I hate Halls of the Damned

Avoozl said:

Why exactly is that level called "DIS" anyway, Is it an acronym?

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E2M6 is probably my favorite map in E2. That fake exit :-(

I was always scared of e2m6 and e3m2 when i played doom on my SNES. I can't not love them. I can however completely not love any maps from the original not present in the SNES port, like e1m6, e2m2, e2m7, e2m5 (i think?), e3mWhatver the cathedral was.
I also will totally criticize the two horrible, terrible gimmick maps of D2 that for me are far worse than even Nirvana. And also i like the chasm while i'm at it.

Hmm, I wonder if anyone ever made some "proper" secret levels for Doom II. I mean, something that fits in with the rest of the game, rather than Wolf3D/jokewad material.

If they did my money would be on Tricks & Traps and Barrells of Fun.

Has there ever been any talk from id about discarded Doom II maps? Closest I've heard of was the Doom Alpha maps.

The closest thing might be this McGee DM map from 1996:
http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=7021

Avoozl said:

Why exactly is that level called "DIS" anyway, Is it an acronym?

It's short for "Dis dig" - as in:

"You got any dis dig?"

"Dis dig?"

"He means 'this dick', motherfucker!"



Ahem...anyway - I've never been fond of E2M6 myself, mostly because that large dimly-lit area creeps me out, even with the light-amp goggles helpfully placed in and near that area. It gives me flashbacks to when I was a kid. I was never afraid of the dark per se - but I was afraid of being in a light area with a dark area that I would have to walk through in order to get to another light area. I just always had the feeling of being watched by something in the dark waiting for me...something that E2M6 effectively tapped into. Damn you, id - get out of my head!

I certainly like E2M6. It's different enough to stand out, has good music, can be scary compared to other DOOM maps, has even held its ground as a rather long map for speed runs, has quite a variety of different good traps and hazards to enhance the fighting and suspense, starts with a place that quickly shows the outside area and gives you the impression that you are going into a dangerous indoors area, puts the exit near that start to taunt always you as you progress, if offers a berserk pack, enhances suspense with some somewhat claustrophobic areas yet allows many choices during progress, and makes the best use of the light amplification device in the game.

Vermil said:
Is there any level in Doom, Doom2 and Final Doom that isn't loved or hated in equal measure.

You may be highlighting the variety of opinions, but in the end... all of them? People here like most of the maps more than they dislike them, I'm sure.

Well then Halls of the Damned hates you.

Halls of the Damned is the scariest level in the game for me. I get the creeps when trying to make my way through that dark maze part, even today. I also agree with the other positive things that have been said about it.

esselfortium said:

Is it the chaingunners in Industrial Zone? I mean, they're annoying, but come on... you could be playing Slough Of Despair.

I'll really never understand the Doom1 > Doom2 opinion in general, especially considering how the complaints about Doom2 seeming halfassed and missing the mark apply doubly so to most of Inferno.

Gotcha is awesome.

I like bright colors okay? Most of Doom 2 looks dull to me. If you don't "understand" my opinion then, whatever.

Scypek2 said:

They have bigger height variation.

Excessive height variation in a game where you can't look up or down is kind of dumb.

DuckReconMajor said:

Excessive height variation in a game where you can't look up or down is kind of dumb.

Yeah it fucks up the vertical autoaim, so you just end up wasting lots of rockets while trying to take out that group of chaingunners up high on a ledge, or whatever. Adding Look Up/Down keys (like in Heretic) might have helped a bit with those critical shots. Too bad they didn't take the opportunity to extend the engine while they had the chance. Of course nowadays most players probably use mouselook, so they don't even remember or notice it...

DuckReconMajor said:

Excessive height variation in a game where you can't look up or down is kind of dumb.

You have a peepee but don't have sex...huh! Think about it.

I use it to piss in urinals dumbass.

Hey come on, I liked this map! In fact, all maps from Doom/The Ultimate Doom, Doom 2 and Final Doom are good IMO. If you want some bad maps, then you should try out some 1994 Doom WADs.

But to be honest I do find a building with multiple hallways to be silly.

It is a good map. It can still turn around and kick my ass if I'm not playing well.

I never really liked Halls either, but have fond memories of a winter's day near Christmas where it snowed so badly they closed the schools, and my mate just randomly dropped round in the morning while I was playing Halls of the Damned on my PSX. At least there were optional parts of the map which is quite rare in Doom, and with the PSX version, you get good music ;)

I hate a lot of the Doom 2 maps for the PC, generally the intricate and over-long ones: Industrial Zone is a total horror. I hate The Citadel as well, but that one made the port. Generally the long ones where everything is miles away and you need to do some really fiddly, annoying stuff to complete them.

EDIT: Unholy Cathedral. What a ballache. I still don't know how I completed that one. In another reality, I'm still on it now, running around the same corridor.

Pavera said:

Well then Halls of the Damned hates you.

Or at least, the bloke who designed it must have done.

NitroactiveStudios said:

If you want some bad maps, then you should try out some 1994 Doom WADs.

We're waiting for Perseus to upload another five hundred of them to the archives.

Use3D said:

You have a peepee but don't have sex...huh! Think about it.

I thought about it... and I blame you. I don't know why.

I like pretty much all the original Doom maps, episode 3 included! The only one I really don't like is E2M9. It just feels completely phoned in.

E3M2 is a mixed bag. The visual design (scenery, I mean, not the automap) is fairly good, what with it being the first real example of the 'hellish canyon' motif, and it has a few nifty setpieces like the lowering Sergeant cages. The problem is that once you get into the fingers proper, the mapper runs out of room to do anything interesting with them. As subsequent PWADs have shown, you can make automap design gimmicks work, but the level ALSO has to be big enough that you can make it complex despite this.

E3M8 is kind of a special case. I think that if the boss sucked less, I wouldn't have any problem with the visual design of the arena. It's not that much less complex than E2M8.

MajorRawne said:

I don't know why.

It's the reason for the season.

jerrysheppy said:

E3M2 is a mixed bag. The visual design (scenery, I mean, not the automap) is fairly good, what with it being the first real example of the 'hellish canyon' motif, and it has a few nifty setpieces like the lowering Sergeant cages. The problem is that once you get into the fingers proper, the mapper runs out of room to do anything interesting with them. As subsequent PWADs have shown, you can make automap design gimmicks work, but the level ALSO has to be big enough that you can make it complex despite this.

I agree with this. I always liked how you looked behind you when the levels starts and it's the ledges too high to go back up. It's like you just fell into this canyon and have to fight your way through. The difficulty (at least to me) in a pistol start UV playthrough adds to this.

E3M2 is in my eyes the most atmospheric of all the Doom 1 maps. The setting of it is really like you're in the Demon's natural habitat, with only the briefest of interferences from humans (switches, doors carved into the rock face near the end). You're out there in the wild.

I'm actually ambivalent to the gameplay of the map itself (I can dread playing it, or look forward to the experience, in equal measure - depends what mood I'm in) but that atmosphere is something I can't get enough of -- and is briefly touched upon in a similar section of the always-awesome E4M2. Homage? ;)

ComicMischief said:

I'm actually ambivalent to the gameplay of the map itself (I can dread playing it, or look forward to the experience, in equal measure - depends what mood I'm in) but that atmosphere is something I can't get enough of -- and is briefly touched upon in a similar section of the always-awesome E4M2. Homage? ;)

I like how E4M6 looks even wilder than that, until you fall into a sewage prison from which you'll escape with great difficulty.

I just wanted to disagree and say that halls of the damned is my favorite map in doom 1 e2. on nightmare this is one of the hardest maps in the game. also i love the music on this map, the bass starts thumping i just get pumped up. you know that a lot of shooting is ahead. our co-op nightmare run of this map is intense and awesome. barons, demons everywhere, plasma rifles blazing! i fucking love it!

i liked e2m6 better than most of the other maps in e2. my least favorite would be e2m9. definitely wouldn't be missed, and does not deserve to be a secret map.

Rocks up late to the discussion.

Points out that Halls of the Damned was one of the finest maps in the original Doom. The dark tech areas were terrifying to navigate and some of the traps were fiendishly challenging. Especially 'back in the day' when real men played with keyboards and when pixels were bigger than the keys on said keyboards.

Leaves the discussion.

Really? This is my favorite map from Doom!

Pure Hellspawn said:

my least favorite would be e2m9. definitely wouldn't be missed, and does not deserve to be a secret map.

well, it's definitely special, and that's what is the point of secret maps. For a secret map, definitely better than e4m9 or DTWID secret maps that are painfully normal (and I wasn't expected something called Fear to be so... bright. And fearsome).

Scypek2 said:

well, it's definitely special, and that's what is the point of secret maps. For a secret map, definitely better than e4m9 or DTWID secret maps that are painfully normal (and I wasn't expected something called Fear to be so... bright. And fearsome).

Ah yes E4M9, rhe only secret level in UDoom I didn't like so much, even after playing through it again. ("Confusion" would've been a more appropriate title, given how annoying, for me, it was to find out how to exit the level.)

Other than that, I didn't see a level in UDoom I didn't like.

Edit: Speaking of Doom II, however, Map24 I didn't like too much (not as bad as E4M9, mind you.), but the last few maps (not including Icon of Sin) were pretty fun. (Save for the one secret in Map27 that's open for thirty seconds when you start the map.)

Sodaholic said:

The most dull, uninspiring, bland, and flat-out bad level in the original Doom. It has absolutely no height variation, and is just a collection of dark hallways with monster closets. Not to mention is was absolutely fugly.

I fully agree on the bland and fugly parts and the flatness. When I read Halls of the Damned, I think long-winded dull concrete corridors interrupted by pools of green slime.

Though I hate E2M3 (Refinery) even more. It's completely flat as well, has random texturing, boxy rooms and slime pools you have to wade through.

I don't hate that level, but whenever I play it I'm like "Here comes the painful wandering-around-through-a-dark-maze trying to find 3 keys."
I like the music, but the key-search isn't very exciting. I guess a mindless maze is actually pretty cool depending on how you look at it.

That map is pisses me off!!!