Is final doom good?

[Murdoch]

TNT has it's moments. Bit dull in places but not bad for it's time.

Plutonia is more visually interesting but for me the gameplay is tiresome and requires a certain penchant for masochism that I lack. I hate "rehearsing" fights and oft-times you are defeated more by dickish enemy placement rather than your skills failing you. A lot of people like it though. All depends what blows your skirt up.

 

So on the whole I would call it a mixed bag.

[erzboesewicht]

It is interesting that Final Doom got very poor reviews when it come out, but now it gained respect in the Doom community - above all taking into account the various Plutonia sequels and other mapsets inspired by it (take Speed of Doom as an example, in particular Joshy's maps). It also seems there was some influence of TNT:Evilution on later masterpieces like Eternal Doom, Alien Vendetta and even Eviternity with their adventure-exploration style.

 

So Final Doom definitively "has something" most game reviewers in 1996 did not see, maybe because back then everything was about tech, and Final Doom in this category "scored" poorly against Quake and even Duke3D.

 

I consider Final Doom a very good IWAD set, with minor weaknesses, and both Evilution and Plutionia imo are in several aspects "better" than Doom 2. Of course, in 1996 there was already some experience with the Doom 2 monsters in mapping, so the comparison is perhaps unfair, and I also like the weirdness of Doom 2 itself. But Final Doom was certainly a step further in the direction of more "modern" mapping.

[Gunstar Green]

When Final Doom came out it was viewed like similar expansion packs of its time, more of the same but much more difficult and aimed at diehards. Also as you said it was 1996, most PC gaming journalists were more interested in the new hotness instead of crusty old Doom. Nobody back then could have predicted the game would still be relevant over a quarter-century later.

 

And of course within the Doom community of the time there was controversy about Team TNT "selling out" which is amusing in retrospect.

[Triangle Box Studio]

Yes, I recommend Final Doom.

[P41R47]

You want a wad with adventures, tension, and oppresive atmospheres?
Play TNT: Evilution.

You want a wad with not much details but really good gameplay maps and really hard?
Play The Plutonia Experiment.

[unerxai]

Final Doom is fucking awesome

[Chip]

1 hour ago, P41R47 said:

You want a wad with not much details

It was detailed. Obviously not as much as Evilution, but it was certainly interesting to look at (for some maps).

[P41R47]

2 hours ago, LiT_gam3r said:

It was detailed. Obviously not as much as Evilution, but it was certainly interesting to look at (for some maps).

Seems like you completed Plutonia!
Congratulations, pal! :D

I think that details on Plutonia are more inclined to the practical side, like in Doom 2. The map design getting more into the abstract plane.
And yes, some maps from the middle section to the end are much more better looking.
One critic that was made to Plutonia maps is that there wasn't much usa of different sector light levels.
Being on the same light level for most of the maps.

While on TNT: Evilution and Ultimate Doom, details are not only there for aesthetic reasons or map designing, they also give sense of place, help the narrative with contextual storytelling and heavily adds to the atmosphere.
One critic made to TNT: Evilution is that some maps are kinda empty.

Both approaches has their flaws.

But both were extremelly fun on their different approach.

And both were the first step into the different schools of mapping.

Then come Alien Vendetta, a megawad that merges both schools, and is the megawad a lot of mappers look, even today, for inspiration.

Edited September 11, 2020 by P41R47

[Chip]

59 minutes ago, P41R47 said:

One critic made to TNT: Evilution is that some maps are kinda empty.

I wouldn't say any maps were empty. I thought the biggest flaw was the difficulty curve. When you play the first 10 maps, it is pretty simple. Then the next few maps get a bit more difficult. Then, maps 20 to the end were just weird. They weren't as hard as Plutonia's maps, but they were certainly much more difficult than the previous maps. Other than that, I thought it was great! Effort was obviously put into all the maps of Final DOOM, and it didn't turn out as a crappy little Megawad that was just boring! a 9.5/10 for me!

[P41R47]

30 minutes ago, LiT_gam3r said:

I wouldn't say any maps were empty. I thought the biggest flaw was the difficulty curve. When you play the first 10 maps, it is pretty simple. Then the next few maps get a bit more difficult. Then, maps 20 to the end were just weird. They weren't as hard as Plutonia's maps, but they were certainly much more difficult than the previous maps. Other than that, I thought it was great! Effort was obviously put into all the maps of Final DOOM, and it didn't turn out as a crappy little Megawad that was just boring! a 9.5/10 for me!

Now you know why i love it soo much to even dedicate a complete epic poem to it :P

[Michael Jensen]

Absolutely, best commercial Doom game. TNT has the best atmosphere, aesthetics, music and sense of adventure. Plutonia has the best pure gameplay experience.