Megawads ruined or redeemed by 1-2 maps?

[RichardDS90]

While it doesn't really fully ruin Community Chest 3. I must say, MAP10 Atlantis Rising does feel like an irritating roadblock that can hamper one's enjoyment of CC3.

[ReaperAA]

Ruined is probably a strong word here, but I definitely got soured by the last map of Stronghold: On The Edge of Chaos. Now I don't think Stronghold has aged all that well in the first place, but the final map is just a big screw-you that it singlehandedly further lowered the mod's rating in my eyes.

 

Otherwise I have to agree with jerrysheppy. A "bad" megawad isn't really going to be redeemed by just 1 or 2 maps. The rest of the bad maps will still be bad.

And likewise, a good megawad isn't spoiled by just 1 or 2 maps (you can just skip them via IDCLIP and ignore they ever exist).

 

On 12/24/2023 at 2:03 AM, Devalaous said:

I feel like its a challenge everyone thats heavily invested in Doom should go through someday.

On 12/24/2023 at 2:21 AM, Firedust said:

Also, I agree with Devalaous, CatEoE is a must playthrough at least for one occasion for any doomer.

 

Nope. Not that I ever want to experience CC1 in the first place, but CatEoE seems like nothing but pure annoyance judging from the Mt.Pain27 review and TheV1perK1ller's walkthrough of it. Hardly what I would ever refer as a must-playthrough.

[Li'l devil]

I guess it's too late say this, but I think I shouldn't have said "ruined". Instead I meant more like, good megawads that have 1-2 maps that are considerably worse or more annoying than the rest. Same with "redeemed", but the opposite. Although now that I'm thinking about it, most megawads probably have 1 or 2 maps that are either much weaker or stronger than the rest. Oh well.

[Crusader No Regret]

I believe I understand the spirit of the inquiry; it's coming up with examples that stumps me.  Though I do have a few examples to throw out.

 

For Whitemare, map 15 feels so much better than the rest of the set.  The rest of the maps range from functional to obnoxious with occasional inspired moments but 15 provides a really compelling setting with engaging gameplay to go with it.

 

As for sets with maps that drag down the overall impression, gonna pick on Whitemare 2 for example purposes.  There are a number of great maps worth playing if you do choose to download it but also a number of obnoxious roadblocks.  20 in particular will be a grueling outing for anyone not up to it though it's not the only map likely to elicit groaning.

[Shepardus]

Sacrament is engraved in my mind as "Doxylamine Moon and a dozen other maps," which isn't really fair to the other maps since they're pretty interesting and I quite like BeeWen's MAP13 (Controlled System), but Lainos's Doxylamine Moon (MAP02) is one of the most boldly unique maps I've ever played, and as a result it's inevitable that it overshadows the rest.

Edited December 30, 2023 by Shepardus

[Li'l devil]

1 hour ago, Shepardus said:

Sacrament is engraved in my mind as "Doxylamine Moon and a dozen other maps," which isn't really fair to the other maps since they're pretty interesting and I quite like BeeWen's MAP13 (Controlled System), but Lainos's Doxylamine Moon (MAP02) is one of the most boldly unique maps I've ever played, and as a result it's inevitable that it overshadows the rest.

Oh I really should play that.

[Andromeda]

On 12/30/2023 at 12:34 PM, Shepardus said:

Sacrament is engraved in my mind as "Doxylamine Moon and a dozen other maps," which isn't really fair to the other maps since they're pretty interesting and I quite like BeeWen's MAP13 (Controlled System), but Lainos's Doxylamine Moon (MAP02) is one of the most boldly unique maps I've ever played, and as a result it's inevitable that it overshadows the rest.

Heh, on my mind it's the "good atmospheric wad that ends with Controlled System".

[Helm]

Nothing can ruin Sunder it's too strong but oh boy actually trying to live on Precarious, is a miserable experience especially if the pain elemental part of the problem decides to do pain elemental stuff. The Cage isn't far back. I wouldn't begrudge anyone that tries for a while and then skips these maps to see more of the sights and terrors of the rest of the set.

[Salt-Man Z]

Sacrament and Whitemare 2 also both immediately popped into my head:

 

Sacrament, only because of MAP10: the first time I played it, I got completely stuck and about gave up on the WAD. You grab the yellow key from a little gazebo-like structure, but while there are four exits to the gazebo, only one of them has the tripwire that not only opens the teleporter to get you out of that area of the map, but another tripwire that opens a random wall elsewhere in the map, allowing for progression. It's a really dumb setup, but I otherwise really like both the map and the WAD.

 

Whitemare 2 was also a ton of fun, but one of the early maps is broken (there's a door that's supposed to open, but doesn't, stopping progression cold) and then there's MAP20: Gloominarch's Realm, this big ridiculous monster of a map that not only doesn't mesh with the rest of the WAD, but is a totally unfun slog.

[IDDQDtheCacodemon]

On 12/23/2023 at 1:07 PM, Gaia74 said:

I played all Slaughterfest 2012 just because of map 25

 

some may know why :)

YO ME FR (seriously tho, thanks to the SF2012 and the SF2011 I have discovered lots of very good music)

[Akagi666]

It didn't ruin the megawad but map 23 and 31 of Ancient Aliens are of lesser quality than the rest imo.

Same thing with these:
 

Run From It in Scythe.

Misri Halek in Alien Vendetta.

Edited May 7 by Akagi666

[RaRu Des2122]

Solar Struggle's fourth episode contains the best and the hardest maps which can cause the most emotions. Moreover, these emotions can be very different: you don't want to return to some maps once again and some you want not just to play and replay through but to study it entirely and literally disassemble it into its component parts.

 

I would classify E4M1: Docking Station as the first, and E4M5: Waste Recycling Facility and E4M6: Mass Propulsion (I still can't choose one of them because it's extremely difficult to compare them!) as the second.

[CravenCoyote]

The last couple of maps in Tempest Enterprise disappointed me a bit. The entire wad was great fun, but the last two maps were just nowhere near as good as all the other ones.

 

The penultimate map had a death-timer after flicking a switch, where you had to run to the exit which is back towards the start of the level. When you flick the switch, a slaughter-wad number of monsters appear, and if you don't make it back to the start within the time limit you die. The final map was just all-out slaughter and definitely not for me. I know that some people really love slaughter maps, but I'm just not one of them. All the other maps in this pack were 'standard' levels and a blast to play through.

[Beubeu]

It's funny because "Megawads ruined or redeemed by 1-2 maps" is for me the perfect description for tnt evilution 

 

Like map18 really give me hard PTSD because of this stupid shootable walls that take me more than a hour to find 

 

And i think nobody want to talk about map23

[Robo_Cola]

For me personally it was MAP05: Elixir from CC2...

The sheer lack of ammo and 

Spoiler

that absolute ballbuster of a Cyberdemon guarding the exit

sent me into an actual rage where I smashed one of my keyboard keys off.  To this day I still get angry thinking about it.