The Dean of Doom series (companion thread)

4 minutes ago, northivanastan said:

Judging by the comment at the end... is Scythe 2 (maybe Hell Revealed 2) going to be the first X-difficulty WAD on the show?

Hell Revealed 2, he released the episode order in his Hard sequels trailer.

Also, anyone feels he did map 26 dirty? I remember realy loving it for it´s visuals and gameplay.

I especially am looking forward to scythe 2. I’ll have more to say after I’m given time to watch the new video.

Calling it now, the Dunce Cap will go to Anti Static on his HR2 video.

2 minutes ago, Gothic said:

Calling it now, the Dunce Cap will go to Anti Static on his HR2 video.

That or the siege 2.

Good video on Plutonia 2! I played it continuous on UV once when it came out, so barely remembered it, but the descriptions and video dredged up some vague ideas in my mind. Probably the video I’ve most identified with so far, and I look forward to the other hard sequels of May.

13 hours ago, Jacek Bourne said:

That or the siege 2.

I think Siege 2 will get the Dunce Cap, because even though Anti-Static is ugly with weird music, it had some charm that decino himself likes. And given how much more brutal HR2's maps are in comparison to the first, I believe there will be more maps to bear the full X difficulty, and I call the following:

Map 15: The Path II (X-)

Map 32: Playground (X)

Map 18: Excess Meat (X-)

Map 24: The Inmost Dens III (X)

Map 27: Resistance Remains (X-)

Map 28: Beyond the Sea (X)

Map 29: Hell's Cauldron (X-)

About the commentary in MAP22, I have to remark it's only a coup de gras if it's inflicted by a mancubus slapping you with its belly.

Strangely enough, I remembered maps 25 and 28 more than map 20. It's been way too long since I played Plutonia 2, but I'm tempted to give it another spin someday. If I can work up the courage for it, anyway.

funnily enough i started playing plutonia 2 for the first time a day before the trailer dropped, and i gotta say, i'm absolutely loving it so far :))

it's hard af tho, damn

I'm glad that recent review episodes have put so much emphasis on each mapset's soundtrack - we genuinely are blessed by having hundreds (if not thousands!) of excellent midi tracks to make use of whenever we design maps, thanks to a good few dozen musicians who deserve all the credit in the world. At some point in the Plutonia 2 vid (I'm too lazy to find the timestamp when) the Dean suggests that Pl2's soundtrack is possibly the best collection of midis that has ever been unleashed on the community, and I'm inclined to agree. The likes of BTSX and Ancient Aliens have been more complete and professional in terms of their midi production, but there are just so many absolute bangers in Plutonia 2 that makes it stand out so much. There are numerous midis that the community still makes use of, right now, that originate from it. The only detraction is a handful of weird midis in the final 10 maps, along with a some IWAD midis not making it a complete soundtrack.

EDIT: I quickly skipped through most of the video and I seem to have overstated the Dean's opinion on the mapset's music, he says at 2:30 that the soundtrack alone is worth recommending the WAD, and that's it. Something I agree with a lot more! (I find the set's final 10 maps to largely be a drag, and I usually give up on any playthrough around map 22)

The review of hell revealed 2 is up and boy does mount pain have strong opinions

He starts that video saying that this was his most dreaded episode and that the consistency of the maps are worse than the first one.... this will be a fun episode to watch 

HR2 is such a mixed bag. Absolutely rocking soundtrack, and I've got some nostalgia for it due to how long ago I first played it. I also don't think it's ugly, other than a very select few parts, and occasionally there are rooms that are pretty striking. But.. This wad is basically the polar opposite of what I want from a Dooming experience. Interesting to know MtPain feels more or less the same way.

I don't think I've ever heard MtPain lose it ad a map harder than Inmost Dens III. That man dropped more F-bombs than napalm was dropped during the Vietnam War.

Hooray, HR2 is finally here. I love his videos, I don't always agree with the ratings but the analysis is always interesting, and I've been on a binge rewatch lately. Really hoping Scythe 2 is in the works already.

It's a pity we're unlikely to get a Sunder episode.

Another good one, I personally haven’t played HR2 in its entirety, but I don’t think it’s ugly necessarily.

Yeah no, HR2 is something.

34 minutes ago, BCHQ said:

It's a pity we're unlikely to get a Sunder episode.

Don't torture the poor guy.

I never liked the Hell Revealed series, barring a map here and there. I'd say I like HR2 a bit more overall though so I don't totally agree with him here. At the same time though, I get why he feels the way he does, haha.

I think they're both equally not good, but have 4 or 5 good maps each. Afterlife is the greatest for me.

Nothing about HR or its sequel look appealing to me, but I can see some bright spots in the videos I've seen of them. I also don't think this WAD is that ugly. But there's a lot more stuff out there that is more fun. I appreciated the comments left on this video by some of the old crew explaining the hurdles it went though before release, so that was cool!

Wow. When the biggest slaughtermap in the wad is the BEST level... yeah, I don't think I'm going to play this one, at least not on vanilla. Great episode, bad wad.

5 hours ago, BCHQ said:

It's a pity we're unlikely to get a Sunder episode.

While I have a feeling we probably won't get one of those, I think if it ever gets 100% completed, the chances will go up for an ep. 

The soundtrack is probably the only redeeming  feature. Play with a wad that doesn't replace the music, I guess, but you may find some of the ambient music particularly to be out of place.

I think I might just personally rip the midis of HR2 for my own enjoyment than ever play it lmao. I've seen decino's playthru of HR2 and I gotta say it has to be one of grindiest wads I have ever seen.

Came here to see if there was a lot of dissent to the newest video, since our boy torched the shit out of HR2.  Guess I can leave it at the bottom of my to play list though, haha.

I disagree with Dean of Doom's latest video. Hell Revealed 2 is actually one of my favorite wads. Sure, the quality is inconsistent because it was made by multiple mappers, there are plenty of dickish traps, and there are certain parts that are definitely a pain in the ass (that archvile jump secret in MAP04 is an obvious one), but the spectacularly brutal slaughterfests of maps like "The Path II", "Resistance Remains", and "Playground" make up for it. I also don't think it looks ugly. Not entirely, anyway. Certain maps, especially those by Jonas Feragen, feature some amazing vanilla-compatible detailing.

10 hours ago, VoanHead said:

I think I might just personally rip the midis of HR2 for my own enjoyment than ever play it lmao. I've seen decino's playthru of HR2 and I gotta say it has to be one of grindiest wads I have ever seen.

Trust me, the first Hell Revealed is way grindier than the second.

I never understood the hate for Hell Revealed 2; granted, I've never been that big on either of them, but I still find both of them fun to play on different occasions. I got halfway through HR2 on HMP before I was tired of dealing with the mobs of monsters, so I switched to the lowest setting by MAP16 and was able to have fun with the set as it is. I will say I think both HR & HR2 are especially great for co-op play.

27 minutes ago, E.M. said:

Certain maps, especially those by Jonas Feragen, feature some amazing vanilla-compatible detailing.

I do agree that Jonas Feragen's maps were some of the highlights for me, as I liked his quick explosive gameplay in the early maps as well as some of the cool tricks he pulled in vanilla Doom 2 - especially MAP19. There were highs and lows like any other megawad, and some maps did feel a little unpolished or not that interesting in layout - I'm thinking specifically of maps 6 and 11, but I never felt it was as bad as many seem to make it out to be.

Personally, I think HR2 looks damn good for the most part, though that map with the huge blank grey wall and FWATER still looks pretty 1994, but it's the exception rather than the rule imo.

Also, for me having grown up on ZDaemon, Co-op is basically a completely separate design philosophy from SP if you want it to be as fun as it can. HR2 can be fun in co-op, especially with a mod of some sort that soups up the guns, though the cramped and weird bits still get to me.

1 hour ago, Doomkid said:

Co-op is basically a completely separate design philosophy from SP if you want it to be as fun as it can

Could you elaborate on this? Seems fascinating.