The DWmegawad Club plays: Eternal Slumber Party

[Nine Inch Heels]

1 hour ago, Snikle said:

I only noclipped where I should have strafed, so it was just on parts with jumps anyway

And those part with jumps can easily have linedef triggers in them, as in: Something opens up when you jump on "platform X". So jump like you should, and only resort to cheats when you really need to. One example would be that you get ambushed in map 01 if you jump on the BFG/megasphere pillar, and there are gonna be more cases like that up ahead.

[SleepyVelvet]

Empty Space Princess:  Map01 - "Degrassi"

Playtime: 5.3 hrs (~2.5 hrs intermission screen; 2 sessions; prb+ cl-1 uv-saves)
prboom+ crashed two times during playing, so i had to '-recordfromto' to perserve the playthrough.  demo is fully intact tho.  i record fdas out of habit now and don't mind being naked in my skill, so whatever.

 

I went with 1 save per 100 kills (only when no monsters are chasing you).  it helped keep things at a good pace, but tbh i should've just saved whenever I felt like it.  my interest in the combat diminished the longer I played, but I still liked exploring the map, which always remained interesting; a steady stream of gimmicks to keep your intrigue.  I still enjoyed the fights as well, but it was just a long map.

 

The health distribution is pretty much megaspheres only.  "1 save at each non-hostile megasphere" would've been a fair way to play the map too.  There might have been some medikits early on, but after a short bit, health was only administered periodically through megaspheres.

 

I liked some of the clustered secrets strung about; sorta an excuse to jump around things from different vantage points.  Triggering the "secret found" noise each time was like grabbing a coin in a 3D Mario game.  heh, ToD even put "coins" (aka keys) on some.  There were some that I left for later, but was disappointed when i got to the end of the map and couldn't find a way back for 100% completion.  Dang.

 

My favorite part of the map was one of the large spanning hub areas, the place with the lava up top and the boat and the "vagina bridge" down low.  I had some fun jumping around there to see if I could get anywhere interesting.  You could get on the stair railings but nothing was there.  But at least i was rewarded with couple actual secrets in this same general area.

 

One of the few things I learned i need to improve at: fighting cyberdemons on stairs

 

also, i couldn't imagine surviving halfway through this map without industrial strength doses of Ritalin or something.  What are some of you made of, yikes!
I think this is one of my longest playthroughs since stuff like Misri Halek (which might've even been upwards to a 20hrs playthrough for all i know).  That was back when i played slower and more conservatively and was first getting into pwads.

 

tldr: Long map, cool design, fun to explore, also i suck.

 

There, I helped break the ice, so now Suitepee has to play by Doom Law.

 

[Crusader No Regret]

Oh hey, Degrassi.  I remember this from testing it for CC4.  Still have the WAD on my old hard drive but I don't have access to it at the moment otherwise could verify the "Last modified" date.  2011 sounds like the right year.

 

Some trivia: ToD originally had a SR50 jump required for progression.  This did not sit well for the scope of CC4 so switches were added to lower the landing spot.  On lower difficulties, the switch is easily accessible; you're likely to not notice it when playing through unless specifically looking for the effect.  On UV, that switch is blocked.  The switch to use is located in an earlier area (with a SR50 Sux sign nearby) and reaching it involves waiting several minutes for the barriers in front of it lower (each of which must be activated individually).  The WAD I tested had this in place already so I was spared the agony of a SR50 jump with no alternative.  If one wants a good UV-Max time, SR50 is needed, as intended by the author.  I believe several of the secret sectors need SR50 anyways but whatever.  There was also a flavor story for the map and I remember it being rather pervy creepy so I'm not going into it here. (though I could be mixing it up with a different ToD map).  I don't recall the CC4 team needing to ask ToD to implement other difficulty settings, I was under the impression he understood that would be necessary for the submission to be considered.  Been a while so may or may not be the case.

 

So, difficulty settings.  For the maps that have differences, there's UV and then there everything else.  HNTR and HMP will be exactly the same.  There are other maps besides this one which have changes on lower difficulties in the set; Map 2 is actually sane, for one.  I'll get into that for that writeup.  I recall in another ToD release that his intention is for one to learn the maps, plan a route, and do a UV-Max.  So expect things to be rather unfriendly to blind playthroughs.

 

  This is one of the longest maps in the collection.  Going by the par times in the textfile, 4 maps have times of over 50 minutes and this is one of them.  So this isn't really indicative of how gargantuum later maps will be.

 

  I did a recent run on HMP as a refresher.  Forgot most of the progression since then so it was semi-blind.  The combat is sane on HMP; any veteran ought to be able to handle.it.  The outdoor harbor with the boat is a bit hairy but I believe one can exit without going there.  Navigation is the bigger challenge.  There are puzzles to solve and ToD also enjoys throwing in tests of movement skills such as pillar hopping.  The BFG also takes a rather precise strafejump to grab.  Got all three keys before calling it quits (aka invoking god mode out of laziness).  This appears to be the exact same map submitted to CC4. (and ultimately rejected)  Only difference I noticed was the addition of the music track.

 

UV memoirs: Back then, I did a godmode aided tour of UV to see that everything worked and that there weren't any showstopping bugs.  Yes, entering the fortress is a permanent point of no return along with several temporary ones and some areas cannot be revisited upon leaving.  Several bits stuck with my memory even now.  The 2-shot cyber marathon went on for too damned long.  Then there "that ^%*!^ torch which requires tight movement to keep up with.  Beyond my skills, I cheated more and noclipped.  Last, I remember a number of faraway snipers inside the fortress at the end and with cells as the only ammo.  Really wanted rockets or a plasma rifle then.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Crusader No Regret

[Roofi]

Map 02 : Castle of the Damned

 

 

Size : Medium

 

A very tricky but short level inspired from Quake's E1M2. I did a simple run the last year if you want to watch.

 

Demo

 

The monsters counter indicates ~750 monsters on UV , but in reality you need to kill less than 100 monsters to just finish the level. Indeed , ToD loves making optional fights for UV-max speedruns most of the times. You can either finish the level by killing yourself in the little lava pool or initiate the trap which teleport a lot of viles and a lot of small freaks. In my run , I only made the necessary to reach the exit , this level is too hard for me for an uv-max.

 

The main difficulty in this level is to kill cybies without being hit by their rockets or splash-damage because everything is very narrow so you must do accurate movements. Also , the ammo is really scarce , you must practice your "2 shot BFG" skills  a lot before hoping finishing this level. This map shows egally how obscure the progression can be in Tod's maps. To put in simple terms , all the weapons are hidden in secrets and moreover the SSG and RL are located in a little water pool. Furthermore , very recurring things in ToD's maps : the usage of Commander keens and billion switchs without knowing their purpose. It's the case on this map , A lot of mysterious keens to kill and  brown switches to press . A simple glance on Doombuilder could give the answer of their utility. An another thing to say , be careful when you search secrets because one of them requires a rocket jump in order to not fall in lava. ToD tends to make the lava pits unescapable and I find it very annoying , especially on large maps where you take hours to finish them...

 

As said before , this map is essentially a recreation of Quake's E1M2. However the overall was made by only using stock textures , or almost. Tod mixed very well metal , dirt and especially SLADWALL textures and therefore the architecture looks faithfully to Quake's levels while keeping the Doom's theme. I especially liked light gradations and also all the details on ceilings.

 

A must-to-see remake of a Quake level but play on godmode if killing cybies is an impossible task for you.

 

 

 

 

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP02's music in case anyone is wondering. Epic tune.

 

Does anyone know MAP03 or MAP11 music tracks? These and MAP02 don't seem to have the track titles in metadata (and I know I've heard MAP11's music in another slaughterfest wad before).

[Roofi]

Just now, NuMetalManiak said:

MAP02's music in case anyone is wondering. Epic tune.

 

Does anyone know MAP03 or MAP11 music tracks? These and MAP02 don't seem to have the track titles in metadata (and I know I've heard MAP11's music in another slaughterfest wad before).

 

 

Oh nice ! I was looking for this track for years. I'm also searching the music title of the map 03 .

[Paul977]

1 hour ago, NuMetalManiak said:

MAP02's music in case anyone is wondering. Epic tune.

 

Does anyone know MAP03 or MAP11 music tracks? These and MAP02 don't seem to have the track titles in metadata (and I know I've heard MAP11's music in another slaughterfest wad before).

 

Cool track. Also very fitting on the opening map of NH666

[Catpho]

8 hours ago, NoisyVelvet said:

 

 

also, i couldn't imagine surviving halfway through this map without industrial strength doses of Ritalin or something.  What are some of you made of, yikes!
 

It took me 3 separate doom sessions, each doom session lasting 2 hours of cybie 2 shooting and save scuming, so yea :P

[Catpho]

MAP02 - “Castle of the Damned”

Hoo boy, this was a frickin nightmare...

A stylish remake of quakes's e1m2, one of the rare remakes that actively forces you to remember the original's secrets. The low level quake trash is now replace with d2's high teir baddies(like the usual favorites like cyberdemons, archviles, revanants,..), with gameplay that can be vaguely described as "REALLY watch your step and REALLY know your doom tricks", cuz there is one moment where you have to rocket jump outside of a secret (which is creative considering you can just jump out of there in quake), very fits TOD's character.

The music makes this level feel very offbeat, and what did the keens and switches do? I didnt press and shoot all of them cause i just really wanted to exit :P Probably gotta go watch the rest of the demo.

Screenies will come later cuz my prboom is outdated O_o

Edit: Here they are:

Edited March 3, 2018 by Catpho : Added screenshots

[Nine Inch Heels]

Ah yes, "castle of the damned"...

 

When I first saw that map being played on Koren's YouTube channel, I was fascinated with it. The idea of playing a quake map in doom, and having it as such a gimmicky map as well seemed really cool. So I played it once I got my hands on the WAD.

 

Some of the two shots here can be rather tricky, especially if the cybies just keep moving instead of shooting and thus push you into less than advantageous positions. Once you kill all the keens and push/shoot all the switches you gain access to the final "invasion" and all the required items you need to clear it. It's like you first get these tricky scenarios, and your reward is blasting the hell out of the place with BFG and rocket fueled fury. I quite like that about this map.

 

I do have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this map though, because it was one of the reasons a certain pet-peeve of mine manifested itself and stuck with me since then: The placement of the torches here at those walls really gave me a bad time on occasion, because one could easily get "stuck" on them when trying to slide along a wall... And you better believe that back when I first played this map I needed every last bit of real-estate, and thus got stuck quite a bit, which was rather "sodium-inducing".

 

In spite of the texture use, this map still gets the atmosphere across I think. What ToD did here with the moody lighting, even though being simple touches, really gives it a bit of a creepy feel, which I consider an accomplishment in its own right.

[durian]

Great pick! These maps are some of my favourites. Both in terms of gameplay and aesthetics, ToD's approach to Doom design is singular and uncompromising, and really resonates with me for some reason. His maps are also often clever in ways that reveal an uncommon and inspiring depth of thought. I'll not have time to play along, but I'll look forward to reading everyone's thoughts (great stuff so far).

[Memfis]

9 hours ago, Crusader No Regret said:

There was also a flavor story for the map

 

Ah yes:

 

Quote

You wake up and find yourself in a long hallway full of lockers. "Is this a school?" you think to yourself. You start walking around and notice the school is full of hot 18-24 year old girls. All of a sudden you see Nina Dobrev. You start walking towards her to get a bit closer and you see she's talking to Cassie Steele and Miriam MacDonald. "This is incredible", you think to yourself, "am I at Degrassi? ...how is this possible?" You continue walking towards them to ask them what's going on when a girl walks right into you. But, she doesn't hit you, she walks right through you. "Did that just happen?" you think to yourself. You finally reach the trio and ask them what's going on, but they ignore you. You raise your voice, but they still won't acknowledge you. You then try to tap on Nina's shoulder, but your hand goes right through her body, like you were a ghost. "What the hell is happening?" you say to yourself. You start running towards anybody you see and move your hand through their body, but it's almost as if everybody's a ghost... or you're a ghost. You walk back over to the trio and start taking off your clothes but they still don't see you. You figure, "while I'm invisibe around these hot girls, it would be a great time to masturbate". So you spend the next hour following those hot Degrassi girls around while masturbating. All of a sudden, Nina, Miriam and Cassie head to the gym changerooms for P.E. class. "Oh my dear god" you say to yourself, "this will be glorious". As they undress, you are about ready to explode, so you begin to climax. But, as you look down and expect to see semen, instead you see a pixelated green fog coming out of your penis. "Ahhhh!" you scream, and within seconds you find yourself in an abstract-looking red cavern with lava. There is a winding staircase with what looks to be monsters on it, but they're looking away from you. You realize you have a pistol in your hand and now your heart begins to sink. You begin to realize what you must do...

 

[baja blast rd.]

Why is ToD making maps instead of writing erotica. 

[Nine Inch Heels]

4 minutes ago, rdwpa said:

Why is ToD making maps instead of writing erotica. 

I have yet to see any evidence that he does not write erotica. ToD' mind surely is worthy of intercourse, but before I degrassi too much it's probably better to drop that subject before it gets more awkward than even I am comfortable with. ;-)

[SleepyVelvet]

on a related note: this is milk, right?

 

Everlasting Sausage Party:  Map02 - "Castle of the Damned"

Playtime: 76 min (prb+; cl-1; uv-saves)

 

Huh? i remember seeing this start room before... i recall trying this map a few years ago but don't know where; back then, I remember skirting past the first few rooms but never getting far.  well i guess let's try it again, shouldn't be hard this time right!

 

No actually it was murder.  After a little bit though, i found that "secret".  I thought this was pseudo-pacifist map at first, but then i found that ammo side-shoot.  well okay, that changes the map entirely...
After a bit of failed rocketing and shotgunning, I found "the secret inside the secret": the BFG with 600 cells.  Well, that sure changes things again.

 

I guess it took ~1 hr of trial and error to finally crack them map.  It's a puzzle map that hit a good sweet spot for me.  Apparently I only needed 66 kills for an exit.

 

After exiting, i reloaded the last save: I went back for the keens with 1% health and saved into that situation, thinking it'd be fun to see what i missed, but i also saved myself into that situation, so after realizing things were hopeless, i quit - :)
 

Map03 - “Escaping the Spiral Labyrinth”

Alright, i guess this one's next.  Let's look quick to see what we're dealing with...

3867 monsters: oh you've got to be kidding me.

Edited March 2, 2018 by NoisyVelvet

[Roofi]

God damn , I finished Degrassi on UV without death ! I took at least 2 hours but I did it ! Here is my demo , the review will come a bit later.

 

DEMO

 

[Grain of Salt]

Map02 thoughts!

• The first of two quake remakes (or three if you count map06, which is quake-textured and iirc contains a secret area which is a small remake of a quake E3 map).
• I think this map was a submission for SF3 quite a while before ESP came out. Not sure if it's still in the lineup.
• Again, knowing what to do at the start is pretty all-or-nothing. You can attempt to pacifist it without the hidden weapons, but really at best you'll get to the part with five AVs and then die.
• The cell ammo isn't quite low enough to force you to 2shot every cyber, but it's low enough to make you tackle them carefully. The real threat in the cyber fights here is the cramped layout, imo.
• I have no idea what the correct way to activate the shoot switches that release ~3 viles is. I just stood quite far back and used ssg. In the maxdemo ToD just uses a level chaingun shot, but that didn't seem to work when I tried it. Hmmm.
• I chose not to activate the secret fight, but iirc the keens let you access the fight and the wall decoration switches open the ammo/health pockets in the exit room?

[Roofi]

Map 01 : Degrassi

 

 

Size : Huge

 

DEMO

 

There is no word to describe this map of crazy that is already in first slot. We find ourselves in a kind of crevasse (not cave since we can see the sky) all red with 2000 monsters to kill and completly useless secrets for those who like to jump in all directions. The progression is confused as not possible, the level goes in all directions, there is a very large number of cybers to kill. I also add that the music is so atrocious that anal rape will be a pleasure  (maybe not anyway ...). This level is the perfect example when a psychotic uses Doombuilder brilliantly. The map contains a lot of interesting effects, but also enigmas and thrilling battles.

 

To develop now what I introduced, we must first say that the layout of this map is completely twisted but in the good way. Everything is connected in a variety of ways so that the player is always surprised in its progression. The level contains everything: a lot of variations on the heights, confined spaces but also open spaces, vanilla bridges ... The level is not at all suitable for beginners since some passages require mandatory mastery of straff50. There are also puzzles that are also speed tests. At one point, the player must use a "floating" blue torch to raise the stairs to the same height as the invisible sector that holds this famous torch. The staircase goes up spiral and the player must climb very fast without falling, which is easier said than done. There is also poisonous liquid downstairs to lose some health each time you fail. Sometimes it is easy to stay for a long time without knowing what to do. It is necessary for instance to press a torch to raise a lift, in order to access the red key or, it is necessary to borrow a particular passage which seems falcultative but allow you to raise a bridge. The complexity of the layout is also explained by the large number of optional areas that sometimes require a lot of control in jump.

In short, this level is a real hell to make a correct max, without mentioning the ludicrous difficulty.

 

The map is difficult, or at least requires a good knowledge of traps to avoid lacking ammo or health. You will not be able to manage this level if you do not know how to kill cyberdemons in two BFG shots once more. The area of the yellow key is centered on this gimmick with 6-7 cyberdemons to kill in arow. It's the same thing  in  an another area with this time at least 15 Cybies. When you start to correctly handling the bfg, it's not that hard, but the mistake can quickly become fatal. The map is also punctuated  by instant traps, just look at the very beginning of the level when you think to climb the stairs normally in the entrance of the small cave and suddenly, a wall rises and reveal a horde of revenants. Scary.

 

The player can only regenerate his life with megaspheres, which is a classic of TimeOfDeath's maps. It is both generous because it gives the max of armor and life, but knowing that there is nothing else to give head  and that sometimes the spheres are  rare and located in very dangerous areas, it is important to not lose too much life for preserving them.

 Moreover, we always find our famous trio : SSG, Rocket launcher and especially the BFG. We also have the chaingun thanks to the zombies and the simple shotgun much later, very useless considering the bestiary ... The hardest parts in my opinion are first of all the outdoor areas including the one with the boat tied to the pontoon ; the big final massacre in the castle which is very dangerous at the beginning because of the viles on the pillars and the mass of revenants who can only attack you from afar because of 3 stuck cybers (WTF) and the part where we enchain cybers in 2 shots of BFG: the slightest mistake may be  fatal.

 

If there is something I love about Doom, it's the vanilla tricks. In this map, we are spoiled. First, the outdoor area is the prettiest I think with its wooden bridges that work with invisible sectors. A lot of instant lifts to reveal passages, that I love top. The puzzle with the "floating blue torch" that I found very annoying but well thought ... The level is totally weird but I find it really beautiful, or it represents perfectly the madness. The level mixes the concret and the abstraction. Concrete because we actually explore a large "cave" with a large inlaid castle and abstract because the interconnectivity is totally unrealistic and gives a totally nightmarish appearance. the nightmarish aspect is reinforced by the deliberately abusive use of blinking sectors that give a lively aspect to the map but also in the form of rooms and the imposing architecture that crushes our little marine.

 

In brief, no need to scratch  the head to know why this map was not taken for Community chest, we like having crazy levels when we are in hell. But this map exceed the bounds. The level is in fact enormously easier in lower difficulties , but that has no more interest.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2018 by Roofi

[Snikle]

MAP 02

 

Really short map compared to the last one. Felt way too easy. I should start pistol starting these, and maybe get off of ITYTD. Either way I had fun in this, even though it was more of a corridor shooter than Degrassi was.

[Tristan]

1 hour ago, Roofi said:

but knowing that there is nothing else to give head

 

well damn :(

[Crusader No Regret]

I was wondering about map 2's music, thanks NuMetalManiak.  Thought it was Chrono Cross but couldn't place it.

 

Map 3 is Esto Gaza from Final Fantasy 9.  It sounded familiar but took a while to make the connection.

[SleepyVelvet]

Extraordinary Sandy Petersen:  Map03 - “Escaping the Spiral Labyrinth”
Playtime: 2.65 hrs  (prb+; cl-1; uv-savescum)

 

The map starts out with a string of setpieces.  Easy enough to stroll through.  But then the "real" map starts.  It opens up to a large hectic sandbox.  There's a few megaspheres closeby, which i gobbled up too hastily while carving out a home base.  It turns out that made voyaging outward into the uncarved jungle much harder than it had to be.  I went down the east side into the canyon, and threw an army of expendible NoisyVelvets at the opposition until the monsters finally broke.  That path seemed kinda like a dead-end though, so I decided I had to go the other way.  I picked up a little momentum here in the hell-knight fight and carried it into the Yellow Key.

 

Then we get to some fun exploration based stuff; walking around on catwalks, etc.  I tried for the exit, but i didn't realize how to get it right away, so i went jumping around in the other (square, boxy) pit to explore some more.  Great stuff; more people need to make layouts like this.

 

After the red key, I had struggled a to choke down the Pain Elemental swarm; took a break for food actually and that helped.  Then it was back to the square, boxy pit with the red key doors...

 

This was a hard fight.  I'm not a big fan of arena fights where monsters teleport into the center of the action via dozens of teleport streams, at least not blind.  It makes it hard to forcast a risk-profile for ammo/health/movement.  Though, i found it helpful to take a double-take survey of the area and it's multiple megaspheres.  Taking note of such things before a big fight might've made it more fair:  I had success in running the "connect the dots" strategy, aka) hold down BFG fire and treat the monsters like damaging nukage while moving to the next megasphere.  Eventually one of the upper terraces cleared out and I camped the remainder there.

 

I returned to exploring. Found the ToD face secret. Nice neckbeard.

 

Then I returned to the exit, and finally remembered a trick that I learned quite recently - the "hover over damaging floor" trick (thanks, Heelz).

[Catpho]

Just now, NoisyVelvet said:

 

 

Then I returned to the exit, and finally remembered a trick that I learned quite recently - the "hover over damaging floor" trick (thanks, Heelz).

Whats that?

[SleepyVelvet]

you only take damage from a floor if doomguy's center is touching the ground.  if you time the "unf" damage tic when you're mid-air, you don't take that damage.  at the exit of map3 there's a series of platforms that recede into the lava, and you can exploit those (edit: which are also damaging btw).  to make things easier, you can actually just step up onto one of them slightly and miss the walk trigger that sinks them, so you don't have to do anything too fancy.  I assume that's how to beat the map, because you have to wait for the exit to lower while taking over 400% lava damage.

Edited March 3, 2018 by NoisyVelvet : like people are gonna know what an 'unf' tic is

[Roofi]

5 hours ago, Eris Falling said:

 

well damn :(

 Lol I was tired. xD Health*

[Grain of Salt]

7 hours ago, Crusader No Regret said:

I was wondering about map 2's music, thanks NuMetalManiak.  Thought it was Chrono Cross but couldn't place it.

 

Map 3 is Esto Gaza from Final Fantasy 9.  It sounded familiar but took a while to make the connection.

 

I don't suppose you know what the music in map31 is? I love that track.

[Roofi]

Map 03 :Never finished this level without death for now but :

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Catpho]

Not sure i can post a review for map03 today, considering it took me three days to finish degrassi(ive played it before), and looks like this one is even longer(judging from demo time) D:

Plus, im quite busy today :P

[Roofi]

Here is an attempt on Map 03 , I ran into a teleporter but the linedef didn't trigger so I fell in lava as a dumbass. My death shows how ToD loves unescapable pits...

 

DEMO

 

[NuMetalManiak]

11 hours ago, Crusader No Regret said:

I was wondering about map 2's music, thanks NuMetalManiak.  Thought it was Chrono Cross but couldn't place it.

 

Map 3 is Esto Gaza from Final Fantasy 9.  It sounded familiar but took a while to make the connection.

Aha! Final Fantasy 9, I had a feeling one of the tracks was gonna be a Final Fantasy track! I have that game on my to-play list in the future, but I got to tangle with 8 and Tactics first (played every FF game before that so far).