Good Doom/Heretic/Hexen WADs

[Jazz_]

Finished ''Breach'' and thoroughly enjoyed it, it's a single level wad and can get quite challenging in spots. At least it took me 42 minutes to finish it, yeah lotsa deaths were had (mostly in 2 tough encounters, really).
The amount of work put into it must have been staggering, it might be just 1 level but it's very very detailed (and it's great what it accomplishes visually in spots using only stock doom textures) and I liked the interconnected design of the map, felt very cohesive.
I'd give it a 4.5/5.

 

[Ash]

My rule: episodes or megawads only. Why? Less frequent searching, downloading and fucking around with files, and more importantly there's steady progression through the weapons and enemies, and long term strategy (e.g ammo conservation. Secret discovery) matters more.
Maybe when I get through all the good episodes and megawads I'll fall back on single maps.

 

[Falksi]

Just watched this blokes review of Hexen 2...........



.....am I missing something here? I remember the game being a tad obscure at times, but had no trouble finishing it & thought it played fairly good too.

Been almost 20 years since I last played it, so I may be forgetting something, but all the review seems to do for me is highlight how soft & bad at games modern gamers are.

 

[Ash]

gggmanlives is old school too. Generally decent tastes though I don't always agree with him, but he does seem a little averse to classic difficulty. Say, anything that went above the level of Doom Ultra Violence.

 

[Zenith]

My rule: episodes or megawads only. Why? Less frequent searching, downloading and fucking around with files, and more importantly there's steady progression through the weapons and enemies, and long term strategy (e.g ammo conservation. Secret discovery) matters more.
Maybe when I get through all the good episodes and megawads I'll fall back on single maps.

By "steady progression" you mean "collect every weapon within an hour, have full backpack for the next 25 maps".

Personally: episodes > huge pistolstart levels > hubs > megawads (unless it's a megawad that occasionally forces a pistolstart on next level).

For the "fucking around with files" part, once in a while I just spend an evening downloading stuff in bulk and setting up enough .bat files to last me a year (would've used a frontend, but somehow they all suck). Then just launch whatever, whenever I feel like it.

.....am I missing something here? I remember the game being a tad obscure at times, but had no trouble finishing it & thought it played fairly good too.

Didn't watch, but I assume it's about the puzzles. Yeah, it was definitely more than "a tad" obscure. I remember one puzzle would randomize the correct answer each time you answered wrong (or something like that anyway), and there were some very contrived item placements in the town with the shops. Played alright though, if you mean the running and shooting part.

 

[Ash]

By "steady progression" you mean "collect every weapon within an hour, have full backpack for the next 25 maps".

!

Megawads are always episodic, following the classic doom model.
So you at least have to restart over in episode 2 and 3.
And don't forget I also said enemy progression. Also forgot difficulty curve (which is tied to enemy type usage and placement per map, or "progression"). Starting off moderate, getting insane by the third episode.

 

[Zenith]

Megawads are always episodic, following the classic doom model.

Most are 32-map Doom2 format, no? Is there another name for those?

 

[Falksi]

.....am I missing something here? I remember the game being a tad obscure at times, but had no trouble finishing it & thought it played fairly good too.

Didn't watch, but I assume it's about the puzzles. Yeah, it was definitely more than "a tad" obscure. I remember one puzzle would randomize the correct answer each time you answered wrong (or something like that anyway), and there were some very contrived item placements in the town with the shops. Played alright though, if you mean the running and shooting part.

I genuinely don't remember anything too obscure. I remember you had to delve into it quite a lot to solve the puzzeles, but I also remember finishing the game without feeling as if it was some major achievement. I do remember getting frustrated at times with the puzzles, but only for a small time and it didn't feel like anything out the ordinary for that era.

Maybe I've drank too much since.

 

[Ash]

Megawads are 32 maps typically made for Doom 2 yes. But they're split into three episodes (as Doom itself is) where you lose all you guns and whatnot between each one. Meaning this is incorrect:

By "steady progression" you mean "collect every weapon within an hour, have full backpack for the next 25 maps".

You get pistol started at least twice by the two episode switches in absolutely every 32 level megawad I've played (some 25-30 or so).
Typically the design standard seems to be roughly half way through each episode you've got your hands on all the guns, too. Again much like Doom itself. I hate it when (sometimes) designers don't hand over the plasma rifle for a while though. Definitely should be one of the later guns but don't be stingy now.

 

[Sjukob]

I agree with Ash . I will take a megawad anyday over one or set of huge maps , even if megawad consists of very small maps like Zone 300 .

 

[Zenith]

You get pistol started at least twice by the two episode switches in absolutely every 32 level megawad I've played (some 25-30 or so).

From a quick glance, there's at least NewDoom Community Project and the Claustraphobias that don't follow the structure. Can't be bothered to check all of them to get you the exact percentage. You're wrong on "absolutely", but as you might've noticed, I'm with you on principle.

 

[Ash]

Sjukob
Slaughterfests? They're alright, just too combat-centric and not enough variety: always small arenas, minimal exploration/secrets/keyhunting/switch hunting/"platforming". or whatever you call the sort of platforming in doom when you occassionally run across and drop from ledges and pillars and whatnot.

Zenith
New Doom Community Project? Pretty sure I played that one, but don't remember much specific to a particular wad. Just a huge bundle of demon slaying across all wads. But it probably has custom scripting in that case. Definitely not the norm for megawads.

One of my most memorable modded Doom experiences was BD64. The level design is absolutely fantastic, and it doesn't have the excess of normal brutal doom, just all the good things like better AI and satisfying weaponry.

 

[Sjukob]

Oh please , I play FPS to fight enemies . I don't mind if it's mixed with keyhunting , platforming or whatever but I expect that for majority of time I will be killing stuff . That's why I hate Hexen but enjoy heretic by the way .

 

[Ash]

Well...combat does always make up the majority of the gameplay, just slaughterfests are non-stop combat and rarely anything else. They're still cool for the creative arenas people come up with sometimes though, and still better than the likes of Serious Sam since the arenas change very frequently and are generally more interesting.

 

[Sjukob]

No idea why you took Zone 300 for slaughter maps . That megawad is not about arena fighting , it's just like your usual doom playthrough where you go from start to finsih and randomly encounter demons on the way . I agree that arena fighting usually gets stale very fast and traditional approach to level building ( Doom , Duke Nukem , Blood etc ) is the best there is .

 

[Ash]

I jumped to a conclusion because you said it was small maps.

 

[Callisto]

off topic
http://insert-coin.hu/pixelcon-2017-fragged-by-romero-en/

 

[Great Deceiver]

I wonder if that degenerate is banging some underage Hungarian girl. Gotta get some break time from that shrill harridan he shacked up with, I guess.

 

[Bigg Boss]

So sad to see him milking a fragged corpse with nothing new to offer us but a couple of Doom maps.

 

[Gragt]

My rule: episodes or megawads only. Why? Less frequent searching, downloading and fucking around with files, and more importantly there's steady progression through the weapons and enemies, and long term strategy (e.g ammo conservation. Secret discovery) matters more.
Maybe when I get through all the good episodes and megawads I'll fall back on single maps.

I like megawads but pistol start has its merits.

 

[Jazz_]

I'm loving Epic 2! One of the most refreshing wads I have tried so far. Are there other wads with a similar atmosphere/mood? You know exotic/more colourful so to speak, I'm bored of techbased/hell horror stuff.

 

[ghostdog]

I'm loving Epic 2! One of the most refreshing wads I have tried so far. Are there other wads with a similar atmosphere/mood? You know exotic/more colourful so to speak, I'm bored of techbased/hell horror stuff.

Not similar atmosphere to epic but certainly colourful and a very cool wad.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/top...-souls-even-more-definitive-edition-released/

 

[nodar]

I'm loving Epic 2! One of the most refreshing wads I have tried so far. Are there other wads with a similar atmosphere/mood? You know exotic/more colourful so to speak, I'm bored of techbased/hell horror stuff.

Episode 2 of Back to Saturn X has a similar visual style and atmosphere...

 

[Astral Rag]

 

[unfairlight]

No gib with SSG at close range is cuck tier. That needs to be default nowadays.
Anywho, I want a good levelpack or megawad with a good custom soundtrack. Something like Speed of Doom, that had a great soundtrack. Really need to complete that once and for all but my old saves were broken with a GZDoom update.