SIGIL II - the next Doom episode from John Romero

[taxalot]

It's going to be one of those "No, no, there were never any bad blood between us but we had creative difference" reunions you see from old rock band members, and they're going to smile, take their pay check to the bank, go back to their wives and say "THAT FUCKING BASTARD SO GLAD THIS IS OVER."

 

[Black Plague]

Quite exciting.

 

[Black Plague]

YOU SLIMY DOUCHE JOHN WHERE IS IT?


EDIT: Got it, late. I'll update my .txt John.

 

[ironmask]

I wish Sigil 2 was a doom 2 wad instead. I also feel like this wad will unfortunately be overshadowed by eviternity 2, which was released the same day.

 

[Venser]

I wish Sigil 2 was a doom 2 wad instead. I also feel like this wad will unfortunately be overshadowed by eviternity 2, which was released the same day.

He said he's gonna do Doom 2 next.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I wish Sigil 2 was a doom 2 wad instead. I also feel like this wad will unfortunately be overshadowed by eviternity 2, which was released the same day.

Nah if you are into the Doom wad scene you are going to play them all anyway.

I agree this should have been Doom 2.

Wonder if he'll actually touch Quake at some point.

 

[Venser]

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Sigil II isn't doing much for me. The first level alone was full of lame 'gotcha'-stuff after pushing all those 'switches', but the second level just has me stuck - I don't know how to proceed after I've finally gotten outside.

 

[Black Plague]

The door in front of you at the start. I can almost see it opening. And I will open it.
Took me a while to see how things are.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Finished. Very rough start, the player is put against difficult odds with limited space and ammo, but the difficulty balances out around the Map09/Map04-mark, but then changes back at around Map06. I actually enjoyed Map08, despite the obvious cheese boss fight.

Some tips:

# Check your map regularly. The main theme of this wad is to find tiny holes with symbols you have to shoot to progress. They often show up on the map as thin gaps.
# Secondary theme is to shoot the cracks with the red/blue walls. This always opens a secret nearby, and there's always a single zombie trooper inside along with some goodies.
# On Ultra-Violence there's a Cyberdemon on every map.
# Learn to spot the optional/skippable fights. Ammo is scarce throughout.
# Many maps (especially the latter ones) start with monsters instantly noticing you and attacking. If a map doesn't do so there's a damn good reason for it.

Brutal Doom-players will be surprised to hear that this wad is easier with the mod, as more weapons and ammo become available, and those Cyberdemons are often in a positions where copius amounts of headshots can be made without much hassle. Cacodemons become a total pain though.

 

[otsego]

Better than Sigil 1, music (James Paddock midi) is on point as always, and bullshittingly hard on UV the first two times through.

Bought the box, do not regret.

 

[otsego]

Also for anyone neurotic enough to want 100% kills and secrets, starting in map 2 there is a secret in every map that closes after 30 seconds from start and cannot be opened again. I think the concept was introduced in TNT Evilution.

It adds another element of frenzy at the start of the map if you want to find it. I couldn't be bothered.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I did not notice any timed secrets, but I did notice secrets that I couldn't figure out how to open, and also secrets where you only had one chance of getting at.

Generally this Sigil-wad (not so sure on the previous one) is more about straining the engine with extreme level design to get a greater challenge. Map07 is a good example of this where the starting area is very high up, in a game with no in-built freelook but vertical auto-aim, leading to people shooting into the wild to possibly hit an enemy half a mile below them.

In my previous post I failed to give Sigil II a rating, but it's not a very high one. The few maps that are worth the effort are pulled down by the ones that aren't worth the bother. Romero is trying too hard here, and as much as I'd like to see what he can do with added content from Doom 2, I fear that the output will not be worth it.