What WAD are you playing now?

Finished Doom The Way Id Did and now wobbling through Base Ganymede! Currently on E1M7 and so far I like this very much.

Whew, finished Speed of Doom! Man, that last stretch of maps were a lot of work, except for the final (which I couldn't quite get all the kills, although I wasn't far off). (MAP33 was a letdown, though). Darkwave drowns you in excess, Joshy provides with maps that are out to get you. Loved it.

Gonna play some wind-down wads for a while, now. Any suggestions? I have a few going (Stickney Installation, Machete) on, but could use more.

2 hours ago, RHhe82 said:

Whew, finished Speed of Doom! Man, that last stretch of maps were a lot of work, except for the final (which I couldn't quite get all the kills, although I wasn't far off). (MAP33 was a letdown, though). Darkwave drowns you in excess, Joshy provides with maps that are out to get you. Loved it.

 

Gonna play some wind-down wads for a while, now. Any suggestions? I have a few going (Stickney Installation, Machete) on, but could use more.

Nostalgia is a pretty chill. 

I've been playing hardfest. I've only played 4 maps but I'm already hooked. Soundtrack is fantastic and the maps are very fun and distinct from one another.

Memento Mori atm, up to map 11

7 hours ago, Makedounia said:

Nostalgia is a pretty chill. 

 

I've been playing hardfest.

I actually played Nostalgia a couple of months ago -- wouldn't mind a second playthrough, especially as the levels were short as far as I remember. Anyway, if someone else is pondering playing it, I recommend!

Hardfest is actually also on my "to be played" list, but perhaps not right now...

DOOM 64 ce with corruption cards ( added demons) and project void for new enemies.  Pretty sure I broke it

Struggle: Antaresian Legacy, up to map27. It gets brutal at times, and pretty much every map since MAP15 is having me worried I may have to give up on the WAD. but it's nonetheless some of the most fun I've had playing Doom, masterfully paced.

20 hours ago, continuum.mid said:

Struggle: Antaresian Legacy, up to map27. It gets brutal at times, and pretty much every map since MAP15 is having me worried I may have to give up on the WAD. but it's nonetheless some of the most fun I've had playing Doom, masterfully paced.

Yeah, I think I have found my new favorite WAD! Or, top 3 at least, alongside JPCP and Ancient Aliens. Finishing the last few maps made me feel like a Doom god (even though I had to save-scum those).

Nice going @antares031, I think I'll play Reliquary next.

32 minutes ago, continuum.mid said:

Yeah, I think I have found my new favorite WAD! Or, top 3 at least, alongside JPCP and Ancient Aliens. Finishing the last few maps made me feel like a Doom god (even though I had to save-scum those).

That's the beauty of WADs like Struggle and Ancient Aliens - save-scumming alone cannot carry you to the finish line. Completing those WADs requires some advanced doom skills, even with save-scumming.

In the last couple of weeks, I'm having fun with Junkfood, currently I'm at map 39 (yeah, it's actually 68+1 levels). It's a -complevel 9 community speedmapping project for approachable BFG slaughter, and it REALLY IS approachable on UV. It has quite a few (usually pretty simple) maps with cool, quick fights, and I'd love to UV Max most of them, which is a pretty rare occurence for me, megawad-wise. 

If you are new to slaughter, you want to try it out or just prefer constantly pressed left click with a BFG, you should check it out!

I've just beaten Altars of Madness by myolden. The maps look stunning, the fights are well made, the soundtrack is good and the difficulty is just right for me. I highly recommend it if you like tight, bite-sized, action packed maps. It's a shame it only got a runner-up award.

On 3/22/2023 at 6:21 PM, Kwisior said:

I've just beaten Altars of Madness by myolden. The maps look stunning, the fights are well made, the soundtrack is good and the difficulty is just right for me. I highly recommend it if you like tight, bite-sized, action packed maps. It's a shame it only got a runner-up award.

I dig those. Thanks for the suggestion, gonna check it out!

So I asked for recommendation for something similar to Rush and Scotty suggested Tetraptykon. Just finished map01 on hmp, and I gotta say - I like that a lot.

Map01 of Tetraptykon is more substantial than map01 of Rush but still very reasonable. I don't feel crushed with overwhelming odds as a casual player, I feel like I can do it. The difficulty is kinda empowering. It makes me wanna try again and do better. There's enough resources and freedom to move, which I really like. The linked DW project thread describes it as "olschool-flavoured slaughter" which I don't really understand but I guess I enjoy.

Worthy of note: the lamp posts in second screenshot are solid and killed me with my own splash more often than I'd like to admit.

[map01 on HMP]

As you can see by my pfp, I've been really enjoying Pizza Tower as of late. I have 100% the game just a few days ago, and will attempt to get some unlockable cosmetic clothes that requires me to beat the game in under 2 hours and 15 minutes in a new save file. It's not gonna be a walk in the park, but I'll try my best to earn it. There's quite nothing else I can say about the game that hasn't been said already, but god damn is it a phenomenal game to play. A true Wario Land successor.

I've also returned to DOOM after taking a break, I feel like tackling Overboard and then later replaying Going Down. I'm also feeling up to trying my first ever MBF21 pwad, but I'm stuck between either starting Temporal Tantrum or Judgement first. I'll probably flip a coin or do a roulette like thing online to decide for me. One last thing, I think I'll maybe participate in this upcoming DW Megawad Club's monthly wad they'll play in April. I say maybe b/c I'm picky in what I play, if I'm not really feelin' the wad I'll probably drop it.

Right now, I has quite an eclectic pile of WADs to play.

1) Struggle - Antaresian Legacy + MBF21 Vesper mod. So far, both projects work extremely well together. Vesper Weapons combine wonderfully with Struggle map and enemy design. Also, those guns are quite different from normal Struggle arsenal, so I am essentially re-learning Struggle anew! They say that you cannot enter twice into the same river, but so far my experience with Struggle+Vesper tells me the opposite. Thank you, @antares031 and @Xaser, you rock!

2) DBP 47: Dreamcatcher Apparatus. What a joy! It is around 1st half of Eviternity in difficulty, with a similar smooth, but ascending difficulty curve. And DBP 47 also has amazing aesthetics. First, custom and standard textures match extremely well in the chosen palette. Second, the visual theme feels like a perfect combo between Ribbiks' and co Voidscape aesthetics and Ancient Aliens Episode 2-3 UFO tech-bases. If anybody wants to play some non-slaugher maps in Voidscape decorations - early maps of Dreamcatchcer Apparatus is exactly what you need! (The ending of the WAD is neat too, but it does go into slaughter territory occasionally. We are talking Eviternity maps 15 or 25 here, not Swim with the Whales, or Fractured Worlds, but still).

3) DBP 50: Emerald City. Just wow! It is a Limit-removing, -complevel 2 set of small-to-medium maps, with a similar aesthetics to Lost Civilization. Some Emerald City doomcute art pieces even manage to surpass Lost Civilization in its own game! I have never seen a mapset like Emerald City!

4) And there is also current DWMC, of course.

I was motivated by MtPain27 to pick up Nostalgia by Myolden and try to complete it after keeping it in my wad folder for quite some time. So far, I'm on the 17th map and I'm loving it. 

[boomer: beyond vanilla]. *speechless* 😍

Skirmish,20 mini and fun slaughter-maps By Argent Agent:

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/121709-skirmish-20-short-slaughter-maps-now-on-idgames-archive/?tab=comments#comment-2305717

So I chose to play A2Rob's Machete as a wind-down wad from Speed of Doom. Machete's great; scythesque compact maps, and there I was having relaxed time.

Until I hit MAP31. I haven't played Scythe 2 past MAP15, but I'm still familiar with a certain enemy that's introduced in its first secret map as well - they have made appearances in other wads since then, and never ever have I liked them. Of course that's partly because I'm no deathmatch player - I always fall into slight panic when dealing with those guys, which means lousy play. That particular map had also a time limit, and I'm still amazed I went through the pain of giving the map a second go and actually reaching the super secret level without cheats. The megasphere/RL stash evens the odds just enough.

A couple of levels later another new enemy is introduced. I know that's from Scythe 2 as well, I've just never encountered it personally before. Not fond of that either, but that's partly because I can't tell if I'm hitting it or not. People really like these enemies to re-use them in wads?

Anyway, sometime after MAP20 Machete really started kicking my ass, so the wind-down time is over, I suppose :P (and to make clear, in case I sound sour: Machete is a top-quality wad, recommended to anyone who likes Scythe. Also fans of Running Late will have a blast).

11 hours ago, RHhe82 said:

So I chose to play A2Rob's Machete as a wind-down wad from Speed of Doom. Machete's great; scythesque compact maps, and there I was having relaxed time.

 

[...]

 

Anyway, sometime after MAP20 Machete really started kicking my ass, so the wind-down time is over, I suppose :P (and to make clear, in case I sound sour: Machete is a top-quality wad, recommended to anyone who likes Scythe. Also fans of Running Late will have a blast).

Maybe I was bit overreacting there, it's not "kicking my ass", but there's a definite change in difficulty curve differential coefficient there -- just like in Scythe, where around MAP20 it's finished playing Mr. Nice Guy with the player. Anyway, by MAP23 I feel I was better equipped to tackle on plasma zombies and efreeti -- or maybe the good ol' co-op buddies, namely cyberdemons, were...

The same happens with Stickney Installation, another wind-down wad I'm playing. It's definitely harder than classic Doom for sure, but I was having more or less relaxed time... until I hit E3M2, where difficulty suddenly spikes, and at least for that level and the next I feel you need to flee in panic at the start and know what to do if you hope to survive.

But I don't know; I keep hoping for chillier, easy going wads after the ordeals of SoD and Sunlust, but maybe it's just as well; I also started Wormwood IV. On HMP, though.

Currently playing Epic2 on Doom2.exe.

I can't imagine how Eternal made a such vanilla masterpiece in 5 months. It's a total pleasure to play this megawad on continuous.

I was gonna wait on playing Eternal Doom til the MIDI pack came out, but I'm playing it with the original soundtrack right now and I'm having fun!

Legacy of Heroes completed.  I made one attempt for Ironman, dabbled around in some of the other individual levels, but hadn't gone for a real completion until recently.  Blue armor is a very scarce resource in this set; out of the ten maps in the campaign, there is one megasphere in a secret, one blue armor (also somewhat hidden) and no other source until the boss encounter of map 10.  The rest of the time, there's only green armor and armor bonuses and even the green armor can feel limited.  Secrets are also a standout feature (not necessarily a good standout, mind).  The very first plasma gun of the set in map 4 dangles tauntingly out of reach and when I did find the way to it, it was a "how is anyone supposed to figure this out?" moment.  Map 8 has an extended sequence to reach the BFG (which I already covered in greater detail in a separate post) which was very satisfying to figure out.  Map 9's secret BFG was another arcane sequence to figure out, even if it was more contained.  Didn't need it being a continuous journey but solving the puzzle provided satisfaction on its own.

I have also been making my way through Greenian over the past month or so.  Many times I would stop and admire a view; the visuals are a strong point.  Simulating riding a sailboat in map 9 is one of the more creative uses of the GZDoom engine I've encountered, among other standout moments.  Gameplay is mostly on the touristy side on HMP but there are segments and setups where the challenge level spikes relative to the usual level.  It took some getting used to the altered sounds and a few changes in the beastiery and there are some forced instances of fall damage that had me questioning "why?" but the aesthetics ended up growing on me.  And when the path through the maps started to intersect with areas I'd visited in previous maps, my interest grew.  I've finished the set and am on the prowl for the next multi-map adventure.

On 3/22/2023 at 6:21 PM, Kwisior said:

I've just beaten Altars of Madness by myolden. The maps look stunning, the fights are well made, the soundtrack is good and the difficulty is just right for me. I highly recommend it if you like tight, bite-sized, action packed maps. It's a shame it only got a runner-up award.

Just finished it not long ago. It was a cool, not too hard mapset with lovely aesthetics, might revisit it again.

I've finally finished playing the first two episodes of Back to Saturn X. Going through them truly felt like an achievement. I had started them during the winter break, thinking I'd be able to finish them in a couple of weeks. Instead, it took me almost three months (with breaks in-between, of course)! My experience with WADs so far has been mostly limited to vanilla mappacks so BTSX felt like a really refreshing change. Just for fun, I have played a number of levels from both episodes using the original executable on DOS and I'm absolutely amazed how such detailed maps could be made to work with the vanilla game. The technical proficiency of many Doom modders never ceases to amaze me.

My only complaints have to do with the fact that each episode has you go through almost thirty levels using mostly the same artstyle, which, while very well done, can get sort of tiring after a while. BTSX Episode 2 also features some levels with a lot of stone textures which made everything look a bit too gray at times. Again, though, these are just minor complaints. My real problem is that BTSX is just too damn hard. I make it a point to always play Doom on UV, since it's the difficulty level that feels the most right to me, but some (more like many) of the levels in BTSX, especially in the second episode, felt absolutely impossible on UV, both due to an almost comically high amount of high-tier enemies (I'm thinking about revenants and arch-viles in particular) and a lack of ammunition. Of course, it's worth mentioning that I made life harder for myself by pistol-starting each level, so I definitely went out of my way to make some of the levels really hard to play.

Still, I've had a great time, and I can at last join other people in eagerly waiting for the third episode to arrive.

I've been playing E1M8 of my confcons wad; I'm trying to beat it in stroller. I've come up with a couple of new small strategies but I need something more. I keep dying to the second cyber of the map, or to one of the two cybers at the huge lowering gate, or to one of the three cybers in the dark arena. I've got as far as pushing the other switch in the dark arena before getting rocketed, so that means I was actually quite close; I would've needed to get on the other side of the arena and press the other switch, then get out of it. I think I'll get it right eventually.

On 3/25/2023 at 9:05 PM, SuyaSS said:

I was motivated by MtPain27 to pick up Nostalgia by Myolden and try to complete it after keeping it in my wad folder for quite some time. So far, I'm on the 17th map and I'm loving it. 

Finally completed. This marks my second custom megawad completion after Scythe. 

Just finished Going Down, started Ancient Aliens.

The Spectrum of the Balls of Steel,Abandon.

Playing through Nostalgia on HMP

Kind of reminds me of megawads such as Rebirth, The Revolution and Demonfear. Short levels, full of doomcute with less than 100 enemies. There are some occasional tricky fights, but overall it is pretty manageable. 

Really worth playing