The DWmegawad Club plays: 3 Heures d'Agonie 2

Hey, it's already past 00:00 here!

Crash by Ch0wW

UV / 100% kills / 2 secrets found

Well, not exactly the hot start I was hoping for. A short, blocky, 'tries not to be linear but it doesn't actually branch so it's linear' techbase that would have been at home in any of the early Community Chests. Enemies are mostly low level hitscan fodder with the exception of a few cacodemons, some doors are unpegged, and a puzzling backpack secret right at the end screams continuous play but won't do much for you if you pistol start. It's 2014, but it smells like 2004. Five minutes of disposable fun, making allowance for this being a speedmap of course. 

Nice , I decide to participe this time !

Map 01 - Crash

A charming opening by Choww. Aesthetics look rudimentary but the small destroyed spaceship was cute and I like the broken door near the blue key. Those details definitely contribute to make this level feel like a tiny adventure. The music "Adagio for Strings" from ROTT blends with the action. Nothing too hard here but beware of the chaingunner and the revenant once you get out of the small base.

Crash corresponds to a good old classic first map. Short and punchy.

Grade : B

Map 01 The crash 

Looks good for a map made in 3 hours, nice bits of detail here and there. When you Ignore the 3 hour challenge however its actual very boring to play. I should probably take part in some kind of speed mapping challenges myself to improve my skills. However, Well done to the author, it's good for what it is and I'm sure his or her proper maps are really good.

Not sure I'm going to stick this out all month but I'll see how it goes. The stat screen with the guys in helmets looks really cool.

MAP 01 – Crash by Maëllig Desmottes @Ch0wW

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

If the crashed spacecraft near to the starting point was supposed to raise fond memories of Quake II, it failed to do so in my case. Still the first map of 3 Heures d’Agonie 2 went beyond the predicted, old-fashioned zombie & Imp shootout. The hp quota in the first room was not suitable for the pistol; it demanded aggressive play and a quick run for the shotgun, protected by Sergeants. The new weapon allowed to clear the BK area easily.

A blind player might get into trouble if he ignored the Cacodemons and pushed the switch to open the exit, because more enemies will appear in dangerous positions. Retreating to the outside might be costly if the Chaingunners and Revenant succeed in their ambush. The group of Pinkies in the exit room was a bit anticlimactic, probably it was there to test the Berserk pack, which was in the only secret that I missed. The limited detail confirmed the speedmapping nature of the project, but combat was spot on for MAP01. I hope to see more of the same.

I'll give it a shot.
Fist map down.
Pretty chill and well-rounded. I like the midi and the secrets were useful.

I'll say ★★★☆☆

MAP02: Malevolence by subject_119

UV / 100% enemies / 1 secret found

An elevator... behind a door. What has this world come to.

More techbase, more quick and disposable, toothless run n' gun, but a little step up from the previous entry, both visually and in layout. I really liked the sky texture, might steal it someday. The map could have used an extra ambush after getting the red key, as without the threat of leftover enemies, activating the way to the exit felt like needless busywork. The secret is laughably easy. Combat is overall very easy, we are treated to a couple of slightly spicier ambushes (an imp one stood out) but nothing really threatening. 

Well, another month where nothing I really wanted won, but I miss playing with you guys and I guess after playing and really enjoying 180 Minutes Pour Vivre last year, I should probably experience even more wild and woolly speedmaps our delicious friends from the French chapter of our community have to offer. So yeah, time for me to dust off my DWmegaWAD Club seat and join the fun!

MAP01: Crash

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

A cute little starter to get things moving. It's very quaint with half the enemy roster all piled into the entryway, but with plenty of hitscanners walking around, it's definitely not to be underestimated by any means. Progression is nice and straighforward, though one of the buttons tricked me into thinking I had already pressed it and got momentarily stuck, which was both funny and embarrassing! Not much else to say, though I did really like the broken door and the little DoomCute spaceship we flew in on, which even counted as a generous ammo cache secret. Everything about the map felt cute, quaint and chill with good texture work. It's a nice first impression, but I am very anxious moving forward because I decided to do this one on UV and I know our friends here will drop the gauntlet on me. Will I drop down to HMP at any point? Let's find out together!

I must admit to not being particularly enthusiastic about this pick, as I wasn't overly impressed by 3HA1 and 3HA3 which I played after watching the Dean of Doom video on the series. However, I'm not letting this bias my opinion on the wad prematurely and I would be very happy for my reservations about this wad to be proven wrong.

I'll be playing using dsda-doom v0.24.3, -complevel 2 from pistol starts on UV. I'm going for 100% kills, but not worrying too much if I can't figure out how to get some of them. While I have watched a video on this wad, I can't remember any specifics so this is effectively a blind playthrough. For fun, I'm going to keep track of completion times and death count for this wad as I did for MSCP and Haste - feel free to laugh at my death toll as we get into the third act.

MAP01 - Crash by Ch0wW:

2:11/0 Deaths
I appreciate that this opener isn't entirely filled with fodder, but other than the pinkies that swarm the base before you're able to grab the shotgun I find this to be a pretty standard Map01. The layout is decent, and the diminutive size of the map means the small backtracking segments aren't boring. The large amount of pinkies around the ending section got boring fast, and I wish there were a zombie or two among them (yes, I found the berserk after killing everything, how could you tell?) I like the doomcute spaceship but this map doesn't leave much of an impression, outside of "god damn, the ROTT soundtrack's good isn't it?"

3ha2 is a wad that I have already played before and I remember loving it, so I am excited to replay it again (and I am also a patriot, which means that I need to play the stuff from my country!). Since it's not a blind playthrough I will pistol start every map instead of playing continuously and will get 100% secrets in every map. Of course, I will still get 100% kills, use saves and play on PrBoom+.

Map 1: Crash by Maëllig "Choww" Desmottes

100% kills, items and secrets

Time: 3:12

Choww opens up this megawad with his first map in the series, which is a short techbase that contains 40 monsters, 3 secrets and no threats worth talking about. Despite that, Crash is simple fun and I really like some details like the broken door and the spaceship (even if I admit that the latter looks a bit weird). Overall, It's a basic but nice opener scored by a exciting midi from ROTT.

Footnote: Out of all the wads that I have played, the intermission screen of 3ha2 is one of my favorites, especially with "Going Up" playing in the background.

Rankings:

well, let's do this then. Somewhat happy that it's a new mapset I don't know, but I did kinda want to play spain again... Maybe next month.

This time I'll play HNTR. Cont, saves whenever.

MAP 01 - Crash :

Oh, nice, a doomcute starwars speeder? I'm guessing this is how we arrived here. Grab bullets and shells from inside it, and let's enter the base. Grabbing the shotgun opens the window shutters, cool. A broken door, and a lift, switch, small room with the blue key (and health).  Then another switch, opening the wall to the exit, but first, grab the secret backpack and.. I'm missing one secret? Ah! Found.

100% K/I/S, 0 deaths, 4 minutes 47 seconds.

A small map to start. Monday I'll play the next three maps.

Despite my username reading "Monsieur E", I am not French nor do I know any French barring a few words here and there! Anyways, I'll be playing on UV and pistol starting each level. I'll be aiming for 100% kills but as last month has shown, I may falter in this goal a bit :P. 

Map01- Crash by Ch0wW (100% kills) 

Pretty basic opening level. There's not much to note here, just pick up your shotgun and go run-gun. I liked the broken door and the little spaceship, they're neat. The level's helped by the ROTT track playing in the background and overall, it's an alright level.

2nd map down.

I'll be completely honest. that was a really bland short and boring map.

Also, the button that you need to reach with the bridge can be pressed without it.

not a fan.

I'll say ★☆☆☆☆

Nice to have some short maps to contrast Uprising's lengthy affairs. Dsda-doom, UV-max, pistol start.

Map 01 - Crash

Other than what's been already said, I have to note that if you miss secret berserk, the map's actually relatively nasty despite being simple. You only get like 3 stimpacks, 3 vials and 1 armor bonus and have to go against shotgunners, chaingunners, cacos and a revenant. Any mistake that results in a high-damage hit or mishandling chip damage too much can put you in an unpleasant HP territory.

Oh yeah, more French Doomin' action! I really wanted to do the first heures 'd agonie, but apparently half of it is crap or whatever so we probably won't get around to it for another five years. No matter! I'll play some of that on my own time. And in the meantime, I'll be playing like usual, UV, pistol-start, with demos for most of the maps. And since monsters and weapons are all vanilla, maybe @Thelokk will actually stick around for once, eh!

Map 01: Crash

By @Ch0wW

It's quite surprising to find the author unlike some of the heures 'd agonie participants actually still frequents these forums, despite having not made any maps in quite some time. Anyway, he says in the text file that this was Quake II-inspired. Despite that vanilla textures seems to be used here, the verticality and combination of a techbase with a natural cave environment is actually quite evocative of that game. Probably a little more laid-back than Wilou's opener in the first Heures 'd agonie, it nevertheless packs a higher punch than something like System Control in TNT. The red key ambush is fairly dangerous and you may have some trouble with Spectres in the last cave if you haven't found the hidden berserk pack. Contrary to a Wilou map (15 of 180 Minutes Por Vivre, I'm looking at you), the secrets were all easy enough to discover. I like the little ship behind your starting location which you presumably arrives at the base in, though there's still the question of why you didn't just pick up the supplies there in the first place. Someone mentioned the lack of stimpacks, but it's actually fairly easy to avoid getting hit, apart from the chaingunner/caco traps which both open some distance from the RK so it's not that big of a deal.

lmd_3ha2_01.zip

Map 02 - Malevolence 

A relaxing outdoor/tech-base level which uses Doom 2's music. Malevolence figures among the rare cases where the absence of new music doesn't bother me. The jazzy soundtrack fits even better than in "Underhalls" where the high monster density tends to contradict its cozy feeling in my opinion.

So, what I liked the most in Malevolence was its low monster-density and its spacious areas, especially the grassy courtyard. The chaingunner guarding the red key can be a bit  dangerous if you don't notice him.

Also, rest in peace Subject_119.

Grade : B

PS : expect to see a lot of "B" grades from me. 3ha2 has a lot of great maps but I have no true favorite.

Woohoo MtPain grades number 8

- PLAY INFO -

MAP01: Crash

By Ch0wW

Kills: 100%

Items: 40%

Secrets: 33%

Time 2:34

A pretty basic and simple opener to kick off this speedy month, Ch0wW doesn't really do much to reinvent the wheel with a measly and straightforward tech base involving a shotgun and no monster more complicated than a Cacodemon. There is some Doomcute to be found in this small facility, namely a very broken door, as well as a non-symmetrical spaceship right at the start. Contrary to the name, this map doesn't actually have much to do with crashing the spaceship, in fact, it has to do with being boring.

Grade: D+

Difficulty: E

MAP01 - “Crash” by Ch0wW

There are too many pinkies in this one, though you get enough resources to deal with them (Well I did use some shotgunner/chaingunner traps to thin the meat somewhat). Otherwise this i short and simple. Still they tend to offer limited threat and obviously take longer than fodder to go down with the shotgun. 

Probably a slightly below par map, but nothing offensive to the player. Just a little dull.

Trés bien! Nous allons encore! I'm in the mood for shorter maps, which I hope trois heures is going to provide me. Speedmaps are, in my experience, a bit special cases -- my assumption is they're gonna be short, and they are going to be simple and and a bit lacking, sort of first decent drafts for levels. We'll see.

As per usual, I'm gonna go with UV (unless lower difficulty seems a more suitable alternative) with pistol starts, using DSDA-Doom v0.24.0.

And as a sidenote: I'm not french, but as it happens, I started learning french a while back with Duolingo (which is a bit poor means to do it, especially since I have to use english as the teaching language), and I feel it's gonna give me an extra boost going through these levels :P

MAP01: Crash. 40/40 K, 3/3 S. Completion time 4:01.

Easy opening map that feels a bit 90s, if not for the broken UAC door. I don't mind; As I already said, I'm really in the mood for simple, short maps for the time being. Nothing much to say here, but I already feel that Crash feels more like the author has just made the first draft of the opening area for a level. That's alright, I could barely make a similar level in three hours, but then I'd spend an additional 21 hours polishing and expanding just a little, and that was beyond the scope of this megawad.

Cacodemons feel like a chore to do away with a shotgun. A good thing I found the berserk when it was still useful (and not when the level was already over). The backpack can be found only at the end, so only the continuous players are gonna have actual use for it.

MAP02: Malevolence. 38/38 K, 1/1 S. Completion time 3:33.

Malevolence is a better level, and a bit harder despite lower kill count, and despite it took me less time to finish. La porte rouge doesn't seem to require any sort of key, I got a little confused there. Nice level, like the pink ciel.

MAP 02 – Malevolence by Gwenvaël Le Bihan (subject_119)

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

Malevolence was a step down from the previous map. As a speedy layout, it worked fine and allowed for different exploration routes. The quickest path was to enter the nuke fall building, push the switch that granted access to the RK, and head for the tech-base near the exit. Any variation to this sequence caused unnecessary, though still short backtracking. The encounters were less entertaining and challenging than MAP01, except for the notable lack of healing. Some were even buggy, e.g., the ambush where some Imps remained stuck between the door and the teleport destination. What should have been the highlight of the level did not work as planned, and honestly there was not a lot to cherish in this MAP02. Onto the next.

1 hour ago, Roofi said:

Also, rest in peace Subject_119. 

Oh, I am sorry to learn that. It is also reported in the Doomwiki page. Rest In Peace.

MAP03: Sombre Angoisse by Datacore

UV / 100% kills / 1 secret found

Now we're talking. We're still in techbase territory, this time of the nukage treatment facility variety, yet it's easy to see that the mapgame is on a whole different level: the lighting sectors, the convoluted layout, the complex progression and thick, juicy ambushes really scream of an experienced mapper. I actually did die a few times in the darkened nukage corridor! I particularly enjoyed the multi-step rocket launcher secret, you don't often see that kind of stuff. Nice use of cacodemons, they are the perfect monster to blend in the dark and pelt you when you least expect it. Maybe it's the rocky / techbasy / nukage theme, maybe it's the Wormhole-like GRAY section, the map reminded me quite a bit of TNT. Good stuff, and the first map in the megawad that felt somewhat satisfying to play. 

So, I thought we were going to Spain this month, not France, sad, this is my free month

I haven't had a lot of free time the past few months and have sadly had to skip joining DWMC. This means like a good opportunity to join, hopefully short maps means I'll be able to keep up.

Playing blind continuous with GZDoom on HNTR.

MAP01 - “Crash” by Ch0wW

I didn't even realize this was supposed to be a crashed spaceship or pod at first, it really looks the part on the automap but that doesn't translate too well into the FP view. The broken door works much better and is quite cute. The map itself is fine, it works as a starter with low tier enemies and easy progression. I enjoyed the secret hunting in this one, they're relatively easy to find but still satisfying. I'm playing continuous so appreciate the backpack so early in the wad.

MAP02 - “Malevolence” by subject_119

This one has a little too many hitscanners, the surprise at the top of the lift might've been annoying but I got lucky with a single shotgun shot that killed all 3 of them.I liked bits of the progression, the switch that opens up the red key would've been annoying in a large map but this is so small that you quickly find what it does by going back. Oddly, there are no counted items and the only secret isn't really one. The imp ambush also doesn't work so I had to leave with only 80% kills. All in all this should've been a more interesting map but unfortunately it has a slightly unpolished feel to it. One of the really nice things about speedmaps is that they play so fast they don't have time to leave a sour taste.

MAP02: Malevolence

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

Another humble little techbase you can knock out in just a few minutes, so it makes sense it'd be here to complement MAP01. I'd say it's a little bit even simpler than MAP01, so they feel a tad interchangeable for the most part. Mind you, this isn't to say they aren completely the same, but there's a similar simplistic vibe to them. Blink and you're done. Cute and inoffensive but with little else to say and will quickly be forgotten.

Have been replaying 180mpv lately so I just might stop by to experience more maps by French legends like WH, Darkwave, and Memfis! 

(Played from a pistol-start on UV with Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 2: Malevolence by Gwenvaël "subject_119" Le Bihan

100% kills, 0% items, 100% secrets

Time: 2:26

Malevolence is subject_119's sole contribution to this wad. It consists of a small techbase that is even easier than the previous entry, but the combination of the music, visuals and very simple but fun encounters make this a really chill and relaxing map for me. This level reminds me a bit of something that could be found early in an IWAD and I enjoy it, even if it's of course nothing to write home about.
 

Rest In Peace subject_119.

Rankings:

DSDA-doom, UV-max, pistol start.

Map 02 - Malevolence

Believe it or not, I managed to go the 'wrong' way, making the armor secret completely obsolete as it was the literal last thing I picked up. I ended the run on 26% (not counting the exit medkit) as I got blocked by the door going down just on cue in room with 2 Cacos, one of which decided to spit on me as I was stuck.

I don't have a problem with simple clean techbase aesthetics-wise, maybe because I don't really play this type of map often, so I don't have "vanilla-textured simple techbase" fatigue.

Followed along with the Uprising playthrough and enjoyed it to the extent that I decided to create an account and join in this time.

Playing on GZ Doom UV, continuous, saves allowed as I'm not particularly good. Not aiming for 100%, just trying to make it to the end.

I've never played this megawad before or seen any footage so don't really know to expect

MAP01 - Crash

Very basic opening level, just about right for my skill level. 

I like the detailing on the broken door in the building and the speeder in the opening area. The map itself was very simple to navigate and it was easy to figure out have everything joined together to find the Backpack secret.

I found it a chore to take out Pinkies with a pistol and the Cacos with a shotgun. Other than that, not a lot to say about the combat on this one. 

Overall, an OK map but nothing memorable. 

Grade - C

MAP02 - Malevolence

Slightly more to this level than MAP01, as you would expect. 

My tendency to work from left to right when given an option of routes to take meant that by the time I found the green armour I had already killed all of the enemies. Doesn't matter since I'm playing continuous but I'd be annoyed if I was playing pistol start.

I can't recall there being many health pickups in this level, which would have been helpful given the number of hitscanners.

A more enjoyable map than the first in my opinion, though I'm already wondering how creative it's possible to be when you only have 3 hours. 

Grade C+

MAP02: Malevolence
By Subject_119 (R.I.P)

Kills: 100%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 3:17

3 Heures 2 continues to be aggressively polite to the player in one of the most simple tech bases around. In fact, this map is probably easier than MAP01. All this little series of sectors and linedefs has to shoo you away with is some meek zombies and basic demons. Contrary to the name, this map isn't actually malevolent in the slightest, in fact, it is actually bori-

Grade: C-

Difficulty: E

Ok, let's go with map 03

This one it's my favorite so far.

I like the fight for the red key. It's more of an ambush kind of map, but I find it fun.

Both secrets are really useful, although I had to check how to access the rocket launcher one cause I did not find it on the blind run. 

★★★★☆ for me.