Finished the Campaign - Impressions (Spoilers)

[AtimZarr1]

Played on PC on Ultra-Violence, took about 11 hours (two sessions) and found about 60-70% of the secrets. Haven't tried Master Levels or returning to Missions yet. Completed 5 out of 6 Slayer Gates, so didn't get a chance to try the Unmakyr yet. I had to restart a checkpoint because of a stuck Prowler in the Super Gore Nest level. I haven't read all the Codex entries, so I may be missing a bit of lore.

 

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My first thought is that the game is a lot more harder than I was expecting, especially at the start but that might've had to do with the changed control schemes from 2016 (weapon numbers, pressing F, etc.). At first, I kept forgetting to use all the new mechanics: Blood Punch, Ice Bomb, Flame Belch, Double Dash, and so on. But with the increasing challenge (especially being pushed by the Slayer Gates), I had to use all those mechanics the game offered and that's when things began to click for me.

 

With all the new mechanics and increased aggression from the demons, the combat was a lot more chaotic and break-neck than 2016's. I had to depend on the Chainsaw a lot more with the lowered ammo capacity, but this never bugged me and actually I found it to be a relief to have a second's break between the intensive gameplay, having the short opportunity to quickly think where I'll double dash out of this spot, or what weapon I should switch to next, or what enemy I should prioritize nearby. Besting encounters feel so rewarding, especially with how intense some fights get in the later parts of the game. The Slayer Gates are especially brutal challenges with some unexpected surprises, like the ARC Complex one that spawns in two Tyrants out of the blue.

 

I certainly didn't expect to hear Doomguy speak in the flashbacks. That joke about Doom Slayer actually being the Comic Doomguy makes sense too now, with the "Guts... Huge Guts..." line, which was a really unexpected moment for me when he uttered the line (even though I had been spoiled beforehand that Doom Slayer was Doomguy). I didn't know how the Hayden meeting would go, but he seemed a lot more agreeable this time around. I wasn't a fan of how Heaven seemed to be evil (except for that one Seraphim), but it does explain why Heaven never interferes with the demonic invasions always going around. What I found really interesting was the Seraphim had a similar line's to Hayden's in 2016: "Take it... it's a gift, to help you on your journey...". A possible connection between the two characters but that seems unlikely. Also from my understanding, the game takes place in 2152 but audio logs in the ARC Complex seem to take place in 2163. Could be a multiverse thing or maybe I'm mistaken on something. I like most of the "badass power fantasy" they hype the Doom Slayer up to be like with King Novik's lines, but those audio logs by the researcher felt a bit much. Interestingly, she quotes lines from the launch trailer "the Slayer's time is now... hunting them across the far reaches of the Earth and beyond... with him lies our salvation, etc".

 

I really like the stand-off anticipatory approach to the Marauder, adds variety to the gameplay and gets you to reconsider how you'll deal with an arena of enemies. Speaking of arenas, the Gladiator boss fight was really awesome, especially with the "Rip and Tear" chorus chanting. The Icon of Sin fight was alright, but I was imagined more "movement", like moving between buildings that he'd crash or climbing up his body to kill him or something. I was a bit surprised when we freed a couple of Titans (one when releasing the Crucible and another two when crashing Nekroval), I guess we'll deal with them in the future. Also, not really sure on the implications of when VEGA was asking if "He was the Father" when uploaded onto Urdak's systems with an altered voice. The ending of the game itself felt like it came rather abruptly, would've liked to seen more of the existing characters like the Betrayer, King Novik, VEGA, or Hayden at least. I think one of the Codex entries implied that the Seraphim (apparently a singular entity) imparted some essence of "The Father" onto Doomguy when upgrading him on Taras Nabad.

 

The locations and overall visual presentation was fantastic. I found myself admiring the landscape and environments a lot more than I did in 2016. Nekroval is probably one of my favourite environments in the game, followed closely by Sentinel Prime. I've seen some people a bit disappointed with the tone, presentation, and story of Eternal being too ridiculous compared to 2016's approach, but personally I wasn't bothered by most of it. Except maybe Doomguy speaking or the ARC Complex audio logs, both of those kind of pulled me out a bit. But otherwise I was into the wild story and floating pickups.

 

What are your thoughts on the gameplay and story, for those who've completed the campaign?

[Wild Dog]

Since 2016 a lot of people is talking about how Doom Slayer was the Doomguy from 1, 2 and 64. It made sense, he was stuck in hell and he wanted to cause destruction...  I think bethesda and ID back then "naaa no way he ain't doomguy you silly goose even less from Doom 64" because i think the didn't have the full rights to doom64 or something along those lines...  But now it seems they have full control over Doom 64 and cause it as they please.

[Robo_Cola]

Gameplay was perfect, got the handle of the resource management about halfway in and felt the pacing was perfect.  The game progressively got harder and harder I felt unlike Doom 2016. 

 

Like you, I didn't expect Doomguy speaking.  To me that was totally character breaking.

 

Buttttttt they did put in the "dark halls" song from the original in the menu theme, so I gotta give them credit.

[Linguica]

On 3/20/2020 at 10:34 PM, AtimZarr1 said:

What I found really interesting was the Seraphim had a similar line's to Hayden's in 2016: "Take it... it's a gift, to help you on your journey...". A possible connection between the two characters but that seems unlikely.

 

I instantly noticed that when I heard the Seraphim saying that line. There is definitely more going on there, given that

Spoiler

from the interminable Lore, it seems that the Maykrs had some sort of foundational "Father" figure who disappeared from history after a "Seraphim" appears to have stolen its AI consciousness or something. Then a "Seraphim" uses a God Machine to infuse Doomguy with some sort of Maykr power. Then the ARC employees tell you they have been unable to do anything with Hayden's husk because the technology inside is all "alien". Then Samuel Hayden repeats the Seraphim's words. Hmm. HMMMMMMMM

 

[SamuelMTEvander]

7 minutes ago, Linguica said:

 

I instantly noticed that when I heard the Seraphim saying that line. There is definitely more going on there, given that

  Hide contents

from the interminable Lore, it seems that the Maykrs had some sort of foundational "Father" figure who disappeared from history after a "Seraphim" appears to have stolen its AI consciousness or something. Then a "Seraphim" uses a God Machine to infuse Doomguy with some sort of Maykr power. Then the ARC employees tell you they have been unable to do anything with Hayden's husk because the technology inside is all "alien". Then Samuel Hayden repeats the Seraphim's words. Hmm. HMMMMMMMM

 

 

Not to mention Samuel Hayden knew an awful lot about Nekravol and the detailed ins and outs of the institution of soul harvesting. Basically a Virgil to Doomguy's Dante. So pretty sure Samuel Hayden is of divine origin. 

[BluePineapple72]

3 hours ago, Linguica said:

 

I instantly noticed that when I heard the Seraphim saying that line. There is definitely more going on there, given that

  Hide contents

from the interminable Lore, it seems that the Maykrs had some sort of foundational "Father" figure who disappeared from history after a "Seraphim" appears to have stolen its AI consciousness or something. Then a "Seraphim" uses a God Machine to infuse Doomguy with some sort of Maykr power. Then the ARC employees tell you they have been unable to do anything with Hayden's husk because the technology inside is all "alien". Then Samuel Hayden repeats the Seraphim's words. Hmm. HMMMMMMMM

 

Spoiler

The seraphim stole an AI you say? 
 

Didn’t VEGA ask Samuel if he was the father when he was connected to Urdak?

 

VEGA is God confirmed?

 

[Linguica]

8 minutes ago, BluePineapple72 said:

  Hide contents

VEGA is God confirmed? 

 

 

It would explain why VEGA was in the giant polar complex in Doom 2016:

 

Spoiler

To recreate the superadvanced Maykr computer architecture to power the equivalent to a little handheld paperweight device required an enormous supercooled computing complex

 

[Tetzlaff]

I haven't read much about Doom Eternal's story, just saw some screenshots and concept art. Let me guess: those scifi robot angel aliens posed as divine beings for humanity. But they are corrupt and are basicly to blame for hell breaking into other dimensions. So Doooom Shlayor kicks the sh+t out of robot angels as well.