SoundofDoomDoors

MAP10: Shimmering Grotto 100% Kills/50% Secrets/0 Deaths (6 total) -I can't see in here! Maps this dark should have a pair of light goggles around. It's not scary to me at all, just annoying. I turned my gamma up so I could see more than a foot in front of me. -Cramped! I could barely move for most of the level. I guess this is how pipicz chose to implement difficulty here, but it's more frustrating than entertaining. The props are especially bad. -The blue switch mosh pit was fun. -The laughing vile near one of the switch sequences was great. I knew what was going to happen when I cleared everything but the exit switch though. The pcorf viles have overstayed their welcome by several maps now. *yawn* Overall: One fun spot amidst a dreary, nearly pitch black slog can't save this level. I might have a new least favorite. The wad's been a roller coaster so far. --- MAP11: Verdant 2 Deaths, incomplete. I'll get back to this. It's pretty frustrating about halfway through. Every time I try to get out and run, I lose 3/4ths of my health or die. Gigantic area that looks made for fun? Try a spiderdemon/archvile/chaingunner crossfire with popup skeletons to stop you from cooking the vile quickly. I need sleep.

I'll play MAP10 later. MAP09: Mountain Outpost 100% Kills/100% Secrets/1 Death -I love the use of the blursphere. I got most of the hitscanners with it. Cacodemons slowing me down account for why all of them didn't die in one of the best uses of the power-up I've seen. -Archvile placement ranges from yawn inducing to "not another one at the exit!" Saw it coming. Camping the guy at the plasma rifle from the ledge above was boring. -"SoundofDoomDoors was splattered by a cyberdemon." I nearly had a megasphere's worth of health when I unlocked him(vile bros got me once so I was at about 150/150), but that's a pretty small space to fight in. He didn't get as lucky the second time. -I like the start. -Describing the bridge attack as Pickett's charge....that's pretty good. Until I read DotW's commentary, I was prepared to rip into that part. Now I've changed my mind. -Monster blocking lines are pretty aggressive here. I camped the YK door too. The only real challenge in that fight is carving your way out. I think I got rid of a mancubus and a cacodemon before running out. Locking the player in would make that part more fun. Overall: Pretty good map even with its issues. It's a love/hate level for me.

MAP08: Toxic Sea 100% Kills/100% Secrets/0 Deaths (5 total) -That was fun. The big open fight for the blue key was especially entertaining. -Then I got a blue armor and settled in for the rest of the level. -I no trouble with the ending archvile (expected since I was missed a monster with 100% secrets + last map). -The cacodemons dealt more damage to me than the rest of the level combined though. -Toothless cyberdemon. Two doors make it easy to escape when he tries to camp you. -I vastly prefer revenants in dark cubbieholes versus chaingunners. It's easier to track the skeletons back to their hiding places thanks to their projectiles. -That hitscanner room at the end was hilarious. I fired one shot, took cover, and listened to them murder each other. I think pipicz expected me to fight, judging by the secret in that room. Overall: I had fun. The more open spaces are welcome. Sometimes I still have to door camp before I get in a room, but at least I get to run around afterward.

MAP07: The Amphitheater 96% Kills/100% Secrets/5 Deaths (5 total) -Yawn. I hate dead simple clones. -I pistol started this to get rid of smooth doom. The new barons are pretty boring. -All of my deaths were in the last room. Now I know what people mean about getting caught on the scenery. I could barely move in there! -Both bosses were complete non-threats. I killed them painfully slowly with the SSG because of the pistol start. Now I know why people recommend AGAINST playing this way. Never again on this wad. Overall: Dead Simple clone/10.

Guess we don't get Go2It this year. Bet he gets killed in the main wad instead (didn't last time iirc). I think I'm going to do a game of bingo during the run to see how many donators names being read out I recognize (including myself). Doom hype sign just got stuck in front of the camera. I'm ready now.

MAP06: Anomaly Entrance 98% Kills/100% Secrets/0 Deaths (0 Total) -Better than the last level. I didn't camp nearly as much here. -The big outdoor area you visit before any of the keys had the same problem as the end of the previous level. I could barely tell where the hitscanners were. -I got lots of ammo to cut through all the meat. I made good use of the rockets and plasma here. -The hitscanner arena was pretty boring. -Where's the first death exit in this wad? I think I need to disable smooth doom. The Z-Secs work properly, but I don't think the barons are, judging by other people's descriptions of them. Overall: Nice to have some breathing space. I'm glad MAP05 seems to be an anomaly in quality, as of now.

MAP05: Intersection 100% Kills/100% Secrets/0 Deaths (0 Total) -Camp camp camp. With all the meat in this level, I only found an opening to run around in the southern courtyard, and only after thinning everything out. -Cliche berserk secret, but I made use of it a few times against spectres. It shines in the RL secret. -You get a non-secret RL at the end to help mop up the "shitscanners" (great choice of words). That last room was terrible. I'm glad I had dozens of rockets from earlier levels to vent my frustration instead of the ten or so I found lying around here. I haven't died yet to this wad, but sections like this frustrate me. -The problem with the shitscanners at the end is how dark the cages are. Good thing I have dynamic lights on in GZDoom so they flash when the enemies fire. Otherwise I'd have had no idea where the enemies were. -The spectres in the exit area weren't an issue for me. I got the spiders first with autoaim. Then I dropped down and punched the melee guys below with the zerk. -With five deathless levels, I'm going to start counting my deaths. I got around 450 playing Skill 3 Sunlust last time I counted, if I recall correctly. This wad won't top that. I doubt Ancient Aliens blew me up any more than 150 times, to compare.

MAP04: Fallout Shelter 100% Kills/50% Secrets -The pacing changes a lot between the frantic opening and the slower remainder of the level. -I got the secret in the secret. Those are always fun. -I like how leaving some skeletons alive on a ledge at one point results in them being much easier to waste later on due to a monster blocking line. -Normally I hate pitch black areas. I think the one here works well. The more you poke around, the brighter it becomes and the more enemies come out. -There's so much health and armor laying around in the level that even the hitscanner packs in those closets don't pose a threat. -I second joe illya's comment about the archvile. I just SSG'd him instead of using the chaingun. He's no threat at all. The enemies he raises waste time, but with all the ammo I have at this point, it's only a matter of being patient. Overall: I prefer the faster pacing of the previous two levels. This is okay too. A lot of things I normally don't like are present here, but the way they're combined results in a pretty fun experience.

Since rdwpa played early, I decided to follow suit. MAP03: Conquered Quarters 100% Kills/100% Secrets -I went for a rambo approach to the opening half or so of the map. It was great. Pipicz leaves a lot of everything lying around. I bet he likes playing the same way. -The new hitscanners reduced me to 20 health. Then I went back and found the secret with the two spheres. Perfect timing. I wasted the last guy in the exit room and left with a big grin on my face. -They seem to occupy a niche between a shotgunner and a chaingunner, but have more health than either of their vanilla cousins. First impression: I don't like it. I'm used to the soft but powerful custom enemies from last month's wad. -The hexagonal detailing pipicz uses on the floor here in the outdoor areas is something I've seen before. z86 does it a lot in Hellbound. I picked up the idea from him and it even shows up in my DUMP 3 map, so I like it. rdwpa is of course entitled to his own opinion. -The point blank hell knight to the face when you get the SSG is a dick move. Overall: Other than the hell knight, I love this map.

MAP02: Brass Square 100% Kills/66% Secrets -I got the chaingun in a nonstandard way too (SR40). No idea how you get it legitimately. -Hitscanners are used well here to keep the pace high. -It just doesn't last long. Early Scythe is a good comparison, and I LOVE Scythe. -The cacos drag a bit. I guess he used a skeleton at the end of the last map, so that's out. Maybe a hell knight in the exit area would have been less spongy than the three guys I killed to top off my monster count. -It's not as tight on anything as the first level. Perhaps that's my carryover talking. Overall: This is my kind of pacing. The caco sponges at the end are ominous.

Alright, I played one level of this wad last month and it looked good. I didn't cast my vote since it'd already run away with the poll. Hopefully I can stick with this as I work my way through the other 3/4ths of DUMP 3. 78 maps is no joke, but I contributed one level to the project, so doing write-ups on the others is my way of giving back. If there's one thing I can do besides mapping, it's writing about other people's maps. I've sure gotten lots of practice here. I'll be playing on UV continuous with saves and freelook. I hope this doesn't become another Hellbound at the midway point like some people are saying. That could make me drop it. Hellbound bored me to death around MAP25. But yeah, on to MAP01, which I'm replaying after a week's absence. For DUMP 3, I cribbed rdwpa's bullet point structure for my feedback. I'll do the same here. MAP01: Inception 100% Kills 66% Secrets -Slow start! I like the traps within traps, not so much boxing the player in with imps. That happened twice. -I had to punch out two hell knights. That's not good. No wonder people are saying don't pistol start this. -I like how soft the pipicz's shadows are. -I DON'T like inaccessible outdoor areas like the section below the initial helipad. Stick a secret in it! -The frantic battle after you get the shotgun was the highlight of the level for me. Overall: Lots of zombieman pistoling. At least it gets good when you get the shotgun.

Seconded on leaving it. I laughed when I opened the blue door on that map. And I think Essel's idea is even better. Play up the joke.

Ah so I'm not the only one that took on the last two maps together. I'll just leave this here, then. All 73 maps of DUMP 3 await. That means I probably won't feel like playing Bloodstain, which is too bad. I tried the first level and liked it. Here are the last few notes from me. MAP29: The Ones Behind It All 100% Kills 100% (0/0) Secrets That was easier than the last map. I got blown up once by archviles in the second arena. Then I circlestrafed the remaining 600 monsters to death, excluding a few archviles and cyberdemons I got rid of personally. I wonder, did a timer trigger the archvile crushers in the second area? I just used rockets to take them out. At the end, I noticed the ceilings moving after I'd cleaned up the trash on the lower level. The reveal here was great too. It just got overshadowed by MAP30's hilarity when I first played it. I kept waiting for a mob in the room with the scientists, but I had to teleport away from them to reach the final wave. --- MAP30: The End 100% (0/0) Kills 100% Secrets Before playing: Oh is this a Going Down inspired MAP30? Sure looks like it with the one secret and lack of enemies. After: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I love it! The narration. The creeps in lab coats. The X-Files quotes in the final intermission. Was it all a dream? I don't know or care. It's the perfect ending to one of the most surreal wads I've ever played. I love Going Down's MAP30. I love this even more. --- Overall: This is one of the standout releases of the year. It gets a cacoward for sure. I had a blast playing it too. It's kind of difficult to compare it to Valiant, its most obvious contemporary, due to each wad having gameplay changes of its own. Suffice to say I love them both. My picks: Most memorable Levels: MAP06, MAP29, MAP30. Most Creative Level Design: MAP26's double-edged use of the blursphere. Nonlinearity Awards: MAP27, MAP20. Most Beautiful Level: MAP24. Holy Shit That's a Lot of Skeletons: MAP28's finale. Most Quotable Blurb: "Run. Hide. The spiders never stop." You Got Your Duke in My Doom: MAP31.

MAP28: Floating Arena (Joshy) 100% Kills 100% Secrets I only got the V-sphere after everything was dead. Boo. Otherwise, I had a lot of fun. DotW spoke truly when he said it's not as bad as it looks at the start. I was pretty nervous yesterday going into this level, but it went much better than I expected. Two parts were really difficult: the beginning and the end. The rest was more relaxed. I had enough ammo lying around at the end to get a refill before I left. It must not be very tight from a pistol start, since I'm playing from a carryover. I did use all the megaspheres, though. That's not really a problem, however. The next map gives you one before it begins. Good thing too, it's another slaughtermap. I played the first arena. If that's any indication, the rest ought to be pretty good.

MAP 27: Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls 100% Kills 100% Secrets Breather level! I don't remember the last time I beat a level in this wad without dying once. I did it here, probably for the first time since early E1. The section with the barrels was amusing. I got it immediately, mainly because I had run in and out of alien ships to survive parts of MAP08. It was a strange kind of callback in that way for me. I think I left a soulsphere behind. Judging by the start of the next map, I'm going to regret that. The pain starts tomorrow. Joshy's got over 700 enemies this time, and I doubt they're 2/3rd zombiemen like the last map he did for this wad. P.S: Nice Indy reference.