Worst Maps in Your Favourite Megawads?

[RHhe82]

6 minutes ago, Antkibo said:

Surprised that few people have mentioned Eviternity MAP19. With respect for the author (which was not Dragonfly), it's not that is bad or ugly, but that it's very very very overengineered and felt like three maps condensed in one. By the end you're just shambling to the exit like a drunk in a pub.

 

My Eviternity playthrough has been dragging for months now because of maps like Dehydration. And I totally agree it's not a bad map, nor it is an ugly map, but it just keeps going on and on. My playthrough of it took 1 hour and 55 minutes, not counting numerous reloads. MAP32 (Anagnorisis or something) took me 2 hours and 36 minutes, and while it's a more fun map, these two together so closely makes me pre-exhausted everytime I decide to take on the next Eviternity map. Seven maps still left, maybe I'll be done with it this year.

[ReaperAA]

On 11/25/2020 at 1:01 PM, ReaperAA said:

Eviternity is my favorite wad but Map 19 of the wad is one that I wish was shorter. When I played the wad for the first time, I enjoyed that map, but on repeat walkthroughs, that map is drag.

 

Scythe's Map 28 is another map I don't like mostly because I hate timed maps. I like to take my time on the maps

 

Ancient Aliens Map 18 (or whichever was that illuminati map). I did not like that map at all.

 

After 2 years, my thoughts on Ancient Aliens map18 have changed. It's still far from my favorite map in the wad, but I am okay with it nowadays. I think Map31 is my least favorite AA map. Also, this might be "Shocking" for some, but I am also not a big fan of Map24: Culture Shock. The map looks great and has cool architecture + has that awesome BFG secret, but the cramped layout makes the combat not so fun. The map could have been much better without it.

 

Also I would add Plutonia 2's Map11: Arch-Violence. The original Hunted has a maze with 14-ish AVs which ain't so bad. But this one has like 70+ viles (if I recall correctly) in it which kind of makes it sloggy.

Edited October 12, 2022 by ReaperAA

[baja blast rd.]

37 minutes ago, Antkibo said:

Surprised that few people have mentioned Eviternity MAP19. With respect for the author (which was not Dragonfly), it's not that is bad or ugly, but that it's very very very overengineered and felt like three maps condensed in one. By the end you're just shambling to the exit like a drunk in a pub.

 

There were 58 posts (meaning fewer than 58 unique responses to the OP) before you. Out of those, 4 people named Eviternity and 2 people named that map. Statistically speaking, that is a lot for something that isn't Scythe map28 (infamous map in beloved pwad) and some iwad maps. I would be a lot more surprised if a map not among those got mentions by 10+% of people by that point. Would be kind of an obscene % given how many megawads are out there. 

[Wagi]

MAP12 of Hell Revealed 2. Basically there are a couple of points in the map where a giant, coverless empty room opens up full of tons of monsters, including Arch Viles, and you have no choice but to wait for them to come and revive basically everything that you killed earlier. And this happens TWICE. And the act of killing everything is a slog, because you're basically trapped inside of a building where you can just BARELY auto-aim at the monsters wandering around through the window, forcing you to resort to splash damage to kill anything because the rockets don't actually go up far enough.

[Rudolph]

Doom II: Reloaded's MAP32. I hate timed speedrunning puzzles and that level is full of them.

[LadyMistDragon]

2 hours ago, RHhe82 said:

 

My Eviternity playthrough has been dragging for months now because of maps like Dehydration. And I totally agree it's not a bad map, nor it is an ugly map, but it just keeps going on and on. My playthrough of it took 1 hour and 55 minutes, not counting numerous reloads. MAP32 (Anagnorisis or something) took me 2 hours and 36 minutes, and while it's a more fun map, these two together so closely makes me pre-exhausted everytime I decide to take on the next Eviternity map. Seven maps still left, maybe I'll be done with it this year.

 

 

Probably, the last episode might well be the strongest, although 29 is still quite long, it's still not as exhausting.

[DrRock]

Rather than going straight for my favorites, I instead chose WADs where I can distinctly remember there being some rather ugly outliers that stuck in my mind. There must be quite a few I have forgotten but these I can remember not enjoying a whole lot.

 

Kama Sutra

Map 22: Fire Play - Too uninteresting and symmetrical. The entire last third of Kama Sutra doesn't exactly sit right with me for being so wildly different than the first two thirds of the WAD. The maps just seem generally less carefully crafted than what came before. Certainly a bold creative decision to switch things up this much, if that was the intention.

Akeldama

Map 25: Opulence - Not quite interesting enough to justify it's length IMO.

Map 30: Mind of Enmity - Just way too much tedious stuff in here. The annoying sections would be more palatable in a compact sized map rather than a marathon-length one like this.

Rowdy Rudy II: POWERTRIP

Map 16: Grim Sector - Not a fan of the cavernous labyrinth at the end whatsoever. Getting very badly lost for extended portions of time is not my idea of having a fun time in DOOM. Pretty alright map otherwise.

Map 17: Plutonic Relations - Butt ugly map all around. Not too many fun encounters either. Doomkid's other mapping contributions to his project are leagues better.

Map 20: Death God's Shrine - Slaughter-y maps don't have to be bombastic to be good but the combat should be at least up to par. Rocketing mostly imps and revenants isn't too exciting unfortunately. The strict ammo count is about the only thing that adds interest to the fights in this map(for pistol starters, that is).

[Wyrmwood]

Doom 64 level 29. The first secret level (or so I thought) the one from level 4 secret exit. The Demon Key puzzle had me stuck on some abstract ikea shelving for 40 mins or so trying to get the bloody thing. Ended up reading several guides and I hate reading guides. Found out at the same time I'd actually missed a secret exit in level 1 but I would never of found that, must be one of the most obscure secret exits ever. Then talking with my son a few days later he'd also found level 29, missed the demon key but found an Unmaker that I'd missed. Love the game, hate that level(puzzle).

[Kyka]

MY FAVORITE MEGAWADS DON'T HAVE ANY WORST MAPS.

[TheSlipgateStudios]

I gotta go with Habitat from TNT Evilution, that one is a real stinker.

[Poncho1]

Vanguard

Map02: Drowned Shrine - it's not too bad, simply isn't as good as the rest of the WAD (my favourite WAD, btw).

 

Alien Vendetta

Map28: Whispering Shadows* - a few insanely-awkwardly-placed Cyberdemons already make me ambivalent, but the whole pace of the map is slow, sloggy and dull. Good design, and BFGing that crowd of Cacos and Revs is fun, but that's it. Not a total failure, but as far as AV goes, it's the closest to one.

 

Going Down

Map22: Constipation Station - much too erratic, even by Cyriak's standards. Even though there's just about enough ammo in the map, it always feels like I'm clinging onto my last reserve throughout the whole duration. For me, it's also the hardest in the WAD, but definitely the least fun.

 

Scythe

Map28: Run From It - need I explain?

 

Ancient Aliens

Map20: Code - extremely stingey with the ammo, and not in a natural way. The previous map was Tyson-based, why make the next one be a spiritual Tyson map, too? Layout and design are merely acceptable by AA's standards, not a huge fan of the music, and the final secret is given once everything else is dead. Thanks a lot.

 

* - thanks @Budoka for correcting me.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Poncho1

[GarrettChan]

Eviternity is not my favorite WAD out there, but Map19, I'll definitely say I like it the least out of all maps from it.

[Budoka]

7 hours ago, Antkibo said:

Surprised that few people have mentioned Eviternity MAP19. With respect for the author (which was not Dragonfly), it's not that is bad or ugly, but that it's very very very overengineered and felt like three maps condensed in one. By the end you're just shambling to the exit like a drunk in a pub.

I didn't mention in in my main post, but it odes make my list. On top what you listed, it's also very... dull a lot of the time, as if most of the fights configurations were made for a serialized package of pre-baked content.

 

@Poncho1 That's Whispering Shadows. Whispering Winds is, rather, the most infamous level in Scythe II, though I don't think it's necessarily hated per say.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Budoka

[FrancisT218]

Let's see what I've played...

 

Plutonia - Map10: Onslaught

Worst map in my favorite iwad. Not close to sufficiently supplied most of the time. You can sort of go speedrun or infight style and alleviate it a bit but otherwise it's kind of miserable.

 

Speed of DooM - Map21: Resurrection

The E1M1 riffage helps redeem this map somewhat, but punching strong monsters is not fun here. See Resurgence Map21 and BTSXE2 Map01 for far better Tyson themed maps from Joshy. (Poison Ivy II is okay BTW.)

 

Scythe - Map10: The Lords

Perhaps an unpopular pick, but one room with supplies and one room with six boring monsters to kill and almost no detail manages to be more deserving of the distinction than 'that other one' (which was one of my least favorite levels ever when I used to play keyboard only, but only because it seemed unbeatable).

 

Scythe II - Map29: Dust To Dust

I think Erik Alm was trying something a bit different for his penultimate map here, a reasonably large map of resource attrition, but I've never really enjoyed it which can't be said of Scythe II's other hard maps. It also doesn't make for great pacing. Map31 is definitely lowest effort but a deathmatch arena with Mr. X bots is alright I guess, almost cute.

 

Going Down - Map03: Crawl Space

Maybe I wasn't in a Tyson mood but this early map felt more restricted and 'cheaply' hard than usual.

 

Eviternity - Map30: Eternity

Struggle - Map30: Ignis Ex Antaeresia

I'm grouping these together because they are both a custom final boss. Struggle's is way too simplistic to beat, while Eviternity's is very frustrating to beat. The arenas are eyecandy, but it still can't save these endings from being a letdown.

Edited October 11, 2022 by FrancisT218

[Firedust]

Off the top of my head:

 

Ancient Aliens, map 26. Just a filler, forgettable map in an otherwise classic mapset.

 

BTSX 2, map 20. Always considered this one to have the most unwieldy layout and worst combat across the entire BTSX series thus far (yes, even before Mtpain27 memes this year), and yes, I enjoy Theory of Broken Circles.

 

Valiant, map 10. This one may be a hot take to some, but I generally like Valiant's episode 2 the least, both visually and gameplay-wise - not to say it's bad or anything, but it just never reaches the sky-piercing highs of the megawad's other episodes, in my opinion.

 

Eviternity, map 30. I don't think I have anything new to say about this one haha. Doom boss fights are super hard to pull off, that's all there is.

 

Urania, map 4. Not a popular megawad on DW, but still one of my favourites. This map is a slog though. It's dark in places and chock-full of hitscanners despite the severe lack of health, but the worst offender has got to be the winding corridors in the swampy water. You will get lost. Many times. I feel like this is the map that made so many players give up on Urania in the first place.

 

Now someone please make a thread about maps in megawads that made you think 'hey, this mapset is a classic!'

Edited October 12, 2022 by Firedust

[pcorf]

IWAD MAPS

Doom E3M7, the maze will test your patience, the real boss of episode 3.

Doom E3M8, can be beaten in a few seconds if you have the BFG from previous maps.

TNT MAP27, it was a disaster in every aspect but you keep wanting to play it. The music is great though.

 

My own maps (Serious maps)

Whispers of Satan MAP06 turned out to be a disaster in my mapping career but also a great thing as well. I was too focussed on the looks, not on layout or gameplay. I never heard the end about it for years. It woke me up and made me better though. If there was a new version of WOS, there will almost be certainly a new MAP06 and possibly new MAP09 as well.

Edited October 13, 2022 by pcorf

[spineapple tea]

On 10/11/2022 at 6:23 PM, FrancisT218 said:

Scythe II - Map29: Dust To Dust 

You've just reminded me of how much I don't like that map. Scythe 2 is a very special megawad to me and I couldn't think of any map I didn't like. Even MAP09, the one Erik mentions in the text file for being "the worst map out of the bunch", is atmospheric and has one of the most memorable midis in the wad to me (something about it just makes me think about the first time I played Scythe 2). MAP29, however, felt like a completely different megawad. I think at one point I actually said "what the fuck is this" while playing it for the first time. It even sours the feeling of entering MAP30 and hearing that Symphony X midi (also, thanks Erik for introducing me to one of my favorite bands) as you'll still be recovering from the fact that the penultimate map completely sucked.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

On 10/11/2022 at 2:04 PM, Kyka said:

MY FAVORITE MEGAWADS DON'T HAVE ANY WORST MAPS.

That's the spirit mate!

 

I don't want to hate on anyone, so I'll use two examples from one of my wads. Map03 and Map06 from RLT.wad are just utter garbage. They're speedmaps but still, participating in ASS (may it rest in glorious peace) has shown me that being fast isn't an excuse heh. Map03 is just full of dumb encounters that are frustrating at first but really easy to cheese and skip by after learning them. Map06 isn't even really a map. It's two ugly little rooms with like 20 mobs if I remember correctly. Just terrible. I really like the rest of  the wad, I've improved a lot since then but it doesn't really make me cringe outside of those two. If it weren't so short, I'd suggest skipping them if you play.

[Herr Dethnout]

On 11/23/2020 at 3:53 AM, Omniarch said:

All Ultimate Doom boss levels (whether IWAD maps or imitations thereof in PWADs) and almost any incarnation of the bloody Icon of Sin. That's not to say good boss levels are impossible to make, just that I, in my relative inexperience, have yet to encounter any.

I disagree. the Baron's boss fight it's actually pretty good.

[Toastd]

Eviternity: MAP30, probably. Excluding boss fights, I'd say MAP25. It's just one big, cramped, hectic fight, and feels like a real downgrade after as big and high-quality a map as Gossamer. The fight itself is... Fine. At least the map looks really nice. That goes for every map in Eviternity though!

 

EDIT: Oh, a few more:
Scythe: Run From It, obviously. I think it's 28?

Plutonia: MAP02. Something about it just rubs me the wrong way. I think it's the needlessly weird invisible bridge that's raised by shooting a computer panel.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Toastd

[whybmonotacrab]

5 hours ago, Dusty_Rhodes said:

That's the spirit mate!

 

I don't want to hate on anyone

I made this thread 2 years ago when I was still pretty new to the community. I kinda regret making it, since I've grown to dislike just being negative about wads outside of providing critical feedback these days. Weird that it recently blew up 2 years later.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

2 hours ago, whybmonotacrab said:

I made this thread 2 years ago when I was still pretty new to the community. I kinda regret making it, since I've grown to dislike just being negative about wads outside of providing critical feedback these days. Weird that it recently blew up 2 years later.

Woah, wasn't blaming anyone man. I think it's actually a good thread. I just kinda wanted to focus on my own flaws and maybe add some flavor to the thread. "ExMx of 2002ADO is bad," "Mapxx of Plutonia is bad," etc.

Definitely not condemning you. Also @Kyka is a buddy and I was just goofing with him heh.

[whybmonotacrab]

7 hours ago, Dusty_Rhodes said:

Woah, wasn't blaming anyone man. I think it's actually a good thread. I just kinda wanted to focus on my own flaws and maybe add some flavor to the thread. "ExMx of 2002ADO is bad," "Mapxx of Plutonia is bad," etc.

Definitely not condemning you. Also @Kyka is a buddy and I was just goofing with him heh.

It's all good, I didn't think you were. These days I'd just rather celebrate the achievements of people who are willing to spend countless hours of unpaid labour to give us awesome content rather than point out the flaws is all.

[Screamapillar]

Gotcha! from Doom 2. Ugly, stupid, and the fact that whole level is on 20-damaging lava makes it worst for me in whole IWAD. Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind is also underwhelming, because Cybie always wins.

[xGenesis]

On 11/22/2020 at 5:59 PM, General Rainbow Bacon said:

Well, not naming any particular wads, but when you have a great 29 maps and then you just toss in a random ass uninspired IOS fight for map 30, it ruins my day.  Don't do this megawad aspiring mappers.  

 

EDIT: If you can't figure out a way to make an interesting IOS fight, don't put one in.  

what does IOS stand for?

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

Ancient Aliens: Probably MAP23. A map with a scale that grand feels like it should have more of a sense of adventure to it, but it doesn't feel all that exciting to explore. The massive space also makes for a lot of time where it feels like nothing is happening too. Just kind of makes for a somewhat dull experience overall, although it picks up in the final stretch.

 

Going Down: I feel like it's tough to make a good choice with this one. I can pick MAP01, it's not particularly entertaining, but it's just an introduction. MAP21 feels a little too personal because I'm just not too big on Tyson-y maps. Maybe I'll pick on MAP22, it feels a bit "just there" for a map so late in the wad.

 

Also all the Eviternity MAP19 picks make me sad, it's one of my favourite maps of all time.

[Nefelibeta]

53 minutes ago, xGenesis said:

what does IOS stand for?

Icon of Sins

[Maximum Matt]

Okay, top of my head:

Doom - Episodes 1-3 easily the secret levels, but as for a 'proper' level, definitely ol' Limbo - if we're talking Ultimate Doom, then, the prize would totally go to E4M4, The Shittening

Doom II - Nirvana of course, sorry Dave

TNT - goddamn Habitat

Plutonia - ummmmmm.... actually, I always hated Aztec

[Nightmare2989]

MAP27: Stench of Evil (Alien Vendetta) i hate that map sooooo much it exhausting to play and it boring and not fun