ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Welcome to Dean of Doom, the show where we give grades to classic and contemporary Doom wads. Why? Because ranking things is fun. Today’s episode will be dedicated to Ancient Aliens, a megawad released to significant public acclaim five days before Doom 2016 came out. It was primarily authored by Paul DeBruyne, whom you all know better as Skillsaw, and the soundtrack was composed entirely by Stuart Rynn. The majority of Rynn’s compositions were bespoke for Ancient Aliens, which makes their high quality all the more impressive. I’m on the record of saying that Eviternity has the best music of any megawad I’ve played, but I’ll also go on record of saying that I think Ancient Aliens has the best Doom soundtrack by a single composer. Sorry Bobby. Ancient Aliens is known for its vivid custom textures, conspiracy theory theme, and deep love for the color purple. You’ll notice Skillsaw also made a handful of sound replacements, notably to the menu SFX, the sound of a switch being hit, some item pickup sounds, and the plasma rifle’s firing sound. The megawad also features two custom monsters; I’ll introduce them when we meet them. I’ll be up front with you guys, you’re in for a treat today. I wanted to make sure I got this one right before I released it, because this is a fan favorite, and one of the most highly regarded megawads of all time.
Link to Ancient Aliens:
www.doomworld....
Link to Stuart Rynn's soundtrack
stuartrynn.ban...
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 82 วันนี้!! คู่เอก | ยอดไอคิว vs อับดัลลาห์](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hSsyTl_9bqs/mqdefault.jpg)
To skip the intro: 2:12
Links to the wad and its soundtrack in the description
MtPain27, do you have any recommendations for a tactics guide for modern Doom? ...maybe a good future video idea? I tried playing this megawad about a year ago and quit do to, what I thought is, extreme difficulty lol. I mean, I was playing on hurt me plenty without pistol start and with saves and I was still getting my ass handed to me... I ended up getting frustrated and just went back to vanilla Doom 2. Obviously I'm a filthy pleb; even though I've been playing fps games for a couple decades now lol. Help me 'get gud' please!
AFFLiCTED1 All I can say is the more Doom you play, the more combat scenarios you’re exposed to, the better prepared you get to face similar challenges elsewhere. Also never give up! No matter how tough the fight, there’s always a solution.
Ok. I'll think I'll give it another try.
I just realized that I replied to your pinned comment and not the main thread... I think it's time for me to put my down for the day. Told you I was a filthy amateur lmao.
@@AFFL1CTED1
I'll suggest mild shock therapy: play through Sunlust on ITYTD. Pistol start or not, single segment or casual, you choose. Sunlust is an awesome teacher of how to deal with all kinds of nasty encounters, with the sort of design that ALWAYS gives you a good chance to win as long as you play your cards right. No bullcrap.
I've near-completed it on HMP, continuous and casual, and it was a major git gud process for me. I'm due a visit to it on UV now that I upped my game so much.
@@DinnerForkTongue thanks for the tip. I'll be sure to give that a try. I attempted to do pistol start with this wad but on map 8 I just kept dying and dying. After about twenty or so attempts I just gave up. This wad is not for a Doom casual, that's for sure.
Back in the 90s, DOOM was one of the most influential and revolutionary games of all time. But after the creators released the source code, it became a canvas, with the wad files being the paint.
Next to Civvie, Decino and GamingGargoyle, you're on my "waiting for the next episode" anticipation list, keep up the good work!
Our waiting list!
True!
3/4 aint bad.
I’ll need to watch some gaming gargoyle by the sounds of it.
@@craigratio best doom shitposter/meme channel out there
Yes. Same on me! Thanks to decino I found this channel.
This megawad is my favorite without a doubt. I can not recommend it enough to anyone interested in playing custom Doom levels.
Hey dwars love your stuff
Ew furry
now now, ignoring the furry part, he gives good information
Bunnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyyyyyy boi
It still amazes me how a Wad that from theme alone sounds like it would be just a gigantic meme turned out to be one of the undisputed crown jewels in all the history of Doom mapmaking. My second favorite wad ever, just right after Sunlust though not by much.
When Skillsaw is at the helm, you cannot doubt the incoming quality. He proved it ever since Vanguard, and now Heartland only cements it further.
Not just the name, but the fact Giorgio Tsoukalos is the literal options menu icon.
ancient aliens is what i always felt doom was. it's kooky, sometimes eerie, often beautiful and surreal, and every combat encounter is a dance that flows like water. and the soundtrack by stewboy is just... un-fucking-real. i already knew it, but ancient aliens solidifies the fact that doom is fertile ground for visionary art. and i just adore how in love it is with its tongue-in-cheek premise. it fully engages with it and has *so* much fun. the kind of fun that "intense angry doom" just won't engage with. utterly wholesome.
This so much. It's really one of tge reasons why the reboots simply never will be on the same level as Doom 2
agreed fully
absolutely right!
I kinda think Doom 2016 was a lot like that tbh...
Maybe not Eternal, but 2016
The fact that the Giorgio meme appears in the main menu is the coolest detail.
As for best soundtrack, I've always been partial to BTSX (both episodes), but to each their own I guess.
If you prefer prog rock to exotica, BTSX wins hands down.
This whole wad is such an impressive antithesis to the usual “extreme rock and roll hell” feel that most Doom wads try to achieve. Ancient Aliens’ soundtrack was the last piece of music I actually purchased back in 2016. There’s really something for everyone in this mapset.
I actually liked Grey Dwarf. It’s nowhere near as exciting as the rest of the wad, but it feels like an old Build Engine level in its exploratory aspect, which is clearly the focus.
Thumbs up for a fantastic overview, and for almost getting resampling off all the footage.
Now that you mention it, Grey Dwarf does feel a lot like a Lunar Apocalypse map from Duke 3D. Even the large amount of secrets matches Duke.
Me, I like it for its resemblance to Daedalus Alien Defense or RTC-3057.
Haha, it was just the two maps that got wonky, but thanks for noticing
man, ancient aliens is beautiful
It looks very very nice, with some bold color choices. But purely on the visual front I prefer Valiant.
Ok so I don’t know if anyone has said this already but after a few days of rummaging through Doomwiki and Doomworld I figured it out
The dude in the cage in Culture Shock is a little character from a wad Lupinx is working on called Autumn Flock, he likes to put the guy in wads he’s a guest author on, he’s dressed differently in all his appearances tho, he also shares some deep lore about Culture Shock
Ancient Aliens has a special place in my heart because it's the first megawad made by the community that I ever played. Before that, I just replayed the official levels every couple of years, because back then I didn't know that the community made full-length campaigns. So I downloaded Ancient Aliens and I was blown away by the quality, the aesthetics and especially the original soundtrack.
Since then I've been playing other megawads, all of them very high quality, but they don't give me the same "wow" factor that I got when I first played Ancient Aliens. I've been spoiled.
Hat's off to Skillsaw, Stewboy and co. for the wonderful WAD!
``Practice punching out Revenants (...) you'll be forced to do it later`` - let me guess, after UFO crashed you took the Bus home, didn't you? ;-)
I just finished ancient aliens, and goddamn what a hell of a good time, I’m so glad I made it one of my first non commercial doom wads i ever played, the creativity, the texturing and atmosphere, the level design, the music, the combat, it’s all amazing, I honestly can’t say I hated any map in this wad because the maps that are my least favorite where well above decent, personally I give this wad a 10/10, and my favorite map has to be a tie between kingdom of the crystals skulls or culture shock. As for my least favorite, I would have to give that to magenta heart, it’s not a bad level, just kinda blends in with the rest of the other maps.
The cool thing about this DOOM resurgence is all the pros coming out of the woodwork to leave comments on your awesome videos! So awesome to know some of these people still live!
I'm not saying it was Aliens.
But it was Aliens.
Somebody here described this wad as “wholesome”, and I think that’s the best word to describe it. An epic adventure of derring-do. I don’t like it as much as Valiant, but Stuart’s soundtrack adds so much emotional heft to the levels, it’s almost indescribable how it made me feel during my play through. Good shit.
*Reviews Ancient Aliens while mentioning Sunlust and TNT: Revilution.
You've got good taste, Mt.Pain.
Also BTSX.
@@DinnerForkTongue Missed that one. Even better.
MAP04 is one of my favourite MIDIs ever in a wad. There's some really amazing talent in the Doom community.
It's also so far the only MIDI of mine to have been arranged (not by me) and performed by live instruments! If I knew it was going to become so popular, I would definitely have named it after something other than a random object on my table at the time.
@@stuartrynn3072 Oh hey, thanks for the reply and the fun fact! That's really cool!
Nah it's a great title
"Desk Lamp" is my favorite MIDI, bar none.
Ancient Aliens is incredible and one of only a handful of Megawads I replay constantly. Map 24 is *Fucking mindblowing* with how it looks. Every time I play it I am just as in awe as I was the first time.
The music in map 02 is one of the best songs ever
i can't like this comment enough. "the incessant flow of time" and "trapeze" had my jaw on the floor and still fully captivate me every time i hear them.
For me, it's Featherfall and Imaginarium, followed by The Greater Good.
Wow! An A- on map 1?! This truly is one of the best megawads ever!
Map 24 of ancient aliens is one of the best treasure map of all time!
This is probably my 2nd favorite megaWAD after Eviternity. Really fun maps and the best level design, architecture, and color pallete of any DOOM WAD I've ever played. I remember being stunned when I saw screenshots of this, and then getting mad that Skillsaw had to release this beauty just days before DOOM 2016, which I planned on spending most of my time with. I mentioned before on your Eviternity vid that this is my favorite soundtrack to any WAD, and is honestly my favorite DOOM soundtrack period. I don't normally listen to a WAD's MIDI since I usually don't care for how MIDIs sound, but I saw enough people say how awesome it was, so I turned it on around Map 09 and was incredibly surprised by how much I liked it.Stewboy's songs just sound so lush, it's kinda hard to believe some of it is MIDI. I'm glad you mentioned his Bandcamp page, cause I totally was going to. I've been playing DOOM community WADs since 2004, and Map 24 is easily my favorite level of all time, and it's 100% because of the visuals. It's jaw-dropping. I know some people were annoyed about the cramped fights, but I don't mind them. It's probably not my favorite map to play of all time (I don't think I have a favorite in that aspect), but I enjoy playing it a lot. I was going to be really upset if it got a negative review on here. Totally worthy of Doomworld's 5th most memorable map of all time.
Really enjoying this series a lot!
I was really not prepared for that ending. What a masterpiece.
I agree. Hands down the best soundtrack in a DOOM WAD. Stewboy knocked it out of the park.
Right now you are one my 5 favorite channels to watch on TH-cam. I thank you for your great work.
Just finsihed this gem of a video, it is really nice seeing videos on some of the best video game experience s ever, and ancient aliens is probably among th greatest video game experiences ever.
You are one of new favorite channels 😀
Final doomers Ancient aliens weaponset fits this wad really well
I have been looking for a youtuber like you foreverrr, this series is amazing! Doom was made about 7 years before I was born and yet it is still my favorite game! The community content and passion that goes into all these megawads are just amazing and it really helps the legacy of Doom live on for gamers nowadays to appreciate. The fact that you go through these megawads and rank their maps is just some fun! Keep up the great work! What a wonderful idea for a video series! :D
I'd love to hear @MtPain27 talk about Hellbound. The environments and immersion are astounding and the difficulty is just right on UV. Especially with Final Doomer! Keep up the good work!
Ancient Aliens 2:
I wanna believe.
I always thought it would be a neat concept for a map that's just the previous map.
Until you proceed through the exit door and the level repeats.
Then after about 2 or three loops the level unfolds
As I type this, I have only recently finished my first playthrough of Ancient Aliens.
It's crazy to see just how far Doom has come since I first loaded up those 5 floppy disks in DOS back in the mid 90s, but it's only since early 2020 that I've been discovering the community's contributions to mapping & modding.
Insanely creative & fun mapsets like Ancient Aliens are what inspired me to start making my own maps. I hope to continue playing amazing mapsets like this & making content for Doom for many more years to come.
I do need to brush up on my skills though, I primarily play on 'Hurt Me Plenty' when playing a new mapset for the first time & Ancient Aliens still kicked my arse!
My thanks & appreciation go out to everyone involved in the prodcution of Ancient Aliens, I enjoyed it immensely.
Another excellent work from Skillsaw, even though I've yet to finish it. The opening maps give off an incredible first impression after all these years, and I hope the author and co-authors are planning another ambitious set like this (not necessarily a megawad) that keeps that quality-over-quantity ratio.
Massive props to Stewboy for pushing the envelope for unique, Doom-y MIDIs that avoid and/or subvert community music tropes on a regular basis. He's quite the mapper as well!
I knew this wad is here! draQu commented once on his Twitch that this is absolutely a masterpiece! Couldn't agree more.
My favorite Ancient Aliens Midis (in no particular order)
Map 02: The Incessant Flow of Time
Map 09: The Demon’s Serenade
Map 12: Web of Steel
Map 14: Moonwalk
Map 16: Space Jiggle
Map 20: 20 GOTO 10
Map 22: The Last Dance
Map 24: Imaginarium
He pointed out that MAP04 shared its music with Sunlust (how I didn't notice that before is beyond me). I figured the more obvious example would have been MAP03 repurposing the song from Back to Saturn X 2 MAP02 (Underwater Explosions) since its focus on 808 drums is so distinct from the rest of Ancient Aliens' "Peruvian Pan Flute Prog" theme.
The whole soundtrack is fantastic. I'm a sucker for obnoxious and unnecessary complexity in music, and MAP16 definitely delivers with it alternating between 11/16 in verse sections and 11/8 during choruses.
YOOOOOO just downloaded and started playing AA because of this video !!!! Love how detailed you are and so so so happy I have all these awesome megawads to try . All curated by someone who knows their shit, I love it and thank you !
One of my favourite mega WADs of all time, happy to see a review on it. Love the vids
27:48 I love Doomguy's eyes shifting back and forth during this part, like he's thinking, "what the hell is this guy talking about"
Holy shit, this wad looks amazing! The color palette and the textures are just gorgeous. Hope to play this someday.
Also, fun analysis as usual.
Great review for one of the best snd most distinctive megawads ever created. Your channel rocks!
I get goosebumps When i watch/play map 24 every time, the visuals, the music, they just work.
Top notch content, a joy to watch each new upload!
My pick to show people that Doom isn't ugly unconvincing brown and grey rooms and boxxy cities
This episode is one of my favorites
I'm surprised map 14's midi didn't get a shoutout lol
This video was great. I love the style of this wad it looks so cool. Love the videos on this channel keep it up, your becoming a doom god!
Honestly, I really love Map 17's dark tone and pace of play but I think having it placed in the third episode would help it out a lot.
Plus, it houses my personal favorite Stewboy midi. It's so enchanting and fills you with determination.
I've not played that many Doom WADs and don't keep my ear particularly close to the ground on new releases but recently I've been looking for some more to play. I always knew that any notable PWAD from the last few years is far better than the original games and the expansions yet I am absolutely speechless at the quality of some of these. Some of them could be sold as their own game but they're FREE. WHAT!? Not only do some of them have completely new texture packs but custom music PER LEVEL. If these were released back in the 90s then people's minds would have been NUKED - I know that some WADs need limit removing ports that wouldn't have been possible on the DOS PCs of the time but it's still the same game.
I am looking through the comments but I can't find any that explain the old man Easter egg. It's also amazing that after a quarter century of doom, men in labcoats unsettle me the most
How do u feel about the lab boys in strafe, or Dusk?
Just rewatched this video, definitely the best WAD this show has covered so far
Kind of sounds like me when I'm watching the show ancient Aliens 0:39
Dude, your channel is so good, keep it up!
it brings me joy when i see you play doom, because we both have pcs of similar quality and are around the same skill level
Great wad! One of my go-tos when introducing wads to friends.
The visuals and audio make a powerful aesthetic combo, I want this on my walls! Great review of them by the way, summed up neatly
Thanks for making this. I come back to watch the levels as I complete them.
Nice pick for the next review, Pain! Ancient Aliens was an acquired taste for me, I went through the motions the first run through but REALLY enjoyed the second playthrough. The gameplay is on point and the theme weirded me out at first but I've rationalised it as a barely conscious hallucinating dream either at the end of Valiant or between Back to Saturn X episodes 1 and 2.
That said, I 100% disagree with your dunce cap on Grey Dwarf. I like an adventure map like any Sierra fan out there, the ship reminds me of the ambience of Daedalus Alien Defense (the very very first Doom mod I've ever played and my introduction to the wonders of ZDoom) and the consistent manner of accessing secrets by accessing the computer terminals was cute. The dunce cap for me is either Magenta Heat (nobody likes a flat map) or Xenoarboreum (I have a complicated relationship with that magenta-orange sky), hard to pick between them, both followed closely by Blazing Boulevard with its almost lethargic music.
Ossuarium Exoterre is another map I don't look forward to a lot, but I understand why it's map32. That ain't no charnel house, it's unabashedly Hell and that should tell us something about these "aliens". It also plays a lot like a BTSX map, reinforced by Birdsong being the BGM of a late map in Episode 2.
Gotta say I love Blazing Boulevard's music. It's the first map I really enjoy in E2.
@@MtPain27
I like it by itself too, but it doesn't match the pace of the map. Should've been in a less spicy one.
11:04 Absolutely, the soundtrack for Magenta Heat is amazing. It reminds me of something you might hear on Streets of Rage 2 on the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive.
It manages to be more 90s than OG Doom itself.
I tried this last year but immediately noped out after seeing a Cyberdemon at the start of the first level. You've convinced me to give it another try, the level design here looks incredible.
the prisoner wizard is a character from lupinx kassmans wip autumn flock and cameod in a few of his other maps
Flying with an UFO mid-map. How cool is that?
Such lovely colors/textures.
For whatever reason, whenever I listen to the MiDis, I always think of Sonic the Hedgehog, in particular the Adventure games. Definitely gonna give this WAD a try since everyone and their mother keep telling me how good this is.
I played this before Eviternity, and still haven't even played through Plutonia (I always get bored in that one after the maze map with the archviles). If you aren't used to Plutonia levels of challenge, the slaughter maps in particular can be pretty tough, but man do I like this one if only for the art and music.
Held this one back as have only just finished my first play through of this magical, amazing megawad. For me, it hadnt gotten any better than this for classic Doom. What an achievement. It almost felt wrong playing it knowing it was free if you get what I mean. Thank you Skillsaw for making this and thanks MtPain for a good review of it. I'm near enough aligned with your takes on the maps save for one or two slight disagreements. 👍👍
I wonder if you're going to talk about DOOM 64 in the future
One of my favorites, I played it back in March and had a blast. I actually liked Grey Dwarf... exploring a massive alien ship and hunting for all those secrets was a nice change of character to the rest of the wad.
I've played this megawad a couple of years ago, and it's always held a special place in my heart, especially for the colour palette (I may have to boot it up again at some point in the future). I'd say you've pretty much nailed it with every map really.
Interesting (potentially) factoid: one of the episode 1 textures originates from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000. Said texture is the large skull wall that comes in a few different colours. The art piece was made during the mid-late 90s around the tail end of Warhammer 40,000's second edition. Not sure if there any other Warhammer fans in the Doom community, but I thought it was a neat tid-bit to share. 😊
played some of these maps in HD with others had to go in with heavy loadouts and cheat our way throught the teleporters as in HD the teleporter in map01 can outright kill you with impact damage.
This megawad is what got me into map designing.
why does 0:54 sound-
OH YEAH, QUAKE!
I haven't touched Ancient Alien yet, it just gives me a lot of soothing tones in lots of map and the 80's sci-fi neon atmosphere.
Through your review this is my first time seeing map24, such a marvelous masterpiece!
Thanks for the review, I do really enjoy it! Can't wait to play AA later!
Looking forward to seeing your next review in the near future.
17:59 Hey, I saw that. Lol
15:30
This man was asked Star Wars or Star Trek and deadass answered "Hitchhiker's Guide"
Actually I seem to have referenced all three, with "beamed down" and "make the jump to lightspeed." Those references were unintentional though.
@@MtPain27 Well yeah. You used an improbability drive. What did you expext? : )
Oh god, it's so beautiful, so brilliantly designed, such an adventure that even listening to is glorious. I haven't been able to play a great deal of it yet, but playing Leave Your Sol Behind and Culture Shock makes me look forward to doing a full playthrough.
Oh baby, Ancient Aliens! I don't think I'll ever love a WAD as much as AA. To me it's the best stepping stone to tough WADs, even more than Plutonia. Whereas parts of Plutonia are almost "F**k you"-esque, I never really felt like any fights (aside from the last two maps) were RNGesus fests. But they were still a challenge that really made you rethink how to approach certain encounters. Skillsaw really shines here, with Dare to Fly Where Eagles Soar and Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls being tops for me. (And I'm in the minority that enjoyed Magenta Heat.) A lot of the guest maps are decent too, especially AD79, lupinx-kassman, and Joshy's contributions. Tarnsman's felt like proto-Plutonia and esselfortium forgot to put in a way to return to the main areas after the final arena (so that's a paddlin'). Grey Dwarf is alright, but I feel like it is a bit large but it's the secret map so it gets a pass for that. (Honestly, I'd of switched that and Ossuarium Exoterre around.) That leaves Trinary Temple as my least favorite map: distant hitscanners, useless enemies that are easily cheesed, that tower with the Revenants that are a pain to deal with due to too high of an angle and no room to move without falling off, Arachotrons in open lanes, and that last arena can just miss me with that garbage.
But all of this is covered by stewboy's masterclass in amazing soundtracks. I paid for it on Bandcamp about a day or two after finishing the WAD, and regret none of it. Every track elicits memories of devious traps, grand architectures, and hard-hitting moments because every track in that WAD is amazing. (Incessant Flow of Time and Tribal Dance get the top spots for best tracks.)
But seriously, if you're reading this comment and haven't played Ancient Aliens, go do it! This is a great stepping stone to harder WADs for new Doom players, and veterans (who somehow have skipped this for its flamboyant color palette) will find plenty of fair challenges to test their mettle against.
I can finally watch the video now I've beaten AA and can't be spoiled.
Oh man, map 30 gave me freaking goosebumps!
Easily one of Skillsaw's best works! And the soundtrack is just plain awesome!
17:04 Just played the map again, suddenly got suspicious, booted up slade and goldwave and, I see what you did there.
I need to give this one another full run through, I came off it super agitated by the harder parts (episode 3 in particular really got my goat at times). Can't deny the artistic brilliance at work, though. Definitely on the must-play list for anyone getting into Doom community stuff.
Excellent video sir!
Floating Arena's track "Gigabridge" is also absolutely amazing
I really have come to appreciate your style the more I watch these episodes, its the little things like the way you use Doomguy's mug to show your reactions. Amazing work all around.
I'm looking forward to a Sunlust video you know, though its difficulty ramps up too fast for me to keep up on anything higher than HMP much to my shame, but It would be interesting to see how it reflects on your map by map ratings.
Beautiful narrative of map 30 lol
I'd like to see a wad in which the player has to *cooperate* with demons to reach the exit.
Im not saying you have to try this, but i was surprised in Doom 2016's snap map, i found a lot of maps where you either had an imp buddy who you have to protect, the story was he helped develop your suit and needed parts to repair it. Another had a little platoon of imps on your side.
In classic there is a wad where you choose a pet at the pet store and take it to school. Its really cute.
Mr Friendly?
I thought doom guys spirit animal was a rabbit
Awesome work as always MtPain, i actually like Map 31, it Feels Metroid+Resident Evil With an aliens re-skin vibe. perhaps because it combines Doom, Metroid and RE which are my favorite franchises
I can see how people can find it frustrating however, but the scary scavenger hunt concept really hit it with me
Just finished this wad, hell revealed is still my fav but this wad is a masterpiece.
Ancient Aliens! Hooray! This is probably my second favorite megawad after Eviternity-- I love it's art style. The first episode is, I think, my favorite, it's just tight setpiece after tight setpiece, kicking off with the cyberdemon turret on MAP01, and including the constant spiders on MAP03 (which, by the way, is incredibly cheapened in a continuous run where you easily have the ammo to spare on the arachnotrons), the titular Bad Medicine Men in MAP04, the high flying platforming in MAP07 (which reminds me a LOT of skilsaw's MAP31 in Eviternity, actually), and the triple cyberdemon finish in MAP10.
Episode 2 I found a little lacking-- MAP16 stands out because it takes you away from the Alien megapolis. I actually really like MAP18. Fighting your way around the Pyramid with the Icon of Sin spewing out monster after monster is a very cool setpiece-- and the winding key hunt feels a lot more exciting than a typical "find the elevator and time some rockets" style of map. It's not that Episode 2 is bad, it's just not as much of a banger as episode 1. As you noted, the secret maps are really forgettable, especially compared to the secret maps in Valiant.
Episode 3 is definitely the most disjointed-- all of the guest maps certainly take their toll. While their quality is certainly generally very good, you can definitely notice that the cohesion is not as strong. I do like the more "ancient" alien aesthetic compared to the neon techbase aesthetic of episode 2, however. As you noted, MAP24 is an incredible ride, and one of the most impressive Doom maps I've ever played! MAP29 is definitely a difficult map, but certainly a little bit of a whimper of an ending-- I'm not really sure what I want out of the ending of a megawad still, but I'm not sure that Ancient Aliens figured that one out either.
The added monsters are significantly more forgettable than the ones in Eviternity. The Stealth Plasma Aliens feel like just another brick in the "we want a chaingunner that's not hitscan" wall. They're fine, but don't add a ton. Similarly, the Guardians kinda feel like more annoying Arachnorbs-- they go down pretty quickly, but they explode on death (which is usually a good thing) and shoot stupid revenant missiles. I honestly didn't actually remember the added monsters until you mentioned them (maybe that speaks to my over fondness for Episode 1).
I think Ancient Aliens is the stronger of the two Skilsaw megawads, and it's certainly his crowning achievement to date. It's pretty much number 2 on my list, following Eviternity incredibly closely. I think Eviternity ends stronger-- and its strong themes make the group effort episodes (III, IV and VI) feel more cohesive. Also Lost Souls still have 100 HP in Ancient Alients, so honestly it's probably terrible.
I should really just make a quick wad to reduce lost soul health to 45 across the board.
Thanks for your thoughts! I have to say I think AA is the stronger wad after replaying it, even though Eviternity has more of my all-time favorite maps.
@@MtPain27 I'll have to make some time for an AA replay I think. I played it once on UV with high noon drifter, then once on HMP vanilla. I might try a UV playthrough after I wrap up Akeldama. I will admit that Akeldama is starting to lose me though-- the first 20 levels feel really tight and the nonlinearity is fun and exciting, but at this point I feel like every map is just a giant maze that I'm running through pointlessly, so I could use some tightly designed maps, certainly. Also less chaingunners. Man, there's a lot of hitscan in Akeldama.
@@blue17echo
Check out "Blood Fixer." It contains a variant that halves the health of lost souls.
To me, Ancient Alien is a wad of 3 parts. But I will start by saying it is an epic journey that ties into my love of space, and I wonder whether any other wads capture the whimsical beauty of AA.
The first part is mostly combat puzzles, tight traps often accompanied by foes that shouldn't be eliminated through normal means, building to brutally efficient combat in it's last three maps. It's insanely well-calibrated mayhem that is difficult because even on a complete run-through, each map is tight on resources. In particular, Joshys map stands out the strongest, if only because it is an epic adventure among ruins that uses spaces and hordes, while I always felt skill saw rationed space and ammo quite tightly in this part, and the action felt razor tight in the last few maps. I had to fight optimally to survive the UFO battles.
Part 2 removes the puzzles, for the most part (bringing them back for leaving your sol behind), focusing much more on higher-stakes combat in a delightful, cold environment of deep space and is my favourite part tonally. Warpgate Junction, Sol and Illuminate revealed are incredible maps, with the latter being a massive puzzle conducted against the clock. To me, it is one of the best uses of the icon of sin spawner because while eventually you will be overwhelmed, it only sometimes gets suffocating, but being thoughtful and aggressive in equal measure will reward your progress; it feels like a climax of an action movie more than anything! The only thing I wished more for was exploration; I mean, the opening mission and Left your sol behind are incredible space oddities I would happily spend a megawad travelling.
Part 3 really is the most grab baggy of episodes. This isn't to say any of them are bad, but the tone is slightly over the place, though on the flip side, I really get the impression of being on an incredible journey, only to hit the map 24 running and finally getting into the backrooms of the Aliens. Though it turns up the heat and lets us cut loose after the first couple of utterly strict maps. It feels like an intense escalation, but perhaps it's telling that I beat the last level save-less on my second try. It really feels like a mixing pot of influences, though, which gives each level a flavour. First, it's Tison, a tight skillsaw fight, Cyberbullying, a complicated Back to Saturn Ex juggernaut, A MASSIVE temple map that I honestly didn't kill everything in, only to be drifting through clouds.... For what it loses in identity to me, it gains immensely in flavour and variety that I don't really feel elsewhere.
Hey, nice videos! I appreciate the work you put into them. Would recommend some stuff but you seem to be busy with all of the other wads people have brought up. :)
Starduster Thanks! Feel free to recommend, I’ll just put it on my list
Yeeeeeees!! New video! Freaking love ancient alien
After playing through, that "useless" spector is because you can strafe run to that platform for ammo. (Trinary Temple)
Oh man the aesthetics are just downright gorgeous, and the music is very pleasing to the ear. I haven't played this one yet, and if you say this is harder than Plutonia, I think I'm going to have to keep practicing before I tackle it. But man, I'll be looking forward to playing this one just based on looks alone.
I'd actually say that it goes to make the levels and experience more memorable if they have such diverse palettes. I find myself getting reminded of some of Doom 64's levels such looking at some of the areas here (Hoping to see that one tackled here eventually, I find it to be pretty underated)
I haven't played much of Skillsaw's stuff, but in terms of ease and accessibility what do you think I should start with? Valiant is also one I very much want to try out but I''m not sure if I should start with that or Vanguard first.
AAliens is definitely harder than Plutonia. In fact I consider it a little harder than Plutonia 2. It's amazing fun though.
Vanguard is nice and short, and a bit easier than Valiant and AA; probably start with that one. I think AA is a bit easier than Valiant but its hardest levels are more of a challenge than Valiant's hardest.
@@MtPain27 Thanks :)
The stealth aliens and exploding tetrahedron were the only bad parts. The ending however, *chef kiss* Majestic!
The latter monster type was quite obnoxious. Good thing I found the "Less Frustrating Revenants" mod before I took the wolf warp.
after your little shoutouts to it, i very much hope back to saturn x is up relatively soon on your docket, both episodes are #1 and #2 respectively for my favourite and most replayed megawads, and i would love to hear your thoughts on each and every one of the (i will admit, over)abundance of techbase maps, plus e2's hell variety show
Me personally, I love how E1 is entirely techbase-focused. No one else dares to do it, and the pure hellish ending levels have gotten old for me ages ago.
incredible wad
Just played a brand new MW called Projectile Hell....and if you dont like the Alien Guardians they appear again, accept spectred and able to shoot 2 different types of projectiles.
And yeah this is a truly great megawad, a whole new weapon set that is totally amazeballs even to a veteran like myself. Worth a look.
Map 21 have a hidden plasma rifle with cell box,it is very well hidden behind a fake wall and allow you to bully the cyberdemon in the 1st cage and making the last fight so much easier.