Anatomy of a DOOM Eternal Fight - GMTK

[Phobos Anomaly]

A video from one of my favorite YouTube channels, Game Maker's Toolkit, breaking down the anatomy of a DOOM Eternal combat encounter. If you haven't checked out this guy's channel, you need to. He does deep analysis of game mechanics and other topics across a wide range of video games and genres.

 

 

[deepthaw]

The "sticky bomb to kill a Caco" thing isn't quite as bad as the game progresses. A ballista will handle them pretty effectively from a safe distance, so the sticky bomb is more if you want to guarantee a glory kill.

 

I see lots of people using the chaingun on Barons but I'm not sure why. I'm playing on UV, and it feels like it has degenerated back into the SSG/Ballista dance of 2016 for me (with the occasional rocket lock-ons.) I'm probably missing something.

[Novaseer]

3 minutes ago, deepthaw said:

I see lots of people using the chaingun on Barons but I'm not sure why. I'm playing on UV, and it feels like it has degenerated back into the SSG/Ballista dance of 2016 for me (with the occasional rocket lock-ons.) I'm probably missing something.

The Chaingun is capable of mostly stun-locking the three Knight demons according to the Codex.

[Foebane72]

I used to always whip out the shotgun for the sticky bombs against Cacodemons, but now, with my tactic of chainsawing zombies for an ammo top-up, I just use brute force against all of the monsters now. SSG all the way! In fact, I'm thinking of binding the SSG and, say, the ballista onto the mouse wheel. When I see players quickly switching between the two to take out Marauders (like Decino) I can only assume they've done the same thing.

 

[Mattatsu]

17 hours ago, deepthaw said:

The "sticky bomb to kill a Caco" thing isn't quite as bad as the game progresses. A ballista will handle them pretty effectively from a safe distance, so the sticky bomb is more if you want to guarantee a glory kill.

You can also use a Frag Grenade to toss in their mouth, so yeah, I agree, I don’t see this as much of an issue.

[Sitting on a cornflake]

2 hours ago, Foebane72 said:

I used to always whip out the shotgun for the sticky bombs against Cacodemons, but now, with my tactic of chainsawing zombies for an ammo top-up, I just use brute force against all of the monsters now. SSG all the way! In fact, I'm thinking of binding the SSG and, say, the ballista onto the mouse wheel. When I see players quickly switching between the two to take out Marauders (like Decino) I can only assume they've done the same thing.

 

By the later levels I more or less just alternate between ballista, SSG, frag grenade, repeat.  

[deepthaw]

3 hours ago, Foebane72 said:

I used to always whip out the shotgun for the sticky bombs against Cacodemons, but now, with my tactic of chainsawing zombies for an ammo top-up, I just use brute force against all of the monsters now. SSG all the way! In fact, I'm thinking of binding the SSG and, say, the ballista onto the mouse wheel. When I see players quickly switching between the two to take out Marauders (like Decino) I can only assume they've done the same thing.

 

Nah, just tap Q to switch between them. 

[Novaseer]

3 hours ago, Foebane72 said:

I used to always whip out the shotgun for the sticky bombs against Cacodemons, but now, with my tactic of chainsawing zombies for an ammo top-up, I just use brute force against all of the monsters now. SSG all the way! In fact, I'm thinking of binding the SSG and, say, the ballista onto the mouse wheel. When I see players quickly switching between the two to take out Marauders (like Decino) I can only assume they've done the same thing.

 

I've rebound my weapons so that super shotgun is mouse4 and ballista is mouse5, chaingun is 5 and BFG is T. Much closer binds means much faster weapon switching and is much more consistent than the mouse wheel.

Alternatively, before a Marauder fight switch to the SSG, then switch to the ballista, and tap Q to quickly swap between the two.

[Foebane72]

2 hours ago, Novaseer said:

Alternatively, before a Marauder fight switch to the SSG, then switch to the ballista, and tap Q to quickly swap between the two.

 

Cool, I didn't know about that, I'll try it with the Gladiator when I face it.

 

[Phobos Anomaly]

14 hours ago, Foebane72 said:

 

Cool, I didn't know about that, I'll try it with the Gladiator when I face it.

 

 

It's by far the best way to deal with the Marauder. Remember that you will also need the Hot Swapper suit upgrade - available in the "Fundamentals" section of your suit upgrade menu for 2 suit upgrade tokens.

[Chezza]

Interesting video. It shows why we should praise and criticize Doom Eternal's mechanics simultaneously.

 

I do think Doom Eternals learning curve and difficulty is a bit poorly executed early on, shoving so many tutorials and spawning enemies with difficult weak points (Arachnotron).

 

If the game can't allow a player to figure out the best approach for upcoming encounters on his own within a timely manner, it has some over complication and pacing issues.

 

It's desperate to get the player mastering the Doom dance early, and I understand why. If you completely ignore demon weak points, ice/fire cannon, chainsaw and weapons to counter enemies then you're going to have a bad time.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Chezza