Ruining It For Everyone Else Since 2004
One series I need to finish is Heretic/Hexen. I always set out on an adventure, have an excellent time like I do in DOOM… and then I get distracted by other games. Every. Fucking. Time. I decided to try and find a Halloween mod, but only found an unfinished one. So here I go through vanilla again via GZDoom. I made it back to where I previously left off, and even made sure to find all the secrets I missed, so at least there was some replay value to be had.
I’m glad I stumbled upon the Quake Halloween Jam! I finished The Black Procession tonight, a map that takes place at the Church of Quake (I’ve decided). Even with these old visuals there is still something beautiful about this digital hellscape, or maybe I just like the night sky,
I only have one map left to go through, then I might have to look into the other Halloween Jams! It’s a great way to keep an old game alive! As usual, if you want to see a couple more snaps I’ve posted them over on Mastodon.
After venturing around for DOOM Halloween mods the other night I wanted to see what the Quake Community had to offer. I found the Quake Halloween Jam from 2018, which sports a total of nine spooky maps to play. So far I’m two levels through it, each level presenting a challenge even on Normal difficulty.
When you load the Halloween Jam you start off underground in a coffin, but eventually make your way to a haunted house containing large portraits on the walls that you can leap into. I played Pumpkin Grind, which lives up to its name of having lots of pumpkins and being a grind (a FUN grind!).
Then I ventured through The Four Incantations, where you have to fight off four wizards to open a seal to leave. That one also did a good job of throwing monsters at me. It gave me an excuse to download the latest vkQuake to check out. It was pretty easy to get up and running. I never really did much in the way of modding the old Quake. It was always DOOM and Quake III Arena that got my most modding attention as a kid. Better late than never I guess.
I thought about tearing back into DOOM last night, this time GZDoom! I wanted to download some Halloween themed DOOM wads. Tonight I tried Trick and Tear – a Halloween themed megawad for DOOM 2. So far I’m three levels in playing on “Hurt Me Plenty”, or as they call it in the wad “I Play With The Lights Off”. Trick and Tear features a total of nine levels by numerous authors, so far I’ve only survived through three of them.
I’m about half way through Map 3 (Rigor). Surprisingly the Revenants in the image don’t attack you! (not yet anyway). Made it to just outside where I keep getting pounded by rockets from fully functioning Revenants. I won’t lie… I’m kinda wishing I went at least one difficulty back. Some of the areas feel almost impossible to trudge through when you’re locked in an area with a sudden demon moshpit, and no wiggle room to effectively take them out. But I didn’t give up! Just took breaks whenever I got irritated enough. Think I’ve had my fill for the evening. It gave me an excuse to check out wads… it has been a good number of years since I last looked. You know a game is really good when you have people who are playing AND making mods for it decades later.
More images can be found on my Mastodon.
Quake was calling my number tonight like a good ol’ friend in need of a chat. Even managed to get a few achievements! Rare ones even! So far I’m half way through the second episode. Still finding all of the secrets, maybe I’ll finish this ep during vacay. :v
We had a lovely summer like day today – too nice to waste at my desk, so it only made sense for me to take my Steam Deck from its case and venture into the Castlevania Advance Collection!
It’s kinda funny to reflect on, when I was a kid I didn’t really think much of Metroidvanias. As a child my Gameboy Advance mainly received Mario platformers, and one Mario Kart game. Apart from my GBA I didn’t grow up with any Nintendo, the closest I ever got to Nintendo consoles was through visits to friends and families houses who were lucky enough to have acquired them. Even then, they never had any Castlevania or Metroidvania games. It was always Mario Games, Final Fantasy and Mortal Kombat.
It also didn’t help that back then Metroidvanias weren’t really as common on PC, which had plenty of other genres going on, but very little in the way of Castlevania/Metroid likes. It would be several years later when I really begin get into the Metroidvania genre. Better late than never I guess?
Thanks to Metroidvanias like Dust: An Elysian Tail, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and of course, the Shantae Series; I’ve started to appreciate the genre and have come to understand it enough to brave the old school. In platformers you’re used to getting from Point A to Point B, whereas in a Metroidvania there is a lot of backtracking after you acquire different abilities and equipment. Tonight in Circle of the Moon (Castlevania Advance Collection) I learned to double jump, possibly one of the most satisfying abilities to learn in a good few of the Metroidvanias I’ve played thus far. There’s just something awesome about double jumping to areas that seemed unobtainable before, and in Circle of the Moon it felt like I was able to get this ability faster than the other Metroidvanias I played where it took me a good while.
Another thing that took me a good while to get was the control scheme. Tapping the D-Pad allows you to dash (if you have the dash boots), and holding down the action button lets you twirl your whip around like a fan of destruction. Until I figured that out some of the monsters felt cumbersome, but now that I’ve learned how to properly navigate the game even the poison worms are easy to avoid. The bones from the bone throwing skeletons on the other hand…
I had just scratched the surface of the castle before calling it a night. But I’m glad to have made a nice dent in the game. I’ve made Nathan stronger with extra hearts and jugs, uncovered a good few secret walls and even bested Cerberus himself. Overall I’d say a jorb well done! I’ll have to see about playing more of these during Spooktober! 😀
Once again I’ve completed the first DOOM campaign, always a classic to play! I’ll be ready to achievement hunt in the second episode the next time I get to play. I can’t wait to hear what the soundtrack for the second campaign sounds like!
Rocked out for a bit in DOOM tonight to the new bangin’ soundtrack they included. Really enjoyed listening to E1M4 (Kitchen Ace). Totally made it worth the replay! I’ve stopped on E1M6 for tonight so that I can rest and do the adulting thing tomorrow. Have an early morning of work, then some more work when I get home with video prep and the like… unless one of my friends drags me into the many worlds of resonite again. That seems to be a reoccurring trend lately.
Finished the first Episode of Quake! Only took me how many decades to finish? Now the next question is when will I waltz into Episode 2? The answer is actually pretty simple: Long before we ever see HL2 Episode 3. :v
I’m adding Half Life to the list of games I’d like to finish between systems. I installed it on my Steam Deck and as expected, it works perfectly. I also played it on Desktop tonight. Even at 4K it has a certain charm about it that I can’t quite describe. My only problem with some of these older games is the eye strain I get after awhile…