If the game is so Linear

[ZiGZaG]

Then why is it you see 2-3 posts a day on here about being stuck or lost? I mean come on...I can see getting stuck or lost in any other game but Doom 3? All you need to do is keep going straight and check doors if they actually open you're heading in the right direction...if they don't circle back and look for a PDA for a code or an access card. *shrug* Oh and take your time to look around and not just move from room to room waiting to blast something. You have a flashlight shine it in every ocrner of every room and on every desk...even walk up to each desk to see if you grab something off it.

[incubusspawn]

I think that most stuck places involve the dark areas with a crawl place to get through, or Items that may be easily missed due to the darkness. People with monitors that are generaly darker by nature probably have a very difficult time with this game. I am very carefull when I buy monitors, I make sure that if it is dark I can increase brightness without bleaching the screen. Gamma increase does not allways help either.

[Rusk]

If it's too dark, use the flashlight.

I can't believe all the overall whining of people about the darkness (I'm not referring to anything on this thread, but other threads).

The darkness is what makes the game great. I like trying to fight a demon and all I can see are his glowing eyes.

Also, when it is pitch dark and an Imp throws a fireball, it looks totally awesome. Just wait until he throws fire, and use the fireball's light to find him.

The game is linear, sure, but it didn't really bother me.

I would rather know where I'm going and have fun fighting monsters than wander aimlessly around by myself, having killed all the enemies ten minutes ago, but still trying to figure out where to go...

[ZiGZaG]

Rusk said:

I would rather know where I'm going and have fun fighting monsters than wander aimlessly around by myself, having killed all the enemies ten minutes ago, but still trying to figure out where to go...

Exactly my feelings as well, much more fun creeping along killing stuff and actually keep moving forward instead of really getting lost and not knowing where to go for 30 minutes and nothing left to kill.

[incubusspawn]

For me the flash light bleaches out the walls, it is only usefull in open spaces, makeing it useless for finding dark crawl holes. I like the darkness as well, but that flashlight just sucks. The light itself looks almost like a solid object. at least it has a good battery But I would have prefered the challenge of haveing to use the light sparingly. Not compareing the games but when it came to flash lights the way Unreal 1 did was awesome. I find it funny how they have endless batteries for the flash light, but the oxy tanks are only good for about thirty seconds. I wonder how they built the base in the first place if the workers had to stop every thirty seconds to replace thier tanks :D

[Rusk]

huh, that's weird about your flashlight bleaching out the walls.

Mine looks pretty much like a flashlight should. Maybe there is some setting that got improperly set on yours.

[incubusspawn]

I figured it has something to do with me on a mx card :o, I will be getting a ti card in the next few months, I want to play this game with fuller flavour and With Sims 2 and Black and White 2 comeing out I am about to have plenty enough games that need more video power to justify buying a new card. But I am only going up to a geforce 4 ti 128 ddr card. Anything better will have to wait for my next motherboard/cpu combo.

[Mordeth]

So far (Communications Garage and beyond) the game's linearity isn't bothering me as much as I had first feared. At least in this first part of the game there's enough to explore and some backtracking to keep things interesting.

And once I got the option of either activating some machinery or extending a bridge to proceed. Can anyone tell me what either option does for the gameflow from then onwards?

[Epistax]

To me, non-linear means more than one path to the finish. It doesn't mean you can go around in a circle. Many branching and converging linear paths would thus make it non-linear. It's the ability to have a choice of where to go next-- under the condition --that you don't have to choose all options. That is, if you have option A, B, or C, and you have to do all three but in any order (they are independent of eachother) the game is still linear. If you only have to pick two, that's a lot better.

[AirRaid]

Mordeth said:

And once I got the option of either activating some machinery or extending a bridge to proceed. Can anyone tell me what either option does for the gameflow from then onwards?

If you activate the EFR you get to do a bunch of jumping puzzles, and the area is well lit. You ride a few moving platforms and it can be hard to dogde enemy fire. If you extend the bridge the route is much safer, but a lot darker. They're both fun to play through, and it only really effects that one level.

[Mordeth]

AirRaid said:
If you activate the EFR you get to do a bunch of jumping puzzles

Well, thank god I choose the other option :)

[AirRaid]

They're not that annoying really.

[Arioch]

Plus you get the plasma rifle quite a bit earlier if you do the jumping. So there's an incentive really.

[AirRaid]

You can get the plasma rifle either way.

[Arioch]

AirRaid said:

You can get the plasma rifle either way.

Without them moving platforms? ...

[Sephiroth]

i dont see what the big complant about being linear really has to do with anything. any game like this is gonna be linear, its not an RPG for chrsit sakes!
and really i though half-life was more linear than this game, same with the original doom.

[incubusspawn]

Linear as in the individual levels :P One path on most levels. Not very realistic for such a huge facility. Besides I actually was hopeing for a hub system.

[ZiGZaG]

incubusspawn said:

Linear as in the individual levels :P One path on most levels. Not very realistic for such a huge facility. Besides I actually was hopeing for a hub system.

I agree for it to be a huge mars base seems like there would be other ways to go to certain areas. I could understand some doors not functioning but... Also not being able ot back track to the previous level just to snoop around and then go to the level you where just on would have been cool. Get an access card 3 levels from where you just where to access something there...Not really a hub system but at least a little more dynamic other than you are on this level you are stuck on this levle until you can move forward.

A hub system would have been cool also. But really having it so you could go back to the previous level would not have been any harder to add in on the code, even respan the monsters once you leave and go back you get to fight monsters again.

[Mordeth]

Arioch said:
Plus you get the plasma rifle quite a bit earlier if you do the jumping. So there's an incentive really.

You can get the plasma gun way WAY earlier than that. Try exploring the earlier parts of the alpha lab next time :)

[Tetzlaff]

incubusspawn said:

Linear as in the individual levels :P One path on most levels. Not very realistic for such a huge facility. Besides I actually was hopeing for a hub system.

The linear level design is the one thing that really disappoints me about Doom3 (I haven´t played it yet, but I hear it mentioned everywhere). That´s IMO the worst what could happen to the level design, strict linearity totally sucks. It makes the gameplay so damn restrictive and reduces the replay value. Maybe the exploration possibilities (secrets etc) compensate it a bit, but I still will be pissed when I constantly notice that I can only play the one single way the designers thought up through the level.

Well, there are custom SP levels to come and I plan to build some myself, so we can make it better at least :)

[Tetzlaff]

Epistax said:

That is, if you have option A, B, or C, and you have to do all three but in any order (they are independent of eachother) the game is still linear.

I don´t count that as linear, when you don´t have to do it in a fixed order it means it can result in different combat situations each time.
The worst case of linear level design is like in Unreal2, where you do nothing else than walk one-directional on an almost straight line through a chain of room-cooridor-room designs.

[AirRaid]

Arioch said:

Without them moving platforms? ...

Yeah. The other option is "Extend Service Bridge", so you can wander across those bits at your leisure. :P

[Wobbo]

ZiGZaG said:

Then why is it you see 2-3 posts a day on here about being stuck or lost? I mean come on...I can see getting stuck or lost in any other game but Doom 3? All you need to do is keep going straight and check doors if they actually open you're heading in the right direction...if they don't circle back and look for a PDA for a code or an access card. *shrug* Oh and take your time to look around and not just move from room to room waiting to blast something. You have a flashlight shine it in every ocrner of every room and on every desk...even walk up to each desk to see if you grab something off it.

sooooo... youre saying the game is linear?

Thsi post confuses me, but I think its obvious that if a game is linear your MORE LIKELY to eb *stuck*, since theres only one path to go forward

[Wobbo]

Mordeth said:

So far (Communications Garage and beyond) the game's linearity isn't bothering me as much as I had first feared. At least in this first part of the game there's enough to explore and some backtracking to keep things interesting.

And once I got the option of either activating some machinery or extending a bridge to proceed. Can anyone tell me what either option does for the gameflow from then onwards?

thats the only one, its the only spot in the game where you can make a choice as to how you proceed

also theres a shortcut past some stuff in a another sewer level, but im pretty sure youre not supposed to use it (I dont want to spoil anythign so i wont be ultra-specific)

Basically, all the complaints people made about Unreal II apply to Doom3

[Tetzlaff]

Wobbo said:

Basically, all the complaints people made about Unreal II apply to Doom3

Shit.

But besides the extremely linear level design in Unreal2 my other complaints were the almost non-existing multi-level combat (almost everything is on the same height level), the incoherent settings, the stupid monster placement (only one species per setting) and the overall shortness of the game. I think those other points don´t apply to Doom3.

[Jomero]

The funny thing about most "non linear games" that others clamour about is that they usually ARE linear. How? Well you have a little fairy/PDA/computer/whatever telling you EXACTLY where to go next every time you get to where you need to go. At least DooM doesn't hold your hand like a mommy holding a frightened little girl.

[SupremeGeneral]

Well i've got the ultamite solution to end linear gameplay, and it happens to be the same solution I post for much of every problem in the game:

MAP it
MOD it
most importantly
MAKE it

...Maybe future clans and fansites can pool money or skills and make the Mars Base the way it oughta be

and by the way, anyone catch the welcome movie on the terminal screen after the doomguy gets bioscanned? Showed me what looked like my expectations for the game, a massive "campus-style" super set of buildings.

...Too bad for the reality...

[Tetzlaff]

SupremeGeneral said:

MAP it
MOD it
most importantly
MAKE it

I already started to write down some ideas and making layout sketches ;)

It´s anyway almost more important what you make out of an id Software game instead of what you get out of the box.

[KLittle123]

I don't care what any of you think if you think that this game not linear you need shot. Grand Theft Auto is a non fucking linear game. You can't just be like "welp I don't feel like killing any zombies let me go hi-jack a spaceship and fucking cruise around picking up some space hoes."

[ZiGZaG]

Compare'n grand theft auto to Doom 3 is like compare'n some who can make a sentece without the word fucking in it, to someone who can compose an intellegent sentence without any profanity "dawg" yo yo.