Was the Pain Elemental a good idea?

[Teo Slayer]

12 hours ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

Delicious meatballs

And the Cacodemons are the sweet tomatoes

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Teo Slayer

[Teo Slayer]

12 hours ago, Arrowhead said:

It was definitely a good idea, and I would definitely keep one as a pet.

Here, you can have this doll

[Doom_Dude]

I want Pain Elementals that wear armor you have to destroy before they can take damage. Plus they shoot lasers from their eyes after spawning lost souls. The laser is like a railgun that can blast through walls. ;) Or maybe it should be able to phase out like the phase spiders in D&D... :D

 

I like the Pain Elemental myself.

 

 

[garudave]

Pain Elementals are an easy way to make a fight interesting.  The way they interact with combat is different from the other enemies.  They can be overwhelming but Doom needs overwhelming enemies on occasion, that's what keeps the adrenaline high.

 

They are misused sometimes, just like the archvile.  That's where the hate comes from.  As an avid pistol-starter, I think throwing a pain elemental at the player when they don't have any power weapons is a poor choice.  There are exceptions to that though, I like the moments where you have to bumrush a PE with the super shotgun while dealing with other enemies.  It can get tedious though.

 

Also, I'll go on record and say I love fighting them with a rocket launcher, so maybe I'm just a Doom masochist.

[Sotenga]

I personally like PEs, if not just for the "oh shit kill it kill it kill it NOW" factor that they inspire. I love bullrushing them with the SSG and standing point blank even at their death to ensure no Lost Souls at all spawn, if I'm allowed to. I can recognize how horrifying they are, especially on Ultra-Violence where it feels like their spawn rates are increased somehow. I recognize them as part of the Doom family as much as I do my be-hated Revenants, and they add a truly unique jeopardy to the game that's not quite like any of the other enemies.

[ICID]

Huge clouds of lost souls in maps like the aforementioned God Machine are awe-inspiring, bullying the big meatball by standing against his mouth and making him eat SSG is funny, dodging a whole room of monsters to take out the high-priority PE in the back is thrilling...these are the memorable moments that make Doom great!

[The Lone Wolf]

When I first saw that thing, I thought it was an mini-boss. Well I wasn't wrong at all.

[The Lone Wolf]

Also by not forget to tell , instead of firing lost souls, Painy could shoot us with flames like an flying flame-thrower.

[baronofgibbitude]

As much as I hate them, I have to admit they are a necessary piece on the chess board. The lost soul cap probably could've been a little lower though 

[jazzmaster9]

As an idea they are great. I personally hate them and think they are completely annoying and un fun to fight. 

With that being said I use them A LOT in my maps, because I know there are people who will find them irritating as well :P

Edited May 21, 2021 by jazzmaster9

[Stabbey]

As many people have said, they're different from other monsters, which gives them a role.

 

Take a large cluster of mixed monsters. Without Pain Elementals, you can circle around the cluster for days and let in-fighting whittle them all down without needing to fire a shot. Add Pain Elementals to that cluster and now the player has to engage to target them, instead of just relying on in-fighting and circling around. That's why they should exist.

[Teo Slayer]

[AnonKaiju]

Pain elementals to me are kinda like diet archviles. In that both archviles and pain elementals are enemies that punish you for relying on infighting but one is noticably less threatening then the other

[BaileyTW]

They fit a special role that is similar to the archevile but different enough to be unique. I think that's good but also if I were playing a level with a pain elemental and low ammo right now I would not be saying this and instead be saying AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[The BMFG]

8 hours ago, Teo Slayer said:

ah yes civvie 11. the person who is most afraid of john Carmack's pure intelligence and the time he made a thermite to burn through a window at his school so him and some other kids could steal some computers

[Geniraul]

Some enemies like lost souls and pain elementals might be annoying, but I think without them the gameplay wouldn't be as rich as it is now. The ability to fly and the techniques of their attacks is what makes them so special — lost souls literally flying into your face instead of just shooting, and pain elementals having enemies — the aforementioned lost souls — as their projectiles, and making them leaping out into your face. Pain elementals are one of the very few monsters that cannot be resurrected, and when they die they usually leave a 'gift' for you, at that nowadays no lost soul limit means an extra challenge.

[SupremeBioVizier]

They're beautiful creatures that deserve our double barrel..ya the lost souls have to be my favorite in game play

[Astar]

Yes. Absolutely.
I love meatballs

[DoomPlayer00]

Yes. Pain Elementals are almost like an alternate flying version of Arch-vile to me. Not necessarily a huge threat when alone but a high priority target in larger fights as they'll restrict your movement and force you to waste more ammo the longer you keep them around.

[T-Rex]

Pain Elementals definitely add challenge to the game. Since Lost Souls by themselves are annoying as they can be evasive when they're charging around and they can be so unpredictable when they're attacking, Pain Elementals can make things worse for the player since they spawn Lost Souls with no stopping, not counting the 21 Lost Soul limit on vanilla and some source ports, and doubly so since the enemies present usually requires you to be carrying the rocket launcher, and the projectile rather than hitting the enemies explodes in contact with the lost soul that flew right up your face. So yeah, Pain Elementals not only can waste your ammo, but forces you to be careful when using the rocket launcher, and when you kill one, don't think you're safe, cause when the three souls emerge from the destroyed pain elemental, they fly around and can damage you badly, which makes the pain elemental almost as dangerous as chaingunners, arachnotrons, revenants, mancubi and arch-viles.

Edited August 22, 2023 by T-Rex

[Pechudin]

Good idea? No.

 

Best idea? Y E S.

[TheMightyWhoosh]

They were a glorious idea and I’ve used them aplenty in the latest project. They can add to the urgency of a fight and force the player to quickly calculate as to how and when to deal with them. 

[Herr Dethnout]

No.

Every monster that his main attack consists on shit out Lost Souls is a complete trash.

[Gibbitudinous]

All of Doom 2's new monsters were clearly designed to have a distinct "oh fuck no" factor when utilized effectively, and the chaingunner, pain elemental, and archvile are at the top of that list for how universally the player will want them dead asap when they show up, all for very different reasons.

[WorldMachine]

In DOOM 64? No. Just like civvie11 said in his DOOM 64 video about how Midway had to cut monsters because of cartridge space, the PE would have definitely been my first cut.

[isme]

I've back to Doom after many years off and I'm rediscovering the original levels.

 

The first time I understood the urgency of a pain elemental was in TNT: Evilution MAP02 Human BBQ. It's not alone so the lost souls get distracted and infight with the other monsters. Equally the other baddies get in the way when you're trying to pop the meatball! It's a tense battle and I think the crucial point of the map. Yes, it's an annoying creature but part of a satisfying battle.

Edited August 25, 2023 by isme

[banjiepixel]

Pain Elemental were actually pretty good idea. The lost souls limits keeps them pretty well in check. I do with that source ports would had gone with giving each Pain Elemental in the map their own limit instead of going with unlimited Lost Soul spawning. I also wouldn't had minded Pain Elementals starting to spit out single Mancubus fireballs once the Lost Soul limit has been reached in the original game.

[QuaketallicA]

On 8/25/2023 at 2:17 PM, banjiepixel said:

Pain Elemental were actually pretty good idea. The lost souls limits keeps them pretty well in check. I do with that source ports would had gone with giving each Pain Elemental in the map their own limit instead of going with unlimited Lost Soul spawning. I also wouldn't had minded Pain Elementals starting to spit out single Mancubus fireballs once the Lost Soul limit has been reached in the original game.

 

Yeah I always noticed that on the Pit level, the pain elementals try to breathe out lost souls, but can't. I always said, "They got the hiccups." Just can't seem to shake 'em! ;)

[Biz!]

nuh uh uh

[TheSlipgateStudios]

More like Pain-In-The-Ass Elementals! I'd say no, we all love to mash em like potatos!