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Tormentor667

The greatest DOOM E1 map ever?

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AD_79 said:

Is there even a chainsaw on E1M3? I'm assuming you're thinking of E1M2.

oops sorry, accidentally pressed 3 instead of 2

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Going to have to say map 5. The star teleporter, nukeage at the start ,raising the bridge and the dark room at the end make it my favorite. The music fit the level as well.

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I prefer E1M6 overall, I find it to be more the interesting and better looking one.

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[In order:]
E1M8: Phobos Anomaly
E1M5: Phobos Lab
E1M7: Computer Station
E1M2: Nuclear Plant
E1M3: Toxin Refinery
E1M1: Hangar
E1M6: Central Processing
E1M9: Military Base

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E1M1, E1M2 and E1M7 are all brilliantly crafted pieces of work. That's all I will say for now.

A while ago I would've included E1M6 in my favorites as well, but I've come to realize that aside from its explorability and cool areas, it does suffer a bit from keycard/switch ambush syndrome.

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I noticed every map from E1 was posted so far except for E1M4.

Maybe this thread should be about why that map sucks (in comparison)?

I thought that maze before the yellow key was cool, and I like thta you can rocket jump into the window to skip the maze entirely. I like the permanent soulsphere secret too. Not much else to comment on though, unfortunately. It's a rather big map with not much to do. I think having so few monsters has something to do with it.

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40oz said:

I noticed every map from E1 was posted so far except for E1M4.

Maybe this thread should be about why that map sucks (in comparison)?


E1M4 certainly doesn't suck by comparison, I think it just has fewer memorable moments. The soulsphere secret that can trigger the "surprised" face is classic, and the multiple pathways at the beginning of the level which both lead to the same keycard is a cool concept. The maze before the yellow key/rising bridge/exit is a great implementation too, but the whole level still feels like a gimped version of what's to come.

The whole "maze" concept is (IMO) done better with E1M6 - which is larger and produces that eureka! moment when you finally discover the computer map and eventually the keycard within the maze. In addition, the "multiple pathways" concept at the beginning of E1M4 isn't nearly as developed or exciting as it could have been. Each path is basically only a single room anyways. Still a solid map with great music/textures (ALL of E1 is awesome) but lacking any sort of quintessential wow factor.

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All of E1 is so fun, that I'll have to point out the "bad" bits.

In E1M4 (Command Control) I always got lost in that silver startan hallway, until I finally realised you pretty much just go straight through it.

I also got lost in the "+ over nukage" maze in E1M6.

I mean, honestly, I love E1, so this is kinda tough.

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Well, I'm on to realise that I'm the only one here to utterly love E1M4 for it's wicked diverse design manners throughout progression and that how it develops a seemingly linear, yet not that irritatingly straightforward gameplay. E1M3 with its diagonal "operation room" and organic secrets, along with E1M5 with that blue carpet COMPTALL room and the yellow key's overlook near it come up as close seconds, with the rest being given a bronze medal.

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I think for me it's going to be a tie between E1M2 and E1M7. Both are quite dark levels and the former is cramped and scary while the latter is just huge, getting through it felt like an accomplishment. Though there is something to be said for E1M6 with its relatively huge monster ambushes and that trickle of enemies that come your way at the beginning.

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Sorry if I derail the thread.

Pretty much E1M4 is that one map which I begin to get bored while doing an episodic playthrough, and I often think of stopping right there. Other maps like E2M5, E3M5, and E3M7 give me the same thoughts.

-It doesn't feature a lot of interesting sights other than the swastika that got messed with in later Doom versions, but that didn't introduce a new item that the player could use or take. E1M1 has the mega armor in the nukage pool, E1M2 has the shotgun guys from outside of the red key section (making me wonder how do I get there and kill them) and the chainsaw seen through a window, and E1M3 has several.
-Out of all levels leading up to it (secret one not included), it has the least overall interesting layout, given that there is a large room in the middle of it and a bunch of smaller ones with hallways connecting them together around it. The overall shape of the level is the most regular one, a square, like the secret level's.
-The music is good, and I like the songs it's based on, but it's not as engaging (or memorable to some) as "At Doom's Gate", nor as creepy and lacks a buildup as "The Imp's Song", nor it's as atmospheric as "Dark Halls".

Not sure whether Tom Hall's maps are cursed or not, but I find them somewhat overall boring to play. Not all of them, though. They have a quite a Wolfenstein 3D influence.

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E1M3. If nothing else, the Aubrey Hodges track for this map is, and always will be, one of my favourite pieces of music from a game. E1 is my favourite episode of Ultimate Doom on the PC, nearly every one is a classic.

Edit: E1M4 is also one of my favourites. Exciting and challenging (for the time).

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M3 and M7 all the way. I also like E1M9 though, if just because I was excited to find it. It's layout could use work, but I kind of feel that it paved the way for Tricks and Traps in Doom 2. I like the music and boss fight in M8, but the level itself is kind of lame. And M1 for all the nostalgia.

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As for E1M4, if I had to sort the all-great E1 maps to a list from best to worst (as I see it), E1M4 wouldn't be too low at all, in fact it would be in the middle:

E1M3 - Memorable areas everywhere, great secrets. Best.
E1M7 - Complex layout, slightly intimidating, good playability.
E1M6 - Run and gun at its finest, varied and exploratory layout, brightness and "joyful" music.
E1M5 - Good layout, interesting secrets, memorable moments.
E1M4 - Fast paced fun, nonlinear layout, a bit weaker monster placement.
E1M9 - Violent start, varied things happen across the map (when you pick up goodies etc.), a bit too square-ish, though.
E1M1 - Short, but great starter, accustomized for that purpose: Intro of main game elements, playability varies on different skill levels, UV can pose an actual threat.
E1M2 - Linear except for a few side branches that don't interconnect, but the computer maze is nice in its simplicity. Weak challenge.
E1M8 - Atmospheric, but the level design could have been much better, as well as the pace of the boss fight. Worst of E1, but still a good one.

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I can never decide between E1M3 or E1M7. E1M3 is more memorable for me and has nicer detailing, but E1M7 has an awesome interconnected layout that actually handles backtracking well.

Honorable mention to E1M5 -- that entire section of walkway raising out of the nukage at the start blew my mind the first time I saw it.

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I just played through E1 again, it doesn't get old for me. I like 7 and 3 the most for the reasons scifista mentioned. I'm a bit biased in favor of 7 for it being the big epic map before the boss fight map. when I first played doom when i was young, the primary joy from the game was that it was fun to romp around in and explore the maps. I got a kick over just walking around in abstract shapes, and still do. Being teased by secrets and admiring how everything fit together was my favorite part of doom.

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Obsidian said:

Definitely E1M7: by far the cleverest and most well designed E1 map in my book.


QFT!

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Sometimes I still wish I was in that era of my Doom-playing (2004-2005 as a kid) when everything about E1 just blended together, especially between E1M3 and E1M7.

To mention something about M7, first time I just ran accross it with barely killing anything, except for some of the abundance near and in the exit room. Sure I was easily taken down on the next map, not even knowing I was gonna face two of those purple goatsies, both of which just showed up in their alcoves and I didn't have a clue about strafing neither. Later on, knowing each and every secret and stocking up ammunition well, I couldn't be more surprised how I didn't even drop a sweat to eliminate those bosses.

Oh geez, I just let myself go with the nostalgia. Alright then...

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I dunno why Tom Hall's maps get a lot of flack. I actually found them to be quite interesting since there's a fair bit of realism thrown in. There's some fun bits here and there as well. Command Control happens to be one of the best E1 maps, IMO, and I could say the same for some of Tom Hall's maps for E2 and E3 (even if they were revamped by Sandy Petersen). In all fairness, Tom Hall delivered what he could when designing levels for Doom, even if he wasn't that much involved in the project since he wasn't too keen on it (no pun intended). Keep in mind that he wasn't even thrilled with working on Wolfenstein 3D as he preferred to develop family-friendly games in the same calibre as Commander Keen. When it became clear that the rest of the crew at id was going to continue and expand on the violent game concept following Wolfenstein 3D, he had no other choice but to bail out.

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Well, he probably would've bailed out if they hadn't fired him. The irony being that his next game was much more violent than the ones he'd just worked on. It was also a lot goofier, though, which is probably at least somewhat a deciding factor.

For what it's worth I like Hall's maps, while Sandy's are by far the ugliest and most abstract.

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It's also a coincidence that Tom Hall and John Romero would get together and form Ion Storm shortly after Romero got fired by John Carmack over the disagreements they had on the direction of Quake. I guess that's the charm of Rise of the Triad, the goofiness.

I second that notion. While Romero's was more polished and daring, Hall's design was at least far better than Sandy's. Now, some of Sandy's maps are okay, but most of them felt rather rushed, experimental, even. They seem more like a mish-mash of rooms, creating inconsistency within the level theme.

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His Quake maps are more consistent, but they're still oddly blocky and empty. He puts shadows to good use, though, like in the secret ambush chamber in Nameless City.

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Zed said:

I think the best is E1M1. Here's why.

Speaking of which, and to avoid unnecessary bumps in that thread, I'd comment I'm still stunned that the typical "seems-to-be-E1-but-may-only-appear-in-E2-but-still-is-E1" flat, FLAT18, does make its debut right in the second room of E1M1.

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Thanks for the thread link, Zed, it makes fascinating reading. Nice to be made to appreciate the maps in a new way after all this time. It also makes me realise that, yes, Doom was a bunch of 1994 levels (well perhaps even 1993 levels) which didn't suck balls in design, gameplay or appearance and which still, in many cases, tower over what came after. Even today we are still excited and inspired by E1 of Doom.

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BloodyAcid said:

E1M5 because of one of the lift/nukage rooms from one of my stronger childhood memories.


That area was the first time I ever saw DOOM. Came home from cub scouts and my dad was playing that part. It sucked me right in, and I've been a sucker ever since :)

Anyway

E1M3, E1M5, E1M7, with a shoutout to E1M1 for how great of an intro it is.

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