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Rizera

Wads for starters?

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Ok, so I got my girlfriend into playing Doom.

She really digged the game, and she beat E1, E2 and E3 on Ultra-Violence. She couldn't handle E4 though. I told her to start Doom 2 but she couldn't get over the tricks and traps of MAP08.

I was then thinking of good wads to get her to play. Basically, the wads should be of low difficulty and very appealing to the eye. Thus, these are the ones I thought at first:
- TVR!
- Requiem
- Icarus
- Biowar
- Scythe
- end1.wad
- Doom: the way id did
- Demon Fear
- Perdition's Gate
- Equinox
- Mapgame
- 2002: A Doom Odyssey
- H2H Christmas

Thanks!

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Honestly, if you think it might even be halfway up her alley, get her into Doombuilder. If she likes Doom and Minecraft, then there's a good chance she'll enjoy DB.

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Icarus should be a great wad for beginners; most of the maps are pretty short and easy, and there's a nice range of gameplay styles. "Very appealing to the eye" isn't the first thing that come to mind about it tough. :P
It's not really that ugly or anything, but most of the maps are pretty plain looking, especially by today's standards.

Also I think you should take Requiem off that list. It's no Hell Revealed or anything, but its difficulty is definitely way above what she can handle. I doubt that anyone who can't beat Map08 of Doom II could even survive the first room of Requiem Map23...

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Biowar is one of the first wads I played, and pretty much what started my interest in doom mods in general. Its about half a megawad's usual length, its not too difficult, and the maps start off pretty small and become medium-sized towards the end. Also cool sense of style and progression. Couldn't recommend it as a beginner's choice more.

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Jenesis: Personally my favourite megaWAD because it maps are ibg and long, but never get boring.

Scythe 1 and 2: Probably the most detailed and popular megaWADs out there.

Alien Vendetta: A memorable, interesting megaWAD

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She'd open up far more options for herself by playing at lower skill levels than UV. Not all wads are adequately set up for it, of course, but you'd probably still find more really great wads that can be adjusted for your playing ability than you'd find really great wads that are easier than Doom 2 on UV.

Also, Icarus kind of sucks.

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I dont know of any good looking wads that are easier than doom2 and doom1. Perhaps she should finish the original dooms first before switching to custom made megawads, since most of them are alot harder than the originals. Thought tnt and plutonia are still pretty hard.

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Deus Vult is always a good getting on point.
If she can breeze through that, show her the sequel, and then try her out on E4 again.

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TheMionicDonut said:

Deus Vult is always a good getting on point.
If she can breeze through that, show her the sequel, and then try her out on E4 again.

I'm actually having trouble figuring out if this is sarcasm or not. :P

Anyhow, obligatory mention for end1.wad, which is a great classic mapset that's pretty close to Doom difficulty (though the 2nd episode amps it up a bit at the end).

On that note, may as well also plug Doom the Way Id Did, which is definitely id-difficulty, given its nature. Check that out. :)

Also, welcome to Doom, says the Xaser.

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scythe would be my recommendation, it starts off really easy (easier than doom2) and then builds to be hard at the end.
Also maybe demonfear (unless she likes bfg as it is only in one level)
Wow I wish I had a girlfriend who was interested in doom, all the women I have gone out with are more interested in twilight and fifty shades of grey :P

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If she's playing on UV, take her off it. If she's playing on ITYTD and can't beat MAP08 of Doom 2, I dunno what to tell you.

Doom the Way Id did is probably the best you'll do for a classic Doom experience, although a lot of early wads like Memento Mori should be able to fit that need. There's a lot of choices to choose from, but note that more modern wads tend to be a lot harder than most of the early ones. Even contemporary classics like Scythe tend to get pretty ridiculous towards the end, no matter what difficulty you're playing on (assuming you're accustomed to what Doom 1 has to offer).

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esselfortium said:

She'd open up far more options for herself by playing at lower skill levels than UV. Not all wads are adequately set up for it, of course, but you'd probably still find more really great wads that can be adjusted for your playing ability than you'd find really great wads that are easier than Doom 2 on UV.

Also, Icarus kind of sucks.


Best possible advice, on both counts.

Anyone capable of barely beating Doom on UV will be able to tackle most high-profile PWADs on HNTR or ITYTD. I would know, because that was me a few years back - and this included HR, AV, Scythe, Eternal's slaughtermaps, etc..

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Congrats to Riz, looking forward to some coop speedruns from you two. :D Just kidding, but who knows?

esselfortium said:

Also, Icarus kind of sucks.

You're fired.

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Play on HMP instead of UV. And try the older maps first, since they tend to be easier. That END1.WAD is actually a good start, and so is Fava Beans, and the Wasteland Series. Icarus is a bit harder, and so are bak2hell, sudtic, teutic and obtic (but they're still easier than modern maps). Dark Covenant and System Vices are also worth checking out. Maybe also Classic Episode and the other mapsets by the same crew (Dawn of the Dead, etc.) Michael Reed maps are also a good choice (Hoover Dam, etc.) I could go on, but you get the idea.

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Plutonia.

Agentbromsnor said:

Just avoid any slaughtermaps. I don't get why people make slaughtermaps to begin with, but hey to each their own I guess...


No. FU.

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Best bet would be to drop to HMP and take on Doom 2 again. Adjusting to the more violent experience that the game offers will take a bit of time, especially if Thy Flesh Consumed is also a roadblock for her. There's no shame in playing at the difficulty that suits your playing skill, afterall.

I'll second the nomination of DTWiD and .WADs like Fava Beans (you know - classical Ultimate Doom stuff). You'd be pretty retarded to try and lure a relative newcomer in further by throwing her into something like Alien Vendetta or Hell Revealed on UV, even if she did have the relative ease of play that using a source port with always run, a higher resolution and full mouse look would bring. Even something like Scythe escalates pretty quickly and gets quite extreme at the end. I'd certainly recommend getting her into the Doom 2 resources though, as there's more monster variety to enjoy.

I agree with you (OP) on TVR! but would replace Requiem with The Rebirth (by Vader).

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Scythe is a pretty good start. It was one of the first WADs I'd played. Though the progression does get really tough on UV, so maybe more along the lines of Memento Mori. That was the first megawad I played all the way through and I think it leaves a great impression on someone who just finished the original IWADs.

esselfortium said:

Also, Icarus kind of sucks.

YOU BLASPHEMOUS RAINCLOUD

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Go with Ultimate Uorment & Torture on HMP or HNTR maybe. What's the deal with sticking to UV though? :) It cuts away lots of amazing wads. And if no lower difficulty is allowed, how about playing on UV with items respawn? I could try to make some suggestions, but need to adjust to answers first:p

Also, Icarus kind of sucks.

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Phobus said:

You'd be pretty retarded to try and lure a relative newcomer in further by throwing her into something like Alien Vendetta or Hell Revealed on UV


At high school few years back I installed doom and played hr2 on some PC just to kill time. Played through map 32 quite a few times. Eventually classmate wanted to try it and after watching me play some time and attempting, he could beat map 32 without saving in one go (although class ended before he could ever finish it whole).

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Rizera said:
Ok, so I got my girlfriend into playing Doom.

She really digged the game, and she beat E1, E2 and E3 on Ultra-Violence. She couldn't handle E4 though. I told her to start Doom 2 but she couldn't get over the tricks and traps of MAP08.

DOOM II PWADs tend to be as hard as or harder than DOOM II so maybe for now she might be best served by DOOM level sets, since the DOOM II monsters drive the stakes up with their nastier attack modes.

Episodes 1 and 2 of 2002ado or the first two episodes of nmdu should be good to go. The later episodes get tough, at least as hard as E4 of the Ultimate DOOM. Also f_ep2, b2b, dbimpact or fbdemo2.

I'm mentioning level sets but individual levels are also nice, like refuse, tmp, cliff, comcon, or 101, to name a few.

As for E4, how about trying it coop with her?

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Rizera said:

I told her to start Doom 2 but she couldn't get over the tricks and traps of MAP08.

Does she know about infighting? There's no really hard part in T&T if you let the cyberdemon and barons slaughter each other, only grabbing the invulnerability once the infight is over and it's time to mop up the survivor(s).

The imp ambush can be a bit tricky if your path is blocked but you should still be able to reach the invulnerability before you get hurt too much.

Also, the crumbling corridor to the exit is useless, once you open it you can backtrace to the caco room and take a safe teleporter.

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I think Jenesis would be a good choice, provided she isn't really bad at killing revenants. Even if the first few maps are a bit too hard, tell her to idclev to map10, just to appreciate the beauty and atmosphere.

Most wads from the 1990s would do well too. I think it's the best time to try them, because after you're able to beat AV, HR, SoD et al. you might simply not get a kick out of many older megawads any more, unless played on UV-fast.

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She can also mess around with Oblige to hone her skills, but I would recommend using 3.57 in the older downloads section because it is more complete in terms of gameplay.

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Actually doing ultimate doom pwads would probably be a good idea as others have mentioned, recent efforts of dtwid and base ganymede are excellent and not too hard. Trying stuff from before hell revealed should be fine too.
Also random suggestion as it's this time of year.
H2H XMAS, though there is some serious revenant abuse in some maps but couldn't think of a more relevant time to play it.
OW MY FACE!

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