PL2: Mordeth Award contender finally hits the streets

I haven't yet seen a single LCD screen on which Doom looked good. I could tweak all I wanted with the monitor's controls, the graphics driver and even the engine itself but it always looked dull and washed out - not to mention that the latency of most screens is still horrible and the image tends to smear.

GreyGhost said:
I have an idea - maybe impractical - instead of producing lighter and darker versions of a wad, provide interchangeable COLORMAP lumps that are optomised for brighter/darker monitors.

Hmm, there are some already available ones*, but they kill the color range a bit much. A brighter** alternative palette is a better idea. This implies changing all of PLAYPAL, but I think inkworks can help with that.

* I used one for a while when I had a monitor that kept getting dimmer and dimmer with time.

** Brighter in my case, as someone with a darker monitor may also be generous to those with a brighter one and include a darker palette.

Of course, if more people made at least some attempt to properly calibrate their monitors, these types of problems would not be anywhere near as common. :p (well, outside of occasions like Myk's old monitor dying, but that's obviously beside the point).

Graf Zahl said:

Gusta's maps are definitely the best in here

I disagree. The maps themselves are pretty high in detail and pretty but the gameplay is annoying. I think every single one of his maps start with monsters who can already see you, so often when i start I'm aimlessly running around in circles in a map I'm not very familiar with yet. I'm dodging rockets and archvile flames trying to pinpoint which monsters i have to kill first. So many monsters are jammed in some of the most broad areas so if you make two more steps than you meant to you now have a hoard of cacodemons and hell knights on your tail.

Extremely frustrating for the most part but pretty neat maps.

I forget who the author was but Cosmodrome is the best map I had played in the wad.

JohnnyRancid said:

I disagree. The maps themselves are pretty high in detail and pretty but the gameplay is annoying. I think every single one of his maps start with monsters who can already see you, so often when i start I'm aimlessly running around in circles in a map I'm not very familiar with yet. I'm dodging rockets and archvile flames trying to pinpoint which monsters i have to kill first. So many monsters are jammed in some of the most broad areas so if you make two more steps than you meant to you now have a hoard of cacodemons and hell knights on your tail.

That's why I like them. This is a unique, interesting, complex challenge, as opposed to being predictably surrounded by one or two kinds of monsters when you grab a key.

gusta's maps were incredibly excellent, or so i found them to be. all maps have been fun to play, and i think map 11 is probably the best archvile only map in existence.

I hated map11 when I first played it due to the ambushes and lack of cover, but the second time I played it, it was a blast.

I was just wondering if there were any reviews on Pl2 yet?
I can't seem to find any :-(

Apart from the reviews here one's been approved for a forthcoming T/nC.

Hmm... I wouldn't say it's better than Scythe 2. Close but not quite.

I'm planning on doing a video review soon (hopefully this weekend). Stay tuned to my YouTube channel. :>

Okay, I finally finished the wad. I almost regret ever complaining about the first maps, 'cause the last few redeem everything completely. Everything from 19+ was bloody genius in some way or fashion, and it all played great. Also, boss of win.


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A few misc. replies:

My LCD monitor is great. I haven't had any troubles running games and while the color was a little odd at first, I've tweaked it to where I like it. Having ultra-big widescreen is awesome. I always have far too many windows open at any given point in time.

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Something tells me I don't play Doom as much as 99% of you guys. Amazing how so many can spot the subtle differences in gameplay styles between megawads. It's easy to know they play differently, but it's a far different can of worms actually being able to say precisely how they're different. Crazy attention to detail, you crazy Doom freaks have. ;P

But whatever you would call the "surrounded and forced to run like a madman dodging hundreds of fireballs while seeking shelter from endless hordes of enemies at map start" style, I like that. ;P

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I have to say I'm partial to Gusta's maps as well, for reasons mentioned above. Not to dock any other authors though -- they all turned out some top-notch effort (esp. van der Velden). Except for Map06. :(

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I'm hoping to do a co-op run soon. I'm sure it will kill the hell out the original Plutonia. ;P

Xaser said:
I'm hoping to do a co-op run soon.

Yeah, I'm doing that. Highly recommended!

t.v. said:

I was just wondering if there were any reviews on Pl2 yet?
I can't seem to find any :-(

http://www.doom-wads.wz.cz/recenze-pl2.htm
Here you can find a review by Vasek "Damned" Havranek but knowledge of czech language is fair advantage for reading it :-)
I can ask him to translate into English anyway ...

Graf Zahl said:

I haven't yet seen a single LCD screen on which Doom looked good. I could tweak all I wanted with the monitor's controls, the graphics driver and even the engine itself but it always looked dull and washed out - not to mention that the latency of most screens is still horrible and the image tends to smear.

that's true (perhaps except for high quality LCDs). i use a benq fp91gx. your discussion made me install my old CRT again for a test, and the colors appeared more vivid. too bad i simply don't have space for that big ugly box on my desk. doom's palette was made with CRTs in mind, and its speed is also not typical for today's games.

I'm on Map21. It's beginning to feel like a chore to find out what happens at the end without just skipping right to it.

I'm just wondering, has anybody done a video playthrough of Plutonia 2?

Please don't bump threads from several years ago.

This is the news comment section, it's considered part of the main site, and the normal rules for bumping don't apply here.

LingtheDoomGuy said:

I'm just wondering, has anybody done a video playthrough of Plutonia 2?

There are individual playthroughs of each map.

I would not expect a full video playthrough like Doom2 or Plutonia 1, for the very good reason the levels are just too hard and too long to complete in one sitting.