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DoomUK

The Doom Confessional Booth

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Well, I've been looking for a good topic to reply to since I registered, and this seems like an awfully good one to introduce myself in to me. So, with that out of the way, on to the confessions!

Firstly, I have to admit that I haven't played Doom even remotely seriously for an extremely long time, but for some reason got a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something important happened a few days ago -- then it struck me that Doom just turned twenty. I promptly found all of my Doom disks and CDs (in a box with an old Windows 98SE install CD, Quake, and Quake II to boot!), grabbed the WAD files, and started Dooming again. Now, of course, I'm totally hooked. The source ports and mods available now are just... insanely good. Just... wow, absolutely stunning work.

In addition to being a bad Doom fan (having almost ignored it for, oh, ten years), I have to admit that I greatly prefer the Ultimate Doom over Doom II. Plutonia and Evilution are also barely blips on my radar -- I never cared for Plutonia's difficulty, and I always thought Evilution was just plain ugly. Honestly, the Shores of Hell is also my absolute favorite episode of Doom (ironic, considering I think Evilution is ugly, eh?) -- the atmosphere of that episode is almost unbeatable to me.

On a related note, I might not like Doom II as much as the Ultimate Doom, but the mancubus is my favorite enemy in any game ever. I just love weaving through their onslaughts. :D

Now, having mentioned Shores of Hell, I also recently discovered how much I love playing Containment Area entirely because of that berserk pack right around the corner from the single-player start. I've played that map over and over the past few days by bee-lining for the berserk and smashing absolutely everything in the face. The fact that it's full of imps, demons, and spectres is just perfect -- there's just nothing quite like punching an imp and having it instantly splatter all over the room in my opinion. :P

I also have to admit that I'm not sure that I can get through the first three levels of Thy Flesh Consumed on Ultra-Violence, or even Hurt Me Plenty. I usually end up pretty wounded by the end of Perfect Hatred (that map is intent on killing me), then get into Sever the Wicked and get so blasted by sergeants that I barely have time to move.

Of course, the entire reason that's even a problem to begin with is because of my last "confession" for now: if I see an enemy, I feel like I have to kill it. Maybe not right at the moment I see it (depending on my current status), but if I've seen it and it starts roaming, I absolutely have to kill it. It's like... not even an option to leave anything alive to me. (That cyberdemon at the end of Perfect Hatred slaughtered me every time until I learned about telefragging it, I'm telling you.)

Anyway, yep, those are my confessions for now. I'm sure I'll think of more sometime later, considering I first started playing Doom when I was six years old... I just know that I did a bunch of weird and/or stupid things that I just can't remember at the moment. Well, besides always playing with God mode on. I was six. :P

Edit: Didn't realize that I wrote a novel -- sorry about that. :|

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40oz said:

I understand the player wants to nail it the first time so the viewer doesnt have to watch him die over and over again, but I find getting through a level without any prior knowledge of it much faster if you just rush through attempting to alarm as many monsters as possible and activate as many traps as you can, in hopes that it does kill you. Then you can go through the map up to where you were killed with some foreknowledge of what it going to happen. It's a bit sloppy but it's much faster and I would imagine it be more entertaining to watch for the viewer.

Interesting thoughts. Indeed, sometimes it might be more effective to do a few quick "reconnaissance" runs and only then start playing "normally", knowing what's ahead. However, I normally choose not to do that. Why? Maybe it's because I see each death as a defeat.

When a new megawad comes out, I start FDAing it all excited. I beat one, two, three, four maps without deaths. I'm so confident in myself and it feels kinda cool. Then, on the next map, I make a mistake, die to some average trap... And this one death already makes the whole experience a lot less enjoyable because I can't be that awesome guy who beat the whole megawad without deaths anymore. :) And each subsequent death makes it worse and worse, even if "intentional".

Also, I never really cared about the viewer. I think the primary reason I record FDAs is because it kind of stimulates me to play better and I feel like there is more meaning to the game when it is being recorded. I mean, it just feels good to have some kind of a digital proof that you really beat a map. Playing without recording seems more pointless in comparison because nothing is left after you stop playing. I guess this sounds a bit pathetic, like I can't even enjoy the game unless it gives me some file consisting of zeros and ones afterwards. Is that what's really important?

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I almost never record during casual play but I feel like I should. There have been so many epic level finishes for which I don't have any proof whatsoever. :P I guess I've been just too damn lazy to type in a few extra characters to make the recording and think of a name, etc.

And actually I think an epic messy death can be quite fun to rewatch. Imagine something like being pushed off a cliff by an archvile attack and while you're falling you're being blown to little giblets by a cybie's rocket. Just one of several interesting scenarios I can imagine. And imagine experiencing that while you're fighting bravely with just a shotgun against overwhelming odds. As a viewer I would immediately think, shit this map is pretty hard and intimidating. Actually (excuse the shameless self-promotion) in this video I present a collection of deaths that I experienced while trying to record a speed run (starting at around 11:05).

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I like the Chaingun more than the Super Shotgun. I sometimes mix the two when fighting mobs, but I lean more toward the use of the Chaingun more.

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Solucet said:

stuff


Welcome!

Plutonia isnt that difficult, really. Yes, its alot harder than UD, but still not very hard. Just play some more (check out some pwads?) and you'll get the hang of it =) You really should not miss out on Plutonia! Easily the best of the IWADS (imo).

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Just realised CC2 MAP20 is an E3M7 remastering.

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i just realized that the defoult D2 texture pack lack a waterfall. and i play that game from when i was 8 years old.

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Cacowad said:

i just realized that the defoult D2 texture pack lack a waterfall. and i play that game from when i was 8 years old.


And UD lacks a bloodfall, something which didnt stop Tom Willits from improvising one in E4M5!

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It doesn't have a lavafall either, best I could do was use the DBRAIN textures, and even then it doesn't look right. (DBRAIN textures made to look like a lava fall, the lava flows upwards lol)

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darkreaver said:

Welcome!


Thank you very much! :)

darkreaver said:

Plutonia isnt that difficult, really. Yes, its alot harder than UD, but still not very hard. Just play some more (check out some pwads?) and you'll get the hang of it =) You really should not miss out on Plutonia! Easily the best of the IWADS (imo).


I'm playing through it on Hurt Me Plenty at the moment, and enjoying myself for the most part. It is way tougher than anything I'm used to, though -- I mean, revenants and arch-viles on the first map is pretty hardcore to me. :P

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Solucet said:

I mean, revenants and arch-viles on the first map is pretty hardcore to me. :P


Oh get used to it. I beat it on UV so I don't know what it's like with HMP, but if there isn't at least 2 revenants and a chaingunner in the next room, the game is going easy on you.

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It took me a while to get into Plutonia, but the levels are short and on HMP there's usually a lot of supplies, so it wasn't so bad. Lots of dick moves though, for sure.

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Cacowad said:

i just realized that the defoult D2 texture pack lack a waterfall. and i play that game from when i was 8 years old.

This stunned me as well. It's also one of the reasons I have the allfalls.wad loaded up in DB by default for vanilla Doom 2 mapping.

Kinda makes you wonder what else we missed out on. Maybe not something as obvious, but some assets we would've loved to take for granted if they had been included in doom2.wad.

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Despite everyone saying that UD's E4 is harder than Doom 2 I actually found D2's map08 on UV -fast harder than anything I encountered in E4 on the same difficulty level.

... damn pain elementals...

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EvilNed said:

And UD lacks a bloodfall, something which didnt stop Tom Willits from improvising one in E4M5!

Which doesn't even move.

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I'm in the midst of playing TNT: Evilution for the first time and was forced to consult a walkthrough to finish Central Processing. And yeah, I got the SUCKS message on the scoreboard. First time I got that message, too. :p

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amputechture32 said:

I'm in the midst of playing TNT: Evilution for the first time and was forced to consult a walkthrough to finish Central Processing. And yeah, I got the SUCKS message on the scoreboard. First time I got that message, too. :p

Haha. :D I once became "SUCKER" when I didn't even switch to the main menu, just settled myself into a calm corner and left the computer alone for, like, 2 or 3 hours. About 5 and a half hours were enumerated as spent on completing a not-so-short-either level (I assume Alien Vendetta MAP27), and I laughed at the message hard.

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I confess I've just fallen in love the 3DO music. Is there a wad that makes use of these tracks?

Also;

DooM Soul said:

I like the Chaingun more than the Super Shotgun. I sometimes mix the two when fighting mobs, but I lean more toward the use of the Chaingun more.


The Chaingun is my weapon of choice for Doom until I acquire the Plasma Gun. I tend to use the shotguns for "close encounters" only.

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but the single shotgun is still really good for medium range pelting, leaving chaingun tapping for long distance stuff. That is if you have a decent supply of shells

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Platinum Shell said:

but the single shotgun is still really good for medium range pelting, leaving chaingun tapping for long distance stuff. That is if you have a decent supply of shells


It sure is. But I still prefer using the chaingun.

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This is ironic one: Although I like Doom very much(one of my favorite games), but I really hate the Satanic enviroment and satanism in the game.

That is why, I usually just do Tech styled maps.

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I confess that I just made Doom scary again for me. I have an playlist consisting of Aubrey Hodges ambient music tracks from PSX Doom/Final Doom, Doom 64, Quake/Quake II 64.

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I never really liked Doom2's maps. I always thought that they were just poorly designed and half-assed (in exception to a select few). Doom 1 Knee Deep in the Dead was better in my opinion.

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I don't like it when LITEBLU4 (and any recolour thereof) is used as a marker for locked doors in general, and like it even less when it's also thrown around as a light source in the same map. Make your fucking mind up!

Another peeve is when DOORBLU/RED/YEL is used next to a switch that doesn't need a key to be activated. This can be really misleading.

I also seem to have the absolute worst fucking luck with hitscanners. Seen by a Shotgun Guy as soon as I round a corner? Immediately fired at on the first tic; DSPOSITx doesn't even finish playing before they attack. Zombieman taking potshots from miles away? Always fucking hits me. Chaingunner in a tower? Magically has 100% accuracy. The only hitscanner I don't have trouble with is the Spider Mastermind... because they're used so infrequently.

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-I don't think Doom 2 vanilla maps are very good at all. They start slow, pick up by the second half of episode 1, but halfway through the City section I have checked out mentally. Love the super-shotgun and the great additions to the bestiary, but the maps themselves are boring. Heck, I think I enjoyed Doom 2 the Way ID did more than vanilla.

-Not big on the Doom secrets of hiding them in random walls and playing "spot the texture".

-I don't play with a lot of mods, but I'm a big fan of Beautiful Doom, specially the change to the plasma rifle. The original looks like an accordion.

-I like Doom 3.

-I savescum from time to time. I try to keep it down to "Ok, it took me 10 minutes to get this blue key on UV, I earned a checkpoint, I think", but there it is.

-I tend to play by the rules, but sometimes...I'll jump if I see a little secret is right there for the taking.

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