ok so my computer's power supply suddenly died on me so i thought i'd have this whole console player arc but GUESS WHAT i bought a new one instantly and visited my parents for easter so i also ended up getting some time on my brother's PC just to play fucking TNT of all things.
/
it took me a good while to muster up the will to get past the first 10 levels which always made me drop the whole thing. TNT thrives on huge maps with weird combat setups, but those early ones are just boring, cramped, and don't work towards building its identity.

as soon as you get into some more inventive ones, though, it gets interesting.... so many far away hitscanners and barely populated arenas! so many attempts at roughly non-abstract areas... so many massive secret setpieces! map12 (Crater) was a standout for me, its namesake comes from an odd secret that lets you explore a narrow view of a nukage waterfall in the crater. the way it tries to do this kind of cute trick without much fanfare is what gets me. they made a mapset that tries making DOOM a little more "real", and the way it almost works is charming.

even the guest maps from the Casali brothers (who made Plutonia, the other half of Final DOOM [which i love]) build on TNT's concept well, but with more exciting combat. it's just that about half the playtime on this big, big WAD is spent on almost regular DOOM II maps but with no bite or cool surprises. just a bunch more hitscanners mixed in.

i can definitely tell why this was so influential, though. it does a lot to intrigue the player about trusting a big concept more than only trying to do tight combat loops over and over. map20 (Central Processing) is a blessing!

bonus: take a look at this fanmade remix of Into Sandy's City made for map32 (Caribbean). it's so cute!

pretty fun but god that is one of the worst and most tactless narratives i've ever seen in a mainstream video game. the usual Yakuza conspiracy plot structure's presence here is absurd. since the game deals with bullying and the actions that victims' families take to get their own version of justice on the matter, Lost Judgment can't help but to relativize every instance of torture and murder commited against the bullies. it genuinely expects the player to have so little empathy for the bully that they don't see them as human. Yagami just hangs out with the serial killer here. has a toast with him. he's fully convinced that the guy's logic makes sense, but the only problem is getting other innocent people hurt while trying to hide his instances of moral torturemuder.

this only bothers me because this game is mostly a morality tale. it constantly stops to lecture you about bullying and the justice system in an attempt to make you try to think about the situation as if it was hard to decide who's right or wrong. like, man.... most people know bullying is a problem. it's very easy to empathize with someone who got bullied to the verge of suicide. i don't need to see that shit pushed to it's logical limit without any care at all.

also, Yagami kinda goes insane in this game. while he empathizes with many psychos in Lost Judgment, he also stalks and emotionally manipulates 3 different women (1 innocent, 2 guilty) in order to get answers for his investigation. i think his more social and brute way of doing detective work is pretty cool, it fits RGG studios' style. but here, he always goes to the most vulnerable people (women) for answers, and pressures them while knowing they won't handle it and can't fight back. this is how he makes most of the more important discoveries. it kinda makes me sick.

ok so, i really like the combat, school stories and substories. for me these games are always more about their whole world than just the main plot, and Lost Judgment is one of my favorites in regards to side stuff! but the Judgment duology is also more focused on story and dialogue than other RGG games, and god this narrative is so long and expository that i can't help but to see as tainting a lot of the game.

i am sad but i will continue trying to have fun with these games. here's hoping i still enjoy the rest as much as i did the first half of the Yakuza series!

Memories is a very understated map. it doesn't pull ambushes as much as most Doom WADs i've played until now. even its biggest combat arena holds back. a swarm of hell knights, pinkies and some hitscanners try to put up a fight, but there's not a single baron of hell in sight. after dealing with those enemies, you can find two barons tucked away in a faraway corner on that wide open area; almost harmless.

the industrial tone this map takes is greatly appreciated, and it leaves a lot of space for abstract semiplaces where you can belong. the trash heap is almost as uniform as the grainy brown and gray walls textured so matter of factly that they feel vanilla. a nonzero number of walls is adorned with beveled bricks (which reminds me of the beginning of FFVII's Temple of the Ancients' dungeon) that makes the structures look monumental. the textures representing rusted machinery rest upon every possible nook. finally, the Resident Evil 1 save theme completes the atmosphere and grounds the area into a serene and dreamlike whole.

Doomguy can be everywhere, but this place is especially appropriate for him. the spacious areas around the map makes me think this factoryplace houses only stray demons that happened upon it. most of the light sources come from intruding natural light that bounces throughout the transitional rooms that offer you a ceiling with short bursts of demons to kill.

the ending stood out to me. after the longest combat setpiece of the map, you climb a short flight of stairs to reach an open air alcove above the place where you fought not a minute ago. it's a big area that is mostly empty. near the stairs there's a set of moving pylons that spawn a lone group of archviles who don't even get a fresh group of demons to revive. they're guarding the very BFG that's gonna get rid of them.

after that short fight. you're basically done. there's a lone baron trapped behind a weapons cache you can only get to via a secret, and a short drop for the final key. i expected a fakeout ending with a final fight against some high tier monsters, but there was nothing. you open the last door to a narrow corridor overlooking trash mountains. the end sees you traversing through the map's skybox.

Memories is not afraid to hold itself back until it convinces you that you don't really need an entire demon army to fight. this is personal.