#dos gaming

[devileaterjaek]

The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II - Daggerfall (DOS) //community discord// //ko-fi// //twitch channel//

[computer-pirate]

[jayextee]

DOOM - Fava Beans

Fava Beans is an Ultimate DOOM episode 1 replacement that has been hailed by many as a big inspiration on their own similarly-themed maps; not least one of my favourite classic DOOM auters, Nicolas Monti. It's a bit of a shame, then, that I hadn't really given it the time of day until lately.

So, the episode plays out as a Knee Deep in the Dead replacement like any other, albeit with a couple of hints of that episode 2, The Shores of Hell flavour. Challenge is moderate, a few steps above what the original iWAD offered; and progression is sometimes not entirely straightforward, but never overstepping into 'maddeningly-obtuse'.

Visuals, however, look pretty consistent with any reasonable contemporary vanilla WAD. Which doesn't sound as impressive as it ought to, until you learn that this was a WAD made in 1995. Yes. Nineteen fucking ninety five. People were still making boxy myhouse WADs (no, not that one...) back then. We hadn't even seen the doomcute of TNT Evilution at that point and visually this whups its ass into the afterlife.

The 1995-ness does show in a few other ways though. Combat can be one-sided, and secrets almost as predictable as the ambushes; but y'see, back then we hadn't had the benefit of having seen all the greats that have innovated and set the tone for community DOOM mapping since. And in context, this shines above many of its '95 peers and is completely deserving of its status as one of the best-received and well-remembered WADs of the year.

The E1M8 boss encounter's just kinda there though. We already fought two barons in close quarters in an earlier map. At least it does something interesting with the secret level and its immediately-accessible exit, the whole shebang playing out more like a bonus map than a full and mandatory (once accessed, that is) affair.

But hey, it was 1995. I keep saying that as if it excuses a multitude of sins but in reality Fava Beans only makes a couple of tiny missteps and is actually entirely worth playing.

4/5

[spitblaze]

[guy who doesnt watch shows voice] yeah ive been meaning to watch that show

[incessantlark]

made some icons of the pony crew !!

[birdpaladin]

god isnt watching

[shesmore-shoebill]

"I had choice paralysis :(" is a KILLER line.

He's such a comedic powerhouse, I'm glad more people are getting exposed to him :'D

[burningshellenberger]

A.J.'s World of Discovery (1992, DOS, Cookie Vision)

[merrigel]

Everybody do the wenis!

Gif alt:

[itsnicsalad]

wanted to get this idea out of my head before i move on to other things aye🤙

[phantom-palace]

sitting here… mute as fuck..

[devileaterjaek]

Doom + Doom II (PC) //Discord// //Ko-Fi//

[computer-pirate]

[jayextee]

Blasphemous Experiments

More from my Heretic kick.

Blasphemous Experiments is, apparently, an assortment of unconnected maps stuck together in a collected episode; but they're so cohesive a whole, you wouldn't know this without reading the included .txt file.

Part of this is due to some excellent use of the Blasphemer texture set, which keeps things feeling incredibly fresh.

Gameplay is also pretty consistent in quality, the author throwing in some interesting setpieces and fights amidst some very tight ammo balancing and frugal dispersal of inventory items; things can get tight, although never unfair.

Two major things stuck in mind for me though; one's a mileage-may-vary matter, the other not so. Firstly, later maps get exhaustively-large, at least for my personal tastes -- some gamers like this kind of thing, I'd err on the side of bitesize maps if I had my way. Secondly, there is a lot of darkness; something the author was apparently aware of due to the relatively-high presence of the torch inventory item. Without these and GZDoom's dynamic lights, I doubt I'd have navigated the levels as well as I did.

These two points are all that prevent me from giving this a five. 4/5

[eastgaysian]