Board 8 > Think im gonna do a doom playthrough/ranking topic

(+) Yeah! (+)

Because I wanna go through them again, I wanna challenge myself a bit, and I wanna see which I like more on average after ranking all the levels.

Simple rules:

Ultra-Violence difficulty
Pistol start each level
Rank them out of 5 for both fun and difficulty
Kill all monsters and find all secrets
Play on gzdoom probably, strict settings but ill probably do mouselook
Going to attempt each level without saving, no promises to keep the rule

So other than doom 1 and 2, should I do any others? Plutonia, tnt, thy flesh consumed, sigil? Or eviternity and other mods?

If you want to do everything official that would be
The Ultimate Doom
Doom II
TNT: Evilution
The Plutonia Experiment
No Rest For the Living
The Master Levels
Doom 64
Sigil, technically

and then there are some unique levels from certain console ports that do have wads/pk3s available, but Ive never bothered to try those. A lot of them are combinations of parts of other levels I think.

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ok, first part is gonna be headed by stating I am no doom pro, I'm actually pretty far from it lol

Lets go!

E1M1 - Hangar

Level 2.5/5
Difficulty .5/5

Pretty standard first level. Nothing in the original is gonna be all that hard, and it's pretty basic compared to a lot of custom s***, but decades of map making experience will do what. Fun level, introduces you to a lot of concepts. Could actually probably make a decent writeup on how it teaches a lot of Doom's rules early on in regards to ambushes(two major ones even if they aren't difficult) and secrets(game very clearly uses its three secrets to demonstrate switch secrets, secret doors, level triggers, and fake walls).

E2M2 - Nuclear Plant

Level 2/5
Difficulty .5/5

Much less memorable than the first, with far less iconic music. Still fun, but the fact that level 1 has more shotgunners than level 1 is....odd. Tons and tons of ammo too, I ended with ammo I couldn't even pick up without wasting ammo.

E1M3 - Toxin Refinery

Level 3/5
Difficulty 1/5

Game is getting harder. Has some fights that tease what's to come, a few cool setpieces, and introduces pinky demons, along with just being a well designed level. Some of the secrets are a little weirdly placed, but nothing major. Never even needed the rocket launcher, lol

E1M9 - Military Base

Level 4/5
Difficulty 2/5

Pretty sure this is the first time I've actually played the secret level and goddamn it was fun. Simple level still, it's only the fourth level ever of doom, but the first teleport trap is always fun even if it's so blatantly obvious, and the level has some very fun progression. Also the first appearance of Specters.....yaaaaay

Oh hey, it's one of those users that's always on my "whatever happened to these guys" lists.

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Underleveled posted...

Oh hey, it's one of those users that's always on my "whatever happened to these guys" lists.

I've been around off and on, more on CE and B8, and I've left gamefaqs off and on for a bit, thus the new account

E1M4 - Command Control

Level 2/5
Difficulty 1/5

Lots of mazes, not a lot of challenge. Hurting a little bit for ammo out of the gate if you don't grab the immediate secret, but after that it's incredibly easy, with lots of satisfying barrel splats to be had.

E1M5 - Phobos Base

Level 3/5
Difficulty 2.5/5

This level is gonna kill newcomers guaranteed. Some nasty ambushes, with little room to maneuver, lots of imps blocking shots at shotgunners and pinkys and specters making it hard to move. The last fight in the strobing lights is fucking awesome and atmospheric, but why the fuck does it have to be Specters :(

doom is the best game of all time

No Rest For The Living is my fav wad

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E1M6 - Central Processing

Level 3/5
Difficulty 1.5/5

Not a lot of threat or memorably fights here. A few big ambushes, but nothing I ever felt remotely unequipped to handle.

Epyo posted...

doom is the best game of all time

No Rest For The Living is my fav wad

I have no experience with custom wads outside of a few levels of Eviternity, I'm looking forward to breaking into them

And M7 is my first death of the run, that start is brutal for pistol start if you can't get good detonations off the barrels

E1M7 - Computer Station
Level 3/5
Difficulty 2.5/5

Again, may not be as hard as Doom can get, but this level kicks ass. Lots of tight fights early on before you find ammo, but it gets better and better throughout as you find more secrets and just mow down wave after wave of grunts. The lack of enemy variety really shows, but Doom holds up through some awesome level design that never feels cheap. Also, love the use of monster closets as you get keys to refill levels.

E1M8 - Phobos Anomaly

Level 2/5
Difficulty 1/5

Kind of a disappointing end to the final chapter. Punched all the pinkys just to make it simple, then dodged around. Only took a little bit of damage in the final fight from specters surrounding me, barons are basically just bullet sponges in an open area like that. At least for now....

Overall, Episode 1 is awesome for an intro to doom, and it just gets better from here. Gonna stop for the day I think, pick up episode 2 tomorrow

E2M1 - Deimos Anomaly

Level 3.5/5
Difficulty 1.5/5

Definite drop down in difficulty despite being another episode, but damn was it a fun map. Starting off having to pistol a bunch of basic zombies, seeing your first cacodemon, a couple secrets with some slightly cramped fights, a secret red door, and lots of fun teleporters! I am not a fan of secrets that can only be accessed once though, so half a point off. Also, music kicks so much ass!

E2M2 - Containment Area

Level 4/5
Difficulty 2.5/5

Only considered so difficult because there are so many secrets(I'm pretty sure I actually got all 12, but one didn't trigger so 91% secrets for me I guess). But the music is awesome and the level is SO damn good. Seriously, tons of variety, the crate maze where you're dodging dozens of imps and berserking everything is just godly, more optional key rooms, and not a single hitscanner in sight.

RadiantJoyrock posted...

I have no experience with custom wads outside of a few levels of Eviternity, I'm looking forward to breaking into them

No Rest For the Living is arguably an official wad! It's an episode made by Nerve Software to be included in the XLBA release of Doom 2. I dunno why it's my favorite wad though...people generally like it, but nobody else really raves about it. In general, for some reason I slightly prefer official wads to custom wads, not sure why. Custom wads are great too of course.

Most big Doom fans are the opposite, everybody loves custom wads and kinda sorta scoffs at the official wads (except perhaps plutonia).

But man, usually I get like halfway through a custom wad and run out of energy. I think they might simply be too long, usually? The most famous ones are 30+ levels which is quite a commitment, and the mappers generally keep things simple at the start, but then get super excited and make big friggin maps in the second half, and the difficulty gets pretty ridiculous.

I recently played through "neis.wad" (No End In Sight) a year ago or so, and it was great, but still, dear lord, that must have been like 10-20 hours...

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I say go for it on TNT, Plutonia and Thy Flesh Consumed. Loads of great maps mixed in there.

SIGIL too probably. This topic reminded me that I still have to go play that myself.

Epyo posted...

Most big Doom fans are the opposite, everybody loves custom wads and kinda sorta scoffs at the official wads (except perhaps plutonia).

But man, usually I get like halfway through a custom wad and run out of energy. I think they might simply be too long, usually? The most famous ones are 30+ levels which is quite a commitment, and the mappers generally keep things simple at the start, but then get super excited and make big friggin maps in the second half, and the difficulty gets pretty ridiculous.

I don't know that I've seen much in the way of scoffing at the original maps except for stuff like laughing at Doom II's city maps and the general ugliness of some maps. They do show their age in the realm of level design, but they have an undeniable quaintness. Plutonia does seem to be the most respected because the Doom community is attracted to the challenge. Which in comparison to things like Alien Vendetta and beyond isn't bad, but that's bit of a digression.

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Esuriat posted...

I say go for it on TNT, Plutonia and Thy Flesh Consumed. Loads of great maps mixed in there.

I think I will, but I reserve the right to change rules on the fly. Fuck pistol starting plutonia lol

pistol start on E4M2 seems like a bad time too

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Fair enough! Though that won't make a huge difference on one Plutonia map in particular. :)

And yeah, E4M2 is brutal but then again you're probably not going to be in a good position carrying over from E4M1 anyway.

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E2M3 - Refinery

Level 1/5
Difficulty 1/5

Fuck this. Bad secrets, boring fights that only ever get hard because the game starts you in chaos on a pistol start and you have to kite demons to reach the berserk. Music is the only redeeming quality, this feels like a level I could've made and I've never made a doom level.

Played the first level of Valiant as a break, so fucking good. Pistol sounds so nuce basic grunts sound better because of it, and the super imps are horrifying.

ya E2 is pretty bad, except E2M2

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E2 is my favorite episode in the original Doom. E2M5, E2M2 and E2M6 are my three favorite levels.

M3: Refinery is probably the lowest point of the episode, though. Nothing about it really stands out.

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Bumo. I'll continue tomorrow

E2M4 - Deimos Lab

Level 1.5/5
Difficulty 2.5/5

Tedious but not really hard. If you don't secret hunt, the final circle fight will be all but impossible. As is, I barely had enough ammo to finish the level even with lots of secrets. Shotgunning down Barons is not my idea of fun, nor is hunting down random imps taking a detour through the slime.

E2M5 - Command Center

Level 1/5
Difficulty 2.5/5

Mad dash through a pointlessly massive sprawl to even find weapons to keep you fighting. If you don't find the berserk early on you're fucked. If you go in the wrong room at the wrong time you're fucked. If you don't like punching pinkies you're fucked. If you get the rad suits at the wrong time, and why wouldn't you they're placed NOWHERE NEAR DAMAGING FLOORs, you're fucked. Oh, and why was I randomly taking damage in a hallway with no enemies? This is easily the worst level of Doom for me so far. Fuck it, I didn't even find all the secrets because I just didn't fucking care. By the time I found the exit and I was only halfway through the monsters I was already exhausted with the map, but nooo I had to go back and get the secret exit which is in a bullshit room full of lost souls that will murder you if you go in without enough ammo. Oh, and a super long secret that leads to a fucking baron in a cage and no other purpose? I can't hate this map enough.

That long secret with the Baron leads to a larger area with a plasma rifle and another secret tucked inside with a cell pack. More than enough plasma to deal with the baron and everything else that's thrown at you. As a general rule it's good to check where the damaging floors might be before grabbing the rad suits. And appropriately I feel the one that's inside a secret (in the wooden stairs) is used for the damaging floor secret.

It's a little more punishing than other maps with routing but nothing that sets it that far apart from others. As I mentioned, it's my favorite level both for the fact it actually feels a little more challenging and from a design perspective puts forth a nice merging of a human research base that's being corrupted by Hell.

In any case, hope you enjoy the rest of the episode more, at least!

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I do like the command center level design, but I dont like how its so spread out. None of the fights ever feel challenging or fun, just tedious or easy. Like, punching a pinky is easy, punching a dozen pinkies gets old fast.

Given, one of the pinky rooms I encountered I came across was before I found the berserk and I punched out 10 pinkies without it....

Also fortress of mystery is next and I hate relying on infighting so let's see how that goes lol

E2M9 - Fortress of Mystery

Level 0.5/5
Difficulty 0.5/5

Fuck infighting.

E2M6 - Halls of the Damned

Level 3.5/5
Difficulty 3/5

OK THIS is how you do a maze like level like this. Bigger hallways but fun fights, guide the player a bit, don't throw things at them before they're prepared, and give them an easy berserk early one on. This was a super fun map a couple hairy encounters, only a couple secrets, and awesome ending ambush that then makes you loop back? Hell yes.

Supposedly E2M6 was the first level Sandy ever made, when he joined the team!

Ya, the only reasons I still play E2 once in a while are:

• E2M6
• E2M2
• E2M1's music

Totally despise the rest of it

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E2M7 - Spawning Vats

Level 0.5/5
Difficulty 0.5/5

Dear god this was boring. Huge map with relatively few monsters, spread out in the most pathetic ambushes that I always feel overprepared for, and I'm pretty much only ever thinking of what the fuck does what and why does this secret lead to a secret near the end using the end level key that opens a secret all the way back in the beginning after everything is dead? And why is the opening so hostile? Two pinkys attacking you before you even move, then a caco with barely any shotgun ammo, then a baron but there's an invincibility, one of two, that you don't even need because they're so dull and boring and easy.

E2M8 - Tower of Babel

Level 2/5
Difficulty 1/5

Waaaaaay easier than when I was a kid and didn't know how to circle strafe. Don't care if it's bad, still love it, that nostalgic introduction and menacing tone of the first Cyberdemon is always a great love, even if there are too many lost souls.

Yeah, only E1M1 remains more iconic than E2M8.

Good job shooting it until it died.

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Esuriat posted...

Yeah, only E1M1 remains more iconic than E2M8.

Good job shooting it until it died.

Someday I will make myself suffer through the process of beating it pacifist. It's possible, just super dull

E3M1 - Hell Keep

Level 1.5/5
Difficulty 0.5/5

Yawn. Seriously. Pistoling cacodemons isn't fun. Neither is anything else in this level.

E2M2 - Slough of Despair

Level 4/5
Difficulty 2/5

I know this level gets shit, but I actually like it. It's not super challenging, but it's small, very fast paced, filled with bunches of tight little fights that I never really feel unprepared for. And I like the music.

I don't like E3M2 a whole lot, but it maybe gets a little unfairly hated on. It's still in my bottom 5 for Ultimate Doom, but only like a 2/5 if I had to use that scale.

But it's easily better than E3M1 which actually is my least favorite of all of Ultimate Doom.

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I reckon E3M2 might be my favorite level in all of doom 1. From a gameplay perspective, it's like, perfect, in my opinion. Great combat environment. I regularly open up doom just to play through E3M2 and then log out.

Why don't people like it tho? I had no idea.

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I haven't seen very much beyond occasionally seeing people remark that they don't like it. My number one assumption is that people especially dislike the first half. I don't like scouring the nooks and crannies for enemies and items/ammo. It feels slow.

The second half is better, but is still kind of slow. I like the cacodemon ambush after getting the blue key, but the other monster closets aren't really interesting.

I do like the secrets, and it gets points for being shaped like a hand.

I also think it's ugly, but I guess Hell isn't meant to be pretty.

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E3M3 - Pandemonium

Level 2/5
Difficulty 2.5/5

No great feelings for this one other than the dickish start with a pinky bearing down on you right away.

E3M4 - House of Pain

Level 2/5
Difficulty 2/5

Again, no strong feelings. Not awful, just kind of bland. Nothing really memorable, which is not something we should be saying about the point in the game that we get the bfg.

E3M5 - Unholy Cathedral

Level 1/5
Difficulty 1/5

Why is episode 3 both awfully designed and maddeningly easy compared to the rest of the game?