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Bloodshedder

The /newstuff Chronicles #411

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I don't think that doing something for free in your spare time makes you less responsible for what you are doing. Good intentions are always welcome, but if the result is bad - it's still bad. And saiying "you should have done it yourself" is a really lame way to "nullify" criticism if you ask me.

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fullmetalvaran33 said:

.... MP/Coop/DM/CTF WADs, the weapons/item/monsters mods, and the like tend to get ignored often, and this slows down newstuff chronicles released since they just...sit there so long, unreviewed. Maybe these WADs should be reviewed by a specific group of users who are into them?

Unfortunately, if there were people willing to pick up this task there would likely not be a backlog. People who enjoy playing games aren't necessarily interested in, or have the time for, providing an opinion on them in a T/nC format. Which means that those types of wads will continue to languish at the bottom of the pile.

For better or worse, the community continues to rely on a volunteer-based review system.

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Memfis said:

I don't think that doing something for free in your spare time makes you less responsible for what you are doing. Good intentions are always welcome, but if the result is bad - it's still bad. And saiying "you should have done it yourself" is a really lame way to "nullify" criticism if you ask me.

It doesn't nullify the criticism, but it does justify the result to a certain extent.

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Why is 'helping clearing out backlog of unplayed wads' such a plausible feat? The result will most likely be rushed, inaccurate and done just for the hell of being done. I believe there's no harm in them being longer in the line waiting for a hopefully worthy review.

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j4rio said:

Why is 'helping clearing out backlog of unplayed wads' such a plausible feat? The result will most likely be rushed, inaccurate and done just for the hell of being done. I believe there's no harm in them being longer in the line waiting for a hopefully worthy review.


I don't think "helping to clear out the backlog of unplayed files" automatically equates to rushed, inaccurate reviews. In some cases, yes, the results may be hurried, but not all the time.

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j4rio said:

Sure, thus the 'most likely'.


Maybe it's inevitable with the way things are? But I think that, with continued practice, people can improve their reviews so they aren't hurried.

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Snakes said:

It's a very minor but important technique that I feel many should remember in the future: acknowledge the intended audience. Seriously, the difference between a flat-out flame war and a civil discussion can be the use of a phrase such as:

"[Niche-wad] players may find a lot to enjoy from this, but as someone on the outside looking in, I didn't find much/anything to enjoy."

Of course, this won't kill of flame wars or anything, but at least it shows that the reviewer was approaching the wad with a somewhat open mind. Keeping /newstuff open is the only way to ensure that no part of the community gets a guaranteed snub when a certain project gets released.

QFT.

Vordakk said:

As I look on page 1 of the comments, I see three different people tell FMV she shouldn't have reviewed SF2011 because she wasn't a god. My question to them would be, "Then why the fuck didn't you or someone godly enough to play the damn thing write the review in February or March??? Why was it allowed to sit there until July?" Maybe...just maybe, FMV figured no one wanted to review it, and thus did the review herself to keep things moving along.

only a certain number of wads at the bottom of the queue is eligible for reviewing. there was no way of reviewing sf2011 in Feb/Mar exactly because of the long queue before it. it's true that sf2011 slid to the bottom after it became available and it took some time before the review arrived, but exactly because of fmv's and phobus' reviewing frenzy, this probably wasn't much longer than a few weeks. i'm not sure fmv is the first person to pick it up or there were people giving up on it... but compared to spacedm9 and 32in24-11, sf2011 was cleared out almost instantly.

i can't believe phobus, the guy who contributed the most to this increased pace, let this fact elude his mind and just cheered for your impeccable logic. :/

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Didn't enjoy map14 much, could use some more health.

The final room of map31 is more interesting than the rest of the map :P. Thousands of imps and zombiemen are hardly a challenge to anything but endurance.

Map16 is my favorite so far. Simple and to the point. Ancalagon's demo speaks volumes about its quality.

Map18 is another dud. Wouldn't even call it a slaughtermap with its tight and/or dark hallways with cybers and that horribly slow teleporter.

Skipped map32 and map19 entirely.

13, 15, 17 are all short, okay maps.

On to gggmork's creations.

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j4rio said:

Why is 'helping clearing out backlog of unplayed wads' such a plausible feat? The result will most likely be rushed, inaccurate and done just for the hell of being done.


No way, that could never happen! If you'll excuse me, I've got some 'impossible' levels to wrap up in SL2011.

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I think I might be the only one who liked map31. It reminded me of playing the large scale infinite ammo coop maps on zdaemon. :)

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Your demo actually made me sort of like it. :P
But besides that gameplay could have been much better.

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dew said:

but compared to spacedm9 and 32in24-11, sf2011 was cleared out almost instantly.

That is a lot like saying "compared to the universe, humanity has been around for no time at all" in that it is true, but ignores the fact that it was still there for a long time when it could have been reviewed (at least two months, as I'd skipped it before taking over a month out, which in itself was over a month ago).

Also, I'm not sure "i can't believe phobus, the guy who contributed the most to this increased pace" is blaming me for rushed and crap reviews, praising me for putting a lot of time and effort in to getting the volunteer system moving again, or just pointing out that I am partially responsible for it becoming available and quickly falling down the list. I'm assuming the latter though.

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Vordakk said:

"Then why the fuck didn't you or someone godly enough to play the damn thing write the review in February or March??? Why was it allowed to sit there until July?" Maybe...just maybe, FMV figured no one wanted to review it, and thus did the review herself to keep things moving along.


I didn't review it because I would have fallen foul of the same pitfalls I was trying to warn FMV against. It would be too hard for me, but then so are the latter maps of Alien Vendetta. I couldn't say for sure whether the monster placement was poor in either from first hand experience so I don't consider myself qualified to comment on it (at least without some borrowed knowledge from demos or comments from other players like Myk mentioned).

When I made my comment I wasn't aware SF2011 had been left neglected at the bottom of the review page for months. With that in mind I'm less inclined to complain. I think FMV had good intentions at heart and will hopefully take what's useful from the comments made so far, continue reviewing and not take the shit-slinging that has gone along with it personally.

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Man, someone should make a slaughtermap called "Newstuff Chronicles".

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gggmork's maps are all fine examples of his Oblige'y mapping style. 21 and the final room of 20 are too chaotic for my taste, but they're all pretty good maps.

24 suffers from the same issues as some of the first maps. A linear series of arenas = little to no replay value for me.

25 is my second favorite map.

26, huge, empty, tedious. Knew I wouldn't like it the moment I saw the UV Max time. Goes into the same book as Combat Shock map04.

27, another fav.

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, fullmetalvaran33's review on Science Fiction 2011 is in the front page of Doomworld!!

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fullmetalvaran33 said:

Has it always said that? I thought it used to be something different, but I never paid close attention to what it said. I think it's...kind of funny myself.

I'm surprised how often the message has changed since T/nC 312.

312 to 325 - "Like what you are seeing? Want to get in on the action? Visit the /newstuff review center and start writing reviews today! You need a Doomworld forums account to participate."

326 & 327 - no linked message

328 - "Finally, after weeks of reviewing inactivity, we can have another /newstuff Chronicles. I was getting a little worried. There are still some unreviewed WADs (and more will always come), so why not help us out?"

329 - "Help out with The /newstuff Chronicles!"

330 - "YOU can be a part of the next issue of The /newstuff Chronicles!"

331 - "You can be a part of the next /newstuff Chronicles!"

332 - "Welcome to a special Christmas edition of The /newstuff Chronicles. Except it isn't really special, because this one is pretty much just like any other. Your help is always needed."

333 - "Give us a hand with reviewing, especially the older WADs."

334 - "We always need your help."

335 - "Give us a hand with the reviews, would ya?"

336 to 349 - "Like what you are seeing? Want to get in on the reviewing action? Visit the /newstuff review center and start writing reviews today! You need a Doomworld forums account to participate."

350 to 353 - "The /newstuff Chronicles is comprised of reviews submitted by readers and players just like you. Head to the reviewing center to help today. You need a Doomworld forums account to participate."

354 - no linked message

355 to 372 - "Does this /newstuff Chronicles suck? Does your wise ass think you can write better reviews than these jerkoffs? Then get over to the /newstuff Review Center and help out. I know you must have a Doomworld Forums account because you like griping about this edition in the comment thread, but if you don't, you need to get one to submit reviews.

373 to 388 - "The /newstuff Chronicles is written entirely by players like you. Visit the /newstuff Review Center to help out. If you are not a member of the Doomworld Forums, please sign up, because it's necessary to submit reviews."

389 to present - "Does this /newstuff Chronicles suck? Does your wise ass think you can write better reviews than these jerkoffs? Then get over to the /newstuff Review Center and help out. I know you must have a Doomworld Forums account because you like griping about every edition in the comment thread, but if you don't, you need to get one to submit reviews."

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Boy, that's the first time I've read the Scythe X review/response in a long time, and it totally merited the tagline. That had to be the best way for me to learn about /newstuff drama that I can imagine Always fun when it happens!

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I re-read the ScytheX review and I don't think it was that bad. The author's only complaints were that it was only 10 maps (but said it didn't affect the wad itself, only the method of release) and that there was a lack of impassable linedefs + jumping wasn't disabled (heh). Overall, the author liked the wad and recommended it to others.

Btw, I played Doom2day's 2^8 a while ago and liked it. 256 grid is an interesting idea for a grid wad.

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389 to present - "Does this /newstuff Chronicles suck? Does your wise ass think you can write better reviews than these jerkoffs? Then get over to the /newstuff Review Center and help out. I know you must have a Doomworld Forums account because you like griping about every edition in the comment thread, but if you don't, you need to get one to submit reviews." is my favourite!

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People still expecting perfectly informed reviews from a service done by volunteers being forced to give opinions on works everyone's afraid to touch where the reward is so often criticism from grumps who think it's a more "official" validation than comments from forum readers who make up most of the review's audience anyway?

lol

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DuckReconMajor said:

People still expecting perfectly informed reviews from a service done by volunteers being forced to give opinions on works everyone's afraid to touch where the reward is so often criticism from grumps who think it's a more "official" validation than comments from forum readers who make up most of the review's audience anyway?

lol


Flawless Victory.

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28 and 29 are both good maps, though I think their potential is wasted to some extent because of the fleshy dildo of doom. Especially 29 which has a very interesting layout would be much more to my taste with proper ammo management, even if it just meant throwing a ton of cell packs at it like in 27.

30 is just monstercount fetishism. In-your-face hordes, infinite ammo, no creativity whatsoever.

So in general, 13 good maps, 3 awesome ones and 16 more or less flawed ones. Not bad.

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Belial - perhaps you'd like em116. It's sf28 broken up in small individual maps, with more conventional weapons.

Edit: ah, well. I shouldn't be so quick to delete my posts.

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Thanks for your overview. Much appreciated. :)

As for 26, I think there is a demo of older version around half an hour faster or so.

On the other hand, I think I'm the only one who likes 30. :p
Although it's obvious author wasn't into slaughter mapping whatsoever.

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Phml: Heh, meant to say 29, but still thanks for the info. 28 did feel like a patchwork of smaller maps and some of the arenas were more fun than others, so having them as separate maps is nice.

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I knew the fleshy dildo of Doom would bug Belly. :)
The original plan for 29 was to put ammo, but in the end I didn't have the energy for the real thing so I used the dildo instead.

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