Good Doom/Heretic/Hexen WADs

[DraQ]

Also supports Hexen, both Dooms and Strife (with custom dialogue included).
When run with Doom 2 it also includes modified version of Hell on Earth Starter Pack.

Yeah, I've read about it. But Hexen and Strife do not have custom monsters, so the mode kind of loses it's purpose.

Haven't played much of those yet, actually. Only Dooms and Heretic.

It actually got me to appreciate Heretic's ambush design, even though I still think it looks like half-assed Doom TC (not enough fantasy in the level design and lighting - it took Hexen to fix that).

 

[Sjukob]

DraQ
Haven't played strife myself either, although I usually see it being universally recommended for playthrough by many, I will try and get to it eventually.

On the other hand everyone praises hexen, but I say fuck this game, I don't like it. Screw those maze levels and switch hunting, and respawning enemies, and slow combat, and fucking centaurs (seriously who the fuck designed that shit and thought it was ok ?!). Heretic may not be as refined but it is a much more pleasant experience, yeah it's a doom clone with some additional stuff thrown in, but I don't have anything against it.

 

[Lagi]

DraQ
Haven't played strife myself either, although I usually see it being universally recommended for playthrough by many, I will try and get to it eventually.

strife was epic. atmospheric adventure-rpg mixed with fps. Or i remember it like that, need to replay it.

On the other hand everyone praises hexen, but I say fuck this game, I don't like it. Screw those maze levels and switch hunting, and respawning enemies, and slow combat, and fucking centaurs (seriously who the fuck designed that shit and thought it was ok ?!). Heretic may not be as refined but it is a much more pleasant experience, yeah it's a doom clone with some additional stuff thrown in, but I don't have anything against it.

hmm... for me Heretic as fantasy FPS is exactly that "not-refined enough" doom reskin. Hex1 is way better. Did you play Hexen2? this shit is fps puzzle game, not shooter.

 

[Sjukob]

hmm... for me Heretic as fantasy FPS is exactly that "not-refined enough" doom reskin. Hex1 is way better. Did you play Hexen2? this shit is fps puzzle game, not shooter.

Hell no dude. I dislike hexen formula as it is, I'm not going to bother with the sequel which is even heavier on puzzles.

 

[grom]

Is Veteran Edition the best way to play Strife these days, or am I better off using a port? I'd like to be able to remap controls (spoiled by newer FPS), but am otherwise after close-as-possible to vanilla gameplay.

 

[Sjukob]

I've tried running it with btsx (might actually try and finish this borefest for once)

I actually beat that damn wad. The first 15 maps were mostly monotonous and boring, the later ones are much better in everything, I don't know why it takes so long for this thing to finaly take off, for me map 19 was wad's peak. Really fucking overrated mapset, doesn't deserve it's cacoward I say.

So I read that it's sequel was made by mostly different people, I tried playing it and... oh boy . If you don't have a depression the first map has a good chance of giving you one with it's shitty textures, boring music, darkness and hitscanners and it's also fucking big (gameplay is alright though). Why are most of the maps are so fucking huge nowadays ?! Where are my scythe1 like wads ?! There is a good fucking reason why it is one of the best wads ever made ! Anyway, is there a reason to continue with episode 2, does it get better later or can I just quit now ?

As for guncaster I find that powered up draugh suit is pretty dope (broken ?) at certain point you gain perma berserk (not as strong as actual berserk but still a fuckload of damage) which allows you to 2 hit kills revenants in melee and it's phase shift ability or whatever it's called is almost like an invulnerability on demand, once you pump up your mana capacity and regen you can spam it and stay in it for long periods of time. Towards the end I was just running around punching stuff to death, it's cool to feel yourself as some sort of a netherworld godzilla (you can even get basilissa mask for a real godzilla mode) but it's just too much power for normal wads to handle, although arena type of encounters still remain difficult, I died a couple of times on final map of btsx where they dump something like 300 monsters on you. I haven't tried and seen everything that mod has to offer, but my reception still remains very positive.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

So I read that it's sequel was made by mostly different people, I tried playing it and... oh boy . If you don't have a depression the first map has a good chance of giving you one with it's shitty textures, boring music, darkness and hitscanners and it's also fucking big (gameplay is alright though). Why are most of the maps are so fucking huge nowadays ?! Where are my scythe1 like wads ?! There is a good fucking reason why it is one of the best wads ever made ! Anyway, is there a reason to continue with episode 2, does it get better later or can I just quit now ?

I am also currently trying out BTSX Ep. 2 and I'm on Map06, and I've reached the same conclusion that you have. Map04 is just too huge and too complex to come so early in the wad, and it did a good job of killing my interest in the whole thing.

Then Map05 comes along and it's yet another one of those empty scene transititon maps that no one gives a fuck about.

EDIT: Got the map numbers wrong, corrected.

 

[Sjukob]

http://boards.4channel.org/vr/thread/5476226

 

[DraQ]

As for guncaster I find that powered up draugh suit is pretty dope (broken ?) at certain point you gain perma berserk (not as strong as actual berserk but still a fuckload of damage) which allows you to 2 hit kills revenants in melee and it's phase shift ability or whatever it's called is almost like an invulnerability on demand, once you pump up your mana capacity and regen you can spam it and stay in it for long periods of time. Towards the end I was just running around punching stuff to death, it's cool to feel yourself as some sort of a netherworld godzilla (you can even get basilissa mask for a real godzilla mode) but it's just too much power for normal wads to handle, although arena type of encounters still remain difficult, I died a couple of times on final map of btsx where they dump something like 300 monsters on you. I haven't tried and seen everything that mod has to offer, but my reception still remains very positive.

That's why Vindicated exists - it (dynamically) reinjects challenge into Guncaster's undiluted powerderg powertrip.
It can get pretty hard towards the end even in vanilla campaigns when played on The Last Of Your Kind difficulty.

 

[Sjukob]

That's why Vindicated exists - it (dynamically) reinjects challenge into Guncaster's undiluted powerderg powertrip.
It can get pretty hard towards the end even in vanilla campaigns when played on The Last Of Your Kind difficulty.

I was talking about Vindicated though. I played with powersuit recently and it's even more OP than draugh suit. Both suits essentially trivialize the game and turn it into a power fantasy again. Also spells are really underpowered compared to what suits allow you to do and I find myself spending all of my mana on their abilities instead. Oh and extremesphere is just completely broken, you can argue that it's expensive but in later levels you don't have any cash dumps except the said sphere or armor, so you just end up roflstomping through the game. And lastly mod completely craps itself when you play wads with a lot of fighting involved, I'm not even talking about something ridiculous like Sunder, Hell Revealed is already an overkill - too much money, too much lag (optimization in the mod is pretty ass). I wanted to write a more detailed feedback for the author, but I don't want to register on zdoom forums and discord can burn for all I care.

 

[Turtle-Zone 3000]

 

[Turtle-Zone 3000]

 

[Avonaeon]

Holy shit that looks good!

 

[Unkillable Cat]

A small aside - Brutal Doom is still being updated, and the latest update (dated Apr 1st) adds a new weapon: A revolver.



This little hand cannon uses shotgun shells and one-shots everything up to Cacodemons... at close range. The damage dropoff is huge just going into medium range and it's essentially useless at long ranges.

Also it doesn't do shit against the big guys. A Hell Knight eats 3-4 bullets before dying, the Mancubus can eat all six bullets to the head and keep on ticking, and the Arch-Vile doesn't seem to care much about it either.

(Currently you'll need to use the console command "Give Revolver" to get it.)

This is the biggest problem for me about Brutal Doom nowadays: The weapons are being 'tweaked' out of whack. The Shotgun is the worst victim here, it has been nerfed so it now only has 9 shells, only reloads 8 of them if empty and does far less damage than it used to in prior BD versions. The latest version goes one further and requires that the shotgun be pumped at least once before firing.

 

[lightbane]

Modders gonna mod. I hope Sarge releases the latest version and/or the improved campaign already.

 

[d1r]

What's the best Brutal Doom version out there?

Last time I did some .wad runs with BD was when v18 was out.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Modders gonna mod. I hope Sarge releases the latest version and/or the improved campaign already.

The Extermination Day campaign also got an updated release on Apr 1st. Biggest change (that I've heard of) is that MAP18 got changed into a tank level.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

What's the best Brutal Doom version out there?

Last time I did some .wad runs with BD was when v18 was out.

I haven't played every version of BD, but the sweet spot for me is currently Brutal Doom v21c. The current version is Brutal Doom Release Candidate 9, which is at least three versions after that.

 

[lightbane]

What about Project Brutality?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Haven't looked at that one in a while, so I figured I might as well. Latest downloads can be found here.

EDIT: Latest version doesn't work 100% properly, so look into the last stable release. Anyway, this mod is Too Much - having to use overbearing firepower to take out a shotgunner because he has a shield isn't exactly sensible game design.

 

[Astral Rag]

Currently replaying the fantastic Good Morning Phobos. Adonis Escape from Urania and Sigil are next on the list.

 

[Luzur]

 

[BLOBERT]

What's the best Brutal Doom version out there?

Last time I did some .wad runs with BD was when v18 was out.

BRO I PLAY 20B WITH PROJECT BRUTALITY AND NONE OF THE UPDATES SINCE THEN MAKE ME WANT TO UPGRADE

 

[Luzur]

BLOBRO YOU STILL AROUND?

 

[Luzur]