Levels you originally hated but grew to love?

[vdm1337]

Was thinking about this recently since I've replayed Inferno again, and, after looking up a walkthrough for E3M5, realizing how much better that level actually is than I remembered. Granted, good level design usually means you wouldn't have to look up a walkthrough to get through it enjoyably, but I found myself actually enjoying the level and moving it at least above E3M6 and E3M7 in my rankings. (speaking of which, E3M7 has to be my least favorite now.)

 

But in general, before this, I found myself disliking a lot of The Shores of Hell and Inferno - hell, even Thy Flesh Consumed, but after replaying them recently (albeit, Thy Flesh Consumed was in co-op with my girlfriend) it was a lot more fun than I remembered and I realized "Huh, there really aren't any outwardly bad levels in this game." (Aside from Fortress of Mystery.)

 

So, from IWADs and PWADs alike, what's a level you used to hate but now love?

[RjY]

FWIW this topic has come up recently:

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/140944-wads-where-youve-changed-your-evaluation/

Edit: I did not mean this as an admonishment, only as a suggestion that you might find a recent thread interesting as it was on a similar subject. Apologies for the misunderstanding.
 

Edited November 2, 2023 by RjY

[vdm1337]

Ah, my bad. Haven't really been that active on here lately so I guess I just missed it before I made mine. My apologies.

[Maximum Matt]

That's ok, this whole forum gets by on recycled topics - I'm gonna post another highly-original "best maps of Doom I" thread soon...

I'll go E4M5, I used to hate the dungeon-y feel, but it's grown on me a bit... even if you can cheese it a little (you don't need two of the three keys to finish the level)

[volleyvalley]

While I didn't necessarily hate it, E4M4 from Thy Flesh Consumed always annoyed me a bit, when I first played through E4. The first two maps were great and often times fun in terms of combat and challenge, and even E4M3 kept some of the momentum that the first two maps had, but E4M4 always felt like a sore thumb, as it is the easiest level of the whole episode. But as of late, I've come to appreciate the break map.

[Cutman 999]

Maybe tricks and traps, like the chasm i only started loving it after playing it outside the box, outside of that, i can't say the same of other iwad levels.

 

As for pwads, i can only point out BTSX, like i said in other thread

[drygnfyre]

Usually maps that had secret exits, disliked them because I was always frustrated trying to figure out how to access them. I hated E1M3 for a long time because that one room in front of the secret exit you could peer into, along with the soul sphere room, just teased me. At the time I was too young to really understand spatial thinking and of course in hindsight, figuring out how to get into both rooms is pretty simple. But until I learned that, I hated that map so much.

[DankMetal]

I despised E4M2 for being hard. And the first time i played the level i was beaten up by the previous map (which i also hated at some point). Nowadays i love the entirety of Thy flesh consumed, including those levels that people deemed as "bad".

[WhateverComic07]

MSCP Map 3

 

I hated it at first, but then grew to love it to the point that it's the only level I've attempted to speedrun. (If I submitted I'd be second place by a few seconds for UV Speed, so no real point in submitting)

Edited November 4, 2023 by WhateverComic07

[Lila Feuer]

The Chasm. I'm sure that pushes my alignment towards Neutral Evil but eh what's new.

 

[Patrick_Plays_Doom]

probably the gantlent, at first i just hated every bit of it but i kept on playing it and i loved it

[erzboesewicht]

E3M2 ("Slough of Despair"). When I started with Doom I considered it confusing and boring. It was where my first playthrough stopped, for months. But now I see it as an interesting sandbox for combat experiments, and one of the more engaging maps in Doom 1 due to the (light but significant) space restriction.

 

On the contrary, I could cite MAP27 of Alien Vendetta as a map I loved first (for the blue archvile section, for example, and its general variety), but now I consider it a almost completely unconnected, ultra-linear and slow affair.

Edited November 6, 2023 by erzboesewicht

[Rancid Sam]

Diet 32-in-24 MAP16, "The Million Dollar Pyramid". It was my introduction to slaughter, and it can still feel real dicey if you don't nail the timings on the doors opening after grabbing each key. But after gitting gud(der), I think it's one of my favorite maps from the WAD.

[LadyMistDragon]

E4M1. You've got to understand, it's a plain map and just seemed pointlessly evil. Many years on, it's my favorite opening map from the IWADs, even beating out System Control from TNT.

 

I was also rather cool on Halls of the Damned originally. I think it was just like 'well, it's that one confusing map with the awesome midi, fake exit, and one other thing not coming to mind.' I still think Central Processing is my favorite map in the original Doom but Halls of the Damned is much closer, possibly ahead of Containment Center.

[Lila Feuer]

The only thing I don't like about Hell Beneath is that it isn't feasible to try and kill everything because you'll make the start of E4M2 much more difficult and it's just not easy whatsoever to try to go for 100% kills. By the time I get the blue key I consider it wise to never attack anything again and gun for the exit, the NIN secret is risky to trigger for that very reason.

[CacoG0ld3n]

map E1M4

 

I don't know why but it was a lot for me to do and I was bored but I decided to play it and repeat it several times and in the end I said: I love it! I love it!