The DWmegawad Club plays: Valiant

Map02 - “No Rush”

A nice short easy-going map with a few surprises. This map starts off with a touch of shelf clearing which I seem to remember becomes something of a theme for this wad. The ambush in the water trench was the highlight for me. I didn't really come close to dying on this one, but I did run out of ammo near the end. Think maybe I was spraying the chaingun bullets a bit too liberally.

MAP02-No Rush

Pretty nice layout, if a little bland compared to the last level. We get introduced to two things that are going to be a big part of the gameplay going forward: shootable switches that unlock doors and secret areas (used here for the megahealth secret), and the chaingun, which might be my favorite part of the WAD. I would totally be down if skillsaw released a standalone WAD with just the pistol and chaingun, because that chaingun just rips through anything in its way. And there was plenty to rip through, as the Revenants and Mancubi came out in force after finding the chaingun. Ate a death to the pinkies in the rocket launcher trap, and had a few close calls, but nothing too unmanageable.

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

MAP02: No Rush

Nice, clean and simple layout, a few fun surprises here and there, and the SUPER CHAINGUN makes its first appearance. Seriously, this might be my favourite Doom weapon now, it just tears things to shreds in no time! Couple deaths here and there mainly because of me being stupid with the rocket launcher, heh.

MAP02: No Rush
100% kills, 3/3 secrets

Decent enough layout for another little 'base in the jungle' level, though I agree with Cannonball that it lacks any defining feature or sense of place. Mainly it seems to exist to introduce the new chaingun, which it does pretty well. Everything before and after that though felt a bit like rote cleaning out.

scifista42 said:

Here you go: https://www.sendspace.com/file/iwsfxu

Use altpistol_valiant.wad with Valiant. If you want to use the gun without Valiant, use altpistol_normal.wad. More details in README.txt.

thanks. i like this one so i'll probably use it as my standard pistol sprite. wherever i have to use the pistol, i mean. anyway, nice to see it sped up so it's a usable weapon. the chaingun is even better: stronger, but not overpowered.

MAP02 - "No Rush" Kills: 100% Deaths: 2

A short and good looking map. Like AD said, the Super Chaingun makes an appearence here, and man, it sure is alot better than the vanilla chaingun. I might have been playing sloppy a bit, The new Imp replacements and their fast moving fireballs is something that I, like everyone else, will need to get used to.


MAP03 - "Tiers of Pain" Kills: 100% Deaths: 0

Another simple map with neat visuals as usual. This map is where the difficulty really started to get to me because of the monster choices and placement alike. I'm not very sure what the two shootable buttons do in this map, but overall, Nice work so far, Skillsaw.

Map02 - “No Rush”

Very stylish map on a generic themed small layout. Efficiently compact. 5/5 quality, both visual and gameplay wise. The music fits great. The chaingun is a fun weapon, and surely will prove to be useful in later levels.

Im lazy and don't do megawad clubs but felt my input will be worth it after 15+ playthroughs

Rating out of ten

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

That is all.

MAP02: No Rush
| Kills: 78/78 | Items: 18/19 | Secrets: 3/3 | Time: 04:13 / 09:13 | Deaths: 0 |

The main standout point of this level is the introduction of the super chaingun, which is a very welcome replacement in the player's arsenal, given that the standard chaingun generally sees little use once mid-tier monsters are brought into the mix. As an added bonus, still no sign of the SSG anywhere, so we don't just end up using that and forgetting we have the perfect weapon for large crowds already with us.
Got to be honest, I'm slightly disappointed that with all the gameplay tweaks and changes this WAD makes, lost souls still have the full 100 health, rather than 50, which I just personally think would be more convenient in pretty much any appearance they make (for WADs in general, not just Valiant).

Visually, still a very nice map, though perhaps slightly simpler than MAP01, though I imagine this is due to the slightly less open layout. Gameplay was pretty good again, especially after the super chaingun had been obtained. Nearly went down to some imps at the start of the map, but still nothing difficult cropping up yet. I know that's set to soon change though...

8/10

MAP03: Tiers of Pain
| Kills: 57/57 | Items: 21/21 | Secrets: 2/3 | Time : 02:42 / 11:55 | Deaths: 0 |

Very short map, but plenty of opportunties to bring out the super chaingun and the rocket launcher, allowing for some pretty fast combat. Like MAP02, the visuals don't stack up to MAP01 at all, but damn this was a fun map. Can't really think of much else to say though, with it being such a small map.

9/10

Map03 - “Tiers of Pain”

(Played from pistol start, because as I said before, I lost my progress on MAP02.)

Superb map again. Top notch visuals, comfortable movement and navigation, good secrets, fine music. Due to the open central place and lots of imps and other monsters, you must keep moving and you are more than likely to take damage anyway, but on the other hand, the map is generously (over)loaded with health and powerups. That's something an early map slot can afford, and the result was great dynamic fun.

Exit doors were openable from the inner side - both with a red lock, even the blue door! Just saying, not that I mind it, it doesn't matter anyway. :)

I was already playing this, just reached map 31. I will wait until mid-month to resume it and I will join too.

Map03 - “Tiers of Pain”
I preferred this over map02, this has a pretty simple layout and goal, so the emphasis here is on the action, this was pretty darn fun to play. I would add that I found this easier than map02.
Visuals are solid again, though it would be nice to see some different tech textures used from time to time instead of the grey cement.

Map03 - “Tiers of Pain”

A small self contained zone of combat. I like how this one starts by teaching you to shoot those button switches. Its a cool little map, basically a multi-tiered arena. You learn the layout by clearing out the initial monster fluff, allowing you to make tactical use of the layered space for the subsequent ambushes. Enjoyed finding all the secrets here. Still nothing too taxing though. Funny to finish map03 with every gun except the bfg already.

MAP03: Tiers of Pain
100% kills, 3/3 secrets

Eh, not a fan. I like small maps but this is more of a crumb. I didn't even like the first ambush - if you don't shoot the switch but instead shoot over the wall (as I did, at a zombie) then the imps teleport but don't reveal themselves, so when you do shoot the switch they basically silently appear behind you, which seems unfair. After clearing out the initial enemies, then it's a grab for each key, each of which spawns more enemies. Unfortunately each battle is largely the same - a group of imps from the start, some manucbi on the green area, a few hitscanners thrown around. This makes the battles feel more repetitive than any sort of interesting re-using of combat space. The blue key also isn't visible from the start, so finding it then going to the exit feels anti-climatic. Really feels like half a map.

scifista42 said:

This kind of design encourages movement, and skillsaw knows it and deliberately makes such design. I like it a lot, and I know that I'm going to enjoy Valiant for this fresh dynamism, combined with great visuals and polished balance of the maps.

gzdoom, uv, pistol start

having played a more traditional wad like d2reload last month, there's definitely a change in gameplay here. valiant doesn't play like "area secure, moving on", but keeps the player on his toes and give him much less safe spaces. that was obvious in map01 already, with that open structure with a mancubus and assorted imps and gunners. the structure looks clean and rounded, boxy shapes are avoided in all maps i've played so far.

it seems that valiant, having a lot of edited stuff already, doesn't play well with "cosmetic" mods like smooth doom or rdnd. those made switching to the rocket launcher impossible, as i discovered in the first map. gore mods like ketchup changed the chaingunners to a doom3 mancubus (which didn't even fire). caulkpc even made him whisper some lines from RTCW, if i heard correctly. lastly, the hi res texture pack produced errors where the waterfall texture changed quickly to various wall textures. before someone asks, i guess it doesn't work with brutal doom. so better play valiant as it is, it's nice enough.

speaking of replacements, i like the imp, and especially the eyeless demon, which looks uglier and scarier than the original. the imp takes getting used to, especially his quick second fireball. i got rarely hit by the first, but often by the second one. there's an archie already at the end of the map, a quick introduction.


map 02

short and nice, with an ambush from 2 sides in the water area where you get the super chaingun. great weapon, not overpowered, but much better against mid tier enemies than the original. wish the shotgun was also beefed up. using scifista42's altpistol btw, as it takes up less space than the tacticool angled pistol.

relaxing music, indeed reminiscent of some maps from ut.


map 03

a multi-tiered arena shape where several waves of monsters teleport in. the 2 mancubi in the western part were replaced 3 times, iirc. combine that with a lot of these imps where the lazy, minimal strafing against standard imps is too slow. a row of health bottles on the ground guide you from the start (via shootable switch that awakes the mob) to a safer area from where you get the ssg and shoot the mancs. surprisingly, i prefer the chaingun at this point, especially because it keeps those fast imps down. the plasma gun is in a doorless building but you can jump there.

MAP03: Tiers of Pain

Another fun and simple map, very short as well, though it doesn't do too much to differentiate itself from the previous map, at least in terms of visuals. Gameplay is excellent though, as expected. Seeing how short it is I don't really have much to say about it, heh.

MAP03-Tiers of Pain

Eh, it was okay.

Outside of the opening imp ambush, there really wasn't much challenge in this map. Feels a lot more "filler" than anything else. Secrets were interesting though; still haven't found the last switch to lower the megaarmor.

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

Map04 - “Moonlit Stroll”

Unusually calm beginning, allowing me to gradually explore the area while sniping monsters from behind corners - until the pace returned to the usual dynamic action after I've pressed the first switch. Overall progression was basically linear, still a thoroughly nice and fun map. Good intro to Aracnorbs, too - including the reveal of spawning them from a dead Arachnotron.

Two monsters didn't teleport, which I considered a bug at first, but after examining the map in an editor, I've found out that they were just supposed to teleport onto a barrel which I didn't blow up - so not really an error.

MAP04: Moonlit Stroll
100% kills, 1/1 secret

A bit of cavern-clearing (with quite a lot of 'doorway' choke-point abuse) that leads to an obvious 'all hell will break loose when you push this button' battle... nothing good about being given the chaingun, rocket launcher and ammo for free. :) That battle is good, though it feels a bit weird to have the AV stuck up the stairs where it can't resurrect anyone... I'm sure we'll get more dangerous Viles later, though. Then it's a bit of a linear romp through a base/garden, introducing the Aracnorbs. Was a bit surprised to have no ambush or monster repopulation after grabbing the yellow key, ah well. Playing in ZDoom, got my first bout of lag facing all the trees in the western area, might need to switch to GZDoom soon (I know there are some maps later on that slow to a crawl in software).

Map04 - “Moonlit Stroll”

There's quite the monster party early on in this map. Its all quite safely avoided from the ledge near the switch that activates it though, and the archvile sits it out and guards some steps instead. I'm not complaining, I'll take any easy options I can, knowing some of the pain to come later. The arachnorbs are introduced, hooray. My favourite addition to the enemy list, although it might have been funnier to introduce them spawning from the corpse of a dying arachnotron, like they do sometimes. Is that random? Anyway, a nice action packed map. Couldn't work out that secret soulsphere.

scifista42 said:

Good intro to Aracnorbs, too - including the reveal of spawning them from a dead Arachnotron.

Oh? I didn't notice that happening, they just seemed to appear from somewhere. Nevermind

^There was also an Arachnotron in the map, who spawned an Aracnorb upon his death when I was playing. They randomly do or don't make it happen.

By the way, Valiant seems to have 2 identical types of Arachnotron, one replaces normal Arachnotron and one replaces Commander Keen, but their behaviour seems to be exactly the same, including the randomized spawn of an Aracnorb upon death.

Is it randomized even in Dehacked?

^Yes, thanks to MBF-specific codepointers.

Map05 - “Aggrovator”

Cool name, and a cool map as well. The beginning offers you an opportunity to camp, but it's much more fun to rush out and run n' gun - there's health around the map, not way too much, but just enough to allow room for errors that I make. I liked how the red key trap unexpectedly denied me a possibility to escape, the fight there was exciting even if not so difficult, and that was great. The layout was simple, compact, fun to move around, and featured varied setpiece areas. It's nice how you can see vegetation and scenery all around the playable area. The music itself is engaging and I liked it a lot. Another top notch great and enjoyable map here.

MAP04-Moonlit Stroll

Back to the breathtaking vistas from MAP01, after the somewhat bland outdoor techbase theme in the last two levels. Also an increase in difficulty from the last level; I got reduced below 30% health several times, and ended up dying twice; once to the arachnorb introduction, and once more in the garden outside (also by an arachnotron, I believe). Also couldn't get the hidden megasphere, which was odd, since I recall collecting it when I played through this level on my first playthrough (only made it through the first chapter on that playthrough).

99% kills, 0/1 secrets

MAP04: Moonlit Stroll

Ooh, we got a nice cave-y area, along with a couple techbase bits. It's definitely a bit meaner than the previous maps, throwing a bunch of enemies at you as well as introducing the Arachnorbs, which are excellent enemies and huge pains at the same time. They die very quickly and they fill a nice niche in the flying monster bestiary, as a rapid fire flying enemy didn't exist until now, however you can get swarmed by them if you're not paying attention, which is always fun :P (not necessarily in this map though). Good map this, although if you're like me and tend to rush through things you'll probably reach a bit of a bottleneck-scenario where there's a ton of monsters waiting at a door for you to blast with the RL.

Map04 - “Moonlit Stroll”
It was nice to see the rock dominate this map as opposed to the grey techbase. The action was nicely paced again, tricky but not too difficult. Missed two kills and the secret, so I guess the pair are linked?

Map05 - “Aggrovator”
The yellow key archvile got me this time, that was the only death in another solid map. The gameplay and visuals again were solid. Not much else to say at the moment.

cannonball said:

Map04 - “Moonlit Stroll”
Missed two kills and the secret, so I guess the pair are linked?

No. Perhaps you've missed the same 2 enemies as I did, these enemies would teleport onto a random barrel in the start rocky area after blowing up said barrel, which I didn't.

Hello again, I am adopting a new strategy to (hopefully) ensure that I make it to the end this month - I am playing through at my own speed (I anticipate that the second half of this month will be a very busy time for me, so I would like to have Valiant finished by then). I have just finished the second episode, but of course, I will only be discussing the first five maps today. As always, ultra violence, but this time I will not be aiming for 100% secrets - I simply don't have the time these days to fully complete maps. :(

MAP01: Bad Reception - 100% kills, 100% secrets
This one is a good introduction to the set, and a fine example of what is to come. Lots of nice natural textures to make the structures look old and overtaken by nature. The gameplay is also excellent, and unlike most other MAP01s, is actually kinda challenging. The fast firing imps will take a while to get used to though, but I do love the new pistol!

MAP02: No Rush - 100% kills, 100% secrets
A smaller map than the first. The map consists of two small outdoor areas and an underground area with water. I had some trouble at the beginning with the imps and gunners on top of a ledge, but I survived. I do also like how the map repopulates itself after a certain point. Not much else to say about this one.

MAP03: Tiers of Pain - 100% kills, 100% secrets
Yep, there are tiers. And there's also pain - I experienced my first death due to me running up the titular tiers at the beginning and getting swarmed by imps! Much like the previous map, it repopulates itself, keeping the challenge going 'till the very end. It took me longer than I'd like to admit to find the plasma gun secret though.

MAP04: Moonlit Stroll - 98% kills, 100% secrets
It's getting more difficult now! Anyways, a beautiful rocky area is where the first half of the map takes place. There's plenty of health here, so I didn't have too much trouble. The second area, though, was where I struggled. After going through the first locked door, I encountered a completely new monster: a flying arachnotron thingy. It's nice to see some new elements, and I must say, the new chaingun is friggin' awesome.

Unfortunately, I was unable to achieve 100% kills due to two monsters refusing to teleport onto the map.

MAP05: Aggrovator - 100% kills, 100% secrets
A map with a pretty intense start - being surrounded on all sides by monsters was challenging, but I used the starting hallway as cover and eventually cleared everything. The remainder of the map involves several nasty traps which I somehow managed to survive on my first go. It was action packed and enjoyable from start to finish.

MAP05: Aggrovator
100% kills, 2/2 secrets

A decent little map, good use of limited space here. Funny thing, after the blue key I was thinking "man, Aracnorbs are so much better enemies than those damn Cacodemons" only to have a few Cacos released for the yellow key. Bah! Clearing out the start was fun (I like the health/ammo being spread around in small chunks, pushes the player to keep moving and wake up more enemies), but the key ambushes seemed a little limp.

Map05 - “Aggrovator”

Quite a hectic map from the start, pressured from all angles to avoid fire and find supplies. Thankfully there is a ton of health dotted around. Played carefully there isn't too much risk, however, that crusher/archvile trap could be pretty nasty, as could the pinky/rev sardine trap if you don't have the right weapon at the ready. This time for me there were no deaths, but I can feel the difficulty rising now.