RHhe82

MAP26: Igneus. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 74/76, S: 1/1, I: 50/50. Comp. time 11:55 Abandoned Mines is one of my favourite Doom 2 levels -- and Igneus might be my favourite level of Abscission so far. It's a bittersweet romance, because I failed to do away with final two enemies. I guess I should have used the cybie more, instead of wasting my final round of ammo against it, leaving me with only an unberserked fist against an imp and a cacodemon, both of which resided in a ledge where I couldn't reach them anymore. So, ammo starvation is a minor issue. But somehow I didn't mind that much this time; Igneus is a nicely lit and nicely crafted place that's probably the hardest Abscission has offered so far: the point where you first dropdown by the ARROW IN A DOOM MAP is one hectic gauntlet I had to try again and again. It's followed by the cyberdemon cavern, which also made me run for my money. I hate lost souls. The place looks great, and I believe it's the best usage of the IoS Brain Lava texture I've seen: usually there's something weird about it, but in Igneus there's a wall where it looks nice, because it's combined with a light level decoration. Great map, which I'll try and max later, because it's also slightly stressful. *** 15 minutes later: Indeed, replayed it: K: 76/76, S: 1/1, I: 50/50. Comp. time 10:42 This time I was left with decent surplus ammo. So, my first playthrough was less than optimal, and now I like the map even more. Although I'm still pissed at the lost souls, especially in the cyber cavern. On my 2nd playthrough also the inescapable (I assumed) pits pissed me a little, but not nearly enough not to love this map. One additional note: On my first time I was puzzled at some of the out-of-reach areas. It's kind of cool, makes the place look more, umm, rooted in its world, possibly we're given glimpses of maps to come. I love it when that's done, yet at the same time I spent quite some time looking for ways to reach a medikit that's presumably unreachable. Also, the yellow is nowhere to be found, I guess: it'd let me access the mysterious teleporter in the cyber cavern. For long I wondered what the teleporter was doing there. *** Added upon posting: Twenty-five maps in two months is awfully lot, no wonder there's burnout... But unless I'm alone with my opinion, a break was worth it. I mean it's obviously worth it in order to heal from burnout, but I think the break can be seen in the resulting map.

MAP25: Exsanguination. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 104/104, S: 1/1, I: 1/1. Comp. time 13:44 Okay, good, while I do see the Bloodfalls influence, this one becomes more its own thing rather than pastiche. While I have a soft spot for Bloodfalls, this one improves upon it: at least there are actual bloodfalls now while the original felt more abstract in that sense. Already the start makes me a bit happy: it's well-lit! And we get the SSG right away! Although once we enter deeper it gets darker... but not so much as to get on my nerves the wrong way. The hardest part was the cramped fight with a hell knight and pain elementals and a couple of zombiemen, that's where I died legit (another time I died was getting surprised at the end, when the revenant and the pesky archvile resurrecting earlier in the map get thrown into the fight). Solid map, I say.

Posting my review later, but as for next month’s picks… I’ll be on vacation, and especially on the first half of August quite busy with other stuff, but I hope I’ll have time for Doom as well. +++Simulacrum (already started this, but only on MAP08 by now). +++Good Morning Phobos (from Horus’ post - why not). (might come up with a third option later)

MAP24: Abyssal Refuge. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 155/155, S: 5/5, I: 4/4. Comp. time 33:44 I actually like Chasm, so I didn't enter Abyssal Refuge with low expectations. And indeed, it's a fine map, although bit on a back-tracky side, and as such it somewhat outstays its welcome. Although -- I'm not sure if I broke the progression. Somehow I was able to open the red key door in the control room on my first visit there, which might have caused me to adventure in wrong direction. On the other hand, yellow key door secret demands you backtrack and do the crusher-pillar section twice. I wonder if it is necessary, though? Was the yellow key completely optional? I'm not sure. It DID grant access to some much-needed supplies, because for the most part I was suffering from serious lack of ammo and other resources. Radsuits were plenty enough, thankfully, but armor was almost completely lacking, there was no SSG... On a replay the situation would be less dire because of all the secrets, some of were difficult to find. For instance, the path to BFG I found only by stumbling off the cliff and unexpectedly landing on a ledge. This time the darkness didn't bother me -- I suppose one well-lit map before helped somewhat.

MAP23: Hazard Pay. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 104/104, S: 1/1, I: 20/22. Comp. time 14:36 Barrels of Fun is one my least favourite levels in Doom 2, especially on pistol start, but on continuous too. Hazard Pay, on the other hand, is much more to my liking; it also draws heavily from source material, but I think it manages to make it more of its own thing while retaining the core of the original. That said: I kinda wish it had exaggerated on the barrels and other funny aspects a bit more. No matter, I still like it. For some reason I had a lot of trouble with all the encounters involving archviles. I also suffered a bit from thinking I'll run out of ammo, and yet at the end I had something like 30 rockets to spare -- a replay would probably be more enjoyable. Added the next day: And I just realized (after posting the review of MAP16) that the map is bright! That must be another reason I liked it! :D

MAP22: Mausoleum. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 54/54, S: 2/2, I: 2/2. Comp. time 10:23 Catacombs is one my favourite levels in Doom 2. It's a bit sadistic (in Doom 2 IWAD terms) and fun. Mausoleum, on the other hand, is only sadistic. I'm sorry, I didn't like it: it's somehow too cramped, there are constant in-your-face chaingunners. It's has inconsistent damaging floors (I'm not talking about the safe paths to both secrets; some of the starting area alcoves seem to be also non-hurting, while most of it hurts). There are some texture misalignments (in the starting area, one of the gargoyle faces). The plasma secret is clever, but when the same trick is duplicated for the soulsphere, the gimmick just becomes obnoxious (and I do consider them the same gimmick, even if the Soulsphere secret is completely dark and you have to follow automap instead). The soundtrack is oppressive (and this I mean in a positive way), and it feels like a change of pace, because most of Abscission's soundtrack stays more in the background, and I found it funny that the mysterious hell knight floating amidst the nukage gets crushed :P I suppose this was his/her mausoleum :P * Added upon posting this: wow, do I sound negative :P I played Mausoleum something like a week ago and wrote the capsule review right away, it sounds like I'm picking on small things and inflating them :P I think the main reasons for me not liking it was the crampedness, the prevalence (and not barely noticeable inconsistency) of hurt floor, and possibly slight ammo starvation -- I think I remember thinking that it was a good thing I found the plasma early, otherwise wouldn't have made it... but I'm not sure anymore.

MAP21: Of Flesh & Fission. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 123/123, S: 1/1, I: 24/24. Comp. time 14:36 We finally arrive in the mysterious place we've seen glimpses of before. As mysterious places go, this one far exceeds Nirvana, which I wasn't even thinking of until one time I teleported back to the starting area and paid attention to the medikits lying there only because I was at 97% health and didn't want to pick up a medikit on my way out. (And even then: I was first thinking of Mucus Flow, a map I've never attempted to play, and Nirvana only second). For the first half of the map I wasn't that excited. Once we reach the part where we are ambushed by imps and two pain elementals, the map picks up good. While the Chasm-like part might not be everyone's cup of tea, the fights on top of the fleshy pillars are fun.

MAP20: To Hieron. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 74/74, S: 1/1, I: 4/4. Comp. time 6:09 An episode ender in the vein of MAP11. I liked this one better, although the benjogamian vistas are only seen very shortly at the death exit. It's a hectic map, at first I'm a bit overwhelmed as to what to do (before I realize this is indeed an arena map). Panic keeps on until the archviles are dead. I think I made a mistake on running for SMM and BFG, and wasting my BFG shots there. Instead I should have somehow made the SMM infight with riff-raff and in particular the cybies. Solid map, although once again I find myself wishing for a little more of bright lights.

MAP19: Phosphene. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 190/190, S: 3/3, I: 45/45. Comp. time 21:03 In the gameplay department I wasn't vibing with this one, either. We get to survive with pistol and shotgun for so long (although we *do* get the berserk from the get-go, which is nice). There are some obnoxious elements at play, like the timed switch puzzle, which was also a point when I was a little lost on just what I was supposed to do next. (This is also a matter of taste: I'm not a fan of timed switch puzzles in general: I liked Moonblood megawad, but it had numerous timed switch puzzles which made me furious). Luckily, it's not that tightly wound, but still. And the final fight: supershotgunning and rocket launching against the cyberdemon, which you practically have to kill, because the stair-raising switch is another obnoxious design. Now, I get why it's the way it is: if it was just one switch, it'd be too easy to just leave. Personally, I would have much preferred a simple switch that lowers a platform that takes something like a minute or two to lower, during which you need to survive against the cyber. Of course, there is one problem there, too: you run the risk of having to wait for it until it lowers, and you might have had killed the enemies already before flicking it -- so there is a definite upside to the present design choice. Maybe have a switch that both unleashes the enemies and starts the slow process of revealing the switch that builds stairs... although I'm not sure how easily that's accomplished in vanilla. Enough with negatives, they made it sound like I didn't like the map when in fact I actually did: what counters the gameplay department is the architecture and visual design: map looked great, especially the outer areas and some of the arenas, like the one where you get the first rocket launcher. Already the beginning area and the entrance to the not-Citadel looks fantastic. It's a solid map, certainly improves upon the original (which ain't exactly my favourite of Doom 2, far from it), but some personal issues (not so much the darkness this time tho!) keeps Phosphene from being a top map in the set for me.

MAP18: Elder Shrine. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 171/171, S: 2/2, I: 184/184. Comp. time 16:06 This one also felt a bit bland for me. It's not a bad map, although I wish the berserk pack had been lying nearer to my path -- I guess Elder Shrine will also benefit from replaying it, so you'd save your energy from shotgunning so many pinkies. The area around the exit looks cool, and I really liked the final fight - it really energizes the map which otherwise seems, I don't know -- boring? Maybe that's still a wrong word; like I said in the last map, I'm aching for something else than darkness -- although I do respect the lighting as a design choice: Abscission feels internally consistent work of art (and not just a bunch of Doom 2 IWAD map reimaginings slapped together).

MAP17: Predation. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 120/120, S: 2/2, I: 108/108. Comp. time 21:30 Dang, these maps are getting longer. The name of the game is a three-key hunt with a cyberdemon constantly on your tail thru teleportation. Wherever you go, the cyberdemon is on your trail: the monster-only teleporters are cleverly designed for sure. I don't know if I was in sour mood or what, but didn't love this one. It's a perfectly fine level, but I suppose I've grown a bit weary of the constant darkness, and that we're never given an SSG here, only the stress of being hunted by a cyber. (Of course, the cyber threat demands we're not given an SSG, because it would be too tempting to get rid of the bullmachine right away, which would blow away the tension as well. With only the lower-tier weapons and too little ammo for plasma and rocket launcher, you either keep the cyber alive until the end, or suffer the insufferable tedium of single-barrel shotgunning it. I guess you could do that, but it's still more fun to be hunted than play peek-a-boo for five minutes. So, not a fan of this one, but I suppose that's more a matter of taste than any conceivable flaw in the map.

It's actually fine if you didn't like TNT, because Revilution is far superior to it.

MAP16: Cold Ascent. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 165/165, S: 1/1, I: 5/6. Comp. time 15:47 Although there are some very vague Suburbs-elements: like, I guess, there are archviles and small-scale slaughter. Unlike Suburbs, Cold Ascent is a solid map. Maybe not exactly my favorite - I guess it's a bit boring up until we open the red door and hit the switch. I was lucky to have found the BFG secret surprisingly easily, and even more lucky to have left the invulnerability sphere intact. Right there the map energizes itself for the final, exciting showdown. [Added upon posting: maybe it's not a case of being "boring", but rather the constant darkness which makes most of the (regular) maps feel kind of "too samey". I don't know, but that's a complaint I've already been voicing a few times]

Oh, I would totally recommend Swim with the Whales :P ... on ITYTD or HNTR difficulty, and leave the higher ones for a later stardate.

That’s definitely a different spot than where I exited the map: it was a small piece of skybox-floor in the middle of the maze somewhere.