Veinen

SINERGY e4m8 UV-max in 2:56 And that's that for the Sinergy IL max table. s4g8-256.zip

SINERGY e4m7 UV-max in 4:32 s4g7-432.zip

SINERGY e4m6 UV-max in 2:38 s4g6-238.zip

SINERGY e4m5 UV-max in 5:10 s4g5-510.zip

KINDa map21 UV-max in 5:42 map22 UV-max in 2:57 map23 UV-max in 6:27 map24 UV-max in 2:56 map25 UV-max in 5:44 map26 UV-max in 9:48 map27 UV-max in 6:06 map28 UV-max in 4:49 map29 UV-max in 9:43 map30 UV-max in 1:17 map31 UV-max in 3:59 map32 UV-max in 7:56 kinda21-542.zip kinda22-257.zip kinda23-627.zip kinda24-256.zip kinda25-544.zip kinda26-948.zip kinda27-606.zip kinda28-449.zip kinda29-943.zip kinda30-117.zip kinda31-359.zip kinda32-756.zip

Well, here we go with the last three maps (yes I know, map32 is still left), better late than never. Really enjoyable, classic style mapset overall. You can tell TMW likes their TNT, many maps have that same feel and style. Map28: Knock Knock video An entertaining map and one that was really quite fun to grind for a good time. And grind I did, easily the longest it took for a demo thus far although mostly because I kept lowering my target time as I went. Casually played the map isn't hard but the speedrun route here is deadly, more so than anything else in the entire wad. The first major obstacles are the Manc and the Arach who both are keen to blocking your path and murdering you on sight. If the Manc is blocking it's game over due to time waste, if the Arach does what it did in my demo it's bad for health. And health is what you really like to have when rushing over the courtyard first time through the spawned hitscan mob as the damage they inflict is invariably significant. Most of my attempts ended in these first parts of the map. The SSG room is easily survivable with minimal health and then you get the Soulsphere soon after which carries you through the rest of the map. The AV at the end as well as the Revs are mere pushovers if you rationed your cells right but at that point the Soulsphere's healing effects are long gone so there's some tension there, especially related to the typical few hitscanners still alive at that point. There isn't really any big opportunities for infights here so this map is all about ammo effectiveness, the BFG especially of course since it's available so early, and again ammo seems overall quite plentiful so you've got some options on how to tackle things. One thing to note is that both the BFG and the SSG are in secrets, although both arguably not that hard to spot, so some players might have a much tougher time with the map if they don't find the secrets. The two Cacos up on the double lift area are comically ineffective, they hardly ever even bother to rise from the ground so you'll just shooting Caco scalps. Map29: The KINDa's Circuit video I think this is a fitting map29 in the set as it's the most ambitious and sprawling one in the set quite easily in my opinion. Monstrous was grand in scale but this is way more complex in terms of architecture and detailing etc, really TheMightyWhoosh's mapping prowess in full display Sceneries switch from typical techbase to wooden library with a couple of brief stints outdoors as well, a bit of a compilation of various ideas seen throughout the wad really but in a cute, classic 90s kind of way. In general the idea of a map like this, where you fight your way through the map to reach a key item, then fight your way back the same route, is interesting but perhaps tough to pull off. The biggest problems are linearity and how to make the trip back interesting, the former not being a big problem in my opinion as the action is pretty much constant but the latter maybe a little bit more so as the areas are considerably less occupied on your way back to the beginning than they were initially. I suppose you can fly through the trip back and think of it as prelude to the climax in the center of the map so ehh. Maxing the map was a little frustrating, for the first few minutes health is scarce and hitscanners plenty which means that you might as well restart if you take > 50% damage in the first few rooms. This wasn't very fun as the beginning is also the least enjoyable part of the entire map and I got to play it over and over again. Only after you reach the first AV does the map start to let up the tension with a sudden influx of healing items, culminating in a Soulsphere. Your reward at the end of the road is a yellow key and a megasphere, so the return journey is a much more relaxed one. The Cyber duo in the finale isn't very hard to deal with although fucking up the run is easy enough with errant BFG shots (which I admit happened a few times to my embarrassment). It's an impressive map overall, although being so linear it's not the among the most fun of the set when it comes to maxing. Map30: KINDa video A short map30 featuring a BFG-fest fight and TMW's rendition of the classic IoS fight. Took me a minute and 17 seconds to finish with 100% kill and secrets, the only real point of interest perhaps the way you can handle the IoS in a single ride of the lift: shoot it once quickly while the platform descends, then the second while it's ascending again and finally the third while jumping down from the platform. Getting the timing right is really easy too since the IoS is so close and the lift moves slowly. Added bonus with that strategy is that the IoS barely manages to spawn anything!

Map27: Congo Control video Not bad, certainly a notch or two more difficulty here compared to map26 thanks to the copious amounts of Plutonic Chaingunner hordes that teleport in at key situations. The texture theme is somewhat Plutonia as well as the map name suggests and there's notably more curves here compared to your average KINDa map, it's a nice little "twist" to the typical style we've experience thus far. Can't say this would still be a very tough map at all or Plutonia-esque in that regard, definitely not so when you find the extremely rewarding secrets. Ammo is also quite fair here, didn't really feel any pressure around that if you just pick up the one shell box at the warehouse in the beginning. Once again the teleport closets could be designed a bit better as like this they result in sometimes painfully slow trickle of the last few monsters. it's not really a problem here in general other than in the tree island where you get to wait a random amount of time for the Chaingunners to show up, ideally they come almost immediately like in the video but often I had to wait up to like 15 seconds for the last one or two to teleport in. You can leave them behind and the will typically follow you into the main map eventually when you're tele'd back to the warehouse with the SSG but I thought it's better to wait for them initially than go looking for random wandering monsters later. Favorite part is probably the final sequences behind the blue door where a fuck ton of Chaingunners get unleashed, suitably chaotic action and of course extremely satisfying to mow them down with the RL. Enjoyable map overall and decent fun to max as well.

Still chugging along here... Map26: Monstrous video It's a big map but hardly monstrous. A lot of ways to go for a blind player but it's turns out to be fairly straightforward if you know your way around a bit. Difficulty is very low, I feel like it's one of the easiest map in the set overall mainly due to the secret megastash of goodies in the middle of the hubstructure. Said stash ends all your potential ammo and health issues pretty much for the rest of the map as in addition to the BFG and the Megasphere you also get to crush the Cyber. Talk about big rewards! Quite fun to run though and I spent a few evenings with this just to push the time down under 10 minutes. It's the kind of map that really mostly follows the plan that I've laid out and the result is more elegant I suppose than some of the more chaotic maps. Love the BFG opportunities too, I think the shot I take at the Soulsphere secret which kills both the Arach and the Manc is one of my favorite moments in the map. Biggest reason for restarts in this map wasn't death but missing monsters, which unfortunately you can't really tell until the very end. The Cacos (and the Pinkie) in the hub roam and often end up near the starting area (you can see me check the right side as I'm going to the BK and I barely managed to see the Pinkie) so they're very easy to miss. There's really no way to tell whether they've succumbed to infighting or just hiding somewhere so a lot of "what the fuck did I miss??" happened. The teleport closets are also noticeably slow but time waste can be mitigated by multitasking. Overall I like the map but I guess a little bit more difficulty wouldn't have hurt; we're pretty much at the final stretch now after all.

Map25: Her Company video Another map that I thought would suck to do and frankly it did for a while until I figured out a very consistent, easy and conveniently timed way to get through the crusher room unscathed. Other than the crushers, this map is actually quite fun and very easy, courtesy of an early Mega-armor and an early Soulsphere which easily carry you through the map. Surprisingly mild hitscanner density this time, the majority of fodder enemies being Imps here for a change. Some of them are of the dreaded ledge Imp variety but there's a shit ton of ammo, relatively speaking at least, and they tend to bunch up nicely so they're easy and fast to dispatch. Ammo and weapon placement kind of encourages you to skip stuff early on and clean up later when you pick up the SSG and the big backpack stash near the exit. Fortunately the wall also opens to reveal the exit from the other side so there's not much backtracking involved. Better leave the two teleport ambushes to trickle in on their own and multitask instead of wasting time waiting around. Like in Her Keep, the SM here is only a marginal threat and taken care of easily with the free BFG. Visually this looks good once again and you can never go wrong with the blood & wood aesthetic. Enjoyable map overall, though really easy for the 25th map of the megawad.

Map24: Frontier in Situ video Love it. It's pretty much a big gun power trip against the hapless hordes inhabiting the two fortresses. Take your BFG shots well and there's plenty left to destroy fodder with the PG in between. The Cyber at the beginning is a non-factor apart from the cheeky initial surprise, can help with the Cacos latter but it's slow so I didn't go for that. While the map is quite easy if playing casually, this is just the kind of map that I find myself grinding again and again for an ever faster time, looking for those ideal BFG shots and to see the plan executed to perfection. Sacrificing health at the altar of speed leads to plenty of deaths and I learned to hate a few details in this map: the lift secret that triggers at the PG is I think also triggered by monsters (?) so sometimes it doesn't work like you expect. The two HK's are some of the most useless enemies I've seen in a while, zero threat but garbage to kill as they like to hide walk back and forth the side so half the time they're out of range. But the overall experience is very much positive still. The map really reminded me stylistically of valkiriforce's stuff like Reverie or Doom Core, in terms of both aesthetics and gameplay too. Good stuff!

KINDa map11 UV-max in 2:45 map12 UV-max in 5:06 map13 UV-max in 3:06 map14 UV-max in 4:44 map15 UV-max in 5:52 map16 UV-max in 2:33 map17 UV-max in 6:28 map18 UV-max in 4:57 map19 UV-max in 6:30 map20 UV-max in 7:53 kinda11-245.zip kinda12-506.zip kinda13-306.zip kinda14-444.zip kinda15-552.zip kinda16-233.zip kinda17-628.zip kinda18-457.zip kinda19-630.zip kinda20-753.zip

Map23: Bloodlove video Damn, I could not have been more wrong about this map. I thought this would suck hard based on my blind first playthrough where I got extremely lost and ran completely out of ammo, but in subsequent playthroughs this turned into a really quite the fun "arena" map. It's still really stingy with ammo, not a single one of my exits had anything else but bullets left (if that), but health is pretty abundant thanks to the Megasphere and knowing what to do obviously eliminates the aspect of cryptic progression, biggest problem of the map for blind players. The layout takes you through most areas multiple times so the primary tactic is to skip things initially and create chaos, and clean up later. The biggest issue in that strategy is that it's very susceptible to monsters wandering into weird corners around the map and it's then just a matter of checking the most common spots and not getting unlucky. For the cleanup you have a BFG with limited ammo so better make the shots count; I decided that two or three against the big Arach horde is sufficient and the rest earlier and more improvised based on how monsters bunch up. I got really good couple of Arach infights in the demo, taking down some of the hell noble meat wandering around in the YK side of the map. Megasphere secret requires wasn't that hard to get but does require precise movement and if you bump into the first stairs like I did first you can already tell that you can't make it. Falling into the bloody pit at the BK is an unfortunate blemish in the demo that wastes a few seconds but oh well. The teleporting linedef that takes you the BK is really easy to linedef skip and happened almost every attempt even if I purposefully didn't straferun there. Fortunately the lift is pretty slow so you have to react to that. So overall a tale of two maps really: initial experience was that of confusion, frustration and anger but when you know your way around the map this turns into a very enjoyable one to play!

Map22: Skin video I don't think anyone who has been reading my commentary will find it surprising that I liked this map a lot. It's essentially an arena map where you have two objectives: 1) unleash everything and 2) lay waste. The free Megasphere helps a ton with the latter and this is such a short map anyway that risky tactics can be deployed without putting crazy amounts of time into getting a good demo done. Like one might imagine, getting shit killed effectively is quite luck-based in the end although of course there are some basic things to consider like try to use the rockets against bigger groups instead of Pinkies / Spectres that are everywhere. I don't mind the AV turret but he's tough to hit sometimes if he doesn't stop and target you and it's easy to waste precious ammo against the guy. Not much else to this really, really fun to blast through and a welcome breather map after a bunch of longer ones (and before map23 which was extremely frustrating in my blind playthrough). Visuals and automap gave me some Hell Revealed map07 flashbacks initially but fortunately it's nothing of that kind gameplay-wise.

Map21: Melancholy video Eeeehhh. Stupid tight ammo balance if you take the quickest route through the map, until the very end where you can restock with the teleporting Sarges' droppings. The map isn't much more generous with health either but apart from the first few minutes I found this to be quite easy even with low health. Learned of the Megasphere only after reading a few comments here but don't really need it so it doesn't matter that I missed it. There's more than enough radiation suits available if you know what to do so at least that's not an issue, nor do I remember having any problem with that during my blind playthrough. This is again a map where combat feels somehow slow-paced and inconsequential at times as you're chipping away at enemies that you really don't need or particularly want to kill, but driven by completionism (and the damned UV-max ruleset...) you do it anyway (the perched Imps or the random Arach trio rising from the ground, for example). The YK teleport ambush, if left alone to trickle in while doing other stuff, usually leads to a few monsters wandering around the nukage corridors which just means you need to double-check every potential hiding spot before proceeding to the final area. Visually it's competent as usual, as in Toxic I like the nukage drains and flows here as well and the mechanics for progress are simple but neat. The rocky outdoor areas a nice contrast to the green and brown of the base, not only in colours but in scale too. They do feel a bit empty though with the amount of enemies within. Doing the demo wasn't quite as engaging as I would've hoped and with me falling behind ever further I didn't spend very much time with that.

Map20: Monster HQ video The maps seem to be getting bigger and bigger, this one is easily the grandest in scale thus far and takes almost 8 minutes to max even with a clear route in mind. It's a bit of breather in terms of difficulty though, after the hitscan & AV filled map19 and the grueling map17. There's a good amount of recovery items in the first half of the map and only in the underground section you're starting too feel the heat a little bit, but then you're given a handy Megasphere which easily takes you through the rest of the map. Several people commented on ammo scarcity in this map but at least with the pre-planned route this felt one of the more generous maps in the set with a lot of cells and rockets to use. Compared to the previous map this one relies much more on constant incidental combat rather than separate encounters, which is good for the flow and since the progression makes you loop around the map a few times you can just leave shit behind and clean up later. A slight problem are wandering monsters in the hub area if you do leave stuff behind but fortunately they seem to be in a certain few places that area close by. The Gotcha fight is easy to initiate but I almost feel bad doing it since the Mastermind never has a chance... Tiny switches are my pet peeve big time so I don't really appreciate those and a couple of times I had weird bug with the rising bridge to the blue key where it starts rise but doesn't go all the way and then lowers back to the ground. You're stuck at that point and I have no idea what causes it to happen Overall an enjoyable map, a lot of TNT again I feel.