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

[Voros]

^thanks!

Unfortuanately, those Acolytes are pain in the ass when getting the ring from Beldin or the power coupling, its not really managable, but more a time bomb: they wait for you...

[deadwolves]

UV is simply too easy. The only maps that I've found a challenge in UV were E4M2, which took several tries to complete, and E4M6 which I found to be very difficult. When I first started playing NM I definitely was not ready for it but got better with practice.

The jump in difficulty from UV to NM is very big so you need to keep on your toes, use every second wisely and not hang around waiting to be shot. You need to deal with enemies completely mercilessly just to survive which can be a little exhausting at times, but very satisfying to make progress and learn how to beat a level. There are points where you can be using the rocket launcher just to take out regular imps and zombies because you just want to get through the damn map in one piece.

RUSH said:

Nightmare kicks my ass and makes me cry bloody tears. I can barely make it to E1M3 on that difficulty

The first two levels aren't actually that bad, although they do feel unfair if you are used to playing on UV or less, but I felt E1M3 to be a big jump in difficulty because it really makes you wake up to how ruthless you have to be. Since putting in some practice though, I can complete it every time. I found E1M4, M5 and M6 on NM to be easier in comparison by a fair margin.

[Fonze]

Nightmare always seemed to me to just be a speedrunner's paradise. If you want to shoot for par times, practice on NM, heh. I prefer UV and on occasion UV -fast, but I prefer to play slowly, so I tend to stray away from NM, unless a map seems like it'd be fun with it, in which case I'll give it a go (and usually fail numerous times before cursing and giving up).

[Wovenloaf]

I only play Nightmare on levels I already know well enough. I'd love to see an expert Doomer blast through a custom map set for the first time on Nightmare without much trouble. That would be superb.

[MrGlide]

Fonze said:

Nightmare always seemed to me to just be a speedrunner's paradise.

It's basically how you have to play on NM, I'v beaten Doom 1 and 2 on NM but I don't enjoy it, It's like eating a sandwitch that keeps growing back, I can't get that satisfying last bite.

[RaikohZX]

I never liked Nightmare honestly, so I play with my own difficulty wad.

[Azuruish]

^ It reminds me some difficulties from Devil May Cry where one hit kills everyone include you another IIRC named like "Hell and Hell" where one hit for you is critical.
In Brutal Doom it's possible to finish the game because hitscan has speed but in original Doom such difficulty is just another cause for suicide.

[RaikohZX]

Azuruish said:

^ It reminds me some difficulties from Devil May Cry where one hit kills everyone include you another IIRC named like "Hell and Hell" where one hit for you is critical.
In Brutal Doom it's possible to finish the game because hitscan has speed but in original Doom such difficulty is just another cause for suicide.

Contra Hard! is the one-hit gimmick mode, yeah. I recommend things like Snailbullets for that specifically as a result. But Critical Mode is basically, everything dies fast (even Pinkies die from one shotgun blast), but simultaneously you die real fast too, even an imp fireball at 100 health and 100 armor can do over half your health in damage. So every battle boils down to either playing it safe and picking them off, or killing everything as soon as possible and avoiding projectiles like the plague. It makes weapons like the chaingun much more valuable in mowing down swarms of hitscanners, for example.

[Netherstorm]

I just prefer UV honestly, NM has always kicked my ass sky high.

[Blastfrog]

Seeing as it's completely unbalanced, unfair, and a literal joke, it should never have been added. It's close to illegitimate as far as I'm concerned. If that means that Doom is an easy game, so be it.

[baja blast rd.]

I play exclusively on nightmare stroller-style cuz I'm such a bawse.

[Doomkid]

Sodaholic said:

Seeing as it's completely unbalanced, unfair, and a literal joke, it should never have been added. It's close to illegitimate as far as I'm concerned. If that means that Doom is an easy game, so be it.

I'm glad they did add it, though. It's so over the top that everyone, even people who only played a few times, remember it for it's sheer insanity. It's kind of like the BFG in a way. Doom has lots of big, awesome things that are just bold and go in the face of 'logical progression' and that's part of the game's charm, for me anyway.

On a side note, it makes me kind of sad that 3 of the biggest, baddest things about Doom - The BFG, the IoS and Nightmare mode - are also some of the most complained about things in the various "what would you change" threads. I'm glad id circa 1993/1994 was thinking big, those three things are core parts of Doom and are all highly memorable. I like that kind of stuff. It sticks out and adds character rather than just blending in to the mix.

[DeathevokatioN]

Knee Deep in the Dead is hella fun on nightmare coop, I haven't given anything other than E1 a serious try since the 90's. :P

[Maes]

Then again, seeing that the average Doom player ability has gone considerably up since 1994 (the COMPET-N scene and the nearly universal adoption of WASD+mouse controls certainly played an important part), perhaps Nightmare finally found its niche for players that seek a thrill beyond Ultra Violence, without resorting to ports with special game modes (e.g. fast + powerful monsters). If you consider the IWAD levels a piece of cake as they are (and, let's be honest, in retrospect, at least Doom 1's original 3 episodes really are), then Nightmare might make you reconsider.

[40oz]

DeathevokatioN said:

Knee Deep in the Dead is hella fun on nightmare coop, I haven't given anything other than E1 a serious try since the 90's. :P

My cousin and I played Perditions Gate for hours on nightmare coop. Like KDITD, its packed with light monsters and has very short but nonlinear levels. We used infinite ammo because its a bit more monster dense than KDITD but it was ridiculously addictive. We couldn't stop until we beat it. I haven't found enough people to play NM coop with me enough to test too many other wads but that was by far one of the resilient mapsets ive played

Doomkid said:

I'm glad they did add it, though. It's so over the top that everyone, even people who only played a few times, remember it for it's sheer insanity. It's kind of like the BFG in a way. Doom has lots of big, awesome things that are just bold and go in the face of 'logical progression' and that's part of the game's charm, for me anyway.

On a side note, it makes me kind of sad that 3 of the biggest, baddest things about Doom - The BFG, the IoS and Nightmare mode - are also some of the most complained about things in the various "what would you change" threads. I'm glad id circa 1993/1994 was thinking big, those three things are core parts of Doom and are all highly memorable. I like that kind of stuff. It sticks out and adds character rather than just blending in to the mix.

I agree completely. Doom is a lot like most basic sports; easy to play, hard to master. I feel nightmare is great, because no matter how good you think you are at Doom, you're still always playing it on the "second hardest difficulty" everytime you return to it. It's like the game is teasing you. "If you're so good then why dont you play nightmare then?"

It's important in games like Doom where repetitive actions are so fun and engaging to allow for conditions that make basic goals so much more difficult to get. These are things like boss rushes and or reducing the number of lives in other games that make basic things near unattainable for even the most seasoned players.

I had Doom on the GBA and was surprised to find that the hurt me plenty skill was removed and that nightmare was the equivalent to ultra violence. Once you beat the game on the hardest skill level you really do feel as though you've exhausted all the challenge you can get out of the game and there's no incentive to come back.

Sure we have lots of PWADs but there were zero new wads to play at the time Doom came out. So its easy to say we could do without it now that mappers are making us impossibly difficult maps that are a dime a dozen today.

[unerxai]

No, but I want to beat at least E1 on Nightmare with no saves. Recently I saw someone on youtube beating it keyboard only so it can't be that hard. Just have to "git gud".

[deadwolves]

UNERXAi said:

No, but I want to beat at least E1 on Nightmare with no saves. Recently I saw someone on youtube beating it keyboard only so it can't be that hard. Just have to "git gud".

Just out of interest, are you referring to the rybacksda youtube channel? You can see he plays keyboard only but I swear to God the maps he plays are wider or something.

[Tosi]

Is there anybody who is so bad at Doom (or thinks they're that bad) that they only play on ITYTD? I don't know if I've ever played that difficulty except for some slaughter maps.

[Fonze]

Get your dad to play Doom and you'll have your answer (assuming your age > 26.

[unerxai]

deadwolves said:

Just out of interest, are you referring to the rybacksda youtube channel? You can see he plays keyboard only but I swear to God the maps he plays are wider or something.

Yeah him.

That's weird. Maybe it's the uncorrected aspect ratio that makes it look that way?

Tosi said:

Is there anybody who is so bad at Doom (or thinks they're that bad) that they only play on ITYTD? I don't know if I've ever played that difficulty except for some slaughter maps.

When I was a little kid I played all games on the easiest setting, not because of skill but because I was a pussy and didn't want risk.

[LkMax]

I play it on Ultra Violence with the "-fast" parameter on, does that count? I guess not, because what put people off from Nightmare is probably the same that put me off: the irritating respawn. =P

UNERXAi said:

When I was a little kid I played all games on the easiest setting, not because of skill but because I was a pussy and didn't want risk.

Haha, I always chose easy too when I was a kid. Nowadays though, when I'm new to a game, I always ponder if I should choose the hardest or the second hardest difficulty, but that's not a big problem since most modern games are allowing to change difficulty during the playthrough.

The only time I repent going for hard was on Bioshock Infinite, but that game is abysmal (that's not a compliment). Bullet Sponge enemies, weak weapons (except the rifle) and scarce ammunition is a terrible, terrible combination. I unlocked the 1999 mode but no stupid achievement is worth the rage I would feel playing it.

[LittleInferno]

It's 2spooky for me.

[Voros]

LittleInferno said:

It's 2spooky for me.

Why is Nightmare so spooky? Its a fun difficulty when you feel like getting your ass kicked, on purpose.

[40oz]

Tosi said:

Is there anybody who is so bad at Doom (or thinks they're that bad) that they only play on ITYTD? I don't know if I've ever played that difficulty except for some slaughter maps.

Itytd is good for maps that have very little health ammo and armor and dont have any skill levels implemented.

Iirc there was a guy who used to post here a lot named duckreconmajor who claimed he only played on itytd. I made an Easter egg in the demo of UAC Ultra 2 where if you typed iddqd, instead of "Degreelessness mode on" it would say "DuckReconMajor mode on"

I haven't seen him around here in years so if I were to ever finish it, the joke wouldn't be relevant anymore :/

[idbeholdME]

As already said. To me, the nightmare feels more like a speedrunner's wet dream than a regular difficulty. It was a nice idea, but that's what it devolved to. I play on UV fast only and recently started playing on true fast (if you just play on UV -fast, it's not the same as fast which is present on nightmare) with custom difficulty made from nightmare without the respawn. The simple -fast parameter forgets to remove one slight aiming delay for monsters. Also, I play keyboard only.

When I'm playing Doom, it is to enjoy it, not breeze through it ASAP. I've never seen any appeal in speedrunning whatsoever in general, not just Doom. I like to explore the maps, get every secret etc. I see no point in speedrunning it just because there's a timed bomb ticking and you can never get the satisfactory feeling that the level is clear. I spent more than an hour on several large unofficial megawad maps.

[Marnetmar]

No because I seek fulfillment from my life.

[Face23785]

idbeholdME said:

As already said. To me, the nightmare feels more like a speedrunner's wet dream than a regular difficulty. It was a nice idea, but that's what it devolved to. I play on UV fast only and recently started playing on true fast (if you just play on UV -fast, it's not the same as fast which is present on nightmare) with custom difficulty made from nightmare without the respawn. The simple -fast parameter forgets to remove one slight aiming delay for monsters. Also, I play keyboard only.

When I'm playing Doom, it is to enjoy it, not breeze through it ASAP. I've never seen any appeal in speedrunning whatsoever in general, not just Doom. I like to explore the maps, get every secret etc. I see no point in speedrunning it just because there's a timed bomb ticking and you can never get the satisfactory feeling that the level is clear. I spent more than an hour on several large unofficial megawad maps.

That's pretty much it for me too. I've tried it but I feel no satisfaction when I compete a level on it. I want to kill everything. I can see it's appeal for some people, but it's not my kind of gaming.

[roadworx]

hell no, i can't even play on uv without getting my ass kicked.

[SYS]

I find Nightmare is only playable if you can speed-run the map, or you're playing co-op.
If anyone dies during coop you lose momentum and you will never be fast enough to ward off the continual respawns.

[deadwolves]

SYS said:

I find Nightmare is only playable if you can speed-run the map, or you're playing co-op.

I had a debate about this earlier and still think that if you are speedrunning/running in all guns blazing on NM, you are not playing it right. At the very least when you are learning a level, it pays so much more to spend a few seconds clearing out any immediate threats. You will usually have enough ammo to do that. After enough practice you will start to speed up.

There are exceptions like E2M4 which is goddamn horrible enough that I just try to get through that pile of crap in one piece which is bad enough in UV. Instead of charging headfirst though, use cover like you would usually, open doors and air out bad guys, and take out the occasional sentry. Speedrunning imo is for VERY advanced players or people who just like to speedrun.