The DWmegawad Club plays: Reverie

[franckFRAG]

1 hour ago, Roofi said:

I vote for Tangerine Nightmare. :)

Final version will release this weekend.

[tmorrow]

1 hour ago, Capellan said:

Hey @tmorrow your two idgames links are broken - you've got a period at the end of them.

Thanks Capellan, in fact I managed to break 4 links in that post with trailing periods. Fixed now.

[Pirx]

On 1/23/2018 at 2:55 PM, Magnusblitz said:

MAP23: Cyclone Rider

100% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

The two halves of this map are so disparate I almost wonder if they were intended as two separate levels and then were squished together as the first part isn't really enough for a level on it's own (and the textfile does seem to lend credence to the idea that they were conceived of separately). It's fast enough though, quite easy to cause infighting and the spiders will easily finish off the cybers for the player thanks to the height advantage. The second half of the level is alright, the yellow key leg kept me guessing, for better or worse... I admittedly starting getting a bit annoyed and savescummed because it felt like every new switch was a trick that required a different weapon to be prepared for. Also took a few tries going into the courtyard with the two cybers in it, since if you wake them up early they'll just happily camp that blind lift. The switch hunt in the marble/lava rock area behind the yellow door is a bad choice I think, not only is it anti-climatic (you've cleared out a bunch of cybers and other threats, then go back to killing lone chaingunners in 64-wide hallways) but the trope of the self-contained switch hunt is something that's been repeated over and over again this mapset and it gets old after awhile.

 

 

MAP23 - “Cyclone Rider”

 

this. it's anti-climactic. i had it in my mind while playing all that came after the opening, reminiscent of... speed of doom, perhaps? it's easy to think that the map was planned as something slaughter-ish and then unhappily mated with the chaingunners-in-64-hallways part. the yellow key part was nasty with its traps at each switch, especially the archvile pit, because i got caught between those stupid torches at the door and his revenant stooges, with fatal consequences. the cybs can camp the lift indeed, one has to lure them towards the blue door to the left so they give way, allowing to get the two cell packs at the end of the rocky outdoor part, and then you run a figure-8 until they're dead. however, i found this later part of the map rather convoluted, lacking the large scale of the opening.

 

 

 

MAP24 - “Sewer System”

 

ok, that could have been the sequel to the ending of map22. it's the map with the sewers from plutonia with the broken stairs from some memento mori map, (m05 ?) the central lift from requiem m08, and... that fantastic music from valiant's candlecove! couldn't forget that map because of the candles (obviously) and its music. it's a joy to play with that midi, even with that archvile room... i didn't count them, but anyway, they can exit one at a time, which gives the player time to kill them without much trouble.

[rehelekretep]

oh boy im add a vote to

+++ ESP

but i really dont mind tmorrow's suggestion at all

[valkiriforce]

34 minutes ago, Pirx said:

that fantastic music from valiant's candlecove!

Huh, I just checked Valiant and had no idea it uses Fallen Sun and Aztec Gods both from Jimmy. That's pretty cool. Still have yet to give it a proper playthrough outside of ZDaemon.

[Snikle]

+++Tangerine Nightmare, Master levels

[Snikle]

3 hours ago, Roofi said:

I vote for Tangerine Nightmare. :)

Put "+++" before your vote, so people can see it.

[Magnusblitz]

7 hours ago, Demtor said:

Hey guys! Is this WAD good stuff? I haven't had time this month to read anything but might finally be able to play some again. If I were to play a dozen maps to get a good sense of what this WAD had to offer; which ones should I play?  Or is it really worth it to try and go through the whole thing before next month's wad? 

If you like IWAD/oldschool-style stuff you'll probably like it, if not it probably won't do much for you outside of a couple of the best maps here and there.

[TheOrganGrinder]

@valkiriforce, thank you for the insights into the WAD's creative processes.  :)

 

MAP25: Sever Tomorrow

 

Goodness, another sewer map right on the heels of the last one?  Oh, wait, Sever, my bad.

 

So this is a brick-heavy affair that in some places has an industrial quality to it and in others evokes more of a sense of some forgotten, blasphemous temple, the two variations on the masonry theme rolled nicely together.  I'm not convinced the grinding guitars and occasional playful solo of the Metallica-esque music track do the atmosphere and pacing of the level any favours, spurring the player on through segments that seem as though they want to be explored at a more thoughtful pace, but it doesn't ever become irritating.  Architecturally the highlight of the level for me is probably the western node with its attempt to invoke a balcony and catwalk over a previously explored room, as though the player is scrambling through the vaulted workings of some cavernous factory; on the other hand, the roughly L-shaped outdoor area toward the end felt needly uncomfortable in its arrangement and dimensions.

[Pirx]

12 hours ago, rehelekretep said:

definitely tmorrow's idea sounds great

+++ Tangerine Nightmare + UAC Ultra + Realm of Shades

 

+++ tangerine nightmare combo gets another vote. Fits nicely in that silly 28 day month.

[Pirx]

8 hours ago, valkiriforce said:

Huh, I just checked Valiant and had no idea it uses Fallen Sun and Aztec Gods both from Jimmy. That's pretty cool. Still have yet to give it a proper playthrough outside of ZDaemon.

 

Take your time and play it. It's one of my all-time favorites. 

[Memfis]

+++ Tangerine Nightmare + UAC Ultra + Realm of Shades

yes yes yes

[NuMetalManiak]

+++Tangy + Ultra + Shades

Might as well go for it, since it's a good combination. Don't forget that February is not a good month for 30+ maps.

 

MAP25 Sever Tomorrow

 

This was always a weird map. Mostly brown, but lots of different things in its layout. The cross-shaped thing at the beginning makes you think it's another hub map in disguise, especially since two keys are needed, but there's more to the journey than it seems. The whole northwest part of the cross is where to go, with several hitscanners and other monsters all around this area. But before that, a little part to the southeast, capping with another Chaingun Face, goes first. Some small bits of climbing and traversing are around for the blue and red keys, with the red key requiring two different areas. These seem like typical valkiriforce encounters to me at the moment. That faux-3d area was slightly cool, given the bridge and the ledges above, but having to wait for that platform to lower sucks. After the blue and red bars, the rest is fully straightforward, with some opposition you just might see coming around that area.

[gaspe]

Thanks for the explanation @valkiriforce!

 

MAP25: Intesting map, it reminded me a lot of the good old Memento Mori brown bricks levels, with that strange and undefined citadel setting. In the cross hub you can set a "Gotcha!" fight between the 2 bosses that will teleport eventually, and the best part is the western section with the red key where it's simulated a multiple floor building. I liked the placement of the arachnotrons after that TNT MAP30 tunnel.

[galileo31dos01]

I would have liked to vote TN along with other wads with sprites replacements like Preacher and/or [Insert third option], uh whatever.

 

MAP25: Sever Tomorrow

UV/Pistol start/Saves

Deaths: 0

 

An interesting map, while it is still heavy on corridor-y combat, there's also more room for various infighting scenarios, and other quirks like the 3d bridge room that I felt I was above the previous room, which is impossible in vanilla (isn't it?). I went the intended way and woke up all the monsters available in the cross-shaped hub room, and let them finish off each other. Casually I barely had to kill anything there lol. What I also liked about this map was that each section provided something slightly different to the previous one, which was more easy to memorize and plan the route, regardless of the linearity in each wing. If I didn't mention this as a fav map in my review, I'll add it at the end of the month, because it plays great on UV (no cyberdemon on HMP is a questionable decision imo). 

 

 

[Paul977]

+++ Plutonium Winds, +++ Master Levels

Edited January 26, 2018 by Paul977

[rehelekretep]

map24 fda

uv pistol starts saveless

wasnt lying about the AVs, nothing scares me shitless more than waking up a multitude of them at once. the end puzzle annoyed me because i didnt remember that momentum helps you 'pop' up larger height differences until i was quite a ways into raising/lowering fruitlessly.

[rehelekretep]

map25 fda

uv pistol starts saveless

this was a quirky romp with lots of random teleports and strange progression however there was a lot of meat for no apparently good reason (barons & cacos in the central 'x'?) and the use of the spider mastermind was baffling; it got stuck as i tried to exit the last room and just blocked me in while PEs spammed out souls lol.

the end is a riff on the Plutonia(?) map07 which felt tacked on but wasnt too bad. lots of completely ineffectual imps though that i wasnt going to waste time getting rid of.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP25: Sever Tomorrow

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

 

I suppose the name here is supposed to refer to the gimmick of revealing bosses and then having them teleport away to the middle of the map for future battling, an interesting idea but one that I think isn't executed too well. The central cross hub where the bosses end up is poorly designed (there's nowhere to dodge in it, especially from the SMM, so you basically end up being forced to abuse the doorways) not to mention they get mixed up with barons and such later so it's really easy to make them infight. Which is fine, but, also doesn't make for any sort of climatic battle. If anything it also meant the ammo balance went in a weird direction, things start out shells-only but halfway through I was pretty much limited to the copious amounts of rockets and cells, which meant I was just blasting through all the zombie and imp scum with the plasma gun for the latter half. There's also another one of those unnecessary-feeling codas after the boss fight here, with lots of tedious imp-sniping if you want 100% kills. The rest of the level is typical valkiriforce, lots of 64-wide corridors with medium-tier monsters and switch hunts. The faked 3D area is... okay I guess? And this map is soooo brown. So, so brown.

[Pirx]

MAP25 - “Sever Tomorrow”

 

lots of crawling through corridors and climbing narrow paths through structures that partly look like decayed industrial buildings (the brown brick), partly like the surreal doom2 endgame (the red key area and some others). the cross-shaped part links different parts of the map, but not in the style of a classic hub with paths leading to the locked doors, in fact one needs the red _and_ the blue key to leave and reach that L-shaped corridor. i didn't know what to do with the barons in the cross-shaped way, didn't feel like wasting my ammo on them, but then found a use for the siege cow. some interesting architecture in the brick part. i preferred map24's music though.

[tmorrow]

map26: Fallen Angel
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

A mostly straightforward map. The archvile traps are the biggest threat but most archviles are contained to move in specific areas and can be managed readily. Several remote switches are used to progress the map and it is easy to get stuck at times. Fortunately the map is fairly small so an exhaustive search for overlooked switches does not take much time.
 

Edited January 26, 2018 by tmorrow

[valkiriforce]

58 minutes ago, Magnusblitz said:

I suppose the name here is supposed to refer to the gimmick of revealing bosses and then having them teleport away to the middle of the map for future battling

Nope, it's the title of a song from Porcupine Tree.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP26 Fallen Angel

 

My third favorite music track here, after MAP14's and the next map. A short map in layout, but it's longer than it feels mostly due to backtracking. There's quite a number of monsters to slow you down at a number of points too. The area near the exit has quite a lot of shotgun guys, and you pretty much have to kill them since they're in the way, but next time you come back an arch-vile would've resurrected all of them. And again much later on after the yellow key. In fact, the teleporting enemies after the yellow key are the nastiest thing this map offers, since they'll be in a number of placements. Most of them are hitscanners, so if you're lucky they'll be shooting each other, but can you really rely on that all the time? I also don't mind the four super shotguns together. So what? They're just more ammo, it's just done differently.

[Catpho]

Which vote is winning?So i know what to join in for next month.

[gaspe]

MAP26: Short and with a compact layout with some backtracking to do with the switches and a cool mysterious feeling. I'm not sure about the chaingunners before the exit, some more spare rocket were needed here, with the archviles they become a wall of meat that isn't so funny to deal with.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP26: Fallen Angel

 

I'm not going to lie, I wasn't fond of this one, with its endless tight tunnels and enormous numbers of switches, some of which seem to exist only for the purpose of making sure that you can't stand beside or look at the door you want to open as you're opening it; I don't know, it feels like a gimmick that's being indulged for its own sake.  There's plasma and rockets but little enough space to put them to use without running the risk of auto-aim dragging a rocket into a collision with some surface that's far too close to your face for comfort.  It's nice to have something relatively short and sweet after what I think is four fairly large and lengthy levels in a row but I do wish that I had nicer things to say about this one than "at least it's over quickly enough."

[galileo31dos01]

4 hours ago, Catpho said:

Which vote is winning?So i know what to join in for next month.

Dobu will make the count at the end and decide the winner. I think TN, UAC Ultra and Realm of Shades are winning so far.

 

MAP26: Fallen Angel

UV/Pistol start/No saves or did I save once? uh...

Deaths: 0

 

Semi-claustrophobic switch-hunt map, tight on powerful resources but you can get free ammo from zombies. I didn't enjoy this map the very first time, and now my thoughts are more focused on specific monster placement, like the archviles in front of the blue door that aren't quite effective aside from "gifting" chainguns, or the beefy monsters behind some timed doors that only slow down the pace more than needed. Its main "hub" area reminds me of Requiem's maps in mines, I don't recall which one has the two stuck cacos, well that map in particular. I thought the four coop SSGs were funny, more ammo to the stock. 

 

 

[tmorrow]

map27: Godspeed!
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

The map contains a large outer annular ringed catwalk over non damaging floor. There are rooms to explore off the outer. After hitting the right switches you raise some catwalks into the center. The toughest area is probably the one guarded by cybie and quickly followed up by a couple of archviles. There are a few remote switches that need to be actioned to progress. The way to the exit is blocked by blue, red and yellow blocks. These blocks are lowered once you have all 3 key cards by visiting 3 teleporters, each to a switch that lowers one of the blocks. A spider mastermind awaits you at the end, fortunately there are pillars to hide behind so you don't get chain gunned into oblivion.

[rehelekretep]

map26 fda

uv pistol starts saveless

honestly dont know what valkiri was going for here. the AVs clog up the corridors and slow everything down, and im not sure if you can even blitz through stuff because ammo doesnt seem to be very plentiful. a bit of a miss-step.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP26: Fallen Angel

100% kills, 0/2 secrets

 

Lots of 64-wide corridors? Check.

Clogging those corridors with chaingunners, revenants and hell nobles? Check.

Basically one big switch hunt? Check.

90% brown? Check.

 

This map is pretty much the distillation of all the stuff I haven't enjoyed yet, so yeah, I found it to be pretty dire. The use of block monster lines (one by the blue door, and another by the red bars) really adds to the clogging too. I admit I did have some amusement trying to get the chaingunners to take out an AV (they never did) but that was about it.