April Agitation: the megathread

[Pure Hellspawn]

Gez said:

E2M2 is not a crappy crate maze.

E2M2 has one of the most hauntingly atmospheric tunes in the Doom soundtrack.

AND MORE!!!

I did not like E2M2's music track. E1M5, E1M7, E1M8, E2M1, E2M4, E2M6, E2M7, E2M8, E3M1, E3M2, and E3M8 are ALL better.

The map itself is decent, but I am not a fan of the crate maze and I am not a fan of the crushers. I do think it is better than Map11 though.

[AD_79]

Pure Hellspawn said:

The map <E2M2> itself is decent, but I am not a fan of the crate maze and I am not a fan of the crushers. I do think it is better than Map11 though.

E2M2 being better than MAP11? Ha, don't make me laugh.

[Ledillman]

@Gez you da real mvp with the E2M2 post, kickass map, totally voting for it over E1M1

[Woolie Wool]

I refuse to believe the guy in the Against Thee Wickedly video is an actual black person. There is no way.

Also:

Fredrik said:

E1M7 E2M2 MAP11 MAP29 easy peasy lemon squeezy

[baja blast rd.]

My ranking of the videos, from most to least obnoxious (based on about a minute or so of watching):

E1M5 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oJwZbOe2sk)
E4M6 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t_v4GXf-KU)
MAP29 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMeWhzUC8DY)
E1M7 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbzObiYer8I)
E2M2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=702605MHbrg)
E4M2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzfIPH1TP64)
E1M1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fywI2bK61E)
MAP11 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka7sWndhzzw)

I can't understand how BigMacDavis's playthroughs are so liked. That ultra-formal speaking style . . .

"Now carefully go around the corner and kill the imp." (https://youtu.be/MMeWhzUC8DY?t=2m49s)

LOL

[BaronOfStuff]

The videos. Holy fucking shit the videos!

[VGA]

rdwpa said:

I can't understand how BigMacDavis's playthroughs are so liked. That ultra-formal speaking style . . .

His vids have helped me a couple of times when I've gotten stuck, he's pretty cool :-D

Check out this video, I dare you, I double-dare you and anyone to watch ALL 11 minutes of it in one sitting. Final part is excrutiatingly difficult I warn you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNkaahnOFZQ

My favourite moment is at 8:15 lmao

[baja blast rd.]

It works as a parody of those '50s instructional vids I guess.

[cannonball]

@Gez
E2M2 is not the first moment where you see hellish corruption



Add to that half the arguments are things borrowed from other maps preceding it. The only thing the map brings is the berserk pack. I just think the map is boring to play despite the fun you can have punching things.

[scifista42]

cannonball said:

Add to that half the arguments are things borrowed from other maps preceding it.

I don't think it matters. Innovation is generally a good thing, but unnecessary and even impossible to achieve all the time. Implementation of already similarly implemented concepts can turn out to be great as well. And the map in question mixes a lot of elements together, while not entirely randomly - it's a semi-realistic and atmospheric techbase.

[Fredrik]

E2M2 is so good that id had to put a joke map after it to balance out the episode.

[Pure Hellspawn]

AD_79 said:

E2M2 being better than MAP11? Ha, don't make me laugh.

hahahaha - neither of those two maps really stand out for me.

[Cynical]

This time, I actually remembered to vote:

Spoiler

E2M2 over E1M1 -- Both suck, but one is E1M1 and the other isn't.

E1M5 over E1M7 -- I wish I could vote for "both lose, whatever map faces them gets a bye next round".

MAP11 over E4M6 -- GAH, this was hard. One of my favorite Doom 2 maps vs. one of my favorite Ultimate Doom maps. E4M6 is more memorable, but MAP11 is ultimately more fun to play, so I voted for it.

E4M2 over MAP29 -- This one is no contest -- E4M2 is just a better realized version of MAP29. E4M2 vs. MAP11 is going to be a tough vote when we get there, though.

.

[printz]

Personally I find all these level over-praising jokes overdone by now.

I see it as a mediocre early-game level, Tom Hall big (think how big his Wolf3D maps are) and lacking in challenge. But it's better than E1M1 because it's bigger, without in turn having any serious flaws. Still, I don't get what it's doing in the final eight, when there are better maps around (E2M7/E2M6/E2M5/etc.). Maybe it had a lucky path. EDIT: it just beat MAP15 and MAP10, two of the best Doom 2 levels period. Damn you :P

[Da Werecat]

printz said:

EDIT: it just beat MAP15 and MAP10, two of the best Doom 2 levels period. Damn you :P

Doom 1 is good, even when it's bad. It's the opposite with Doom 2.

Seriously though, E2M2 is ugly as sin at times, and while I like moderate Tom Hall influences here and there, Sandy Petersen usually craps all over them with his texturing.

At least E1M1 is neat. And has a lot of windows. Windows are almost as good as revenants.

[fraggle]

A+ trolling on the map descriptions. Having whittled down Doom's maps to the top 8 makes this the perfect opportunity to troll people by making fun of their favourite maps.

[Linguica]

fraggle said:

A+ trolling on the map descriptions. Having whittled down Doom's maps to the top 8 makes this the perfect opportunity to troll people by making fun of their favourite maps.

Who said anything about trolling people?

[Jaws In Space]

I think the bad map descriptions are pretty good for people who don't like those particular maps. I said earlier that the description for E4M6 is exactly how I feel about that map. I may not hate the other maps, but those are some pretty accurate descriptions on their flaws.

[printz]

cannonball said:

@Gez
E2M2 is not the first moment where you see hellish corruption

Actually I think that both Phobos and Deimos anomalies are in fact xenoarchaeological digs like in Doom 3, not necessarily hellish.

[Dragonsbrethren]

cannonball said:

@Gez
E2M2 is not the first moment where you see hellish corruption

It's interesting that, door aside, there's nothing techbase in that section and it's isolated by teleporters. Giant inverted cross aside, E2M1 doesn't have any signs of corruption, just two distinct places -- the base and the marble area.

[Fredrik]

Don't forget the pools of red liquid. E2M1 is clearly set in the UAC's ketchup factory.

[Dragonsbrethren]

Fredrik said:

Don't forget the pools of red liquid.

...dammit. Heh.

[Magnusblitz]

Da Werecat said:

Seriously though, E2M2 is ugly as sin at times, and while I like moderate Tom Hall influences here and there, Sandy Petersen usually craps all over them with his texturing.

Uh, exactly what areas of E2M2 are ugly as sin? It's probably the only Sandy (non-boss) map that ISN'T ugly anywhere.

[scifista42]

^The wallpapers of CEMENT*, COMPOHSO, TEKWALL* and FIRELAV*.

[printz]

^ Wow, you find ugly the very things I love about E2M2 (and other E2 levels).

[SFoZ911]

Screw E1M1, going with E2M2.

[Da Werecat]

Magnusblitz said:

Uh, exactly what areas of E2M2 are ugly as sin? It's probably the only Sandy (non-boss) map that ISN'T ugly anywhere.

Black TEKWALLs don't tile very well and should be used with caution. The entire corridors textured with them bring a lot of attention to these textures' weak spots and ugly bits. That's why the secret "maintenance passages" spoil the map for me big time.

Conversely, CEMENT spam in the crate maze area is appropriate. I like how this texture family works with the warehouse theme.

The crate maze itself is good. I wouldn't even call it a maze, it's just a bunch of crates with a few places where you can go between them and find some nice things to collect or shoot. Or punch. Anyway, crate mazes is an okay concept overall, so I'm going to kindly encourage the haters to shut their buttholes.

E1M1 just doesn't have any noticeable flaws (except maybe for that new switch for deathmatch players) while being a neat place with purdy views.

[printz]

I've always found crates - such a contemporary mundane thing - funny when seeing them in E2M2 and E2M7. It feels like I'm in the wholesale goods store rather than a monster dungeon.

[Fredrik]

The TEKWALL flaws are barely visible in 320x200 with lowest gamma correction on a misconfigured 1993 CRT monitor, the only true way to experience the game.

[Linguica]

THE EVIL EIGHT HAS CONCLUDED!

We now have the winners of the four regions of April Agitation!

DAVE REGION: E1M7: Computer Station vs. E1M5: Phobos Lab

Spoiler

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=p&chs=500x300&chl=E1M7%7CE1M5&chco=ff9900&chd=e%3AindX

The Dave region turned out to be a battle of the Knee-Deep heavyweights, and in the end, E1M7 hit just a little harder.

ADRIAN REGION: E1M1: Hangar vs. E2M2: Containment Area

Spoiler

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=p&chs=500x300&chl=E1M1%7CE2M2&chco=0000e0&chd=e%3AfxgN

In another shockingly close matchup, E2M2 won - AGAIN - by a SINGLE vote. The nostalgic pull of E1M1 couldn't save it this time, when matched up with the nostalgic pull of dem crates.

KEVIN REGION: MAP11: Circle of Death vs. E4M6: Against Thee Wickedly

Spoiler

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=p&chs=500x300&chl=MAP11%7CE4M6&chco=d00000&chd=e%3Ahiec

This was another closely contested slugfest that went back and forth over the course of the voting, but in the end, the 'O' of Destruction left E4M6 in the weeds.

BOBBY REGION: MAP29: The Living End vs. E4M2: Perfect Hatred

Spoiler

https://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=p&chs=500x300&chl=MAP29%7CE4M2&chco=dcca02&chd=e%3ApWWo

I must say this is one of the most surprising outcomes of the whole tournament. At the beginning I would have picked E4M2 as the favorite to win the whole thing - it seems like everyone always talks about how much they love it. But Map29 (relatively speaking) annihilated it in this round! DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!