What is the most painful experience you’ve had playing Doom?

[Logamuffin]

Title says it all. You can either mention singular maps, whole wads or both. Note that this isn’t the worst map you’ve played but the *least fun*. For example, Habitat from TNT is a really bad map, but it’s also fairly short so the amount of misery you get from it is going to be less than something like Mill or Admin Center. 

 

For me, up until about 2 weeks ago I probably would’ve mentioned Dark Dome from Alien Vendetta or maybe Mill from TNT. But now, Equinox and specifically Map12 from that wad take the cake as the least fun Doom experience I have ever had. It’s just really bad.

[DNSKILL5]

That one duel map where it’s just a circular room filled with SSGs. Unless it’s 1v1 and only one kill needed to win, it gets old fast the longer it drags out. 

[valkiriforce]

Three's A Crowd MAP29 is quite painful...in a manner of speaking.

[12GMONSTER]

I've been gangbanged quite a lot and it's not fun lol. I use Godmode when it gets irritating

[VoanHead]

tfw you’re low on health trying to scrounge for medikits/stimpaks/anything to bring you back to 100%, saving your game, and getting surprised killed by a hitscanner and when you load you’re almost essentially stuck like that.

[RataUnderground]

I've been thinking and I don't seem to remember any situation that does justice to the subject of this post, because as soon as a map becomes excessively tedious or aggravating, I just close the game and don't have a bad time.

Edited January 27 by RataUnderground

[TheCarsEdge]

thy flesh consumed, e4m6 was particularly terrible

i had been playing the map for 30 minutes at that point, i was low on ammo, health and all that stood between me and the end was the cyberdemon

so i was dodging his missiles between the pillars and tried to shotgun him

it didn't go as planned obviously, i died in the lava and had to restart 

[faceplant641]

Maybe not the most painful, but the most recent:  was trying to beat Fire And Ice for the first time, and in my normal Weenie Hut Jr. style on maps like this I'm save scumming like crazy.  I'm coming up on hour 3 of beating my head against this damn map, and I realize that at some point a dozen saves prior, I'd burnt some essential cells killing a cyberdemon who was supposed to help thin the herd in the yellow key fight.  Had to content myself with only killing 707/747, because there was no way I was gonna rewind that far and listen to "You Suck" another 58 times that night.

[Fonze]

My most painful doom experience was while playing a CP I don't remember the name of. I was playing through on mobile, having a good time with most maps until I hit one that had several shotgunners and other hitscans by the beginning of the map. Seems innocuous enough, but for some reason, I just kept dying over and over. I had such a rough time of getting even out of that area and the only rationalization I can bring myself to believe is to just blame it on hitscan effectiveness in gzdoom lol.

 

As painful as the experience itself was, the kickback and shit talking I got from others in the community over playing doom on mobile like I don't also play on computer was such a huge turnoff. Not everybody is incapable of playing doom on mobile... and the hugely prevalent bad attitudes towards it is perhaps the most painful doom experience I've had. Well, other than being taken advantage of by a fellow doomer in one of the discords I used to be in and not having the backbone to stand up for myself at the time.

[SiFi270]

The most literal example for me would be 8-Bits Deathmatch (not to be confused with Cutmanmike's Mega Man TC). So many walls are just bright solid colors rapidly flashing. I made an addon where each frame was 4 times as long and the playpal had its saturation reduced, and it was still awful.

 

Other contenders would include Map03 of Earth by Roger Ritenour, where you have to navigate a mazy cave with minimum brightness and not a single line appearing on the automap, or any wad where I learn the hard way several maps in that it's made with continuous play in mind. I will never learn when it comes to that.

Edited January 27 by SiFi270

[FletcherHonoroma]

The one time that I tried playing Doom whilst driving. I don't recommend it.

[PsychEyeball]

Playing most of Hell Revealed 2, especially MAP 28: Beyond The Sea. I never found a Doom level I swore at more than this one. Not that the rest of the pack didn't accomplish that.

[Celestin]

The bulk of Hellbound. I've yet to see a megawad with combat this dull (I'm open for suggestions, though). The second place comes to Eternal Doom's MAP30. You know why if you've played it.

[Logamuffin]

3 hours ago, faceplant641 said:

Maybe not the most painful, but the most recent:  was trying to beat Fire And Ice for the first time, and in my normal Weenie Hut Jr. style on maps like this I'm save scumming like crazy.  I'm coming up on hour 3 of beating my head against this damn map, and I realize that at some point a dozen saves prior, I'd burnt some essential cells killing a cyberdemon who was supposed to help thin the herd in the yellow key fight.  Had to content myself with only killing 707/747, because there was no way I was gonna rewind that far and listen to "You Suck" another 58 times that night.

 

Fire and Ice was also a very painful experience for me. One of the reasons I won't be replaying Scythe, as classic as that megawad is.

[faceplant641]

14 minutes ago, Logamuffin said:

 

Fire and Ice was also a very painful experience for me. One of the reasons I won't be replaying Scythe, as classic as that megawad is.

Bad as it was, I do have a healthy respect for the level, and the entire wad up to that point was a blast.  In my idle time in the week since I beat it I've been replaying it in my head, thinking about what I could have done better.  It's probably gonna be one I revisit eventually, once I've played other difficult stuff, to see how my skills improved.  It's certainly the hardest map I've ever completed up to now.

[faceplant641]

35 minutes ago, Celestin said:

The second place comes to Eternal Doom's MAP30. You know why if you've played it.

I just had a healthy chuckle at the length of that level's walkthrough on the wiki.  Was thinking about revisiting Eternal Doom, I got up to like map 6 or 7 a few years ago, but damn...

Edited January 27 by faceplant641

[wallabra]

That would be when an Imp snuck behind me and spelled testicular torsion. That was horrible. Dunno how I didn't die.

 

All joking aside, when I play long maps without saves and die near the end, I've gotten used to it, but if it happens enough times in a row in the same map the frustration adds up and I quit. I'll just take a break, though, and return later with a fresh mind. I guess that's just a normal cycle?

[Doom-X-Machina]

Playtesting my maps...

[pcorf]

Getting killed by a lone distant shotgun guy.

[roadworx]

7 hours ago, faceplant641 said:

Maybe not the most painful, but the most recent:  was trying to beat Fire And Ice for the first time, and in my normal Weenie Hut Jr. style on maps like this I'm save scumming like crazy.  I'm coming up on hour 3 of beating my head against this damn map, and I realize that at some point a dozen saves prior, I'd burnt some essential cells killing a cyberdemon who was supposed to help thin the herd in the yellow key fight.  Had to content myself with only killing 707/747, because there was no way I was gonna rewind that far and listen to "You Suck" another 58 times that night.

heh, yeah, i was gonna come and here and say fire and ice myself. i first played it back when i really sucked at the game, and holy fuck it was difficult. i doubt it'd be anywhere near as bad now if i try to replay it, but back then it was absolutely insane.

[mrthejoshmon]

When I release a level it has the nasty habit of being 20-30 minutes long.

 

When I record the level just to put up a video of it, I must get it all in 1 continuous run. I swear the times I have choked so close to the end, every single time I have died to something dumb, pain and frustration but I do it because I want to.

[Mr. Freeze]

Playing Brutal Doom and realizing this hunk of shit was what people were saying "what Doom should have been." 

[Scypek2]

DooD. The unrelenting consistency of the whole thing is enough to rewire your brarb and cause a continuous headache for long after you're done playing it. It feels innocuous at first, but it really gets to you.

[Carmelo]

Magnolia, Soria Moria.

I forgot to pick up the BFG before entering the yellow skull fight. I realized something was missing but kept going because "it was definetly possible".

It was possible but it cost me 3 hours of insanity.

[Jacek Bourne]

When I just started uvmaxing maps the second map I did was sunder map05 (the platforming one). After 165 attempts I killed everything and had platforms back to the start where the exit was only to fall into a small nearly invisible hole in the starting platform. Of course I died and it took me until attempt 409 to finally beat the map.

[Logamuffin]

1 hour ago, Jacek Bourne said:

attempt 409

Why would you do that to yourself?

[roadworx]

because he's a speedrunner

[Jacek Bourne]

36 minutes ago, Logamuffin said:

Why would you do that to yourself?

 

It's not the most I or anyone has ever died in attempts for a single goal. UVMaxing maps single segment is also a very good way to improve as a player. It's been years since I did this specific run and I've maxed many maps since so it would probably take under 30 attempts now if not less.

[Pechudin]

6 hours ago, Doom-X-Machina said:

Playtesting my maps...

 

YES. God it becomes so f****ing boring. But it must be done.

[realjohnmadden]

Thy Flesh Consumed E4M2 can go jump into an instant death floor, it's AGONIZING. I still have nightmares involving Baron spam because of that damn map, thanks Romero.