What is the most tough but fair Megawad you have played?

[DSC]

On 10/28/2021 at 5:10 PM, Andromeda said:

HR2 is nowhere near unfair.

Perhaps, but the opinion of the majority on DW thinks of it as incredibly tedious and poorly-designed, and lets be honest, the line between that and unfairness is pretty blurry.

[roadworx]

definitely scythe 2 for me. i absolutely loved it :)

[i suck at nicknames]

On 10/28/2021 at 8:39 PM, Captain POLAND said:

The real question: What's the most tough and unfair MegaWAD you've ever played?

Italo Doom hands down

[i suck at nicknames]

On 10/28/2021 at 9:10 PM, Andromeda said:

HR2 is nowhere near unfair.

From pistol start, it definitely is. 

If you play continuously (as I did), its very manageable and pretty enjoyable IMO. 

[Pirx]

one more for sunlust.

 

speed of doom and bourgeois dm too.

[head_cannon]

My answer is Back To Saturn X Episode 2: Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks because it locked the player into a steady, consistent "weapons 1-6" framework as early as the beginning of MAP04, and its makers managed to design a lot of gameplay that matched the player's power-level quite well. This will change after MAP15, but there's a long stretch of fun levels that are all aiming at the same target, difficulty-wise, and I think that they hit the mark. (Plus, it makes MAP17's boss fight more memorable for how it upsets the status quo.)

 

I found the previous episode to have sudden jarring peaks and valleys over the course of its journey, but the smoother experience of the sequel was one of the things that got me hooked. I believe BTSX:E2 to be a good example of how to compromise when building a resource balance: it keeps me from hoarding ammo during a Continuous playthrough, but the maps are still forgiving & fun to play when I'm trying to nail a saveless run from Pistol Start.