Doom Eternal

[one-armed dwarf]

I look at it like it's as if introducing someone to gaming for the first time, you wouldn't introduce a new player to 3D movement in a game with Bayonetta, you might try a platformer first. 

 

Doom Eternal is deeply complicated and layered in its offense, movement and enemy engagement/prioritisation. You're constantly thinking about these things, and quickly, so basic movement has to be something so fundamentally ingrained to be automatic and to leave the brain synapses time to think about the way the combat encounter is going to go

 

That said, there are people out there playing really well on controller. I saw this video and thought it was a keyboard player, realised it wasn't and when I recovered from my shock and disgust it really put into stark relief how you can get good at anything even if you're just a pigeon

 

 

[Maf]

My problem isn’t with basic movements it’s just finding the buttons

 

This is why controller is better because when I try to hit the B button there’s no other buttons that surround it that feel exactly like it

 

I get KBM is better for aiming and games with lots of menu’s, I think aiming with a mouse is just more fun than a stick as well for shooters.

 

But a controller will always be better to me because I can literally hit every button at once if I need to or hit a specific button with no problem

 

I think controller is just more versatile for games as well. Like aiming in Cyberpunk is better with KBM, but driving a car in 3rd person is the most alien way of doing it. Where as a controller it all feels normal

[one-armed dwarf]

I thought you were struggling with movement cause you couldn't find the D and S keys, which are used for WASD. So I guess you're not using WASD

 

You could also use ESDF which is considered better for getting access of all the surrounding keys, but I'm too used to WASD

[one-armed dwarf]

For the past week or so I've been trying my hand at ultra nightmare, which again is Nightmare mode except you cannot die. The idea is to have a simultaneous nightmare playthrough to practice levels (which is easy enough to beat once you've done it once) and then run through it on UN. That lets you learn to take advantage of stage gimmicks (like the saws on cultist base, or the cueballs in the pit) and get comfortable using them to easily clear otherwise challenging fights

 

Naturally it's very hard tho, cause it kinda opens your eyes to how you can brute force through luck a mode like nightmare. Stood in the wrong place and a revenant ate you, just reload that checkpoint (on nightmare). It forces you to study the levels and enemy spawns, but also chainsaw routing. I usually just chainsaw whenever, but in the first two levels I decided to try and optimise weapon and saw usage so I didn't need to use it as often so I could occasionally use a 3 saw on particularly problematic encounters. The first hell knight on mission 2 is a good example, it's very hard to fight safely at that early stage with limited combat options

 

I got pretty far into cultist base (mission 3), which is the hardest level. But a revenant stood behind me and that was all she wrote, the Devil ate my game save and spat me back to the start. Was pretty far in too, it was the room where you rise a pillar above a room of tentacles but I hadn't labbed the encounter well enough I guess. I heard that once you can clear mission 4 reliably the whole thing gets much more stable with the exception of Gladiator and Final Sin, I'll see if I can get that far but then I might have to hang my meathook up I think (which I've only had the enjoyment of using on UN a little bit cause of progress). 

 

Anyway it gives you a really different perspective on the game, specifically how you prioritise enemy engagement so you can play fast, intense and skillfully but not stupidly. I feel I have the first three down well enough for UN, but I'm too stupid still.

 

Here's a video of someone clearing the mode with tips, the way he handles this room gives an insight into the way you have to plan it

Spoiler

 

 

[mfnick]

Cool, awesome work man. Getting even a couple of levels done on UN is fucking impressive. 

[one-armed dwarf]

Yeah, but 3 is still so far away from 13 🥲

 

I'm probably going to try out nightmare with the extra lives mode maybe, which is where your save gets deleted only if you run out of lives. I reckon that's something I could actually do, with practice against Gladiator and Final Sin anyway.

 

The way the guy in the video I posted deals with the final boss is pretty inspiring with the BFG strategy and sniper/rocket quick swap combos. Very ninja

[one-armed dwarf]

Back on this but doing the 'Extra Life' mode on Nightmare, which is a mode where it has the perma death thing from ultra nightmare, sort of, but when you die you use one of those 'lives'. Also you can reset a mission and start it again with 4 lives if things are going poorly, so it's not really that punishing at all. Just don't 'let' yourself die. I'm on the cultist base but have restarted it a few times.

 

Coming back to this after playing so much Marvel I feel like that game has improved my reflexes at this game, cause obviously AI is so much more easy to fight. Even if the controls here are much more complicated. But you get back into the violent ballet of weapon switching, meat hook physics, crowd control, resource juggling and flying around the place pretty quickly.

 

I really do want to beat UN but I think you would literally have to grind the game for years and know everything about it and the early missions are so unstable until you get the Slayer's powers upgrades. The weapon switch speed increase mod is the first thing you really have to get ASAP, it is so fundamental to the flow, sniper quick scope, shotgun grenade, sniper again, meat hook etc. The biggest thing to get used to again is faltering enemies, where you stun them by killing a weakpoint and then instantly murder them with a weapon switching combo. Don't just let the spiderbrain live after killing its turret, take your frame advantage, it's always the Slayer's turn if you can learn to push the buttons fast enough and cleanly

 

This game will be 5 years old soon, insane. I think it's a top 3 game of the decade, a transcendental action game that I doubt ID will ever top.

 

edit something I learned last night, Mancubus can't look up. Just get on the high ground and twerk on them

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[mfnick]

I’ve just gone back to this. Had to check if my memory was correct following DOOM Dark Ages. Only done the first level but yep, this fucking rules and shits all over Dark Ages for me. In fact it’s just made my disappointment with DA even stronger. I like that game even less now. 
 

For me this is just better in every way (apart from sound effects). Constantly swapping weapons Immediately, firing frags, chainsawing fools and the glory kills, oh how I’ve missed warping around the arena pulling those off.

 

I personally much prefer the aesthetics here too. It’s not just the medieval setting in DA I’m not a fan of, everything here just feels a lot more exaggerated and the enemies look far more distinct and interesting. it’s so damn sharp and colourful too! I like the platforming as well. Fuck what everyone says. Jumping around swinging on the poles while shooting demons down then glory kills stomping on the way down - chefs kiss. & the moments inbetween kill arenas just breaks it up nicely. 
 

It’s just perfect. Best FPS ever. Maybe. 

[one-armed dwarf]

I'm doing another playthrough, there's this new launcher thing on the steam version. I usually don't like when they do that, but what they've done with it is neat actually as it has an integrated mod menu. I hate installing mods, but it's easy with this. 

 

What I'm playing with is a Master Level mod someone made, on Nightmare mode. I'm still on the first level, it's very fucking real, mancubuses, revenants and hell knights on level 1. Even just throwing level 2 enemies at you in the first level has a dramatic difference, cause you don't have your powers yet. You end up having to take cover a lot, and the worst thing you can do is run backwards cause you will definitely die to things you aren't looking at. 

 

Really, it's the hell knights that are the issue. You have to combo them quickly cause they will always get you. Mancubus aren't bad once you're good at targeting their weakpoints and weapon swap cancelling. They're only dangerous when they corner you

 

I do think though when I unlock the meathook, blood punch and flame thrower that it will get a lot easier. When you have movement, shields and AOE damage that falters the enemies you get into a flow and actually become the slayer

 

Fuck John Carmack's bullshit, this is better than any of his games, and better than most games in general. 

 

edit, here's the mod, maybe someone will have fun with it 

https://mods.bethesda.net/en/doometernal/details/f18ebc51-a0db-4a0f-9674-16f9b985f499/Doom_Eternal_Master_Campaign_by_Delta

 

I see a screenshot of a Doom Hunter on level 2, well hopefully the plasma gun will be enough there...

[one-armed dwarf]

On level 4 of this now, once you get the Super Shotgun it really gets a lot more manageable. So it's smooth sailing from here I think

 

One of the things the mod does is it sort of puts these green portals in the level to jumpscare you with new fights, like a giant cyberdemon. But they're a bit buggy and sometimes the scripting doesn't do it right, like it loads the base content but with a portal in front of it you can't go through. Sometimes a marauder appears behind a door and you can't fight it, or it gets stuck on a box. Actually, there's lots of things like that, pathfinding/scripting that breaks, so clearly they had to design enemies and levels for certain areas and the mod shows why. On one bit it loaded three marauders at once, but they all fell down a hole and died. I think that was supposed to be a joke though, no way am I ready for three. 

 

The mod can be a bit of a dick with the marauders, they really are more of a 'post-Ballista' kinda enemy, trying to parry them with a combat shotgun and sniper rifle feels weird and weak. It throws a lot of Doom Hunters at you and I'm getting rather good at figuring out how to fight them. Charge up the plasma gun, burst it, then blood punch them when they're stunned, back off and quick swap to something else. Cyberdemons aren't a huge threat anymore either. What gets me are those Pain Elementals, you don't really have the right weapons for them at this point. Just rocket launcher. 

 

The mod also put in a slayer gate in Cultist base, but it was pretty easy, just a bunch of mancubuses, cacodemons and spider guys. Some of the fights to get there were ten times harder than that. 

 

I don't think any game has done hook mechanics as well as Eternal did with the Super Shotgun. The dimension it adds to the combat, the verticality, the way it lets you use the arenas and carry out an offensive from every angle, nook and cranny, but also the way you can use it to quickly scoot around an enemy and pick up some items before chainsawing their arse. I don't think this game will ever feel dated, everything flows and stacks on top of each other so well, each playthrough reveals a new layer. 

 

Its only big issue imo is Doom 2016 had such a better soundtrack, and the way that game is paced and escalates from moment to moment is a lot stronger, even if the gameplay is pretty linear. 

[one-armed dwarf]

This modded campaign has hands 🤕

 

I've gotten to Super Gore Nest and am fighting a traffic jam of assholes, waves of them. The mod also includes possessed enemies, which can't be faltered/stunned, removing the core mechanic used to combo. Which I'm not fond of, it means you need to run away a lot, which isn't really how Eternal usually works. You're supposed to just be aggressive, lock them down with massive attacks and weak spot kills, bang bam kablam 👊 💥

 

The upside is that this is like a hyperbolic time chamber for when I next attempt Ultra Nightmare, cause Nightmare seems easy next to this nonsense. I'm thinking I'll try the second DLC first as I heard it was an easier way to get into UN