The Dean of Doom series (companion thread)

[LSC Lasico]

Mt pain’s review of Overboard reinforced one statement i held in my mind.

It’s that Dean of DooM is at it’s best when mt pain 27 actually enjoys what he plays.

His shining enthusiasm for the island hopping wad was the reason why i consider that part pf the episode the best out of all pf them. It is also the reason why i consider 180 minutes por vivre tge best DoD episode.

And that is exactly why, in hindsight, the mento mori episode was as much of a slog for me to get through as the wad was for mt pain to play, despit having two guest appearances and that one funny joke with delinquent.

[baja blast rd.]

It's tiny but this is my favorite moment in Violence m02, the imps placed that make it possible to hurl a rocket at the revenant and take out both of the imps with just splash damage (and the blazing door fits perfectly).

 

 

I don't know how to write at length about fun and good-feeling stuff because the extent you can talk about it is "yeah that's fun" and "this other thing feels good" and "yeah the zombies in this horde placed just so you can gib them are cool" and "this monster composition is perfect to make this fight feel really good" -- but I think about it in imagery a lot. It's cool when either a mapper (or the happenstances of how a fight plays out) creates moments like this. 

 

Here's a happenstance one, one of the benefits of cacos + rockets + fodder coexisting (pushing the caco in the direction of the zombie was deliberate).

 

 

I can't tell if people map for stuff like this intentionally, but that is something I often go for so I know it's definitely a thing. Intended or not, Violence is pretty decent at creating these possibilities.

[baja blast rd.]

One tourniquet map that might also go under the radar is Slaughtermax map11, which reminds me of Darkwave's big nukage-and-brownwall bases like Darkwave32.wad and 3ha2 m28. Slaughtermax is a pretty uneven set as a whole though. 
 

 

[Nefelibeta]

4 hours ago, baja blast rd. said:

Slaughtermax map11

Maps like these are pretty much the reason why I like to scroll through my favourite mappers' wiki pages.

[Foxstiel]

 

[Matt Mello]

I love Dean of Doom. No joke, MtPain27's series is what convinced me to join this forum. 

I've always wondered if MtPain27 would be willing to do Dean of Doom episodes for certain more historically important TC's such as Aliens TC, Zombies TC, or Batman Doom. I know he's not much of a fan of stuff like Brutal Doom (neither am I) but I figured it'd be cool to see his take on the more old-school Total Conversion WAD's that were really out there.

[Mr. Alexander]

Chocolate Island, Map08, kind of got a raw deal here, imo. It's a fun little layout that could be adapted into a deathmatch arena if the Mohawk 2 arsenal weren't so absurdly lethal. The last fight is a bit of a crapshoot on whether or not you clear out enough hell knights to make space for yourself before the arch-vile comes in, and it can be tough to carve out a foothold right at the start, but once the arch-vile enters the last arena, you can leave, and dying right at the beginning of a five-minute map really isn't that big of a deal.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Mr. Alexander
Called Mohawk 2 "Rudy 2" by reflex

[Foxstiel]

 

[CacoTuesday]

On 3/10/2023 at 6:10 PM, Matt Mello said:

I love Dean of Doom. No joke, MtPain27's series is what convinced me to join this forum. 

I've always wondered if MtPain27 would be willing to do Dean of Doom episodes for certain more historically important TC's such as Aliens TC, Zombies TC, or Batman Doom. I know he's not much of a fan of stuff like Brutal Doom (neither am I) but I figured it'd be cool to see his take on the more old-school Total Conversion WAD's that were really out there.

I think that could be good as a supplement to the series, kind of like Sawed-Off WADs

Edited March 23, 2023 by AtomicDonkey
Typo

[Mr. Alexander]

I overlooked Nostalgia because of Anomaly Report's covering similar territory at the same time, and a skepticism of anything that would out-and-out call itself "Nostalgia," but I'm checking it out now that there's a well-narrated YouTube video about it, and it's pretty fun! This is why criticism is important, and why you shouldn't be a moron and judge a book by its cover. Big ups to Myolden for putting it all together.

[Chalibluefin]

Nostalgia has TNT: Revilution music so it gets an A+ out of me.

[Biodegradable]

Nostalgia is just fucking terrific and a testament to Myolden's versatility as a mapper. Right now, I deem it the quintessential example of neo-classic Dooming: modern map design sensibilities imbued with the spirit of the IWADs. It is aptly named, beautifully designed and a joy to play.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Biodegradable

[Foxstiel]

 

[Shepardus]

Spoiler

Was an enjoyable watch to me, even if the joke was obvious from the moment I saw Holy Hell's TITLEPIC on one of the monitors. World Orifice is legitimately relaxing though, at least for the first few layers.

 

[MoiraHeart]

Aww, that existential bit at the end. Hope Dean's not burning himself out too much.

[Mr. Alexander]

Fun episode, even if the joke is obvious from a mile away. Good on MtPain for getting through No Chance just so he could rate it E as a gag. I've plonked around a little in Benjogami's Down the Drain, but I hadn't tried World Orifice or his other one-off levels/short level packs, and this episode makes it sounds like I should give them a try.

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

"Bottlenecks that clog worse than the toilet from Train Spotting" is my favourite Dean line so far.

[Maribo]

2 hours ago, Mr. Alexander said:

[...] but I hadn't tried World Orifice or his other one-off levels/short level packs, and this episode makes it sounds like I should give them a try.

It sounds like a meme but it is genuinely meditative and kind of relaxing, to an extent. It's the same kind of feeling as going through the tom19 Cyberdemon 2-shot map, or Jacek's more extreme version.

[Gez]

Playing Fava Beans and pretending it's Chillax would have been a cool punchline, NGL. Too bad the build up to that punchline took too long, including too long making it, causing the whole thing to crumble.

[Mr. Alexander]

32 minutes ago, Maribo said:

It sounds like a meme but it is genuinely meditative and kind of relaxing, to an extent. It's the same kind of feeling as going through the tom19 Cyberdemon 2-shot map, or Jacek's more extreme version.

I have actually been using up big chunks of this weekend playing those two-shot maps, as it happens! When I tried World Orifice shortly after posting my comment, it was exactly as meditative and soothing as promised, despite the unsettling blank title screen and the creepy drone music. The geometrical regularity and intentional tedium of maps like these & Nostril Caverns makes them read more like conceptual art pieces, jokes, or spiritual exercises than like conventional Doom challenges. It's not "fun," exactly, but much of what MtPain27 says in the video is unironically true, and that's probably what makes it the best part of the video.

[Shepardus]

6 hours ago, Mr. Alexander said:

I have actually been using up big chunks of this weekend playing those two-shot maps, as it happens! When I tried World Orifice shortly after posting my comment, it was exactly as meditative and soothing as promised, despite the unsettling blank title screen and the creepy drone music. The geometrical regularity and intentional tedium of maps like these & Nostril Caverns makes them read more like conceptual art pieces, jokes, or spiritual exercises than like conventional Doom challenges. It's not "fun," exactly, but much of what MtPain27 says in the video is unironically true, and that's probably what makes it the best part of the video.

If you like World Orifice and Nostril Caverns, also check out Long Road, No Turns (though IMO that one can get tense due to fear of waking up too many arch-viles and putting yourself in an unwinnable situation).

[Faceman2000]

7 hours ago, Gez said:

Playing Fava Beans and pretending it's Chillax would have been a cool punchline, NGL. Too bad the build up to that punchline took too long, including too long making it, causing the whole thing to crumble.

I agree. I really enjoyed the joke and the punchline would’ve been hilarious - I wouldn’t have seen that coming. That being said, I also think his frustrated tangent towards the end where he gives up was almost well-done comedic ally, so hopefully he appreciates that for what it is and isn’t entirely frustrated with the episode.

[TakenStew22]

The fact that he broke character during the end of Okuplok speaks volumes of just how much of a titanic demon that map is. Creatively it's genius but I couldn't imagine any non-TASers having fun with maps like that.

 

Kinda disappointed he didn't talk about Chillax though. I've watched some of Azuruish's TAS videos on that wad and every map looks... how should I put it... hundreds of times more sadistic than Map 29 from Community Chest 1.

Edited April 3, 2023 by TakenStew22

[Mr. Alexander]

2 hours ago, Shepardus said:

If you like World Orifice and Nostril Caverns, also check out Long Road, No Turns (though IMO that one can get tense due to fear of waking up too many arch-viles and putting yourself in an unwinnable situation).

Lol dang, this one really does kick you in the teeth a little more directly than the others in this genre. I'll probably never finish any of these wads, but I'll really probably never finish this one. I like the first bit, at least. Thanks for the recommendation!

[LSC Lasico]

 

[Matt Mello]

I wonder if we'll see Doom Zero on Dean of Doom this season or if we'll have to wait until Season 4 or later. I have no doubt he's gotten a lot of requests for that one.

[continuum.mid]

59 minutes ago, LSC Lasico said:

 

YESSSSS! I've been waiting for this one. Underappreciated 90s WAD!

[Gez]

I kind of expect Hell to Pay to be the next wad covered, now.

[continuum.mid]

Spoiler

That was a fun watch. I have to disagree with the grades on Hell's Gate and The Worlds of the Ancients, which I thought were both very striking and effective thematic shifts, but I'm glad MtPain respects the secret levels, and I would have been shocked if Hell's Park wasn't the dunce cap (wow, that map is lazy).

(Edited to add spoiler for the grades)

Edited April 24, 2023 by continuum.mid

[Devalaous]

I enjoyed watching that, and was expecting the bashing of the lazy filler E3 maps. Perdition's Gate and Hell to Pay will always have a place in my favoured wads, but yeah, Episode 3 in both wads really suffered.

 

On another note, while watching some of his other videos afterward, I will be bumping up Good Morning Phobos by @sincity2100 on my 'megawads to play' list. Ive even begun making a patch for it that integrates the V1 exclusive content that was in MtPain's video (And Crispy Doom CAN run all four bonus maps with said patch loaded! I expected it to bomb on 'Map 36', as adding the three cut maps bumps it to 36, one map past the usual limit)