How many actually finish playing Megawads?

[Capellan]

If I'm having fun, I'll keep playing a wad, regardless of how many levels it has. That's pretty much my only guideline. A single bad level in a megawad will usually not stop me, provided the levels on either side of it are good, but 2-3 bad levels will.

And by "bad" I mean "Not fun for me". Other people may really like the level. Tastes vary. Heck, 2012-me and 1995-me have very different expectations in Doom levels, let alone me and someone else entirely!

[NaturalTvventy]

I pretty much never make it through entire megawads. I usually play the first 7-10 levels before getting bored. Then I jump to a few around 20 just in hopes that things have changed enough to rekindle my interest. I pretty much always check out map 29 as I think it's gotta be the grandest of the bunch. Also map 30 to see how it's handled, and map 31/32 in hopes that they will be the most creative/weird.

The only megawad that I can think I got all the way through is zpack.

[dobu gabu maru]

I tend to finish the wads I play, but I also don't play that many megawads. I've tackled a dozen or so of the most popular ones over the course of four years, and am okay with the pace I go at. I think for me, what makes or breaks a wad (or whether I'll download it) is if it has something special going for it, or appeals to my tastes.

For instance, I had a blast going through the well designed and detailed Alien Vendetta and the horde-fest of Hell Revealed, but struggled to get through something that feels like a hodgepodge of ideas (Momento Mori [sorry!] and the first Community Chest come to mind).

[elic]

When I start a megawad I always try to finish it. If it's taking a long time to beat I'll just take breaks to play shorter mapsets.

myk said:

For example, I haven't finished Garrulismo (I think) and Evil Tech yet, although I probably will eventually. The latter has huge levels from episode 2, which make things slow.

I've been playing Evil Tech too (on Prboom+ with complevel 2) and I found bugs on maps 23 & 27 that made them impossible to complete in vanilla compatibility. The secret exit in map 15 also can't be reached.

[ducon]

Processingcontrol said:

When I start a megawad I always try to finish it. If it's taking a long time to beat I'll just take breaks to play shorter mapsets.

Same here.

[MajorRawne]

I don't play megawads any more. I grew up in the era of Requiem, Alien Vendetta, Memento Mori and Hell Revealed. It was a time when Doom maps still utterly blew me away and I used to hammer them on co-op all the time.

Nowadays maps tend to be too hard, usually Revenant spam. I've played Doom too many times to be really attracted to playing a new 32-level set. I'd rather make maps than play them.

[hex11]

Well you can always play Doom megawads (DTWID, Base Ganymede, etc.) if you don't like the way some mappers abuse Doom II monsters. Also you can convert maps with some tools like dm2conv. If it's just one or two monsters you don't like (revenants), you could even just do a search & replace on the PWAD to swap them with another monster. Or you can DeHack their asses so they're not as annoying.

[Unholypimpin]

I usually play up to 6 maps a day in a single mega unless its really fun then ill probably play more.

I skip megawads that dont look inspirational to me, like ones that are just boring and simple tech bases. I like megawads that give me ideas for maps of my own.

I Perfer megawads that have a mixed theme so that each map you play isnt just a tech base but like a cave or the side of a mountain or river maybe even a spaceport or void map.

[Megamur]

I tend to beat many of the MegaWADs I play, unless they're unbearably hard or otherwise too annoying. What motivates me further is the "DOOM WAD Club" I started, where myself and a few other online DOOM-playing friends opt to play the same WAD at the same time, then share our thoughts on the levels as we go through them. The social element gives it a little more flair.

[Guest]

I always finish megawads. The only exception to this is the really bad ones.

Megamur said:

I tend to beat many of the MegaWADs I play, unless they're unbearably hard or otherwise too annoying. What motivates me further is the "DOOM WAD Club" I started, where myself and a few other online DOOM-playing friends opt to play the same WAD at the same time, then share our thoughts on the levels as we go through them. The social element gives it a little more flair.

This club sounds like a fantastic idea.

[Leon]

I do. I mean why make one if no-one's going to view it all. I also like to see the creativity of it such as the archetecture, themes, monster layouts and anything that I could get ideas of on making a memorable WAD

[hex11]

I just finished playing through Congestion 384, does that count? ;-)

The map design is very good, and I like how some levels can be finished the easy way, or the more obvious but much harder way.

[Leon]

Plus, how can you expect people to finish your MegaWAD if you don't finish others.

[Touchdown]

I do finish Megawads I start even if they're not very good. But I'm not a fan of Megawads in general. My most favourite mapsets always turn out to be quality-over-quantity (Deus Vult II, Unloved, Demon Eclipse).

According to my count I've finished 13 Megawads so far (excluding DOOM I/II and Final DOOM).

[Megamur]

KiiiYiiiKiiiA said:

This club sounds like a fantastic idea.

It really is fun. I was tempted to start one here, too, but I worried about trying to juggle two separate ones at a time. Plus, since Doomworld posters are more up-to-date with the newest WADs, it'd be hard to pick something a lot of people would be interested in playing that they hadn't played already. But I certainly don't object to the concept.

[dobu gabu maru]

I'd be up for that group play-through. Sometimes when I play some old levels, I would love to make a topic discussing the design of the level, but I'm uncertain how many people would want to hear it. However if everyone is playing through the wad at the same time, it'd be sure to start some kind of discourse which could be fun. We'd just have to see how many other people would want to join.

[molten_]

I usually get up to the inevitable Icon of Sin fight and end it there.

[elic]

I think having a "wad club" on doomworld would be a good idea. I always enjoying discussing levels and stuff with other people. All we need is Oprah to lead it. :P

[Leon]

There are very few Megawads that can keep attention over time. They need exciting architecture, great game play and different styles all the time. Single maps tend to have more quality than Megawads

[40oz]

Megamur said:

The social element gives it a little more flair.

I used to do a similar thing but with one other friend who's currently in jail now. Nothing was more motivating about playing megawads than having someone to talk about it with who was in the middle of playing the same thing.

"how do you get that stupid yellow key? I can't get it to come down"

"what weapon do you use for the trap at the end of MAP14? I've been using the BFG but I keep running out of ammo"

"I'm on MAP28 now, shits crrraaazzzy!"

[purist]

Adding more support to a Doomworld megawad club. It's a great idea, I'd get something started myself only I'm sure I'd end up lagging way behind, which wouldn't really be leading by example.

[JMAA TV]

Well... to be sincere I tried Batman Doom on (G)ZDoom as normal without any cheats, but I got bored instantly around MAP1X. I ended doing an IDCLEV to MAP30 and beating Bane with Godmode.
At least I've tried. Good thing is, the same guys who made Batman Doom made Rock of Ages now, which I already have on Steam.

[Nevanos]

I can never go through a Megawad skipping maps. It ruins the fun for me. :<

[Leo Sosnine]

The only thing that matters for me is a challenge. If megawad is challenging -- I shall finish it.

I don't look much at architecture, textures, etc. So all the hard ones, like scythe 1,2;sunder;new gothic movement are finished several times at least, I often start them over to feel challenge.

And if MW isn't challenging -- I usually drop it several levels after start.