pre-plasma blood: fave level?

[Lizzieborden]

Ever inquisitive bloodites wann know...
Which blood level (preplasma original game) most turns your crank? tickles your fancy? "is the tits" (as Umnir would say) ??
and...of course..WHY?
Me: the Overlooked hotel. Big fan of the shining. and all those cool secrets and double walls ! Music was also spot on ...and when I first tried this level, the music reached a crescendo just as I was laying waste to countless zombies in the hedge maze. Glorious !

[patho]

It's hard for me to decide.
It's probably E3M4: The Sick Ward.

[Dead Reckoner]

E2M4 and E3M4, both great maps that feature some environmental storytelling. The overlook hotel has a network of secret tunnels behind the walls for abducting guests, while in The Sick Ward, there are catacombs beneath the hospital, presumably where patients were carried off to after being killed.

For me, it's a tough choice, but I'll probably go with Ghost Town. Interesting vertical design and well-paced action that begins on the quiet streets and progresses to diving from building to building and painting the town red.

[Daedalus]

No, it is impossible for me to say. Every single Blood level is an excellent adventure in its own right, and each and every one of them has something interesting going on beneath the surface. Obviously some of the maps are more memorable or slightly more clever than others, but I cannot possibly say that I have a favourite amongst such a wonderful collection of choices. I will however say that the very first time I ever saw Blood, it was the v1.0 Hallowed Grounds demo that was playing on the menu, and that will always be special to me. The ominous chant, the lightning bolt, the fire, the whole gothic feel to it, what a grand moment it is.

[Lizzieborden]

. I will however say that the very first time I ever saw Blood, it was the v1.0 Hallowed Grounds demo that was playing on the menu, and that will always be special to me.

Yes...it's called "love at first sight"
My first sight (uncle playing it when I was a toddler) was the overlooked motel. It is indelibly imprinted unto my subconscious to my last breath...

[Daedalus]

Hah! That's a wonderful and spooky first level to see!

[Dead Reckoner]

The topic of first impressions reminds me of my uncle introducing me to Blood when I was around the age of 5. He opened with E1, and for some reason, my memories of certain maps, especially The Phantom Express, were completely different from the actual map: the train was narrower and more realistic, and rode through a tight trench rather than an open field. Caleb also said "get off my train" when the train arrived at the station rather than when he was already on it.

My recollection of the map may have been distorted from a dream about it. Places, real life or virtual, always look and feel different the first time around before getting familiarized with them, so who knows. But there's a very slim chance that it was some modified or alternate version of Blood.

After my uncle showed me a few more maps, including a few E2 with a funny introduction to the bloated butched, it was my turn to play and I requested some random level number, he selected Farewell to Arms, and I was dropped into Ghost Town, which could explain my fondness for it. It was also the first map I completed by myself later on. Still getting those dopamine hits whenever I see a seal of Tchernobog.

The demo reel opened with Hallowed Grounds, but I never got to play that map at the time because crashing prevented me from finishing E1M1 and progressing through the episode. It made me wonder about how to reach this intriguing map, thought it may be found through a secret in Charnel House since they both have grass at the beginning.

[Daedalus]

Given the era, it's highly unlikely that the Phantom Express experience would've been a usermap or a modification to the base map. Blood has had very few train style maps made throughout its history. I do love the strangely different or otherwise exaggerated childhood impressions of things, though. I love the logic that Hallowed Grounds and Charnel House are somehow connected because of the use of grass. A map that I thought was pretty scary when I saw it young was House of Horrors. The organ sounds and lighting were quite spooky to me, so I suppose the map lived up to its name.

Ghost Town is quite a difficult starting point, which I think is very appropriately placed in the line up. The placement of the map was genius, and I suspect it wouldn't have been as fondly remembered if it weren't put exactly where it was. The map would likely be quite frustrating to a player with very little shooter or Blood exposure, but it definitely would've been an exciting place to start.

I am now very intrigued by your mentioning of Blood opening with Hallowed Grounds. This is how I remembered it as well, and part of why it is special to me. I assumed that over the course of years I had misremembered Hallowed Grounds being what appears on Blood's opening, or perhaps one of my brothers had fiddled to make that be the case, but now you bringing it up means there's something to it. Every single v1.0 release of Blood on DOSbox opens with Cradle to Grave in the demo reel, so something is going on here that warrants investigation; perhaps my memory was correct in this instance.

[Daedalus]

Revelation! My experience was not at all a singular or happy coincidence, and Blood was perhaps intended to start with the excellent Hallowed Grounds impression. DOSbox opens "correctly" with BLOOD000.dem, while Hallowed Grounds is in fact BLOOD003.dem. When running the game on old hardware, it "incorrectly" opens with BLOOD003.dem, which matches my memory of it. My knowledge has increased this day, and I was wrong to question my memory on the matter, but this does pose questions of its own.

[Dead Reckoner]

Interesting revelation there, it means at least a minor detail from my recollection can be corroborated.

I will add that in the aforementioned distorted memory of the Phantom Express, there was a cabin at the front of the train with open windows. There were cultists (and fanatics) on the tracks that were functional and able to shoot, rather than motionless props. I even remember wondering why my uncle was firing back at them through the window since they were going to be run over anyway. But I’m guessing it’s impossible for live cultists to survive on kill-floors in the first place?

There were a few more distortions, like in Butchery Loves Company (another one of my favorites, but too short) there was a larger central chamber with tanks of spinning liquid that looked like the ones from Spare Parts, but larger:

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On the Blood case or manual that my uncle brought, there was a logo with a gravestone and a hand erupting from the earth, which could have been either Cryptic Passage or that old development cover art. Is it possible that it ended up on some bootleg copies of Blood?

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Ghost Town is an unusual and challenging map, but this was compensated by its safe and spacious starting area where I could hang around until I had enough courage to enter that dimly-lit museum gallery and take the spider key.

[Umnir]

I got to agree that it’s impossible to pick one but I’d say my favorite is probably the train level. That just blew my mind when I was kid.