Duke Nukem 3D is depressing

[Gez]

I like Kelly Turnbull's take on Duke as a depressive dork.

 

 

 

[Nevander]

Why do people constantly feel the need to mock and put down legendary video game icons? Don't they have anything better to do?

[Gez]

It's funny people would be offended by an affectionate parody of Duke Nukem, given how Duke Nukem is itself an affectionate parody of various action hero tropes, literally borrowing largely from movies such as Evil Dead and They Live.

[geo]

Good thing they didn't go with the original ending where its revealed Duke's hallucination wears off and he discovers he's been killing innocent civilians. Stricken with grief, Duke suicides. Him shooting up civilians explains why the streets are empty except for cops and a few "enemies" cowering in fear. Him going to space was merely a Hollywood set. He visits a theme park and a burger joint.

[Jaxxoon R]

@PsychoGoatee I get what you're saying. Although, Ash's character seemed to change quite a bit over the series as a direct result of all the spooky monsters, so he's probably not the best example.

[VGamingJunkie]

Duke 3D certainly doesn’t skimp out on the black comedy, like a “hung jury”.

[PsychoGoatee]

5 hours ago, Jaxxoon R said:

@PsychoGoatee I get what you're saying. Although, Ash's character seemed to change quite a bit over the series as a direct result of all the spooky monsters, so he's probably not the best example.

That's a good point, he does seem quite unhinged in Evil Dead II, he has been through some things. His outlook in the end (Ash vs Evil Dead) is a pretty humorous and inspirational one, I'd like to be as kingly myself. Maybe all the craziness caused him to achieve zen of some sort or just enjoy the things he loves about life, such as roasting everybody with great comments, and being lazy when not slaying deadites.

 

Speaking of Duke 3D, don't miss some great recent stuff like Shaky Grounds part 2 (pt 1 also linked in that topic) https://forums.duke4.net/topic/9704-release-shaky-grounds-pt2-tragedy/ , and also the recently expanded Haunted Nukem mod/TC. http://www.moddb.com/mods/haunted-nukem/downloads/haunted-nukem-v2

[Koko Ricky]

Duke Nukem 3D, while blatantly misogynistic and clearly portrayed from the alpha male perspective, gets away with its grotesque depiction of women because of its cartoony nature and its lack of commentary on feminism.

 

Yes, Duke blows up strippers and cocooned women begging to be killed, but there's no suggestion that Duke actually mistreats women (these deaths are optional, of course), and it's obvious from the goofy tone that it's nothing more than juvenile, machismo-fueled ribbing.

 

However, Duke Nukem Forever? Haven't played it, but the clips I've seen and reviews I've read suggest that it went a bit too far, resembling that discomfort one experiences in the company of a 14-year-old who can't stop retorting with "That's what she said."

[Deleted_Account]

In all honesty I don't recall ever finding Duke Nukem 3d to be depressing. If anything, I miss the 90's era of gaming. That's the depressing part. 

[40oz]

On Sunday, November 19, 2017 at 11:06 AM, Nevander said:

Why do people constantly feel the need to mock and put down legendary video game icons? Don't they have anything better to do?

Yeah, putting down real people is much better

[Agentbromsnor]

I always thought that Duke's one-liners in Duke 3D had a certain carelessness to them, as if he came to the realization that he is one of the few human beings left alive and was just going along with it, not caring if he defeats the aliens or dies fighting them. That's a little depressing, I think?

[Pirx]

On 11/19/2017 at 2:46 PM, PsychoGoatee said:

That's a good point, he does seem quite unhinged in Evil Dead II, he has been through some things. His outlook in the end (Ash vs Evil Dead) is a pretty humorous and inspirational one, I'd like to be as kingly myself. Maybe all the craziness caused him to achieve zen of some sort or just enjoy the things he loves about life, such as roasting everybody with great comments, and being lazy when not slaying deadites.

 

Speaking of Duke 3D, don't miss some great recent stuff like Shaky Grounds part 2 (pt 1 also linked in that topic) https://forums.duke4.net/topic/9704-release-shaky-grounds-pt2-tragedy/ , and also the recently expanded Haunted Nukem mod/TC. http://www.moddb.com/mods/haunted-nukem/downloads/haunted-nukem-v2

 

thanks for these links. haven't played duke for quite some time. i have always found duke rather humorous, a cartoonish fun shooter, while doom took itself more serious.

 

 

[VGamingJunkie]

Except he's clearly not meant to be the final human being on the planet. Even in the Atomic Edition, it's clear that there are other humans around other than babes. In other games like Duke Nukem Zero Hour, he's flat out interacting with other humans on a consistent basis, even fighting a couple of them as mini-bosses. :D

[SaladBadger]

on that subject, is it even ever implied that the aliens ever spread out from the LA area? Sure they infested a moon base but all activity on earth is within that region. With regards to the initial subject, I dunno, I just don't feel it. I played duke with duke talk before but music still on, and with a few exceptions, the music did not really give that much of a moody feel. There's definitely some of it, but it doesn't really reach depressing levels. It's definitely hard for me to look past it as a fun action FPS game, though maybe my imagination's just broke.

[Gez]

Well there's the "World Tour" episode, and if you're talking just official 90s stuff there's still an expansion pack in Washington DC and another in the Caribbeans.

[Koko Ricky]

On 11/19/2017 at 0:28 PM, MetroidJunkie said:

Duke 3D certainly doesn’t skimp out on the black comedy, like a “hung jury”.

WOW! I just now got that! Always thought it was just a morbid as fuck scene...

[Lila Feuer]

The Caribbean expansion was actually very well done, sorta like the Chex Quest equivalent for Duke, in that it's much more 'fun' in tone and silly, but the good kind.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

On 21/11/2017 at 0:30 PM, Gez said:

Well there's the "World Tour" episode, and if you're talking just official 90s stuff there's still an expansion pack in Washington DC and another in the Caribbeans.

There's also the Christmas one...which tbh isn't very good. (the other two are)

[StoneMason]

This midi always sounded pretty depressing to me

 

[VGamingJunkie]

The only thing at all noteworthy about Nuclear Winter is the nod to E1M1 of Doom.

[Jimmy]

8 hours ago, MetroidJunkie said:

The only thing at all noteworthy about Nuclear Winter is the nod to E1M1 of Doom.

I beg to differ.

 

 

[VGamingJunkie]

Okay, fair point. XD

[Janus3003]

On 11/18/2017 at 0:51 PM, Nevander said:

I always wished there was an option to save the babes. Though I guess blowing them up is saving them from what horrible shit from the aliens comes next.

 

You can edit the GAME.CON file in a text editor and give yourself the ability to rescue them. Zaero on the 3D Realms forums shared a way to do it:

 

Quote

 Re: The cocooned babes

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaero 

Yes, you're probably right.. That's why Duke should be able to save them.

Alright, now he is.  My first mod EVER. (very small and simple, but cool idea I think  )
I don't want to post it as a file becouse in this case there will be constant need to update it. I'll just say how to do it yourself:

1. Backup your eduke.con
2. Open eduke.con in text editor (notepad for example)
3. Press Ctrl+F to find the string "killme" (you will find "state killme" line)
4. Replace the text below the line up to string "ends" with"
ifinwater nullop
else
ifp pfacing
ifpdistl 1280
ifhitspace
{
definequote 125 BABE SAVED! +20
addphealth 20
quote 125
spawn TRANSPORTERSTAR
sound TELEPORTER
killit
}
ends

This will teleport the babes trapped in slime tentacles to a save place on space hit. In addition, the player will gain 20 health points for each saved babe.

Big thanks to Hellbound for the link to con editing basics.

https://forums.3drealms.com/vb/showpost.php?p=523592&postcount=48

 

If you're playing the 20th Anniversary edition of DN3D, replace 125 with 131, otherwise you'll get the "Babe saved!" message whenever you pick up incinerator ammo.

EDIT

Edit GAME.CON unless you're using eduke, in which case it's eduke.con like in the quote.

[Nevander]

5 hours ago, Janus3003 said:

You can edit the GAME.CON file in a text editor and give yourself the ability to rescue them. Zaero on the 3D Realms forums shared a way to do it:

Holy shit that is awesome. I'm gonna do that for sure. Finally, we can save the babes! This warrants another play-through soon.

 

EDIT: I don't have an eduke.con, only GAME.CON from my original Atomic Edition disc. I do use EDuke32 but I don't have that file.

 

EDIT 2: Editing GAME.CON worked, cool. Thanks for posting this.

Edited November 30, 2017 by Nevander

[Avoozl]

The N64 version also allows you to save them along with a stat recording how many were saved and left on the end map screen.

Edited November 30, 2017 by Avoozl

[Flesh420]

On 11/19/2017 at 7:23 PM, GoatLord said:

Duke Nukem 3D, while blatantly misogynistic and clearly portrayed from the alpha male perspective, gets away with its grotesque depiction of women because of its cartoony nature and its lack of commentary on feminism.

 

Yes, Duke blows up strippers and cocooned women begging to be killed, but there's no suggestion that Duke actually mistreats women (these deaths are optional, of course), and it's obvious from the goofy tone that it's nothing more than juvenile, machismo-fueled ribbing.

 

However, Duke Nukem Forever? Haven't played it, but the clips I've seen and reviews I've read suggest that it went a bit too far, resembling that discomfort one experiences in the company of a 14-year-old who can't stop retorting with "That's what she said."

Actually even with those occurrences in the game there's more boobs and foul words in your average R rated movie than there is in the whole four episodes.  Which is funny, because the outrage Manbun's display about such "Alpha" things doesn't match what's actually in the game.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Flesh420

[VGamingJunkie]

On 11/29/2017 at 7:56 PM, Avoozl said:

The N64 version also allows you to save them along with a stat recording how many were saved and left on the end map screen.

Duke Nukem Zero Hour took it a step further and made it legitimately rewarding to save them, complete with one-liners. Kinda makes me wish they'd stuck with that instead of trying to be edgy in Forever. Seems more heroic having the ladies talk about how they'll reward you rather than begging for death.

[Can't play on Nightmare]

I find Duke Nukem 3D to be a great game but its puzzles are kinda annoying. My favourite map is E2 L10, which affects me with its soundtrack.

 

Duke Nukem 3D is much easier to play on the highest difficulty than Doom 1 and Doom 2 on the highest difficulty. If you blow an enemy with a bomb, they will no longer respawn. I find Doom's highest difficulty impossible to play, unlike Duke Nukem 3D's highest difficulty.

[HorrorMovieRei]

I've always loved Duke, but I'll admit that I  have taken Duke Nukem in general at face value for the longest time, which is embarrassing, but in my defense(and as was mentioned in the thread) a lot of his games seem to flanderize him. That, and even in Duke 3D, what immediately sticks to you is his uber-macho personality that makes you feel manlier just by clicking your mouse and making pigs go splat, and I haven't played Duke Nukem nearly enough to notice the nuances underneath it's exterior like I have with Doom or Blood.

On that note, I will say this: I had fun playing Duke Nukem Forever. It's not a great game by any means, and all of the criticism people throw at it is completely valid, and I do agree with most if not all of it. What I'm saying is that it is not the worse game ever made like some people would have you believe(getting off track). However, one thing in the game that really peeved me is that Duke is just... kind of an unlikeable asshole, as opposed to a likeable one. People die left and right, and Duke doesn't seem to care unless they have a nice pair of hooters on them. And the way he replies to everything with one-liners seems very forced. Duke Nukem 3D had little in the way of cutscenes, and I think Duke doesn't interact with another human in a cutscene once?(I could be wrong here, but you get the idea) Now, I don't know how true that holds for his other games, but when some army guy talks to Duke giving serious exposition or something and he just replies with a quip every single time it starts to feel less like Duke is a badass, and more like he has a very tenuous grasp on what social interactions are.

[mrthejoshmon]

Duke actually shows he gives a shit in other games like Land of The Babes, his character then seems to drunkenly fumble around and lose sight of itself in Forever because I get the feeling he wasn't the only one not giving a shit (Right Gearbox?).