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deathz0r

The /newstuff Chronicles #101

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Apologies for my lateness, but some certain family member insisted on taking over the computer for the rest of the day, making me late (well, it is Monday here) for your weekly dose of /newstuff. Anyway, I have five wads to delete from my HD, so I'll review them while they're still there. Oh yes, since Ling had a little cry about not having monsters in screenshots, I'll be putting them in this time. Oh yeah, I'm also rushing my ass off here because I'm very late, so I won't be going into that much detail as I usually do.

  • Abandoned Mines IIby Kim "Torn" Bach - (img)- This is a first map job by Torn, and it is a very good one at that. Designed for the FreeDoom project, this map replaces map26, and it is a very faithful tribute to the original Abandoned Mines. However, the only problem I really have with it is the amount of monsters crammed into this otherwise decent map. It says in the text file that the FreeDoom textures are required, but you still can check it out without them.
  • Blind Alley P., The Boardwalkby Gene Bird - (img)- The second map in some mini series that I've never heard of before. Still, like Abandoned Mines II, it's overloaded with monsters, but unlike AMII, the detailing looks like a half-assed job which was finished in under 20 minutes. I believe it's supposed to resemble a neighbourhood, but it doesn't look like anything really noticable.
  • Doom Aesthetics Modby WildWeasel - (img)- Some Immoral Conduct wannabe that has the most ugliest Super Shotgun graphics that I've ever seen. It replaces all sounds, all weapon graphics and the former human enemies with mostly stolen graphics/sounds. It also has a dehacked patch inside, mostly to do with text changes and weapon attacks. Requires ZDoom.
  • NES Sounds V2by The Unknown Comic/The Unknown Doomer - If your dialup couldn't handle the size of the original NES Sounds wad, then this is for you. However, the sounds sound really choppy, but that's the price you pay when you resample sounds from 44khz to 11khz. Also, I dunno why the hell s/he put two nicks in. I guess s/he's retarded or something.
  • Wheat Thin Fortressby DarkWolf - (img)- DM level that requires a port that "loads flats from a PWAD", even though doom2.exe can do that if you rename the flat start and end lumps to FF_START and F_END. Anyway, I tested this level with ACBot, and the layout of the level is actually quite good for a 1-on-1. But, his weapon placement is very unbalanced, and his detailing is below-average. I might be a bit biased when saying this, but the most commonly used weapon in DM is the Super Shotgun, and the only way to grab it is going through the teleporter. If I made the map, I would of placed a BFG there and replaced all the other weapons with Super Shotguns and a few Rocket launchers. If he made the weapon placement good, I would of played this on ZDaemon.

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Blind Alley

Nice looking map with great gameplay! The monster mix and weapons/ammo/health are balanced well and provide both an interesting and fun challenge. The difficulty is in your hands. You can lay back and pick them off or go all out and blast away!

I really enjoyed recording this one, in fact, I sent a lmp to Opulent to post on his DSDA site. I expect I'll see a few others there. :)


Rich Sham

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We waited all week for these lame assed reviews??

To overloaded with monsters?? Maybe a little practice would be in order.

Don't quit your day job.

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Ouch, slow week for wads. If I had to pick one, I'd pick DooM Aesthetics Mod. Except for that horrible SSG...holy crap

EDIT: I changed my mind. It was a pretty average week for wads...

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What . . . the . . . hell?
Why is the review posted under my name? Deathz0r did the reviews!!


"The second map in some mini series that I've never heard of before."

You bastard. I reviewed the first wad in the series just two weeks ago. Weren't you paying attention?

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Hyena said:

Why is the review posted under my name? Deathz0r did the reviews!!

Ling fail it, his skill is not enough

I reviewed the first wad in the series just two weeks ago. Weren't you paying attention?

well, i've never heard of any mention of it outside of the /newstuff #99 thread.

PornSearcher said:

We waited all week for these lame assed reviews??

To overloaded with monsters?? Maybe a little practice would be in order.

Don't quit your day job.

don't shed your tears on my shoulders, asstwat. why don't you stop being a whining bastard and make your own reviews?

writing the /newstuff reviews isn't my highest priority, mainly because my ass is crammed with a fair amount of doom projects that i have to work on. i don't dedicate my life 24/7 to writing map reviews, but i make sure i get the general point across to everyone about what's inside the map.

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Thanks for proving your as narrow-minded as you are ignorant.
I, for one, miss the previous reviewers.

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Ignorant is always a funny word when it's put in the same sentence as the wrong use of the word "your"

Deathzor: "well, i've never heard of any mention of it outside of the /newstuff #99 thread."

Uh, you said it's map *two* in a series. The one in newstuff 99 was map *one*. If there aren't any other maps, why are you surprised that you haven't heard anything outside of those threads?

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Opulent said:

Thanks for proving your as narrow-minded as you are ignorant.
I, for one, miss the previous reviewers.

Liam was narrow-minded and ignorant, but you miss him?

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Hyena said:

Uh, you said it's map *two* in a series. The one in newstuff 99 was map *one*. If there aren't any other maps, why are you surprised that you haven't heard anything outside of those threads?

i should of mentioned that i meant in recent weeks.

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DEMOn said:

ouch.
maybe we should see a list of previous releases that Deathzor does like...

in no particular order...

1337.wad, dwango6.wad, dogtag3.wad, Alien Vendetta, vex-doom.wad, supar1337.wad, tlsdm.wad, sopwith.wad, NESDoom, UDM series (excluding the maps i made), satarena.wad, Scientist, mockery 2, some of the wolfendoom wads, mountkng.wad, moo1m.wad, dwangot1.wad, knortdm.wad, judas22.wad, finalfrg.wad, doommall.wad, Doom: The Arcade Game, d2tourn.wad (the dehacked patch), Erik Alm's Capture the Skull wads, Skulltag, Toke's CTS wads, Abandoned Mines II, nuts.wad, Archvile46's Doom 1 SP wad, dc-xtra.wad (it's so horrible that it really cracks me up).

that's all i can think of right now.

i especially hate any Gothic deathmatch maps, they seem really cramped for some reason.

EDIT: Rich Sham's latest map was good, but I couldn't find an exit.

UNRELATED EDIT: yay 2500 posts

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Not trying to bash anyone in particular here, but I like Ultimate Doomer's reviews better. Also if you don't have enough time to do reviews, don't.

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Actually dethz0r didn't say anything inappropiate in his post. I don't see that there should be any arguements or anything about what reviews are best. Why don't you people give your views about the maps instead of about the reviewers? The truth is that these are presentations and the aim is to give an idea of what the map is about. All "reviewers" are subjective and as long as they give relatively important clues about the maps it's fine. Some people don't like how dethz0r (or in the past Liam) reviews, well fine, but others disagree. For instance I feel Ultimate Doomer's views are rather bland, pretty broad in scope but lacking tact. But as his reviews give enough info (and only a little is needed), it is not a problem for me at all.

So keep the variety, not everyone feels or thinks the same, so it helps. Also, get to know the reviewers before judging them, once you know them you can gauge more easily what they mean even when they are throwing dirt on something you think is good.

Lastly, if you really think a reviewer will damage your reputation and whatnot, then upload later or something. But the truth is that this would be a childish thing to do. The reviews hardly make a difference. People who like your kind of WAD will eventually get to it, those who don't will ignore it.

You can always add counter-information about a review if you disagree instead of just saying "you Liam!" It's much more productive and much more elegant.

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Anyone with the knowledge to judge a doom deathmatch map rarely plays new wads.

Every doom wad review site I have seen has been a joke.

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I think Torn's map is rather good. very nicely layed out, nice use of textures, and yeah it's pretty damm good. Some good quality stuff there Torn!

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mmnpsrsoskl said:

I think Torn's map is rather good. very nicely layed out, nice use of textures, and yeah it's pretty damm good. Some good quality stuff there Torn!


Thanks... :)

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I'm with Myk on this one: Bad reviews don't harm the author really, especially when the comments on the chronicles are usually people spouting their OWN opinions on the .wads, showing that they've actually played them. Therefore a .wad WILL get played, and if the masses disagree with the reviewer, then usually, I know which one I'd personally go by.

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I felt he was a bit to negative in tone for all the reviews.
I agree heartily that the reviews should be his HONEST opinion.
just keep in mind that editing takes a lot of time and dedication... finding some positive features of a map is also a good review tool.
example: the wads that deathzor listed are mostly very good... but they all have some failings(except AV). they're either deathmatch wads(which are inherently simple) or the 1337-type(which are ugly and only for some types of players).
s-TOKE-d: it is fine to not like my site, but if you don't like most of the other review sites (Robin's, cph, TI, Doomoscope, Metabolist, etc..) then I think you just haven't looked close enough. I would say that all of the deathmatch review sites have been somewhat... unfeatured.

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deathz0r said:

Liam was narrow-minded and ignorant, but you miss him?


i miss liam.

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DEMOn said:

but they all have some failings(except AV). they're either deathmatch wads(which are inherently simple) or the 1337-type(which are ugly and only for some types of players).

so you're saying that Doom: The Arcade Game, Scientist and AV46's SP wad are all 1337-types?

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DEMOn said:

example: the wads that deathzor listed are mostly very good... but they all have some failings(except AV). they're either deathmatch wads(which are inherently simple) or the 1337-type(which are ugly and only for some types of players).


So you are saying my map is 1337-type map, huh?
I don't say it is the coolest of all maps in the world. But 1337-type it isn't. But okay, thanks for your comments.

And you also pick on the other wads/maps, deathie listed.
Well, okay. Let us see your maps then.

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I honestly don't care what review my map got. People can download it and see for themselves. And if it honestly sucks, then I want to know, so I can make future maps better.

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Torn said:

Well, okay. Let us see your maps then.


lol!

BTW Torn I just played your map and I liked it. (I play through the /newstuff chronicles backwords...)

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Torn: you are taking my comments out of context... I bet your map is similar to Alex Parsons' work... some detail and attention to texturing and monster placement, but is only for one type of player.
However, I have not even seen it, I am just assuming (that is, I don't think your map is the 1337-type at all).

My point was that all wads have failings.... and almost all have at least some good points. Most players would not consider 1337.wad very redeemable... but bndalyp is just under-detailed (for 2002, not 1996). I have not played your map, but I bet there are areas that it does not excell. What I'm trying to say is that Deathzor's reviews were all seen ONLY from a negative light. Only seeing the good or only seeing the bad things in any review is just not nearly as valuable as a review that looks at both sides, and all audiences.
I never claimed that my maps were worth anyone else's time... but if you are curious about what I consider good wads then drop in on my review site.
as for the wads he chose, well the dm wads are top notch... but the single-player wads are sub par (besides Alm's and AV; and I haven't played Archvile46's). but that is just my opinion.

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I miss liam too :'(
I always liked his straightforward approach. Plus I hate it when reviewers pussy-foot around. Saying stuff like "The detail isn't too great in the level, but it gets the job done pretty well. Most the time it's pretty good, and you won't even notice the occasional flaw" See? Alot of reviewers puss out, and instantly try to make the level/game/whatever sound good after they insulted it. If you think somethings bad, it's your job to say it's bad, you don't have to change your opinion to make anyone happy. That's why I liked liams reviews, and why I have no problem with deathzor's reviews. My only problem this week was that the reviews were hurried, which will hopefully be fixed in future releases...

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