Doom Eternal - Good Game, Bad Doom?

[DM Science]

I'm an old school gamer. Was around to play original Doom (and Wolfenstein before that). I generally try to be positive and try to separate my personal feelings about games, movies, music, etc from the work in and of itself.

I tried Doom Eternal for the second time recently. Doom 2016 was the most fun I had in a long time on a computer game with high intensity. I like most types of games. I started on Atari and Pong, so can appreciate the bounty of modern gaming. I usually enjoy depth and story, but occasionally, I want a game that I can jump and tear stuff up at 100 mph without thinking too much. It's like music. Sometimes I want Pink Floyd, with its complex arrangements and layered lyrics giving me pause to reflect on the human condition. Other times, I want Ministry- can't understand most of the lyrics, but it makes me feel like moving fast and breaking stuff.

Now imagine you were feeling aggressive. Had a long week and you don't want to think about anything, just let off some steam. You pick up a newly released Ministry album, only to find they have branched off from industrial speed metal to a slower, more clean sound. The vocals are clearer and they are taking distortion out of the guitar.
It may be brilliant and beautiful- a work of musical art. But you're still angry. Why? You bought a Ministry album, you expect Ministry. If they wanted to experiment under a different name, you would be fine. But don't say it's Ministry, if it's mellow.

This is the problem with Doom Eternal, and why I have multiple completions of Doom 2016 and have given up on Doom Eternal twice now when I realized I wasn't having fun.

Doom Eternal is a polished, well-thought-out, creative, and visually gorgeous video game. So why the complaint? It doesn't feel like DOOM. It's complicated. The problem is that I think developers sometimes confuse complexity with creativity. You see, the enemies require more planning and precision to kill. You need to use the right weapons and hit the right weak points. The weapon mods and runes and points and whatever else they throw in, requires planning and customization, secrets abound that you are encouraged to look for, and finally there is the challenging platforming aspect- always fun in a FPS. (They only managed to get climbing ladders in FPS a less monitor-smashing exercise a few years ago). While they emphasize "keep moving" to keep the action looking frenetic, the reality is that my mind is constantly engaged in trying to keep track if I need health, so I need to hit E and glory kill, or do I need ammo, so I hit c to chainsaw, or armor so I got to hit r for my flamer, then kill the enemy, but which weapon do I have, which mod is set on it, what enemies are here, what are their weaknesses, does it match my weapon mod, and where do I need to go on this map, can't stop to look what's over the edge because KEEP MOVING, and so on... My mind is definitely engaged- Which is what is WRONG!

As I described above, when I sit down and decide to play Doom, it is because I am in a certain "mood"- a DOOMMOOD if you will. The DOOMMOOD hits when I'm stressed, been doing lots of problem solving, bummed out, etc... I play Doom because I want to kill stuff fast. So when I sat down to play Doom Eternal, that's what I wanted to do. I was just on stage 2, Exultia when I realized I had not really fought that much. But I had spent hours trying to execute dashes and jumps to hard to reach secrets and dying in that stupid ********* lava. It wasn't scratching my Doom itch. And because I was already in a DOOMMOOD, this changed to anger and made me begin to resent and hate the game.

As I reflect now, I think if I had bought a game called The Sentinels, that was described as a challenging platformer, with a story spanning divine and infernal realms, a mysterious hub where you can refine your tools and techniques, and enemies that you dominate by precision application of force combined with knowledge of their weakness, and then played this, I would give it an A+. I would have been in a Portal type mood, or maybe an Ori type mood. But it was called Doom. So I was disappointed. And while I may try to reframe the game in my brain as "The Sentinels" and play it again in another mood, my conclusion will stand that this is a really good Game, but a really disappointing DOOM.

[furbleburble]

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Origineel geplaatst door Sar:

@Erwin: have you played through E4M2 on Ultra-Violence? Did you just blast enemies mindlessly, or did you come up with a strategy to “solve” the level?

Firstly, this isn't Twitter.
Secondly, I have no idea what you are referring to.

Maybe I can help you out, here. You said:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

... OG DOOM was very much a mindless shooter ...

And then sar said:

Origineel geplaatst door Sar:

have you played through E4M2 on Ultra-Violence? Did you just blast enemies mindlessly, or did you come up with a strategy to “solve” the level?

So, it looks, to me, that Sar is asking you if "OG DOOM was very much a mindless shooter" or if "you [had] come up with a strategy to “solve” [E4M2 on Ultra-Violence]"?

[furbleburble]

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Origineel geplaatst door furbleburble:

Can someone define "mindless" please?

Now that, my good man, is very much subjective ;)

Well, can you please define it, as you see it? Maybe then we can understand your subjective stance on the matter.

[Ace]

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Origineel geplaatst door Sar:

@Erwin: have you played through E4M2 on Ultra-Violence? Did you just blast enemies mindlessly, or did you come up with a strategy to “solve” the level?

Firstly, this isn't Twitter.
Secondly, I have no idea what you are referring to.

So in short you havn't played the classics.

[Joker]

Origineel geplaatst door Ace:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Firstly, this isn't Twitter.
Secondly, I have no idea what you are referring to.

So in short you havn't played the classics.

Cue informed opinion

[Sar]

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Origineel geplaatst door Sar:

@Erwin: have you played through E4M2 on Ultra-Violence? Did you just blast enemies mindlessly, or did you come up with a strategy to “solve” the level?

Firstly, this isn't Twitter.
Secondly, I have no idea what you are referring to.

E4M2. Episode 4, map 2 of Ultimate Doom. Perfect Hatred. Are you sure you played classic Doom?

[Erwin_Von_Braun]

Origineel geplaatst door furbleburble:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Firstly, this isn't Twitter.
Secondly, I have no idea what you are referring to.

Maybe I can help you out, here. You said:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

... OG DOOM was very much a mindless shooter ...

And then sar said:

Origineel geplaatst door Sar:

have you played through E4M2 on Ultra-Violence? Did you just blast enemies mindlessly, or did you come up with a strategy to “solve” the level?

So, it looks, to me, that Sar is asking you if "OG DOOM was very much a mindless shooter" or if "you [had] come up with a strategy to “solve” [E4M2 on Ultra-Violence]"?

Ok, I can read but I'm still not entirely sure what you are referring to - perhaps you could elaborate?

[Erwin_Von_Braun]

Origineel geplaatst door furbleburble:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Now that, my good man, is very much subjective ;)

Well, can you please define it, as you see it? Maybe then we can understand your subjective stance on the matter.

Why?
Anything I say will undoubtedly be twisted into something else so I fail to see why I should indulge you.

[Erwin_Von_Braun]

Origineel geplaatst door Sar:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Firstly, this isn't Twitter.
Secondly, I have no idea what you are referring to.

E4M2. Episode 4, map 2 of Ultimate Doom. Perfect Hatred. Are you sure you played classic Doom?

Ahh, I see - my apologies but your terminology went right over my head.
ok, so if I give you the answer you seek, how will you know that I'm telling the truth and haven't just looked it up on YouTube?

[Erwin_Von_Braun]

The thing I'm finding most amusing here is folk quoting my posts full in the knowledge that they are blocked & I cannot read them.
Why on earth would anyone do that?

[Sar]

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Origineel geplaatst door Sar:

E4M2. Episode 4, map 2 of Ultimate Doom. Perfect Hatred. Are you sure you played classic Doom?

Ahh, I see - my apologies but your terminology went right over my head.
ok, so if I give you the answer you seek, how will you know that I'm telling the truth and haven't just looked it up on YouTube?

Well, what point would there be in lying? It’s a trick question, I admit. If you just start blasting enemies in the beginning of that level you’ll get pressed by a ton of Cacos, run out of ammo and die. You need to come up with a route to grab resources, avoid Cacos, grab Plasma and kill Barons, etc. Not very “mindless”, in my opinion.

[Erwin_Von_Braun]

Origineel geplaatst door Sar:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Ahh, I see - my apologies but your terminology went right over my head.
ok, so if I give you the answer you seek, how will you know that I'm telling the truth and haven't just looked it up on YouTube?

Well, what point would there be in lying? It’s a trick question, I admit. If you just start blasting enemies in the beginning of that level you’ll get pressed by a ton of Cacos, run out of ammo and die. You need to come up with a route to grab resources, avoid Cacos, grab Plasma and kill Barons, etc. Not very “mindless”, in my opinion.

Well, at least one doesn't have to perform ridiculous aerial gymnastics.

[furbleburble]

I am convinced Erwin is SuperFly.

Me: Please define ____
SuperFly: No

Me: Please define ____
Erwin: No

Yep. I'm convinced.

Or maybe Erwin is Rebecca:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Origineel geplaatst door furbleburble:

Maybe I can help you out, here. You said:

And then sar said:

So, it looks, to me, that Sar is asking you if "OG DOOM was very much a mindless shooter" or if "you [had] come up with a strategy to “solve” [E4M2 on Ultra-Violence]"?

Ok, I can read but I'm still not entirely sure what you are referring to - perhaps you could elaborate?

"Can you please clarify that which is already quite clear?"

Are Erwin, SuperFly, and Rebecca all the same? Oh, and 2024 because 2024 doesn't understand how an exact quote works, which indicates Rebecca.

Edit:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

The thing I'm finding most amusing here is folk quoting my posts full in the knowledge that they are blocked & I cannot read them.
Why on earth would anyone do that?

Definitely a Rebecca thing.

[Erwin_Von_Braun]

Origineel geplaatst door furbleburble:

I am convinced Erwin is SuperFly.

Me: Please define ____
SuperFly: No

Me: Please define ____
Erwin: No

Yep. I'm convinced.

Or maybe Erwin is Rebecca:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Ok, I can read but I'm still not entirely sure what you are referring to - perhaps you could elaborate?

"Can you please clarify that which is already quite clear?"

Are Erwin, SuperFly, and Rebecca all the same? Oh, and 2024 because 2024 doesn't understand how an exact quote works, which indicates Rebecca.

Clearly syntax isn't your strong point otherwise you would realise that you're quite wrong.
By all means believe what you will - matters not to me.

[Sar]

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Origineel geplaatst door Sar:

Well, what point would there be in lying? It’s a trick question, I admit. If you just start blasting enemies in the beginning of that level you’ll get pressed by a ton of Cacos, run out of ammo and die. You need to come up with a route to grab resources, avoid Cacos, grab Plasma and kill Barons, etc. Not very “mindless”, in my opinion.

Well, at least one doesn't have to perform ridiculous aerial gymnastics.

Well, kinda? Doom doesn’t have jumping, obviously, but most of Perfect Hatred is set on platforms above a pit of acid.

Edit: I really do recommend playing it.

[furbleburble]

Origineel geplaatst door Joker:

have u played the OG titles?

Why should he answer? His words will just be twisted.

Edit:

Origineel geplaatst door Erwin_Von_Braun:

Origineel geplaatst door furbleburble:

Well, can you please define it, as you see it? Maybe then we can understand your subjective stance on the matter.

Why?
Anything I say will undoubtedly be twisted into something else so I fail to see why I should indulge you.