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Voros

Revisit Doom 3, One More Time

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Less than 2 months until Doom 2016 is released. All the excitement rising with each article and each video, and why not? There's exploration, decent speed, no reloading, and a Hell that reminds us of Classic Doom's Hell: Rocks in different forms, skulls and skeletons, blood puddles, pillars that seem to be of no use, doors with faces on them and so on. But that's not the topic here. Let's go back in time, one more time, and play through Doom 3, once more.

Doom 3, released in 2004, may not have been like its predecessors, but that wasn't the objective. It chose horror over action, so that the horror aspect of Doom would be shining in the spotlight for once. It wasn't like Classic Doom, but it was still fun to play through.

Doom 3 may have been linear, but it was unique to be a part of the Doom franschise. The Hellknight design, might have been the best demon redesign we have ever seen. Although the Hell levels may have looked a little disappointing, like if the the whole thing was stuck inside a realm made by Picasso, was decent enough with the moving bricks and all... And it's the only place where you encounter the Demon Rune, which is just a Berserk Pack with screams.

Doom 3 is also mod-friendly, so that's another good thing about this game. Can't say the same for the new upcoming Doom game though. Many mods exists for it, some for improved graphics or nostalgia or a whole revamp. It is mod-friendly like Classic Doom is, just harder to create good mods is the main difference. Too bad we still haven't gotten a taste of Doom 3: Phobos yet though...

Boot up your PC or console, launch Doom 3 or buy a copy if you don't have one, and start a new game on a higher difficulty level (challenge yourself). If you don't have a PC/console, then you should stick with the iOS version: Doom - Resurrection. Or if on Android, there is an app, made by Proger10, on the Play Store called Doom 3 for Android, which is a sourceport of Doom 3 for Android devices. Get those PK4s ready!

Doom 3 was never bad (well, not when compared with Classic Doom) but it is a good installment. Ever wondered what Doom would feel like if it were linear? I have, and that's why I tried Doom 3, played Doom 3. If anything, it ain't a flop like Duke Nukem Forever.
It's a fuckin' masterpiece.

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Voros said:

Get those PK3s ready!

Doom 3 uses pk4s

Voros said:

Doom 3 may have been linear

what, i killed myself several times trying to find some PDAs, and sometimes even where i was supposed to go .

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DMGUYDZ64 said:

Doom 3 uses pk4s
what, i killed myself several times trying to find some PDAs, and sometimes even where i was supposed to go .

:P, forgot that part.

And if an FPS were to be completely linear, it wouldn't be that much fun, now would it?

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The thing about linearity in first person shooters is that even COD and such is not bound to a strict straight line path from point A to B (unless I'm mistaken). There's usually some small deviation from the path. But when these deviations are slight, and there's not a whole lot of them, the game can be said to be overwhelming in favor of linearity. So there's non-linear aspects no matter what, it's just that the line between a game being considered linear or non-linear on the broad scale is determined by how much deviation occurs and whether or not the deviation is superficial, such as the path leading to literally one extra room or area. In Classic Doom, these deviations can not only result in pathways looping back in on themselves, but there can be large, well-defined areas, themselves peppered with extra branches, which are absolutely inessential to beating the map. I would say this doesn't really happen in Doom 3. You just get a lot of little tiny deviations, some pretty standard backtracking, nothing major. That said, I tend to get lost in Doom 3 because all the areas look kind of similar and the lighting causes me to lose my bearings easily. This didn't happen when I played the original BioShock.

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I would totally play Doom 3 with the Alpha Shotgun mod again and also run through In Hell and various other Hell-themed mods...

But alas, my laptop is too weak to run Doom 3... =(

I mean it's strong enough to run classic Doom 3.

But I've been curious about BFG Edition, and I'm not in the mood to DL Steam just to play the original Doom 3. =P

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I still have my original copy of Doom 3 from 2004, non-steam vanilla version lol. I like to revisit it every now and than, so it'll be part of my Doom marathon leading up to the new release.

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DoomzRules said:

But I've been curious about BFG Edition, and I'm not in the mood to DL Steam just to play the original Doom 3. =P

If i'm correct, BFG Edition doesn't improve quality, instead it optimizes the gameplay and makes the game feel a bit brighter .

I Dunno, i only got Regular steam version .

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DMGUYDZ64 said:

it optimizes the gameplay

I'd hardly call it optimized considering all they did for the most part was chuck stackloads of extra ammo around the maps making it far too easy and unbalanced, in the original game there was already more than enough ammo at a certain point.

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Avoozl said:

I'd hardly call it optimized considering all they did for the most part was chuck stackloads of extra ammo around the maps making it far too easy and unbalanced, in the original game there was already more than enough ammo at a certain point.


They also actually removed a few enemies from some of the rare instances where you had challenging fights with multiple enemies. And they added the flashlight to the guns. Pretty much they watered it down for all the whiners, which was my first real moment of apprehension regarding Doom 4. They shouldn't listen to a handful of complainers, the base game was not that difficult.

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I guess I should just get the original then. So long as I don't have to download Steam or anything, not that I have anything against it, I just don't know if my laptop can really handle all the shit I have on Steam (or used to have.)

Besides, I can always install the duct-tape mod... =3

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DoomzRules said:

I guess I should just get the original then. So long as I don't have to download Steam or anything, not that I have anything against it, I just don't know if my laptop can really handle all the shit I have on Steam (or used to have.)

Besides, I can always install the duct-tape mod... =3


Yes, get the original. BFG Edition is watered down garbage. And fuck that duct tape mod. It completely ruins the game. It's meant to be dark. Doom 64 was dark as fuck, and there were plenty of dark parts in Doom/Doom II. Play in a dark room so there's no glare and you'll be fine.

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Face23785 said:

They also actually removed a few enemies from some of the rare instances where you had challenging fights with multiple enemies. And they added the flashlight to the guns. Pretty much they watered it down for all the whiners, which was my first real moment of apprehension regarding Doom 4. They shouldn't listen to a handful of complainers, the base game was not that difficult.


The flashlight in Doom 3 BFG only has enough power to stay lit for 30 seconds, then it goes off, recharges itself for 3 seconds, and then you have to manually turn it back on. So it poses a different kind of challenge from the original Doom 3.

BFG also has near-instant loading time for manual load and quick load, whereas the original takes several seconds even for quick load.

But one big annoyance of BFG is that you can't skip cut-scenes by pressing Esc. So it's best to save right after a cut-scene.

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Face23785 said:

Yes, get the original. BFG Edition is watered down garbage. And fuck that duct tape mod. It completely ruins the game. It's meant to be dark. Doom 64 was dark as fuck, and there were plenty of dark parts in Doom/Doom II. Play in a dark room so there's no glare and you'll be fine.

The flashlight only illuminates a small circular area on the screen while leaving the rest of the screen dark, so to me it is not ruinous to the game's creepy atmosphere even if the flashlight is always on.

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Doom 3 BFG edition sucks because:

- Compressed textures with rainbow artefacts.
- No muzzleflashes
- Enemy and ammo placement chagned for the worse

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I think the BFG edition also removed those mummified zombies from the hell level if I remember correctly. Not that it was a big deal or anything, just interesting.

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