Do you always play the Secret Maps?

[dobu gabu maru]

(Specifically, I'm talking about ExM9/MAP31/MAP32, no bonus maps/episodes/wads after that)

 

Was thinking about this earlier, that even though authors always list MAP31/32 at the end of a pwad, who actually neglects to play them? Don't most players simply find them via the secret exit or just IDCLEV to them right before MAP16? Given how we're already playing niche, user-designed levels for a ~30 year old game, I'm curious how many of us opt to skip them entirely.

[Herr Dethnout]

I'm the guy how likes to have the 100% on the first run, so yeah.

I played Episode 1 of Doom so many times that going for the secret level is like a instinct for me.

To be honest, didn't know that Doom 2 in my first play has secret levels until I used the MAP MAPXX command
 

[Firedust]

Always and always look to find the secret exit. Well but not unfairly hidden secret exits are the most fun to investigate.

[cannonball]

My heart wants to say the top answer, but ultimately picked "The vast majority of the time." purely down to the fact that I probably did skip a secret map here and there.

The interesting thing about those slots is that authors has a habit of implementing them for different reasons. Some chose this slots for more experimental and interesting pieces, some use them as a compromise where maps considered unworthy for the main roster are placed here instead of being ultimately rejected. And then there Is Adam Windsor who simply used them as two extra second episode maps.

Personally I play the secret maps for the first element, I loved to be surprised by a map that throw's a huge amount of an author's usual style out of the window to produce something that feels Alien to the player. Think the cybernectic hellscape of Speed of Doom's first secret map, the chilling derelict space station in Uprising. Secret maps done right are some of the best treats you can get.

[Murdoch]

I rarely play the original maps. If I happen to remember where the exit is, yeah I will probably do it. But I won't go out of my way.

[Doomy__Doom]

It's already on my hard drive. If I'm liking other maps in the pwad, might as well check out a couple more.

[Capellan]

If I find them legitimately, I play them.  But I don't spend a lot of time looking, because I don't find secret-hunting to be fun.

 

 

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

Sometimes I skip them, especially secret maps that are just silly or stupid, or ones that don't fit at all with the rest of the wad.

[Thelokk]

Yes, and that's why I usually pick a secret map slot in community projects. Most people will give at least one quick peek out of curiosity.

[LadyMistDragon]

Sometimes....if it's just some silly slaughter joke thingy or else is too bland for its slot 180PV Map 31 comes to mind.

[joepallai]

If I find them then I play them.

[Mr Masker]

I like secret maps when it's stuff like a different art/gameplay style, setting or a crossover, rather than something that just feels like a throwaway. Like Military Base is nice and all, but if they moved it last minute to like the E1M4 slot or something before release, It'd hardly be out of place. Whereas stuff like the Doom 2 secret maps or the D2TWID maps actually feel like something rewarding to search for at least the first time. Actually even with stuff like Go 2 It, I'd say it's unique enough to be a secret map. My point is secret maps are at their best when you feel rewarded with something unique for finding them.

 

Anyway I picked "vast majority" I'll stop rambling now.

[heliumlamb]

only if i can find them

[head_cannon]

I don't worry about secrets. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy exploring and finding stuff, but I've never felt any need to obsess about what might be left over when the option is right there to move on and experience new content.

 

Part of that outlook is based on simple pragmatism: The first time I experience a megawad, I'll be playing Continuously and putting all my focus on maximizing resources and minimizing risk. Obviously, if a mapmaker is creating things that are fun to play, I'm going to want to experience more of that, but that can wait until the day I revisit it to examine how the Pistol Start setups play out. There's no way that I'm signing up for extra grief and trouble for no material gain, actively putting more barriers between me and my goal of reaching the end. (Plus, in a vanilla/limit-removing set that is deliberately embracing the restrictions just like a sonnet, you don't have secret content, but instead clearly-telegraphed optional content. That's where bonus-bosses live. That's the kind of "harder-than-hard" challenge you think about going back for after you've already mastered the main campaign.)

[DMPhobos]

Personally i do try to always find the secret exit on all the wads i play, but i've had a couple of wads where after playing a few minutes of a secret map i revert back to an early save and take the regular exit since some wads have really difficult maps for the secret slots, and after playing a few minutes i just realize they're not my cup of tea and i just go back to the regular exits.

 

So yeah, i try to always find the secret exit... but i don't 100% commit to play the secret maps if im not enjoying playing them

Edited November 2, 2022 by DMPhobos

[Jacek Bourne]

Even if I don’t find them I see no reason to skip them. There is no consequence to this because I always pistol start.

[RHhe82]

I do play them each time, especially on the first playthroughs. This is a habit I would very much like to break out from; whenever I play IWADs, for instance, especially Doom 2, secret maps are one of the most tiresome levels that each time I wonder why am I playing these, when levels preceding and succeeding them are so much better. Plutonia is my favourite IWAD, but Cyberden is such a slog for me.

 

I'm still in no position to replay favourite PWADs (because there are still so many unplayed ones that I'll never have the time), but if I someday do, there are several grade A pwads that have secret levels I don't care that much for. It shouldn't matter if I skipped them, no one's gonna find out and I pistol start anyway, but I can already see the completionist habits kick in when the time comes.

[Bauul]

Very rarely actually. I'm terrible at finding secrets, to the extent I don't even try on most wads. As such, I almost invariably miss the secret exit, and therefore tend to never play the secret maps simply because I never reach them in the course of playing a mapset.

[spineapple tea]

One of the luxuries of pistol-starting maps is that you don't have to worry too much about finding secret maps since you'll just have nothing when you start. I'll idclev to them if I don't find them on my own and, at the very least, look around and give them a shot. Depending on if they have dumb gimmicks or they're insanely difficult, I might not finish them. If you skip over them even after finishing all the other maps in a wad, you're just missing out on more content for no reason.

[heliumlamb]

7 minutes ago, Spineapple tea said:

If you skip over them even after finishing all the other maps in a wad, you're just missing out on more content for no reason. 

reason 1: you didn't find the secret exits

[spineapple tea]

19 minutes ago, heliumlamb said:

reason 1: you didn't find the secret exits

Counterpoint 1: I-D-C-L-E-V-3-1

Counterpoint 2: www.doomwiki.org

[heliumlamb]

4 minutes ago, Spineapple tea said:

Counterpoint 1: I-D-C-L-E-V-3-1

Counterpoint 2: www.doomwiki.org

counterpoint 1 is not a linedef action

counterpoint 2 is someone else's work as a resource (not you [player] finding it)

[spineapple tea]

5 minutes ago, heliumlamb said:

counterpoint 1 is not a linedef action

counterpoint 2 is someone else's work as a resource (not you [player] finding it)

Counterpoint 1: this is assuming you've gone through the entire wad already but didn't find the exit but still want to play the secret maps. 

Counterpoint 2: idk get gud at secret hunting I guess? Assuming the author is not a total dick, the exit can't be that hard to find considering the harder it is to find, the more likely their effort in making a secret map would go unseen.

 

(Feel free to point out wads with extremely difficult to find secret exits)

[heliumlamb]

Just now, Spineapple tea said:

Counterpoint 1: this is assuming you've gone through the entire wad already but didn't find the exit but still want to play the secret maps. 

Counterpoint 2: idk get gud at secret hunting I guess? Assuming the author is not a total dick, the exit can't be that hard to find considering the harder it is to find, the more likely their effort in making a secret map would go unseen.

 

(Feel free to point out wads with extremely difficult to find secret exits)

i believe in the Freedom Of Missing Out principle (uvmax'ers hate her!!!)

[ducon]

Yes, I do.

[Budoka]

I prefer when MAP31-32 are made mandatory instead of secret (see: Struggle), but otherwise I'll do my best to find them without external help and just move on when I'm tired of trying. And of course if I do find them, I'll play them.

[yakfak]

mmm i've never explored the entirety of any mapset in a single session. if i like it i'm more likely to revisit and look harder for the secrets! i'm not the type of player who just checks everything and plays it til exhaustion, i skip levels when i die, i close megawads when i sense they're not for me etc. me finding a secret map without pagedowning to it means i like yr wad

[Devalaous]

Absolutely. I will play every map in a wad, otherwise the effort that mapper put into it was somewhat wasted. It also doesnt help that thanks to Doom hardcoding its secret exits, we always know to look for Map 31 on Map 15, E1M9 on E1M3 etc, so theres no real mystery anymore.

 

What personally annoys me though is when people make use of advanced ports to add extra maps beyond the normal slots, then DONT USE the port's abilities to actually enable access to that supersecret map. Command line-only maps are dumb in my view and only make sense if your using vanillaish ports, everything else has *some* kind of mapinfo enabling it, even the Unity port!. We live in the future damn it!

[Stupid Bunny]

I can't say always because sometimes I just fail to find the exit and give up before I can figure it out.  I love secret levels though, but like @Mr Masker said I expect them to be a clear departure from the other maps: either a fun silly gimmick (Fortress of Mystery), or an easter eggy map with its own textures and, ideally, enemies (Pharaoh, Vorticon from d2twid, a cleverer version of Wolfenstein perhaps), or just balls-out hard (Go 2 It).  Secret maps are among my favorites, they're a great chance to stop being serious and screw around a bit, or just try something that feels risky or weird or out of place for the main campaign.  I never ever waste a chance to at least attempt to make mine interesting, because nothing disappoints me more than getting to the secret level all juiced up and being like "...oh.  It's just another map.  Okay."

 

Even though E1M9 is the absolute king of boring disappointing secret maps I still usually end up playing it because the chain of actions needed to reach it are probably the best designed of any Doom game

[Nightmare2989]

Always it part of the doom experience and some secret maps can be awesome