Runes

I liked the rune system in Doom 2016 and how some of it was clearly aimed at combining them for more obscure effects (Savagery + Seek and Destroy, or Armored Offensive + Rich get Richer), but it doesn't seem totally fleshed out in retrospect, especially now after seeing the way they're being handled in Doom Eternal. Their effects, while beneficial, don't really make themselves known or add any style points unless they do get combined with each other, but there really weren't many interesting ways to do that. And who the hell used In-Flight Mobility!?

It looks like runes are now being designed to stand out on their own, as Blood Punch has a very simple and direct effect: GK a bad guy, get a super-charged punch. It's straightforward, but more interesting than 'you get more ammo' or 'you glory kill faster'. Not only that, but that sort of philosophy of simply expanding the Slayer's abilities seems to lend itself to making combinations really easy and fun. You can just put whatever the hell runes you want together and they'll all work!

Here are some runes this made me think of and would want to play with:

- The dash deals damage. If you kill an enemy with it, it's free.

- If you land from a great height, you create an explosion that damages nearby enemies.

- If you kill three enemies by melee in quick succession, you get a mini haste.

Discuss anything rune related.

The runes just felt like fluff in D16.  Hopefully they'll be more useful this time around.  What's the point in being able to pick up ammo but not having a decent amount half-way through? 

It'd be nice if they axed the upgrade system, too.  The first time around you were pigeon-holed into picking the OP ones to beat Ultra Nightmare.  Or if not axe it, at least make it actually meaningful. 

14 hours ago, Flesh420 said:

The runes just felt like fluff in D16.  Hopefully they'll be more useful this time around.  What's the point in being able to pick up ammo but not having a decent amount half-way through? 

 

It'd be nice if they axed the upgrade system, too.  The first time around you were pigeon-holed into picking the OP ones to beat Ultra Nightmare.  Or if not axe it, at least make it actually meaningful. 

Well, the new Shotgun looks like it received an actual automatic firing mode, which is super OP in and of itself, much better than D2016's "triple shot" upgrade if you ask me. The classic Plasmagun also seems to have received something that makes demons explode when dying from its projectiles, which I also believe not to be part of its base functionality, but an upgrade. Everything looks stronger now.

In the footage Doomguy picks up a Rune that gets automatically applied and 1up, from the description, functions EXACTLY like Saving Throw. It might be too early to say but it might mean the Rune system won't be back in DE and instead Rune effects will be scattered around levels as pickups.

On 8/14/2018 at 11:38 AM, Touchdown said:

It might be too early to say but it might mean the Rune system won't be back in DE and instead Rune effects will be scattered around levels as pickups.

If this is true then the runes will need to have a way more obvious effect on gameplay than the one we saw, otherwise when you finish the level you're just like "welp, that was neat." The way the rune channels a bunch of energy into Doomguy's hand like how the argent energy cells do in D2016 leads me to believe they'll persist in some way for the rest of the campaign.

On 8/14/2018 at 6:38 PM, Touchdown said:

It might be too early to say but it might mean the Rune system won't be back in DE and instead Rune effects will be scattered around levels as pickups.

In this interview they say the following about the Blood Punch:

Quote

 

Was the Blood Punch skill a rune?

 

Hugo Martin: It falls into that class. Whether or not or not we name them ‘runes’ once more is TBD however mainly it is a rune skill. It is not a power-up. Energy-ups will nonetheless be part of Doom – so Berserk and all these nice issues – however this can be a rune skill that, similar as final time, you’ll activate and you’ll have it till you deactivate it. That was only a showcase of considered one of them.

 

Which seems to indicate they want to implement a system similar to runes. Note the part about activating and deactivating the rune which I interpret as you getting to keep them and being able to switch them in and out like last time. I am quite enthusiastic about them, the ones in D'16 were meh, "blood punch" alone already sounds like great fun and really changes the way you play. I can already see myself quickly glory killing a light to charge it up to blood punch a heavy. So much potential fun.