WICKED!!

The last boss was too hard, but otherwise this was extremely enjoyable and challenging. Gameplay reminds me of Doom, quite a bit. The looks are good everywhere. Make more! 95 for score

I think this was the best release of 2009, but others voted differently. It is the only Quake pack I could not finish on the hardest skill setting, something that still pisses me off ...

..Looks great

I'm italian mapper also.. stay tuned for Mach5 creations

I'm gonna try it.. :D

I want to play that, but I can't find Quake 1 working on Win7.

Please help me quakers!

Unzip http://www.celephais.net/fitzquake/ into your Quake directory and use the fitzquake085.exe to launch Quake.

Thank you, but that makes error: "You must have the registered version to use modified games."

:(

In that case I'd say download the full version of Quake on a torrent; if you're unfamiliar with torrents just google bit torrent. Given that John Carmack has released the source years ago I doubt even he would have a problem with anyone dling the entire game for free.

hi tronyn! i think iD still retains full copyright on all it's created material, so your advice was technically illegal hehe. jc only released the engine source as freeware.

heh, good point fair enough. I've heard the community is trying to put out a free version of Quake with all the id content replaced. hopefully that happens at some point.

I thought I should link this here, the Quaddicted article detailing the history of these maps from 1999 to their 2009 release:

http://www.quaddicted.com/other-quake-news/a-history-of-a-roman-wilderness-of-pain-1999-2009-by-tronyn/

This was as good as I expected. Tronyn maps never fail. that link above seems to be gone though :(

Glad you enjoyed it!
The endboss does need to be toned down for sure. Plus it's all a horrible slaughter but some people love that ;)
New Quaddicted url for making of article:
http://www.quaddicted.com/articles/a_history_of_a_roman_wilderness_of_pain_1999-2009_by_tronyn_2009

Sigh. url shortening etc. Just go here instead:
http://www.quaddicted.com/articles/start

Map #1: Visuals were awesome, gameplay was more exciting than expected (you seem to attack several of the monsters from behind at the outset - I assume this is intentional), but the environment itself was a total mess. I got stuck in several places - not because I was looking around for clipping bugs, but because they were so obvious I thought there might be secrets stored there. Just 2 examples - you can jump over the "when scrags fly" cages and get stuck inside, or you can walk out on the ledge of the temple roof and onto the cliffs. Still a great map but some surprising things to have been overlooked.

Map #2: Much more entertaining although the whole "find the five" thing was a little annoying... there might have been better ways to progress. Loved the perforator room though. Brushwork is still phenomenal.

Map #3: Absolutely GODLIKE architecture, (although given all the awesomeness, it's hard to ignore the large number of newbie doors). And the last room, while not only being one of the most awesome constructions Q1SP has ever seen (I felt like I was in Serious Sam for a second), also fully deserves that "insane ending" tag.

Definitely a must-play!

Looks amazing, especially after reading Tronyn's article. I'll start playing when I get home from work tonight.

@above comment: I always found it fun to intentionally find clipping errors and get to places on the map the developers didn't intend. (The first Halo game was the best for that, actually.) But I can see it being really annoying if you do it accidentally or are not saving.

Difficulty is pretty extreme in some cases. Good things there's lots of ammo and health on easy! lol

Uhm... Just one question: what kind of crack were these guys smoking when they did make this?! I have just tried the first level on easy, but this thing is INSANE! :-) Not going to comment on the top-level aesthetical quality and sheer amount of used resources -- that's just plain obvious.

yeah rsl, EVERYTHING Tronyn has put out has decimated me on easy too. doesn't stop me from playing! i have to save A LOT. these mappers/players' mad skills have shown me how poorly i play! watch Daz's videos on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/darrenweekes

brutal :) i love this. gave me a nice old school doom vibe, and i can tell by the music track selection for the last level that this was no accident.

Epic looks, brilliant brutal somewhat Doom-style gameplay. Best Tronyn release since the original SOE which possibly beats this for sheer size if nothing else. Not that anything in between isn't pretty amazing (though Indian Summer had some frustration issues). And a Cyberdemon in Quake? Make my day! Although only three levels it should feel like a full episode and it is a MUST have!

definitely one of the most frustrating releases ever. the huge amount of pros for this mappack are totally nullified by the unwinnable final encounter (even on easy difficulty!). what is the point to play an episode that can't be finished without cheats?

upd: apparently you can reliably cheese cyberdemon without godmode sniping him from lower levels. stupid, but i couldn't care anymore. it's painful to see how the single bad aspect kills the enjoyable experience from playing the rest of the otherwise awesome pack (

If you don't like the final boss just quit. That's what I did. Don't let it spoil three whole awesome levels!

I simply can not play this on DirectQ.

Please. Can anybody help me with this error: "CLParseServerMessage: Illegible server message 21. Last was SVCNOP" and "SVC_SpawnStatic"

The game crashes everytime i select weapon #1 or I pick up the mjolnir.

BTW I might add that this is the only mod I cant't play using DirectQ. It is by far my favorite engine, so I really want to make it Work.

it didn't let me play the mod. it took me right back to the desktop

now it's saying host error: cl_parseserverinfo: server is unrecognized protocol number

What engine are you using? I recommend QuakeSpasm.

The first level was awesome, I gladly retried it everytime I died. The second level was too short. The third level was frustating with its boss fight and minions (eugh, spawns) but the hook "weapon" you get is very fun to use and catch ogres unaware with a chainsaw/hook combo, good stuff.

Surely the hardest episode I've ever played...

Visuals and layout is on point for the most part, I would say that expecting the player to search every inch of the map to find the silver key in the first map is a bit much though. How was I to know it was there?!

Difficulty is great too. And I mean really great. I've always loved ripping into hordes of monsters with a nailgun or shotgun, and these levels allow plenty of opportunities for chaos of such a type. I would say, though, that the end of level three fails hard here. There simply aren't enough resources on the map to deal with the monsters that spawn in there; I had to resort to using my puny wand for a good while until I gave up and used impulse 9 to refill my supplies (and add all those delicious weapons)...

Still, one weak point to an otherwise great pack is hardly enough to ruin it :)

Infinitely spawning NEMESANTS with their imbalance "locking" ability with no way to dodge it?! Without any weapon? You are mad?

Sorry, I was wrong, count of NEMESANTS was not infinite. Passed on Nightmare with 907/939 kills.

These levels are awesome, there's no doubt.

If you're more of an exploration type player, I suggest you choose normal or even easy skill, 'cause when I just started playing the first level (after the start), it was like "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE???!!!": there were so many monsters right away attacking you, with nowhere to hide on a new level, many of them modified (you don't expect ogres to shoot you with nails from far away, for example). Basically the authors tried to squeeze in as many monsters possible from both Scourge of Armageddon and Dissolution of Eternity, while modifying existing monsters to make them even more deadly. They all come in packs (like beer), I haven't seen so many scrags attacking me at once once I grabbed something (it was the silver key I think) at the top of the first level, there were at least 25 of them, possibly more.

In general, the gameplay is very intense, it's not comparable even remotely to any ID maps or even to most of the modern levels, and the player hardly has any breaks. There're many new items, which I didn't know what they were for (the triangle looking power-up, for example), many new weapons, including one weapon that became very popular among mappers, and it keeps popping up in several levels - the chainsaw (which I personally hate), it is so annoying in terms of sound, and the worst thing is once you get it, you cannot go back to the good old-fashioned axe. On the down side I also have to mention that I didn't like new skins on some modified monsters, for example on throwing rockets reddish mad dogs.

So, if you feel like "slice 'em 'n' dice 'em" without thinking even for a second, this mappack would suit you! If you like exploring and choose the pace of the progress through the level(s), you might think of avoiding this insane creation.

Looks are top notch, gameplay is a bit too hard. Couldn't beat the boss on hard difficulty. Endless monsters with limited ammo is not that fun.

Respawning ammo would have add survival mode 8)

Awesome set of maps, although even the normal mode is quite challenging.

So I just found out there's a "Hell" mode besides the Nightmare one...

Played on Quakespasm. Just good difficulty, could be even more for me, but I understand that's matter of personal taste (played on nightmare; didn't discover hell and didn't want to cheat). Amazing levels design, monsters and final fight. Only criticism - I never actually used ruby wand for light :S Definitely do more of these!!

Oh and I loved the soundtrack, too, especially that Doom tune in last level!

Well, 1path0gen1's suggestion finally allowed me to beat Cyberdemon - although it did not become a walk in the park either: I barely made it out alive with no ammo left and 85 monsters thirsty for my blood.

Basically, the grappling hook allows you to get out of hell to a relatively safe place where Cyberdemon can't reach you. You can them empty all you've got on him, and make it back again with the grappling hook when his death opens up the exit.

I'm glad I finally made it.

Does anyone know the impulse number for grappling hook? (and wand) I want to bind.

Intense but doable. Final boss seems impossible. Even if I could survive, there's not enough ammo to go around.

bhlaab, me too. I fired everything I had at cyberdemon, ignoring all other targets. Then lured him away from those ammo respawns at the exits base, and collected that ammo. Fired at all at him again. Rinse repeat. Still doesnt die. That ammo need to be infinitely re-spawning.

I then impluse 9 cheated just too see how much it would actually take.... and there is no way. There literally isnt enough ammo. The only tactic I can think off is to clear the whole map with chainsaw and wand, thus leaving a whole map of ammo packs for the final fight.

Lukaz, remember that the grappling hook is a weapon too. I also ran out of ammo and had to finish him with the hook. Takes a while but the boss eventually dies.

ha no shit? I did not know that. I will give it a try. I WILL beat this level even if it takes all month.

So that's how you do it eh? Sounds nuts!

Geez I don't know if it's worth it lukaz

Well I finished it... I didnt have a bind for the crossbow so I had full crossbow ammo lol. With that baby in hand the demon didnt stand a chance.

Great maps!

I'm currently revisiting this in Hell mode and it's nerve-wracking to say the least. After God knows how many deaths and save slots I was able to open the access to the gold key in the first map (you know, that great moment when about a billion scrags appear), but I don't have much hope for the rest of the map. I would have been curious to skip to the final battle because it's hard to fathom how much harder it can get, but I can't cheat my way there.

On the other hand, maybe this experience will make Warpspasm reasonable and enjoyable by comparison after that.

A monstruous offering from Tronyn and PG with heavily (HEAVILY) unbalanced and unfair gameplay. BUT! I just found out that there's a way to finish even Hell mode easy-peasy, if you don't rush it and 1) Bring the combat to the right spots. 2) Be extra careful in assets management.

Mash that f6/f9!

It took COVID-19 lockdown to give me motivation to revisit this pack that frustrated me to no end when it originally came out. This time I enjoyed it greatly. Highly satisfying.

Many thanks to gentlemen PM & Tronyn for such an outstanding mod!! Every good mod is like a new expansion pack or add-on... a continuation of 1996's story of Other Worlds, slipgates and eldrith abominations. This one provides this feeling... but is still special. It has the same quality combat and balance (plays very much like Doom Eternal in terms of adrenaline... only released 11 years prior), and it is hard as hell!! Here some of my feelings about this mod.

• Very, very, very hard, but not unbeatable. Just be prepared to use save scumming... a LOT. I beated it on Normal, and still found the final battle with respawning monsters and two bosses extremely tough...
• Great level desing! The whole place feels like true Citadel of HELL!! Blood, creepy images, corpses, Doom assets, a bit of gothic stuff... Well done!
• PROTIP: To defeat the Cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies.
• Little advice: remember, you can backtrack from final arena to any location of the level.
• Id multiverse... You don't need to play Quake Champions to see Id games collide;) Cyberdemon is back, music from Doom plays in the last level... When two legends meet... it's always great. Oh, and the Wand from Heretic is here;)
• What I don't get is... that ghostly wrath enemy from the startmap, which guards the Hell difficulty. Is it completely unkillable? Great mod! I still have some more quality content from Tronyn to play... can't wait. Too bad he hasn't released anything in recent times... I give ARWOP 12 out of 10!

@Escalate_krsk I heard Tronyn has been making a new episode. I have no idea when he will finally unleash it on the community but he's been working at it for years.

FINALLY finished roman1 in Hell mode. No idea how I'm going to make it through roman2 but I'm glad I managed the first third.

Last map, skill 3, can only find and kill 313/322, found both secrets, that didnt trigger enemies, played it 4 times, same result every time, maybe a bug in the last room, when enemy keep appearing until big boss guy is dead.

Hell mode, forget about it, enemy keep appearing all time, making there numbers keep going up, there isnt enough ammo, level 1 starts off saying 441 enemy, after 30 seconds it says 450 and keeps going up. Its impossible.

Very pleasant episode; great difficulty balance on "Normal", fun new toys to play with, fun new opponents to deal with.

The fights, may seem tight, but due to resources availability and abundance, I have found it all rather friendly - except for the final fight in "Waiting for the Summer Rain", which is downright undoable. That entire last stage, feels not really up in terms of quality.

The episode, offers interesting aesthetics - maybe a bit too syncretic for my taste, but for the nicely implemented "flesh-hell" theme, I give it a thumbs up. Quite a chunk of 'Heretic' and 'Doom' inspiration in it, but it is allright.

What I only disliked, is the elevator-style music - y'know, standing, doing nothing kind of soundtrack - which fortunately, can be turned off, as the release description says.

Altogether, "The Roman Wilderness of Pain", is some of the most constructively-crazy stuff one can find in the 'Quake' universe - albeit, perhaps too diverse, to become fully representative of the 'Quake' notion. Still, a great 'Quake' release!

This is one fabulous episode, regardless that I couldn't finish the final battle. I may try again after reading through the reviews here from across the years! LOL. There's just so much to like about this.