What is your favourite episode 3 level?

[sincity2100]

Mt Erebus Off Course, I really loved the open areas where you can move freely, also fighting Cacodemons and Lost Souls on the water Pool was a ton of fun.

[insertwackynamehere]

Unholy Cathedral can be a drag because the teleporter puzzle but it also has some of the coolest rooms that really stand out as E3 ideals. When I land on the level I always feel kind of “meh” the second I see the doors in front of me remembering the teleporter nonsense but then I also remember the rest of the map which is sadly eclipsed by the puzzle. That one crusher room stands out, full brightness, red brick, tons of gore, back when playing Doom was hard the fear of the crushers as you tried to grab stuff. Also all the wall cutouts. But sadly the stupid teleporters come to mind first.

[Gifty]

I'm that fucking guy who loves Limbo. Always thought it was a Romero map, for some odd reason.

[Fiend_Hunter]

For me it’s Mt Erebus for sure. So much nostalgia. The midi from Dis is the best though.

[NationwideMoose]

Pandemonium followed by Mt Erebus

[Gunstar Green]

I hate to follow the crowd but Mt. Erebus really left an impression.

[joepallai]

Mt. Erebus then Pandemonium, after that it depends on my mood.

[Nymbus_Hustle]

I thought to pick Mt Erebus, but I decided Warrens instead. The Warrens is much more clever even if it's just a near identical map to E3M1. I like how secret The Warrens is, whereas E1 and E2 M9 were levels that I just stumbled upon on accident. I only learned the secret was in Mt Erebus after hearing that you perform a pseudo-rocket jump to get into a secret. Looking up how to get into the secret was a bit like learning to straferun onto that small ledge over the nuckage pool in E1M4, and I wish that doom had more difficult elements like these

[Maximum Matt]

*rolls up sleeves*

Hell Keep is a lousy episode opener (as is in Episode 2); I appreciate a ramp up difficulty throughout a game but expecting you to take out two cacodemons with a pistol, then know to run across a sinking bridge to blindly jump through a false wall straight into a pack of imps just ain't my thang.  The hellish vista of the opening courtyard is sullied by the fact that the red brick building looks paper-thin from the sides.  And, the demon tube. 

As the O.G. map-looks-like-a-thing level, Slough is more goddamn like it.  The greyness serves the atmosphere and gives contrast to the ponds, colored walls etc. And the plasma gun secret is on point. 

Pandemonium only gets points for being an old-old-school level and for introducing the BFG.  I mean, what the hell is this joint?  Also, poison water

Jump Around is truly schizophrenic, with that 'guts river' to your immediate right, those giant crusher pillars seemingly floating in the sky, the 'torture chamber' and the iconic ladder staircase.  Also, music is that E1M8 epic one.  Can still remember physically flinching in my seat when I opened the final door to a caco grinning in my face. 

Unholy was annoying as hell, but undeniably atmospheric, especially the central hub with the wall 'runes'.  Bizarre architecture, a goddamn unmarked secret key door, and a mini Fortress Of Mystery?!

Erebus is the shit.  Can't say much that hasn't already been said about this opus, except to point out that weird bug in the water part where your bullets will hit thin air when you fire at certain angles.  That amused me maybe more than it should.

Limbo/Gate To Limbo sucks.

Dis is iconic, only until you realize you can just BFG rush the spider.  Then you're all like, "that's it?"

Warren's is the redemption of Hell Keep, the old add-stuff-to-an-existing-level thing that would culminate in the mighty Go2It.  Again, the paper-thin walls annoy the hell outta me, but this is an awesome concept - a level based on backtracking! Warren did good. 

[Mr. Duk]

That's easy... E3M6.

[Doomkid]

Holy crap, Mt. Erebus really is the peak of the episode according to this poll.

[Memerz1]

ok, but can we discuss the untextured step in E3M9?

[NuMetalManiak]

I just don't see how it is hard to figure out which teleporters to use in E3M5 or E3M7. Maybe it's because my memory is excellent or something.

[Walter confetti]

19 minutes ago, Memerz1 said:

ok, but can we discuss the untextured step in E3M9?

At first, I thought it was a sloped floor emulation, but then I realised that it was an error of mapping creation by Petersen lol

 

Over that, i remember to read in these forums long ago that said room was a try to re-create wolfenstein 3D feel?

[magicsofa]

My favorite is E3M1. I know it's a "bad" level but it has a special place in my heart. It's partly because of the music being awesome, and partly because the first time you see the red sky it's like damn...I'm really in hell now. And the design and progression of it is just bizarre... it's like the game itself is breaking down. And apparently two other people are as insane as me!

[nicolas monti]

I voted house of pain, it seems unpopular in the poll but to me it feels like a sad level (in a way I enjoy) maybe the music, the darkness and the hanging corpses give me that feel. I praise its abstract design and those bits of techbase here and there.

[Maximum Matt]

3 hours ago, Memerz1 said:

can we discuss the untextured step in E3M9?

I'd rather discuss why the ceiling in the red building is higher than in Hell Keep, as the first half of the level is identical apart from that.  Is it a subtle clue? If it is, I don't know why they chose THAT for a clue, as it makes it possible to break the level (the door is now large enough to run through after pressing the right door switch and before it closes, locking you inside and unable to access the exit later), as well as creating an ugly perspective glitch when looking in from the collapsing bridge side. Seriously, what's the story there?

[Super Mighty G]

I like most of Episode 3 minus the Slough of Despair. Bug off with your claw hand, Sandy.

[Doomkid]

Hell Keep is actually a really good opener imo, it makes you feel helpless against the forces of Hell if you’re foolish enough to try and pistol down the two cacodemons at the start (running past and killing them later is much more effective). The thing I’ve had against the map since I was a kid is the paper-flat “keep”. I never noticed the ceiling was higher on the inside, I was too busy laughing at the pathetic keep. E1M1 even has the nice little 3D building by the nukage pit, proving there was no reason for it to appear so flat. It may seem silly but to me that’s actually the most egregious mapping error in all of Ultimate Doom.

[Avoozl]

Limbo, I have no regrets.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Avoozl

[Avoozl]

1 hour ago, Doomkid said:

Hell Keep is actually a really good opener imo, it makes you feel helpless against the forces of Hell if you’re foolish enough to try and pistol down the two cacodemons at the start.

I actually always do this.

[Maser]

18 hours ago, Doomkid said:

Holy crap, Mt. Erebus really is the peak of the episode according to this poll.

 

It's been so long since I played that entire map I think I have to give it a shot again.  I normally just go straight for the secret exit to Warrens. 

[unerxai]

Limbo for the atmosphere, the puzzle with the red and yellow skull keys and the fact that it's not too long/grindy. I dislike that big ass lowering wall with the Baron behind though.

[magicsofa]

17 hours ago, Doomkid said:

The thing I’ve had against the map since I was a kid is the paper-flat “keep”. I never noticed the ceiling was higher on the inside, I was too busy laughing at the pathetic keep. E1M1 even has the nice little 3D building by the nukage pit, proving there was no reason for it to appear so flat. It may seem silly but to me that’s actually the most egregious mapping error in all of Ultimate Doom.

 

That part does seem incredibly lazy, especially considering the trickery used to make it taller than the surrounding walls. Maybe they thought nobody would notice?

[Noiser]

33 minutes ago, magicsofa said:

 

That part does seem incredibly lazy, especially considering the trickery used to make it taller than the surrounding walls. Maybe they thought nobody would notice?

I don't know, but I think it was made that way trying to look surreal/out-of-this world. 
But yeah, it's ugly as shit. If this was the case, Sandy made it better with E3M3: scrolling walls, ceilings made of water... very cool and weird

Edited June 10, 2019 by Noiser

[insertwackynamehere]

Yeah they did the walk through wall after the collapsing bridge so I think maybe it’s “look at the weird broken edgy stuff we can do” before the era of players = modders like today. It was supposed to maybe be creepy

 

someone earlier in the thread made this point I think

Edited June 10, 2019 by insertwackynamehere

[noisebloom]

On 6/7/2019 at 11:30 PM, Maximum Matt said:

Jump Around

 

LOL - THIS GUY

[drygnfyre]

Warrens is my favorite. Really liked the concept of re-using old maps but adding more and more surprise elements.

[eulo]

Pandemonium, but this episode is just bad.

[Guest Unregistered account]

I don't understand why people dislike Unholy Cathedral for its Teleporter courtyard. Just take the one Tele that's glowing, people!

 

It's probably one of my favourites for the awesome theme, atmosphere and visuals, plus my favourite music track, but I dunno... when I look at them all, I actually love pretty much all of the E3 levels from 1-5, for very different reasons.

Edited June 13, 2019 by Unregistered account