Midnight_00

If it's E3M8 pistol start then you're supposed to distract it with infighting while gathering up all the weapons/ammo, then keep firing and taking cover when it fires back.

I guess that's a fair point. I think you could say that they've gone from mostly trivial to being a major annoyance that can critically distract you if you're unlucky. I was curious what people thought because it sounds like they are regarded in some posts as being a big threat now, when I still don't think they're any harder most of the time. Now that I think about it, the leap gives a strong incentive to camp outside the room and wait for the berserkers to come to you if they're in an open area, which is a pretty big change in the flow of the game from the original. Maybe that's already been mentioned though.

Is the Berserker leap even that damaging? I feel like on Hard it's only ever killed me by knocking me into lava.

Nice. Little desire to replay the original game at the moment, but I'll definitely play the new episode right away.

The fact that the last room of Phobos Labs was scary and killed me at least once (I didn't know about the secret light visor), and the final fight in Central Processing also got me. I also remember that I played it with just the keyboard since I assumed that's how it was supposed to be played, and with OPL music. Beyond that, I remember my first playthrough of episode 3 pretty well since that's when I started to get hooked, but much of my first playthrough of episode 1 and 2 is hazy to me.

Well, you can still have danger in monsterless maps. Namely crushers, barrels, damaging surfaces and voodoo dolls.

In a nutshell, everything in Individualised's post. A few specific examples: Most of the level names for episode 1 are very appropriate and make the places feel lived in. They leave a lot of room to imagine what the inaccessible areas and the exteriors might look like. Same for parts of episode 2. I like how the setting deteriorates completely over episode 2, which is indicated by the change in the level naming conventions by the end. Halls of the Damned is definitely where the shift is most noticeable. Playing the game for the first time, the replacement of the key cards by the newly introduced skull keys is very noticeable in that level (though Fortress of Mystery introduces them prematurely). I also like how Spawning Vats lets up slightly and has a music track that can feel both ominous and hopeful depending on the situation (Waltz of the Demons). The order the levels are placed in would be another thing I'd mention in general, particularly in Episode 2 and 3. For Doom 2, I like how Shawn's Got the Shotgun is used throughout the game. The three levels it's used for make sense, even The Citadel, since the map name itself makes it feel like the climax of the Earth levels (not sure if the level itself does or not though...), and of course The Living End is essentially the final actual level, so it works very well there.

We don't know enough about the setting to answer the question realistically. The ending of Doom 2 is pretty optimistic so presumably the idea is that it would be a matter of years.

I probably meet the description, since I usually avoid slaughter maps and I've quit WADs before after reaching them, but it's not really definitive since I've also ended up enjoying some of them. It's probably less that I dislike them and more that they often brings things that I don't like with them. 1. Most of the ones I've come across are insanely long. Sometimes they take at least half an hour to an hour to complete on the first playthrough, unless you're already very skilled. If they're in a 32 map megawad that makes it even more of a time investment. I also find having to crowd control advancing hordes of enemies to be monotonous and frustrating, especially if the margin of error is particularly low. Even more subjectively, I like it when Doom makes the monsters dangerous and scary individually, rather than disposable, especially the (former) bosses. 2. In a nutshell, challenging WADs with fewer enemies, items and everything else. See some of Plutonia's maps, the Chord series or Scythe 2's Map 26 (and I suppose Thy Flesh Consumed to a lesser extent, yet more famously). That or just easier WADs. 3. Scythe 2, believe it or not. There's a lot of reasons why I like it. The variety and atmosphere are definitely some of the biggest reasons. I didn't always like the slaughter maps in it though, they frustrated me a hell of a lot when I first played it, yet with familiarity they became easier and eventually more fun. So I'm happy to play those and a few others, but I've gotten increasingly less willing to spend time on unfamiliar slaughter maps.

Snipers and other precision weapons.

Wow, that was nice and precise. Thanks for the tip.

Hitting enemies with the rocket launcher, in particular revenants and arch viles. The horizontal autoaim makes hitting moving targets fundamentally different to in other FPS games which I've been playing more lately (like Quake and Half Life, which has a guided rocket launcher). In the past I often either ignored the RL in favour of other weapons, but I've been trying to get better with it and I originally found it pretty frustrating. I'm still not even sure if it's possible to aim and hit moving revenants and viles consistently, but I at least feel like I'm getting better at it and it felels to me like it depends on controlling the direction of the autoaim. Or maybe I'm entirely wrong and there's only so much you can do.

A lot of games do that, not even just FPS games. I like it because it adds variety and makes the levels stand out. (The gimmick thing that is, since the rest is really another topic entirely)

Now that I think back, the main games that eventually led to me playing Doom would be Jedi Academy, Half Life and Portal and possibly Deus Ex (in which case Metal Gear as well even more indirectly). Interesting to think about.

Hurt Me Plenty is good for a first playthrough of Doom 1 and 2 if you're decent at games already. Doom's levels are basically dungeons, so be sure to take in your surroundings before moving on. Take not of locked doors, landmarks, teleporter destinations, etc. It'll be more fun and you won't get lost and frustrated (hopefully).