Xeogred

Yeah, have seen dozens of wads thesedays with a nice teleporter near the exit to return to the beginning. I appreciate them myself even if I usually don't go for 100%.

Finally beat this wad and had a blast with it, no weak map in sight. The second to last set of levels setting wise was a nice breath of fresh air from the norm. I'm always a sucker for vanilla Doomcute and both Nostalgia's did that well. Eventually 2 still evolves into the usual hell final levels, but they were awesome and the IoS level was really solid too. I have to say the caves in the middle of this wad, while at first I thought they looked the most uninteresting in ways, I loved how the deeper you got into that chapter, the more lava and detail started to overflow the areas. But above that, the combat was absolutely amazing in these maps. Most of the cave levels seemed like they were fairly nonlinear with different routes you could take on a run. Everything from rad suits, to ammo, health, the monster respawns in repeat arenas, felt so meticulously balanced and fair. Was never choked for items but you couldn't waste anything either. These levels maybe weren't my favorite in the aesthetic department compared to the rest of Nostalgia 1-2, but yeah, the combat was just freaking amazing these maps. Might be my biggest takeaway from this one. Could definitely see myself replaying both megawads down the road and if myolden makes more, I'm definitely there. Really cool to get some highly consistent quality megawads of short/punchy maps with a lot of detail and great balance. Played blind on UV, PS, maybe a few saves per level at points, time was around 3h33m or so.

Funny enough I've been tinkering a bit with Doom 2 and Brutality, kind of feeling the city maps there this replay. A whole megawad of some quality ones looks fantastic haha. I'll have to check this one out. EDIT: wait, myolden!?! Frick, I just loved Nostalgia 1-2 and the small city maps in those. But I see tons of other great mappers/composers for this set too haha. Damn yeah I gotta play this soon!

I beat the first "episode" of maps myself now and loved it. The water stylized techbase is such a cool look. I'm also not sure if others specified how the combat feels a bit different than Nostalgia, but I can feel it too. Not better or worse, it's just cool how coming straight off Nostalgia, these maps still feel awesome and creatively fun to me. I continue to like that the secrets aren't always too tough to find. Also have to say this trend of me hearing Shinobi III/Genesis remix midis in wads lately... never stop! It's so perfect.

Ah dang, people hating on Metal. I was curious if that was the map I had in mind with the weird platform/puzzle stuff at the end and yup... I have to admit that map has grown on me over time haha.

I just finished up Nostalgia 1 and had a blast with it. I loved the small city levels and it's cool to see more here, along with 5 themes this time, that all look amazing. Might hit this one up next soon!

I've replayed it plenty across the various official releases/ports and usually have a good time with it. I can always see how it doesn't land very well for others though. The quality and level design styles are a little all over. I do like the gray/red techbase aesthetic most of it goes for over Plutonia. But yeah last time I replayed both I finally did PS runs of them and thought TNT was pretty unbalanced that way, Plutonia was a lot better. For my tastes, the spiritual successor Revilution is incredible and I'm hopeful TNT2 finally finishes up soon. The funny thing being I'm not really sure if anyone can nail down exactly what TNT's "theme" is, other than the gray/red techbase look that I mentioned. But yeah Revilution is just one of the best megawads of the last handful of years I'd say.

I'm playing Nostalgia since I kept seeing it mentioned lately and the concept sounded awesome to me. I think I always will be someone who favors vanilla textures and all. So far it's been amazing with just the right difficulty for me on a blind PS/UV run. But now I'm at the city levels and have to say, I'm blown away. The DoomCute is through the rough and going through these detailed levels even with mostly vanilla textures and assets, it feels like the Build Engine in such a cool way. The levels are oozing with personality and detail. One level goes down into a tram station and was awesome. None of these city levels are the big weird open/surreal ones like in Doom 2 itself or other "city" levels in wads. The rest of the maps have been top notch so far but I'm really loving how this city episode here feels like a continuous adventure and the maps string together nicely. Can't wait to see the rest of this wad and now I'm stoked to see what Nostalgia II is like. I also beat Oops All Tech Bases recently. Overall I liked it a fair bit but the level design quality and difficulty is a bit all over. I think it was map 24 and 29 that had kind of ridiculous levels of verticality with huge open spaces and chaingunners/enemies littered everywhere above. Kind of a nuisance. But it was a good time for the most part and I loved the use of Doom 1 midis in bigger Doom 2 styled tech bases. The Icon of Sin fight was creative in a good way as well. I've always loved E1 and tech bases in general, even in Quake and other games, etc, so enjoying a whole 32 megawad of that aesthetic... yeah I can play tech bases forever haha.

I started up Nostalgia myself today and can confirm, these are some awesome compact maps.

Going Down. Difficulty can be a bit high if you start on UV like I did recently so I wasn't clearing all the maps in 5 minutes or so, but yeah. Really cool and creative wad with a compact mapping style from start to finish.

No Sleep for the Dead and other E1 replacements would be a good idea. Ones that aim for more of that vanilla/Romero E1 vibe without going too crazy. Both Doom 1-2 The Way id Did would be good too. I think both did a good job feeling around the same level of difficulty as the main games. I honestly think if one levels up to UV TNT and especially Plutonia, they kind of graduate to be ready for a lot of wads out there.

Thanks for that. I'll give it a look! Sums up TNT I'd say, major highs and lows haha. I still have an odd soft spot for it even over Plutonia in ways. But finally completing a UV/PS run of Plutonia a few years ago made me appreciate it a lot more. I still haven't felt compelled to do that with TNT though. But yeah I'm a fan despite its warts. For me I'm finally going through Going Down, blind on UV. So it's been pretty sweaty on some maps and tough in spots, yet always feels pretty fair after a little trial and run. I'm up to map 17. No doubt this wad is oozing with personality and a unique style from start to finish. If anything the music might give me the most anxiety haha, seems intentional with how frantic and goofy some of it is. But yeah I see the hype... this is definitely a really cool megawad and breath of fresh air. Also played a few maps of Oops All Tech Bases, because I'm a sucker for them. I love how it actually kind of has a Doom 1 vibe aesthetically but with the full Doom 2 roster of course. Seems pretty solid so far.

When I'm in the mood for a bigger monster roster and some change, I usually go for Complex Doom: https://www.moddb.com/mods/complex-doom I think for like each enemy it has four randomized variants. Other difficulties. Lots of new guns. You can get super overpowered in continuous playthroughs haha, but yeah I think it's pretty cool every once and awhile. Fun way to revisit some of the original games this way.

Beat some more wads this week: - Nihility - https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Nihility:_Infinite_Teeth [UV/PS,~2h50m] 2016 Years An E2 replacement. I won't say I loved it but it'll leave a strong mark in a cool way. Lots of personality and unique level design. M8-M9 aren't really boss or gimmick levels but rather more cool larger levels like the rest. Difficulty was pretty solid with several monsters replaced, the Lost Souls being annoying now able to shoot projectiles. The sound effects and some gun graphics are changed, the pistol is better with perfect accuracy now, etc, with the "music" mostly being simple dark ambience. Worked for me. Definitely not a vanilla vibe all around but it does do an interesting take on E2's Hell infested techbases. Gritty stuff. Felt a little choked on items in E2M7 for one of the key hunts in floor damaging area. The level design of this wad is fairly open though, so I was able to go through some other routes and ammo up a bit, but that part still felt a little unfair. But I guess an E2M7 should rightfully be tough. Was definitely some challenging starts doing Pistol Start. On the level design again, it was interesting how most maps have a large amount of secret areas. Up to 10 or more even on some maps. Was doable to find a lot of them throughout and helped a lot with the levels. Often though you can reach the exit of a map and still see non-secret areas to explore. Seemed like the author had adventure/exploration in mind. It was fun to try and see the whole map, even though you could run through to the exit and miss stuff at times. - UAC Ultra - https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/uacultra [UV/PS,~2h14m] 2010 Jamie Bainbridge (Super Jamie) and Jon Vail (40oz) Excellent 11-12 map megawad. Nice dark/atmospheric aesthetic with music from some Origin/EA "Abuse" game, kind of like atmospheric Quake. Maps are compact mid sized with clever level design and traps. So difficulty wasn't too high but there were definitely some tricky mobs and level traps at points. One of the coolest Icon of Sin variants out there. The radiation gimmick (damaging floors in some "outdoor" environments") was interesting and utilized finally a bit in oen of the later maps that felt like a fun rush. I think Back to Saturn X fans would really enjoy this one. Similar aesthetic/vibes to me. 40oz has done a lot since 2010, anyone know if they've done other stuff in the vein of UAC Ultra?

@mattjoes thanks for the quotes. That's freaking cool to hear he'll be grinding on Hellion asap.