Anyone of you so good that you play exclusively on Nightmare?

[printz]

Has anyone become so used to Doom that now they play it on Nightmare skill by default? Or is that skill level so off-limits that no-one masters it?

[joe-ilya]

Only doomnerds.

[40oz]

I'd like to be that guy who only plays Doom on Nightmare but the way its setup is not really a fair representation of skill and more importantly isn't a very fun way to enjoy Doom.

Nightmare is an action packed blastfest but there are no brakes. Its holding down the gas pedal on a busy freeway constantly. Its a rush but that adrenaline quickly starts to vanish and the thrill is harder to keep up with.

The other issue is that levels aren't very well tailored for Nightmare so naturally you quickly deplete your ammunition pretty fast, especially in Doom 2 where the bigger monsters take longer to kill than they do to respawn, and since many of them dont get much of a significant attack boost other than shooting repeatedly (unlike pinky demons that run faster, or imps and cacos that have faster fireballs) there's really not much incentive to kill them. By then, what exactly are you playing Doom for if you're willing to give up killing monsters and exploring the maps just to win?

I can see Nightmare being very practical for Cooperative play but the netcode on some source ports still make it pretty unfair as they don't very accurately display where fireballs are in proximity to you in time to dodge them, but other sourceports are very successful at something like that, but their particular fan base prefers other styles of play.

[termrork]

^ in NM the ammo is doubled, so if you only kill the monsters you have to, you even have much more ammo than in uv.

the skill lvl I play in depends on the wad:

doom2: nm, if I want to relax uv fast
avj: uv, uv fast, nm
wads I play the first time: uv, uv fast, never nm

if you once get used to nm/fast, it is weird to go back to uv because of the slow projectiles. (and otherway around if you are used to the slow ones and go to nm/fast)
as 40oz said, a lot of times the maps were only playtested in uv, so sometimes nm can be a pain in the ***, because nm was not considered.

[Zulk RS]

I'm still a Doom noob.

Forget Nightmare, I only play on HMP by default. I play UV when I'm playing Doom/Ultimate Doom or Doom-II

[Maes]

Well, you can still always play on NM even if you're not particularly good.

[Jaxxoon R]

Nightmare is a joke.

[Rayziik]

Imagine if NM made revenants always fire homing missiles. I would definitely stay away from it then.

[Memfis]

Xit Vono?

[Gothic]

Not Doom, but sometimes I play Heretic on the hardest difficulty, which is actually UV Fast (black plague possesses thee).

[jval]

Haven't played for years.

[Chezza]

Only Nightmare on slaughtermaps or you're a nub

[Pencil of Doom]

If Nightmare had nothing but Revenants i would play exclusively on Nightmare, because my love for skeletons is untamed.

[RUSH]

Nightmare kicks my ass and makes me cry bloody tears. I can barely make it to E1M3 on that difficulty. I agree with Jaxxoon it's more of a joke than a legitimate difficulty. I guess that's why they nerfed it for the BFG edition release. They didn't want console kiddos crying about an unbeatable difficulty because that would fuck up getting achievements or whatever. It's kinda meh all around really.

[Deleted_Account]

A friend of mine tried to beat Nightmare mode, after two weeks he became a weeping alcoholic with no bladder control sleeping on his brother in-laws sofa. Even after 22 years, John Romero still makes people his bitch.

[Voros]

Nightmare is called nightmare for a reason...

Ultra-Violence is the ultimate default difficulty.
All else is practice (except Nightmare).

Just remove these:
Zombiemen
Shotgunguy
Chaingunner(they scare me because of their power)
Hellknights
Barons of Hell
Arch Vile
Mancubus
Revenant
Arachnotron
Pain Elementals
Lost Souls
Imps(only if in herds)

Yes, fighting Hell by killing Pinkies and running. That is a decent Nightmare level for me.

Oh yeah, add lots plasma boxes and BFGs.

[scifista42]

Voros said:

Just remove these:
Zombiemen
Shotgunguy
Chaingunner(they scare me because of their power)
Hellknights
Barons of Hell
Arch Vile
Mancubus
Revenant
Arachnotron
Pain Elementals
Lost Souls
Imps(only if in herds)

Yes, fighting Hell by killing Pinkies and running. That is a decent Nightmare level for me.

And Spectres, Cacodemons, Cyberdemons, Masterminds and SSNazis too?

[Voros]

scifista42 said:

And Spectres, Cacodemons, Cyberdemons, Masterminds and SSNazis too?

Cybedemon and mastermind stays, they are the bosses.
Spectres are invisible Pinkies, so that stays to.
Cacodemons are for the challenge...
I never found those secret level exits, so they wont really bother me... but I wouldn't like them if I did encounter one on Nightmare.

[scifista42]

As for myself:

antares031 said:

Just get rid of hitscanners, then I'll play it on Nightmare.

(maybe)

Or if I could modify the Nightmare skill rules like I described in this thread: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/71987-making-an-alternate-skill-5/

[Zulk RS]

scifista42 said:

As for myself:
(maybe)

Or if I could modify the Nightmare skill rules like I described in this thread: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/71987-making-an-alternate-skill-5/

I was thinking more along the lines of replacing some weaker monsters with stronger monsters.

Like chaingunners and Hell Knights in MAP01 of Doom2 and Arachnotrons in MAP03

[Azuruish]

Original Doom (IWADs, PWADs) I'm always playing on UV, With mods like 'Brutal Doom' or 'DoomRPG' only on highest difficulty... Don't know even why...
Maybe i fear 'respawn' which always force me to be fast...

Rayzik said:

Imagine if NM made revenants always fire homing missiles. I would definitely stay away from it then.

It doesn't matter on this difficulty as they shot too rapidly and probability of aimed rocket is too high.
Good only one thing: Damage same.

[HavoX]

Nightmare! is just UV with the -fast and -respawn parameters, and (obviously) cheats disabled.
The closest I can get to Nightmare! gameplay is UV with -fast, but no -respawn, similar to Heretic's "black plague possesses thee" (and Hexen's highest difficulty) skill level.

jval said:

Haven't played for years.

You don't know what you're missing then. :P

[RestlessRodent]

You should try True Nightmare, which is UV -fast and -respawn. No double ammo for you!

[scifista42]

^ In combination with cheats not disabled? I take it!

[HavoX]

GhostlyDeath said:

You should try True Nightmare

I prefer the term "Super Nightmare!"™

which is UV -fast and -respawn. No double ammo for you!

And twice the amount of normal damage taken. Are you a bad enough marine to take the challenge?

[nxGangrel]

I avoid Nightmare with a Passion.

[Buckshot]

Anything less than nightmare doesn't feel challenging enough. Some of us like punishment, and some of us have been playing DOOM since day 1 to the point where nightmare isnt even that difficult anymore.

They're offline atm as I'm moving, but I had some zandro servers up for each edition of DOOM that were coop survivor mode nightmare skill. Though a few out there would hop on and play solo, including myself. In fact, too many players made it even more difficult, especially when everyone burned through their lives quickly or consumed all the ammo. It was a hell of a challenge.

[Suitepee]

I struggle on UV at times with some wads, I think I'll stay away from Nightmare forever.

[Voros]

Is Bloodbath from Strife a close difficulty towards UV or NM?

[scifista42]

Voros said:

Is Bloodbath from Strife a close difficulty towards UV or NM?

Bloodbath from Strife makes the game behave exactly like Doom's Nightmare - double ammo, fast and respawning enemies, cheats disabled. But since Strife maps are not always full of hostile enemies everywhere as Doom maps are, it probably makes the game more managable on that difficulty. I actually haven't played enough Strife to judge its overall difficulty.