunch of indentions will open revealing imps and sergeants stationed on elevators. You get some pretty nasty surprises such as in the control room once you have the blue key where monsters teleport after you hit the switch to gain access to the upper perimeter. It is imperative that you hurry and jump on the teleporter as soon as you grab the invulnerability so you can rush and trigger the crusher in the separate area to activate. I'll also advice to weaken the cyberdemon a bit with the plasma rifle, because if you just lure it into the crusher without doing some damage to it, it will take forever to die as the crusher is a fast-moving one. A pretty unique map, but it sure lives up to its name as Savage Area. Trying to get all the secrets will require you to take some damage from the toxic slime, unfortunately, since there's no radiation suit. I like to save getting the second soul sphere and the megaarmour in the nukage area for last as I want to have the most amount of health and armour to exit for the next level.

E3M7: Infested Ruins (Thomas Moeller)
100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets
Time: 14:23

I'm a sucker for Tom Hall-styled maps, and this one does a pretty good job, having the theme that just screams The Shores of Hell. There's some very obvious homages to the E2 maps, most notably Containment Area, Refinery, and Spawning Vats. This map is thankfully not as heavy on the monster density as most of the episode, so this is like a respite from all that slaughter in many of the previous maps. I don't know where the "ruins" bit in the map fits in as it seems to be mostly techbase, though I guess it might be just referring to those marble sections. Getting the not-so-hidden radiation suit will save you plenty of health when you're getting the blue key in the blood tank. One thing to keep in mind once you go through the blue key door and activate the stairs up, do not go into the flashing dark room behind the hidden door, as you'll be trapped in there. Definitely a cruel prank that tricks you into thinking you'll enter a secret full of goodies. Overall, it's a pretty fun Episode 2-themed map, and here is where you finally get the BFG9000.

 

E3M8: Raze (Thomas Moeller)

 

Nothing more than a large circular arena under a pentagram where you just switches and awaken all the baddies. Waste all the zombies with the BFG so you won't worry too much about hitscan damage, and as you hit each switch lowering each part of the pentagram, instigate the monsters to infight each other and watch the fun. That's all there really is to it. A typical boss map.

 

So, in conclusion TEUTIC definitely improved in the architecture department, though gameplay, like SUDTIC, still tends to be iffy, which is very apparent if you attempt pistol-start for each map. Nevertheless, both episodes are great and deserved their spot in the top 10 maps for 1994. Now all that's left is Obituary, so until then, see you guys next time.

[VGA]

Has anyone noticed getting damaged through walls/corners by Mancubi? In Obituary?

[gaspe]

MAP03: A collection of rooms where each one has its own texturing and each one does its own gameplay thing. Nothing that stands out. I liked the "new" commander Keen, is a nice idea to make it fit for a Doom map in simple way. The only interesting thing about this level is that here I really noticed how much different Obituary is from SUDTIC and TEUTIC. The first 2 wads by TiC are clearly pre-Doom 2 mapsets.

[Capellan]

OBTIC MAP04

As you may have deduced from my post a few days ago, I managed to break this map on my first attempt.  Fortunately, I had a quick save from right before opening the door that can break, so I just loaded that up.

 

My hunch after playing this was that it was a Denis map - use of demons, plus a predilection for stone and wood - and I see from the OP that this hunch was right.

 

I wasn’t a fan of the opening couple of sections, partly because of the bug - which I didn’t realise until after finishing the map would happen very rarely - and partly because it seemed very bitsy.  Flick a switch to open a small area with monsters; which has a switch that opens another small area with monsters; which has a switch .. etcetera.

 

Things become a bit more free-flowing once you’re past the chainsaw room, though, with the outdoor arena in the west being the staging point for two pretty fun engagements: first the combo demon and sniper attack; then the double mancubi, finally in a place where they may actually be able to target you.

 

The staging of the baron in the exit area - which you can visit now, even though you can’t finish the map - is also quite good.  It’s a variation on the old TiC favourite of the “baron/HK in a 64 wide corridor”, except this time it’s a 64 wide walkway over nukage.  This setup allows Denis to also pressure you with flanking sniper nests. Good stuff.

 

The monster use in the “blood cross” room was also good, with the notable exception of the poor barons, who are completely harmless ammo sinks.  A bit of a shame that this is the level’s final battle, as it’s rather a limp conclusion.

[Capellan]

7 hours ago, VGA said:

Has anyone noticed getting damaged through walls/corners by Mancubi? In Obituary?

 

That's always been a thing (see https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Mancubus_fireball_clipping), but possibly you're seeing it happen frequently in OBTIC because the maps tend to have a lot of narrow walls?

[Magnusblitz]

MAP04: The Church

99% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

The start here is pretty dire - in addition to that annoying "hit switch, ride lift, hit switch, run through timed door..." bit, it's also really ammo-dry from a pistol start. You get a SSG with 8 shells at the start (just enough to kill the lost souls) then need to get through a crowd of pinkies while getting shot from hitscanners from above, which gives a few more bullets/shells, and then there's another pinkie swarm to get through. Thankfully things do improve a lot once you get the chainsaw, both from an ammo standpoint and a level standpoint. The red key fight is fun; the blue key one is okay (not a fan of the hidden Pain Elementals, especially since you can't see that there's columns blocking your shots, and the baron meat wall is pointless).

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP04 The Church

 

The closest thing resembling a church in this map is the blue key area, and even then it doesn't really resemble one. Another rather short map that can be sped through in less than four minutes, with a few Memento Mori vibes coming in with a few switches and rooms and such. For those like me who remember playing these types of wads, it's nothing groundbreaking. Even the revenant reveals weren't that amazing. But still, a nice, short map.

[gaspe]

MAP04: Better than the previous level but still nothing too remarkable. The start is pretty terrible tbh, after the chainsaw room the things get better. I really liked the red key courtyard, and the thing that the level is abstract for the most and the only part that resembles the titular church is the blue key area.

[T-Rex]

So now, we're at the third and last of the TiC trilogy, Obituary. After playing this wad about like near the end of the last year, it has become one of my favourite wads. Level design has gotten much better, and so did the gameplay, and the similarities to TiC's contributions to the Memento Mori duology are very apparent. Without further ado, I'll begin Obituary, using the customised weapons, playing on Ultra-Violence.

 

Map01: Entrance (Denis Moeller)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 06:40

 

A fairly hectic start where you get introduced to the new monsters, including imps that throw hell knight projectiles and bazooka zombies that replace the standard imps. Both enemies will fool you into believing they're easy to take down, since the super imps deliver lethal blows, and the bazooka zombies fire rockets at you, often killing themselves in the process. Stronger enemies like cacodemons, arachnotrons, revenants, and mancubi are already appearing this early, so don't expect this map to be easy. Otherwise, it's a pretty good opener to get you into Obituary. It gets fairly manageable once you manage to find the secrets and collect the super shotgun. I love the obvious homage to The Inmost Dens, though it's only in theme, not in concept like in The Inmost Dens II of Memento Mori.

 

Map02: The Cataract (Thomas Moeller)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 10:34

 

Another pretty good level that takes place in what appears to be an underground bunker of sorts, and it's full of some pretty sneaky traps. After you reach the end of the winding passage from the start, watch out for the bazooka zombie tucked an indention of the following room, including other zombies that appear from an elevator to nowhere. when you reach the next winding passage, don't hit the switch before opening the door up ahead as it leads to a couple of secrets including a chainsaw, berserk pack, and then later via teleporter a soul sphere, which conveniently leads to where you have to go to. You'll be hitting some switches and then returning to find an activated slow elevator leading to the yellow key guarded by some sergeants and a pain elemental. Finally, there's the storage area. It's best to snipe off the gunners high up on the crates before doing anything else, and when you go for the rocket launcher, immediately kill the enemies that get revealed from afar before grabbing it, especially the chaingunners and bazooka men. The ending is a jaunt against some demons, sergeants, revenants, and then cacodemons. Fun stuff, overall.

 

Map03: Chambers of Confusion (Thomas Moeller)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 08:29

 

This level is all about traps and cramped halls, so you really have to watch your step as you make your way through. Immediately kill the bazooka man where he stands and as soon as you reach the exit switch, it gets blocked and you're trapped, until you find the switch that opens up the wall that closed behind you, revealing opened areas containing sections that have different themes. Keep in mind that even with bars, enemies can still snipe at you. The hanging marine that replaces the commander keen en route to the blue key is a nice touch. Immediately hop off the platform where the blue key rests once you obtain it as a crushing ceiling gets activated. Behind the blue key, after you grab the yellow key, you'll have to fend off against a couple of barons while trapped behind bars. Enter the blue door afterwards and hit the switch to gain access beyond the green room, and you'll have a nice scenario where pillars holding enemies raise up, impeding your movement while the demons come after you. Grab the red key after hitting a couple more switches, and you'll have a few more baddies to waste before you can exit. Neat, yet dickish map.

 

Map04: The Church (Denis Moeller)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 08:07

 

Pretty good, short map, but it is another one that is pretty nasty with the traps. First off, after sniping down the zombies past the start, you have to be quick and stand right under the door to keep it from closing while you kill all the demons that rush for you. You even get another demon ambush behind the revealed door northward. Watch out for the caged super imps and the bazooka man. You then get more chaingunners revealed in where the dead bazooka man was. Don't get the red key until you cleared off all the teleporting demons and the super imps so you won't be distracted while killing the mancubi that are revealed after obtaining the key. You then have to kill some enemies while avoiding falling into the slime pits. More ambushes await, but it all culminates in a fight with some hidden pain elementals, some revenants, barons, and chaingunners. Pretty enjoyable map, but you have to play it safe and act fast so you won't lose so much health.

 

Good to have caught up with everyone else, though I'll continue on another day. See you later, everyone. Take care, and have fun.

[Capellan]

OBTIC MAP05

Definitely not a fan of the opening of this, with its many square little rooms and innumerable identical spacedoors.  Blah.

 

So I’d say the intended progression here is red key, then blue then yellow, but you can actually find and reach the blue key first, which is what I did.  I’d flicked the switch that opened the way to the red key, but of course I hadn’t checked every single one of the many identical doors and so missed that it had opened.

 

Getting the blue key is actually pretty fun, since you’ve got the various harassers in the “yellow key shrine” below, and lots of stuff to teleport onto the walkway once you’ve run to the end and grab old bluebones for yourself.

 

The red key’s another case of “flick a switch in one place and then wander around until you find what it changed”.  Ugh.  Would have been much better to make the switch raise the walkway to the red, and put a walkover linedef in front of it to lower the walls and reveal the bad guys.

 

With that out of the way it’s really just a case of running to the now unprotected yellow key and solving a simple and rather pointless logic puzzle to get it.  Would have been much better to unleash a bunch more monsters once the player grabbed the key, rather than having this huge and empty area to run back through.

 

The one decent set piece can’t save this map from the tedium that is the rest of it.

[Pirx]

^^  wow, i'm not behind everyone else this month  :p

 

so,  TEUTIC. i played it by launching the wad along with my smooth doom and other cosmetic add-ons, as dmgraph doesn't run under 64bit windows, and i didn't bother with dosbox just to see doomguy kicking instead of a punching.

 

E3M1 - “Out of Control” by Denis Möller

 

remarkable progress after sudtic, shows a coherent "dilapidated base" theme. not sure what the radsuit was for, i couldn't find anything in the nukage. some effective traps, mostly based on pinkies / specters used to corner the player. less of those pesky sergeants, except for one window with several of the. also,  a lone baron at the blue door - lol,  a baron, i thought, flipped the switch he was guarding and left him alone. or so i thought. turns out i had to come back and take the elevator, but said baron had occupied it, and every time i tried to get him off it, he stayed and flung green snot at me. that's for not treating a baron properly. the best surprise had to come yet at the exit, i thought i could ignore the herd of pinkies below and look around before exiting. they almost mauled me right in front of the exit, i had to run with my last 10 hp. so, refreshing map both in terms of visuals and of gameplay.

 

E3M2 - “Military Depot” by Thomas Möller

 

aka the flat, the bad and the ugly. what a letdown after the first map. plain concrete corridors with crushers and halls of the same kind with 4 imps. it's like someone draws an experimental map to see how an editor works. the worst part was how the map doesn't offer any shortcut (or i didn't find any), but instead has you go through miles of these corridors just to flip a switch, return on the same way just to pick up the blue key (under the ass of the baron you see right at the start), and backtrack again to the blue door. and the "open door, shoot, repeat" gameplay. at least i could lob a few rockets into clusters of zombies.

 

E3M3 - “Lost Defense Base” by Thomas Möller

 

now that's a map by thomas that's much more fun, an e2-styled mix of techbase and corrupted reality with vines, wood and skull switches. lots of tight hallways again, but they're interconnected in various ways to avoid the backtracking issues that plagued the previous map, and contain plenty of secrets, of which a soulsphere and a blue armor, a very nice touch to keep the player interested. tbh i didn't notice much of the representationalism others talked about first, but after visiting the map with this knowledge i'd agree it's clearly there. yeah, the imps on the ledge near the end were one element that's easy to remember from the map (and blowing them off the ledge with a few rockets), as well as the exit being behind the start.

 

E3M4 - “Disastrous Unrest” by Denis Möller

 

i had fun stealing the berserk pack from the imps at the start and sending them flying, but it can't be used consistently, at any rate, because too many times there are groups of sergeants waiting behind the next corner or a lowering wall, but no armor, so going rip & tear is a risky proposition. i did it though and fell victim to the trap in the blue-walled caco room where the door fell shut behind me and i ran straight into a squad of said sergeants while punching at a pack of pinkies. restart. it was obvious now how the beginning of the map, with a more pronounced hellish note, looks more elaborate than the later ugly (imo) rectangular, blue or techno walled rooms. the game with suddenly revealed groups of enemies continues here, plus one lone baron. the exit room shows a last effort of hell to deny you the next map.

 

on to E3M5, but it's a confusing switch hunt.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Pirx

[Salt-Man Z]

On 7/16/2017 at 11:05 AM, vdgg said:

About 6 monsters that Salt-Man Z  missed I guess he didn't press the switch which has to be run into as the platform leading to it lowers... it makes 6 chaingunners (on UV) accessible, your typical Moellers unnecessary switch weirdness.

That is definitely a bizarre decision. :D I would just assume said switch to be decorative and unreachable. (If I were to do something similar nowadays, I'd probably have it so the monsters release if you don't hit the switch; if you can make it to the switch, your reward is you never see those monsters and a crusher gets 'em instead.)

 

MAP02: The Cataract

24:15 | 93% Kills | 90% Items | 66% Secrets

 

This one is...weird. Hrm. It looks really nice, for sure. Gorgeous in spots. But man, progression is just weird. It's amazing how lost one can get at times in such a small footprint. I think I cheated myself out of the secret in the stairwell by hitting the stair switch too early? (I assume the rising stairs block the door that leads to a bunch of monsters, a teleporter, and eventually a soulsphere.) Speaking of which: how many soulsphere/megasphere/berserks does one map need? The most ridiculous thing was finding a soulsphere so I could run through the nukage and grab...a megasphere. Huh.

 

MAP03: Chambers of Confusion

16:24 | 100% Everything

 

This baby here is an absolutely classic. Dunno why I like it so much, exactly, but I do. Lots of nooks and crannies and secrets and everything to explore. Got to dock it a point or two for that ridiculous slow-lift staircase. Like, really? As well as the entire yellow key sequence with the weird progression to reveal the key in the first place, followed by that timed lock-in against the barons. The lock-in isn't too egregious itself, but being able to accidentally re-trigger those bars and have to wait out the timer again (which of course I did) was supes obnoxious.

 

MAP04: The Church

17:34 | 100% Kills | 97% Items | 100% Secrets

 

And here I believe we have my first official death of the mapset. First five, actually, if I'm counting correctly. All at the red key ambush. Couple of chaingunners in the corner, followed by a windowful of super imps, like a billion teleporting pinkies, and a couple mancs and some crossfire imps to round off the trap. I eventually just took it slow and careful to escape (barreling in and setting off everything at once was a mistake.) Another good-looking map, here. The exit is bizarre, though; I seem to recall it throwing me off the first time I played, since when you eventually teleport into the exit square, there's no indication that you have to activate one of the exit signs to actually leave.

[Capellan]

OBTIC MAP06

Denis breaks out of his stone and wood comfort zone with this densely packed (layout wise) techbase offering.

 

We get off to a terrible start with yet another time-wasting up/down floor checkerboard, and another bit of pickup-based progression.  At least it was a mega-armour this time, but of course I had 190% and was reluctant to grab it until I’d exhausted all other options.  Fortunately, the walkover line is far enough away from the item that you can save the armour for the end of the level after all, as I did :)

 

Once we’re past that though, things mostly pick up.  There are rather too many narrow corridors for my tastes, and a lot of the “in front of you” enemies are pretty much harmless busy work, but some of the trap-based encounters are a bit more enjoyable.

 

A workman-like effort, I think.  Solid enough for the time, but not really memorable.

[Demtor]

 

Obituary

Whew, okay. Summer is busy busy busy but on to Doom 2, ‘95 style. Glad to see a lot of you are still plugging along as well. I plan on catching up on all your thoughts soon here. Love the crazy title art. It’s metal and cheesy. It’s great!

 

 

MAP01 - “Entrance” by Denis Möller

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/continuous/no saves

 

Hidden double barreled beauty on the first map?! Oh how I missed you. Custom weapons and enemies back then were probably a selling point. To me, unless they are of some serious quality (Deus Vult II, Valiant, etc.), I could do without them. That said, the imp’s that hit like a truck are not too bad actually. It’s an increase in difficulty that requires heightened awareness to take them down ASAP. Same for the rocket soldiers. So they both go down super easy but if you give em half an extra second, you’ll pay for it. Not bad. I wasn’t sure how I’d like them (once I got them to work properly) but after the first map I enjoyed the added element of danger.

 

This map sure is a notable opener. Getting locked in a cage surrounded by two cacs this early was a real eye opener. Tough stuff. Spent a little too much time crawling around the confined tight hallways by the exit for my taste though. I would have preferred more open spaces.

 

Interesting intermission art. Simple but original.

 

 

MAP02 - “The Cataract” by Thomas Möller

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/no saves

 

This was an interesting liquidy base that was mostly enjoyable. I was really confused for a while until I realized the side passage that dropped open off screen was where I needed to go next. I must have ran past it like 5 times without even seeing it.

 

Not a whole lot to add here though I did get a kick out of berserk booting demons in the face, heh. Good fun.

 

 

MAP03 - “Chambers of Confusion” by Thomas Möller

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/no saves

 

Grr, this map. I was going to no save this wad until I got squished picking up a key out of nowhere with zero warning. Fuck off. Lost a good 10 minutes of my life right there to your shit trap. Thanks. Takes this new asset to a whole new meaning for me. Blah.

 

 

MAP04 - “The Church” by Denis Möller

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/saves

 

This one was slightly annoying too. Timed doors and lifts all over the place. A few of them I swear didn’t even work right. The ending sequence was a weird switcheroo forcing you to double back and teleport in to a back section that had the coolest moment of the map I thought. That being the 3 rocket soldier surprise. Hah. That was a jolt to the system. Getting the RK before that was okay I guess but I cheesed the mancs by not picking up the key right away and clearing out the demons and closest imps beforehand. The BK stuff was kind of lame though with the revs and hidden PE’s. Meh, it was okay I guess once you got past a few annoyances but I just didn’t enjoy this all that much when all was said and done.

 

 

MAP05 - “The Hidden Below” by Thomas Möller

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/saves

 

Huh. This was an interesting concept. Lots of wide open running around mixed in with tight door mazes and passages connecting to weird rooms, some with ammo. I liked having to stumble through a pitch black room, blindly berserk booting, before you end up finding the light switch and then the SSG. Nice reward for a frighteningly dark room.

 

Didn’t finish this one though. I got stuck and gave up. It was fun running and gunning with the flame thrower and what not but once I got the BK and killed everything I could, I then ran around for another 10 minutes back and forth, back and forth before I just called it good. For as much fun as I was having, something just fell away with the design that frustrated me. Cool looking temple for the RK too. Shame I couldn’t figure out how to get down there. Shrug It will stay hidden below I guess. (see what I did there?)

 

 

Whelp, I blew through those maps in a fast attempt to catch up. Hope the others are better than what’s been shown. So far the Doom 1 stuff is better.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP05 The Hidden Below

 

Hey you! Yes you! Do you like a bigger map than the previous few maps? Do you also like to have hitscanners and rocket zombies target you from across a large distance. You'll get just that and so much more at The Hidden Below, admission is free and open to the public! We offer full services of backtracking both for getting a long way to a blue keycard as well as a yellow key card that can't be grabbed from the front. Not only that, but with the blue keycard you will also get a free teleport ambush from a lowered closet that will also take minutes to fully complete as our teleport closet where the monsters come from isn't constructed well. But wait! There's more! What about the red key area, chock full of weird doors and a huge wall that opens revealing a shooting gallery of hitscanners that can make YOU the shooting gallery as well! And we also have a long snaky platform that takes a while to reach the key itself. All of this accessible through our door emporium, which can twist you around more ways than one making you feel all lost inside. Stop by The Hidden Below today for some amazingly nasty thrills!

 

no seriously this map sucks.

[Salt-Man Z]

3 hours ago, Demtor said:

Takes this new asset to a whole new meaning for me.

Ah, I forgot to mention that little gem! Dude replaces Cmdr Keen (I assume) and once you kill him you can sneak past him into a secret (?) area. Love it.

[T-Rex]

7 hours ago, Capellan said:

OBTIC MAP06

Denis breaks out of his stone and wood comfort zone with this densely packed (layout wise) techbase offering.

OBTIC Map06 is actually a Thomas map.

[Capellan]

24 minutes ago, T-Rex said:

OBTIC Map06 is actually a Thomas map.

 

Weird.  I made sure to check the OP and everything.  Guess I misread it.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP05: The Hidden Below

98% kills, 1/1 secret

 

I'm a bit warmer on this map than Capellan, though I largely echo his assessment - decent setpiece for the blue key (and first flamethrower!), but confusing progression in regards to the red key doesn't help, and the yellow key leg is ultimately a bit of a limp noodle ending. I like the overall concept of the map, though I wish more could've been done with the titular hidden below (as it's rather boring when you get down there aside from the yellow key temple) but there's good use of vertical space here - certainly memorable.

[T-Rex]

Back again to play more Obituary, tackling Maps 05 and 06.

 

Map05: The Hidden Below (Thomas Moeller)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 18:49

 

Here is a pretty tough and lengthy map. It takes place in an underground cavern of sorts, and it's filled with lots of doors to open, especially in the starting area. You have to watch out for the gunners that can snipe at you from afar, and watch your back for monsters that get revealed after crossing certain linedefs. The most annoying bit in the map has to be in the huge area after you get the blue key and pick up the flamethrower, because there are enemies that will teleport into the area, but because where they're teleporting from is a large area with no restrictions in their movement, they'll wander around aimlessly and almost never cross the teleport line, much like the issue with Final Doom TNT Map19: Shipping/Respawning. As a result, you have to do some running down and back up again in order to get everyone into the playing area for the 100% kills. Be very careful for those revenants and bazooka men as they can critically damage you. Fortunately, there's a megasphere in where you get the blue key and flamethrower, which comes in useful, though you'll have to mind the chaingunner that will be revealed once you grab it. Then you'll find the bars blocking the way required to reach the red key gone, so it is now yours for the taking. Just watch out for more snipers. Finally once you can enter the red door, you have the yellow key to get. However, if you try to go up the stairs for it, you're teleported back to the bottom, so you have to find another way to reach the key. Everything else falls into place, and of course, there's a hidden pain elemental en route to the yellow key. I think it's a decent level and it has some pretty neat bits here and there.

 

Map06: Reactor (Thomas Moeller)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 11:50

 

I like this map, it's a tightly-packed compressed techbase with so many areas to explore and uncover, though I don't care for those annoying slow-moving 64x64 platforms right at the beginning. Many switches to hit, and you have to act quickly so you won't get wasted by the bazooka men's rockets. The southwest section after the slime pit has a section that could pretty much be an influence for STRAIN Map06, with the interlocked walls that open or close depending on what route you take. Then there's the flashing harmful blood area which will be less of a hassle if you uncover a secret holding a radiation suit, and thank goodness there's a second one hidden in one of the pillars of the room. Finally, you have to locate the blue and red keys which are located in different parts of the inner section of the map. Watch out for enemy ambushes that often come from walls that open. Nice map, and it has a Tom Hall-esque feel to it, of that I can enjoy.

 

Okay, that's it for now. See you in the next few maps. Take care and have fun.

[gaspe]

MAP05: Lots of doors in this map but there's a cool usage of big and very vertical spaces. The best part is the long trek to get to the blue key, the most memorable part of the wad so far, but the rest of the level wasn't particularly great.

 

MAP06: A fine techbase level but I liked more the character that previous level had despite this map has probably more engaging moments of combats. The first room with the moving platform was annoying.

Edited July 21, 2017 by gaspe

[Demtor]

MAP06 - “Reactor” by Thomas Möller

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/saves

 

Kind of a crazy map that starts with an odd entrance. Progression tends to wrap around on itself in a weird way that uses elevation to create the illusion of a walkway along with lots of tight corridors and smaller rooms. Plenty of traps all over the place too.

 

If you don’t figure out how to get that chainsaw before the bloody room, you better be quick on your feet! The not so hidden med bay was kind of cool too. Also funny was that it opens a door to where I fell earlier and died without a way back up. Real funny, jerk.

 

There is a lot of stuff that opens up as you make your way through this one. Mostly hidden enemies in closets but every now and again a platform will rise to walk over or just because. Especially interesting was the 3 passage fork that changes with each door you enter. Not sure why it’s designed that way, it just is and provides different looking passaages. Another 3 forked area towards the end is unique as well. Then there’s goofy stuff like this brick wall behind a door. It happens again later. Very funny. Har, har. * eye roll *

 

Overall this was a nasty little dungeon crawl really. I had managed to get some armor early on but by the end I was clawing my way past hitscan after hitscan. Urgh! Mostly a fun play but I had to shake my head at that start though. Oh no. Oh dear god, no. Let me out of your terrible design choice. Pleeeease.

 

The exit has a weird Spear of Destiny feel to it. Dunno why. Anyways. Interesting level is interesting.

 

Edited July 21, 2017 by Demtor

[Magnusblitz]

2 hours ago, Demtor said:

 Mostly a fun play but I had to shake my head at that start though. Oh no. Oh dear god, no. Let me out of your terrible design choice. Pleeeease.

I was intending to play through both MAP05 and MAP06 last night. Finished up MAP05, looked at the opening room of MAP06, said "well I think I'm done for tonight" and closed Doom.

[Capellan]

OBTIC MAP07

Well, points for not doing yet another “Dead Simple” clone, I guess.  Though I’m not sure that what we do get is any improvement on the old mancubi and arachnotron shuffle, to be honest.

 

So what we have is a bunch of mostly monotextured 80-wide corridors in something like an Orthodox cross shape.  Each arm of the cross is home to 4 of the “semi invisible high tech guy” enemies, which is basically the SS trooper with increased speed.  It becomes fully visible when firing.  Flick a switch at the end of an arm and open up some demons and sergeants.  Repeat four times to get some demons and rocket troopers, instead, as well as a central “well” in the middle of the map.

 

The “well” takes you to the exit switch, where there are also four teleport pads.  If you’re feeling truly masochistic, these allow you to do the three other basically identical (and identically tedious) subsections.  In co-op, each player starts in a separate section, y’see.

 

I am not masochistic.

 

[rehelekretep]

ob04 fda

what church?! reasonably enjoyable easier map here. some interesting design decisions here, the baron roadblock at the end being the most annoying (i didnt manage to pick up the RL which seems to be available in the map).

the PEs in the dark alcoves was pretty cool although that isnt the monster i would have gone with as they dont seem able to create much danger combined with the revs opposite.

i found both secrets by complete fluke so i guess thats not very good as they werent exactly well hidden?