The DWmegawad Club plays: The Darkening, The Darkening 2, & Crusades

[Sui Generis]

I am still horrendously behind and unsure if I will be able to realistically get through Crusades this year.

 

TL;DR version of this post: I really like the Darkening E2. Also, yay for Richard Wiles and Ola Björling.

 

MAP09 - “Hard Core” by Jan Van der Veken, Ola Björling, Anthony Soto
I saw before playing this level Capellan's comment that this felt like a slog and I think I agree. Gameplay was fairly good, and as with several other of Jan's maps this one featured teleporting enemies, but to particularly nasty effect here. This is especially the case later on where there are chaingunners, revenants and arch-viles being teleported around.

 

It's odd but somehow I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous one. Although this map has a lot of things I tend to prize such as variation in height and area size and does re-use areas, I found the layout fairly confusing. As before it does look good though and fundamentally this is still a good and enjoyable map. Perhaps I am being spoilt by this mapset and am being a touch picky.

 

MAP10 - “Plasmorgasm” by Richard Wiles
This, on the other hand, most certainly did hit that sweet spot of an interesting, interconnected layout with area reuse and variation yet without managing to be confusing. I think Richard Wiles seems to be the layout king in these sets (excepting his map05 which I found a little less enjoyable somehow, and it's interconnections were a little less dynamic and ingenious). This map of course looks good, and that has been pretty much a given so far. I will perhaps comment that the previous map perhaps managed to do a better job of mixing in larger and smaller spaces, but this is debatable. As with Wiles' previous map, 08, this one occasionally manages to be slightly confusing as to where to go next, but the beauty is that the last switch you pressed never has action very far away and as before you always find that when you pick up a key you are generally deposited or led in some way towards the relevant key door. I love the way the author does this. :)

 

The gameplay of this map is notably gentler than in Map07, without Jan's fiendish monster teleporting. The caco attack just after passing the red key door was fun though as the switch door leading to the balcony cannot be opened from the other side and thus I got penned in and pressured more by the cacos and PEs. Also I enjoyed the final cacoswarm too, because we all enjoy a good caco swarm :)

 

Finally, I will add that although the secrets were generally quite easy, I found them all quite satisfying. The soulsphere I will slightly criticise as being too easy - the first minute after I saw the soulsphere on a pillar and the balcony with the Hell Knight, I spotted the shootable switch across from it, so in other words it was just a matter of time before I got that. And the BFG parkour at the end was not too difficult to spot but quite satisfying to complete, even though I wasted the cacoswarm waay before I would likely have grabbed this.

 

All in all, another excellent map by Mr Wiles. I better get a move on for Crusades!

 

MAP11 - “Powerplant” by Ben Davies
Ben Davies is an author I have hitherto been unfamiliar with, and unfortunately with this map I am not enormously encouraged to rectify this. Much of this map takes place in corridors and close quarters, and though I do not particularly take issue with cramped fights (the knight/demon teleport ambush fairly early on was good), I think the casualty is the visual interest of the level. It looks and feels a bit samey for just a bit too long. Also few of the encounters have the surprise factor - the majority seem to be room by room shooting straight in front of you. There's none of the van der Veken monster teleporting trickery as evidenced in map09.

 

Also the secrets are relatively simple. I don't mind easy secrets per se (an opportunity for self-flattery never goes amiss) but the principle of chainsawing air vents to open them yields 2 of the 3, whilst the third at the start seems almost like it shouldn't be classed as secret altogether.

 

Although I dislike this map because of the excess of corridors and small areas, that's not completely fair as there are some larger areas and exteriors, both of which look better and are more interesting with typically nice darkening architecture. Had there been a better mix of these with more ambushes and attacks from different angles, then I think the map would have been better. Overall as it is, it's quite meh.

 

MAP12 - “Toxicity” by Ola Björling
I'm at a loss for words, this is a damn fine map. The architecture, the layout, the interconnection, the variation in spaces. I honestly can't think how Ukiro (and Wiles in Map08) planned all of this. Certainly it ticks a lot of my boxes as you can gather. Reading some of the criticisms, I was shielded from them. So by declining to pistol start I enjoyed the benefit of a full arsenal and completely missed the early ammo starvation. Similarly I was spared the irritation of the inconsistently coloured keydoors by the port's coloured automap. In truth I was using it so often to help with navigation that I barely noticed. In other cases I might have considered that a bad symptom, but there is a difference between a cleverly designed complex layout and a bad one - for me the way the spaces (not rooms, but spaces) are both distinguished and yet integrated together is the clincher.

 

I found the secrets to be surprisingly polarised in terms of difficulty: 2, the megaarmour and backpack near the beginning are both very simple and easy, yet the third one with the jump to the soulsphere (which I will confess to severely savescumming via quick loads to eventually reach) was much harder. I never found the 4th, although having checked in the editor after the fact I clearly should have done - doh!

 

I enjoyed the end fight, flawed though it may be, and the preceding cyb encounter. In truth I'd loved the map so much up to that point that anything half-decent would have worked really and thus when the final battle with the arachnotrons and the (practically canned) infight opportunity arose I was more than happy to play ball. And I even appreciated the end sequence, dropping down into the rock cracks to gain that spelunking prelude to hell. In short I'm just a Björling fanboy now at this point so I guess screw attempts at objective criticism :)

 

Oh and knowing how much of a pain in the ass for Ukiro it was to make the crate jumping area helped make proceeding through it that much less of a chore :P

 

Overall thoughts on The Darkening Ep2
This mapset was a quantum leap over Ep1, both in terms of architecture, layout and level design but also consistency and level length. You get more gameplay out of each level (generally for the right reasons, imo) so they are both quantitatively and qualitatively better. It would have been quite a disappointment to have played Ep1 second. Certainly the remaining level authors developed significantly and the newer ones generally were excellent. I will echo the criticism that it would have been nicer if the door textures were more obvious, as it does almost begin to feel like low level secret hunting to progress in some of the levels, however many of the levels had either such good layouts or visuals (or both!) that I was fine with this. In fact I put it down to part of the experience of trying to mentally chart, absorb and comprehend the 3D space as part of how I derived enjoyment from this.

 

And of course it looks good aswell, with tasteful design that fully stands the test of time. Really, for someone who is used to playing (and making allowances for) older levels and has come to take for granted that more modern wads will generally be better looking, this wad is an excellent counterpoint. One thing I was a bit indifferent to though, was the music. I didn't warm to it so much as some of the other commenters and in honesty found it occasionally slightly bizarre. However I accept the different feel of the music is appropriate with the new textures also and I have no real objection to it, so cool.

 

Lastly it's been great to see the comments of some of the authors discussing this. Particularly the detailed thoughts and comments of Ola are appreciated. But I think kudos has to go out to all the authors really.

 

My favourites would have to be:
MAP04 - “Vindication” by Anthony Soto
MAP08 - “Lucifer’s Laboratory” by Richard Wiles
MAP10 - “Plasmorgasm” by Richard Wiles
MAP12 - “Toxicity” by Ola Björling

 

I was less keen on (but by no means disliked):
MAP02 - “Biotech Terror” by Jan Van der Veken, Derek MacDonald
MAP11 - “Powerplant” by Ben Davies

 

Good to excellent:
All the rest

 

No categories for bad or mediocre maps are necessary - that's what I call quality!

[Pirx]

E4M8 - “Gateway to Quake”

 

just bypass the few clowns at the start if you're not a completionist. run through the slime canal, reach the fortress, or whatever that underground building is supposed to be. the opening is indeed a bit slow with only shotty and chaingun vs a few cacos. the grates at the blue key switch are a perfect cover for getting the barons and imps at the upper level infighting. and here the fun starts, in a manner that, unfortunately, was not typical for the episode so far, save for the second half of e4m6: you get real weapons. a plasma gun with a bulk cell and a stack of rockets (boxes, not single rockets!) at the exit to a rocky plateau. the transition from the shotgun marathon to a rocket-powered massacre of imps, cacos and barons comes so suddenly, it feels like a map set from a different author. there's a mastermind and then 2 cybs, but who cares when there is a bfg. a real bfg with other 2 bulk cells. yeah. getting back to the first cyb guarding the exit to the plateau felt particularly satisfying, as he splattered me once because a dead tomato blocked my view, getting its post-mortem revenge. i two-shot him right off the cliff. now what if the rest of the episode was like this?

 

however, there's a part that gives the map its name: the quake section. it's a slipgate base like in the first map of quake's 4 episodes. the textures are cleanly taken from quake, but look darker than the rest of the map (e4m5 was the last map in the hellish night theme). it would have been nice to see the doors open automatically like in quake. the inhabitants of the base... duh. after bfg-ing cybs into the ground you run into doddering zombies. this makes the slipgate base part feel even more alien and tacked on than due to the visuals alone. wiles has probably added this part because he says in the text file that he intended to sign off from doom (but later still worked on darkening 2, slayer and monolith). anyway i feel a traditional doom ending would have been better.

what to say on crusades as a whole? it's late and i don't feel like typing a lot. it's obvious that most people here wished that its gameplay matched its visuals. i see that the first maps (those with the baron shotgunning) were originally released as the spooky series, so judging by that name the author went for a game where the player is less powerful and has to find his way past those barons. however, most people here seemed rather bored by this approach. looking up the map by richard wiles, i noticed that i haven't played his monolith series, so i'm curious now to see what has changed since the crusades. the last map is from 2007, but you never know when someone comes back and makes some map (john romero, anyone)

[Magnusblitz]

E4M6: Trooper's Graveyard

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

A much-needed rebound after the drudgery of the last couple maps; this one was a lot more fun. Some good, devious traps here taking advantage of the cramped quarters, and with good variety throughout. There's often a pincer attack from multiple groups of enemies, but sometimes it's imps, sometimes demons, sometimes lost souls, cacos, barons... even a cyber at the end. The latter is a bit lame as he's really just Meatwall Baron+, but whatcha gonna do. Lots of barrel clusters help spice things up, as do the various progression tricks like false doors or doors that are actually lifts. I liked the custom textures here too, subtly fitting in with the regular stuff. Quite lean on ammo and health, I was nearly bone dry until getting the goodies at the end, but well balanced.

[TheOrganGrinder]

E4M7: Bloodbath

 

Well, this is a pleasant change of pace, isn't it?  Fewer goat-legged walking roadblocks (though the Baron of Hell is not entirely absent here, he's deployed more sparingly and in a somewhat more suitable fashion for the most part) and a lot of shotgun/chaingun play versus imps, shotgun guys, and other staples of the bottom half of the bestiary as the player navigates a delightful two-level structure of gore-slick alleys beneath elevated bunkers and balconies, piecing together a sense of the layout and the flow of the upper level while making an initial foray through the lower regions.  It's really well-designed and flows nicely, offering opporunities to either speed through and face only those threats directly ahead and any given moment, or to work carefully through the interconnected maze of the map clearing out snipers and sentinels from their distant perches in order to secure a smoother and safer passages once it's time to traverse the elevated areas they were guarding.  Teleporters play a bit less of a role here, or perhaps the way that everything is more tightly integrated and interconnected simply means that the teleporters that exist play a more friendly role, providing straightforward travel rather than throwing the player into unknown and disorienting corners from which they have to work back into familiar territory.

[gaspe]

M7: I liked the layout with a nice use of verticality despite the map hasn't in fact very high places. Gameplay is more relaxing here, with more emphasis given to the weaker bestiary and lots of barrels scattered around so the thing are also quite fast. I agree with @Capellan it feels a bit weird to have a map like this near the end, but I guess that maybe this is due because this is one of the levels that was added later to make a whole episode.

[NuMetalManiak]

E4M7 Bloodbath

 

This is a very engaging map. Bloodbath is right, got the shotgunners in the turreted positions, and having them move around the bridges up top makes them even harder to hit. And the other enemies to contend with are just as bad. A few breakneck runs can be had here, especially due to how limited supplies are. Hardest map for sure.

[Magnusblitz]

E4M7: Bloodbath

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

Another swerve in gameplay design, as this one eschews the "creeping through enclosed corridors" design for a more open plan where sergeants rain buckshot from above. The start is actually a pretty nice hot start, with lots of threats to keep you moving. After clearing out the room with the keys and beginning the quest to grab them things die down quite a bit (the ending is actually pretty dang anti-climatic IMO) but I liked it overall. Agree that it's a bit of an odd fit for the penultimate map.

[Magnusblitz]

EM48: Gateway to Quake

 

Another odd map to finish out the set, with the largest middle section being quite vertical in design, as the player slowly makes their way up and around a central shaft area. Combat is definitely recognizable as the same author, with lots of pincer setups and enemies in uncomfortably close quarters (and a lack of health), but as @Pirx points out upon reaching the top and the white rock area the map suddenly opens up and throws weapons and bosses and hordes of cacos at you like crazy. The titular Quake section also feels quite grafted on (and to be honest, made me skip through all the hordes before it outside).

[NuMetalManiak]

E4M8 Gateway to Quake

 

Prepare for a trip. This is definitely a different map from Wiles, showcasing a journey through a fort. Pick up a radsuit and go in, then up, around, and as linear as it gets, all the way to Rocket Dongs at the top. And then you get to the canyon making up the second half of the map, and things get much harder. Loads of enemies to slaughter here, some barons up top, imps and cacos in hordes, and yet another Rocket Dongs. It might be a good idea to make him infight, and then lure him closer to Chaingun Face.

 

You see, Chaingun Face is an interesting feller. She doesn't get along with anyone else and needs a safe space in that part of the canyon. You put anything near here, even another Chaingun Face, and she's bound to attack anyone. That's why Rocket Dongs is a necessity to keep her in check sometimes. At least he can be lured by Green Marine over to that bitch to screw her over, as the two have had a terrible history together. Who knows, maybe neither Rocket Dongs nor Chaingun Face are in the wrong after all. Maybe Green Marine had been invading their complex to eat everyone's pizza, but due to not receiving an invitation, Green Marine's mission is to simply either kill all of the partygoers, or make them fight amongst each other.

 

Enough fanfiction, now after all that, you get the red key near the Quake-like base. At least we know how the level gets its name from. Having to backtrack is pretty lame though. And inside the Quake complex, we see loads of hitscanners as the final bastion. Oh well, what's fun is blasting many of them with high-grade weaponry as we finally finish up Crusades. Always a fan of a Wiles set, even its weaker moments are still strong and his layouts are always amazing. Now let's vote SlayeR already.

[Capellan]

E4M8

I must concur with those who say that the Quake section of the map feels tacked on (I also don't much care for the textures), and corridor-sweeping zombie types after two cybs and a big brain on legs feels rather pointless.

 

This is at least a more dynamic offering on the whole, though, despite the damp squib ending that hangs around like the last clueless stragglers at a party when you just want to go to bed.

 

[RjY]

E4M7 97/97 0 1/1 2/2 10:25+03

 

A light, airy map, in contrast to previous dark oppressive ones, which I also don't remember as being very difficult, which bore out, as I only died once during the making of this recording, near the start. Again with nice progression and cohesiveness, and well placed keys and a soulsphere on view to tantalise the player. One rarity is the stoic baron in sector 8. I didn't understand how it was possible and I'm still not terribly sure now. I had some fun dancing around in front of it, until I got too close and woke it up. It nearly blew me up, along with some nearby barrels. I definitely should not have been doing this with 3% health, having been shot up by a lot of sergeants, which form the main challenge of this map, not running out of health from bullets. Finally, the soulsphere secret is teased well, but the green armour is a little more annoying, it can be bumped, but you still have to get on the platform for 100% secrets later. It might be reachable by strafejump earlier but I forgot to try. Actually, let's try it now. It is.

[PasokonDeacon]

E4M7: Bloodbath

Now we're in practically a whole 'nother WAD. Limited resource options from the start don't get in the way of either methodically turtling like in previous maps or cutting to the quick by charging past sentries, right around the fork down a stairwell to hell. I think the ammo balance here puts a damper on things because you don't realize how much you have to conserve until you don't even have pistol ammo for activating the shoot switch. Everything else is generally nice compared to the middle maps, just not that. Sniping in the yard gives way to a pitched fight (or, in my case, retreat once I saw the horde of infinitely-tall cacos threatening to corner me!), and the ending rooms can't compete but are fun nonetheless. It's brisk, allows experimentation, and really could have followed E4M3 to have a more significant improvement on Crusades's overall pacing.

E4M8: Gateway to Quake

Wiles lays on the metaphor rather bluntly: you end up outside the confines of the WAD's previous theme, proceeding through a mysterious and tall edifice, then wreck a motley reception only to find oneself trapped in some bizarre other game. He must have known, even then, that mapping for this aging game would keep pulling him back in no matter how he tried. (At least that self-consciousness about his obsessions gave us nessy.wad.)

There's no way to get back through the nukage tunnel if you backtrack after taking the first rad suit, meaning you either count your blessings after having saved at the main area or simply restart. That sucks, but at least you get to enjoy a well-designed flyer rush every time you launch into the chasm. I really like the Abandoned Mines-isms on display here as well as the closets and damage zones everywhere meant to drive you in and out of cover. As a standalone map, this could have been great with extra development, like a lengthier build-up to the spiderdemon's posse using some of Wiles' occasional platforming as well as vestiges from the SPOOKY maps like Gothic ruins or a hidden slim-ledge secret behind a false wall. We got an exciting final fight and a "thrilling" metatextual anti-climax. It's definitely a good level and one which bookends the collection in an oddly unique way.

Crusades

So it's got too many poorly-used barons in a few maps, mainly the result of Wiles deciding to power down the player by denying ammo and mere access to higher-tier weapons early on. Theming lacks consistency due to the cobbled nature of the pack (and even the SPOOKY maps don't all flow well between each other), making me wonder if he simply couldn't figure out how best to adapt his conceptual priorities to Ultimate Doom. With or without his Doom II legacy observing from the shadows, this WAD hasn't won me over with superb combat or sustained semblance of fairness to players starting it with expectations of a harder E4 substitute.

I really like most of the layouts, certain fights and traps in maps less prone to famine, and the neat tricks and turns Wiles uses to vary progression and create the sense of being toyed with by inhuman forces. He gave his best efforts with stark lighting and solid texture choices all-throughout. Lost souls, pinkies, and imps rarely produce this much challenge and potential to wipe-out when least expected. To an extent, the author cut down on his usual checklist items and made this double-edged sword of an episode in turn, and that makes Crusades an important, decent if flawed moment in his evolution.

 

The WAD's strongest theme isn't unique enough to warrant a community-pack episode or creative excavation any time soon, so I expect this will keep attention over the years more as a debatable 10 Years of Doom: 100 Best Wads recipient. SlayeR exists to make up for that (though DICKIE09 would better represent that series in 100 Best Wads instead of its sequel).

[TheOrganGrinder]

E4M8: Gateway to Quake

 

There's very little I can think to say about this one that other posters haven't already commented upon, consisting as it does of a slendidly realised Thy Flesh Consumed-esque multi-level cathedral that's one-half battlefield and one-half jungle gym, surrounded by a barren, rocky landscape in which a larger pitched battle is eventually fought, and concluding with a Quake techbase node that really does feel superfluous and thematically out of place.  Granted, my feelings on that final point might be somewhat different if I were to play this in the era of the map's original release and in anticipation of a possible Quake follow up in which the themes and story (such as it is) of this WAD were continued.  There's a sense of discomfort and of poor fit to much of what follows the battle with the first Cyberdemon, as though the WAD author was determined to include a large-scale battle and the Quake area but was working outside of his mapping oeuvre and idiom in their construction; would this have been a stronger and better-received map, I wonder, if that pitched battle and final node were ommitted, and the red key was instead placed not too far beyond the first Cyberdemon to unlock the door to a central exit instead of a teleporter?  But that's a rather speculative complaint and for much of its running time this is indeed a fun map that nicely rounds out the WAD.

[Sui Generis]

Predictably, I'm not quite going to finish this this year. Oh well.

 

Crusades: I use PRBoom+ playing UV continuous with saves

 

E4M1 - “The Awakening”
Pretty nice looking first map. Great looks, good atmosphere. Gameplay uses initial resource deprivation. Annoyingly I didn't immediately notice the shotgun until I had pistoled all the initial imps and lost souls, which was ...time-consuming. This of course was then followed by barons along with a teleport in of mainly lost souls without any projectile monsters to distract from them. I can also second (or however far along that should be) that it wasn't necessary to use all 3 keys. The layout is deceptively simple and brief as the opening vista on play start makes the map look far more elaborate and lengthy then it is. I have no issue with this given that it's a map01. And finally I do at least appreciate the use of tree silhouettes against the sky and windows to break up the dark textures.

This map reminds me a little of E4M1, but with more grindy, safer gameplay than the snap danger of the teleporting sergeants in the id level. Perhaps this is a missed opportunity - a teleport in of sergeants behind the player in the initial area to press them into running past the baron at the blue key door?

Not a bad map otherwise though

 

E4M2 - “Night-Watch”
This is better, an interesting more classic themed map with a striking cross shadow in the starting courtyard. We have rather better and more substantial gameplay to this level, so I presume it was one of the spooky maps and was intended to stand-alone. We have tasteful courtyards and corridors with the layout roughly looping around a central area with the blue key.

 

Monsters tend to attack in mixed groups which makes the fights more interesting than the first map and barons are used relatively more sparingly, though annoyingly I forgot to pick up the RL to near the end. I spent the entire map not seeing any secrets and expected to exit without any, until I stopped to think and found them both. Good map, although the layout is nothing like as elaborate as some of the things Wiles did in Darkening E2.

 

E4M9 - “Running Scared”
An initially very small and symmetrical base that starts without much promise in a roughly E1M9 theme. The map grows from the initial section into something more interesting though and gathers pace a little when dropped in front of a large gang of imps, with the plasma rifle just within snatching distance. I play continuous, but I decided to try both and unsurprisingly this map is rather more difficult initially from pistol start with the need to work for the shotgun and exploit the barrels to deal with the initial imps. I actually think it's kind of well-designed, as you are forced to dash, duck and pop pistol shots off at the teleporting sergeants till you can get one away from the crowd and pick up a shotgun. The release of the baron to roam whilst you have the sergeants to worry about is a pretty good confounding factor whilst you are stuck with the pistol. Unfortunately this means you are treated to having to shotgun the baron in complete safety afterwards (with a couple more to follow), which is no fun.

 

Health and ammo early on are also very limited, with just a few health potions available till a (potentially missable) soulsphere just before the blue key. Although I respect the discipline this sort of scrounging and austerity demands of the player, I still find the map becomes more entertaining after the blue key.

Overall this is fair map with a slightly dull and corridor heavy start on continuous, but is rather better if playing  from pistol start, imo. (But the RL could've been given earlier, perhaps after the first one. Shotgunning one baron is enough!)

 

E4M3 - “Berzerker”
This is a pretty compact and fun map. I appreciate the vertical interconnection of areas, for example at the start where the player walks between the two platforms and later visits and teleports across them. There's plenty of monsters and some good traps and monster releases and so plenty of fun. I undeservingly blundered into the mega armour secret, and with the subsequent teleport traps and close quarter pressing monster encounters, I'm very glad I did. I do like this map and feel it plays and flows well. Good stuff.

 

E4M4 - “Haunted House”
Now this map seems to be the polar opposite of the previous one in terms of gameplay. It looks absolutely brilliant and atmospheric with the highly contrasting lighting, the silhouetted trees, crosses and hanging bodies and so forth. I completely got the haunted house feel early on, as brilliantly the level starts out deserted (I half wondered if I'd inadvertently entered the no monsters flag or something) and then all of a sudden monsters teleport in. Excellent. This and the next couple of areas had me watching my every step, wondering then the next teleport ambush would be, but then about half way into the level, the action dies down into very static sniping of turret barons?! I'm not sure what caused Wiles to change the tone so significantly, but the air of danger and caution about the unknown is gone, and supplanted by mundane and stationery grinding. There is a final vista of the gorgeous silhouetted exterior but then the climb back out around the courtyard with the central baron and cacos offers little danger and only really time being consumed. What a pity. Oh and also it's possible (and quite easy) to jump out of the level into the silhouette exterior. I did this inadvertently when I was dodging a caco shot, trying to get them to infight with the baron.

 

Overall this one has a memorable atmosphere and truly warrants inclusion in a wad series called "Spooky", but the gameplay lost the element of surprise after it eschewed the teleport ambushes.

[RjY]

E4M8 137/137 0 3/3 0/0 13:18+00

 

Crusades' answer to Doom E4M6, I'd have to call this, along with some extra bits and a tribute ending. As usual a top-heavy map, my ~4 deaths before successful exit all came before picking up the yellow key and opening the subsequent teleporter. Although here I was again down to 2% health before I had secured the area. I remember this map as being troublesome, unlike others where you never feel like you're safe, here you can feel like you've overcome present dangers and then die suddenly to something you didn't see, like stray cyberdemon rockets you didn't hear being launched, so I feel lucky to not have more deaths on this one. The soulsphere on its pedestal is another of those weird objects that would randomly lock up the source port I was using in 1999/2000. This time I discovered the plasma gun lift could be split into two and surround you with missing textures, which would have been funnier if I wasn't absolutely desperately avoiding imp missiles at the time on 2% health.

 

With the blue key the map eases up and you gain larger weapons and ammunition for them. I decided to take the risk and run past the cyberdemon guarding the inner castle, out into the canyon beyond, where I knew a BFG could be found; I thought I would have more success than nervily trying to remove it from inside the castle, at constant risk of splash damage. Along with the BFG is a large crowd and a spider, which immediately started a huge infight with the former; I ran around trying to keep the reaction going, which wasn't as successful as I'd like. Eventually with the area sufficiently clear I carefully dealt with the castle cyberdemon, and then the second one in the area beyond the canyon (an easy two-shot). There followed a comedy of errors: I went to open the red door but went the wrong way and had to go round again; then I opened it, sailed through and skipped all the linedefs on the Quake teleporter; third time managed to teleport, but then having cleared half the Quake section decided to go back for the final soulsphere which I didn't need at all, necessitating a third trip through the nukage. Finally at the end, I didn't feel like going to Quake so I killed myself. Hopefully I'll respawn in Hell, it's always worked before...

[Crusader No Regret]

Still Dec. in my time zone.

 

Aw, I was hoping for some mention of Keith the cave baron (Crusades E4M5) but no dice.

 

Passing thought on Darkening E1:  HMP skill

 

Map 8: Music track used is one from Requiem I find enjoyable; it's a factor in me sticking with the map long enough to complete it.  First thing that comes to mind is exploiting fast doors to bait infights; it's a lot of shotgun grinding otherwise before SSG.  Archviles were memorable and mostly easily dealt with though I got roasted once when the second came up before I had finished off the first.  Argh, that crate jump.  You know, that small one placed just so (same one that MagnusBlitz pointed out)  It's Doom on rails until red key is obtained.  The fact that the next leg is more open in route choices and that all the secrets are in that section (as helpfully pointed out by other players here) made this the most interesting section of the map.

 

Map 11: I didn't think I'd have anyting to comment on about this map that hasn't been already said.  Well, I somehow missed picking up the rocket launcher despite it not really being hidden.  With no plasma on pistol start, it was a long SSG deul with the cyber boss.  Granted, I wouldn't have used rockets on it anyways.  The first baron's placement got me moving forward into more danger.  Also at the end, well hi there door with HP to prevent an easy exit.  Pacifist might be an interesting challenge, luring a cyber rocket into that enemy.  Didn't find the backpack secret until the map was already over.

[gaspe]

M8: The first part is very good and it's a nice boss level. I must say that I liked the Quake area, at least the idea of having this easy and little appendix before taking the exit, I agree that now it feels weird and out of place but back then the Quake craze was strong and many wads did stuff like that.

 

I can see why this is in the top 10 wads of 99'. I think that the levels of the original Spooky series are the best offerings though the added levels were also good. In some places it was a bit too heavy with barons to kill with weak weapons but I must say that I was surprised to see some very cool and inspired traps, it's probably the best Doom 1 wad that I've played to date in regards to the gameplay.

[Sui Generis]

Whew! Caught up and just fashionably late.

 

E4M5 - “The Witching Hour”
Here we have an exercise in baron dodging at the beginning of the level. In fairness the cramped space and distant imps serve to do a surprisingly effective job at complicating the situation, putting off the player from staying and fighting. I like how the player is forced to bolt into the sewers/bottom level for safety like a rat.

Others have noted the tediousness of the early barons, particularly on having to replay from a pistol start death and yup that's a problem. As an early on obstacle that the player must evade and dash past then the barons are fine but clearly after that point (perhaps when the yellow key has been obtained) then a heavier weapon should have been granted, which I think is reasonable for so many barons.

Once the top heavy early portions of the map have been dealt with, the pressure eases somewhat although the player is still dumped into close quarter situations. The architecture is generally good although the visual style is less striking than the previous map. The switch doors in the ring shaped room surrounding the exit seemed a bit odd though. Why couldn't the doors simply remain open?

 

E4M6 - “Trooper’s Graveyard”
This, on the other hand, is mercifully light on baron grinding, and a little heavier on barrels. We still have Wiles' signature ambushes but the map seems a bit more corridor based. There is a moment later on after getting the blue key and being deposited in front of a teleporter behind the left door off the opening courtyard, where I was rather confused about where to go next, but other than this (and arguably it's my own stupid fault for forgetting about the blue door) it's relatively clear and flows well.

 

The cyb that guards the yellow key is fairly straightforward to deal with so long as the player keeps their distance from the rear walls to avoid splash damage, particularly if the secret BFG is found. Overall I think this level feels rather more conventional and less like a Wiles level as there are fewer teleport ambushes. Still a decent level though.

 

EDIT: I see afterwards that if I'd have ignored the cyb it would have teleported to the exit. Strange, I'd have thought the authors intent would be that the cyb would be fought and killed at it's starting point, what with the defensive baron ready to harass the player if they try to sneak past and press the switch. Presumably it was intended that both scenarios would be viable. It does explain why the level felt a little bit flat once the cyb is dead and I backtracked with the yellow key to the exit.

 

E4M7 - “Bloodbath”
So this map to my mind represents another drop in difficulty after M6, (itself easier than M5), at least certainly in terms of the beginning. We see fewer ambushes from multiple sides and indeed fewer larger monsters. Instead we have a raised walkways style vaguely reminiscent of the inmost dens (albeit sans any water) where most of the danger comes from hitscanner attrition from it's open nature. The layout looks rather more complicated than it actually is and I found this level flowed very smoothly, this time with even fewer barons. Indeed with the inclusion of secrets and the reduced role of teleport ambushes this feels rather less like a Wiles map. I quite liked the way two of the keys are contained centrally on platforms in a single area which the player returns to.

 

Looks wise, the level also dispenses with the lovely contrasting lighting of M1 and M4 but also has much simpler, very functional architecture. It's strange to have the penultimate level by so much simpler than the previous ones - it feels like this map has been misplaced in the map order. It is certainly a change from the earlier levels though.

 

E4M8 - “Gateway to Quake”
I see the comments about this being an homage to the original E4M6 and that the quake section at the end is very superfluous and agree entirely. I do like E4M6 and I appreciate the large scale and tall architecture here but there does seem to be a whole lot less level compared with the original though. The big showcase fight after the first cyb is fun enough, although with the BFG it would have been simple. I personally opted to make the monsters infight, for which the mastermind was very helpful in infuriating it's caco companions and the latter cyb mopped up. The pillars in front of the two barons where the cyb appears are very cheesable, for those so inclined, though with hindsight I should have left them for the first cyb to take care of instead.

 

One further comment on the progression: it may be me, but I was very much thrown off the scent by the need to jump from the pillar onto the raised doorway. I would have preferred there to have been a switch on to open the door (at which point the attacking imps would have made the next step obvious and their attacks would have required more care to dodge without the benefit of walls to stop the player falling off. The Quake part is indeed very much an anti-climax and probably could have omitted the brief little zombie chaingunning stretch as misplaced and misjudged. I also find the way it is simply placed there rather than teleported to to be somewhat bizarre. The transition has no ceremony and the map just continues on as if nothing has changed when clearly the author wished to show it had.

 

Overall, a pretty fair final level that perhaps would've benefited by having more gameplay in the E4M6 part, and less of the trivial 'first level of a Quake episode' section.

 

Overall thoughts on Crusades
Well it's been great to finally play through this at last. The looks on some of the maps (M1 and M4 spring to mind) are particularly excellent, the others are generally good to very good (especially for the time) albeit less visually striking. The gameplay is a mixed bag of genius in teleporter and multi-directional ambush designs which I think should be taken onboard, versus excessive grindy shotgun chipping at barons. The poster child being M5.

 

There's a very noticeable change in play style though after E4M5 with the drop in Barons and ambushes - I feel the last three maps feel far more conventional and less noticeably Wiles than the earlier ones. I do wonder if the author himself started to feel Baron fatigue after M4 and 5 - certainly I think most of the club did!

Some of the layouts are excellent , although surprisingly Wiles' maps in the Darkening E2 seem far more ingenious in terms of layout than his crusades maps, presumably this is because several of the Spooky series preceded darken2. I do like Crusades and the best looking parts of it look good even today, but otherwise I think I enjoyed his darkening 2 maps more.

 

Happy new year everyone :)

[PasokonDeacon]

From what I've played of later Wiles maps, he sticks to hell knights and cacos instead of stalling players with barons. DICKE07 through DICKIE10, SlayeR, and the early Monolith maps don't suffer from Crusades's issues. So a lot of what he did in this mapset seems experimental or influenced by a desire to make his E4 theme more unique.