Anima Zero
Member
Posts: 459
Registered: 09-04 |
I've been busy lately, so yeah, I haven't said much. That being said, I have a small improvement to my E2M9 UV -fast. It's now at 2:21. I would have liked to go a couple more seconds faster, but the infighting can go poorly often. This will be sent off to Ops after finishing my comments.
Demopack Comments
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Well, here we are at the end of another demopack. I don't think I've ever seen any Doom 1/Ultimate Doom Megawads until I tried this one out. It's certainly not the best wad out there since some levels are less then stellar or have bad gameplay choices (E2M8 BK room anyone?). On the plus side though, you have maps like E1M9, E2M3, and E2M9. All of those and several more are actually quite fun to play through. All in all, this is not that bad of a wad and should be worth a playthru or two at least.
But, the real reason you're all here...the demos. I actually don't have as many demos in this pack compared to previously released packs. Some just got beaten, but it's mostly due to focusing on a select few levels and getting burnt out afterwards (E2M8 is a prime example).
Anyways, as for best demos...I don't normally call out my own demos, but my E2M6 UV-Speed is a personal favourite of mine. It might not be the absolute best for the level, but it is my very first demo as a mouser, and that means a lot to me :).
Other demos...well, just watch them all, since I always have a tough time choosing demos that I like here.
E1M9(Max)
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Fun way to start off this pack for me. It's a non-linear level since you can decide in which order to tackle the three areas. Each one has two switches in it. All 6 need to be pressed to reveal some flaming panels at the start of the level. Shoot those 6 panels and the exit opens up.
The problem though...ammo. You have to be careful not to miss too much or you'll be left with nothing to clear out the last 3 barons except for a chainsaw, and that's not exactly going to be useful on them.
Otherwise, using the right weapon at the right time should keep your ammo reserves in fairly good shape. One imp wandered down into the first area I visit, so I had to waste time at the end to go hunt it down. The demo went fairly well otherwise though.
E2M3(Max)
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Another fun map IMO. There are no parts of the map I disliked and it flows well. Problem once again arises in the form of ammo. You're going to want to cause some infighting between some cacos and barons early on if you want to have enough rockets/shells to clean house here. One trick is utilized here to save some time, but otherwise getting out in one piece is of no trouble here. I'm a little miffed that I missed the sub 3 mark, given the mistakes in this run.
E2M6(Max)
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Another fine map here to blast through. Ammo isn't quite as tight as E1M9 and E2M3, but you still want to save your rockets and plasma ammo for wiping out the enemy horde awaiting you in the central area as you make way to the exit. Not my best demo in the pack due to some ugly spots. Close call near the end.
E2M8(Max)
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Ok, this is where I draw the line between fun and just plain annoying. My main beef here is the BK room. I'm not going to understand the author's reasoning for placing 30+ lost souls in this room. All they do is royally piss off the player and/or demo recorder. In this case, me. Setting that aside though, the rest of the level is largely a BFG blastfest once you pick it up.
The real challenge lies in none other than the BK room. Doing it quickly while not getting screwed by the souls is a very tough task indeed. Going with the RL to clear out souls in my way was risky. We all know how fun it is to have a soul in your face as you fire a rocket, but this was the fastest way to clear them out and was giving me a better success rate to get outta this room. I had one mistake in this room occur due to the RL and got lucky when I was to exit this room.
The rest of the level's strat consists of getting the BFG as soon as possible, then using it and the many cells here to clean house. You do want to save around 300-400 cells for the final area though. The 2 cybies here are easy to take out, but saving some time can be tricky if you're not aware of what to do. The trick is shown in Kristian's speedrun for this level, but you blast one cybie for awhile, then switch to the other and let the tracers kill off the weakened one just as the other cybie bites it. Can save a few seconds if done right. One of my best demos for the pack I'd say.
E3M1(Max)
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Small map, but nothing to complain about here except, you guessed it, ammo. It's even tighter than E1M9 and E2M3. Run out of bullet ammo and you'll be left with nothing effective to kill the remaining enemies. Don't even think about killing the souls. Waste of ammo and time there. Thankfully, everything went quite well here and I had bullets to spare at the end. This and my E2M8 Max are my best maxers in this pack IMO.
E2M9(UV-fast)
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Came about as a result of watching Kristian's maxdemo and wanting to try my own run, but adding on -fast for some extra challenge. This makes infighting easy to occur in the first area, but also easy to get pasted very quickly, especially by the MM. Two tricks here involving hitting switches to release the barons early and start up the infighting. Have to hope the MM does a number on the barons in order to get a good time here. IF you can get to the other side of the level, things get a bit easier, but still, those SG'ers can fill you full of holes very quickly, especially if your health is low. Still risky after heading thru the YK door back to the first open area since the imps have an easy target at you in that small corridor.
Otherwise, getting out of the first area and surviving the second area in one piece is the toughest part of the level. Would have liked to have a 2:19 or better at least, but the infighting really has to go well in order for that to happen.
E1M9(UV-Speed)
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No tricks to show off here, so this just ends up being a little on the boring side in terms of watching. Ugly though, as there are a few sore spots in the demo.
E2M6(UV-Speed)
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As I've said before, this is a personal favourite of mine due to the fact it's my first ever demo as a mouser. I can thank my experience with Hexen for that, as that's where most of my skill with the mouse developed.
But anyways, for this run, much luck is needed to not get blocked by imps, barons, what have you. Not the fastest, as something around 0:47 or so is possible, but I was getting fed up trying to improve it, given the luck I needed.
E3M8(UV-Speed)
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Not really the best demo of mine, but this level is a bit ugly in the gameplay department, so...yeah. The mistakes don't start becoming obvious til I deal with the 2nd MM. Feel free to cringe there. Final 2 MMs are dealt with in the same fashion as the E2M8 cybies.
So...there ya go. Feel free to trim down any of the comments if they're too long.
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12-22-06 22:20 
