My take on the BFG Edition.

[DooM_RO]

So not that the BFG Edition is out, lets see how the gameplay and the new levels fare.

SO where should I start? Ah yes, the gameplay has been improved substantially, the movement is much smother, and the action is very frantic. One time I had 2 barons, 5 cacos and 2 revenants spawn, which was pretty brutal on veteran, I really liked that! Oh yes, and the levels are brighter too.

Now the levels themselves ARE linear but not completely. They still have secrets and backtracking in them.

Here is a secret I really liked: I don't remember the level, but after you go up an elevator, you can see an inaccessible armor teasing you. Naturally I looked for paths to get there but eventually I gave up. In the next room there was a grate which most players will easily ignore overlooking an imp eating a dead soldier . I shot it but it didn't die so it came after me opening the door locked door leading to 2 secrets. There are plenty of secrets in the new levels but not all are as imaginative as I had liked. Still it's pretty refreshing to see stuff like this a modern shooter.

Now most of the new levels are set in tech bases and they are not much different from the original aside from small improvements but that's OK because the new hell levels are a HUUUGE improvement over what you see in Doom 3. They have a very classic doom feel to them(a part even feels like quake 3 in some ways). You wanted more open levels?You've got them in the new hell level! Also, each section of the hell maps looks substantially different from the last one.

For instance, there is this floating pathway leading to an impressive castle made of bone and bricks after which you are led in a huge cavern with lots of lava falling into cages. I even rode a boat! I think Id did a really good job on the hell level, especially considering that aside from small number of new of textures, they only used the stock resources of Doom 3.

OF course, there are things that I didn't like. For instance, I HATE the fact that the levels are OVERFLOWING with ammo. What were they thinking?! Also, why is the FOV set at 60?That's fucking retarded, I had to manually change it. And lastly, the tech levels could have used more work.

All in all, it's been an enjoyable ride for me, and I'm excited to see what Id brings in the future. I recommend you play this on Veteran and you MUST update your drivers and install the DirectX pack that came with the game otherwise you will suffer very low FPS.

[Blastfrog]

DooM_RO said:

Also, why is the FOV set at 60?

Where is this misinformation coming from? It's 80.

[Janus3003]

DooM_RO said:

In the next room there was a grate which most players will easily ignore overlooking an imp eating a dead soldier . I shot it but it didn't die so it came after me opening the door locked door leading to 2 secrets.

Dang it, I killed that imp. When he took off after I first shot him, I thought "HE'S GETTING AWAY!" and shot him again, killing him.

And to think he just wanted a meal and was courteous enough to open a door for me. :(

[Reisal]

I believe it is a waste of money and an insult to the Doom series because of the content edits they did to the included version of Doom 2, not to mention ZERO MOD SUPPORT for the version of Doom 3 included.

"Lost Missions" could have been an expansion by itself but I heard that most of those maps are copy-paste nonsense and not much new.

[Badboy]

i read 3 guys here that said the lost missions are ok, and giving doom 3 a more classic doom feeling, because of more open maps and more monsters. i havent play it. i dont ecspect a sensation, maybe we should play it before before bashing it.

[DoomUK]

Mr. Chris said:

"Lost Missions" could have been an expansion by itself but I heard that most of those maps are copy-paste nonsense and not much new.

There's a few rooms which are obviously copypasted from Doom 3 and have been redesigned to fit the new maps. But saying "most of the maps are copy-paste" is a massive exaggeration.

People seem to be upset over some of the decisions that have been made lately, and I'll concede I don't understand some of them myself. But can we not throw around hyperbole that isn't representative of reality, and bash things we haven't even played just because we're upset?

[LkMax]

DoomUK said:

There's a few rooms which are obviously copypasted from Doom 3 and have been redesigned to fit the new maps. But saying "most of the maps are copy-paste" is a massive exaggeration.

People seem to be upset over some of the decisions that have been made lately, and I'll concede I don't understand some of them myself. But can we not throw around hyperbole that isn't representative of reality, and bash things we haven't even played just because we're upset?

Agreed.
I don't know how much of the expansion has some parts of the old maps on it but I guess it's just a few encounters, like comparable to what Opposing Force was to Half-Life? Also I heard good things about the new Hell levels.

[DooM_RO]

DoomUK said:

There's a few rooms which are obviously copypasted from Doom 3 and have been redesigned to fit the new maps. But saying "most of the maps are copy-paste" is a massive exaggeration.

People seem to be upset over some of the decisions that have been made lately, and I'll concede I don't understand some of them myself. But can we not throw around hyperbole that isn't representative of reality, and bash things we haven't even played just because we're upset?

I have noticed three parts. The part from Enpro where you get the Plasma Gun from Theresa Chasar's office and a hallway from Delta Labs and the lobby from Delta Labs as well. The hell level is completely new though and was desperately needed. All in all, aside from the new Hell levels, I am not overly impressed, except from the increased action but I hated that monsters often teleported in waves.

[Enjay]

I haven't played it but from what I have read, the BFE Ed is pretty much what was promised and much as I expected it to be. I'm not sure why people are getting upset about it.

The only thing that really confuses me is why they thought it worthwhile to change Sarge's appearance especially when (if what I read on on the ZDoom forum is correct) they didn't bother to change the videos that he appears in thereby making him lose and regrow his hair as the game progresses. That really seems to be a case of "pointless and incomplete change is pointless and incomplete".

[DooM_RO]

Enjay said:

I haven't played it but from what I have read, the BFE Ed is pretty much what was promised and much as I expected it to be. I'm not sure why people are getting upset about it.

The only thing that really confuses me is why they thought it worthwhile to change Sarge's appearance especially when (if what I read on on the ZDoom forum is correct) they didn't bother to change the videos that he appears in thereby making him lose and regrow his hair as the game progresses. That really seems to be a case of "pointless and incomplete change is pointless and incomplete".

The only thing that bothers me is the lack of mod support. Carmack said he would try to do something about it but he made no promises. Ah yes and the overly inflated ammo count boils my blood.

[DoomUK]

Enjay said:

The only thing that really confuses me is why they thought it worthwhile to change Sarge's appearance especially when (if what I read on on the ZDoom forum is correct) they didn't bother to change the videos that he appears in thereby making him lose and regrow his hair as the game progresses. That really seems to be a case of "pointless and incomplete change is pointless and incomplete".

Yes, it's bizarre.

For the time being I'm putting it down to a weird bug in the game. You'd have to have a screw loose to make a change like that and not notice anything wrong with it.

[Blastfrog]

I don't mind the extra ammo, it's not like I was ever even close to running out in the original. What would be nice is a mod to reduce ammo for extra challenge.

[hardcore_gamer]

Sodaholic said:

I don't mind the extra ammo, it's not like I was ever even close to running out in the original. What would be nice is a mod to reduce ammo for extra challenge.

I think I heard Tim Willtis or someone from Id say that there wasn't enough ammo in the original and that they added more to make things more fair.

While I do admit that the original had a few places where a bit more ammo would have been nice I think they overdid it.

Granted that I have only played The Lost Mission so far, but I had so much ammo that there was basically zero reason to be careful with it and in my opinion it removes a lot of the strategy from the game.

I hope there isn't such an insane amount of ammo in the original campaigns as well.

[Dragonsbrethren]

I remember going through the game and having my machine gun out of ammo nearly constantly because I absolutely hated the shotgun and used it as little as possible. Plasma was a similar situation. I guess that's my fault for wanting a shotgun that kills outside of point blank range.

[PhantomTMac]

I preordered the game because I was so excited, and, to be honest, it lived up to my expectations (in my opinion).

My only problems are the game seems to hate it when I use my Plasma Rifle because framerate will drop tremendously in certain areas and I seem to have a surplus amount of ammo.

The Lost Mission was a nice bonus, even if it visits some of the same areas as the original Doom 3. Also, being able to play Dooms 1, 2, and 3 on my PS3 with full trophy support is a huge plus.

Overall, I enjoy the BFG Edition.

Just one question: In what ways did Bethesda contribute to this game? Are id and Bethesda joining together because of Rage or did Bethesda actually change something?

[Badboy]

>Just one question: In what ways did Bethesda contribute to this game? Are id and Bethesda joining together because of Rage or did Bethesda actually change something?

you know that id was sold, bought from zenimax/bethesda. who came up with the idea of BFG is unclear, id or bethesda. i think personally it was bethesda, maybe they looked at all the games (owned ip`s) and said, lets do a doom backcataloge to shorten the time until doom 4. id mobile got canceled and they had more workforce to do something else. rage was not a big financial hit, but i did okay i guess, no offical game counts were released to the public.

big publishers have country sections, and these sections tell the mother we want/need this or this changed for that country, and than the dev studio or the mother do changes. it might be easier and is faster that the original dev studio do cuts/changes.

i never found out who fucked up the german version of quake 4 (incompatible in multiplayer to international version/online servers). but it doesnt matter, at the end the responsibility has the publisher. in that case activision.

[PhantomTMac]

Badboy said:

you know that id was sold, bought from zenimax/bethesda.

Guess I had never heard.

[Badboy]

sorry, wanted to tell the whole package.

[Gez]

It's all explained on the wiki.

Personally, I think the idea for the BFG edition comes from Id. It's similar to what they did when they released the Collector's Edition in 2001 and then again in 2003 to make people speak about the franchise again and drum up some hype for Doom 3.

[DooM_RO]

For those of you who do not want to buy the BFG Edition but are still interested in how the new levels are, here is a very good review showcasing some parts of Hell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4mlgNO7sus

[SweatyGremlins]

Gez said:

It's all explained on the wiki.

Personally, I think the idea for the BFG edition comes from Id. It's similar to what they did when they released the Collector's Edition in 2001 and then again in 2003 to make people speak about the franchise again and drum up some hype for Doom 3.

Actually yeah, that would make a lot of sense, this way Doom 4 won't come completely out of nowhere.

I'm really curious how they will handle Doom 4 now, I enjoyed Doom 3 for the style of shooter it was, but would be nice to see a modern equivalent of the original Doom.

Although Doom 4 could never be mod friendly could it? I keep reading world textures are a pain in Rage or something.

[DooM_RO]

SweatyGremlins said:

Actually yeah, that would make a lot of sense, this way Doom 4 won't come completely out of nowhere.

I'm really curious how they will handle Doom 4 now, I enjoyed Doom 3 for the style of shooter it was, but would be nice to see a modern equivalent of the original Doom.

Although Doom 4 could never be mod friendly could it? I keep reading world textures are a pain in Rage or something.

I am willing to forget all my fantasies about it if they just make it non-linear. More varied architecture and gameplay would also be very welcome.

[hardcore_gamer]

DooM_RO said:

For those of you who do not want to buy the BFG Edition but are still interested in how the new levels are, here is a very good review showcasing some parts of Hell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4mlgNO7sus

Ugh. The extremely annoying narrator's attempt at poetry made the thing almost unwatchable.

[LkMax]

hardcore_gamer said:

Ugh. The extremely annoying narrator's attempt at poetry made the thing almost unwatchable.

Nah, I found it kinda funny. :3
I'm still on the fence if I should buy it or not. $20 for an aparently short expansion... :-\ (I got a discount because I own Doom 3 on Steam).

[hardcore_gamer]

LkMax said:

Nah, I found it kinda funny. :3
I'm still on the fence if I should buy it or not. $20 for an aparently short expansion... :-\ (I got a discount because I own Doom 3 on Steam).

You can always wait for the insane christmas deals that come in mid to late desember.

[LkMax]

That's what I'm hoping for. Until then I'll just avoid potential spoilers.

[Blastfrog]

Gez said:

Personally, I think the idea for the BFG edition comes from Id. It's similar to what they did when they released the Collector's Edition in 2001 and then again in 2003 to make people speak about the franchise again and drum up some hype for Doom 3.

I'm 99% certain that it was id's idea. I remember seeing an interview in which the id guys were saying that they wanted to get Doom back in the public eye and make something to tide Doom fans over in the wait for Doom 4, and they specifically said that they were "glad that Zenimax allowed us to do this, since parent companies typically don't let us jump into a project just to revisit an older title".

[DooM_RO]

LkMax said:

That's what I'm hoping for. Until then I'll just avoid potential spoilers.

Spoilers?In a Doom game?! You're a marine, you kill demons and destroy the last portal from Hell. That's it.

[chungy]

Doom 3 has quite a bit more story than that.

[hardcore_gamer]

chungy said:

Doom 3 has quite a bit more story than that.

"And there is also a mad man who is responsible for opening the gates of hell and wants to take over the world. Also some stuff about martians."

Doom 3's story really isn't complex. It barely even exists.

Though that is probably to be expected from a Doom game.