[Kerr Avon]

HulkNukem, on 27 October 2019 - 02:03 PM, said:

You could always play bots solo since they were added. I did that the day they came out.
IIRC they might've only worked in just basic deathmatch modes and I don't remember if you had to be connected online or not.
You get no progression so you can't unlock anything making them fairly pointless.

No, you had to have a PSN account (which I don't, as I don't play online), and I'm sure that at least at first they were only usable in a match with at least two human players. I'm talking about the PS4 version, of course, perhaps the PC or XBox One versions are different.

[NightFright]

I have received the Doom Annihilation Bluray yesterday and watched the movie today. Posted my review over at Doomworld:

https://www.doomworl...um/post/2041484

[ReaperAA]

This just released recently:

[Aristotle Gumball]

ReaperAA, on 04 November 2019 - 09:40 PM, said:

This just released recently:

Nuts.

[MusicallyInspired]

ReaperAA, on 04 November 2019 - 09:40 PM, said:

This just released recently:

This trailer uses a ton of altered Space Quest backgrounds which is freaking cool to me as that's my favourite game series!

[Ninety-Six]

Sorry for the late replies but I've had computer issues the past two months:

Putrid Pete, on 08 September 2019 - 07:29 PM, said:

What is everybody's opinion on the Master Levels for Doom II?

I am definitely not a fan. The worst maps are wretched and the best achieve the soaring heights of "sometimes not boring".

Zaxx, on 09 September 2019 - 01:14 PM, said:

And there is a PC mod for that too but those maps were designed with pistol starts so playing them like you'd play a campaign is not really recommended.

To be fair, technically speaking the id-made levels were "designed with pistol starts".

Putrid Pete, on 09 September 2019 - 01:47 PM, said:

If you put together all your doom wads into a pk3 file via Wadsmoosh, you can actually combine the master levels into their own episode, each map with pistol start and it includes the ending after finishing the last map. But PK3 files are for GZDoom and I prefer Crispy Doom myself, so getting the master levels to play there can be a pain in the ass.

To be honest I've always taken issue with attempts to order the Master Levels. It's almost always alphabetical order, even if that means you get smacked with one of the hardest and longest levels almost straight away.

Striker, on 10 September 2019 - 09:23 AM, said:

On the subject of the Master Levels: The Express Elevator to Hell can eat my cock. What a fucking frustrating map.

All of Cranium's maps are pure unfiltered bullshit, but TEETH certainly takes the cake.

Putrid Pete, on 10 September 2019 - 10:04 AM, said:

Man, that fucking map was a nightmare during my saveless run. I think I replayed that level so many times it has been permanently seared into my conscience. Definitely one of the most frustrating maps I've played.

That map broke my saveless attempts. Nothing like flipping a switch and getting instantly killed by five chaingunners behind you that you can't even see properly and then back to the beginning.


That's about when I said screw it. Beginner's traps like that have no business being in these levels.

[DisgustedGrunt]

[Ninety-Six]

Does anyone know what the song he plays during the Watch Your Step segment is? It's very nice.

[Ninety-Six]

So I just finished that Doom Zero mod. It's actually stupid good. First mod released in years that I didn't end up hating by the end. Not even in the third episode which is when most other mods starting throwing out cheap shots like candy.

[NightFright]

That's why it was among my nominees for the Cacowards this year. Hopefully it will win one. It's kinda creative without losing its vanilla appeal. Rare that modders pull that off.

[Ninety-Six]

NightFright, on 02 December 2019 - 09:39 AM, said:

Hopefully it will win one.

We can hope, but knowing how the Cacowards usually go, it'll be lucky to be mentioned in the sidebar.

[DisgustedGrunt]

at 1:20

[NightFright]

Hocus Pocus Doom final release is available. You gotta try this one, even if you never played the (2D) original. Perfect 3D jump'n'run, smooth and addictive.

[Phredreeke]

This is something I had missed when it first came out a few months ago. It’s a PC port of the 3DO version of Doom.

https://github.com/B...rg/phoenix_doom

Plays well enough though you might argue what’s the point when you can play regular PC Doom with a music mod with the 3DO soundtrack.

[MusicallyInspired]

NightFright, on 09 December 2019 - 05:29 AM, said:

Hocus Pocus Doom final release is available. You gotta try this one, even if you never played the (2D) original. Perfect 3D jump'n'run, smooth and addictive.

Nice! I love this project and have been following it. I only wish that the enemies weren't just copies and adaptations of the original platformer sprites. But it's obviously understandable why it's not more than that. That would have really made it that much greater though.

Also get my SC-55 music pack for it. Adlib original sounds great too, though.

[NightFright]

I don't understand why the author decided to force OPL synthesis via sndinfo, but at least you can change it by deleting the code. It may provide retro sound, but I prefer listening to MIDI in better quality with a decent soundfont.

[MusicallyInspired]

"Decent soundfont"

No such thing.

Did he change it though? Before he just supplied a digital music pack of the Hocus Pocus music tracks in OPL.

[NightFright]

It's forced via sndinfo inside the pk3 now, overriding any settings you may choose for music device. Personally I am not a fan of that. Setting up OPL synthesis manually isn't a big thing to pull off, even for noobs. Always better if you have the choice to use what you want.

[NNC]

The retards of Doomworld don't deserve another Romero episode. They handled their gift in an even more atrocious way than the Duke community handled World Tour. At least the people here had legit reasons to bash the release, the poorly done sourceport, the price, the coding errors, and Randy in general. At least we regarded the actual episode pretty high. But those people are terrible. Let them play Eviternity and other flashy stuff. I played that overrated POS and stopped caring around map10 as everything felt totally similar and generic.

[ReaperAA]

The Watchtower, on 09 December 2019 - 11:55 PM, said:

The retards of Doomworld don't deserve another Romero episode. They handled their gift in an even more atrocious way than the Duke community handled World Tour. At least the people here had legit reasons to bash the release, the poorly done sourceport, the price, the coding errors, and Randy in general. At least we regarded the actual episode pretty high. But those people are terrible. Let them play Eviternity and other flashy stuff. I played that overrated POS and stopped caring around map10 as everything felt totally similar and generic.

Evitermity getting a cacoward was well deserved. Just because u didn't like it does not mean its overrated. I for one consider it one of the best wads of all time (as do many other people). Ofcourse there is no wad out there that will appeal to every person on the planet. Also saying that it was POS while only playing it upto map 10 is really unfair, because the more unique and great maps start after episode 3 (map 11) of the wad.

Although I admit I am surprised that Sigil didn't get a mainline cacoward. Even if I didn't like it much, I still think it should've gotten a mainline 11th cacoward like how there were 11 cacowards in 2016 with "tech gone bad" getting the extra cacoward.

[NNC]

Most of these wads get worse by the end, like Jenesis, Scythe, Going Down etc. as all of them turn into a boring and annoying slaughterfest with 100 revenants and archviles. Eviternity wasn't different, I watched YT videos of Map29 and other levels, and it was still the same generic stuff, just with more enemies. Romero on the other hand created a very creative episode that kept the original concept and artwork, but at the same time (unlike stuff like NEIS or the DTWID series) he added new creative ideas that made those old textures look fresh, and didn't remake the same map for the umpteenth time.

Of course it had some flaws, for example I didn't like shooting a dozen shotgun bullets on Barons in early levels (read: the weapon/monster balance could have been better), or E5M9 was a pretty mediocre level overall, also I didn't like some v1.2 modifications (especially on E5M4), but the big picture still tells that this is a commercial quality episode and Romero has a proper understanding of the game's root mechanics. It seems very few people in the Doom community understand this mechanic as they either come up with flashy slaughter stuff and maps which look good on a picture but not in a game, or come up with recycling the same ideas with remaking the classic episodes. In the end all of them turn into a generic button/key hunt, with a total lack of progression and visual storytelling/adventure feel. No Rest for the Living and The Castle's sole map (which was also snubbed) after that showed however what is the actual difference between a pro and a layman.

Well, that's my opinion of course, not some fact, but it's still a fact that Romero won't even bother after how that sad community handled his work.

On the positive side, James Paddock's win was totally deserved. The guy did lots of good things for them.

[ReaperAA]

The Watchtower, on 10 December 2019 - 01:04 AM, said:

Most of these wads get worse by the end, like Jenesis, Scythe, Going Down etc. as all of them turn into a boring and annoying slaughterfest with 100 revenants and archviles. Eviternity wasn't different, I watched YT videos of Map29 and other levels, and it was still the same generic stuff, just with more enemies. Romero on the other hand created a very creative episode that kept the original concept and artwork, but at the same time (unlike stuff like NEIS or the DTWID series) he added new creative ideas that made those old textures look fresh, and didn't remake the same map for the umpteenth time.

Eviternity on easier difficulties is much much easier than wads like Scythe, Going Down, Valiant, Ancient Aliens or Jenesis. If u can handle Plutonia on say HMP, then u should have no problem handling Eviternity on atleast HNTR difficulty. Map 29 is among the harder maps of Eviternity and chances are that u were watching it on UV difficulty. There is actually a big gap between the 3 difficulty levels.

If u don't believe me, ask someone like NightFright.

The Watchtower, on 10 December 2019 - 01:04 AM, said:

In the end all of them turn into a generic button/key hunt, with a total lack of progression and visual storytelling/adventure feel.

For most megawads, this is true (even for the ones I really enjoy like Valiant or Ancient Aliens) but this is not true for Eviternity. There is a lot of care put into the maps to make them seem like a singular adventure rather than just a set of 32-maps. For example, almost throughout the wad, the next map beings where the previous map ends (kinda like in the original 3 episodes of Duke3D). Or how the player starts on the surface of hell in Map 21 and keeps diving deeper and deeper into hell in the upcoming maps, until he finally escapes from it in Map 25.

The Watchtower, on 10 December 2019 - 01:04 AM, said:

Well, that's my opinion of course, not some fact, but it's still a fact that Romero won't even bother after how that sad community handled his work.

Well Romero did win an actual physical cacoward back in 2016. Also don't be so sure about Romero not bothering.

The Watchtower, on 10 December 2019 - 01:04 AM, said:

On the positive side, James Paddock's win was totally deserved. The guy did lots of good things for them.

Atleast I agree with u here.

[Phredreeke]

I'm not into slaughtermaps, and had the whole wad been like its final third I probably wouldn't have bothered with it. That said, I think Watchtower is being overly harsh on it. The varied texture set and new monsters keeps the wad fresh, and the architecture of the later levels is gorgeous.

Unfortunately the arena at the end of MAP19 breaks in a Doom Retro...

[ReaperAA]

Phredreeke, on 10 December 2019 - 02:08 AM, said:

I'm not into slaughtermaps, and had the whole wad been like its final third I probably wouldn't have bothered with it. That said, I think Watchtower is being overly harsh on it. The varied texture set and new monsters keeps the wad fresh, and the architecture of the later levels is gorgeous.

And the thing is that its not even really a slaughter wad on easier difficulties (unlike many other modern wads out there).

Phredreeke, on 10 December 2019 - 02:08 AM, said:

Unfortunately the arena at the end of MAP19 breaks in Doom Retro...

It works fine in GZdoom and PrBoom+. This should be reported to Doom Retro's author.

[NNC]

I didn't talk about difficulty. I talk about repetition and utter tedium that these wads offer. Flashy colours, yes, large scales, yes, 100+ revenants, yes, looks good on a promotional snapshot, yes, but interesting levels, no, variety, no, novelty, no (except some totally unfitting new stuff that don't blend well with the original textures, and annoying new monsters), progression, no. Every level in Eviternity (and AA and other stuff) play the same: some nature/open areas around some generic looking large base (without any kind of relatable location), you push a button, a door opens somewhere, goes to there, find the next button, repeat. And in the meantime you just shoot monsters and more monsters and even more monsters.

To understand the real difference. This is a totally random picture from Sigil: https://cdn.mos.cms....zeAS-320-80.jpg
Which level is this?

This is a totally random picture from Eviternity: https://media.moddb....evi-post-08.jpg
Which level is this?

I bet 19 out of 20 people who played Sigil know the answer for the first question without even thinking. And around 2 out of 20 people who played Eviternity know the answer for the second one.

[ReaperAA]

The Watchtower, on 10 December 2019 - 02:18 AM, said:

Every level in Eviternity (and AA and other stuff) play the same: some nature/open areas around some generic looking large base (without any kind of relatable location), you push a button, a door opens somewhere, goes to there, find the next button, repeat. And in the meantime you just shoot monsters and more monsters and even more monsters.

That's a lie. Only the last episode is somewhat kinda like that (and franky its my least favourite episode in Eviternity).

The Watchtower, on 10 December 2019 - 02:18 AM, said:

To understand the real difference. This is a totally random picture from Sigil: https://cdn.mos.cms....zeAS-320-80.jpg
Which level is this?

This is a totally random picture from Eviternity: https://media.moddb....evi-post-08.jpg
Which level is this?

I bet 19 out of 20 people who played Sigil know the answer for the first question without even thinking. And around 2 out of 20 people who played Eviternity know the answer for the second one.

I am not gonna lie, I am actually having a harder time recognizing that Sigil shot (I think its E5M4, but I am not 100% sure). Whereas that shot of Eviternity is from Map 17. I am sure most people can guess the 2nd shot as well.

The Watchtower, on 10 December 2019 - 02:18 AM, said:

I didn't talk about difficulty. I talk about repetition and utter tedium that these wads offer. Flashy colours, yes, large scales, yes, 100+ revenants, yes, looks good on a promotional snapshot, yes, but interesting levels, no, variety, no, novelty, no (except some totally unfitting new stuff that don't blend well with the original textures, and annoying new monsters), progression, no. Every level in Eviternity (and AA and other stuff) play the same: some nature/open areas around some generic looking large base (without any kind of relatable location), you push a button, a door opens somewhere, goes to there, find the next button, repeat. And in the meantime you just shoot monsters and more monsters and even more monsters.

Also I sincerely hope that u are not basing ur opinion by just watching map 29 of Eviternity (because its the map with the most open spaces in the wad). Majority of the maps are actually just medium sized.

[Ninety-Six]

The Watchtower, on 10 December 2019 - 01:04 AM, said:

Most of these wads get worse by the end, like Jenesis, Scythe, Going Down etc. as all of them turn into a boring and annoying slaughterfest with 100 revenants and archviles.

Phredreeke, on 10 December 2019 - 02:08 AM, said:

I'm not into slaughtermaps, and had the whole wad been like its final third I probably wouldn't have bothered with it.

This is an aspect that I absolutely despise about most of the doom community's output. And it's not even that I'm against slaughtermaps in concept, it's that they all come pre-packaged with a heaping pile of bullshit that you are required to die in multiple times in before you find that one super specific path and method the mapper had in mind. I'm all for difficulty, but contrary to popular belief, just because you die a lot that doesn't make it hard. I could make a room with 30 switches in it, where one ends the level, and the other 29 kill you. When you break most slaughtermaps down, that's essentially what they turn into. Trial and error. And it's not even the funny kind like I Wanna Be The Guy.

That isn't hard. That's just cheap. And it's almost impossible to find a megawad released in the last 15 years that doesn't delve into that for the final third, or indeed, the entire trip. The only one I've managed to find is Doom Zero.


You can make a mapset as hard as you want and I'll be happy. As long as it was very clear that the fault was mine, there will be no problems. But the instant you start throwing me into beginner's traps that no human could react to fast enough, or intentionally lead me into one, or demand I know exactly what weapon to have in my hands before I see the first enemy because if I have the wrong one it will take too long to switch and I'll die, or make me fight an archvile in a room with no cover demanding I trigger its rare pain stance in order to survive, then we have a problem.

I don't care how pretty the map is. I don't care about the fancy sector geometry. I don't care if the music is the best thing ever. If you are cheering because your level is impossible to beat without being clairvoyant or otherwise stupid lucky, if you are intentionally making a map where even the best players are forced to die, your level sucks. End of story.


Difficulty settings don't even matter in this case. Whether you defang a trap or not, if a trap is by default lethal without prior knowledge of it, it doesn't stop being bullshit just because there are other difficulties (not that most of the community's output even gives difficulties besides UV more than a second thought. You typically end up with walking simulators on HNTR, and HMP can either be more of that or only a few monsters shy of UV. There's always a massive spike somewhere. Not that the ones who do properly balance them ever really list what each difficulty is balanced around. I can count on one hand the megawads that have bothered to put such things in writing).



Sorry I got passionate but this has been simmering for a while. I've played so many megawads, and wound up vehemently hating 99% of them by the end. Again, make it as hard as you want. Demand absolute perfect play from me if you want. As long as it was my fault because I made a bad call, or I just didn't execute good enough, I won't care. But start punishing me because I'm not psychic? Into the trash bin your wad goes.

Spoiler

Making it worse is how pwads that go for a more sane approach to level design are ignored for being "boring." The community seems to actively hate sane and fair level design. They only care if it looks pretty. And even then, make sure it doesn't require actual precision or it's too much for them. If they can win by just savescumming until the world ends, they're happy. Actually needing to try though? Lambasted.

[NNC]

ReaperAA, on 10 December 2019 - 02:40 AM, said:

I am not gonna lie, I am actually having a harder time recognizing that Sigil shot (I think its E5M4, but I am not 100% sure). Whereas that shot of Eviternity is from Map 17. I am sure most people can guess the 2nd shot as well.

Congratulations! You belong to the sharpest 10% of our population who can solve this math puzzle!

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[Ninety-Six]

The Watchtower, on 10 December 2019 - 03:27 AM, said:

Congratulations! You belong to the sharpest 10% of our population who can solve this math puzzle!

Spoiler

.........96?

[Phredreeke]

Spoiler

5+2+5=12
12+3+6=21
21+8+11=40