cannonball

Just an update from me - Things are still going on behind the scenes, Dobu has gone through every map and cleaned up the auto maps. There are also a couple more streamers going through this at the moment and some adjustments will be made by me (hopefully minor) to fix a few issues/visual glitches. Hopefully something resembling a final release should be out by the start of October. As such @Nine Inch Heels, it would be great if I can have your edits to E3M6 and E3M8 by the end of the month if that is okay with you.

Whilst I probably won’t make a bespoke level this time, I will plan to finish a couple of solo projects that are close to completion, if that is okay of course.

Scythe has one of the most controversial maps in the classic era (I say classic because I think Scythe just about pre-dates the more modern sets that we have got used to today). So it isn't wrong to do something to rile the player up, unfortunately for me platforming is not my strong point and trying to offer any kind of feedback feels worthless because in the end my complaints stem purely from my ability to handle stuff like this. In the end is A2Rob is happy then I would say that a little more effort could be done to spruce the map up (at the moment it feels like it needs to be fleshed out a bit more visually, like the map is merely a concept piece to test the water). Other than that, may whatever deity have mercy on you once you load this up :P

MAP21 - “Estado Transcendente” by Tarnsman In a way this feels like a gag on the player who has had to endure some rather harsh conditions during episode 2, here there is health strewn around like Map10's parody, however here you can frequently replenish your health. The rocket launcher is your friend here and the hardest part is actually trying to grab the first invulnerability because you can be easily crowded out by spectres. Here the BFG is the weapon to use to clear a path, once protected briefly from splash damage you can go to town. I did make a mistake when entering the red key area, I ran out of rockets because I didn't resupply, however the entire revenant horde was dispatched by my own fist (I am usually pretty useless here but the megasphere gave the confidence to take them all down). The rest of the combat is fun but actually quite straightforward, you shouldn't run out of rockets and tight spaces can still be resolved through careful usage of the BFG. The only real complaint I have with the level is that it seems to lean on parody a little too much (The abundance of power ups you can only have one shot at grabbing etc), it felt a little unnecessary here, but otherwise this is a fun map to decompress to, because you can gib a sizable percentage of the monsters here. I suspect that the rest of episode 3 will not follow the same path, but it is a welcome change of pace.

MAP20 - “¡Te Tengo Ahora!” by Tarnsman Short, sharp and to the point, essentially more my cup of tea. In reality once you get out of the starting room the map shouldn't be overly difficult, just a little patience and let the cybers do their thing. There is very little to complain about here as the map is over in a few minutes and the gameplay mechanic does not outstay its welcome. Overall certainly one of the highlights of the wad so far, though perhaps it is because it is in stark contrast to the last few maps that makes it more effective. PS - Thanks for the secret, I know the author is "South American McGee", but I suspect someone else might have been responsible for that one :P

MAP19 - “La Ciudadela” by Tarnsman Guess who missed the SSG near the start and ground through the map regardless without it :) I think this map is always going to be a chore on the first playthrough and I suspect that second/third attempts would yield much better rewards. The telefrag mechanic at the end was pointless for me this time because the Mastermind was already dispatched by her children during a squabble that I was unaware had been instigated at some point whilst I was running around. In the end there are plenty of radsuits but they are placed in locations that may require taking a fair amount of damage to acquire if you run out in the wrong place (Again foreknowledge should allow for some decent planning here), the same goes for weapons that often require significant effort to claim for yourself. There are sizable number of fairly well placed spiders and a lot of the encounters tend to involve chaingunners and revenants and by the end you are being fed breadcrumbs whilst your are being robbed big time in the health department. In the end this was a struggle and not overly enjoyable, but I can objectively see the qualities on offer here with this expansive and well crafted level, also the end sequence is neat regarding the construction of the bridge to reach the exit.

MAP18 - “La Corte de Yardas” by Breezeep, Tarnsman A generally rather quiet map, there are a few nasty traps, the nastiest being the yellow key, which felt like a reprise of that awful rocket launcher trap in Map16, this time I had the plasma gun so I could hose down the opposition for the most part. The ending is a nice twist but the outdoor section following felt a little odd given the monsters tend to be partialy hidden so you can cheese this section. Overall this one looks great, has a few gags embedded but in honesty this felt a little too quiet overall.

This was not the Spanish getaway I was looking for…..

MAP16 - “Afueras” by Tarnsman Okay that rocket launcher trap is just plain rude, don't find this after completing most of the level and using up the blue armour and soulsphere that can be found elsewhere because this trap will kill you several times. Otherwise this map is a fine sandbox piece, the incidental combat keeps you busy and the traps around the key will keep the player honest. Nothing majorly terrifying but enough to keep you interested. Overall aside from that one annoying feature, this was a fine map. MAP17 - “Viviendas” by Tarnsman Navigation wise this is probably the map I have struggled with the most, this feels like a mix of Tom Mustaine and Tom Hall melded into one. This map can go south quite quickly towards the end as to aid with the progression monster closets are released to keep the combat ticking over, this includes arch viles that can resurrect a lot of enemies if you happen to put them down the first time in the wrong place. In the end I found a few rather obvious secrets that helped a lot (Including two blue armours and the plasma gun). In the end the map played just about fine but I can see some having a real mare with this one. In the end I can see where the map is coming from, but there is too much here to put in the bad pile to rate this too highly, that said there is plenty of engaging combat sprinkled around the hallways and more open spaces that you traverse from time to time.

MAP32 - “Hotel California” by Tarnsman Well I "Died" in the correct place eventually.... It is hard to really gauge where this one sits because it achieves exactly what it sets out to do, the map is quite harrowing to pistol start to the point where taking on everything up front isn't really possible. Luckily the progression tends to allow the player to leave monsters from previous ambushes alive as they cannot follow you that far until near the end due to the use the fast opening doors. Still when the exit was reached I was in no mood to go back and finish everything off. The red key section was fine, the baron/crusher section was survived first time and the rest if a little irritating due to ammo (Again). The blue key section feels like too much of a roll of the dice moment for me, this is an infight party that is made tricky due to the design of the arena. The yellow key I legged it from because at this point my luck was out and every revenant rocket seemed to do 80 damage. I respect this map for what it is trying to do, but I don't think I can say that I enjoyed it. Still I prefer this to map31 purely because the design elements make sense in respect to where you are, in map31 it felt like ammo restriction for the sake of it, which reached the point where it dragged the map down considerably.

MAP15 - “Zona de la Industria” by esselfortium, Tarnsman This is probably the least fun in a while, there are a lot of rather obnoxious combat scenarios embedded within this one, some can be quite fun (I had no problem with the pain elemental blowout) but some of the others were very questionable to say the least. Opening the secret exit is absolutely diabolical, I don't know whether to give the authors a high five or a good hiding. MAP31 - “Zona Secreta” by Breezeep, Tarnsman I don't mind puzzle maps and this element of the map I don't have much of a problem with, but it is the other elements such as ammo starvation and creating situations where the player can be royally stuffed that is the problem, especially later on with some heavier demons prowling the place. In the end this was an interesting map but made some decisions that seem to be independent of the secret map element that really aggravated me.

MAP14 - “Los Antros más Íntimos” by Jimmy Mixed feelings about this one, ironically despite being nearly half way through the wad, this is probably one of the easiest maps and I get the feeling that this is to the detriment of the map. On the flip side this one actually feels more akin to the difficulty of Doom 2 where once you have got yourself dug in that you can pretty easily move around the map without too much hassle. Ammo is plentiful once you figure out that a lot of effort has been made to prevent the player from getting into difficulty by taking an unorthodox route, in a way that does make me wonder whether this map was built to contain tougher opposition that what actually resides here. This map in a way made me think of some of Gusta's more non-linear efforts and wondered if the map would have fared better with a touch of sadism embedded into the gameplay. It is kind of funny that we are playing a "Inmost Dens" homage map for the second time in two months, of which they were made by the same author nearly ten years apart. The flow and progression are far superior here, yet I kind of wish that the bite of that 1024 map was here too, in a way I think a spicier maps would have kept the mind focused because my main navigational issue was locating the blue key early on and forgetting where it was after killing 75% of he inhabitants sprinkled throughout the rest of the map. Overall this is probably the most intricate map yet and is on the whole well designed and looks great for a vanilla map, however the gameplay was a little lacking and this is probably the first map so far that I sort of zoned out of a little bit. I think this one is a lot more subjective a critique than for most of the maps so far and I can understand others loving this one.

MAP13 - “Centro de la ciudad” by AD_79 Whilst this isn't as audacious as Map10, there are a lot of design decisions that differ from most maps we have seen so far. A lot of scrolling wall textures for a start in places where it struggles to make any sense, but this is something seen in a lot of Sandy's Doom maps anyway. Personally whilst this might not hit like some of the maps so far, this is a well constructed map that certainly improves on efforts such as Downtown from Doom 2. The map flows well and there are a few barbs located within the modest monster count. Overall solid and there is enough here to leave an impact, it is also nice to play a map that on the whole doesn't make provocative design decisions that could go either way.

MAP12 - “La Fábrica” by esselfortium, Tarnsman The rocket launcher feels a little too tucked out of the way, though obviously it can be accessed more easily after you get the blue key, this is a shame because the fight to get the weapon is pretty neat. Without getting the rocket launcher means that a few of the fights can be a little tricky/grindy, especially behind the blue key door. The rest of the map flows quite neatly along with some jumping required for several parts of the progression, but nothing too taxing. The highlight here is a secret that I guess references Crater more than anyway else with a half loop to get the megasphere that connects with other areas and allows us to see things that we were perhaps not supposed to see and give a different visual collage compared to the rest of the map. I also liked the plasma gun room, purely because of how obnoxious it was (In a rather amusing fashion). A solid map overall, though I just wish that some things weren't tucked away to the point where they could essentially be called secrets, especially if it house something that can make the map more fun.

MAP11 - “Círculo de la Muerte” by Tarnsman This feels like the bigger brother of map07, unfortunately in my opinion it is also less fun. This map (Like Map09) has a habit of presenting the player with a situation where there are a few ways to completely snooker yourself, because the map is larger, this becomes more of a chore than having to restart the shorter "Pit". The map looks nice, has a good midi and is solidly built, but I struggled for the first half because I was short on rockets and didn't have the SSG, the second half that climaxed with the telefragging of the mastermind felt a little limp. In the end this one felt a little disappointing after what has been a solid stretch of maps since around map05, its fine but I guess the big finale to this episode fell flat for me.