The memories of Doom [2021-2022]

[UnknDoomer]

If you gaze into the darkness for too long, then the darkness begins to gaze into you...

 

Something is alive as long as at least one remembers...

 

I propose a new rubric. Post an short story +, if possible, 1-2 pictures that covers you most memorable random thing associated with the Doom in the specific year. 1 simple rule: 1 memory - 1 message to make things easy to read. Easy to also, probably, somebody that will open and read this thread 10 years later. Have something additional to say? Please, make a new message.

 

* If possible - tell in short what the wad/pwad, map and other conditions was, if, of course, it matter in your opinion.

 

No End in Sight (2016/2019), #26 in top of community, Complex Doom, Ultra-Violence, E3M7 - Netherworld Citadel.

 

A huge complex map on which 747 opponents are located, many dangerous zones and switches, as well as as many as 20 secrets, among which there are remarkable ones, such as

 

 

what can come in handy after visiting an last enemy spot and probably the main local attraction - a cemetery.

 

 

You going down and the barons of hell will rise from the graves in an attempt to stop you from entering the crypt, where the red key is hidden. Will you be able to cope with those by fighting the last battle on the level? Or you will be too affraid of, grab the key and teleport out to the last extra short level of the episode, leaving summoned demons alone?...

 

After several attempts I've choose the latter, stopping the counter of killed enemies at 716/747 and collected secrets at 10/20. Even with the BFG in the arsenal dealing with around 30 barons at once proved to be a daunting task ever for skilled stranger...

Edited April 3, 2022 by UnknDoomer

[NaturalTvventy]

On 2/27/2021 at 9:13 AM, UnknDoomer said:

If you gaze into the darkness for too long, then the darkness begins to gaze into you...

 

Something is alive as long as at least one remembers...

 

I propose a new rubric. Post an short story +, if possible, 1-2 pictures that covers you most memorable random thing associated with the Doom in the specific year. 1 simple rule: 1 memory - 1 message to make things easy to read. Easy to also, probably, somebody that will open and read this thread 10 years later. Have something additional to say? Please, make a new message.

 

* If possible - tell in short what the wad/pwad, map and other conditions was, if, of course, it matter in your opinion.

 

No End in Sight (2016/2019), #26 in top of community, Complex Doom, Ultra-Violence, E3M7 - Netherworld Citadel.

 

A huge complex map on which 747 opponents are located, many dangerous zones and switches, as well as as many as 20 secrets, among which there are remarkable ones, such as

 

 

 

what can come in handy after visiting an last enemy spot and probably the main local attraction - a cemetery.

 

 

 

You going down and the barons of hell will rise from the graves in an attempt to stop you from entering the crypt, where the red key is hidden. Will you be able to cope with those by fighting the last battle on the level? Or you will be too affraid of, grab the key and teleport out to the last extra short level of the episode, leaving summoned demons alone?...

 

After several attempts I've choose the latter, stopping the counter of killed enemies at 716/747 and collected secrets at 10/20. Even with the BFG in the arsenal dealing with around 30 barons at once proved to be a daunting task ever for skilled stranger...

As you may well know those sections are clipped from my first release, The Beginning of the End. The secret crowded with soul spheres is a section from the original e1m1, where multiple sectors were tagged secret by accident. It's all very newbie-ish and I thought that a bunch of monsters stuck in barrels, bad texturing, and too many soul spheres really took the My First Wad feel to the Nth degree.

Edited March 3, 2021 by NaturalTvventy

[Omniarch]

I load my save, and find myself standing once again at the entryway, the outset, of the most revered map in Doom's history.

 

 

I am incredulous. I had faced this place the day before, exhausted by the endless, brutal combat of the last dozen maps. A day before, I had warily entered the great pyramid's winding interior. A day before, I had quit in disappointment, after grinding my way through dimly lit halls.

 

Perhaps age has taken its toll? I think to myself, wondering how a series of admittedly very well-lit hallways had garnered such praise. Perhaps nostalgia is to blame? Nevertheless, Alien Vendetta had thus far proved a rich experience, so I decide to give this old legend one last go.

 

I take a deep breath, and advance hesitantly into Kim Andre Malde's mausoleum. At first, yesterday's frustrations repeat themselves. I find myself lost, confused, short of health and ammo. Still, with a fresh day's energy, I press on, deeper than before, towards the pyramid's heart.

 

After several minutes of tomb-crawling, I stumble upon my first true complication: the pyramid is being consumed from within by molten rock. I waver, fearing a long, drawn out labyrinth of damaging floors. With a sigh, I plunge down into the fiery earth.

 

To my surprise, the magma does me no harm. Relieved, I begin to explore the molten depths. I feel myself becoming lost in the experience, my frustrations put to one side. I have never seen such geometry before, something so organic, so... real.

 

Eventually, I emerge from the incandescent earth, back into familiar brown halls. The sense of wonder begins to wane, but I press on, with a growing confidence that more wonders yet await. Perhaps this map will live up to is reputation after all.

 

As the clock ticks, the brown halls begin to drag once more. The opposition is tougher now, more numerous, and my ammo is starting to run short. Still, I am more aware of map's subtleties now. The perfect lighting, the small touches of detail, the careful geometry.

 

The ammo situation is getting worse now. I am feeling the clinch. The combat is getting more intense. A Cyberdemon! A desperate, sweat-soaked battle. My nerves are beginning to fray.

 

But, now I see the light. There is change in atmosphere. I am surrounded now by natural caverns, soft grey-blue against fiery molten lava. After a long battle, I finally emerge once again into the open air. What I see takes my breath away.

 

 

A vast canyon, unlike anything I've seen in Doom before, stretches out in front of me.

 

I am awestruck. After so much struggle, I am finally near the end? I push on. At first, I think the ascent of the mountain will be swift. As time drags on, as the dead pile up, I begin to wonder. On and on I climb, going higher than I ever imagined possible.

 

Tier after tier of canyon wall falls below me as a climb. Exhaustion begins to creep into my bones. Will this ever end? For the first time, I begin to notice the music. I had dismissed it previously as nice but not exceptional.

 

Now, I realize, the music had seeped into me, becoming synonymous with the experience itself. Fight the Logic If You Can drove me onwards, until I finally reached the summit. I pause, looking down, surveying how far I had come.

 

 

I began to realize the epic scope of the adventure I had just endured, understand that it was like nothing else I had ever experienced in a video game before. After a brief moment of inaction, I turn to face the small shrine at the mountain's peak.

 

The music drives me on. I want to see this journey through. The shrine resists me at every step. A deep tiredness begins to take its toll. I fight my way through, claim the yellow skull key, and begin my descent.

 

Wonder fades as I battle my way back through the pyramid, as I unravel the last accursed puzzle, as the monotony of brown halls wears on me. Beneath that tiredness, though, lies a burgeoning respect, respect for a great work of art, challenging, even infuriating, but utterly invaluable.

 

As I kill the last guardian, and finally complete this mammoth of a level, a sense of immense satisfaction settles over me. I get it now. Misri Halek deserves all the praise it gets, and all it shall receive going forward. Truly, Doom's most memorable map.

 

 

 

Well, that turned out longer than I expected! The above is a comically over-dramatic artistic representation of my first playthrough of Misri Halek back in mid-2020. This was the map that solidified my status as a massive Doom stan. I hope you, dear viewer, find some enjoyment (ironic or otherwise, I'm not picky!) in this... thing.

 

1 hour ago, NaturalTvventy said:

As you may well know those sections are clipped from my first release, The Beginning of the End. The secret crowded with soul spheres is a section from the original e1m1, where multiple sectors were tagged secret by accident. It's all very newbie-ish and I thought that a bunch of monsters stuck in barrels and too many soul spheres really took the My First Wad feel to the Nth degree.

Wait, that was your first map? Bloody hell, that's some talent, especially considering how terrible the editors were back then.

[NaturalTvventy]

1 hour ago, Omniarch said:

Wait, that was your first map? Bloody hell, that's some talent, especially considering how terrible the editors were back then.

Actually it was probably my 9th or 10th. Episode 2 of end1 was made before episode 1. Doomed (e2m9) was the first map I ever made.

[UnknDoomer]

No Rest for the Living (2010), #26 in top, Complex Doom, Ultra-Violence, M7 - Baron's Banquet.

 

Until I've reached this WAD yesterday I didn't remember have I or don't play it in the day back where BFG Edition took a place. But then... then I've entered step by step using shotgun on the top of the tower on M7. Right after a party of angry cacodemons appear. Now I do. Always was.

 

 

 

No rest for the living...

[UnknDoomer]

BTSX EP2 (2014). #19, Complex Doom, Ultra-Violence, M1 - Shadow Port.

 

 

I've choose... Rapture!

 

 

M2 - Underwater Explosions. One second before "Boom!".

Edited March 14, 2021 by UnknDoomer

[UnknDoomer]

BTSX EP2 (2014), #19 in top, Complex Doom, Ultra-Violence, M14 - Shocker in Gloomtown.

 

Newbie on doomworld: "Slaughterfest. What it is folks? Must be fine attraction, arccording to it's name!".

Answer in thread: "Sure buddy, take a look on that one":

 

[UnknDoomer]

The Wayfarer (2019). Thou art a smite-meister.

 

Slaughter map in a nutshell.

 

 

[UnknDoomer]

 

Doom 2 In Spain Only (2021). M10. Have never seen so many (49 in total) orbs in one corner of the map. Sad that you can't have more then 200 HP / go back into this place later.

[UnknDoomer]

Realms of Dr. Chaos (2017).

 

 

Final of the first map/episode. Instead of long and tough battle 3 D'Sparil's at ounce got telefragged. They clearly did not expect such an outcome.