Thread:Deathstalker666/@comment-1496755-20180827202615/@comment-3547390-20181215185717

Oh, several of the Aftershock Toolbox levels are the same way, so quite fun.

You are very right, there is a very depressing atmosphere, almost dead and hopeless in Episode 2. And they tend to be lengthy slogs. Duke's Episode 2 I found mostly annoying due to the maze-like vents, the lengthy levels, and the need for jetpacking frequently. As for the purpose why, that is a good question. It is pretty consistent, and yet it doesn't really seem like something we have a great answer for. Possibly it is due to positioning, the middle piece tends to be the slog and the bulk of a product. It is pacing between the climax and the intro. Not too close to the beginning to bore the player, not too close to the end to be anticlimatic. By being in the middle, it is just that dull portion that you work your way through to continue to greater content.

Episode 1 had plenty of variety, had things the rest of the game did not, and is definitely memorable. Episode 3 has E3M1, arguably the best of the idBase levels. Much like E1M8, we got the gimmick of E3M5. E3M6 is a wonderful level and quite a grandiose ending. The Haunted Halls is claustrophobic, but also manages to flow rather nicely. I think a lot of it has to do with horizontal exploration. Episode 2, you spend a lot of the levels going in circles. E2M4 is essentially going around in loops. E2M5 even more so. E2M6 you constantly are going back to an area. Even E2M3 has you passing by a central bridge a couple times. While definitely something Doom couldn't do, it isn't the best choice of level design for the reason that you end up feeling like you aren't making any real progress. Then again, Episode 3 does it as well and I don't find myself bothered with it as much.

Sounds like a lot of fun.

Nods, exactly, as games evolved to have more story we kept seeing games include them more and more (except for Quake 3, which was following the odd craze of the end of the 90s for multiplayer only action).

I know what you mean. They start changing the entire story around, devaluing it by simply retconning something. Head canon is really the best thing you can do.