The DWmegawad Club plays: Eviternity II

MAP03: Sonder. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 150/150 K, 4/4 S, 3/4 I. Comp. time 14:48

Knowing the secrets in advance, especially the SSG and InvulnSphere (and where to use it) makes this one far easier than going in blind. I was surprised to see the blobs from nu-Doom make appearance - I immediately recognized (or made the connection) and knew to shoot them down and expect an ambush.

Arachnotrons and cybruisers (or what were they called... Annihilators?), as do the captains corporals, make their appearance here, although both have been altered since Eviternity days: the chaingun projectiles are no longer hitscanny, but far slower projectiles. I think I like the change, especially regarding Annihilators - they were such an annoying enemy in Eviternity because of the hitscan-chaingun. Now they are far ore fun, although I expect their usage compensate for their slow bullets. This time, however, I saved the invulnsphere for this particular fight, so the lone guy didn't pose any danger to me, anyway.

As for other modifications; Lost souls had their HP nerfed in Eviternity, and I'm thankful for that. I'd rather have more lost souls that are individually killed easier, than a few lost souls that take two shotgun blasts to kill.

Another thing I noticed already in MAP01: some items (like health and armor bonuses) don't count for items! This is a probably a good choice since the captains drop armor bonsues upon death. I wonder if some enemies drop health bonuses, or were they removed from item count only for symmetry's sake...? Although that'd be a good reason.

The map itself is okay. I guess I find it less exciting than MAP02. The withered down ruins remains cool aesthetic, but this map feels more like "a regular Doom map" despite being of high quality, and despite the corruption hearts (were they called such?).

*

MAP31: Redshift. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 430/430 K, 4/4 S, 1/1 I. Comp. time 35:03

Alright! Too bad I'm still a few maps away from blind running, so I can't display my immediate reaction to the star of the map: The Perforator that seems to replace chainsaw. The reload time is a bit awkward, but oh boy do I love the sheer power of it for mere 25 bullets.

Knowing what's the map about and knowing the secrets (which were quite obscure and took a long time to find on my first time) doesn't lessen the fun to be had here. I only wish there's gonna be a "slaughter map" with infinite bullets and seemingly endless Perforator fodder.

The map itself is good, although without Mr. Perfie it would play more like a BTSX1 map, a sharp departure from white marble ruins. It's a good map, that's elevated by its reliance on Perforator.

MAP03: Sonder by Dragonfly

The green grass of Sonder reminds you more of the original wad's atmosphere, especially Heliopolis, but you can still sense something has been lost. It's the dark sky, fallen leaves and signs of corruption that tells the place isn't the same as it used to be. 

The map itself is a open-ended search for three corrupted hearts that need to be destroyed to open the final arena, each guarded by an ambush. The one that took me by a complete surprise featured corporals. They seem to replace captains from Eviternity 1, being armed with a rifle that fires fast-moving plasma bolts and dropping armor piece after death. I have to admit, they took my health down a lot. The remaining two aren't that bad, you have cacodemons followed by their astral brothers and a room that slowly release shotgunners and nightmare demons. The more incidental fights that connects it cause the map to flow nicely, you are always on the move, always killing something. The map concludes with a red arena that turns into a dark pit. Here, you are re-acquainted with an annihilator - a cyber-baron that attacks with a rocket, followed by a volley of plasma bolts. He's not a big deal here, just move around and shoot with an SSG. You can also wait a bit and have him attack a teleporting ambush of imps and shotgunners, that's always fun.

Eviternity II uses UMAPINFO to liberate itself from the hardcoded map structure of vanilla Doom 2, so instead of secret maps being accessible from maps 15 and 31, here there is one hidden in each episode. While wandering through Sonder, you should notice an inaccessible portal. To reach it, you need to find four secret areas, each holding a switch that opens a way to MAP31. I was surprised to find them without much hassle, most can be seen from the outside and you can deduce how to enter them. The SSG was especially helpful against nightmare demons, taking them down with a regular shotgun is, well, a nightmare.

MAP31: Redshift by Afterglow and Dragonfly

An unexpected change of scenery - from withered heaven to a dark techbase, processing a vibrant green sludge. This is not what I'll be remembering Redshift for. That honour goes to the perforator - brand new weapon replacing the chainsaw. It consumes 25 bullets to fire a devastating salvo that can kill a baron in one shot and decimate crowds - try lining up monsters in a row for the best effect. It has a rather lenghty recharge time and eats through your bullet supply like crazy, but it's still insanely powerful. The map is built around its use, assaulting you with large groups and placing tons of ammo boxes. 

My favourite fight is located in a secret with the blue key, accessible after surviving a cacodemon ambush around the yellow one. It hands you a BFG and releases two crowds of monsters, so you can test both superweapons and decide which you prefer. I generally like the secrets so far, if you notice an odd window or inaccessible platform, there's always something close by that lets you access it. There's also a memorable encounter with barrels moving across the room on a conveyor belt, but I generally think it's more of a showcase of a new gun rather than a challenge. It doesn't change the fact it was a fun map to play through.

MAP03 - “Sonder” by Dragonfly

I forgot to mention this for map 2, but i was shitting myself while seeing torches with fucking rotational sprites, NOW THERE ARE FUCKING LEAVES AND RAIN POURING TOO!? Man, to think those features were exclusive to gzdoom 5 years ago, truly mbf21 was a fucking massive leap. About the level itself, pretty good, it does a great job reintroducing the whole eviternity family, with honestly interesting monster combinations that immediately tells you how these are going to be arranged into combat. And also, instead of switches, you have to beat meat to invoke the monsters? what is this gore nest esque shit? 

It just feels sooo much polished, the way incidental combat flows, being good in-betweens before these aforementioned ambushes, the freedom of choice in the order you can tackle the navigation of the map, helping a lot in replayability, secrets are clever to find, not that much the invuln, but almost all of them requiere to actually think outside the box, like that yellow key secret that requires you to notice the subtle clue of the rock geometry to find the narrow ledge. Also that music, helping with the unsettling feeling, all the shapeshifting into corrupt black structures, in contrast to the regular angelic grounds, makes this feel not like a doom map, but a polished level from an actual AAA game, fucking amazing.

9/10

MAP31 - “Redshift” by Afterglow, Dragonfly

Btw the secret exit in map 3, combined with the aesthetics, is a reference to E1M3? Btw, yes, the map is amazing, is like a btsx map with more aggression than usual, although this may sound rough for like, a map in the beginning of the megawad, a new weapon just by itself, changes the whole ordeal. That ultra chaingun (btw what is even its actual name?) Is just perfect, a burst of damage that can one shot barons, annihilate everything weaker into pieces, slightly balanced by the fact it has a large recoil frame after it fires, making it immediately feel welcomed to the rest of the perfect doom arsenal, feels like a sidegrade to the bfg, if the bfg is still in eviternity 2, idk what to expect. 

Just one nitpick with this new weapon, why is in slot zero? is not appropriate to be in 7? since is like, a super weapon? Nonetheless, yeah i like how they managed the style of gameplay, the lift checkpoints make the map feel polished, and never hard to navigate in the slightest, and idk how the fuck to get the secrets, i only found the plasma, I'm just awful in secret hunting by experience...

9/10

3 minutes ago, Cutman 999 said:

Just one nitpick with this new weapon, why is in slot zero? is not appropriate to be in 7? since is like, a super weapon?

Despite all the power of MBF21, one thing it can't do is add new weapons, so this is an old-fashioned like-for-like replacement for the chainsaw.  In DSDA it's bound to "1" and "8" (just like the chainsaw).

In GZDoom it is properly coded as a new Thing, and is bound to just "8" (given we could choose, we reasoned few people would want to pull out the Perforator when they meant to pull out the Fist).

Ultra violence 100% kills/secrets, Pistol start, Using saves
Played on DSDA Doom v0.27.5 -complevel 21

Map 3: Sonder - 14:01

Sonder continues the beautiful outdoor ruins aesthetic and is a marked step up in difficulty from map 2. The rain and falling leaves effects (an MBF21 thing?) are also really nice, and something I forgot to mention about Vestige. They're nice there too. Around the map are three egg sacs/heart shaped things that the player will need to track down, each causing an ambush upon being destroyed. The first of these I encountered introduces the player to the bob the builder zombie former corporal, who has doom 64/PSX doom sound effects and fires non-hitscan projectiles. They also seem to drop armor bonuses on death. The second ambush I found consists of nightmare demons and shotgunners, which seems to encourage using berserk but the hitscan can complicate that and dealt me chip damage while I was busy with the demons. The final one starts off with three cacodemons (seems easy?), then two astral cacodemons pop in after a few seconds. In the final choreographed fight of the map the player falls into a pit and will face the first annihilator of the wad within. He fires a (cyberdemon) rocket at the player then sprays them with a bullet attack that (thankfully) isn't hitscan. Trying to make him infight the imps and hitscan that appear later seems suboptimal, as you're given an SSG to deal with his reinforcements fairly quickly and cyber-goat boy can feed you a rocket and potentially one shot you easily. Sonder doesn't reinvent the wheel but it is definitely enjoyable and a pleasant experience. I didn't find the secret exit too difficult to find or the three secrets it requires (this time). One of those secrets has an invulnerability and I'm really not sure what the player would use that for. Maybe the annihilator battle? /shrug.

Difficulty: 3/15

Map 31: Redshift - 20:42

Eviternity 2's first secret map is a slam dunk. Taking place in a cleanly designed tech base that reminds me a lot of BTSX 1 (Back to Saturn-Esque?), Redshift is pretty much always in motion. Clear out some enemies, take a teleporter, and you'll acquire the first perforator of the wad. Oh, yes *camera zooming in to Doomguy's grinning face*. The perforator is a chainsaw(?) replacement that eats 25 bullets per shot but will pretty much one shot any non-boss monster it's fired at. I love it. You'll face some pretty tough ambushes with some fairly high-tier demons throughout the remainder of the map which are clearly designed around the use of weapon #8 ("Holy **** this thing can one-shot an archvile??), not least of which is the cacodemon/astral cacodemon ambush when you obtain the yellow key which dealt me my first death of E2. You'll want to watch your health too, there isn't a lot of it lying around. I also really dig the deadly red bars blocking the blue key fight, which shows imps getting gibbed when they run into it. A warning for the player to not meet the same fate. Speaking of the blue key fight, it's a secret, and well worth tracking down. You'll get a BFG and will definitely want it for the trap that ensues. Didn't have too much trouble with the secrets but I definitely got lucky with a couple of them. With both the red and yellow keys you can return to that first teleporter, rocket some zombiemen, and exit. Easily my favorite map so far.

Difficulty: 4/15

GZDoom/UV/Contiuous/Saves

Write-ups from memory

MAP03: Sonder - Dragonfly

Our project lead provides a map that harkens back to Eviternity MAP27 in its open-ended circular design. Like that map, there's a few challenges that need to be completed to open the exit, no keys needed. Each of these start with destroying the Eviternity equivalent of NuDoom's Gore Nests. Once that happens, a small lock-in fight occurs. The most interesting of these reveals the first brand-new enemy of the WAD, the Former Corporal. These are weaker versions of Eviternity 1's Former Captains, having a less powerful attack and less health. I didn't know this at first, and just assumed they were redesigned Captains, and proceeded to panic when locked in with a bunch of them. Thankfully, they are really easy to deal with. They also drop armor bonuses when killed, and that increases to 5 of them if gibbed! Really cool addition. The other 2 Gore Nest fights aren't too bad. One is hitscan and pinkies/nightmare demons, and the other are the 2 types of cacos. Nothing too bad. The incidental combat around the map is light, but revs, hell knights, and pain elementals show up. Once the Gore Nests are gone, the center of the map opens which leads to the final fight. At first, it looks like the battle is going to be on flat land, but as soon as you grab the SSG, the floor gives way to a black stone arena, and the new and improved annihilator shows up. Still fires a rocket, but the chaingun attack has been replaced with the captain's attack, making it less annoying to fight! Just kill it quickly before the arena gets flooded with imps. 

You can exit the map now, but you probably noticed the arachnotron guarding a purple portal. Yup, that's right, it's a secret exit! In map 3! Hooray for UMAPINFO! You need to find 4 hidden switches, each marked by a green torch. I found 3 of them easily (one of them even has a yellow key that nabs you a soul sphere up in the hitscan/demon gore nest area), but the one by the invul was odd. I could have sworn you needed to hit the switch that opens it in order to open the bars during the corporal lock-in fight. How does that work? Idk, but I had to watch Vytaan's video to figure that one out. But hey, at least that means secret map is a go!

Overall, a pretty fun map. Combat ratches up a notch, and the new feature are a cool touch (like the falling leaves!). It does feel a little too much like Ev1 MAP27 like I said, but it's not a big deal. 

MAP31: Redshift - Afterglow and Dragonfly

I'm pretty sure the only other Afterglow map I've played is Ev1 MAP10, and that one is great! So is this one. First off, like the secret maps in Ev1, these don't fit the visual theme of that episode. This map feels like a Quake 2 map more than everything. Second, this might by my favorite Jimmy MIDI. Total banger! 

You have to pistol-start this map, but the chaingun and backpack given right at the start makes up for it. The map seems pretty normal at the beginning, but soon you jump through a teleporter and find a brand new weapon: the Perforator. Say hello to your new best friend. This gun can only be found in the secret maps (mostly), which I think is a fantastic idea. Makes continuous players really want to seek out the hidden exits to get a powerful weapon. And powerful it is. This thing fires out 3 rail-gun shots, using 25 bullets, and can one shot a baron. That makes this the perfect panic weapon. An archie just appeared? Melt it in one shot with this! And bullets are pretty plentiful, so you should have a good amount of ammo for it. I played this map in RC1 with GZDoom, and that made it even more OP. I believe this has been fixed, but it's still insanely powerful and fun to use. Outside of that, this map is still pretty strong. Just have to find the yellow and red keys to exit. Progression isn't 100% clear at times, but you should still be able to find where to go if you just wander around. Make sure to head back to the start of the map when things open up a bit to find the red key path. Another new element added in this map are laser bars that instant kill you if you touch them. This is evident when all the monsters behind them walk into them killing themselves. Thanks primitive videogame AI! Mancs and archies make their first appearances here, only do die quickly to weapon slot 8. Lots die to weapon slot 8 here. A secret near the yellow key unlocks a secret fight for the blue key, which also nets you the BFG! 2 super weapons in one map! This fight is the toughest fight in the WAD so far, and is a notable difficulty spike, given the waves of pinkies, imps, chainguners, and astrals. Then when you hit the switches to get the blue key, revs and corporals pop up. It's a fun and intense fight! Just wish the blue key was used for more than just exiting this room. The red key path does some cool stuff with conveyor belts, but they're not something that the combat design is tuned for. It's more like "Oh, I've happened to start a fight in a room with conveyor belts" than "this is a fight designed around conveyor belts". Not really an issue tho.

Overall, a super fun map! Intense throughout with a nice difficulty upgrade. Rockin' MIDI to boot. And of course, it's a great map to introduce the new weapon! The hidden BFG is just a nice bonus. And the map also looks great!

MAP03 - “Sonder” by Dragonfly

The three key hunt has been replaced by a three grotesque artifact hunt. The incidental combat is fine, nothing too strenuous, the fights around the gore nests are a little hit and miss. The former corporal is simple and fun, the caco nest is too slow to break down without fining the secret SSG and the demon/sergeant trap sits between the two. The final fight is good fun. I don't know whether I was having an off day but a couple of secrets I kind of just bumbled into (The invulnerability seemed to open by itself for instance). A solid map with a slightly different take on the theme so far.

MAP31 - “Redshift” by Afterglow, Dragonfly

The biggest flaw this map has is that I struggled from time to time to figure out where I was supposed to go. The map sort of sprawls from the start in a way where you can miss something important. The highlight fights involve both of the big guns, the perforator fight with the mass of imps and the barons who seem to only exist to demonstrate how powerful this weapon is (That's fine), the Blue key/BFG secret is good fun too. The rest is fine, though I can't help but feel that it is lacking something to make it feel special. The locale is different but I am left feeling like I played a normal(ish) map where the super weapons were shoehorned in a little because the rest of the combat can be handled with the SSG/Rocket launcher if so needed. 

Overall it is a fine map.

MAP03 - “Sonder” by Dragonfly

This is a map that, after I beat it once, I had to go back with cheats just to gawk at it. It's great looking. The particle effects are especially noticeable here, and apparently it's mostly done with MBF21! Even the congealed blood and tar (if that's what it is, not sure really) has a nice look to it. Seeing how the corruption is spreading from the center is great.

In order to access the center, you have to destroy three red pustules (others are calling them hearts, but they don't really look like that to me) that have sprouted from the corruption. I didn't recognize them from anywhere, but I was compelled to try shooting them. I wasn't sure what I expected, but a lock-in fight with some astral cacodemons wasn't it! Turns out all three will trigger a lock-in trap when burst. I really liked the design of the trap with the demons and shotgunners. They kept coming in at a steady rate, keeping me on my toes without overwhelming me.

The combat here is significantly more difficult than the last map. Seems like our vacation is over. I died a few times here, once to the astral cacodemons, and twice to the annihilator in the center. The first time I died I had I actually forgot to save, so I had to restart, and honestly the combat before the traps isn't that interesting. This time though I didn't forget to save, and I made it to the annihilator battle in the middle. I had forgotten how to fight these things (and they changed from Eviternity 1), so it didn't go well at first. Third time was the charm though. I love how this formerly flat ground transforms in front of you into a little battle area. The lifts that kept going up and down were a little confusing, and their noise kept distracting me from my secret hunt.

Searching for the secret exit here was pretty fun. I found three out of four secrets unaided, but the invulnerability secret defeated me. Hiding the secret switch behind another switch I already used is devilishly cunning design. I need to up my secret hunting game.

This was a really fun map. Finding the secret exit treats you to another, much shorter, poem.

MAP31 - “Redshift” by Afterglow, Dragonfly

This map is very well detailed and lit. I wouldn't call it beautiful like some other maps, because this is a grungy techbase. But it's very well conceived. It really does look like it belongs in a more advanced engine, not Doom. And it's spawling; I got lost more than once in its absolutely massive layout. Parts of this map just kind of blend together, so it's really hard to navigate. I don't really mind that so much, since I like exploring. Luckily there's tons of nooks and crannies to investigate as I wandered the map. There's so much detail everywhere I kept discovering something new to look at every trip through!

When I played this map I played it on hard mode. By that I mean I didn't understand that the Perforator (I only found out the name when reading other's posts) used bullets as its ammo. In hindsight I'm not sure how I screwed that up. That means that when I ran out of bullets, I thought I was permanently out of ammo for it that map. I mostly stuck with the chaingun and shotgun because of that. It made the level way harder than it was supposed to be, but I still had fun with it. In fact, accidentally upping the difficulty probably made me enjoy the level a bit more than I would have otherwise.

I mowed down a lot of fodder with the chaingun, and there is plenty of ammo for it in this level. The combat between the few set-pieces is mostly anemic though, even with the weaker weapons. The highlight of the map is the pair of fights inside the blue key area with the BFG. Unfortunately, this means the best part of the map is behind a secret. The yellow key fight with two brands of cacodemons is also pretty fun. I killed most of them with just the chaingun and shotgun, so it really got me panicking while running around trying to survive.

I do have to say the perforator is just awesome. I might replay this map just to abuse it since I robbed myself of that opportunity the first time through. It just shreds barons of hell, which is about all I used it on. There was one moment where I used my last few bullets to one-shot a pair of astral cacodemons, but after that I thought I had used the weapon up for the map. Still, I'm really looking forward to finding this weapon again, even if it's in the next secret map.

After you get the perforator the map opens up. If you're like me and go the yellow key path first, you end up not getting the rocket launcher until so late in the map that you don't really do much with it. That's also where you get the SSG.  The map REALLY wants you to go the red key path first it seems, but ultimately the yellow key path is what I entered first. That's another way I feel like I played this map on hard mode.

I did find all of the secrets on my own, and they were all very well designed. This was one of the more fun secret hunts I've went on lately. This map overall is great, even if it does get slow in between some of the fights.

1 hour ago, ukiro said:

Perforator
For the longest time this was called the GIB DITCHER after my initial idea: A rail gun like weapon that plows a ditch of gibs through weaker enemies. The idea was partially linked to my concept for a certain fight in map36, which I'm sure we'll talk more about at the end of the month, where single-shotting arch-viles would be a good thing. There was a lot of back and forth in the attempts to implement this where I clung stubbornly to my original vision, but I think the end result is as close to perfect as we can get. Huge thanks to Antares031 and Bauul for their hard work on coding this.

It's still the Gib Ditcher in my heart!

Bit of a ramble about the development of the Perforator, for those who are interested:

I wasn’t expecting to see Eviternity 2 here... I didn't even know it was out until I saw it listed in the DWMC! It’s been a few months since I participated and while I’m a little worried about the number of secret maps, I definitely want to play along with the club for this one. I’ll play more casually this time around in anticipation of falling behind so if I’m having trouble somewhere I’ll just start using saves. Otherwise, I’ll do what I did before. Ultra violence, pistol start, all kills, at least try to get all secrets, and two playthroughs to avoid first-impression bias.

I’ll post the first two levels today and should be able to do 3 and 4 tomorrow (and the secret one).

Map01 “Elysium” by Tristan Clark

Our journey begins at the very end of the prior Eviternity, the arena where we killed the Archangelus. The continuity is good, and I like how all the monsters we killed were placed as corpses here, very atmospheric.

Speaking of atmospheric, following this is a moody trek through the desolate shell of, well, Elysium, as in the behemoth map29 of OG Eviternity… Complete with grim lighting and a melancholy soundtrack. Maybe some corpses could be strewn about to keep the theme established in the opening room? Probably not, having nothing at all best sets the desired tone (especially after reading the text crawl at the end of the level). I didn’t check, but the map looks to be an exact reconstruction of the main hub of (Eviternity’s) Elysium. We even get the mancannons, which I always liked launching myself out of.

As we reach the beginning/end of Elysium we encounter the only monster in the map, an astral cacodemon. This guy is a dangerous custom enemy (as anyone who played the first Eviternity would know) but in this specific instance the stony ball of fun is not a problem. Despite only having the pistol there’s plenty of space and no other distractions, so just play keep away until he’s down. The new projectile colors definitely pop out and I’m looking forward to seeing the lightshow when a bunch of these guys are on screen.

Not really a doom map but it does set the tone nicely. There’re plenty of mapslots so spending one on worldbuilding is perfectly fine.

Map02 “Vestige” by Ben Mansell (Bauul) and Joshua O'Sullivan (Dragonfly)

A more traditional map set in a watery old fort, Vestige could be seen as the megawad’s actual opener with the prior map being a prelude. Combat is straightforward, with the majority being our enhanced Eviternity pistol and shotgun against a modest assembly of zombiemen, imps, and half hitpoint lost souls. The standout encounter is probably the yellow skull key ambush, which shouldn’t go awry unless the hitscanner RNG is unfriendly. I would also recommend having the chaingun out when headed for the exit, you’ll get reacquainted with some old friends.

Vestige is a good-looking map, with some visual similarities to Inauguration (like the rain). The aesthetics actually remind me of B2SX Episode 2 as much as Eviternity, though the runtime definitely does not. One thing I noticed is the torches swing like pendulums if you strafe around in front of them, which might not be the intent but it made me smile. I'll also give a shout out to the music... Eviternity's soundtrack is outstanding and this one is looking to be the same.

A good traditional opener or a good map02, it works either way.

8 hours ago, ukiro said:

Palette

I converted OTEX 2 to use only 238 color indices. This comes with no visible degradation of any existing textures. I also used 3 indices to make deeper reds transition better into the darkest browns.

Apologies for slightly offtopic-ish question, but are the excluded color indices those that were converted to lime green in Eviternity 2's palette?

If so, how are the trees/vegetation which make use of the lime green colors handled in the upcoming standalone OTEX 2.0, which I assume will work with the original Doom palette as well. Will those be converted to the standard Doom's green range?

46 minutes ago, ReaperAA said:

how are the trees/vegetation which make use of the lime green colors handled in the upcoming standalone OTEX 2.0, which I assume will work with the original Doom palette as well. Will those be converted to the standard Doom's green range?

Anything using that new green range is incompatible with the vanilla palette and will be excluded from OTEX 2. I will only include things that use the regular green range, which is tinted teal in eviternity. 
 

but this demonstrates how OTEX can now be compatible with BOTH vanilla palette and fairly advanced custom palettes, all at once. I’ll be detailing this more once it gets released. 

Happy I'm not the only one who miscalled the first map lol. A thing I wanted to mention two times already but forgot is how cool it is that each map has its own endscreen with a screenshot at some good viewpoint. It's from eviternity 1 but it's still very nice. It's also nice to read others' posts to learn what I'd missed by not playing ev1 (but makes me feel silly for thinking some things were new in ev2).

Map4: Engulfed (Velvetic & Dragonfly) ===
The map's quite a bit different from the last one. The visual theme is a bit different, it looks less heavenly, more dirtier and darker but there are some heaven paintings so I assume it's some corrupted ruins or something? IDK, but the map looks good. The combat doesn't feature lock-ins with waves of new enemies. There are a few (or just one) fight where you are locked in some kind of arena and have to fight but the map mostly just doesn't do it. Almost the entire map is made out of some incidental combat which is an interesting change.

The most interesting thing about the map is progression, the way you get to new areas is not collecting some keys to open new doors but by raising the water level so you can just walk into the new areas. I thought it was creative and very fun. The introduction to this gimmick is great with how you are literally standing on that water, press a switch and see it raise instantly right before your eyes. But I wish the rest of water raising was more noticeable, because with the absolutely normal looking switches it feels like you aren't actively raising the water on your own but explore the map and the water happens to raise as you do so. I'm thinking of giving all the water-raising switches a different texture or some consistent decoration around it so that the player knows when exactly they raise water and can feel the milestones and know that they can now go to new areas. This isn't a massive issue, even if you don't have immediate feedback about the switches you will see that the water had raised anyway, it's just about the "click" you feel like when you find a new key in a map.

Map04 - Engulfed - Velcetic and Dragonfly

The theme starts feeling less desolate, like we're reaching back towards civilization. Although this map is called Engulfed, I'd say it's easier than the last two maps because of pacing. This has an oldschool feel to it, you get the guns in order, a green armor, you crawl around, pick off low tier off of various vertical vantages, there's always some minor new encounter to clean up on the floor and sometimes you get some tealy ambushes. Some tricky revenants and some pain elemental reveals but I wouldn't sweat it too much. The vista reveals of new structures as you climb over rocks and black sludgefalls are so well calibrated, with beautiful Thing foliage framing shots all of the place. With a more 'linear' map (where you can at least bottleneck people to be looking a certain way while they're going over terrain) you can really set up a lot of frames! In terms of gameplay, I would classify this as a chill map, actually and I think it's placed well just because of that. It's not easier necessarily, just slower, therefore more short strategies are concocted and carried through linearly. The kind of map that makes you feel like you're constantly making incremental progress.

The major highlight (besides the beautiful geometry, the intricate but playful layout, the texturing, the frames, everything) for me is the midi. Major key statement, carries us from prior tracks but has that djenty menacing minor middle part with the artificial harmonics... I have to say, modern-esque metal in midi doesn't usually work for me as the basis of that style is in the sound profile of massive drop tuned distorted guitar and over-compressed drums... midi can't do that shit. And I guess the most djenty I get in my regular listening is Destroy Erase Improve (I stop there, 20 years ago) but for all that said, I think Dragonfly has come the closest to really getting those vibes out of general midi without it sounding either weak or out of place. The soundtrack is stellar so far.

Found a secret! All on my own! Well there's 3 more but that's for more observant players, I'm here for the sights, frights and tight midis.

footage

 

MAP04 - Redshift - Kevin "Velvetic" Martins & Dragonfly (99%K/66%I/75%S):

Another nice map that has a gimmick at the start where you constantly fill a lake with this dark water, so you reach the building at the middle of the map. Playing the level with all the guns carried from the secret level made my playthrough a lot easier, but I think this is the first non-secret hard map, encounters occur in tight areas just like in MAP02, but with a bit more verticallity. The visuals here is what take the spotlight of the entire map, everything looks beautiful. Great work by Velvetic and Dragonfly.

Order of preference:
 

As an advice, be sure to play as most maps as you can even outside agenda, as some maps (specially secret ones or the ones that give you access to secret levels) will take you about an hour to finish. 

MAP04: Engulfed. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 183/183 K, 4/4 S, 3/3 I. Comp. time 17:22

Another decent map, but a little bit less exciting than what's come before. On my first time the secrets were, again, the hardest part of the map for me (for example, I totally missed the lift sound that should have revealed the blue armor to me), and now that I know it all, map is quite a breeze.

The soundtrack funnily reminds me of the original Lemmings soundtrack:

I'm fairly certain the secret containing the Computer Area Map had an archvile in an earlier RC! It felt out of place, the current RC5 inhabitant feels much more suitable, somehow.

Ultra violence 100% kills/secrets, Pistol-start, Using saves
Played on DSDA Doom v0.27.5 -complevel 21

Map 4: Engulfed - 15:51

Map 4 is sort of like a bigger and meaner version of map 2: a ruined, partially sunken temple full of undead soldiers and demons. I really like how this map is paced from a pistol start. You'll steadily acquire guns and face ambushes appropriate to your arsenal and expected difficulty for a map 4, and progression is straight-forward for the most part. The two semi-tricky parts of the map I found is the room with the annihilator and the two arch-viles in windows that can be hard to spot at first, as well as the final ambush in which I kissed a lost soul with a rocket :(. I also like how the water level slowly rises to provide passage to map 5, a nice shake-up to the old "collect keys and open central door" formula. Overall, another really good map with some neat secrets (keep your ears open and look for shootable switches). 

Difficulty: 3/15

MAP04: Engulfed by Velvetic and Dragonfly

What's up with the midi? I'm not sure if this was intentional or some issue on my part, but there's this whine that sounds like my brother's cat when I try to lift him from a chair. This aside, it's good with a sense of melancholy that carries through the episode.

The progression here reminds me of Nation Gone Dry from BTSX E2: there's a black liquid at the bottom and you need to raise its level, so you can access cliffs and cross gaps. The route is more straightforward this time, taking out cliffside snipers and small groups of monsters, at least until you reach the large building, ending with a broken bridge. First you take out a crowd of imps, then you need to visit two wings to proceed. One has an annihilator sniper and two archviles behind his back, other a pit with pinkies and nightmare demons, followed by a horde of zombies and some revenants.

I'm not sure what to think here. Engulfed is a solid map with a good flow of combat, creative progression and pretty visuals, but it didn't grab me like two previous levels. I guess it can't match the excitement of Redshift, but if that's the case, then I'm sure Eviternity II will pick up the pace sooner or later.

GZDoom/UV/Contiuous/Saves

Write-ups from memory

MAP04: Engulfed - Velvetic and Dragonfly

We have another newcomer to Eviternity here, with Velvetic. I've played quite a bit of their stuff, mainly their Nova II contributions (then known as KevinHEZ), and more recently, their very cool WAD, Atmospheric Extinction. I've seen screenshots of other stuff they've been working on that look really cool too, so it's always exciting to see their name pop up. 

This map feels like the first meaty traditional Doom map of the WAD. It's more linear than MAP03, and not a introductory level like MAP02 (Since MAP31 is a secret map, I'm not going to count it in normal progression, but even that one doesn't feel too traditional to me). Parts of this map's progression involve raising the water level to allow traversal. This happens at the beginning and end of the map, with a hunt for the blue key in the middle. The map is pretty open at times, which makes the big imp ambush toward the end fun to rocket. The encounters here escalate pretty nicely, with the ones at the end of the map being pretty tricky. One side has you dealing with 2 archies and an annihilator, and the other has a sewer basin pinky family fight that you could be tempted to use rockets on. I'm not sure if I would say this map is harder than MAP03; maybe they're on par. The visuals are top-notch, and most of the MIDI is nice. Key word, most. I don't find that one part of it as jarring as other people do, but I do prefer the calmer aspects of the MIDI more. I found most of the secrets pretty easily, tho the mega armor one took me a long time. Also, what is up with the random door in the sewer basin pinky family area? That looked very suspicious, but there was nothing there. 

Overall, this is a pretty solid map. While I don't think there was anything that really stood out, it's still a really good Doom map at its foundation. And that's all it really needs to be!

MAP04 - “Engulfed” by Velvetic, Dragonfly

I would consider this to be the most fleshed out map so far. Whilst the combat isn't particularly hot, there are a few decent spikes of excitement whilst the rest involves enjoying the splendid world that was built here. This is in my opinion the best looking map so far and the concept of raising the water level offers an extra element to the map, which elevates it substantially. I think given that this is the first episode and clearly the combat is on the softer side I think you can get away with a map that doesn't really have stand out moments in the combat department. In the end this was pretty engrossing and the map moves along at a decent pace and is relatively straightforward to progress through. Good map.

MAP04 - “Engulfed” by Velvetic, Dragonfly

After the massive secret map, this smaller map was very welcome. The first thing I notice is the soothing music track (although it does break a bit harder at one point). It would be appropriate for a walk in the park. That's kind of how I'd describe this map. It has beautiful scenery, and combat that doesn't really ask much of you. I never came close to dying, although that's partially due to finding the first secret megaarmor right off the bat. I never had a problem with navigating this map, and the progression was clear. I always had plenty of ammo. I also found all of the secrets on my own, and really none of them game me much trouble. I think the soulsphere secret was the only one I had to look for, and the only reason I waited until after everything was dead to get it was because I didn't need it.

Like everyone else has mentioned, I also liked the rising water levels that allow you to progress through the level.

This is a good early map.

I do have a question for the musicians here... is everyone targeting the MS Wavetable Synth?

MAP04: Engulfed by Velvetic and Dragonfly

The first thing I would like to praise is the midi. What is this? Heavenly death metal? lol. I like it. As for the level, the level is much more open feeling than Map03 and also in contrast to Map03 (where almost all traps were locked-in ones), I think there is only 1 locked in fight in the entire map. Almost all the combat is incidental, which makes the map pretty chill and laid back, which is okay for the first episode. I also echo the sentiments of other folks liking the water level changing throughout the level.

That said, this map is probably my least favorite of the episode because it doesn't really have much standout moments.

MAP05: Departure by Velvetic and Dragonfly

Another map by the same duo, though this map is pretty decent jump in difficulty from the previous map. The start of the map has a similar "Roman monument" looking structure that you see in Map27 of original Eviternity (picture on the OP of this DWMC thread is of this area). Once you reach the other side, you see the big stairway paths leading to two opposite side. The Left side blocked by the red skull key switch, so you have to explore the right side.

Somewhere along the map, you will come across another new enemy. An enemy that is entirely new to Eviternity 2 and isn't just a tweaked version of an enemy from original Eviternity. The dark grey colored arachnotrons, called the Astral Arachnotrons. They have 700 health (same as an archvile), faster moving and fire a much more faster and deadly stream of projectiles than their weaker cousins. However, they have similar weakness of being easily stunlocked and their projectile stream is also not fully continuous (there is a brief window between each stream). Not to mention that they also drop cell ammo when they die.

Once you drop down to the red skull key area and grab the key, you will face what is, in my opinion, the first real nasty trap in Eviternity 2. This fight is where I had my first death when I did my playthrough. The fight consists of a ton of fodder enemies like imps and corporals, assisted by 2 archviles that arrive one after they other. I recommend to find and reserve the secret megasphere and soulsphere (which I didn't in my first playthrough) and also get the rocket launcher ready for immediately killing the first archvile.

Once you get the red key, you can explore the other side of the map, until you eventually come across a megasphere and also access to the BFG before dropping down to the water area. This should tell you that another nasty fight is coming. When you drop down, immdiately about 3 astral arachnotrons will teleport which you should take out with BFG, because just a few seconds later, a horde of imps and revenants will teleport. Thankfully, with good movement and a bit of BFG use, you should be fine.

The map concludes with you looping back to near the starting area, grabbing the blue skull key and fighting the 2 cyberdemons with BFG that teleport at that Roman monument area before exiting the map. A good finisher to the first episode.

Map03 “Sonder” by Dragonfly

Sonder is a woodsy/ancient shrine map with a circuitous, rectangular design. The layout is nonlinear and I would be remiss not to mention the unique progression in this level, involving shooting large rock-like “hearts” which explode with a burst of gore (hey, like gore nests). I’m still getting a B2SX 2/Eviternity fusion vibe from the aesthetics and I’m a fan of how the center of the level is utilized for the final encounter. The secret exit is also on this map, a tantalizing, glittery purple gateway sitting just out of reach towards the east.

There are two types of combat, intermittent (the initial garrison stationed throughout the area), and small-scale lock-in arenas. They’re solid early wad fights and I particularly like the time-released scrum in the southeast section. We get a new enemy type, the… pellet gunner? He’s got a green helmet and body armor and fires speedy but non-hitscan projectile bullets. Nowhere near as dangerous as the captains from the first Eviternity (who still might show up, I have no idea). We also get our first (non-secret) berserk of the wad early on so you can dunk on everything with that if you want.

A good outing, with a stellar sleuthing element for those hunting for the secret exit. The overpowered secrets feel like a bit of early game mercy to help ease nervous players in.

Map31 “Redshift” by Afterglow and Dragonfly

I admit I bristled when I saw the toxic waste, getting flashbacks to PRCP 2’s Steel Mill Zone. Fortunately, the layout isn’t a maze and we don’t have to marinate in sludge all day.

Anyway, this map has a ton of bullets and… what is this new toy? Oh, it utterly eviscerates everything at a 25-bullet rate. The gib ditcher perforator is darn powerful, and even has some advantages over the mighty BFG thanks to its lack of a wind up (good for picking off viles before they can finish their attack, even at range). Honestly I’m impressed with the design of this thing, it seems to have some ability to redirect its barrage mid-firing to help maximize the kill rate on clumps of weak enemies. A ton of fun (though I stumbled a bit trying to figure out which weapon key it was bound to. I should have read Bauul’s post).

As for the level itself, it’s a gnarly techbase with a high bodycount built around the perforator. Fights are about as tough as map03 with the difficulty not really scaling with the monster count. The exception is the secret BFG arena, which is more hectic and high-energy than what we’ve gotten so far. It’s a good showcase to the perforator’s strengths, as I find it a better choice for the second wave and its array of monsters that are difficult to close in on.

It’s a bit long for an early map but… it’s a secret one so that’s fine. I did notice the red laser fences are lethal after watching a half dozen imps commit suicide on them, so I’ll be sure not to make that mistake.

Map5: Departure (Velvetic & Dragonfly) ===
Map by the same duo as the last map. The map is some kind of a gardenous corrupted gate leading out of heaven where you go through the big building (I don't really know what it is but doesn't matter) and some outdoor areas. The map is really incredible to explore and look at. Visually it's even more impressive than previous maps and the layout is well designed, it's fun to navigate and somehow feels very natural. The combat is very similar in style to the previous map, also with a lot of incidental combat and a bit of non-linearity but I found it to be more varied here than in map04. There are also more ambushes and lock-in fights which make the map a bit harder than the last. The lock-in fights take place in rocky passages which aren't the most interesting arenas on the map but they're a fun change.

This is also the first map in ev2 to use the super arachnotrons that are much tankier and fire a very dense barrage of plasma that is harder to dodge because of the spread and hurts more if you catch too much of it. The monster seems to be a simply scarier arachnotron that can be used in nearly the same ways, which is fine.

Ultra violence 100% kills/secrets, Pistol-start, Using saves
Played on DSDA Doom v0.27.5 -complevel 21

Map 5: Departure - 22:01

Departure is the largest and most challenging map so far, starting off fairly mild but housing a couple of nasty (but enjoyable) ambushes. Progression is strictly linear, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I found myself wishing I could go the red key route first on my second clear of the map. You'll meet the upgraded arachnotron astral arachnotron not far into the map, who takes 1 extra SSG/rocket compared to the normal ones and sprays a stream of green bullets as it's attack. They are a fearsome opponent by themselves and are excellent infighters. The supercharge secret around the same area is, in my opinion, a little too obscure for a map 5 secret. Trying to find it accounted for around 6 minutes of play time. I am terrible at finding secrets in general though, so I am probably in the minority on that front. The two noteworthy fights in the map occur when you acquire either plasma weapon. Weapon #6 is guarded by a ton of imps and 2-3 archviles, who you will do battle with in a watery valley with minimal cover. The BFG isn't guarded per se but the fight following it's retrieval is among the toughest in the wad so far. Straight after collecting the blue and final key, a couple cyberdemons will teleport in. 2-tap both of them, kill one last astral arachnotron, and it's on to chapter two. Map 5 is my favorite map of the mainline progression so far, providing interesting combat scenarios, top-tier visuals, and (mostly..) satisfying and findable secrets.
Difficulty - 5/15

MAP05: Departure. Played on DSDA v0.27.4, UV, PS. 331/331 K, 4/4 S, 4/4 I. Comp. time 24:02

My favourite level so far, even on 2nd playthrough. Maybe even more fun, because compulsion to find all the secrets slightly soured my first playthrough (completion time ~39 minutes, and had to watch Vytaan playthrough to spot the switch that opens the door to the Soulsphere chamber).

The map reminds me of MAP28 of Eviternity 1, but I'm not sure if that's only because of the ruin structure at the start. I remember loving EV1/MAP28 music, as well, and this map also happens to have a fantastic soundtrack.

Difficulty ramps up here: most of the map plays tame enough, but some of the arena fights can get hairy. Especially the one with the red key proved troublesome -- for some reason I remember surviving without retries on RC2, despite there being two archviles, but this time I had to retry several times, the archies would always home in on me. Once they are dealt with, the battle is basically won.

The grey AA-arachnotrons - what are they called? - are cool, their firing patterns and all! That's some sort of special MBF21 trickery, yes? I can already see them being used in such a way that at the end of the wad I'm gonna hate them.

Overall, a fantastic ending to the first episode. I like it that episodes are 5+1 maps long; short enough to not overstay their welcome and to offer refreshing change for the player. It's better to leave the player wanting for more of the episode than to make player feel they're ready to move on.

MAP05: Departure by Velvetic and Dragonfly

What a pretty map. The temple near the start evokes Heliopolis and the gorgeous buildings of marble leave me awestruck, yet there's an everpresent hint of decay, with black liquid, demonic blocks and red patches in the gloomy sky. It's the most beautiful map of Eviternity II's opening chapter. 

Gameplay-wise, you have to explore the map in search of red and blue key. The opposition here is tougher, with archviles, revenants and a new addition to the wad's monsters: an astral arachnotron. Like his cacodemon cousin, he moves erratically and fires a stream of fast projectiles with a rather random pattern. He's surprisingly tough to outrun, but I can also see his potential to infight.

There are two exciting fights that involves giving the player a big gun and flooding a pit with monsters. The red key fight comes early (very early if you find a secret that lets you skip a part of the map), you get a plasma rifle to deal with two archviles, imps and corporals, probably the hardest part of the map. This is actually the first time I've used plasma in Eviternity II, (it was present in secrets in maps 31 and 04, but I had no need for it in the former and found it at the end in the latter), it now fires green projectiles. The second big fight, on the way to the blue key, hands the player a BFG to kill imps, revenants and astral arachnotrons. This one is more fun than challenging. With the blue key all you have to do is to defeat a pair of cyberdemons, the final bosses of the episode and depart through a portal. 

Departure, and the first episode overall, has been a great introduction. It does maintain the continuity with the original wad, reintroducing familiar aesthetics with a twist that makes it distinct. The combat is building up slowly, though it's still on an easier side, but I'm sure it will heat up. Can't wait to see how it develops later on.

Map05 - Departure - Velvetic and Dragonfly 

We're in the ancient citystate of Athens, where the Acropolis is! Haha, as a greek mutant I never fail to get excited for sector Ionic Doric and Corinthian so this always puts me in a good mood. There's so many Gothic architecture wads we all love... we go on vacation to Egypt wads constantly. There's enough Brutalist barbican razor wad to momentarily satisfy, even, but when it's ancient temple wad time it's very special. 

We're nearing the climax of the first episode, it feels. This map takes you on a scenic loop in and around a gorgeous ancient temple with cool looking fading-to-black marble pillar textures, midtexture floating cubes... even the sky's torn apart with streaks of crimson red, the heavens cry black tears... ah, how cozy. The look here is handcrafted like a miniature replica, it exudes that kind of warmth. Very detailed but not in a granulated way. A diorama meant to glide around and dance on at speed.

The midi this time by Jimmy is a big of a prog rock odyssey, it reminds me of Rush or perhaps... 90s neoprog like IQ. Lovely, and keeping on a streak of such well crafted songs to carry the gameplay forward. The propulsion of the music and the ancient Temple town setting gives off a more fairytale fantasy vibe than the relatively darker intro to the set. It takes a lot of the intimidating factor away from what is otherwise an escalation of violence (I even got killed early and did a full restart). It's interesting how, even when the combat is objectively a little step up from map04, the retro-futuristic keytar Rush chord stabs and the doomcute-neoclassical vistas make this one feel breezy. It also happily happened to me that the music quieted down and opened up just as I cleaned up some encounter and had that immersive, diegetic feeling that the music is matching the pace of my adventure. It feels like pure magic when that happens, but it is the direct result of the ambitions of the composer. 

The fairytale vibes contrast so beautifully with tomorrow's map that I went ahead and played, but I think I might replay to get a more solid run. But that's tomorrow. 

I enjoyed meticulously hunting down a shoot switch sphere I could find. On footage review I noticed I was enjoying the flow and that's also another reason I don't search for 30 minutes around every wall. I was quite surprised 331 enemies didn't feel like a slog at any point, as this is an adventure map foremost, so I was worried the incidental stuff would be slow but nope, this flows super smooth, it keeps showing you a new structure, taking you through and to the other side, take a dip in the water garden, then here's a BFG for us! Enjoyed the lightshow that MBF21 affords us with the bullet pattern of the arachnotrons feeling like heavy duty artillery fire on my ass... They feel so powerful! The vfx juice is amazing on that enemy. All that is happening, and then you look at the automap and it's actually a fairly small and clean lined place. How do they do it? 

There's a big ol fight where you are contested by two archies at two sides and you're rocketed up and the plasma's up for grabs, that's the first time this set is mean like that, feels appropriate for where we're at, but the difficulty is certainly on a different curve to Eviternity I. But it seems very balanced so far. That's that feeling of confidence this exudes that I was talking about. 

A lot of stuff happens on this one! Super action packed, ends with two cybers  in the revisitation of the holy temple. This is the map where it really sunk in for me how much work work work work has gone into this texture set. And I am just on the first episode, just looking at things a bit more closely with the benefit of footage review. Absolutely lovely, immersive work, as a pixel artist by trade I know exactly how much it takes from many resources, time, talent/ willpower, research & tech to make all of this. And even if one were inclined very few people have the combination of skills relevant to do this for Doom II in particular. So I sit here appreciating that a lot, not just that i played a fun game thank you very much, but the investment of life on behalf of the artists.

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