Descent speedruns by stx-Vile on YouTube in better quality

I've uploaded Vile's demos of Descent in better quality than they were uploaded originally by DeVore. I think they deserve 720p quality.

A speedrun through the PC version of Descent by stx-Vile

I used to play a lot of coop on the Mac version. I had a really hard time remembering the level layouts.

My strategy was:

• Get lost
  
• Find and destroy the reactor
  
• Forget where the exit was
  
• Die

I used to just methodically clear the level of enemies (except the generator/episode boss), pick up all hostages, then practice some runs from the end room to the exit, and only then go for the kill.

exp(x) said:

I had a really hard time remembering the level layouts.

I can see why.

I love Descent's gameplay dynamism caused by robot-dependent Cloaking Device drops.

I did the exact same thing Gez did, but it fucked me over so bad on Level 7. God, I hate that giant yellow bastard and his homing missile/vulcan cannon posse so much.

What a horrible, horrible game Descent is/was.

darkreaver you are a terrible person >:(

exp(x) said:

I used to play a lot of coop on the Mac version. I had a really hard time remembering the level layouts.

My strategy was:

• Get lost
  
• Find and destroy the reactor
  
• Forget where the exit was
  
• Die

This however, is pretty much what happened to me

Descent is a fantastic game.

Gez said:

I used to just methodically clear the level of enemies (except the generator/episode boss), pick up all hostages, then practice some runs from the end room to the exit, and only then go for the kill.

I'm pretty sure generators are finite in Descent, you can clear them. Also, you can find the way by looking in the map. It's not that hard.

How disorienting. Half the time I couldn't tell where the hell I was supposed to go.

Descent has one of the best automaps in gaming history.

Interplay and Parallax must've heard a lot of whining back then as well seeing how they included the Guidebot in D2.

Vile's movements are perfect. I even think he is the only man who can play Descent in such way. Also, I very like Descent midies. I tried them with Doom levels, but looks like Doom levels are 'incompatible' with Descent music :)

It's not just me that equates descent music with Dwangokill-me-now-please5.

darkreaver said:

What a horrible, horrible game Descent is/was.

WTF

Anyway, I loved the Descent games, especially Descent 2. The soundtrack was amazing. I mean it had music by Type O Negative, Mark Morgan (who did the Fallout 1+2 and Planescape: Torment soundtracks), and Ogre and Mark Walk (later known as ohGr). How much more awesome can you be? Also, I always named the guidebot Sparky.

always loved descent...back in the day I would play coop lan games at my dad's work with him and my older brother. I was too young to be very good though, and I was also just a pussy anyway, so I would wait by the exit while they blew up the reactor :P

entryway said:

Vile's movements are perfect. I even think he is the only man who can play Descent in such way. Also, I very like Descent midies. I tried them with Doom levels, but looks like Doom levels are 'incompatible' with Descent music :)

They're in HMI format. If you want to play them in Doom without converting them first, you can grab ZDoom's midi code; it was recently rewritten to support HMI, HMP and XMI midi variants.

I'm also a huge descent fan. I love all three games a ton but the first two, I tend to play more.

I also love the music for all of them too, even both of the Descent II soundtracks were great (even if the MIDI one was too short)

I used to get lost a ton within the levels but I've mostly minimized that, despite not having played many of them for years.

I've only played the third briefly. It didn't feel very much like Descent and I didn't really enjoy it.

Gez said:

They're in HMI format. If you want to play them in Doom without converting them first, you can grab ZDoom's midi code; it was recently rewritten to support HMI, HMP and XMI midi variants.

Midi versions of Descent tracks are identical to hmi afaik, isn't it? Anyway, I meant that descent music sounds too 'destenish' or something and does not match doom atmosphere well.

It's still electro music for shooter games, but probably it's the mind that doesn't want to taint psycho missile-robot pounding music with silly zombie sergeant capping Doom.

I love descent, and these demos are freaking awesome. Thanks for putting them up. :)

I know of D2X-XL, but what's the modding scene in Descent like? Any AI-controlled players or weapons mods of any sort?

<3 Descent!

HWGuy said:

I know of D2X-XL, but what's the modding scene in Descent like? Any AI-controlled players or weapons mods of any sort?

I have a friend who is a massive Descent junkie, but from what he showed me of the Descent community it doesn't seem remotely comparable to Doom. The fanciest thing he showed me was some haunted house PC, although zero-gee spaceships flying around in a mansion was a bit... odd.

exp(x) said:

My strategy was:

• Get lost
  
• Find and destroy the reactor
  
• Forget where the exit was
  
• Die

That's funny because that was mine too. I got so god damn lost in that game :(.

entryway said:

Vile's movements are perfect. I even think he is the only man who can play Descent in such way. Also, I very like Descent midies. I tried them with Doom levels, but looks like Doom levels are 'incompatible' with Descent music :)

Vile is the only "amateur" (I use that term loosely as a distinct opposite of "professional" - he doesn't get paid to play these games) I've seen excel at superhuman levels on so many different fps games.

Thus far, I've seen Doom (obvious), Serious Sam, and now Descent. Amazing. Sure, there've been guys like Thresh or Fatal1ty who have dominated the deathmatch scene for many different games, but they were "professionals" who were paid to play.

Indeed, Vile seems able to play just about any FPS game well. Some people just have a knack for transferring their skills to a new environment, and adapting to the quirks of each new game. He also has a Quake demo at SDA if you wish to see him in action in that game too.

I could never get the hang of Descent, but I'll blame my own poor skills first and foremost for that, with the awkward default controls a subsidiary issue. Vile's Descent demos are truly a work of art. I watched them some years ago using the Descent port D1X (worked nicely as far as I remember) and the original demo files that can be found here. The previous Doomworld thread about this is here.