shotfan

SSG was not needed to be introduced as early as in the second level. There are Hellknight and Revenant encounters before map 7, but too sparse to merit a new gun. In contrast, map 7 has nothing but a set of relatively durable and newly introduced enemies. In my opinion, the gun works perfectly on its own in Dead Simple.

I am opting for Lost Souls that both are weaker and do not ram themselves to death, but I concur that without an actual simulation it is difficult to arrive at tangible conclusions. In the slaughtermap scenario, most of the enemies will become more dangerous as their numbers rise, until they have filled the occupied space so that you face this complete rank of monsters. Then the numbers influence pretty much plateau's (if we do not take varied monster types into account, because that factor makes hordes much weaker). The only exception here are Cacodemons. In my experience, Lost Souls will tend to converge as they target and chase you, bumping into each other frequently and then proceeding to infight.

I find Arch-Vile's attack slow and easy to avoid. I also think they are too durable for how fast and thin they are. So it is part balance, but also part immersion affair for me here. Do you really rely on Lost Soul intraspecies infighting that much? I do not at all, and that quirk of them makes them the only enemy whose threat level decreases with their numbers (by proxy, this also make Pain Elementals less threatening). Lowering their health to 70 HP would make them explode from a single shotgun blast most of the time, which almost never happens now. With 100 HP, they are too irritating to me to take down for what they are - a small harassing enemy.

- Reduce Lost Soul health to 70 - Lost Souls do not infight each other like dumbasses - Give Pain Elemental a melee attack to prevent Lost Soul abortions - Pinky bite damages at the start of the animation, not at its end - Pinky and Revenant health levels equal at 200 - Less damage spread for the Revenant missiles, around 30-60 - A little increase of Revenant missiles turning radius - Reduce pain chance of Cacodemon, around by half - Place more Arachnotrons inside tunnels - Reduce Arch-Vile health to 400, but make their attack hit you in the third of the current "charging" time - Blursphere gives you full invisibility that is lifted for a second or so when you attack with any gun - The duration of powerups is additive instead of resetive - Give SG ten pellets per shot to make it more viable versus SSG's twenty - SSG appears first at Dead Simple, nowhere earlier (even as a secret) - Increase BFG ammo usage to 50

It is just horrendous to me, made worse when fired in volleys (which is how actually you are supposed to use the gun in question). PSX Doom's version of it is much better. Even if I have no idea if that is more realistic, PSX's Doom PG oozes power - it sounds like a harbringer of hot death coming at your foes. (rumor has it that this particular sound comes from the firing sound made by the plasma guns of Terminator films). I suppose this animation represents cooling down the barrel. Maybe it is not technically mandatory, but the protagonist has it like a reflex thing that he retained during training - and seeing that he wields a weapon that fires blobs of gas that would effortlessly melt rock, I would damn ensure as well that the gun would not overheat in my hands. Mechanically, the animation gives PG an unique quirk that makes it unwieldy for firing in short volleys, unlike CG. Thus, when you fire PG, you are impelled to fire it as long as to make sure that everything in sight is dead.

Not sure what is wrong with Central Processing...

1. Too easy to bother 2. Very easy 3. Easy 4. Normal 5. Unenjoyable

Restrain, sure. Interrogate? I do not think that would be successful. Whereas they still possess some motor skills, higher cognition is probably wasted away. There is also not trace of them having any wider knowledge or memories left. Their signs of tactical behaviour may be just due to leftover training they have still ingrained in them, mostly done via procedual memory. As stated above, I do not think they retain any vivid memories like these. It seems that the demons kept their bodies as useful combat puppets, and nothing more. Might rival that of Pinkies, but Pinkies are free creatures and Possessed are not, thus the Possessed are only a notch above Unwilling (which are shambling corpses that were perhaps left alone by demons as useless, too frail to be utilized).

Shoot it while you are in aliens' hold? You would kill yourself by letting its acid spray all over you.

Arch-Vile. He is the second most dangerous monster, has an unique attack that forces you out of the routine of dodging projectile attacks of most other enemies, and can turn the situation into much worse if he has the time to resurrect another powerful monster. Revenant can go eat a bone.

Cyberpunk Doom would be great to see. If Hayden was telling the truth, it should look quite decrepit due to the energy crisis, like in the vein of Dead Space or Avatar's behind-the-scenes art. It would be a perfect setting to design intricate levels with lots of verticality, hidden passages, and secrets, as well as complex and ever-changing urbanscape. It would be a blast to go through such a city!

Since when the quicksave OPTION is a bad thing? I play classic Doom and I do not use quicksaves at all. That does not make me go around and tell people that checkpoints are objectively superior. Also, quicksaves were generally absent from console games before the sixth generation (and are still), so I see no cultural exchange at work in there. If somebody "ab"uses quicksaves every few seconds, that is their "problem". They can always decide to not use quicksaves or to lower the difficulty (the standard of multiple difficulty settings are what I would deem as a good innovation of the modern gaming, but Doom actually had that since the beginning...). Stop telling people how they should play their (singleplayer) games, please.

Anytime I see a floor flooded with a brown liquid I do not know what to expect. Is it mud? Excrements? Chocolate? Generally I try to avoid it, better safe than sorry.

What about the Chainsaw then?

Arch-Vile's attack is not fun to taste either, yeah. Well then, this slowdown attack could be an avoidable projectile.

I was thinking of something like the original Arch-Vile's attack - an autolocking one. So you would need to hide, or stun/kill him during the windup time. On the upside, the attack would not damage you actually, only slow you down.

Why change Prowler at all? Leave him as it is. There is no other monster that can cling to walls or ceilings and jump on you in an instant. He would lurk on perches, in caches, or in walls, and attack suddenly at great speed. Imps do not do that, they just jump all over the place - but not at you - while hurling fireballs. Prowlers are melee only, and I imagine they would be a much greater threat due to their speed, strength, surprise factor and (hopefully) cunning. As for stealthily Pinkies, we already have Spectres. Regarding Harvester, his current form makes him a super Imp, basically - faster, tougher and hits harder with his electroshocks. If he could heal other demons, then why colud not Summoner, the Arch-Vile expy? Maybe Harvester could automatically slow you down if you are in his field of vision (by delivering instant-hit, debilitating electric shocks)? So he could act as a debuffer on you. Seeing that maintaining speed is highly important for staying alive in Doom, such monster would pose a significant and unique challenge.

Of course we do not need another Maggot. Just make Prowler identical to its current form, only AI-controlled. Suddenly, you have a monster with unique behaviour and attacks, one whom will keep you on your toes always. Have you seen such melee sniper anywhere else? In my opinion, Static Cannon was a stroke of genius on id's (or Certain Affinity's?) part, and Prowler is not far off in ingenuity.

I had imagined a similar progression in Doom 5, but with a few differences: Firstly, I think that all the weapons should be introduced before the final third of the game. Leave the BFG to be found in the last level before Hell, and all the rest to be found around halfway through. If the weapons would keep the modification/upgrade system, they need to be introduced early so you have at least some time to get their enhancements. Such systems are typically meant to be completed through New Game+, but it would be jarring if you had little opportunity to use Gauss Cannon's mods because you got it in the last hour of the game or so. Especially Super Shotgun should be acquired earlier - sure, it is powerful as all hell, but there are plenty of guns with bigger DPS. I would place it somewhere around the first third mark - as you have pointed out, there are more hi-tech weapons that warrant later placement (especially Lightning Gun - that one should probably be the last "standard" gun to be found, before only BFG). If the Crucible would be usable however, it should be the endgame-exclusive weapon, considering how powerful it should be according to all the hype it received in Doom 4. To the next point: Rune Trials should start appearing earlier as well. They do not need too much explanation anyway (demons brought them to mortal realm for some reason), and introducing them only in Hell would damage gameplay consistency. They give significant passive powers, so it would be better to encounter RTs early enough to be familiar with them well before the game's climax. Lastly, new monsters. I would like the missing monsters (Pain Elementals, and Arachnotrons you mentioned) to return, and to see the Doom 4's Multiplayer-only ones (Prowler nad Harvester) be encountered as well. Especially the Prowler has the potential to become a highly-threatening and fresh foe. His speed should be offset by low health.

In three cases: - Backup save at the start of the map. If the map begins in a thick of alerted monsters, I reserve myself that save until I clear the starting room. - I overwrite that save sometimes if the map is getting too long to clear, to prevent progress loss in a case the game crashes. If I do get killed after that save, I erase it and fall back to the autosave. You could call that playstyle a "semi-ironman", I guess. - Lastly, a save for later if I want to exit the game before finishing the current level.

I would take anything over Doom's pistol. And Corvus' Wand is not really that bad of a weapon by itself.

Shotgun guys can be a real threat up close, dealing more damage with roughly same rate of attack, and having more accuracy than Troopers (because shotguns, duh). In contrast, Zombiemen are never really intimidating - unless you use the "strength in numbers" argument, but everything becomes stronger this way, except for the Lost Souls and Pain Elementals in Doom (2) (I never got sniped by a Zombieman while at extremely low health). They are pretty much always only a distraction that is quickly taken care of.

I feel your pain. Whereas every enemy (sans Mastermind, which is too big and slow to place effectively most of the time in a map) has some purpose - including Revenants - these goddamn agitated skeletons are too frustating. Either too fast or too tough (more inclined to this one). The only other enemy that is more irritating than difficult to deal with for me are the Lost Souls, because they can spam their charge attack like crazy.

Industrial Zone's remake in Doom 5... Now that would be challenging. But I am worried that the engine could not hold a proper amount of enemies to do it justice. Ironic...

If I had to get rid of one monster, then it would be Revenant. If I must to modify them, then they could retain their unique homing projectiles, but they are a bit too fast and too durable. 300 HP for a skeleton? Screw it, even if that vest is an armour it should be half of that at most. (Also, every monster mod I try out seems to buff the s*** out of them, which is even more irritating)