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scifista42

One enemy and one weapon you see as CHARACTERISTIC for Doom

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I mean "Doom" like Doom games generally, not just Doom 1, but all the Dooms you know.

So which enemy and weapon do you think is symptomatic for Doom the most? For me:

Enemy: Shotgun Guy
Weapon: Super Shotgun

I think Doom would work without imps (weaklings who shoot slow and weak projectiles), but not so well without shotgun guys. Even though they're basic enemies with low health, they can be very well used to put a pressure. Their firepower is not really negligible. On the other hand, killing them is fun and you can grab their fallen weapons. And don't tell me that you don't find the "Click-click." sound satisfying. Run-and-gun fast slaying of weak, but potentially dangerous hitscanners is symptomatic for Doom, in my view.

Super shotgun is the weapon of choice for close combat, I tend to hold it for most of the time. It works great againts all kinds of monsters, from the weakest to the strongest. I still like SG for sniping down individual low-tiers, or perhaps enemies at distance / on high ledges. But I admit that I admire the power of super shotgun. Doom can work without the SSG, but works far better with it. Again, you can run-and-gun (and spam) almost carelessly with the SSG. But of course you're still in danger, and then it depends on your skill, how good you'll turn out to be. I find it characteristic for Doom, too.


Feel free to post your own choices and opinions. Discuss in peace, and don't take the thread too seriously, because it was made simply for fun.

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I'll go with imp and shotgun

Imps are quick to kill and have a predictable attack pattern but they incline in complexity the more that are used. This simple to complex dynamic is kind of parallel to Doom as a whole, which looks basic by it's individual parts but put together can create many unique scenarios. Also, projectile strafing is what Doom is all about, definitely more so that line of sight avoiding hitscanners.

People can argue back and fourth about how valuable an addition the SSG was to Doom II but if the sequel never happened the be original game proves that Doom can still work without it. It's reload means you have to time your shots but it's fast enough so that you don't feel interupted.

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For me, enemy-wise, I am having difficulty deciding between the imp and the demon. Both are utterly iconic IMO. Neither are my favourite enemies (I *think*, perhaps, maybe the shotgun guy might be) but either of those two characterise and are inexorably linked with Doom in my head in an even more special way than the shotgun guy. If I had to pick one, I'd go for the imp... no demon... er, no imp. I think.

The weapon is easier. Shotgun. To be fair, all of the weapons very much say "Doom" to me but the original shotty is the weapon that I fell in love with in 1993 and I firmly believe that it is perfect. Everything about it is fantastic: looks, sound, animation, timing, everything. It has a hypnotic magic. Other games have tried to better it but (IMO) none have managed. There are some great weapons out there but the original Doom shotgun is the weapon as far as I am concerned.

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scifista42 said:

I think Doom would work without imps


No. imp is one of the most important enemy in doom and doom would not work without them.

other then that, pretty much what purist said.

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maybe I'm misinterpretting the question but doesn't the cacodemon really stick out as the most iconic monster in Doom?

I mean, probably not if you're like the 60% of the people who've played Doom that only played the shareware episode, but cacodemons are pretty much recognized as the biggest fattest goofiest strangest gaudiest most alien monsters in the game.

Also shotgun probably. The gun that pretty much never gets old.

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Enemy: Cyberdemon.
I guess Doom didn't originate the idea of a cybernetic demon (there was that unlicensed "Robodemons" game on the NES, for one) but it's a concept that has "Doom" written all over it, and while not the only cyber enemy, the Cyberdemon himself epitomizes that. He was on the cover of Doom 2, was the boss of Doom 3, and appeared in pretty much every installment of Doom AFAIK. Not to mention some sort of lesser version of him appeared on the original Doom cover, too.

Weapon: Pump shotgun.
You could say it's a staple of the FPS genre in general, but Doom popularized it. Maybe the double-barrel stole its thunder some in installments where it appears, but the pump-action is a good go-to weapon that can serve decently much of the time.

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40oz said:

maybe I'm misinterpretting the question but doesn't the cacodemon really stick out as the most iconic monster in Doom?

Not to me it doesn't, no. I think my reaction to seeing it for the first time was "oh, a beholder".

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40oz said:

maybe I'm misinterpretting the question but doesn't the cacodemon really stick out as the most iconic monster in Doom?

I mean, probably not if you're like the 60% of the people who've played Doom that only played the shareware episode, but cacodemons are pretty much recognized as the biggest fattest goofiest strangest gaudiest most alien monsters in the game.

When coming up with the thread question, I was thinking of an enemy/weapon typical for Doom, for Doom in particular, something that defines Doom, something that distinguishes Doom from other games, something so Doom-characteristic that other games hardly have an equivalent for it (visual or gameplay wise, it doesn't matter). And at the same time, so iconic that you must associate the weapon/monster with Doom, and you must associate Doom with the weapon/monster.

I find several monsters as "Doom-typical" like that (revenants, archviles, cacodemons, cyberdemons), but the first that came to my mind were shotgunners.

(EDIT) Which game has screaming skeletons with highly damaging homing missiles? Which game has sorcerers who revive fallen monsters and incinerate you while you're in their line of sight? Which game has fat, red, giant, one-eyed, flying furry heads with horns? Which game has a badass demonic boss with a rocket-launcher as an arm? Which game let you slaughter hordes of weak, but potentially dangerous zombies with shotguns? This... is... DOOM! :D

Of course, it's up to anyone like he takes the question. All interesting thoughts are welcome. I'm not at all surprised by the general love for a single-barreled shotty. :)

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The basic Doom experience is Imp vs Shotgun, as I see it. A powerful weapon against a simplistic enemy that has to be placed well or in large numbers to be a threat. Neither is the most iconic (Cacodemon or Cyberdemon probably takes that, plus the BFG9000), but at a base level, dodging slow-moving, dumb enemies and their fireballs with your high player speed whilst retaliating with instant/quick death is very Doom.

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Cacodemon
Plasma Gun

I chose the cacodemon because back in the day it was such a scary looking monster and I would always hate seeing them right behind a door I just opened. Also, there have been demons in other games, but nothing
like the cacodemon.

The plasma gun, because no game since then has had such a powerful rapid-fire projectile based weapon.

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How hard i even try, the first image which comes to mind thinking about doom contains 'imps, Cacodemons, and a shotgun'. Thus i decided on :

The Cacodemon and a Shotgun.

Although truthfully i feel that every single monster in doom / doom 2 is part of a whole. They all form that unique special doom game.

*typo and structure edit.

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Cyberdemon and SSG
I always picture a cyberdemon upon hearing the word 'doom', and the SSG being used almost always.

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I'm torn between Cacodemons and Hell Baron & Knights. Anyone seen my right arm, it was holding a Plasma Gun?

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For those who haven't played the game:

weapon: BFG9000
enemy: Cyberdemon

For those who have:

weapon: shotgun
enemy: imp

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If I restrict the choice to stuff available in all versions of Doom, including the shareware version and console ports, then I'd say shotgun and baron of Hell.

Moving to Doom II, I'd say super shotgun and a tie between arch-vile and mancubus.

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My answer was based on which weapon and monster can be used to distill Doom's gameplay down into. If I was answering based on which weapon/monster most people would associate with Doom I guess that would be BFG9000 and Cacodemon.

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i think the Imp would be the most iconic enemy in Doom, with the Cyberdemon shortly following after it. i don't think anyone that has ever played Doom can forget the Imp, and everyone who has faced the Cyberdemon at the Tower of Babel probably remembers that very well, too.

as for weapons, there really is no more obvious contestant than the Shotgun. i mean, come on, it spurred just about every other FPS that came after it to have a shotgun-alike in it. the BFG would come in second, because it's the motherfucking BFG.

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For enemy, I'd have to go Baron of Hell. I mean, it's on the cover, it's the perfect image to convey the demonic atmosphere of the game, and to me it really sums up what I feel sets Doom enemies apart from most games - tough enemies that soak up damage and whose primary attack is an energy projectile (which also leads to the importance of strafing in the game - I mean don't get me wrong, strafing is virtually all FPS games, but for some reason Doom sticks out in my mind where mastery of it is such a crucial skill - I guess because most games have mainly bullet-based enemies wherein strafing isn't going to do a whole lot of good).

For weapon, I'd go with the super shotty. It's pretty much law that when ammo isn't a factor, it's going to be your primary weapon. Even given the versatility of the plasma gun, even when plasma packs are scattered everywhere, I always find myself saving it for special occasions (it was my #2 pick because of its distinctiveness). It really stands out for me because in most games, either a submachine gun or a rifle is your primary weapon, and shotguns are for specialized situations, but Doom is one of the only games I can think of where its reversed.

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Cyberdemon and BFG. Those two are the first two things that usually come up whenever I talk to other random people about Doom who barely remember it.

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All of the enemies are weapons in Doom are iconic, to be honest. Perhaps the piston and the shotgun aren't because they are really just generic fps guns, but all of the other ones just scream DOOM. All of the monsters really do feel DOOM as well.

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hardcore_gamer said:

All of the enemies are weapons in Doom are iconic, to be honest. Perhaps the piston and the shotgun aren't because they are really just generic fps guns, but all of the other ones just scream DOOM. All of the monsters really do feel DOOM as well.

The rocket launcher is pretty common in fps games though.

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Doominator2 said:

The rocket launcher is pretty common in fps games though.


But Doom's rocket launcher is fully automatic and has a potential 100-round magazine. It stands out from all other FPS rocket launchers I've ever used (and is far more entertaining.)

WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH *dead*

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Seeing that an imp -unlike a zombie or shotgunner- has a melee attack and needs to absorb almost always the entire pellet spread of a the shotgun to die, I'd say it's not quite a "weakling". An imp fireball, as well as its melee attack, can do up to 24 HP of damage on an unarmored player, which means being cornered by a mob of them will result in the tearing you a new one quite quickly. Being cornered by zombies OTOH, is much harder, as they are easier to kill and tend to infight/kill each other much before they achieve that.

Imps are also quite important infighting players: they can often survive a direct hit from most other monsters, and thus retaliate, tying other mosnters up. Often, they can often defeat a Demon/Spectre in combat since their melee attack always connects.

There might be relatively useless/redundant monsters in Doom, but the Imp certainly ain't one of them.

And yeah, the Shotty is pretty much THE weapon for the game. If you only had a choice of ONE weapon to clear any random level, that would be it: it's safe to use, not too wasteful of ammo, damaging enough at close distances, still usable for sniping, and relatively quick to reload. With a cool animation. No wonder that Doomguy running through a level, killing stuff and reloading the shotty with his usual calm and aplomb, is THE iconic imagery for the game.

Ofc, if you can get away with exploding stuff, then a RL might work just as well....

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Dunno about the enemy but the regular shotgun. The pump animation looks so awesome.

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