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Crunchynut44

Would you give up your accumulated knowledge of DOOM in order to have a fresh start?

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In other words, would you wipe the memory of everything you know to be able to re-live the classic DOOM experience? Imagine, getting to experience the aesthetically pleasing chaotic levels of John Romero, the colourful and atmospheric labyrinths from Sandy Peterson, the creepy hell environments, finally seeing the SSG or discovering new secrets when replaying levels.

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One part of me says "yes!", and one part of me says "nonononononononono", so i dunno really :P

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"No" for me, 'cause that'd implicitly nuke all my accumulated modding experience. I shudder to think of having to re-learn how to map again.

 

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When I read the title I assumed the question was about mapping knowledge. The alternative never occurred to me :v

 

The answer is no, either way. I want even more accumulated knowledge. I think if you want a fresh start you're probably just idealizing the past.

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Unless the fresh start also involves making me 20 years younger, no.

 

Plus if I want to experience some Doom level for the first time, there are approximately eleventy hundred gazillion levels I have never played waiting for me on the idgames archive.

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I don't think so. I'd certainly enjoy reliving the experience of playing it through for the first time. But that experience was the way it was because I played the games when I did; I was a kid, with very little understanding of how games worked, and Doom itself was at the cutting edge, particularly in terms of graphics. For these reasons, the environments seemed to have a kind of life to them that they wouldn't do if I were to replay the game now with these memories erased. I've played much more graphically advanced games, and have some understanding of how they operate, and so I don't think I'd now be taken in by Doom in the same way. Of course, its gameplay would still shine just as brightly. But still, something would be missing. For example: back then, it felt like the gameworld extended well beyond the boundaries of the individual levels - that the mountains in E1 were there, and enclosed a single broader space in which all the E1 levels were situated (I think one of the first things I did on discovering the noclip cheat was to try to break out of the level and explore the space beyond it - a disappointing experience).

 

But yeah, straight-up reliving that first experience? I'd go for it in a heartbeat.

Edited by durian

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I would never give up what little knowledge I may have in order to have a fresh start. In order to be able to enjoy the things that I like playing or creating I need a certain baseline of expertise. I'm not going back to "straight forward classic Doom gameplay", no matter how much I appreciate the cool ideas id came up with. So No.

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i would give up my knowledge of ultima underworld or final fantasy 7 to play those again, those are linear games that only truly touch you once and have only limited modding scenes usually based around improving graphical resolution. doom is open-ended and limitless!

hey im not an action gamer if i gave up my doom knowledge i probably wouldn't understand how to fight mancubi again for at least a decade

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For many other things I'd answer, "Yes" but when it comes to Doom, I'll have to go with "Hell no."

 

First off, though my earliest clear memories of a Doom game are from Doom 2 when I was 6, I had not actually completed Doom 2 until 2010 or 11. So already I can remember how good the first time playing some of the original maps felt. Secondly, If I did want to play something that's doom but fresh, there's an effectively infinite supply of doom wads and mods for me to download. This is also a curse as it has locked me down from wanting to play any other FPS games.

 

Now, if we were talking about something like Phantasy Star 4...

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No, because it just wouldn't even change anything. I've learned more about its lore but that doesn't impact my experience at all, it would be pointless to start from 0 once again just to end up in the exact same position. I'd rather play wads that are pretty unique and bring something new to the table if I want something fresh instead, there's an endless supply waiting out there anyway.

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Bit of an echo chamber in here but heck no! There's a certain satisfaction to knowing exactly when an enemy will die, the exact layout of every map, the functionality of every type of action in the editor. It was great fun getting to learn everything the first time, but with knowledge comes power.

 

Plus there are plenty of mapsets/mods that introduce all kinds of new things you have to learn your way around. So the experience of learning as you play can be replicated without having to lose all that knowledge, just not perfectly.

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Not for the originals, but I'd die for the thrill I had when I played through DOOM 2016 for the first time again.

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Part of me would love to be a child re-living the magic of playing Doom again during those formative years - the magic of it all came somewhat from the mystery. Even after thoroughly playing Doom1 and Doom2, scouring the late 90's wild-west web for fun WADs to play was an enjoyable journey in itself. Between being a child and venturing into new 'uncharted' territories, it all seemed so mystical and amazing. Finding little tools around the place that allowed me to tinker with Doom was even more amazing. When I first discovered Doom Connector and was sent WadAuthor (by Doom Rampage, oddly enough) it was like a whole new phase to the magic began. Just dragging objects and linedefs around and building new worlds was incredible - Even if all would have been seen as bog-standard 1994 quality stuff these days.

 

Yes, those times were a whole lot of fun and I enjoyed the mystery, but I value all I've learned and wouldn't want to give it up, even if my knowledge base is pretty dated compared to modern mappers and modders. I also have a lot of cherished experiences and friendships I've built along the way that would also surely be erased alongside my knowledge of Doom, since it was what allowed me to meet these friends in the first place.

 

It's been a fun ride and I love having those little nostalgic moments for the 'magic and mystery' of Dooming in bygone years, but ultimately I prefer to look forward. Even with the mystique gone, I still really enjoy having the knowledge to build new maps and mods if I so please. Good thread, Crunchynut!

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Obviously yes. Nowadays it's so hard to get truly excited about the most high quality wads, while back then even awful 1994 levels were full of mystery. Now I need to invent all sorts of rules in order to have some fun (saving not allowed/can't use mouselook/must find all secrets/etc), while in the past I could do whatever I wanted and still experience complete immersion. To get something out of the game I have to come online and chat with the players, make map compilations, or volunteer to test people's levels so that I feel like I'm doing at least something useful. I'm basically still playing Doom just because it was awesome at some point. It's a habit more than anything else. There are still some moments of excitement in just playing normally I guess, but they tend to be closer to "woah, 30 second doors can stay closed for a longer time if you reactivate them".

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It would be fun, but I couldn't give up the experience, whichever it is, for better or for worse.

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Yup, I say, yup (he said), yup (was said). I don't have much knowledge about how Doom works, I mean, I do have enough to play and be good at it, but if I did a memory wipe the world wouldn't lose anything. What would it do to me? I might start out, and make and post stuff carelessly. Doom didn't teach me much, I know about enemy placement and all that stuff from Half-Life, so I guess I would make stuff that is kinda boring and average, but I guess I would feel satisfied about it.

 

This situation is like starting out in an RPG; if you are a low-level green colored noobface like me, and if you are facing difficulties and don't feel comfortable, a fresh start with a different class could help. If you have mastered pretty much everything there is with your class and reached max lvl, a fresh start with a different class could provide some more challenge. But if you are halfway through the game like pretty much 90% of the active people here, you probably don't wanna start over now that you feel good about what you do, right?

 

I fantasize that in a case that was provided about me, I would probably find a group of greenhorns like myself and we would try and learn about shit all over again. It's more fun with other people, right?

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Absolutely - the experience back then was fantastic.

A milestone similar to listening to Reign In Blood for the first time.

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1 hour ago, Memfis said:

♫ If I could turn back time

If I could find a way ♫

 

The grass is always greener, Memfy baby. Obviously I can only speak for myself, but as a kid I remember downloading handfuls of deathmatch wads and wandering through the hallways thinking "Wow, these are incredible. Imagine what it would be like to actually have other people playing this with me!" Then I finally found Doom Connector which made it a reality. The mystique surrounding the whole concept of multiplayer Dooming was gone, replaced with the ability to enjoy these maps as they were meant to be played. I feel like the satisfaction of racking up frags in a highly-focused deathmatch is inherently more fun for me on an instinctive level than wandering the empty-yet-incredible halls, even if it was a tradeoff for the magic and the mystery (doubly so after learning how to map and seeing how everything works under the hood). I still enjoy deathmatching as much as ever even today, so despite losing a bit of the magic forever, I still feel just as satisfied after a good fragging session as I did all the way back in 2001.

 

That's just me of course, but on the occasion where I think "Gee, I really miss that feeling of exploring the Doom-based web of the 90's", I remember the lame aspect of having to experience it only for myself. When I get that nostalgic feeling, I just jump in or start up a ZDaemon/Zandronum deathmatch, have a great time fragging others as they join and am instantly reminded that, while it was fun, I wouldn't want to go back to the old days overall. Our memories tend to filter out the lame/boring aspects of the past and glorify the fun bits. Again, don't want to speak for anyone but myself, that's just how I see it!

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Don't think so, most of my Doom knowledge is trivia and the history for it's development, also stuff on wads and source ports, and i'm into it for so long, it would actually be a good deal of my memories gone. I mean, i used to roleplay as doomguy in elementary school when playing with my friends.

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No because it is connected to childhood and nostalgia and even if I experience everything about doom with fresh eyes I would lose the part of me that makes me care about the game and have an emotional response to the old surreal graphics. I probably would be a vastly different person without doom.

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1 hour ago, Doomkid said:

 Our memories tend to filter out the lame/boring aspects of the past and glorify the fun bits. Again, don't want to speak for anyone but myself, that's just how I see it!

 

I always did find the experience weird. Whenever I come back to an old game I only have vague memories of, my first reaction always seems to be, "This seems familiar but I could've sworn the graphics were much better."

 

Now, I don't really care much in the graphics department as long as it doesn't hinder gameplay but it's always really weird coming back to an old game with dated graphics and realize that things are not the way I remembered. Best examples of this I can think of is MK2 and Deathtrap Dungeon.

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...looks back into the past 24 23 years of Doom memories...

 

Never!

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Sure. Why not? Actually its been so long since I've played Doom 2's doom2.wad I've probably forgotten most of it anyway.

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I would say "no" because its a waste of resources to delete the little I have from Doom memories. I am just starting up, anyways.

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14 minutes ago, Era Di Cate said:

I would say "no" because its a waste of resources to delete the little I have from Doom memories. I am just starting up, anyways.

I did stumble upon your profile awhile ago, and thought you quit lol :P

Hi :)

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Just now, Catpho said:

I did stumble upon your profile awhile ago, and thought you quit lol :P

Hi :)

"Never stop! Never give up! Keep forgetting you have a profile on Doomworld!" , thats ma motto :)

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In today's gaming era? No, I don't see myself going to a generation old game unless I'm deeply in love with it already since childhood. 

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I've had a lot of time from 1997 to 2009 of only knowing about The Ultimate Doom and Doom 2 (outside of console ports), so it's not that hard for me to go back to what I knew back then. I'm also very glad I decided to start with playing 1994 PWADs and onward so I could have a broader appreciation for every kind of mapping front. I'd really love to do something chaotic and carefree one of these days to show my appreciation and nostalgia for such small beginnings.

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