The DOOM Thread

[Gunstar Green]

Really only the first two levels of E4 are brutal and the rest is manageable and the first level of E4 is always a pistol start anyway. American McGee and John Romero are evil assholes (I love it).

[Ziggy]

Really only the first two levels of E4 are brutal and the rest is manageable and the first level of E4 is always a pistol start anyway. American McGee and John Romero are evil assholes (I love it).

And I was thinking with E4M2, I'm usually in such horrible shape from E4M1 that a pistol start might actually be better starting conditions.

edit: I just finished episode 4, so I've beaten every level in The Ultimate Doom with a pistol start (including the secret levels). On to DOOM II now, which i think may be harder.

edit: Just beat The Pit, it took me a few attempts.

[Ziggy]

Pistol starting each level has been really fun. I'm still in the middle of DOOM II, and I think I'll do the pistol start thing with Sigil when I'm done.

But another thing occurred to be that I have never done with DOOM... Has anyone ever played with fast monsters on UV? I'm at a point where I can pretty much blow through the first two DOOMs on UV without much trouble, so playing with fast monsters might add some challenge back.

How about Nightmare? Has anyone played on that difficulty before? I tried Episode 1 on Nightmare and I wasn't a fan. Maybe I'll try it again some day.

[Ack]

Well, considering today seems like a good day to avoid news and social media, I decided to be a responsible adult and run through Doom episodes 1, 2, and 3 on Ultra Violent. I think itay well be 20 years since I last did this, so it's been a fun walk down memory lane while also proving to myself I've still got the skills, baby.

[Ziggy]

Right on!

[Ack]

Well, I made it through all four episodes of Doom on Ultra-Violence. Episode 2 really jumps out as a sore thumb for me. It has a combination of some of my least liked level designs as well as my favorite boss level. Episode 3 shines as a testament to your skill, and 4 is a brutal extravaganza of interesting levels that I don't always think flow but find stunning in their fortress designs.

And now I'm playing Doom 2. Again, on the good old fashioned Ultra-Violence.

[Ziggy]

Have you played Sigil? Although it's an unofficial episode 5, it's pretty much an official episode 5 since it was made by Romero.

I beat episode 1 on UV with fast monsters. Using fast monsters definitely adds some difficulty back to the game once UV is no longer challenging enough.

[Ack]

I feel like I should post in this thread more on recent experiences. I just ran through SIGIL on UV and had a blast. Romero offered some creative level designs and enemy placements that I really enjoyed. It's a bit dark, but overall worth checking out.

Now I'm about six levels into TNT Evilution on UV, and it's a slog. Gunstar and I have been discussing its history in Racket Slack, but the levels so far have been pretty bland. The last one in the set did have a quirk involving starting a generator; credit where credit is due, it was an interesting idea at least.

But to go from SIGIL to this has been rough, and it helps further cement just how well Romero understands DOOM level design.

[Ziggy]

But to go from SIGIL to this has been rough, and it helps further cement just how well Romero understands DOOM level design.

Definitely. I've never made it all the way through either episode of Final DOOM. The level design just isn't engaging enough to keep me coming back.

[MrPopo]

It was called Final DOOM because TNT tried to make it so you'd never want to play a Doom game again.