The DOOM WAD Book Club

So it seems someone actually liked the subway. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Maybe I'm still spoiled by the last wad we played for this; D2R had a very good subway level.

The 'ambush' at the end was almost insultingly obvious, allowing me to melt the lot of the offending Mancubi without taking a hit in return, thanks to the ever-reliable Plasma Rifle.
I agree, especially since IIRC there's a computer map earlier in the level. The layout of the room itself should trigger alarm switches in any doomer's head immediately...

That being said, it was painfully dull toward the end (all those Demons... Christ almighty this is a terrible use of Demons), despite the welcome change of pace overall.
I actually liked the Pinky swarms... Someone called them traffic jams earlier? It's a good reason to take your chopper to the highway (I'm fairly sure that's quoting someone else in this thread too), not to mention a welcome change from all the crap sniping you.

but the Soulsphere secret was ingenious in execution; a masterful use of untextured lowers to hide an item that seems to appear out of nowhere on hitting a switch, and by default only scoring the secret when the sector floor's raised and entered. Very clever stuff.
Oooh, that's how they did it... I admit I was puzzled when the sphere appeared out of thin air. Guess this is the Doom equivalent of being a stage magician.
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For who could ever...?

MAP21: I am kind of wary entering Hell since a)the last wad involved in this jumped the shark really hard there, b)last time I got a pistolstart on m21 was Scythe and that had me pulling my hairs out from three levels in Hell. Died in a stupid rush because I thought Shotgunners 2.0 drop a shotgun. They don't. Second attempt, I took it slow, using non-berserk fist (goddamn, that weapon sucks) as much as I could. Duck, cover, this felt like early D2R. Awesome music, though... Which is nice because just getting to the red key took me 10+ tries; revenants sniping you when you got no guns or ammo isn't fun. It gets easier after that point, thankfully. Had a very exciting berserk-off
with the final archvile, too.
IOS: DOOMGUY NEED SSG BAD!

MAP22: Oh, it's a haunted house, neat. Very tight combat given the lack of supplies, but a fair bit more enjoyable than the previous map; guess it's just feeling safer in enclosed spaces. MEGAMUR pretty much hit the nail on the head with the early E3 feel. Except larger, and with, y'know, revenants. Did not like the baron trapped in the middle of the pentagram, that was just an ammo sink. When it collapsed to reveal a berserk, I felt all warm and fuzzy, though. Even better when I got a rocket launcher. All in all, I vastly prefer those smaller encounters with limited equipment to the usual BFG spam most late levels devolve into. The SSG crusher was more silly than dangerous, still, points for trying.
IOS: Boy, was I glad this map has two megaspheres.
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For who could ever...?

MAP23: The Atrium sounds like the least intimidating place Hell has to offer. The music is nothing special for once, but the level sure is action-packed. This would be a really easy map if not for the set of trapped switches at the plasma rifle, that killed me more than a few times. No idea how you're supposed to get that invisiblity, and it's probably for the best, as that particular powerup is kind of... Double-edged. Ultimately solved the trap by finding an invulnerablity sphere then making a mad dash for the switches while the monsters infight.
IOS: Easy... With the exception of that one part.

MAP24: Rocky tileset reminds me of Slough Of Despair, hopefully it won't be that awful. Thankfully I have a megasphere from the previous level, but the progress is slow - I'm afraid of every corner. I blame the anticipatory music. Turns out it's just buildup for this big temple/castle thing, much better. I strongly dislike timed puzzles of any kind so I spent a few minutes running blindly around the barbicans without realizing what the switches on them actually do. I like the little guiding arrows that get you to the keys; great idea on a larger map like this. The final mastermind fight actually managed to be pretty tense given the arena layout... Before I managed to clear the left half and get it stuck in a corner.
IOS: Really liking this wad's execution of Hell.

MAP25: Okay, so this is suspicious. There's a soulsphere right at the end of the last map and another one at the start of this one. The opening with the partially barred hallway really reminds me of another wad I played, too bad I can't remember where it was. Music is annoying as hell and they're giving you waaay too much free stuff, I'm extremely suspicious of this place. Hence there being no surprise at the massive ambush at the blue key, which didn't stop it from killing me. Second try went much smoother with me running like a little girl after yanking the key, letting the monsters and the cyberdemon settle their own differences. By the time I ended up in the pit for the second time, most of the stuff there was dead. Sadly, I expected that to be the extent of deathtraps in the level so the army of mancubi that spawned next caught me completely unaware; cue restart number three, ultimately proving I'm really no good at wide open areas.
IOS: This was probably the first time in my life I regretted telefragging a cyberdemon.

MAP26 is a ****ing nightmare and is kicking my sorry ass rather hard. Going to sleep on that one.
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For who could ever...?

MAP26: Nice work with the landscape, apparently we're out of the "civilised" area of hell. The two revs behind the lava waterfall made short work of my full stats, so there goes that advantage. The music is familiar... Plutonia again? Descending down the elevator in the coffin shop or whatever killed me in about five seconds, so I made a quicksave before that. Ten deaths later, still trying. THOSE ****ING REVENANTS. That whole underground area is a massive pain in the ass. Another quicksave and eight more deaths at the archvile room. Blue key is *so* not worth the effort. At least there's a soulsphere afterwards. I didn't like the Revenant curve in AV, I didn't like it in DV2, and I sure as hell don't like it now when I don't even have a BFG. The fleshy pathway with all the revenants is a right female canine too, although the BFG kinda helps... Revenants, revenants everywhere. I am NOT enjoying this level, it's as if Hell Revealed and Epic 2 had a monstrous baby. That megasphere was the best-placed powerup ever, it honestly brought tears to my bloodshot 6 health eyes.
IOS: 30+ deaths on just this map. The stuff of nightmares.

MAP27: Start with BFG and a megasphere has me worried already. I ended the last level full, so I kept the megasphere... Only to find out I can't go back for no real reason. Hit and run tactics slowly clear out the first room, although most of the megasphere is lost in the process. I resort to quicksaving pretty fast. The soul sphere from the next room is even shorter-lived because I'm an idiot and don't realize I got tons of cells and so I keep trying to shotgun all the revs. Needless to say, it doesn't go well. Level turns reasonably easier behind to blue door, with a couple of really useful secrets - I honestly stopped counting the soulspheres by now. Cyberdemon behind the yellow door gets a stream of hot plasma to its face and I'm starting to feel confident again. Hell hath no fury like a doomer owned!
...And then I got sniped by an archvile.
On the next, more careful try, the lava maze is slowly but effectively cleared by bait tactics and a secret radsuit. Another soulsphere is much appreciated. I get the red key, then find the invulnerablity sphere only to promptly waste it on an archvile and three imps. I hate my life. The final ambush of three poor archviles is met with the ridicule it deserves.
IOS: Can't believe I got 100% on this thing.
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For who could ever...?

This one is mostly easier, although I haven't really seen the last two levels yet. The only real roadblock I hit was map26.
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For who could ever...?

I just beat Jenesis, so here's the final writeups.

MAP28: Now this looks nice, and again, great music. Low monster count,
too, this should be a relaxing level... right? Right? I'm totally letting that soulsphere sit there for the inevitable worse times, though. It won't lull me, oh no. This is a map28, something terrible will happen. The yellow key not being trapped totally throws me off my balance, making me wonder around a bit looking for monster closets. I think I prefer blood sewers over normal ones - while I don't really care for the gothic look, they don't do damage. The secret soulsphere and megaarmor next to each other are pretty neat too. Blue key gotten, I'm starting to think this place gives you too many soulspheres. The thought quickly perishes, there's no such thing as too many soulspheres. Having to pick one up to progress is pretty bad design, though. The mini-chasm is... Well, of all the levels of Doom 2 to do a tribute to, that wasn't a well-picked one. The fight with the cyberdemon over the bridge above red nothingness was pretty epic... Or would be, if the place wasn't so goddamn small and cramped. At that point, I'm backtracking for the soulsphere...
Why hello there... Icon?
Okay, that was a neat Icon fight. Cheap switch crap, sure, but D2R's was worse.
IOS: A very nice level, the whole "calm before the storm" buildup first for the cyberdemon, then the Icon battle out of nowhere. Liking this map very much.

MAP29: Anal insertion complete, huh. There's got to be a better way of using this texture than what D2R and this are doing with it. Surprisingly enough, this place is a techbase filled with mobs of Shotgunner 2.0. After hell, it feels kinda weird, and the ambient music doesn't help much. Am I on Earth again or what...?
Mobs of hitscan enemies aren't fun, especially when you can't really mow them down with the chaingun. Ammo problems hit pretty fast, the Icon fight drained me. Very neat-looking, atmospheric level. The office block honestly freaked me out - didn't expect to find anything like thathere. Really, the environment switch was well-done, reminds me of Reverie, which has similarly tranquil ending levels... Although a much deadlier map29.
IOS: Nice and easy, and I'm even leaving with a megasphere. edit: I probably didn't emphasise this enough, but atmosphere of this place is awesome. I particularly like the pair of cacos hovering across the endless ocean, popping out from windows; that whole area is really good.

MAP30: So, I've been calling for a Body Of The Many level for such a long time... And here's one, finally good use of the flesh texture set. This level's style is really, really good. Of course, the final fight is an Icon...oid. The switch puzzles took me long enough to figure out so the monster count went to 200, so that took a few save/loads before I actually found a more or less save spot to unload rockets into the thing. Pretty good, actually. And it wasn't that hard, I mean, Icon firing four spawncubes in a much smaller area sounds bad, but most of the monsters take care of themselves.
IOS: A good ending, actually.

Time: 8:15:45

Deaths & Quickloads: OFF THE ****ING CHART. I may run a death count on the next one just to embarass myself further.
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For who could ever...?

Final thoughts: I actually really enjoyed this wad. It may have been not as detailed as (most of) D2R, but the levels flowed much better, you could tell the focus is on gameplay and not details. Some levels stand out in particular - 10, Ruins, for the amazing atmosphere, 20, Into the Gate, I think as best level overall, 26, whatever that bastard is called, for its abundant reve- I mean, difficulty. The "story" bits in particular were very well-executed: there was a distinct sense of progression between the levels and especially at "story points", like the two transfer stations, the gate to hell and so on. The final environmental switcheroo from hell to a fort to a base to a stomach was really neat too, it kept me guessing.
My complaints are mostly two. One, Shotgunner 2.0. I don't understand the point of that enemy. I can see the purpose of adding enemies to Doom - hell, I really like some of the wads with those - and even when the lineup changes are minor, they're usually pretty well justified - see Deus Vult 2 and it's Hexen clerics added because the guy wanted a more dangerous imp-tier monster. However; Shotgun Guy 2.0, zombie marine or whatever that is, seems to serve no purpose altogether and there's next to no situations where he couldn't be replaced with normal zombies without any loss (In fact, the only one I can think of is map21 where that extra HP matters since you're on a forced pistol start). The second complaint is, obviously, REVENANTS. Goddamn stop abusing those. Map26 is literally the hardest level in this just because of really assholish revenant (/archvile) placement. And this wad showed that it's capable of legitimate difficulty too, it's just this cheap **** that annoys me to no end.
All in all still among the best wads I played and I'm really glad you guys introduced me to it. I mean, I had it in the folder, but the name is like really unpromising so who knows if I'd ever get to it otherwise.

edit: One more commendable thing about this wad, it never went overboard with Cyberdemons and all the ones you meet (outside of secret levels) feel justified, like the pair sitting on the hellish wall or the one guarding the entrance to the Icon - they're at places that you'd think "Yeah, they'd want to guard this with the meanest demon of them all". For all the other monster atrocities it commits, this is nice - it also never really devolved into BFG spam, the finale aside.
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For who could ever...?

To be fair, it's an original idea, I don't think I've ever seen a stealth level in Doom. It's just soulcrushingly badly executed.
edit: Now m24, there's no excuse for that.
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For who could ever...?

I don't really know, to be honest. I don't visit doomworld or anything related, most wads I play are based on various recommendations and as such are probably well-known. I'll try to browse doomworld a bit, see if I can turn up anything.
Anyway, I'd keep it at this thread, as long as we do a reasonably large "introductory" post with the link and stuff so they're clearly separate.

I have play suspended in MAP20 at the moment partly because of my insistence on getting 100% kills. I reached the end and realized that I still have around 40 monsters left to kill and I think I may have not triggered something. I can hear them carrying on behind a wall around the outdoor area (where you fight the Cyberdemon), but have no idea how to get them to come out.

I thought you need to press that switch to progress? Anyway, there's a teleport ambush at the helipad that's probably supposed to help you with the cyberdemon. It might quite well be 40 monsters.
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Anyhow, I'd suggest looking for the next wad among Doom1 episodes since I think we all deserve a break from REVENANTS after two wads' worth of that crap.
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For who could ever...?