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Post by Xeogred on Jun 21, 2021 12:48:21 GMT -5
From a ~2019 wad Syringe, to 1995's Fava Beans... holy smokeronies, this wad is amazing and holds up. This is the wad I'd recommend some others here (if anyone else even reads this thread, heh). This E1 wad feels more like an official expansion than Plutonia or TNT ever did. Very well designed and refined maps here with impressive architecture and seriously awesome verticality in these tech bases. It's pretty cool to get some Caco's, Lost Souls, and E2-E3 assets sprinkled in throughout as well. Some dated elements were amusing, like the placement or textures used for the "Exit" switch in some spots. I got hung up on one yellow key placement in an early map that was on a generic pillar that you can activate directly, but it took a minute to realize haha. One weird thing was how some secrets led to a lot more map and enemies, but that was part of the fun and I tried to kill all the enemies and find all the secrets that I could. A lot of cool secrets led to the plasma rifle at times. I got turned around a LOT in M7 though when I had all the keys and was done, re-finding that exit door took awhile haha. M8 was kind of generic but for 1995, they must have thought it was novel to fight two Baron's without enough ammo to take them down fully, so I had to punch the second one still standing a few times in the end. The secret map M9 was very bizarre, since you could accidentally skip most of it. I guess the map was treated more like a reward with a bunch of items to stock up on if you're not doing pistol start runs. Stark contrast to Romero's evil E1M9.
Fantastic wad.
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Post by EasyHard on Jun 21, 2021 14:52:16 GMT -5
It is pretty cool to play something from so long ago and enjoy it (all the while noticing the culture shifts that have taken place).
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Post by EasyHard on Jun 23, 2021 14:32:29 GMT -5
Two maps into Syringe and it is very good. Are radsuits going to be an important feature of future maps? I also this week finished up a Doom 2 mini-episode called " Gods and Guardians" which I enjoyed. The maps after the first one tend to be on the large side (300+ monsters), and it's not always straightforward what you missed when you get stuck. I would say it is tough but not too hard, mostly just punctuated by harder encounters at key moments.
Given how harsh of a critic I usually get playing most Doom 2 wads, I found it notable that Gods and Guardians continued to grow on me as I played it. It's probably not that special in terms of normal community design patterns, so perhaps I'm just growing more comfortable with what used to annoy me more.
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 23, 2021 14:59:43 GMT -5
Two maps into Syringe and it is very good. Are radsuits going to be an important feature of future maps? I also this week finished up a Doom 2 mini-episode called " Gods and Guardians" which I enjoyed. The maps after the first one tend to be on the large side (300+ monsters), and it's not always straightforward what you missed when you get stuck. I would say it is tough but not too hard, mostly just punctuated by harder encounters at key moments.
Given how harsh of a critic I usually get playing most Doom 2 wads, I found it notable that Gods and Guardians continued to grow on me as I played it. It's probably not that special in terms of normal community design patterns, so perhaps I'm just growing more comfortable with what used to annoy me more.
I want to say yes... but I'm not sure already, haha. Syringe was damn good so you're in for a ride.
So due to you mentioning it and following up on this after D2TWID and Syringe, I've been playing Arrival this week and am four maps in.
Personally, I think Syringe is a bit better and just something about that wad was absolutely my kind of taste for newer stuff. So I'm thinking Tarnsman might be the secret sauce and one of my top favorites, even if he does a joint map with others, it must show. In ways, I think there was something a little more Plutonia or skillsaw styled with Syringe that I really dug.
That said, I'm still having a blast with Arrival and thinking about all the Pavera maps I've played across these three specific wads, I think he's really good too and can't think of a single bad map. Arrival is pretty intense and doesn't let up, the difficulty is probably higher than Syringe in ways. But what I'm loving so far and hope this doesn't change, is that Pavera doesn't seem to slip into pure slaughter boredom design or traps. It's just that his maps are jam packed to the brim with enemies and you're often being flanked. That could get annoying, but it seems like the ammo, health, etc placement is so perfectly placed as well and everything seems fair if you're on your toes. You will get time to breath, but you'll be mowing down dozens of enemies frequently in these maps. Despite the high enemy count and monsters often placed on high vertical areas you can't even reach, it still seems way better designed than Eviternity. I get a little annoyed at the heavy Revenant use though haha, but it's forcing me to continue getting better at handling them. You'll often activate a key/switch and see a horde coming at you through a door so you can semi prepare, but yeah.
Big enemy count and huge maps though. They've all been ~20-30 minute romps, so you have to be in the mood for that. And due to the high intensity, I'm saving way more than I was with previously played wads this year. But yeah, it continues to strike a nice balance of high difficulty for me that still feels fair. I'm still going strong doing PS/UV style too.
Another interesting thing that comes to mind, you'll often get access to armor and some power weapons in these maps right out of the gate, or even have them in abundance. But the maps are such that you'll often want to stop and think if you should save that armor and stuff for later or not. Like said, his style seems very fair while being incredibly intense and challenging. You'll be prepared for the gauntlets ahead, but then it's up to your skill to survive.
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Post by EasyHard on Jun 23, 2021 16:28:01 GMT -5
I'll probably play Arrival on pistol starts too then, sounds good.
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 23, 2021 18:38:58 GMT -5
I also have to say, I've been digging Pavera's use of Cyberdemon's. I think I've seen ~5 so far and they've generally been pretty interesting encounters.
There are also some areas that have nice tricks with either an elevator, or a colored key door ends up being a different key when it shuts behind you, so you're locked in that section until you get the next new key. It's never a complete point of no return, but it's a cool progression gating technique that works so far.
Oh snap, I guess I'm actually up to MAP07 in Arrival.
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Post by EasyHard on Jun 23, 2021 20:03:00 GMT -5
Map 04 (Banana Export) of Syringe was a downswing. The first half of the map was a long quest for the blue key, but it was all easy enemies with navigation that is hard to get correct. It wasn't trying to be confusing and obtuse, it just played that way.
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 23, 2021 20:22:11 GMT -5
Yeah, that's the map that felt a little too long at times. I think Pavera's Arrival maps are kind of similar to that one big bigger. So it'll be interesting to see what you think. I just wrapped Arrival up and it still had some awesome Cyberdemon encounters. Definitely some weird backtracking at times in some of these maps with the keys though, but all around pretty good stuff to me.
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Post by EasyHard on Jun 24, 2021 14:53:00 GMT -5
Wrapped up Syringe. I think I loved maps 1+2 the most. Map 4 was the lowpoint, might be better if I learn how to navigate it properly (I also cheated in the room with the cyberdemons, but it seems doable on a second try). Map 5 seems like a good case for doing these levels with pistol start, but I was doing continuous.
I will attempt Arrival soon, and after that I think I want to put Doom 1&2 on the shelf again. I don't feel excited about any of the "leads" (promising wads) I've written down. There are some favorites I had mentally scheduled for a replay, but I also feel the need to move on.
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 24, 2021 15:03:42 GMT -5
Map 5 was indeed solid via PS. I started seeing shotgunners as ammo crates, lol. 5-6 weren't my favorites but I liked them for what they were.
I think I'm at 50+ hours for my Doom binge this summer, so yeah might be putting it down soon myself. I still consider getting back to Eviternity, just to say I've finished it... but that would be a sour way to go out. I predict my opinion won't get more positive or anything...
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