I've finally completed this wad in three different play styles and it has been a grand experience! The land map where the Ascension takes place is so green and lush and I often get distracted wandering off the road and exploring every inch of the map to see what I can find. I will give my thoughts on what it's like to play as a warrior, mage, and somewhere in between. Started all three on Hard difficulty. Might give Nightmare a try.BigMemka wrote:Has anyone else completed the wad?
Warrior: Playing as a warrior with STR and DEX as my main attributes was pretty fun although certain enemies can out range you in melee combat like a peasant with a scythe (I think) and a bardicheman. This is where the crossbow(s) come in handy since they deal pretty good damage if your DEX is high. Having armor does it's job so it's a must as a warrior. The black sword was usually my main melee weapon since it's alternate attack "Sparks" can stun lock strong enemies in place, the battle axe along with it's freezing properties was alright to use but I preferred the sword. The hammer is strong and it's secondary attack "Inferno" is excellent in narrow hallways. The greatsword can kill many enemies in one hit but I felt that it was too slow and there are too many projectile enemies to use it on during the late game stages. Shotgun (Elder gun) became my default weapon during my visit to the temple of elements since it dealt decent damage. Fire Launcher is a powerful weapon as well but I think it's bouncing fireball could use a little bit more range. The Blunderbuss.. now this weapon spells death to whom you use it on. It's primary attack is powerful already but its secondary fire is literally a medieval BFG outstanding for clearing out rooms but the cannon ball has to touch the ground first in order to explode into hundreds of bouncing cannon balls. When it does, it is sooo powerful that I killed the Naga, Behemoth, Bone Dragon, and the final boss with several well placed shots. My stats at the end were 28/28 and INT WIS were like 10 or under with a few skill points left over.
Mage: Playing a mage build is slow at first since it requires you to be careful of your surroundings and to use your items with care. Armor is absolutely a must for mages but only 4 are pretty much available to them plus you have different spell shields to help out. Gold for me was somewhat plentiful but I did struggle a bit after bailing two characters out of their debt doing the Iron Bank quest. At first, the lightning bolt or the frost darts will probably be your projectile spells for a bit and they work quite well on most enemies. Burning hands / Fireball are pretty powerful but I liked burning hands the most. Functioned like a short burst flamethrower. Skullstaff was alright at first until I got the deathwave alternate attack and used it a lot in the crypt and tombs for those pesky skeletons. Hellfire is nice as well, just a fast crawling firestorm going in the direction where your mouse is pointing. Ravenstaff primary fire seemed a bit weak to me but only a tad bit but it's other attack is crazy powerful! It summons Ravens that tear pretty much anything in it's path very useful against wyverns. Thunderbolt is an excellent spell to use since it shoots lightning at enemies as it fly's by and can stun lock them too. The blizzard spell puts on quite a show and looks, sounds, and functions just like from the game Diablo 2. The last spell is Apocalypse where you can go around and explode enemies in sight but it works best when they are close to you. You kinda almost feel like god but still vulnerable. In the end mage is slow at first but once you get going you have a handful of lethal spells at your fingertips.
In-between: Playing this build was interesting because here you kind of taste a little bit of everything except the most powerful of weapons, spells, or armors. You will juggle switching from melee weapons to crossbows to spells and maybe a firearm or two. The strongest armor in this class is probably the chain or plate armor depending on your STR level. And the Shotgun is probably your best friend if your gonna play this style. Oh and crossbows max ammunition is nice too. This build may seem difficult at first but it is do-able.
Conclusion: After finishing it in three different play styles I can say that I had a lot of fun exploring, looting, and experimenting different weapons and spells. There were a few bugs here and there but nothing game breaking, few spelling errors, and russian texts on certain areas and npc's. I noticed a weak wall in the sewers that I couldn't open/break down said something like "weak masonry" or something. Maybe a forgotten quest line I missed. I see that a new version has been released so i'll most likely replay all builds again to see if I notice any changes. It's been one hell of a ride and I thank you guy's for your hard work.
Question: Is the Ascension gonna have a sequel?
Beautiful as always, can't wait to try this out
What's your take on all this? I know this is a retro mod for a retro game, but it just seems like such a shame that so much work has gone into milking the aging Doom engine for all it's got, just to settle for some truly terrible texture and sprite work in places 
