Alien Vendetta

DuckReconMajor said:

skill 1 is your friend

Not if you like to be challenged ;)

fire rockets at walls?

but seriously, would it break the experience that much if you had to change difficulties and warp to the last few levels?

Yes :)

You'll be fine on skill3.

darkreaver said:

yes

I agree. I did it w/o mouse while I was still a massive noob (using quicksaves though). The last 2 maps of Scythe are out of contest in this regard.

I see. You mean if it went the other way.

I just played maps 11-16 because of this thread, and (un)holy fucktits I love map11. Amazing. Im Also one of those who really dig Spencers maps in AV. So brutal.

KiiiYiiiKiiiA said:
Could you post some links to your maps? Not looking to be critical, I am just interested to see what sort of maps you make.

You know, hundreds of good - or even great - maps were made without 3D preview. Yes, it's more time consuming to have to save the map, build the nodes, and then launch Doom 2 to look at your level, but once you do, it's pretty much the same thing.

I just use(d) a .bat file to automate it all, myself.

This thread has inspired me to go back and play through AV on UV for the first time. It's not ragging difficult, but I'm working up a sweat.

Capellan said:

You know, hundreds of good - or even great - maps were made without 3D preview. Yes, it's more time consuming to have to save the map, build the nodes, and then launch Doom 2 to look at your level, but once you do, it's pretty much the same thing.

I just use(d) a .bat file to automate it all, myself.

You are right, of course. I had a programmer friend write me some batch files, as I had no idea how to do things like that back then.

I myself made dozens of SP maps long before 3D mode was even dreamed of, though sadly I never bothered to keep them. Some good deathmatch maps too, which got used in some local tournaments.

It is just that now I am so used to 3D mode, I can't even remember my mapping process from back then. I know it is perfectly possible to make great maps without 3D, I just can't picture myself working without 3D anymore.

Technician said:

This thread has inspired me to go back and play through AV on UV for the first time. It's not ragging difficult, but I'm working up a sweat.

It's funny that this thread cropped up when I was already part way through a nostalgia playthrough of AV.

I am on map 25 now, and I think this is probably the toughest map in the mapset. Certainly it is the closest (imo) to HR styled gameplay. Was never sold on the Heretic texture thing, but this is a wonderful map nonetheless.

Technician, I think you are in for some real genuine fun on UV.

Vordakk said:

Well, I just finished MAP30 of AV, completing another playthrough. I forgot how ridiculous the last few maps get. MAP25-27 are akin to receiving a lubeless anal fisting, with monster counts ranging from 850-1350! MAP28 and MAP29 are a little less ridiculous with monster counts in the 300s, but feature a ton of "you vs. Cyberdemon in a small room" type fights, which grind my gears a bit as well.

Favorite maps off the top of my head are 3,5,8,10,11,20,23.

Aside from all the eye-catching detail the maps offer, AV takes a lot of the gameplay style from its predecessors Plutonia and HR.

Beast Island has been a favorite of mine for a long time. It feels like an entire journey in a single map. It's very special to me in that way. I hope I'll be able to create nice maps in that way.

Hooray, someone else who thought Beast Island was awesome. I took a mild amount of flak in my long-past NoPoet days for thinking that was one of the best maps in the wad.

The biggest AV maps all feel like journeys. The map authors created some fantastic vistas, like a look into hell that shows you a side of hell you never expected: while it is dark and cruel and sinister, there is also a forlorn beauty which in some cases simply takes your breath away. I hesitate to use the cliche "dark majesty". The further into AV you get, the more amazing the maps become. The later maps just blow all non-AV maps away for me. No matter how good other wads get, I always end up comparing them to AV.

The fact that it is amazing on co-op (if a bit tiresome on UV with all the Cyberdemons everywhere) just cements Alien Vendetta's place as the ultimate megawad for me. Co-op is the element that other top-flight megawads eg Requiem (which is amazing in its own right) simply lack. I know the Memento Moris are built for co-op but they just aren't Alien Vendetta.

Technician said:

This thread has inspired me to go back and play through AV on UV for the first time. It's not ragging difficult, but I'm working up a sweat.

I'm glad I could help, comrade! **

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I think Alien Vendetta is really great and all, but I think it's a tad bit overrated. People claim that it's "The best WAD ever". But I don't think so. Some of the maps take ages to complete mostly because of how insane the difficulty is. Not saying that it is bad ( In face it's one of my favorite wads.) it's just that it isn't the best.

IMHO I think Scythe 1 and 2 are the best wads ever because it's less frustrating to complete and there isn't many slaughter maps in it.

I m drunk.
I almost shed some tears just thinking of AV. OMG. Sunset, Beast Island, Nemesis, slaughter Spencer-maps, late E3 Johnsen maps...seriously...I shed a tear just typing this

lol!

(true story, though)

I love this wad. Up there with Scythe 2, DV I and II, as my favourite megawad. Maybe I have slightly overplayed it by now but that doesn't change how great it is.

I always felt so much love for Alien Vendetta that it's like I internalised the idea that it was made just for me. It's weird after all these years to see people saying all the same things I have.

MajorRawne said:

I always felt so much love for Alien Vendetta that it's like I internalised the idea that it was made just for me. It's weird after all these years to see people saying all the same things I have.

Goes to show how good AV really is :)

map20 (if i remember right) .. that pyramid makes my mountains crumble and my senses error because if all the awesomenes

I'm curious -- has anyone ever managed to jump/otherwise get into (without cheat codes) the hidden area in map 3 with the message "Do you think your [sic] Sedlo or something ..?!" Has Sedlo? :)

I have never gotten very far into AV. It just doesn't do it for me. I'm not sure why, but any time I see the same old textures, everything feels boring. It's probably because I played the snot outta DOOM and DOOM 2 back in the day and now want to see fresh stuff only... so anything using the original graphics is just going to bore me unless it can pull off unique ways of using the original graphics... which AV doesn't seem to do very much of. But hey, it's an old megawad so I give it a pass on that. I just don't like it very much, and I didn't play it until just recently, so there's no nostalgia effect for me. As a "map building ideas reference", it's pretty cool for that... it has some good ideas in it, but it's probably inspired quite a few copycats so everything in it thus far, I've probably seen before elsewhere. Still, at least it's a solid piece of work, so anyone who hasn't tried it yet should definitely try it.

Urban Space Cowboy: Heh, never heard about that area before. :) Enjoy - http://speedy.sh/Ed33A/av03-supersecret.zip

Eponasoft said:

I have never gotten very far into AV. It just doesn't do it for me. I'm not sure why, but any time I see the same old textures, everything feels boring. It's probably because I played the snot outta DOOM and DOOM 2 back in the day and now want to see fresh stuff only... so anything using the original graphics is just going to bore me unless it can pull off unique ways of using the original graphics... which AV doesn't seem to do very much of. But hey, it's an old megawad so I give it a pass on that. I just don't like it very much, and I didn't play it until just recently, so there's no nostalgia effect for me. As a "map building ideas reference", it's pretty cool for that... it has some good ideas in it, but it's probably inspired quite a few copycats so everything in it thus far, I've probably seen before elsewhere. Still, at least it's a solid piece of work, so anyone who hasn't tried it yet should definitely try it.

I used to feel the same way. Then one day I buckled down and played through the whole thing on skill 1. That's when I started to really appreciate it.

You should look at map 20 to 29 Eponasoft. Lot of awesome themes.

As old as this was I'm surprised I never caught it back in the day considering '99 to '03 were my peaking Doom years before I got back into the game heavily around 2009 or so.

I got up to MAP26 I think on AV last year via Choco before I permabreaked. I played on skill 2 (something I don't naturally do) because I wanted to enjoy the experience first time around before playing it hardcore later on.

I do indeed agree it has some of the most beautiful map designs I've ever seen and sometimes its hard to believe its designed within vanilla limits. I'll have to get back to it sometime. Prior to my SP run I was playing a bit of coop via ST on the third set of levels with a friend on UV and swore this thing was Hell Revealed III.

Map 25 "Demonic Hordes" is one of the few slaughter maps I can beat on UV...without saving although it was a couple of years ago so not sure if I can bring myself to do it again.

Anyway, best megawad that every doomer should play especially on coop.

Anyone know why they scrapped the original map 25 for that IMO crappy little pipe maze? I liked the other one a lot more and it reminded me a lot of map 15 from Plutonia.