How you discovered the Doom series? / Your first time playing Doom?

[Sallan]

was the flash version of the game, i find the controls quite confusing (i didn't know how to strafe pft) and get stuck in e1m1, today i just suck.

[FreightMan07]

1--- Was in my early 20's and in the military still. I had always been a console gamer (NES, Snes, Genesis), so PC gaming was a completely foreign land for me. I was aware of Doom of course (and it's predecessor Wolfenstein 3D), but till that point, I had only played the Snes version of Wolf 3D (yes, the vanilla G-rated one...haha).

 

2-- Very first version of Doom I played was for Sega's 32x add-on.  Even though that was a severely cut down version (at the time I hadn't realized that), it was damned fun and it certainly beat it's contemporary competition (the Snes version, the Jaguar version, and certainly the 3DO version).  This version completely ruled for me, till of course, the Playstation got Ultimate Doom which had some extra bells n whistles along with the more complete versions of Doom 1 and 2.

 

3 & 4-- At the time I played the 32x version, I thought it was the coolest damned thing ever. I played lots of platformers, fighters, schmups, and RPG's, but this wonderful monster filled FPS game was just a whole new world for me. I remember the game being hard at first for me, because I was so used to accounting for "up down left right" that the concept of '3D movement' (even though it was faux 3d) was hard for me to grasp at first.

 

I died a shit load of times, but kept coming back for more. I also remember not really caring for the soundtrack, so I played the 32x version with just the game sound effects.

 

Nowadays, thanks to the large community of modders, I still enjoy the game, even in the face of modern FPS games. In fact, I really do prefer the Doom 1 and 2 styles to Doom 3 and even the newest Doom 4. Nothing wrong with those games, but they just can't touch the feeling of pure monster killing and wonder that I got playing the original versions.

 

And of course, with sourceports, I can enjoy some extra features added into my dooming in addition to more levels in the form of different rulesets and monster packs (Brutal doom and Scaliano's monster shuffle for instance), along with features such as jumping and crouching and better 3D made possible through things like GZ Doom.

 

Thank you Id Software for creating this iconic and legendary game and thanks to all who continue to make new and interesting stuff to add to my sourceports!

 

Doom will, indeed, live forever!

[riderr3]

-When was the first time you ever played Doom?

Somewhere in 97's.
-Which version?

Playstation Doom. But PC Doom much later.
-What do you remember from your first playthroughs? 

I thought Doomguy is escaping from prison or something. I did't knew the plot these times.
Later in PC Doom I have been very surprised: High level elevations, archvile, wads, online multiplayer, source ports, e.t.c...
-How did you feel at that time? compared to how you feel nowadays playing it

I researched Doom games by myself.

[Summer Deep]

My first experience with Doom was the SNES version. Couldn't understand why I kept dying, until I turned up the brightness on my TV and realized I'd been standing in nukage which I was unable to see, LOL! This port of the game wasn't very impressive at all, as one was unable to save, even at the end of a level, and had to play through an entire episode in one session. Still, the novelty of the game and the challenge kept me going, and things improved hugely when the Playstation version arrived. 

[savagegrant]

1. Probably bang-on 23 years ago (not sure exactly when - got old-fart memory :P)
2. Uhh, one of those early shareware versions when there was still a swastika in E1M4.
3. How amazing the game was. In hindsight, it really was an incredible episode of DEWM!
4. Shit scared when in dark places while being munched on by spectres (faaark!). Still lovin' it.

 

:)

[DoomKnight1984]

I was around 10 years old when I played the full version of Doom for the first time...along with the full versions of Wolfenstein 3D, One Must Fall 2097 and Raptor: Call of the Shadows, around 1994. I always liked the atmosphere of Episode 3 due to its hellish environment. The entire atmosphere of Doom became more scary when we finally managed to buy Sound Blasters and heard the growls of demons everywhere every time I play the game. Then got to played Doom II around 1998 and always used the noclip cheat just to kill the last boss since I had no idea how to kill it back then. 

 

The fact that many people still play and make mods around the classic Doom games is a testament to its longevity and appeal that's unfortunately lacking in id's releases later on.

[SteelPH]

On the Playstation in '95. I was about 8 years old. My memory of that time is pretty foggy, but suffice to say, I'd get a PC and a copy of Ultimate Doom a few months down the line.

[ShoDemo]

I first played around 5 years ago. When I was searching for scary horror games (we play with my friends sometimes games like Outlast), I got to see Doom 3 in a random top 10 video. And I said to myself: <<I want to play that, but I also want to see the older games first, so that I understand the evolution of the series (I'm that kind of guy)>>. And like this I bought the Ultimate Doom and Doom 2 first, because I saw at the time that only Doom and Doom 2 were made by id.

At first, I laughed a bit on the graphics and I proceeded to play through the first episode. Little did I know that I would become hooked by it.

Doom had already become my favourite game, after I finished the second episode. Never before have I liked a game so much. The speed, the music, the weapons, the shotgun, the theme. I got to love the game as I played more of it and I keep learning stuff about it even today. 

 

I remember the labyrinth in E1M4 (a pinky scared the shit out of me then, as I wasn't expecting it) and the hexagon (I think) with imps in E1M4, which opened upon stepping on the area with the light (I think I'm in love with that map). Also, I remember getting stuck, while playing Slough of Despair due to being very trigger happy at the time (HOLY SHIT, the map is a hand!!! Just now I got to notice it).

[Koko Ricky]

I honestly don't remember the very first time I fired the game up, but I know that it was in 1994 (possibly '95 but I doubt it) and it was shareware Doom on floppy disk. My dad ignored the fact that our computer was slightly below minimum requirements and lacked a sound card. I played the shit out of it anyway, and to some extent those scratchy PC internal speakers sounds are ingrained in the back of my mind, even now. In order to get a decent framerate, I had to play in low detail "postage stamp" mode, but god damn if it wasn't some of the most fun I had ever had. I remember immediately understanding that it was a far superior game to Wolf 3D, not only visually but also mechanically.

 

It was also evident that it was a more "grown up" game, what with the dramatic use of lighting, the less cartoonish palette and the explicit use of violence. My fascination with science fiction, occultist themes and weaponry are all tied to that legendary year. It was a real treat a year or two later when my dad installed the game (and eventually Ultimate Doom and Doom 2) on his laptop, which while still lacking a sound card, it ran at a far better framerate. My delight kept amplifying because not long after, I experienced the game on the Playstation, and eventually when my old man upgraded our computer, I got to experience it properly on PC, so hearing those MIDIs for the first time was exciting. 

[roadworx]

1.) When was the first time you ever played Doom?

 - it was at my uncle's house in the early 2010s. i had my dad's laptop to play some games because, let's be honest here, there's really not all that much to do in upstate new york. because the laptop was a crappy windows xp laptop, i brought along some low-spec games that i had torrented. two of them were doom 1 and 2 on zdoom.

 

2.) Which version?

 - no clue!

 

3.) What do you remember from your first playthroughs? 

 - well, i cheated my way through them because i was a little sack of crap as a kid, and i remember getting lost. a lot.

 

4.) How did you feel at that time? compared to how you feel nowadays playing it

 - i thought it was pretty fun, i liked it. obviously now i like it even more than i did at that time, that's why i'm here, but i never thought i'd ever get into the game so much. now, it's pretty much my favorite game of all time!

[DAZZER]

I remember like it was yesterday... 2004 My Dad came home from work with a illegal Copied CD ( The Game was banned in Germany at that time) only with the word "Doom" on it... I only knew Wolfenstein3D (which is still banned in Germany...) at that time... He started it and there it was :D the shareware Version of Doom ! From that Day I played it Every freakin Day ! my mom hated to see me playing these brutal games and I already had to hide Wolfenstein from her ^^ and If my mom was at home and i couldnt play it myself I just watched my Dad playing Doom and later Doom II :D

 

Last Year after a decade I gave my Dad Doom 2 because he asked me If I remember this one Game where you had to shoot stuff and search for keys haha... I felt like a Kid again when i sat next to him and watching him Play Doom II only with the Keyboard :D But this time I knew where the secrets are ^^

[40oz]

One winter day in 1993 my oldest brother came home with a friend, some floppy disks and a notepad with cheat codes written all over it. They installed the shareware version of Doom on our home computer in our living room and played the game while I got to watch over their shoulder. I was 4 years old.

 

When they were done with it I got to play the game afterwards on I'm too young to die and all the cheat codes turned on. I played the first episode from start to finish and was completely mesmerized by the game.

[AD_79]

Haha, I first played Ultimate Doom on the iOS sometime in late 2012. Subsequently picked up all the classic Doom games in early 2013.

 

Playing an FPS on a touch screen, as it turns out, isn't much fun.

[pulkmees]

When was the first time you ever played Doom?

1999 or 2000

Which version?

Doom 2

What do you remember from your first playthroughs? 

Map 01. A friend's dad was setting the game up, he played it untill The Gantlet and then I got to play it from the start.

How did you feel at that time? compared to how you feel nowadays playing it

At the time I played with cheats on, so I played just to see all the enemies and levels. I also got lost a lot. Especially in the Suburbs level. Half an hour spent searching for the exit and then I finally found those black boxes in the corner. I also felt like the level designers deliberately tried to trap me.

Nowdays I actually got to play all of them as they were intended. There's a lot of iwads to go through.

[sauerking]

Sadly, I was not alive when the original Dooms came out, but when I was little my dad and I went and picked a computer out for the first time, he bought Doom 3 and I sneaked my way into the room to watch him. Eventually around like 6-7th grade when I got my laptop I stole the thing and finally got to play through it after playing the original on IOS. E1M4 was the map that always stuck out to me playing it on IOS, loved the music, loved the design, though playing it on IOS wasn't nearly as good as on the computer...I then proceeded to buy every version of Doom I could find and run

[Gifty]

My first time was playing Doom64 at my cousins' house; they had this old CRT TV mounted over the top bunk of their bunk beds, so it felt like a secluded gaming loft, high up in the corner of the room, ducked against the ceiling. I remember realizing that Doom was some kind of cultural touchstone that I'd heard of elsewhere, and the 2d art assets floating around in a 3d world seemed really funny to me at the time. It was a couple years before I played the PC Dooms and realized what all the different versions were.

[Cruduxy Pegg]

I have no idea what was the first time I played it  but I know my parents said I knew it when I was between 2 and 3 years old watching my dad play it :p. I remember my dad getting stuck in the last 5 maps ,map06 and freaking map02 (He played doom 1 without running, Absolute madman, A friend told him he could hold shift to run..) for ages (He had no idea you could save mid map haha), Map30 took ages! I know I played Heretic and Supaplex before doom though (Between 1995 and 1996), Was weird to play with no inventory system and no scary wizards chanting everywhere once I started doom.. Still think D'sparil was a way more impressive fight than even the e2m8 cyber to this day, Sure he doesn't have the MOOOOO but his fight is intense from the start to the end (At least when I could barely strafe from time to time, Stupid default keybinds.). I have no idea what I finished first doom 1 or doom 2, Whatever my parents decided to run on dos at the time. [Learning the magical CD command felt like magic!]

 

First doom version was at least 1.2 since it had Nightmare difficulty. Most of what I remember is specters were the scariest monsters even when weak as hell. Probably cuz all monsters share the same active sounds and on software CRT they were way harder to see. I won't lie I find it more fun nowadays. The scariness fully goes away after a play through or two and luckly you are left with a great action game. I still prefer heretic though, Well modded to be harder anyway (The balancing was great for a newbie but it is just a piece of cake now).

 

Funniest memory though? Seeing Hexen on one of my father's friends PC and bugging him for days for the super awesome looking game that feels related to heretic (I had no idea it was even called Hexen : Beyond Heretic haha). Or seeing Heretic's e2m9 demo and really searching for this fun looking map.

[Korozive]

Not sure my age at the time but my 5 year old son was having friends over for a sleepover birthday party. I took them to the rental store and they picked up several games, one being DOOM for Nintendo (the first one, not 64). As I watched them play it I was amazed at what I was seeing, this game was freaking awesome. I had played Catacombs and Commander Keen before on my (at the time awesome 486 WHOOP! ) but they paled in comparison to what I was seeing. They fell asleep about 11;00 pm and I played it till 5 in the morning. Didn't care that I couldn't save game either. Then I found out I could get it for PC and the rest as they say is history.

[siealex]

1999, DOOM shareware, most probably v1.2, on an old 486DX4-100 typewriter, later DOOM 2 v1.666, Ultimate DOOM, Heretic, Hexen, TNT. I couldn't survive even E1M2, so I explored all maps with IDDQD/IDKFA and only after that I started "normal" playthroughs... It was rather difficult even on HMP and almost impossible for me on UV. But it was first time, in two or three months I managed to complete DOOM 2 on UV with less than 10 deaths.

[Phade102]

Cant remember when, but I remember the circumstances. I was in and out of hospital with severe asthma growing up, but I would always when I was at home sit on my dads lap and watch him play wolfenstein 3d and doom. One day, after I came home from a lengthy hospital village, I was watching my dad play the doom 2 map 'The Citadel' and he was in the red brick room with all the imps and such on the raised platforms. next think I knew, he handed me the keyboard and told me to do it. He had god mode on for me, but it was so thrilling shooting those imps with the rocket launcher.

[drygnfyre]

I first recall seeing Doom on my cousin's ex-husband's laptop shortly after it was released, so it must have been late 1993 or early 1994. I was 5-6 years old at the time, but I distinctly remember being shown E1M2. At some point after that, I got the shareware on a floppy disk (which I still have!), and played that for years and years. (Never played the entirety of Doom until the 2000s, and for a long time, I thought Doom 2 *was* Episode 2). I actually got Doom 2 for Christmas, so I played that long before the entirety of Doom.

 

As for the computers that Doom ran on, I don't really remember. I know that whatever it was booted into MS-DOS, because either Windows 3x was never installed, or I had no idea how to use it. I remember Doom was installed alongside other kiddie games. Then at some point, must have been in late 1995, I got a new Packard Bell computer that ran Windows 95, so I eventually moved over to the Doom95 port. But still, just Doom 2 and the shareware. That was when I first learned about this "Internet thing," and started to learn about WADs and similar Doom mods.

 

Given I had the shareware, I'm not sure what version that would have been (1.2?) I distinctly remember the sounds being very low-fidelity, which I always liked. I assume I had a SoundBlaster card, because years later both source ports and YouTube had SoundBlaster-emulating Doom soundtracks, and they sounded just like what I remembered.

 

As for my play style... "God Mode" all the way! Yes, I cheated my way through both the shareware and Doom 2. I never really played through either game properly until the 2000s, at which point I was more of a gamer and took things a bit more seriously.

[leodoom85]

My first time playing Doom was in the SNES version with that crimson cartridge 19 years ago...

[ReX]

1.When was the first time you ever played Doom?

Spring of 1994
2. Which version?

V1.666
3. What do you remember from your first playthroughs?

I remember how badly I sucked at using a keyboard for controls. Strafing was an alien concept to me, and until I started using a mouse-keyboard combination (much later) I didn't have the foggiest idea of circle-strafing. And, of course, meeting the cyberdemon for the first time (E2M8) almost made me crap my pants. With my limited strafing skills I almost felt that it was impossible to defeat the cyberdemon.

4. How did you feel at that time? compared to how you feel nowadays playing it

I recall playing Episode 3 (Inferno), and by then it was early summer. My office was hot, even with the shades down, because the afternoon sun shone directly into it. The heat in the office enhanced the hellish mood of the E3 levels. I have a clear recollection of how it felt, and to this day, when I play E3 levels that feeling comes back to me.

5. Umm, anything you want to add related to my questions...

I was using a company-provided PC at my desk, and it did not have a sound card. The cheesy PC sounds were what I played the game with. It might be cool to play the game again with just the PC sounds.

[Phoenix]

1. When was the first time you ever played Doom?

1996, at an office.

2. Which version?

Doom II

3. What do you remember from your first playthroughs?

Finding secrets was key to survive the hordes, and a good keyboard setup. (I'm left handed)

4. How did you feel at that time? compared to how you feel nowadays playing it.

Honestly, a little to very much stupid. Here I am, looking for exits and keys and weapons ... and killed again.

[SerEzER]

1. I guess in 2011, my father lend me his laptop to play since I was not at home and he showed me Doom, I think I played a save of DOOM II on MAP05 on skill 3 or 4, I remember about playing until the exit of MAP06 and finishing with 2% of health.

 

2. 1.666 I think.

 

3. I used to play with keyboard, slow, taking cover and saving every time I could, I also used to waste too much ammunition so I ran out of it very quickly and I needed to use the fists.

 

4. I have nice memories about it, when I started playing Doom (I started with Doom I once I had it in my computer) it was a surprise every time a new monster came out, then I played Doom II, Heretic, Plutonia, Hexen and Evilution (in that order) and I also have good memories of passing those levels (sometimes thinking a specific level was impossible).

[Tindrone]

When was the first time you ever played Doom?

I shit you not, about five or six years ago when I was 8 or 9 my family and I went on a trip to Newfoundland, On the ferry from Sydney to Port Aux Basques there was a internet cafe, I went to one of the computers and went to Kongregate, a site I used to go on a lot. I started browsing and soon found a flash port of doom, I had heard of doom before but had never played it before. I started to play and got to E1M3 before my dad walked by and said it looked too violent for me to play and told me I had to get off.

Which version?

Flash Port

What do you remember from your first playthroughs? 

I remember the music and the vats of slime as well as blowing away Imps with the shotgun

How did you feel at that time? compared to how you feel nowadays playing it

I felt so thrilled playing it, Instead of the more complicated action games I was used to this gave me raw satisfaction killing the demons. Now it still remains incredibly entertaining for me to play and I love playing other peoples wads as well as make my own

 

[Doomkid]

Quote

Would have been around late 1995, though it didn't start with Doom! My earliest memory is actually of Wolf3D, but it became Doom very soon after - My brother, my dad and myself all huddled around an old PC in awe of how amazing the game looked. My dad laughed at the "Can I play, daddy?" skill level, I'll never forget that..

 

I'll also never forget the joys of downloading WADs online around '97-'98 when dad bought me the Ultimate Doom with Doom95. Before that, I only had a Shareware CD and a bootleg copy of Doom2 that my brother had somehow acquired. I also fondly remember having my first online deathmatch in 2001 through Doom Connector. Good times!

The very first version I ever owned was the 1.666 shareware. The majority game never scared me in my single-digit years other than the hanging barons on Tower of Babel and of course the decapitated rabbit ending absolutely terrified me when I first saw it around age 7, but the entire game that aside was more just enthralling and atmospheric as opposed to flat out scary, even to my child brain.

 

There was something amazing to me about simply downloading and playing user made wads when I was a kid. I still love it of course, but back then it felt like discovering a whole new world or something. Long story short, this game was love at first sight for me and the overall enjoyment definitely hasn't waned!

[Battle_Korbi]

1. When was the first time you ever played Doom?

 

- I have flashbacks of it as a kid. If I can guess, I liked E1M9 the most (the music was great :D )

 

2. Which version?

 

- As I said I cannot remember, I wasn't even supposed to play it as most kids back then. My older brothers had more urgent need of Doom.

 

3. 4. 5. Last three questions in one answer (I think some people have placed me on a hit list due to how much I write in one simple reply.

Spoiler

- If I were to compare my experiences, I would find little to no similarities, but one. The brutality, and the savagery of the game. No negotiations, no compromises, only the ever dwindling ammo caches. It didn't helped that when I started playing I was at that age where I was supposed to learn to play nice with other kids, but luckily, I would be confused when playing Doom, but not in real life, so I didn't turned out to be a school shooter or something.

 

*Pumped Up Kicks echoes from the distance*

 

Differences? As a kid I expected a lot from this game. What? Well, allies, per instance. Or some guys who I wasn't supposed to shoot but try to listen to. Usual tropes now appearing in modern shooters. I did expected a lot of this game, but found it's charm in its small strategies and tactics. Which mook to shoot first? Which later? When to retreat? How to improvise?

 

Now that I picked it up in high school again, and its been more than two years I had been playing now, I see the game "in numbers" so to speak. I kinda already know what each monster does, learned some badass strats with dealing some of these. So I moved on from vanilla, and started experimenting with monster placements, weapons, and making my own maps! ... Which may probably never see the light of day... But I still work hard!

 

Doom also serves as a source of inspiration for my short stories and fics. Either it be invasion of foreign beings, or the "zeddites" as I call the "possesed humans" (ugh takes so loooong to write that :( ), or the weapons, or the concept of mega corps traveling into space or other dimensions or the monsters themselves. If anything, at least one character would drop a stupid irrelevant line like "Ugh... I can't wait to get home and play Doom..." or something.

 

 

Thanks for tolerating my verbal fecalities.

[cacomonkey]

The first time I played Doom was the shareware version, I think, about a year after its original release.  It was one of the first games I played on my first purchased IBM-compatible, a nice AMD 586-cpu based system that was comparable to a Pentium 75 or so.  Oddly enough, I was actually underwhelmed by Doom after hearing all the buzz about it, and found Heretic a more colorful and enjoyable game not too long after.  But then i played Doom II a year or so later and though my first encounter with the Arch Vile was so disastrous I gave up on the game for being too difficult - what the fuck was that? I wondered, stunned - it became my all time favorite game.

[Snikle]

I first saw Doom when I was seven or something, my dad playing some internet version and telling me how he used to play it at work when he had long and useless night shifts. (This was before he had an xbox to bring there instead). Much later, I got to play some of it, when he bought the crappy ipad version of Doom 1. Despite the terrible controls, I loved it. I was probably 10 or 11 then. I played all the Doom 1 levels from pistol start on there (I think), but I still don't know if I actually beat them all. Someday I've got to get Ultimate Doom on my computer. 

 

Speaking of my computer, last year, having played all the Doom 1 levels on the ipad, I wanted Doom II. By then I had my own computer and I got d2 on steam. I played through about level 10 before that computer broke. I got a new computer soon after, but never got around to Doom on it until last month, fearing that I would have to play the first 9 levels over again. Even though it was a year since last time, I would still find that boring. Luckily though, steam was able to save my progress from that computer, So I picked right back up where I left off when I got it on this computer last month.

 

And here I am now, having killed the Icon of Sin about 20 minutes ago, ready to buy Final Doom!