DOEL

What defines Doom for me are the speed, distinctive simplicity, and predictability (I mean that in a good way). Speed is obvious, you're not really subjected to realistic limitations. When I talk about distinctive simplicity, I mean many things. The sound design is so distinctive, you can assess your environment from sound alone. There's relatively not a whole lot going on in your visual environment so it's easy to see your enemy. Everything has a distinctive feel, and you know what every stimulus is and what it means. This also ties into "predictability". Every monster has its moves and you learn tactics dealing with them. When dodging a mancubus's fireballs: go left - right - left, you can abort a pain elemental's skull children by hugging them, a smoke trail on a revanant missle mean it's homing, etc. Despite RNG, you get a feel for how much damage you're causing. For example, I can predict that an arch-vile will be dead in 3-5 well placed SSG shots or I can kill a cyberdemon with 2-3 point blank BFGs or a baron of hell will die with 4-6 rockets, etc. Unfortunately I've never played anything passed Doom 3. I literally grew up playing Doom 2, it came out and we got it about the time I was in kindergarten. Though, it's only now that I've gotten deep into Doom and can play at a competitive level. It requires you to develop skill. (I can't tell you how amazing it is to watch demos of *really* good Doomers!!!) I understand I'm biased in many ways but I think it's in the nature of "realism" for games to forego this kind of simplicity. To blend the lines is to mimic reality. (I find this same pattern in music but that's a whole other discussion.) However, from *what I've seen*, I think Doom 2016 and Eternal emulate this feel from a *modern* context. For those who grew up playing Halo, Call if Duty, etc., these new Doom games are "back to basics". Sure, they *look* like Brutal Doom for consoles from a classic Doomer's eyes (which did get me back into Doom, all things considered) but that's ultra-violence simplicity in the modern, cinematic videogame perspective! Art is defined by its limitations. Great art utilizes these limitations to their advantage. Doom vaguely reminds me of chess. Genius is both individual and social. You can't expect something to ever catch Doom's total "feel" again. But the new Dooms do persue that spirit in terms of gameplay.

Pure unmodded gameplay is what I enjoy, just with differing map sets. I started with GZDoom but now I use PrBoom+ for single-player and recording/watchibg demos. I use Zandronum for online play. I think it has my favorite movement out of the ports I've played, you can feel momentum better especially when changing direction. Since vanilla gameplay isn't quite popular on Doomseeker, I'm more likely to play something modded. Brutal Doom/Project Brutality got me back into Doom but I realized how much more fun vanilla gameplay is.

I move as little as possible when confronted with pinkies/spectres and I have the SSG. Just a tap backwards anytime they attack.

I like how they just blast through the cyberdemons behind the yellow and blue doors, really risky but it pays off big.

Plutonia is worth the price of admission alone. Make sure and get the custom music pack, it's great stuff. I would say some of my favorite Doom levels ever are from Plutonia, 11, 28, 31, 32, and more. I don't think TNT is bad per say but it's not exactly a wad with a ton of replay value.

I'm really into watching outstanding demos. I love seeing the kind of skills the best of the best put on display. Let's share demos/videos that make our jaws drop. First I gotta show this demo of Ancalagon doing UV-Max on Plutonia 11. 2 double kills! Yet the craziest part about this video might be the movement, super quick yet precise. Another Ancalagon demo, this time of No Chance on UV-Max. I can't get over how they manage to dodge all the cyberdemon rockets raining down on them all while they focus on other enemies.

7 because it's so intense, 8 because it's interesting, and 28 for being hard.

I love fighting arch-viles with the SSG, bring 'em on. Sewers has interesting fights.

You have good taste, my friend! I can't get over how much play time Alien Vendetta has given me. The fights seem just right and are usually interesting. Map 25 might be my overall #1 map. The open spaces, castles, and intensity are all just right.

I only pistol start maps that I play repeatedly and use UV-Max speed strategies on. For a standard WAD playthrough I just keep my stuff.

Tell me your favorite maps! Currently my favorites include Plutonia 11, 28, 31, 32, Alien Vendetta 13, 14, 18, 22, 25, 27, Scythe 2 08, 20, 27, Hell Revealed 2 12, 23, 25. I feel like my sweet spot is skirting the line between slaughter and challenge, plus good music. I'm starting to get somewhat consistent times on these maps UV-Max, so they have become kind of optimized at my current skill level. Edit: added AV 18, 22

I find that I like something between Challenge and Slaughter. I need to try some adventure style wads.

Challenge being like Alien Vendetta or Hell Revealed 2? Not sure what adventure could compare to, haven't played Eternal Doom.

Gotta go with Doom 2 Arch-Vile and Doom 3 Hell Knight. I love playing Plutonia 11, got it pretty optimized.

I love watching demos of really good players. What I'd like to do is watch these demos using the same kind of spectator mode you find, say, playing online with Zandronum. I think it would give a refreshing perspective on the skills on display and watching just how insanely fast our beloved Doomguy is. Is there any way to do this?