E.M.

Me like slaughtermaps because me enjoy killing many demons.

I apologize for the lack of updates. Truth be told, I have had neither the time nor the motivation to work on Doom maps. I've become a lot busier IRL, so I can't really focus on Doom as much as I used to. Furthermore, when I do try to map, I end up getting mapper's block and I have a hard time coming up with designs that are both nice to look at and fun to play. I don't want to force myself because I know that will lead to an inferior product, so it will probably be a while before I update the WAD again. I hope you all understand.

I keep getting the following error when trying to run the latest version of DSDA-Doom on Arch: dsda-doom: error while loading shared libraries: libportmidi.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Judging by the filename, the error has something to do with portmidi, but I already have that installed, so I don't know what the problem is. EDIT: I just tested Crispy Doom and GZDoom and they still work. It's DSDA-Doom I'm having troubles with. EDIT 2: I did a clean build of DSDA-Doom and that magically fixed my problem.

MAP30 Pacifist in 0:24.09 - perdgate30p024.zip

It looks like Perdition's Gate put in a jungle setting.

I'm tapping out of this WAD. Going through the confusing corridors of MAP26 killed what little enthusiasm I had left. I knew the next three maps would get even bigger and more confusing (I played them back in 2019 and did not like them at all). I couldn't be bothered to go any further, so I'll go ahead and give my final thoughts. Community Chest 2 is one of the most inconsistent megawads ever made. Some levels have extravagant detailing while others are very plain. Some are really fun to play while others are like pulling teeth. Some are really short while others are gigantic slogs that go on and on and on. I guess you could play it for the historical value, but it's not something I would play every day, or every month for that matter. Then again, if this didn't exist, then we wouldn't have the high quality community projects we have today.

MAP25 - “Desecration” by Gene Bird DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start In stark contrast to the map that came before it, "Desecration" by Gene Bird is fun to play. It also happens to be the best map Gene Bird has ever made. The detailing is drastically improved and the combat is actually challenging now. You can no longer just camp every fight. You're encouraged to run in and confront the demons head on. My favorite fight was the one in the giant wooden room as it forces you to move around a lot. I was also amused by that one room that was a throwback to "Deja Vu". Not much else to say other than I really enjoyed this one. ---------- And since everyone is voting now, I want to talk about some older megawads, which is why my votes go to: +++ Hell to Pay +++ Perdition's Gate

MAP24 - “The Mucus Flow” by B.P.R.D GZDoom, UV, Pistol Start Well, here it is: The Mucus Flow, the most famous map from Community Chest 2. I'll just go ahead and state my controversial opinion upfront: The Mucus Flow is the most overrated Doom map ever made. I despise this map. Why do I hate it so much? Simple: it's not fun to play. Allow me to explain. First of all, nearly all the health and ammo is located right behind you at the beginning, and he doesn't give you anywhere near enough to get the job done. It's the same problem Elixir had, but far worse. And before anyone says it, I'm fully aware that Ribbiks enjoys making ammo deprivation maps, but at least his maps are short. The Mucus Flow, on the other hand, is incredibly long. Way too long, in fact. Secondly, the chaingunner turrets are a beginner's trap. When you see them for the first time, you think you can just snipe them, but no. There are 500 chaingunners in reserve ready to replace those who fall, and the only way to permanently deal with that problem is by pressing a secret switch. When I first played this map back in 2019, I ended up wasting all my ammo on those turrets. I know MAP03 from Ancient Aliens had constantly respawning arachnotrons, but at least that map warned you about it beforehand and went with the whole theme of mysterious and powerful aliens invading Earth. There's no logical reason as to why the chaingunner turrets exist other than B.P.R.D. wanted to be an asshole to the player. Since there's so little ammo in the map, you are pretty much required to get the secret berserk. You're not allowed to return to said secret, by the way. It's at that point that every encounter turns into a grueling slog as you punch large groups of mostly imps to death. It's either that or spend several minutes waiting for monsters to kill each other, like in the northern area. The combat is made even worse by the ungodly number of pain elementals. This is Boom, which means there's no lost soul limit, which means every area which contains pain elementals will become filled with dozens of lost souls. B.P.R.D. was fully aware of the map's lack of ammo, so he put those pain elementals in there to force the player to waste what little ammo they had. I almost forgot to mention that all of your weapons are locked behind bars at the beginning. The SSG is unlocked, but in order to unlock the others, you need to grab a key and run all the way back to the start. That's another major problem with this map: the constant backtracking. I thought that problem was bad on Internal Reaches 3, but that's nothing compared to The Mucus Flow. While we're on the topic of viewing the same areas over and over again, I might as well talk about the visuals. They look impressive the first time you see them, but if you're like me and had to play the map for several hours straight, you'll eventually grow sick and tired of repeatedly seeing the same sights. Same with that famous MIDI. It sounds nice at first, but hearing it on loop for several hours made me want to stab out my ear drums. Then there are the secrets. Good luck. They all involve humping walls or passing through midtextures with no indication that secrets are hiding there. There are also 3 crates that were erroneously tagged as secrets and are thus impossible to obtain. Speaking of which, this map also contains a gamebreaking bug making it unbeatable in anything other than ZDoom based ports. The door in the northern part of the map is right behind 4 linedefs with actions that are not set as PassThru, which means the switch cannot be activated. After putting up with the atrocious level design choices and insufferable combat, I started avoiding fights altogether because I had grown sick and tired of it all and I just wanted to get it over with. I felt no enjoyment or sense of accomplishment after beating it. I was just glad to be playing anything else. You might be wondering why I'm getting so angry over this particular Doom map when I never got truly angry over all the bad maps I've played. That's because the deeper reason why I hate The Mucus Flow so much is because I feel like I've been lied to. Everyone talked about it like it was the greatest Doom map ever made, so I expected nothing less than perfection. It then proceeded to shit all over my expectations by being the antithesis of fun. I then looked closer at all that praise and saw that people always talked about the visuals and the music, but the gameplay was nothing more than a footnote. I feel like I got scammed. I feel like I bought a defective product. People often describe the emotions they felt when playing this map. The only emotion I felt was constant searing frustration. Whenever I hear that level's MIDI, all I can think of is how infuriated I felt while playing it. It is for all of those reasons that I utterly despise this map. I never want to play it again. I would rather play Gene Bird's maps. At least those try to be fun.

MAP23 - “Death Mountain” by Cyber-Menace DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start Here is yet another map that has nice visuals but horribly rough and unpolished gameplay. You'll spend half the map cutting through loads of hitscanners, imps, and pinkies with nothing but the pump action. The layout consists of outdoor areas and caves which are connected by silent teleporters. The caves are dark and filled with way too many monsters, but you can actually cheese those encounters by running into a cave, alerting the monsters, and then repeatedly running out and back in again, allowing you to telefrag them. You don't get the SSG until the fight in the brick temple. Said fight is a pain in the ass, but not impossible. You can cheese it by just running in and pressing the switch without firing a single shot. After that, the experience is way easier. The cyberdemon fight inside the rock beast is neutered by killing the pinkies and coaxing the cyber into infighting with the hell knights. The big fight in front of the exit was pretty fun. It's just too bad you had to slog through tedious encounters to get there.

MAP22 - “Thematic Elements” by Lutrov71, Jimi DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start This ended up being my favorite map in the whole megawad. Sure, there are some grindy sections and dickish traps that you need to memorize (that cramped room with the 3 mancubi was the one that stood out to me the most), but I'm a fan of Plutonian brutality, so playing through this was an absolute thrill. The detailing isn't as fancy or intricate as the other levels in this WAD, but this one of those maps where the gameplay is what really matters. It lures you in by allowing you to mow down low-tier enemies, then it hits you with a hard trap that may or may not include an archvile. You then need to use your quick moves and thinking to overcome it. My favorite part is the giant fight in the warehouse that is perfect for BFG spamming. The ending is a bit anticlimactic, but I still had lots of fun regardless.

MAP21 - “Undead Nation” by Draconio DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start Here's a Doom 2 map that looks and plays like a Doom 1 map but is nowhere near as fun or memorable. The layout consists almost entirely of large square rooms with simple detailing. You'll spend half the map grinding through loads of hitscanners, imps, pinkies, two cacos, and two hell knights with nothing but the pump action and the chaingun. That large pit with the pinkies is especially bad. You'll need clairvoyance to find many of the secrets, especially the one that contains the level's only radsuit, which you'll need to grab the berserk. There's not a lot of ammo, so you'll have to rely heavily on infighting. The level isn't that long, so that's not much of a problem for me. The final fight with the hell knights and pinkies is actually the easiest part of the map as I was able to just run around, get them all to infight, and SSG the survivors. Overall, "Undead Nation" is bland, boring, and forgettable. Even Gene Bird's maps are more interesting than this.

MAP20 - “Enigma” by The Flange Peddler DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start This map is pretty to look at but a drag to play. The gameplay mostly consists of pressing a switch and then stumbling around, wondering what it did. The combat is pretty boring. The hitscanners can be a nuisance, but for the most part, you can just SSG most of the fights. The only interesting part is when it gives you a berserk to punch out 4 pinkies and a hell knight, then gibbing a bunch of zombiemen with rockets. I didn't even bother getting 100% kills because playing this map makes me want to go to sleep. By the way, one of the secrets is impossible to get because the author only tested it in an older version of ZDoom that allows for higher archvile jumps.

MAP19 - “The Marbelous Three” by Hirogen2 DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start This one was a bit tricky at first, but once I knew what to do, it became one of my favorite maps in the WAD. It's short, for starters. I've already established just how much I love short maps. I was able to beat this one in less than 7 minutes. Secondly, this level has some of the most extravagant detailing I have ever seen. He put more effort into the starting area than most people do in their entire maps. The combat is pretty fun too. It puts up quite a bit of resistance, but it never turns into a slog. My favorite part is when you grab the berserk and invincibility and then wreak havoc on every demon dumb enough to get in your way. It's a shame that Hirogen2 just disappeared after making this map. I would have loved to see what sort of intricately detailed creations he would have concocted.

MAP18 - “Internal Reaches 3” by Kaiser DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start This map is very nicely detailed, but it's hard to tell what you're expected to do and it goes on for way too long. At several points while playing it, I thought to myself, "Oh my God, when will this level be over?" The combat is pretty bland for the most part. You can SSG your way through most of the fights, but then you run into the problem of not having enough ammo or health when you really need it. What really infuriated me was that it gives you lots of rockets, but it hides the only rocket launcher in a secret. This map has 15 secrets, by the way, but good luck finding them all. They're a pain in the ass to get, especially the one that involves shooting switches that open timed doors. I am once again reminded of the Master Levels. Some of the fights are dickish and lead to cheap deaths, such as the one before the pseudo-3D spiral staircase. There's also lots of backtracking, which I hate, although it's nowhere near as bad as a certain other map in this WAD. Also, I'm pretty sure I broke the map somehow because after I pressed the 3-keyed switch, the TEKWALL bars in front of the cyberdemon fight and the northeast section never opened. I had already spent half an hour on the map at that point and I didn't want to start it all over again, so I just noclipped my way into those areas. Furthermore, putting a crusher room at the end of the level is all kinds of dickish. Overall, Internal Reaches 3 brought me nothing but confusion, frustration, and a headache.

MAP17 - “Through the Black” by Andy Leaver DSDA-Doom, UV, Pistol Start The detailing reminds me of Alien Vendetta. So does the combat. The map is tough early on, but you can make it easier with the help of a very generous secret. It's one of those levels that can be tackled in different ways. You can either play it safe and pick off enemies one by one, or you can live dangerously by charging in and making them all infight. Going with the latter option made things a lot more exciting for me. I didn't like SSGing a group of 4 barons after grabbing the red key and I thought it was an odd choice to hide cacos behind midtextures, but other than that, the fights were thrilling. The best part for me is that it's short. I was able to beat it in less than 8 minutes.