Which color key is the scariest/hardest?

[Grain of Salt]

When I first played doom I for some reason got the impression that the blue key (or specifically the blue skull key) usually came last in a map, or would lead to the hardest fight (either to get the key or behind the locked door). I guess this possibly originates from the blue skull door leading to the cyberdemon on E4M2...

 

Just wondering if anyone else has any unfounded key color theories they'd like to share. For example, if you're in an old-school cross map and you see three locked doors, one for each color, which section of the map do you expect to be last and/or hardest?

 

("No correlation" is a boring answer.)

[baja blast rd.]

I'd guess the red skull key. 

 

In pwads, then the answer is 'any time whatsoever that a key is weirdly colored'.  

Spoiler

 

 

[Gez]

red, the color of blood, and of fire, and also the color that turns into a dull brown when it's away. clearly the red key is going to be the most treacherous, not least because it might be hard to see.

 

everyone knows the rhyme, "if it's yellow, it is mellow; if it's blue, not a clue; if it's red, you'll be dead".

[GarrettChan]

I don't know why I voted yellow and I can't give any specific reason. Maybe it's just my team in Pokemon GO.

 

This reminds me of the "whether Doom maps are linear" thread, and somebody should make a graph about the order you get the keys in IWADS lol.

[Loud Silence]

Hmm, i have never thought about this... Mostly it all depends on how mapper puts them on a map. But if to judge by colors: Blue is cold color, reminds me a water, so blue key/skull should give access to normal rooms. Yellow is closer to fire, so Yellow key should require some sweat in ambushes and exploring. Red is the color of blood, so HUGE battles must be expected before acquiring red key.

[Grain of Salt]

11 minutes ago, rdwpa said:

In pwads, then the answer is 'any time whatsoever that a key is weirdly colored'. 

 

What about Kuchitsu???? What about swtw01??????

[baja blast rd.]

Exceptions to the rule!

[Demon of the Well]

My vote is blue. Blue, the indigo abyss, the color of introspection, recalling darkness, without and also within. When I think of the blue skull, I think of morbid ruminations on mortality, no peace in life and none beyond the gate. As above so below etc. etc.

 

I also tend to associate the blue key with fights on the largest physical scale of all a map's fights, which are more often than not my favorites to play. So, even if this key is not actually the most dangerous in practice, I will tend to think of it as being related to the most ominous/imposing content, the one most associated with shadows and tombs and ruins and stuff of that nature (vs. fire and caves and castles and cathedrals and whatnot) and when given a choice in a 'find the three keys on three paths' map or similar it's often the one I'll save for last, in a "save the best for last" sort of way.

 

The yellow skull, actually opalescent topaz, the color of burnished Aztec gold, almost assuredly cursed. This is the one I tend to think of as the 'secret key', or 'the one most likely to be optional', leading to a shortcut, a bonus cache, a secret exit, sometimes a crazy optional fight, sometimes all of these at once.

 

The red skull, the blood key, the Hell key, the evil key -- this is less an association of mine and more one that other people seem to have, and the red skull seems more likely to be the major or final key the more aesthetically sinister the setting is. I'll bet you $20 that if we were to somehow conduct an actual empirical survey/study of the matter, this is the key we would find is the one *actually* most likely to be associated with when shit really hits the fan.

Edited October 21, 2019 by Demon of the Well

[Linguica]

There was an infamous FAQ that contained a running joke of the following:

 

Quote

In DOOM there are three different keys, (not at all bad) Red, (pathetic and stained) Yellow, and (glorious) Blue.

 

Quote

2.4.3: Why do I need a Yellow Key?
            I guess you could use them to open doors locked with yellow keys.  I usually throw mine in the compost heap before the color rubs off on me.

 

Quote

YELLOW KEY: From the RED KEY, jump off the building and go to the southeast corner of the map to the red door.  Ride the lift to the top and there you will spy the pathetic visage of the YELLOW KEY.

 

Quote

BLUE KEY:   The spirit of this level is forever damned for it's failure to display the awesome beauty of the BLUE KEY.

 

and so forth. https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/docs/faqs/dm2_keys

[Octillion]

Hmm... If I were to pick keys, then I would go with yellow. Mainly because you encounter yellow key the last in doom 2. (Red and blue in map 02). So I always psychologically considered it as a difficult key.

 

If I were to say skulls, then yeah like everyone mentioned above, red skull.

Edited October 21, 2019 by Octillion

[Gez]

22 minutes ago, GarrettChan said:

This reminds me of the "whether Doom maps are linear" thread, and somebody should make a graph about the order you get the keys in IWADS lol.

Cold hard stats of keys per IWAD (in order Ult Doom, Doom II, TNT, Plutonia)

 

Blue (96) : 26 / 22 / 26 / 22

Red (85): 19 / 19 / 28 / 19

Yell (80): 20 / 17 / 21 / 22

[GarrettChan]

6 minutes ago, Gez said:

Cold hard stats of keys per IWAD (in order Ult Doom, Doom II, TNT, Plutonia)

 

Blue (96) : 26 / 22 / 26 / 22

Red (85): 19 / 19 / 28 / 19

Yell (80): 20 / 17 / 21 / 22

 

What's a Yell key? ;P  Anyway, Thanks for the stats. I guess blue is the most popular favorite color for a reason. BTW, I realized this is the relatively player number ranking in each team of Pokemon GO. 

 

For actually what I want though, is that the order of getting keys (eg: red-blue-yellow, so probably red gets 1 pt, blue gets 2 pt and yellow gets 3 pt or something like that. Then we can compare the points we get for the keys or whatsoever), but I totally understand what's in my mind doesn't make any sense...

[reflex17]

Yellow keycard is the one who calls in to work and uses a sick-day most often.

 

Edited October 22, 2019 by reflex17

[Gez]

I had started to list the order in which you get keys on each level, but lost motivation to continue on E1M5. So here's the short list.

• E1M1: no keys
• E1M2: mandatory red key
• E1M3: mandatory blue key for the normal exit, optional yellow key for extra goodies, no keys needed for secret exit
• E1M4: intended order is blue key then yellow key, but you can reach the exit without either with SR-50

[galileo31dos01]

Predictable answer: d3p3nDs On tH3 mApP

 

Pathetic answer: the key to my heart uwu

 

Anxious answer: why am I overthinking this so much

 

Legitimate answer: YSK maybe since it's close to the archvile's head and looks like a forbidden treasure the demons protect at all costs, RK on a softer level though always mandatory and not in non-techbase slaughter maps, if RSK then I typically associate it with a secret special or a gimmick for no reason, BK is my favourite so it goes with a memorable/unique setup putting it on like a pedestal or making it shine preferably in dark parts, BSK more or less the same feeling but exclusively with fights, and YK idk but I consider it rare and valuable too even if as a bonus, just not right away free from the start. 

[Job]

The yellow key seems to either be primarily for non-essential secret areas or the very last key needed to GTFO of a level. 

[FractalBeast]

Never cared about the colour. I notice that I care more about the number of key cards used.

 

First keycard? No big deal. Third keycard? The fear begins.

[Count651]

Man we're really hittin the bottom of the barrel for Doom discussions here, aren't we?

[Spectre01]

Red skull is the most intimidating while the blue keycard is the least. I tend to associate blue cards in a techbase setting with normal higher-level clearance, yellow with specialized areas like med bays or engineering, and red with restricted areas or sections of the base where other personnel are not allowed. Mainly because I see red as the most "danger!" colour.

Edited October 22, 2019 by Spectre01

[nicolas monti]

On a side note, anyone else noted that doom /doom2 maps that use 2 keys (the majority) never use the red /yellow combination?

[silentzorah]

Yellow.

 

I can never find it.

 

Ever.

[Pirx]

1 hour ago, FractalBeast said:

Never cared about the colour. I notice that I care more about the number of key cards used.

 

First keycard? No big deal. Third keycard? The fear begins.

 

often this. i tend to see the keys as a progression from blue to yellow to red, if i was to make the map, but then the mapper might have thought otherwise, and the actual order in the map counts.

[Deleted_Account]

Yellow is the color of piss.

[IncognitoMode]

The true fear comes from keycard doors that are not marked

[DavidN]

I played a lot of Descent before I got my hands on Doom, and its levels use the sequence blue-yellow-red so consistently that I keep on thinking of that as the natural order to place keys, even though so few Doom maps use that same pattern. Blue to get out of the starting rooms, yellow to explore deeper, red to reach the final encounter!

[incel]

I think your color associations is the last thing that matters. Or do you think it's a poll "which hue scares you the most?"

 

As a majority I picked yellow. The usual order (if I'm not mistaken) is blue, red and lastly (if at all) yellow.

 

So red and blue keys are the part of a standard procedure, while the yellow one is either finishing move or something special, not encountered that often. And it's nature makes the player feel the most uneasy: " So, it's the final key, can I get it to the end?" / "Should I go search for it, even though the exit door is opened?" / "3 keys needed! It's gonna be a long level"

 

The order and the way keys are used in (most familiar) level is the main factor.

 

[amackert]

This is something I've seriously never thought about. I.. don't know which one to pick.

[Eurisko]

I've never given this any thought before to be honest, I didn't think there was a pattern to them or a specific relevance depending on colour.

In the original DOOM E1M2 the first key you find is red and then in E1M3 its the blue one and so on...… never thought about it.

Anyway, I picked Red because... well, Red is normally bad/danger/warning.

Edited October 22, 2019 by Eurisko

[Xyzzу]

I find the yellow key to be the most, uh... chaotic. Like you don't know what to expect to happen when you get it like how most people here seemed to have assigned consistent roles to the red and blue keys. Unpredictability would be the scariest/hardest thing to deal with for me.

 

Or maybe it's because the yellow skull resembles an archvile's head I dunno.

[Graf Zahl]

I vote for the green key. Granted, there's only a handful of mods using one, but that makes it all the scarier. :P