What are your favorite penultimate levels in doom 2 megawads.

Hello , just a question for fun. When I talk about "penultimate level" I mean map 29 only.

According to me , my favorites are :

"I am just a DOOM addict" from Kama Sutra. Honestly , it's by far the best city-themed level I have ever seen in a megawad. This map is pretty long and has a lot of monsters. Moreover , the music "Taking the death toll" from Duke Nukem 3D is very well used , so the level is very dark.

"Hell's Cauldron" from Hell Revealed 2. I always found very epic the fact that we are climbing a big mountain full of monsters in hell.

"Go Fuck yourself" from Sunlust. I don't need to explain why this level is so fucking hard to finish on Ultra-Violence. I love how fast-paced is this level and the trap with the rotating yellow wall is very creative and cruel.

Odyssey of Noises from Plutonia definitely comes to mind as does Hell on Earth from Scythe. Demolition from Going Down and The Ones Behind it All from Ancient Aliens are highlights as well, although both of those pretty much serve as the finale despite being in the 29 slot.

I never really thought about this, but I'll have to with the ones behind it all just because of the twist lol

Valiant's one.

Scythe 2's is an excellent about-face in approach to difficulty. The player punches his way through another hot-house of horde-mashing madness and is dropped into the very antithesis of reckless abandon. Caution, spatial awareness and resource management. A black disquieting.

It's a master craft in tonal shift, the calm before the storm.

I remember Epic 2 map 29 being insane but a fun one.

Definitely "Go Fuck Yourself" from Sunlust. Amazing map. MAP 29 from Going Down is also great as well. Swift Death's "Imperium" was also amazing, balls hard but super cool.

Map 29 in Plutonia 2 stands out for me.

That snow map in Scythe was really cool in that it was normal-sized and suddenly introduced a lovely new theme. It was a good challenge too.

I think most maps in the 29 slot are much better than what follows after them. In the majority of megawads map30 needs to be removed.

Haven't played that many WADs and been able to finish them, as I'm pretty shit at DOOM all things considered. Not to mention foreknowledge helps a lot, and some of these levels from user-made WADs can take an hour to finish even once. But I haven't even made it to later levels of most of the really diffiult megawads, so I can't even tell.

But I did like The Mortal Coil from D2TWiD a lot, splendid level. Does Inner Sanctum from DTWiD also count? I really loved that idea of a sandbox level with no skybox, giving that impression of being in a hellish cavern of ash. Wonderful job there.

Memento Mori 2 "Kings of metal" - nukage/wood masterpiece from Jens Nielsen, few monsters very well placed
CC3 "For we are many" by Matt Tropiano - long, oppressive atmosphere, thematically awesome

"The Quiet Before the Storm" from Resurgence gives that calm feeling before the final fight. Really good level.

Memfis said:

That snow map in Scythe was really cool in that it was normal-sized and suddenly introduced a lovely new theme. It was a good challenge too.

I think most maps in the 29 slot are much better than what follows after them. In the majority of megawads map30 needs to be removed.

I would go further than say that quite often Map29 ends up being in the top 3 or 5 maps of most megawads.
To throw another one in the mix, Map29 of AV (Fire walk with me) is an excellent penultimate level and one of the best Anders Johnson maps in the wad.

"Ticket to Eternity" from Plutonia 2, and "Fire walk with me" from Alien Vendetta.

I would vote "Necropolis" from Going Down because it felt like a good penultimate level before the final boss fight to me, and I thought MAP29 was a true boss fight with that angry spider mastermind. (Yes, MAP30 was nothing more than a bonus level.)

1994 tune-up community project
Going Down
Nova
Scythe 2
Community chest 2

Odyssey of Noises (Plutonia) and Fire Walk With Me (Alien Vendetta) are the first ones that come to my head. Ironically, Map 29 of TNT (River Styx) is actually one of the good maps in that particular wad.

Well it's not map 29 nor a map from a megawad but I will nominate "Soulscarred Universe" from Dark Resolution 2008 (11-levels wad). I really loved the hardcore gameplay with the midi rendition of "Pull me Under" by Dream Theater in the background. It's the kind of music which tells you "It's the ultimate challenge , don't give up!".

"Town of the Dead" (Requiem) & "Misri Halek" (Alien Vendetta) are probably my favorite.

37 minutes ago, xxWeNxx said:

"Town of the Dead" (Requiem) & "Misri Halek" (Alien Vendetta) are probably my favorite.

These aren't MAP29, right?

Concerning penultimate, what if a mod has less than 30/32 levels?

The penultimate map of BTSX II (Unstable Journey) would easily be my favorite otherwise.

BTSX E1's penultimate level (which is basically the ultimate level as last map is just a outro)

Skagway from UAC Ultra

On 11/13/2016 at 10:28 AM, Roofi said:

"Hell's Cauldron" from Hell Revealed 2. I always found very epic the fact that we are climbing a big mountain full of monsters in hell.

+1

Fucking love that map!

Fire Walk with Me from Alien Vendetta is an undisputed classic.
The Ruins of Kalnik from Speed of Doom is a neat one. Hardest level in the WAD IMO, and an interesting contrast from the massive but easy level from before.
FBase from Survive in Hell is great, although putting a straight techbase near the end of a hell episode is a really strange choice.
Hell's Cauldron from Hell Revealed 2 is great, as previously mentioned. Makes up for the fact that the next MAP is really short, and the previous map was excessively grindy and slow.
Hell on Earth from Scythe is a great climax, and IMO the way the WAD should've ended. I like Fire & Ice, but it feels like a map from a completely different mapset.
Dust to Dust from Scythe 2 is an excellent, haunting, and exacting map. It's completely opposite to the breakneck, exciting pace of the next map.
The Living End is easily my favorite map in Doom II.

Usually I tend to forget what is in slot 29 as I acknowledge the wad is almost over and, either it's a good feeling of relief or me thinking what to play next, and generally I end up preferring earlier slots and thus keeping them in my mind. Few examples just to share something:

"Go Fuck Yourself" from Sunlust, mainly and mostly for the obvious set piece with the archviles in the centre. Huge highlight not only from the wad but also from my journey through the game. 

"The Living End" has to be mentioned because the theme always stuck in my head as a great climax to the game, not the Icon of Sin, personally speaking. From that is why my only favourite map from Hell Revealed is "Post Mortem" and of course "Anti-Christ" from Plutonia too but that's off-topic. 

"Ticket to Eternity" from Plutonia 2 gets a vote solely for an atmospheric aspect (well, the keen hunt too), it does feel like an excellent map that throws everything at you in a slow adventure mode. The gameplay is what strikes me the wrong way, perhaps because I always miss the RL up until half of the map, or because I don't like it slow anymore. 

- "Mortuary" from Epic 2, I still remember bitching because I couldn't find the BFG earlier and getting stuck in fights where it was required, but once I got it the map was delightful. Just that.

- "FBase" from Survive in Hell, yes the spiderdemon behind the waterfall won my heart. 

I can't think of anything else right now.

A lot of good ones have already been mentioned.

• Ascension from Hellbound is memorable from a cinematic perspective. A very long climb with hordes of enemies in your path. Also lags something fierce depending on your PC or port of choice. 

"Alpha Scorpii Monument" from Struggle.

"Elysium" from Eviternity.
"Citadel at the Edge of Eternity" from CChest 1.

"The Ones Behind It All" from Ancient Aliens.

"Go Fuck Yourself" from Sunlust.

"Ascension" from Hellbound.

I don't play WADs that often but a few that stand out to me:

"The Living End" from DOOM II - Awesome map. It's expansive, full of enemies and looks great.

"Odyssey of Noises" from Plutonia - Quite a large map, uses one of the best DOOM tracks.

"Ticket to Eternity" from Plutonia 2 - Very large city-like map. Many cool moments and the music is creepy. This one is my favourite.

"I'm Just a DOOM Addict" from Kama Sutra - Same again, large city-like map. It's dark as hell and the music adds to this.

"Fire Walk With Me" from Alien Vendetta - I can't really remember much of this, I just know that it's amazing.

"Atlatl" from Plutonia Revisited - I thought this was a cool map as well, I liked it.

MAP29 of sunlust will seriously f**k you up in a way. You have two choices, drink acid or take the risk.

MAP29: Ov Fire and the Void from Bloodstain, its a very complexed map knowing when you exit, you're falling down when there's a lavafall in front of you, you die instantly, like damn.

MAP29 from Survive in Hell.

MAP29 from Hellbound.