Your skills and stuff

A question to everybody.

How long have you been playing Doom, and how hard do you find Final Doom: Plutonia, Alien Vendetta/Hell Revealed to be, on skill 4?

I've been playing since around 94, and obviously having played that long, I didn't find Plutonia to be overly difficult on release, and I think AV/HR are too hard for casual playing, as I don't care for spending that much time STUDYING maps in order to stand a chance in beating them. I'm mostly reffering to maps like 32 of AV, ...

I'm DOOMing since 1999 or so... can't remember precisely.

I've completed most of the top megawads out there on skill 4 with fast monsters. I've done Tyson on most DOOM Iwads, including Plutonia and Evilution.

I haven't played Nightmare or multiplayer yet, but I suspect I wouldn't last long ;)

So there.

On release I found Plutonia rather hard, so I played ,TNT, doom2 and Doom much more.

Now I find plutonia much more entertaining and not too hard (look at my 30plmax).

AV is highly playable, much better than HR...at least for my taste...

I've been playing Doom for a long time, and I can find playing most anything on skill 4 really hard. I don't have much difficulty if I go through the game carefully, but I can't stand playing a game like Doom so slow.

I've been playing doom "on and off" (mostly on) since it came out, but in the early days on my friends computer we would just cheat all the time, and between 95 and 99 i was using the playstation control pad, not the keyboard. I tend to use only the arrow keys and run and shoot, and not strafe, which means some mad twisting is needed to avoid projectiles, that said i have survived some levels by blind luck, i beat DV map 5 on skill 1, which is still tough, but doesnt have a zillion cyberdemons, i'll try skil 3 one time. I also beat RTC on skill 3, the slower player movement made it tough though. I also, in a moment of madness, decided to play HR2 on Ultra violence, i think i got to map 5 then it got deleted, but i dont rememebr getting frustrated with it, so i might have just 'drifted away' from doom at that stage. Some of the traps with chaingunners in small rooms in DSV 3 pissed me off though, and i kept dying..but wouldnt we all?

I refuse to play on Skill 4 these days. In fact, the way I'm designing weapon mods these days, it's suicide to play on Skill 3 (check out my latest, WW-ANA.WAD, and you'll see why). Without a weapon mod, I tend to have trouble on Skill 3. HR2 is impossible for me, and I need to find a different port to play AV on because ZDoom likes to crash a lot with it for some reason.

I find most of the retail game to be pretty reasonable on skill 4, I can beat all of them without dying much. Ultimate Doom I can beat on 4 without dying at all. I attribute this to just knowing where everything is. D2 and Final Doom, I can usually get through them in pretty good shape, but most of the time I'll die on the last level in D2 and Plutonia, it is kind of crazy... basically stand here and let everything shoot you while you aim a shot for the giant demon's brain. It kind of depends on luck, like which monsters get spawned and how much attention they pay to you. Sometimes I'll go into Plutonia30 and kill the cyberdemon real quick and by then the demon-spitter has only spawned half-assed monsters, and they're all fighting with each other, so you can go blast the big demon. On the other hand sometimes it'll spawn a bunch of revenants and Barons and you get killed fast. I haven't played much custom wads or multiplayer so I dunno how I stack up there. First time I played Doom 3 I played it on 1 (I always play my new games on easy because I just want to get through them, see everything, and see how the story unfolds, then I go back and go all-balls on hard). I didn't die until I got to Hell. I'm playing it now on Veteran, and it is significantly harder. I have died a number of times. All in all I'd say my skills are average at best. I don't like games to be too easy, but I also don't find them fun when they're too hard, if you keep dying somewhere and keep having to play the same spot over and over it gets boring. I think it helps to pull you into the game if you can make it awhile with out dying, because it makes it feel more real, like if you were the character in the game, you'd actually have a chance of surviving.

HR2 is f*%cking nuts, I personally have never beat it on skill 4, but I have seen it done befor so its not impossible...

I actually fare better in Plutonia that I would first believe.

Still I have problems with multiple cyberdemons since I can't strafe worth a damn.

I rarely play on skill 4, mainly because I've been playing all of two years and don't enjoy being pounded by imps at all angles.

That being said, I own all of Doom on skill 4. Doom 2 I only recently bothered to play through on skill 3. TNT and Plutonia I haven't completed period (Plutonia is freaking hard, though. I hate archviles).

HR and AV I don't really play. In fact, I prefer one map deals over megawads, most of the time. Megawads get very tedious because they end up having like 10-20 minute long maps about 10 maps in, so you end up spending many hours to beat it.

I don't see how a full megawad can be an issue. If you like single maps, just chose one from the wad that looks interesting and play it! AV and HR's maps have all certainly been designed to be played from scratch.

As far as the three wads go, they're pretty lethal (Plutonia somewhat less so,) especially to play through entirely, but enjoyable with save games or starts from scratch at the levels you die. Plus it's also cool to pick up a single level and play it in detail, or to play them on a lower difficuly level (especially AV) when going all the way through.

I play in UV when I can, but I play ultra-hard wads in HNTR. Maybe I’ll try them in HMP… one day… and I don’t play with the mouse.

Yeah I forgot to mention I'm not playing with the mouse... just doesn't seem right on the old style games. I like mouse support for newer games though. They're designed to be played with it. The classic Dooms, you seem to have too much advantage in certain parts, like where you could snipe demons looking down or up that you'd normally have to face head to head.

Mouse + keyboard was one of the standard control options offered in the original Doom games (run SETUP.EXE in case you've forgotten), so I don't see how it can't "seem right".

Keyboard-only is old style-right in the same sense as getting 5 fps or playing in low detail mode.

Airman seems to be talking about looking up and down, though, which isn't the same as just using the mouse.

Yes, but he seemed to be equating the two - as if you can't use the mouse without using mlook.

I started to play Doom since 1983.

maga said:

I started to play Doom since 1983.

Incredible, you had access to a REAL early alpha !!!!

VinceDSS said:

Incredible, you had access to a REAL early alpha !!!!

it sure helps being Carmack's father !

I've managed to beat all of the official Doom games on UV. I can manage to get all the way through Episodes I, II and III of Ultimate Doom on UV without dying, but not Episode IV (yet). That's playing without stopping (except to eat and relieve myself - n hours of Dooming makes me thirsty) or saving. Quite frankly, trying to get through all of Doom II and Final Doom non-stop is a bit too much for me!
For those of you who this applies to - remember the days when you were young and you used to cheat all the time? God-mode, all keys and weapons, level skipping... doing that today seems hollow, now. No challenge, no fun. Sure, firing rockets at point-blank range into Troopers was fun and using the BFG on E1M1 was 'kewl', but in the end, you weren't really completing the game. You were just ruining it for yourself.
When all's said and done, I'd say I'm a pretty experienced Doomer. I've just gotten XP and Doom 3 is great and is scaring me sh... well, let's just say my fear has a colour - brown. :P

P.S. So, maga, you were playing Doom a year before I was born, not to mention 8 years before the game was even MADE! Hell, before it was even thought of!?

I can beat about half the maps in HR and a quarter of HR2 (pistol starts, no saves). I didnt find AV too difficult, though it was a challenge.

If I fire up ultimate doom or doom 2 I usually use fast monsters. It's been a long time since I've played anything in final doom other than coop play, so I dont really remember how well I did. I never really liked those maps anyway.

Been dooming since about '95 or so.

Skul said:
P.S. So, maga, you were playing Doom a year before I was born, not to mention 8 years before the game was even MADE! Hell, before it was even thought of!? [/B]

nah, i was just joking around. Lack of occupation, you see.

to be honest, I feel bad playing anything lower than skill4. AV was too easy, HR2 is too boring so I never finished it, same with HR1. I find AV to be my favorite wad of all time. I only played plutonia last year. Great fun! Reading about how hard it was and all, I was excited to play. But alas, it wasn't as hard as I had read. I've had doom 1 and 2 since the years they came out. I recently (last year) got the collectors edition for $20 and got myself another copy of Doom2, ultimate doom (only had plane jane doom1) and final doom.

So...

I really don't use anything other than Ultra-Violence. I feel it's the way the game is meant to be played. If I find myself not having fun for ANY reason (too many monsters, not enough, hard-to-find keys), then the cheats go on.

I can't gauge just how much skill I have with the game-- I mean, most of the time I'm just screwing around. But I can hold my own in DM...

I usually play on "Hurt Me Plenty". It's just what I automatically do. Thing is, i've played very, very few actual custom wads people have made. Ultimate Doom I could probably do on UV pretty easily. Doom II would probably be a challenge for me on UV. Doom 64 I played on the next to hardest difficulty and I did pretty well. Final Doom... TNT I could play but Plutonia I hardly ever gave the time of day.

Also, I've been dooming since back when I was in the fifth grade, so that's been about... 9 years ago now. The first time I ever played it was on the SNES and I was so pitiful at FPS games back then I couldn't get past the first map. The imp at the top of the pedestal in the nukage room on E1M1 always got me :P Sad isn't it?

evilhomerdoomer said:
to be honest, I feel bad playing anything lower than skill4. AV was too easy, HR2 is too boring so I never finished it, same with HR1. I find AV to be my favorite wad of all time. I only played plutonia last year. Great fun! Reading about how hard it was and all, I was excited to play. But alas, it wasn't as hard as I had read.

So, you play on Nightmare! and zap through the maps humiliating the opposition, never falling to enemy fire?

You could do some movie recordings of the wad, perhaps a complete Nightmare! 100% secrets or a full megawad maxkills recording if you're that good.

Numbermind said:
I really don't use anything other than Ultra-Violence. I feel it's the way the game is meant to be played. If I find myself not having fun for ANY reason (too many monsters, not enough, hard-to-find keys), then the cheats go on.

I can't gauge just how much skill I have with the game-- I mean, most of the time I'm just screwing around. But I can hold my own in DM...

I guess it's how you said it; if you wanted to you could try lower settings (and perhaps they'd be more balanced or fun.) It's just fine if people play on whatever setting they want, in whatever style the prefer, yet some people (not you) complain about the difficulty of wads simply because they are too lazy or dumb to try another setting. Of course, their opinion isn't worth much to any author who's cared to put a degree of thought into a wad's playaility.

In my opinion playing with saves (or even maybe cheats, but why?) is fine when checking out a wad but it says nothing of really playing and any results of such "play" can't be used to gauge playing skill unless you're going to say how often you reload the game or use cheat codes, or something like that.

Hell Revealed on UV is really easy. I don't understand how people think it's so difficult. HR2 is a lot more difficult.

Why is it easy? Like the other guy above you can play through the wad without dying? Wow. You nail down all the Cyberdemons and Arch-Viles without getting hit?

I havent played doom on any skill other than uv since around 1996, I just find it too easy. I find Doom2 simple and Plutonia is fairly easy. I never thought Av was hard or Hells revealed, bur hr2 is just unfair.

myk said:

Why is it easy? Like the other guy above you can play through the wad without dying? Wow.

No kidding, sure are alot of supposed 'doom gods' in this thread. Lets see some demos, or can you not backup anything you say? I'm looking at you homerdoomer and mivalekan.