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emetophobiahelp · 4 years

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Criminal Minds Warning Compilation

This is a compilation of all submitted warnings in Criminal Minds in one place. I got frustrated having to constantly scroll through the tag so I figured I would compile them. Thank you to all the people who submitted! You guys help all of us so much :)

I am unsure if it’s complete past the end of Season Four as that’s where I’m at in the show. If I find any more I will send a warning in and hopefully eventually I’ll be able to say this list is complete. I usually just skip an episode if there’s a submitted warning as there’s little to no plot line through the show, so sorry if some of the warnings are vague.

This list is not completely spoiler free and not all of these are actual v* scenes. This show is surprisingly safe for emetophobes!

Unsafe episodes in Season One: 9 and 22.

Unsafe episodes in Season Two: 13.

Unsafe episodes in Season Four: 13, 15, and 24.

Unsafe episodes in Season Five: 7.

Unsafe episodes in Season Six: 7, 17, and 23.

Unsafe episodes in Season Seven: 1, 2, 6, 8, 12, and 22.

Unsafe episodes in Season Eight: 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 18, and 23.

Unsafe episodes in Season Nine: 1 and 12.

Unsafe episodes in Season Ten: 3.

Unsafe episodes in Season Eleven: 21.

Unsafe episodes in Season Thirteen: 1.

Season One: E9 (Derailed): 10 or 11 minute mark. Pregnant woman gets s*. Elle is talking to her and she says, “I think I’m gonna be s*.” No visual, just audio. E22 (The Fisher King Part One): 16 minute mark. Woman sees a body part and v*. No visual, just audio.

Season Two: E13 (No Way Out): 6:50-7:10. Gideon and Morgan are talking to a serial killer in a diner and it cuts to a police officer v*. After, the v* is still visible. It cuts back and forth from diner scene to police officers a few times but only one has a v* scene. Visual and audio.

Season Four: E13 (Bloodline): 12-12:45. Girl has epileptic seizure. Not v* but still triggering visual and audio. E15 (Zoe’s Reprise): 31 min mark. A girl Prentiss is interviewing says she’s going to be s*. Audio, unsure if visuals. E24 (Amplification): No v*, but lots of coughing, especially in first few minutes.

Season Five: E7 (The Performer): Warning is vague. “Not safe at all. Just skip it.”

Season Six: E7 (Middle Man): Multiple warnings. 1. Very brief v* after *SPOILER* Chris is made to kill Scott. Maybe mute from Scott’s death until after Chris stands up from sink. No visual, just audio. 2. 27:40, a man v*. Might be same as previous warning. Mute and look away for about 15 seconds. No visual, just audio. E17 (Valhalla): Near end of episode, right after Prentiss says she needs some air. Some coughing and mention of the word v*. Later when she goes to her apartment to change her shoes you can see it. No visual, just audio. E23 (Big Sea): Multiple warnings. 1. 25 min. A man can be heard v*, it then shows it as someone yells at him to clean it up. 2. When the guy is being held captive in the boat, he looks up at the unsub and then down at the keys. He v*. Visual and audio. 3. 38 min. At end of episode, Agent Morgan is performing CPR on a girl. She v* water. Not too bad visual, but bad audio.

Season Seven: E1 (It Takes A Village): About halfway through the episode, there’s a flashback to a woman taking pills, and a man forces her to v*. Happens after Prentiss starts interrogating Doyle. Not that graphic but visual and audio. E2 (Proof): Around 21-22 min mark. When Tammy is shown at the dance, she says she’s not feeling good and clutches her stomach. There’s no v* but she acts like she will. Ends when Uncle Cy goes to hug her. Later in the episode, Tammy’s mom recounts the incident with Cy but nothing happens. E6 (Epilogue): 18:40 min. Chase starts trying to resuscitate the girl. The next scene shows a guy violently coughing and shows blood in his hand from coughing so much. He continues coughing. Could be triggering. E8 (Hope): A little past halfway through the ep when the woman finds her daughter. You can see it coming. Visual and audio. E12 (Unknown Subject): 3 min. Garcia is showing them pictures of a case. It’s hard to see but there’s v*. At 4:21, Prentiss asks, “what’s that on the floor?” And Garcia replies. Also, Garcia mentions there’s salt in the water which makes you v*. Skip until intro or look away. (4:59 is safe) E22 (Profiling 101): When Prentiss says something about the victim’s friend holding her hair, the victim bends over and v*. It lasts thirty seconds, so when Prentiss talks about the girl getting s* just mute and look away. Audio and visual.

Season Eight: E2 (The Pact): After Mr. Dolan is being interviewed, it cuts to Darlene v*. She talks and then g*. Mute and look away after Mr. Dolan is finished with JJ. Audio and visual. E5 (The Good Earth): V* is mentioned and not shown, but you see implied v* as people lean over. Also just a gross episode in general. E6 (The Apprenticeship): 9:40. When the kid asks Holly to cover his shift, he says he v* that morning to get out of work. E7 (The Fallen): At the end of the episode when the unsub is pouring bleach on the woman, she starts coughing. Sounds like v*. She also continues to g* after she’s rescued. It’s not too bad but could be triggering. E8 (The Wheels on the Bus…): After the girl shoots Trent and the guy says something about his blood, she v*. Lasts about 5-10 seconds. Audio, unsure if visuals. E18 (Restoration): Beuford gives Derek the list, and Derek v* after washing his hands. Mute after he finishes talking to Hotch. It’s over quickly. Visual and audio. E23 (Brother’s Hotchner): Multiple warnings. 1. In the beginning when the guy opens the stall and the girl is bleeding, she’ll fall to the floor and start coughing pretty bad. It ends in maybe 10 seconds. Audio and visual. 2. At around 8:40 min , a guy randomly spits blood. It happens/ends just as the beginning credits start. When the little girl starts to pray at the family dinner, both the parents begin to bleed like the other victims. the dad will cough before the screen goes black

Season Nine: E1 (The Inspiration Part One): Multiple warnings. 1. At around 6 min mark, girl v*. They also talk about it a few times. 2. At 21 min, a mother g* and s* out teeth. 3. After unsub kills girl in the shower, Blake asks about the v* when she’s at the coroner’s morgue. 4. When Rossi and Morgan find the girl in the park and mention her hair, Morgan says she probably v*. 5. When Hotch says “wheels up in 30” and the unsub is taking another woman into the woods, she v* when she says he’s going to fast. Lasts 5-10 seconds and only audio. (Possibly same as first warning) E12 (The Black Queen): At around 18:55 min. When Garcia and Morgan are testing microphone signal, Garcia says she feels like she’s gonna v*. Nothing happens though.

Season Ten: E3 (A Thousand Suns): When Reid and Kate go to look at the plane crash and start to look at the pilot’s seat, a few seconds later Reid will notice there is v* from the passengers on the ground. He just says the word and there is a visual but it doesn’t look very realistic. After the crowd of people at the station are asking questions about their loved ones on the plane Morgan and JJ will mention the v* again and talk about what caused it

Season Eleven: E21 (Devil’s Backbone): When the two boys are in the back of the van, one boy v*. No visual, just audio.

Season Thirteen: E1 (Wheels Up): Garcia and Simmons are in the car and Garcia says, “No creepy weird stuff.” There’s a lot of people looking s* and leaning over bowls. No visual that was noticed.

Happy watching!

#criminal minds #submission

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hikari-ni-naritai · 3 years

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Utage either hasnt realized it yet or those claws are retractable. I refuse to believe she aint a gay queen

They are certainly less pronounced on her swimsuit art I'll give you that. Or actually. Now that I've looked closer, maybe they're just blue.

Nah her e2 nails on the top right there are still pretty brutal. I can't see those being retractable though.

Realistically nobody in arknights is straight.

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platinummice · 4 years

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Ok there's kind of a lot here, but: A2, 4, 6, 7, 16. B12. C2, 8. D3. E2, 8. F11. G6, 7. H7. I2, 5. L1, 2, and 9

Hell yes, give me a reason to answer every single question, I’ll do it

A2. What alignment are they? Chaotic neutral, lawful evil, et cetera…

I think Archer is a chaotic neutral character. He is caring towards animals and certain people and then doesn’t really care about what happens to really anyone else. He tends to be more on the chaotic side because he’ll do anything for people he cares about. Literally anything.

A4. Are they a pessimist or an optimist?

Archer is a cynical optimist. Half hopeful, half jaded, fully confused. He hopes everything will work out for him in the end, but realizes that the chances of that are kind of low. It doesn’t stop him from thinking about his future though.

A6. Does your OC tend to assume their interpretation of events and reality is correct, or do they question it? I.e., “I’m sure that’s what you said” versus “It’s possible I misheard you.”

He is definitely the “I probably misheard you guy. Its very easy to abuse this aspect of him, because with his schizophrenia, he has a hard time deciding what’s real and what isn’t anyway. So if someone says he heard something wrong, or that he was seeing things he’ll believe them, because that is a legitimate possibility for him.

A7. Is your OC confident in their reactions to life in general, or do they get embarrassed or easily shamed for it? I.e., if something startles them, do they insist it WAS scary? When they cry, do they feel like they overreacted?

He might not be super confident about his reactions but he also doesn’t let people shame him for feeling. If he is startled by something he’ll say something along the lines of “Damn that got me good.” and if people are laughing he’ll chuckle along side them. He also doesn’t judge people for crying, he knows sometime you need to let it out. He won’t feel that he’s overreacted because he knows he’s been through some shit and if a little cry helps him feel better, then he’s going to cry. None of that ‘men don’t cry’ with this guy, and if that is brought up to him he’s liable to start a fight.

A16. Does your OC have to go through their own trials to learn a lesson, or do they listen and learn from observation and lecture? I.e., does your OC listen when someone tries to tell them the importance of budgeting, or do they have to go experience what happens if you don’t budget first?

Archer doesn’t know what it means to learn a lesson. It takes making the same mistake a few times and someone drilling him for it for him to stop and think ‘damn maybe i shouldn’t do that huh’

B12. Your OC orders something to eat and gets their order done in a pretty wrong way, something they can’t just pick off or whatnot to correct, or something major is missing. What do they do?

He’d just ask politely for it to be fixed, he realizes people make mistakes and there’s no real reason to get worked up over something small like that.

C2. Would your OC feel bad if they acted against their morals? If not, would they find a way to excuse themselves for it?

So I would say one of Archers biggest morals is being loyal to his friends. And he really sticks to that, to the point where i can’t really see him ever acting against it, unless it is purely accidental. If he ever did accidentally betray one of his friends? He would be devastated. He’d need at least a few days by himself before he’d even partially feel up to interacting with anyone and then he’d most definitely avoid the person even though he could probably easily explain what happened.

C8. Is your OC more practical or ideal morally? I.e., do they hold people to high expectations of behavior even if it’s not realistic for the situation, or do they have a more realistic approach and adapt their morality to be more practical?

Archer is more practical when it comes to the people around him. He realizes times are hard and he can’t expect people to not look out for themselves and he doesn’t blame them for that.

D3. How comfortable are they with the idea of death?

Death isn’t really something he cares about. It’s gonna happen eventually so why worry about it. The only thing he worries about is leaving his dogs behind without someone to care for them.

E2. Which of the nine types of intelligence is your OC strongest in? Weakest? (Linguistic, existential, naturalist, et cetera)

His strongest is most definitely naturalist, his affinity with plants and animals is amazing. His weakest is probably Logical-Mathematical, please don’t ask him to do basic math it scares him.

E8. What’s one of your OC’s biggest regrets?

Not running away from his parents. He probably would have died alone in the desert, but he believes that would have been better than what they made him do.

F11. What are some of their favorite things to do for recreation? How did they get into it? What part of it do they like the most?

He likes crafting things! He almost always has a few bows in various stages of completion, and if he’s finished with them for the time being he can make arrows. He likes see the finished product of whatever he’s putting together, it makes him feel productive, like there’s nothing wrong with him and he’s just a normal guy living life.

G6. Do they have any favorite childhood memories?

... Uh he found a Brahmin calf wandering by itself in the desert around his house one time. No idea where it came from. He was super super excited when his parents let him keeping. They’d never done anything so nice for him before.

G7. Do they have any childhood memories they’d rather forget or be less affected by?

The very first pit fight his parents forced him into. He’ll never forget it, not in a million years. Not the bright lights, not the people screaming in the audience. Not the hungry eyes staring him down from the other side of the pit. Not what he did to them.

H7. What do they look for in partners? (Emotionally, mentally, physically..)

I wouldn’t say Archer is really looking for partners. Mainly because he doesn’t think he deserves love but once he realizes that’s not true he’ll probably gravitate towards someone who knows how to take control. Its not the healthiest decision for him for him, because he will do literally anything that person tell him to, he really just becomes a pet. Archer is gay, and he likes shorter guys which is good because he’d have a hell of a time finding someone taller than him. But really he’d need someone who wont take complete control over his life, even if he thinks that's what he wants.

I2. Do they have any eating requirements or preferences? Allergies, vegetarian, organic-only, religious restrictions…

He doesn’t eat a lot of meat, just because he likes animals and if he can avoid killing them he does. He’ll eat it if it’s all he has, plus he still has to hunt to feed his animals.

I5 Are they a good cook?

No. He cooks for himself and his animals. Really he cooks for his animals and then just eats what they eat. I don’t know how he’s surviving.

L1. How have your characters changed since you created them?

Oh man i first created Archer back in 2015 when Fo4 first came out, and he has changed quite a bit since then. He used to be super strong, didn’t have any scars, white hair. Most notably he wasn’t an animal man like he is now. He has always worn a mask though :)

L2. What do you consider the biggest themes in your character, if any?

Oh, maybe your past doesn’t have to control you, or something like that? Archer has a pretty fucked up past but that doesn’t stop him from hoping for a better future.

L9. How did you come up with your OC?

I just started playing the game. It took up until this year for me to actually finish it because i finally got something for myself to play it on, and then i started to actually flesh him out at bit.

#thank you for the ask!#Archer #ooh boy this one took a bit #Archer has a habit of letting people take control of his life #But to be fair thats what his life was #for the first 24 years #it was kind of a miracle that he left Zion when he did #Cause Joshua really was everything Arch thought he needed at the time #And if Joshua had asked him to stay Arch would have

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kralmajales · 4 years

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not to put all the pressure on you, but I need you to convince me and my partner to watch hannibal, they're not convinced it's worth the gay drama... yet...

akajglshkslf I did NOT know what to expect when I got this notif and all I saw was “not to put all the pressure on you” but it wasn’t this lmaooo thank u .

uhhh okay so I’m only on s2 e2 tbh so maybe I’m not the best person to ask!! but i will do my best!

so I’m not sure what exactly is dissuading your partner so I’m not sure which angle to come at this from however I will start with my own reservations I suppose!!

I am a VERY squeamish person and have always been super super grossed out by cannibalism (it was actually the only word I had blocked on here for a long time haha oh how the turn tables....) so of course I was VERY hesitant abt watching it. But then my friends were into it and I hate being left out so I checked it out

And like. It’s so beautiful??? I think that’s what drew me in. That and the main character being super relatable. I think they make up a lot of the gore and gross stuff by making it SUPER artistic so it’s easier to get through while also saying a lot abt like....the person committing all these atrocities. Also it’s beautifully filmed imo and I love how they do visual cues and throwbacks and everything. I know @trashmouthlesbians has many good thoughts abt how art plays in to all of this and would probably love to talk abt it with u!! And has seen the whole thing lol

But back to what I like!! I really enjoy the themes of identity and how understanding other people changes how you understand yourself. Also it’s like. A very human show tbh. Like it’s dramatic and dark and everyone talks in super elaborate metaphors (which I do enjoy haha) but it’s still about how what we see as “monsters” are really humans after all. Motives to do terrible things aren’t always tragic backstories but sometimes just people doing their best to make sense of the world , to give back , to make art , to strive for something else.

But also it’s a genuinely funny show too like. All the characters are likable (with a few exceptions on purpose but they’re still fun and good characters) and I think a lot of the characters are really funny too?? But in their own ways . Like every character clearly has their own sense of humor which is really enjoyable to me bc it makes them more realistic . Also the costume design is so good like they actually seem to use costumes to show who these characters ARE rather than going for a /look/ you know? Idk I just really like how the writer(s?) used costume and senses of humor to flesh out who these characters are as individuals rather than it just being the writer’s sense of humor/aesthetic.

Also like. The gay drama is fun haha. I hope this helped at all!! It’s a fun show and I had no idea I was going to like it as much as I do!

#can’t believe I’ve Made It in the Hannibal fandom despite only having finished season 1 lachalfkalglalh #I’m trying y’all I’m just bad at binge watching alfjalgkslh #Hannibal #q and a

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angelofchaos73 · 3 years

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A2@ or A2#, maybe D2@

I’m flattered by A truly and the @ is spot on as well as the 2 but honestly realistically I see myself more as E2@ 😅

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neptunium134 · 4 years

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Send in the Clowns analysis (eh?) pt1

For my good friend @midsomer4life, who wanted me to do an analysis of Send in the Clowns (S20, E6)

It’s not really an analysis, more like me fangirling over a few things in some screencaps

Okay, first of all, this matching shot of Neil and Nick’s names:

So right off the back, they’re using the same shot for their credits, the shot then changes for the next amount of credits. Most of the other episodes don’t do this, instantly setting up that close relationship between John and Jamie.

It probably doesn’t mean anything, it just stood out to me.

Then there’s this interaction with the Barnaby family:

And almost instantly, John has to bring up Jamie for no reason at all:

(He’s just sad Jamie isn’t having family bonding time with them)

But it also shows that Jamie and John regularly talk about food with each other. Not to get too personal, but this is something I do with my friends. It’s a common ground and we usually end up spending most of our time talking about food. So if John and Jamie are having a similar converation to group of 7 17-year-old girls, then they are very close on my account.

Then this line which recognises Jamie’s only been there for a short amount of time:

I’m not entirely sure how long Jamie’s meant to have been there, but if we assume each season is a year, then this, as Ep6, is near the end of the second year. We see Jamie wearing a coat, but not John. (The countryside is generally colder than the city, and Nick said in an interview before the launch of S19, he mentioned something about London, so we can assume Jamie’s either from London, or a sorrounding area, such as Cambridgeshire or my county of Hertfordshire, both of which are quite posh areas actually) We’ve seen Jamie wear just shirts in the seasons before, so this much be a significant drop in temperature, suggesting a later month, maybe September or October due to the lack of frost and breath in the air.

At the end of that rant, this line just shows Jamie’s been there for about 2 years tops.

Fleur’s comment about a ex-date of hers

And Jamie and John’s subsequent reations:

(Jamie’s face is exactly the same as mine when people start talking about this kind of thing)

This part, where Sarah takes Betty out of the scene just before the murder in a truly realistic way:

This is clever because it’s realistic, it takes Betty out of the scene in a way that makes sense for a three-to-five-year-old (I don’t know exactly how old she’s meant to be, but she was quite young in The Village that Rose from the Dead (S19, E1), and if this is a year later, she can’t be older than five), and it’s established Betty likes clowns, so taking her out of the scene in which a clown is killed is just perfect writing, and, let’s face it, she won’t know Terry was the clown, so it keeps her from being traumatised for life and associating something she loved with death.

John’s reaction when he realised something is wrong:

He’s not a DCI for nothing, folks (plus his psychology degree)

Jamie’s comment on the Betty situation:

He obviously cares about Betty, and this comment just confirms how much of a bond he has with her. At the end of Crime and Punishment (S19, E2), we see Betty playing with Jamie before John interupts him and Sarah starts a little conflict between Jamie and Kam because she wants to see them get together.

A little off-rant, but the two Barnaby children looking out for each other.

This is less of an analysis and just-

The height difference-

Pfft-

Jamie’s got like an entire head on John. Son is taller than his father, I can’t-

This infamous scene, which possibly started @tiger-moran‘s headcanon that Jamie is attracted to food and food alone (I mean, fucking mood):

John also commenting on Fleur bringing food to Jamie (@midsomer4life, my idea about John and Fleur bringing Jamie food cuz they think Jamie doesn’t eat enough still stands if you wanna take it on)

Plus, Jamie’s face when he bites into that doughnut, it looks like a mixure of gratitude for the food and ‘what do you have planned, did you rig this doughnut with knock-out pills or something?’

Jamie putting his jacket over the back of his chair the same way I do, ironically:

Plus Fleur stealing Jamie’s chair and then praising herself for her good work. Absolutely, Queen, treat yourself for that groundbreaking discovery.

(I know this scene was meant to parrody the stereotype of police officers eating doughnuts, but I think its true meanings go deeper than ‘let’s fuck with stereotypes’)

Fleur eating that doughnut while John and Jamie just stand there

.....

Are you gonna eat that doughnut, Jamie? Cuz I kinda want it...

Right, I’m gonna leave this part here, I’ll do some more tomorrow. There’s like an hour of the episode left to dig up unrelated and unwanted ideas about.

#Midsomer Murders #Neptunium over-analysing everything as usual #John Barnaby #Jamie Winter #Fleur Perkins #I love her #i want food #it's not really an analysis #I just make some theories and comments about some screencaps #Send in the Clowns analysis #Part 1

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rockshortage · 4 years

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*Cracks knuckles* Ow. Let's see, how about: A6, 16. B1, 12. C1, 2, 3, 5, 8. D4. E2, 3, 7. F2, 5, 10, 12 (Sorry, but also not sorry) I6. L1, 2, 4, and 9 :)

hoo boy that took a while

A6) Does your OC tend to assume their interpretation of events and reality is correct, or do they question it? I.e., “I’m sure that’s what you said” versus “It’s possible I misheard you.”

Ah, he questions himself a lot. Maybe he wasn’t listening well enough because he was too distracted by being anxious? Maybe he misinterpreted this event, because his background knowledge on it was lacking, he doesn’t know the full story and opinions from all sides, he’s not sure he can form a well educated opinion on this--

A16) Does your OC have to go through their own trials to learn a lesson, or do they listen and learn from observation and lecture? I.e., does your OC listen when someone tries to tell them the importance of budgeting, or do they have to go experience what happens if you don’t budget first?

Hector needs to do it himself for Science, because how else is he to truly know, if not from his own personal experience? Trusting what people tell you is good and all but gathering data yourself is better.

Unless we’re talking about raider politics, in which case there’s not really a good way for Hector to gather data without seriously endangering him and friends, so he’ll just listen to Gage.

B1) Do they believe you have to give respect to get it, or get respect to give it?

Generally, he believes it’s necessary to give people respect before you can expect it in return. He learns that many people do not in fact think the same way. He’ll still want to extend basic courtesy to them even if they’re assholes, unless they disrespect/piss him off to the extremes, or if their actions threaten his position and in turn the well-being of himself and friends.

B12) Your OC orders something to eat and gets their order done in a pretty wrong way, something they can’t just pick off or whatnot to correct, or something major is missing. What do they do?

Have a back and forth about it in his head – ah it’s not so bad it’s still fine, but then again he really wanted it differently… but he doesn’t wanna bother them and be entitled about it, but man… :( Might get close to pointing it out but chances are slim that he’ll actually get someone to correct the order. It’ll be disappointing but he’ll eat it.

C1) Does your OC have a moral code? If not, how do they base their actions? If so, where does it come from, and how seriously do they take it?

Eeeh, not a super strong one. His baseline are general societal morals and norms, like… help person good, kill person bad. Most of the time he’ll base his actions on what feels right for him and for his friends. He’ll consider: will doing this make me feel bad afterwards? Will it have a negative impact on other people, who don’t deserve it? Is that consequence worth it because it saves my own skin or helps/protects my friends?

C2) Would your OC feel bad if they acted against their morals? If not, would they find a way to excuse themselves for it?

Bringing back the point about sacrificing for the greater good. He’d consider that the morally right thing to do because it impacts fewer people negatively. But making that sacrifice endangers his friends, whose lives for him personally are worth much more than an abstract crowd of people. So he chooses to not do the thing for the greater good and save his friends instead, and yes, he would feel very bad on the one hand, because oh boy. As far as most people are concerned, he did a horrible terrible thing and was extremely selfish and absolutely chose wrong. But on the plus side, and that’s a very big huge plus- he still has his friends. And still having his friends makes him feel less bad than how he would have felt if he didn’t have his friends anymore.

So uh… yes and no.

C3) Is it important for them to be with people (socially, intimately, whatever) whose major ideological tenets align with their own?

More or less. He can’t hang out well with people he completely disagrees with in every way, of course that’s not going to work. But Hector is… how to say… kinda boring when it comes to ideals and opinions and all that stuff. He just doesn’t have very strong ones in general. Which can make him a little bland and potentially spineless, but also pretty agreeable. As long as they don’t constantly shove their great big opinions in his face, they’ll get along well enough.

C5) Do your OC’s morals and rules of common decency go out the window when it comes to those they don’t like, or when it’s inconvenient? Aka, are their morals situational?

I think I kind of answered this in C2. Basic morals do get thrown out the window if friends are threatened, or if he gets pissed off enough. He’d have to be really pissed off though. As well as being post having-grown-a-spine(-at-least-partially). Hurting people bad but being insufferable to Hector also bad so guess what fucker

C8) Is your OC more practical or ideal morally? I.e., do they hold people to high expectations of behavior even if it’s not realistic for the situation, or do they have a more realistic approach and adapt their morality to be more practical?

Again a little tricky because I’m having trouble coming up with a scenario that would help me make up my mind with a definite answer. I’m leaning more towards a practical approach 1) because Hector is more of a realist/pessimist in general, 2) he doesn’t want to like… be overly demanding

D4) Would they like to be immortal? Why, why not? If they are immortal, would they rather not be?

The more he thinks about it the more meaningless life seems to get for someone like him. Solution: don’t think about it! Repress that shit because it’s not like you can do anything about it anyway. Also an involuntary solution but one that helps nonetheless: have shit memory so that you don’t feel like you’ve lived too many lifetimes.

If you were to ask him, the answer you get completely depends on the headspace he’s in at the moment. If he’s just vibing, going about his day and things are going well then yeah! Immortality isn’t so bad. If you catch him on an off day, things aren’t going so well, maybe he just thought about having to deal with losing his friends eventually… then you obviously get the opposite answer.

E2) Which of the nine types of intelligence is your OC strongest in? Weakest? (Linguistic, existential, naturalist, et cetera)

I know I talked about this before and I grouped them from strong to medium to weak but I can’t for the life of me find the post anymore (thanks tumblr for your useless garbage search and tagging features). So I can’t even check if I’m still on the same wavelength with past me :v

From strongest to weakest we have…

Logical-mathematical

Spatial

Linguistic

Bodily-kinesthetic

Musical

Naturalist

Interpersonal

Existential

Intrapersonal

E3) How many languages do they speak?

Three… and a half.

The half language being Swiss German, because I don’t know what the fuck it is even after graduating from language uni

The others: Standard German, English, and French, from strongest to weakest.

E7) Are they a good note-taker? Are they a good test-taker? Do exams make them nervous?

Yes, yes, and yes. He’s very good at taking notes considering most of science is documentation. And even now when he’s not doing a lot of Formal Science things, he still writes in his journal almost daily, summing up events and making notes of important things. He gets nervous with tests with all the self doubt if he really prepared well enough and the unpredictability of the questions that will be asked, but once the pen is in his hand, he just blazes through it.

F2) What’s their ideal home look like? Where is it?

Someplace underground, safe and sturdy like a vault. Industrial aesthetic is welcome and he wants to have plenty of space, but it shouldn’t feel huge and empty. Needs to be homey, even if it might feel a little rustic to the average person. Having it built into a mountain would be sick, so he still has the perfect protection from the sun, but he doesn’t have to crawl out of a hole in the ground like some kind of worm – instead he opens the door and gets the most amazing view immediately.

… and I promise, only after writing the above did I remember that he pretty much lives in a mountain already, just a plastic one. Close enough.

F5) How handy are they? Can they fix appliances, cars, cabinets, et cetera?

Quite handy indeed. He can fix most things, he usually just needs some time to (re-)familiarize himself with the object and its functions. A lot of it also involves trial and error, but he’ll figure it out eventually.

F10) Do they engage in any of the arts? How good do you intend them to be? Would they agree they are?

He’d actually be really good at pen/pencil drawing, what with making technical illustrations and blueprints of Science Stuff, but it’s not a skill that’s applied in an artsy setting. When the goal is to draw for the sake of drawing, evoking emotion, or paint with a brush, that’s probably when shit would fall apart. I can’t remember who the artist was, but it reminds me of this little comic about Paladin Danse – in which he’s extremely good at technical drawings but then he attempts to draw a dog and it just looks…wrong.

Now with music, he’s more likely to engage in it in an artful way. He likes to sing, even if he very rarely does it now that he has people around him more often than not. Before, he’d just be alone in his lonely place and sing and scream to his heart’s content, but now he’s too awkward to do it, because someone might hear him. He is pretty good at it though, considering how much alone time he’s had to practice.

F12) Would they enjoy a theme park?

The rides and junk food? Yes absolutely. But the giant crowd and every little consequence it entails, nope, no thank you, he’ll just leave it be.

You bet he’s gonna go on the rides at nuka world though once they got them back up and working, because the crowd isn’t as big as pre-war and he’s the fucking overboss and can skip lines and restrict access to others however he damn pleases.

I6) Could they eat the same thing they enjoy over and over and not get bored of it quickly?

He can, but that doesn’t mean he enjoys it. The first month or so at nuka world he almost exclusively lives off of some shitty nutrient bars. In some scenarios, food just exists as sustenance and not as something to be enjoyed.

In a preferable scenario though, it is to be enjoyed. And I think while he would get bored of it after a while, it’d take longer than for the average person. And even then, he’s just happy he can eat something enjoyable at whatever pace he likes instead of having to scarf down Compressed Nutrient

L1) How have your characters changed since you created them?

He stopped existing in a void, which is a pretty damn big change. Now he has a whole world and other characters to interact with, that contribute to shaping and developing his personality.

L2) What do you consider the biggest themes in your character, if any?

Oof, this is hard. Maybe… getting to know yourself? Accepting change, personal growth?

L4) Would you hang out with your OC if you could?

I’m actually not sure sjdfsdnsv

Like yes he is sweet bean who must be protected, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is a weird little old man. I guess if we can just chill listening to music and he can go off about crustaceans or something and we speak The Horrible Language, why the fuck not

L9) How did you come up with your OC?

Masks cool. Me especially like gas masks. Unhinged science characters also cool. Make generic but still sliiiightly unique design and make it a point to not have him be a young pretty boy character despite having immortality. Add lots of weaknesses to compensate for the immortality. Add science personality things and complete the picture with projections of my own personality. Boom, you’ve got yourself the beginnings of a Hector

#hector messerli #i did not proofread please wish me luck from the future #corvidexoskeleton #ask meme #ask #hector ref

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classypicklepatrolroad · 5 years

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Rank season 3 episodes :)

1. E10: that episode is a masterpiece. it was the first episode completely without angst, david and matteo finally togheter and happy, the girlsquad and the boysquad becoming a one big squad and everyone were supportive towards the others. i cried so much. the only clip I'm bitter about is the last clip, it was so short and I would have liked a few more conversations, idk something between matteo and david, matteo and amira, matteo and hanna are, IDK just something else!! but despite this it remains my favorite episode.

2. E7: another masterpiece. when matteo finally opened up with his friends and started to be more comfortable with his sexuality. and the last clip omg, i was speechless, the best evak reunion ever, imo the more realistic one, or maybe just the one that i could relate more idk.

3. E4: mostly for the first kiss tbh. i love that clip. matteo barely talked in the pool and i didn't even notice that the first time i watched it!! michi's acting was amazing.

4. E6: yeah one of the more angsty episode, but i relate to matteo so much there, I felt really rapresented for the first time.

5. E9: do i really have to explain why i liked this episode? how much i cried with the last clip!! I was literally trembling while watching it.

6. E3: another episode where i felt extremely rapresented by matteo. the panic attack scene was incredible, i could literally see myself in him. then the brief interaction between matteo and david at school is what a teenage crush is like, they were super cute but also awkward and i loved that. and i loved that they they took out the call your girlfriend scene tbh. I've never liked that scene so much and it wouldn't even fitted them.

7. E1: ok so, i talked about the openings earlier so Im gonna talk about something else. I loved matteo and david first interaction, matteo's smile was for the first time a real smile and they were already so cute togheter. also david was the most mysterious even and i was really intrigued by that.

8. E5: the first clip was beautiful, the date as well, but then it was all too angsty!! I felt like I was feeling matteo's emotions the whole time.

9. E2: really cute episode but really i was and im still a little confused about why david left suddenly without saying anything to matteo, he could have come up with an excuse idk

10. E8: i didn't expect the last clip. i was really sure that they would be happy and togheter and like... when david was outed it felt like a stab in the heart. i was so disappointed, mad and sad.

#druck #sorry for all the mistakes im in the car and I haven't reread anything

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carrollstreetstation · 4 years

Text

wolfenstein 3D: a level-by-level breakdown

(note: due to the extreme simplicity of wolfenstein’s design ethos, i will be forgoing screenshots, with a few exceptions. you’ve seen one wolf3d screenshot, you’ve seen them all. if you would like to see the game in action, i recommend this LP.)

EPISODE ONE: ESCAPE FROM WOLFENSTEIN

the iconic shareware episode, and the only one available for free -- thus often the only one many people played. like many others, i'd only ever played the shareware episode, but it's still just as captivating as it once was all those years ago. in terms of design aesthetic, wolfenstein 3D may be somewhat primitive and abstract by today's standards, though it's worth mentioning that there are occasional attempts at realistic touches such as the dog kennel in E1L1. the basic premise is identical to that of the original classic: you've been taken captive in the dungeons of the nazi-occupied castle wolfenstein, and it's up to you to get out.

E1L1 the classic first level. we begin in medias res, with you already having been captured and now attempting your escape. there's a dead guard in front of you, and you're armed with a knife, and the guard's luger, 8 rounds in the magazine, and a pumping soundtrack to get you primed for nazi murder. a somewhat linear affair save for a quick side trip into the kennels. savvy players who know their secrets can find the elevator to the secret level behind not one, but two secrets at the very end of the map.

E1 SECRET if you're brave enough to try this secret level, the difficulty takes a major leap upwards as MP40-toting SS guards join the regular grunts in defending this huge maze, which seems like an underground cave system, perhaps beneath the bottom levels of the castle proper. creepy music serenades you as you navigate the tunnels, and it seems like every corridor has at least one secret to be found. cool fakeout ambush if you choose the wrong exit door at the end.

E1L2 whether or not you did the secret level, SS goons are here as well. not the biggest maze in the world, but a huge chunk of it is entirely optional. aside from a big kitchen area, kennels and a prison there's a pair of big torture chambers too, full of the skeletons adrian carmack drew to get a rise out of the suits at formgen who were nervous about the violence.

E1L3 another maze of torture rooms, prison cells and officer's quarters. an optional series of boxy rooms is largely featureless but if you know where to look you can find a secret treasure vault.

E1L4 while mostly still a fairly featureless series of rooms, this does feature a few points of interest, for example the wood-carved swastika that dominates a room on the southern end of the map, as well as one of the rare secrets that actually gives itself away by the puddle of water before it, suggesting a leak of some kind.

E1L5 the heat turns up quite a bit for this one, with enemies around every corner, especially on higher difficulties. you'll have more than one chance to just unload with the chaingun until everyone's dead. it also features an enormous secret area -- probably the biggest in the episode -- that's full of treasure, ammo -- and guards.

E1L6 not the longest or most complex level, but there's plenty of nazis to murder in this nearly entirely red-brick complex of mostly straight hallways and round rooms. you'll have to go one way for the key, then another for the exit. a cute little barracks with plenty of treasure is the standout landmark here. watch out for the SS ambush right by the exit.

E1L7 one of the few levels in this episode we can conclusively attribute to one of the designers, tom hall in this case, thanks to a comment he'd made that was published in the hint manual. in it he describes the central landmark of the map, a long hallway lined with gaps in the walls, the gaps filled with impassable columns. behind them are large rooms filled with guards, and traversing the hallway is basically a gauntlet as a small army of troops fire upon you from behind the columns. reaching them is a matter of following the hallways around to the rooms they're in, but once they're alert they'll start spreading out, making tracking them down difficult. it's a cool idea and an early example of the kind of creative level design that we would later see in doom.

E1L8 another all-brick affair, save for a little bit of wood paneling and a grey stone barracks area in the northwest corner. a very short level all told, surprisingly light on resistance for so late in the episode. features the first appearance of what i've in recent years taken to calling the "trash eagle."

E1L9 the end of the episode is just as iconic as its beginning, a massive entrance hall devoid of enemies... save one. hans grosse, an enormous teutonic bastard in full body armor, greets you with a cursory "GUTEN TAG" before unloading on you with two chainguns. dealing with him requires ducking for cover when he's firing and dumping your ammo on him when he's not. after what seems like almost all of your ammo he'll go down like a sack of hammers, giving you the key to the exit, and the iconic escape cutscene. if you need ammo or health, there's a secret along the western wall full of both.

final thoughts:

an iconic episode, right up there with "knee deep in the dead" or "dimension of the doomed" in terms of its recognizability. sure, the texture usage is rather limited and the level design, cute attempts at imitating real-world spaces aside, is as abstract as any in those days, but for a lot of people, the first level alone could probably be done in their sleep. while there's only three kinds of enemies through the entire episode, they're often cleverly placed to keep you on your toes. this is just a taste of what's to come.

EPISODE TWO: OPERATION EISENFAUST

after the limited offering of the shareware episode, the full game promises a bigger experience, with more textures, more enemies, more music, more of everything that made wolf3D so great. the level design gets more complex as now you'll often have to find two keys instead of just one. now that you're free from wolfenstein, it's time to resume your mission, infiltrating castle hollehammer where the evil dr. schabbs' laboratory is supposed to be, and find out what he's been doing in there. episode two thus starts off by introducing you to the mutant, a reanimated soldier carrying cleavers in both hands and a gun in his chest. absolutely silent, he's an inhumanly fast shot and if you're not careful he'll get the drop on you, ending your mission prematurely.

E2L1 the origins of the horror theme that has been a part of the franchise all these years starts here with another level by tom hall, as you infiltrate the castle via some kind of sewer entrance. the first few rooms are empty, and you think maybe you've gotten in unnoticed... but open the wrong door and say hello to your first mutant. how well you do in this level depends on whether you find the MP40 and ammo cache across from the entrance -- or the hidden chaingun. nice touch with the starry background on the wall behind you at the start -- it gives a sense that this isn't just another bunch of random abstract hallways, but a real place with a real outside world. it's not fooling anyone, obviously, but it's a good touch of realism in a time when "realism" consisted of a square room with a table sprite in the middle.

E2 SECRET a very tiny level with a few mutants... or is it? push in the right place and the level opens up significantly, with a boatload of treasure to be found. the mutants didn't bother waiting for you and have killed some of their nazi handlers, as the corpses on the floor indicate.

E2L2 after a brief portion in the sewers, you find the exit -- marked by warning signs, presumably to keep people out of the sewers where the mutants'll get 'em. it's sealed off too, requiring you to push a wall to get out. the rest of the level is a fairly bog-standard level with three quarters of a swastika being the only distinguishing feature. i think tom hall did this one as he comments on being able to see out a window early on.

E2L3 it's not the sewers, but you wouldn't know it for all the slimy wall textures. the opening section is simple enough, but the level likes to play around with secrets. an entire secret area is visible beyond rows of columns, but to get there you have to take the long way around. there's more secret areas within the first one, each one getting better and better, until finally culminating in a mess of SS. and if that's not bad enough, the silver key is guarded by mutants, lying in wait. tom, you're an asshole.

E2L4 not a complex level from tom here, split mostly into two sections with a third, circular room in the middle. a lot of doors open immediately into dead ends; others have mutants behind them. a holding area for mutants quickly turns into a shitshow when killing the lone guard alerts the monsters hiding in their cells and they come out for blood.

E2L5 well, it's a nazi castle, i suppose it makes sense to have a level shaped like a swastika. each "arm" of the swastika is done up in a different theme, from the slimy rock walls we've seen a lot of this episode, to a red brick stronghold of sorts, to blue stone dungeon, to wood-paneling. you can basically skip most of this episode by going to three rooms max, but you miss out on a lot of nazi murder and items to find.

E2L6 opening up in a cave-like area very similar to the secret level from the first episode, only this one is full of mutants. the big maze in the southeast can be navigated by following the bloodstains -- a neat touch that seems like something tom hall would do. the elevator doors at the end present an interesting dillemma -- which one is the exit, and which one is the mutant ambush?

E2L7 an odd level. it's just a few rooms and the exit elevator... unless you find the secret that opens up the entire rest of the map. it's still not the biggest map you'll ever play, but it's a respectable 5 minutes or so of nazi slaughter... until you get to the mutant cave in the southwest corner, where the nazis have already been slaughtered.

E2L8 another odd level, this one is infamous for being half made up of a large maze of 2x2 rooms and pushwalls. push your way through and you can find 1-ups, hans grosse clones (or maybe they're his brothers), treasure, or a sign saying CALL APOGEE, SAY AARDWOLF. this sign was part of a contest, if you did what it instructed you would win a prize. however, thanks to cheat and mapping programs the sign was found almost immediately, and the contest was canceled. in some later versions, the sign is replaced by a 1-up and some garbage. the rest of the map isn't as memorable, though it does have a nice little barracks in the southeast.

E2L9 another boss arena, the laboratory of the evil dr. schabbs. metal walls and warning signs tell you this is a high-tech place (well, for the 1940s anyway) and every room is quite large. other than schabbs, mutants are the only other occupants, coming at you in a wave before the mad doctor himself attacks, throwing hypodermic needles full of his monster serum at you. if you die to schabb's flying needles, instead of the usual beat-up face, BJ's skin turns white, just like one of the mutants. killing schabbs triggers an instant replay of his death animation, which is funny.

final thoughts: the second episode turns up the heat significantly. the mutants prove themselves to be a serious threat, their silence and frightening firing speed making them incredibly dangerous. the horror theme is pretty strong at multiple points in the episode, which is impressive given how primitive the game is compared to even doom. clever use of enemy corpse sprites and blood-spattered textures offer some interesting environmental storytelling. schabbs himself embodies the worst aspects of the nazi regime, that of mad science and human experimentation -- so of course taking him down is satisfying, despite how easy he is. (letting his mutants do the work for him -- so typical!)

EPISODE THREE: DIE, FUHRER, DIE!

the third episode, and technically the final one of the early version of the game until the nocturnal missions were added. as the name suggests, your mission is to kill hitler. who doesn't wanna kill hitler? well, nazis probably. but fuck 'em. anyway rather than crumbling old castles, dank dungeons and evil labs, episode three is set in a massive bunker beneath the reichstag, akin to the plot of "beyond castle wolfenstein." don't expect adolf to calmly let you bomb his conference room this time, though...

E3L1 the entrance to hitler's bunker is a small set of rooms that offers light resistance -- a few guards and SS, plus the very first officer in the game, who moves fast and fires faster. he's not as much of a threat as the mutant, but he's still quick on the draw. poke around a bit and you'll find the secret dungeon complete with machine gun for the taking. the music is a bit of fun, a very simple tune that has a morse code message playing in the background:

TO BIG BAD WOLF DE LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD ELIMINATE HITLER IMPERATIVE COMPLETE MISSION WITHIN 24 HOURS OUT

E3L2 this is the first level that we can be pretty sure is john romero's if his commentary in the hint guide is anything to go by. it's a relatively tiny level, split off into two parts, with the exit very close to the start position but locked off. the key is in the southern area of the map, but the northern portion doesn't offer much and is completely optional -- a deliberate fakeout on romero's part.

E3L3 another short map by romero, this one opens with three doors to choose from. two eventually lead to the same place, while the third takes you to one of the keys you'll need. the other key is guarded in the northern part of the map. similar to romero's tendency to stick an enemy in the exit room in doom, an officer greets you on your way to the elevator.

E3L4 romero's short-form maps continue here (i wonder if these maps were made early in the game's development?) it also continues the trend of most of the episode 3 maps being largely white stone walls with the occasional brick, dungeon or wood to break up the monotony. finding the key isn't enough -- the door opens to a wall that turns out to be pushable.

E3L5 another short-and-sweet level, this one centering the action mostly around a red brick complex inside a large grey stone room. though this one does feature a long, twisty passage that ends in little more than a medkit and an SS goon.

E3L6 tom hall brings his personal brand of weirdness to episode three with this level that opens with a locked door immediately to your left. going forward is a repeat of his old favorite trick of putting enemies and items behind barriers where they can shoot you but you can't reach them, not without a little secret-searching anyway. there's also the enormous maze of reinforced steel to the north which offers little in the way of resistance but is incredibly confusing without a map. there's also another key that can be gotten on the sly by going around and entering the closet it's in via a pushwall in back.

E3L7 jesus christ, tom. "abstract" is the theme for this level, a mess of curving hallways, rooms in the shape of tom hall and john romero's initials, a secret that's easy to break before you even find it, a ludicrously large, featureless secret maze, and *another* secret at the end of said maze. the final secret is worth it though, as it takes you to the secret level...

E3 SECRET it's pacman. in first person. with some nazis thrown in. that is literally the entirety of the level. avoid the ghosts, get the treasure, find the exit. it's honestly an adorable tribute to such a classic game from a game that has since become nearly as much of a classic itself.

E3L8 the final level before hitler, and the nazis throw everything they've got to stop you. tom hall starts this level by putting you in an empty room; only pushing the right wall will take you into a large, swastika-shaped corridor. SS and officers are everywhere; side rooms will have enemies coming at you from all sides, and they've put up barricades that you'll have to work your way around. and just when you think you've cracked it, and you're at the end, you open the elevator door and there's an officer right there waiting for you -- which doesn't happen often.

E3L9 this is it: the final battle with hitler! aesthetically it's not terribly different from the rest of the episode, but it does introduce us to one of the best fakeouts in a video game. all that buildup and when we finally do meet hitler, he's dressed in robes and shooting fireballs at you -- could it be that the old monster is a magician? well, he's playing a trick on you alright: it's a mannequin with a flamethrower, and when shot down you can hear hitler's evil laugh in the distance. hitler himself is a fairly straightforward boss fight, first in a war mech, and then when that's destroyed he comes after you himself with a pair of chainguns. his death animation is even better than the one at the end of bionic commando.

final thoughts: for the third episode of the original trilogy, design-wise it's a bit disappointing. the texture use is quite monotonous, the levels are pretty short and simple. alone or in small groups, the officer isn't nearly as menacing an enemy as the mutant, which is absent from this episode. the pac-man secret level is an amusing diversion at least. the real value in this episode is the battle against hitler -- that death animation is a treat.

EPISODE FOUR: A DARK SECRET

after the initial success of wolfenstein 3D, apogee software founder scott miller convinced id software to make another trilogy of episodes after finding out that a new level could be cranked out at a rate of one per day. smirkingly titled "the nocturnal missions," this prequel trilogy involves a plot to wage chemical warfare on the allies, and so episode four opens with BJ infiltrating a chemical weapons research facility. we can expect the usual castley goodness as envisioned mostly by tom hall, which promises a slightly more visually interesting experience than hitler's bunker.

E4L1 tom's crafted a cute little castle entrance with a big foyer and dining hall, and a little cavern of sorts in the southwest corner leading to the exit. not the most heartpounding of levels, but at this early stage you'll be ill-equipped to deal with the amount of SS and officers thrown at you, especially on higher difficulties. thus it's an early hint as to the focus on increased difficulty for the nocturnal missions.

E4L2 another tom hall joint, this one has a strong castle design, being ringed on all sides by a single long hallway with a number of rooms in the center. popping off a firearm here will alert enemies on the other side of the map, making exploration dangerous as you're likely to be snuck up on.

E4L3 the level starts off with a huge offering of health and ammo. normally when seeing a smorgasboard like this, it raises one's hackles as it signifies the arrival of a boss enemy. however, none is to be found -- but there *are* a big gaggle of enemies further down the corridor, up to 23 at once. it's quite the impressive ambush.

E4 SECRET sure, you *could* try to fight your way through the whopping seventy-five officers (on all difficulties!) who staff this level. the secret ammo stash at the start is the only thing that would make it even possible. but it's clear stealth was in mind when this puzzle map was designed, the idea being going behind the officers' backs. the official hint guide says that if you follow the path it designated you won't be seen, but this is unfortunately untrue as three will spot you either way, forcing you to hurry.

E4L4 tom gives us a relatively small level that, aside from a cave maze on the eastern side, also features an "art gallery" full of admiring officers. it's like the secret level in miniature, much more manageable with up to 14 officers waiting to run in front of your chaingun. there's also the choice between a secret room full of health, or a secret room full of ammo, and which one you get is dependant on which way you push a wall.

E4L5 tom hall has crafted a large cavern system that seems to be filled with officers. there's also a moment where a horde of guard dogs come at you en masse, and if you're not careful they can catch you in a pincer movement. there's multiple elevators as well, but all but one are inaccessible.

E4L6 tom hall's predilection for mimicking real-world spaces in doom (as in episode two of that game as well as parts of doom 2) can be seen in wolfenstein 3D as well. this level's example of that is the multiple elevators from the previous stage can be seen here too. but perhaps the standout feature of this level is the strange series of thin hallways behind a long row of doors, most of them containing officers and items. it's a good example of the abstract weirdness that has long been a staple of early FPS level design.

E4L7 fairly standard level. a long central hallway divides the east and west sides; it's filled with enemies, and tom hall has exploited the enemy behavior of being able to open locked doors to create an opportunity for players to get through without needing the key -- though if it closes behind them, there's no turning back.

E4L8 another tom hall joint, this one has a lot of tricky encounters that make the standard guards actually dangerous for once. it's the same trick as the dogs in E4L6 -- a big winding maze that makes it easy for the enemy to get behind you. there's a similar area full of officers where it's possible to sneak past some of them -- or bypass them entirely, if you find the right secret.

E4L9 the boss level is a cruel twist on the usual method. all the health and ammo are behind locked doors in the boss room; the keys are guarded by a single grunt who will alert a small army of SS and officers in the next room. however, the final boss, otto giftmacher, is not a threat at all, firing a slow-moving missile that's easily dodged. if you came in already loaded for bear you don't even need to deal with his goons.

final thoughts: episode four is a good display of tom hall's somewhat mean-spirited level design, and i say that in a good way. it's clear he took the opportunity to up the difficulty for the expansion, and that includes throwing in officers by the boatload. in general, though, the level design has started to become increasingly abstract. otherwise, a good start for the nocturnal missions.

EPISODE FIVE: TRAIL OF THE MADMAN

the fifth episode introduces us to castle erlagen (though the hint guide seems to think that was the site of episode four -- maybe both are true) as we hunt for the plans to the nazis' chemical warfare campaign. most of these levels are from romero, who has a somewhat tighter, more abstract design ethos to tom hall's more freewheeling, quasi-realistic style -- something that would be evident later in doom as well.

E5L1 the dungeons of castle erlagen start you off light, mostly guards and a few SS. john romero has crafted a relatively short level, the majority of the action being in a series of rooms off a long hallway that separates the bottom half of the map from a few large rooms connected by narrow tunnels. the final room is a very romero-esque ambush.

E5L2 romero has a penchant for a very sectional level design and we can see an example of it here, where you're dropped in the middle of the map and it's split across four areas in four directions, forcing you to explore until you find the key and the exit. he's also put in a devious deathtrap to the west -- a gauntlet of SS guards for a handful of treasure that honestly is not worth it, which may be the point.

E5L3 another short and sweet romero level -- but heavily guarded. the exit is right behind the entrance, and a number of goons stand watch. if you're low on ammo, you may be running into problems -- but romero has thoughtfully made the secrets extremely obvious, and both will give you everything you could ever want.

E5L4 similar to E5L2, only incredibly symmetrical, this is a wheel-and-spoke design that plops you in the center and it's up to you to clear out a series of nine rooms connected by hallways. as is becoming a pattern, the path is filled with enemies, so it's up to you to be quick on the draw to mow them down the moment the door opens.

E5L5 romero's hub-style design again, only a bit more freewheeling. notable encounters include the "art gallery" in the southeast corner full of dogs, and a similar mini-maze in the northwest occupied by SS and officers. romero has a talent for making maps that seem larger than they really are. the secret exit, however, is well-hidden.

E5 SECRET more hub-style design, though with an evil twist. other than a few central rooms the entirety of the map is made up of long narrow corridors with nazis on patrol. this leads to a tense few minutes as you navigate these tunnels always knowing that if an enemy comes around the corner, you won't have any cover.

E5L6 a rare attempt from romero to make something that feels like a real-world space, the core of this map is a complex of rooms surrounded by a large cavern that encircles three-quarters of the map. the complex itself isn't particularly unusual or, well, complex, though interestingly one of the three doors leading to the room that itself leads to the exit is of a different lock from the others. you still need the silver key, though.

E5L7 back to the hub design. the enemy count is climbing ever higher, romero throws goons at you every step of the way. a major encounter is in the northwestern room where a row of doors all lead to the same room, with a swarm of officers and SS goons hiding just behind to come at you in a wave. the final room is an ornate hallway lined with SS guards, giving a sense that we're getting ever closer to our goal.

E5L8 the penultimate level of episode five is a quick-and-dirty map that splits off into three zones. the biggest heat of the level is probably in the southwest, a maze of corridors full of bad guys that can and will wind up wandering behind you unless you're careful. and when you get through that mess, there's an ambush in the key room. interestingly, you can see the exit door at the very beginning -- but it's behind a barricade, requiring you to find the key to get to the other side.

E5L9 the boss arena is pretty straightforward -- a huge room divided in three by rows of walls. gretel grosse, sister of hans, is your target for this mission, and she behaves exactly the same as hans. taking her out is a snap, but you'd better stock up before opening the door she guards, as the command room that's your final goal is filled with nazi goons. cute re-use of the "yeah!" animation.

final thoughts: episode five is romero at his best. it's a fast-paced little jaunt that offers plenty of nazis to mow down by the boatload, giving a hint of what doom would be like. though he overuses the hub-style level design, it at least gives a little bit of structure to an otherwise freewheeling, abstract mapping style.

EPISODE SIX: CONFRONTATION

the final episode of the game is a bit of a hodgepodge, featuring work from john romero, tom hall, and, surprisingly, robert prince, the man behind the music for most of apogee and id's output between 1991 and 1996, including, but not limited to: wolfenstein 3D (duh), rise of the triad, duke nukem II and 3D, and of course doom. the story goes, now that the allies know where the general behind the upcoming chemical warfare campaign is located, they send BJ into castle heidenheim. with three mappers contributing to this level we can expect a mixture of styles, and given that this is the very last episode of the game, resistance is likely to be fierce.

E6L1 jesus christ, tom. 95% of this map is extremely long hallways, lined with niches in which officers hide. it takes forever to advance and you're constantly getting caught on architecture. you start the episode with the exit right in front of you, and you have to make an insanely long detour just to get to it. awful map.

E6L2 robert prince makes his level design debut with this weird outing. it starts off similar to the previous level's endless hallways, but at least in this case gunfire will make most of the hiding enemies come after you. after that is a series of hallways that spiral in on themselves, at the center of which is the exit. it's like this episode was designed to annoy me.

E6L3 jesus christ, robert. it's a maze of swastikas. every room is a fucking swastika, and they interlink with each other. it's just... fucking madness. it blows my mind. this is what i'm talking about when it comes to how old FPS games seemed to just get by on pure abstraction. in that regard, duke nukem 3D should be considered a fucking revelation. this map is a pain to navigate too, though not as bad as the first two.

E6 SECRET romero and hall both did this level. it's a very romero-style level at its core -- a central hub with four separate areas, each with a different theme. tackling more than one is optional, because at the end of each one is another grosse brother holding a key to the exit in the central room. to the east is a nightmare zone of a vine-choked maze -- visibility is borderline zero and it's full of mutants(!) and officers. a better bet would be the more straightforward boss arena to the west, though the mazes to the north and south aren't too bad. though, work your way too deep into the pushwall maze and you'll run into a familiar ghost, because this map wasn't gimmicky enough.

E6L4 though the hint guide doesn't say one way or another save for tom hall making a completely random e. e. cummings reference, this has hall's style all over it. It's mostly a series of random rooms connected via one hallway or tunnel or another. Compared to the rest of the episode so far, this level's banality is honestly a blessing.

E6L5 i'm pretty sure tom hall did this one as well. the big setpiece is a long, wide hallway with enemies hidden in the niches in the wall -- something i was tired of before the end of the first level. there's also a couple of nearly-identical shootouts in big rooms for possession of the keys. pretty basic level all told.

E6L6 yeah, i can tell this is a romero map, even without the hint guide telling me. it's got two of his most defining features in his nocturnal missions level design: absolute fucking chaos, and a tight level design with a core conceit. on its surface it resembles the spiral maze from robert prince's first level, but this is much bigger, and *much* more packed with enemies, all of whom come after you from the first shot fired. actually quite fun.

E6L7 tom and his fucking mazes strike again. after a rough initiation (more of the hallway/hidden enemies business) and a big central chamber with officers shooting at you from side rooms, you're treated to a nightmare world of endless mazes. if you're brave enough, you can even venture into a secret vine maze, which, while not as dangerous as the one in the secret level, is still plenty annoying and not really worth the hassle.

E6L8 it's hard to say whose level this is, but i'm going to guess it's romero's. it's two underground complexes split by a single long cave tunnel that curls around and between them in a backwards S fashion, which would suggest tom hall, but the abundance of enemies and the relatively compact room arrangement says john romero. whoever did it, this is a pretty linear affair -- first you clear out the northern complex, room by room, then grab the key. then you take out the southern complex and reach the exit. simple.

E6L9 the final boss of the nocturnal missions, and the nazis throw everything they've got at you. i'm reasonably certain this is a romero level, because the evil general is guarded by a baying horde of fascists who come at you from all directions. it's as if they looked at how sparsely populated the previous boss levels were and decided this deserved a bit more of a finale. it makes for some cool carnage, but you'll likely run into trouble unless you're secret-savvy.

final thoughts: "mixed bag" is an understatement. this episode feels like where the dregs of the design team's ideas went. guest designer robert prince should have stuck to music. there are a few cool bits, but in general the sixth episode is a low note, and a bit of a disappointment after the ludicrously fun fifth episode.

#Wolfenstein 3D #classic fps

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