Do you think Plutonia is hard or unfair

[doom guy66]

Do you think plutonia is hard or just unfair it's one of my favorite iwads.

I think its mostly easy even map31 i think its unfair but easy still but im not sure if people consider it hard or unfair. what do you think?

Edited July 8, 2020 by uwwaves

[Endless]

Unfairly hard.

[doom guy66]

1 minute ago, Endless said:

Unfairly hard.

do think its easy

[dmslr]

Playing Plutonia blindly is painful. I like what Scotty says about Plutonia:

Quote

Plutonia is the kind of mapset that gets more enjoyable the better you know the maps, in my experience. The maps are more fun to attack at with pace (my preferred playing style) rather than slowly picking your way through. As the maps are combat rather than exploration driven they have far more replay value than the other iwads.

(I don't know how to quote from other threads)

[cryotherm]

It's definitely harder than UDoom and DoomII but it's still bearable. The level with the infinitely regenerating chaingunners was imo pretty unfair though, since the level doesn't really have any kind of flow; you're just stuck in this T-shaped space for too long, and the space you have to dodge projectiles is too narrow so you have to essentially time your movements.

Edited July 8, 2020 by cryotherm

[galileo31dos01]

1 hour ago, uwwaves said:

hard and unfair

 

No, not at all unfair. I mean, it's dirty, cheeky sometimes, spammy with chaingunners, but every trap has a solution that isn't too far-fetched if you know in advance what's gonna pop up. Plutonia essentially checks knowledge, intuition and reflexes, then teaches you a thing or two that the other iwads probably didn't insist enough in teaching, then you're free to go so thirsty to bite the dust in something even more "opulent" >> e.g. Kama Sutra, Plutonia 2, Sunlust, etc.

 

I think it aged the best among the other commercial stuff. At this point I'm confident to say it's the most iconic iwad, imo.

[GarrettChan]

Map31 is unfair...? What and why?

[The_SloVinator]

Easy for me. Few maps were challenging on Fast Monsters but nothing too bad.

[Lila Feuer]

Not that hard once you memorize the maps, I got through it using key saves a few months ago with relatively very little reloading. I would call it decently challenging overall i.e consistently medium-hard.

[Uni]

I think it's most definitely the hardest of the IWADs and some maps even to this day can be a bitch to 100% complete through when pistol-starting and there are some nasty encounters in it but compared to today's standards it doesn't hold a candle when it comes to actual difficulty. I definitely don't think it's "unfair".

[plums]

It's kind of tough if you play from pistol starts; a lot of maps open with you under a lot of pressure. With continuous play, you get so much ammo that it's a lot easier, especially once you get the BFG.

 

It's kind of "unfair" in that there are some traps that will hurt you if you don't know they're coming, but nothing usually too bad, and it's generally pretty liberal with giving you health after anything tough. The chaingunners that won't die because of nearby AVs are kind of annoying at times.

[Archanhell]

From what I heard and played, I doubt Plutonia is unfair nor hard.

No, it is its own difficulty, Plutonia is the hell unleashed in shape of a WAD which works as The Key, the one which will open The Gates leading to much more horrendous abominations unbeknownst to Humanity, incomprehensible enough that even the smartest person can't grasp with their mind.

Plutonia.. Is Plutonia.

[Can't play on Nightmare]

Plutonia is a lot harder than Doom 2.

[Cacodemon345]

Plutonia is hard but fair.

[seed]

Neither difficult nor unfair.

[xttl]

13 hours ago, uwwaves said:

Do you think plutonia is hard

yes

 

13 hours ago, uwwaves said:

or just unfair

no

[Avoozl]

I think it is imbalanced in ways, particularly in the later maps.

Edited July 8, 2020 by Avoozl

[Doomkid]

Plutonia has an annoying difficulty type that I'd call "save load save load" difficulty, similar to a lot of bullshit-but-fun old NES games. Your first time walking into basically every single damn room you're going to be instantly killed by some surprise pop-up-enemy bullshit, but once you know where the exact line is that triggers the pop-up (or doors opening or whatever) then you can plan accordingly around it.

 

This doesn't apply to doomgods with inhumanly good reaction times and reflexes of course, but for us players who are "just good", it's annoying the first time around and only gets better once you know your way. I appreciate the approach to mapping/difficulty and it's been emulated countless times since, but I'm much more partial to maps/wads where you can actually escape the ambushes on your first try if you are a competent player, you don't NEED pre-knowledge to not die every few minutes.

Edited July 8, 2020 by Doomkid

[SchwTrdLeenW]

4 hours ago, uwwaves said:

I think its mostly easy even map31 i think its unfair but easy still 

I'm... not sure if i can follow you.

 

Regarding the question:

Unfair? No.

Difficult for its time/if you only played Ultimate Doom and Doom 2? Yes, definitely. It can be a real trial by fire if you're going in blind.

Difficult for todays standards? Not by a LONG shot.

[nname]

I already said, that I don't think Plutonia is hard/unfair in a similar topic, but I take that back. It is absolutely unfair and I love it!

[Nine Inch Heels]

Plutonia is neither hard, nor unfair. There, I said it.

[frag enabler]

First time playing it is pretty much the gif below. The more you memorize the spawns and item locations, the easier it becomes... Just like every other iwad.

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by SuperchargedEuthanasiaDiv

[Pechudin]

    Basically what @Doomkid said, Plutonia has a very spiky and dense damage distribution, meaning you could be happily walking trough rooms one moment, and the second moment your screen is red as a pack of Chaingunners open up on you from a hidden closet. Then you sigh, reload (or restart) and solve the trap easily. Not all traps are easily solvable by pre-knowledge though so it's not pure memory.

[seed]

2 hours ago, SchwTrdLeenW said:

Regarding the question:

Unfair? No.

Difficult for its time/if you only played Ultimate Doom and Doom 2? Yes, definitely. It can be a real trial by fire if you're going in blind.

Difficult for today's standards? Not by a LONG shot.

 

Best answer so far.

 

In fact, I wonder if people complaining about difficulty have been playing nothing but UDoom and Doom 2 for the last 25 years non-stop... seriously people, Plutonia is nowhere near that difficult, and it doesn't hold a candle to many good but difficult wads made nowadays, you should definitely play some of those, trust me, you'll change your mind immediately and never see things the same way again.

[dmslr]

14 minutes ago, seed said:

 

Best answer so far.

 

In fact, I wonder if people complaining about difficulty have been playing nothing but UDoom and Doom 2 for the last 25 years non-stop... seriously people, Plutonia is nowhere near that difficult, and it doesn't hold a candle to many good but difficult wads made nowadays, you should definitely play some of those, trust me, you'll change your mind immediately and never see things the same way again.

I guess you have changed your mind :P

On 12/25/2017 at 6:55 AM, seed said:

Every single level was painful, it places too much emphasis on hitscanners and difficult to reach enemies, ambushes and traps of all sorts, Archviles, and especially Revenants and Chaingunners (especially those who cannot be reached at distance due to their placement). I found myself save-spamming in almost every single map, I could not finish any of them in one go. The levels themselves were good, my favorite map is Odyssey of Noises for being open and quite large, actually fun to play, overall calmer with less action going on, no crazy ambushes, with good enemy placements. I wish more maps were like this... I really feel that beside Doom veterans and very skilled players only masochists are going to enjoy this experience. Finishing it surely was deeply satisfying, but the overall experience was not. I don't want to experience this kind of frustration again anytime soon. It would've been much better if it was challenging and fun at the same time, but it focuses too much on the difficulty imo, which to a degree I liked, it was good to see how it made me calculate my moves and actually come up with a plan than just go berserk and hope to kill everything in sight, something that's not going to happen here.

[seed]

4 minutes ago, dmslr said:

I guess you have changed your mind :P

 

Yes, you're quite right, I very much did - long ago no less -, and I'm also not at the same skill level I was back in 2017, even though I still undeniably suck :p.

Edited July 8, 2020 by seed

[Major Arlene]

Bud, didnt you just have a thread about plutonia closed?

[Andromeda]

It's hard, bordering on unfair on Nightmare but TNT is even worse.

[Vic Vos]

Not by a long shot.

[tchkb]

It's unfairly easy.