Thoughts on DOOM's protagonist

[Megarop]

I agree with dusty_rhodes and Gerolf, I think doom guy was more likable back when he was just a heroic space marine and not some kind of superhuman with custom built demon power armor.

 

I think his unused voice lines from quake 3 were a pretty cool interpretation of the character.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Megarop

[Mayomancer]

I personally think leaving him as mostly a blank slate works really well, it's a pretty bare bones 'tough guy' and the bit of lore (and the pet bunny) do just enough to establish him as a likeable character.

 

Other games such as Blood and Duke 3D can be fun, but how likeable the characters are will depend much more on the sensibilities of the player. If you don't appreciate the machismo and 90's moral landscape of Duke Nukem you might skip the game entirely because of that, and lacking the superior intellect required to appreciate Blood's ahead-of-its-time CGI cutscenes will also affect your enjoyment of the game.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Mayomancer

[Sergeant_Mark_IV]

Doomguy? Great.
Doomslayer? Cringe.

[snapshot]

🤔 ..... 😐

 

 

[roadworx]

25 minutes ago, sluggard said:

🤔 ..... 😐

 

the worst depiction of doomguy, the crazed maniac one

 

not even ross could save it 😔

Edited June 25, 2021 by roadworx

[Maximum Matt]

I gotta say that he would be at least a little bit messed-up atomically, from all the teleporters he's been jumping through all these years

[Doomkid]

On 8/24/2019 at 2:58 PM, Doomkid said:

The whole “the squad Doomguy was travelling with goes in and gets fucked up” angle would be awesome, if that’s what they’re doing it will be a super cool layer that I’ll appreciate. I gotta dispute Ling’s claim that Doomguy was just eating a sandwich while all the shit went down though!

 

Doomguy was made to stay outside because the only reason he was even there is that he assaulted a superior officer. It’s common to be given the shitty/lame jobs when you’re under penalty in a military-like organisation. IIRC they thought the mission was gonna be kinda easy so they made the guy in the proverbial dunce cap (doomguy) sit outside and do the boring job of keeping an eye on the entrance.

 

I also gotta contest the claim that Doomguy is not iconic. I’ll meet you at “doesn’t have much character, is meant to be a blank slate for players to easily fill”, because that’s simply a statement of fact. But, his appearance is pretty damn iconic, at least to me - I mean it had to be right? Halo straight up jacked the character design, obviously SOME people thought it was pretty damn cool or iconic or whatever we wanna call it.

 

He gets angry enough to brutally assault a superior officer when told to fire on civilians. Most people wouldn’t have the nuts to even speak out of line when they’re a small military pawn, much less straight up beat the shit out of a CO. So there’s some character development.

 

He gets ultra pissed that his pet rabbit was murdered - not exactly Shakespeare but “having a pet and being heartbroken that it died” literally requires character and emotion, even if only the most basic sense of it.

 

He also isn’t a fan of destruction, at least when he’s still a normal human during Doom2. He literally says to himself that rebuilding Earth is going to be a lot more enjoyable than destroying it was. Now, of course, this was before he was entombed in hell between D64 and D4, but the point still stands.

 

I know it’s only crumbs, but the skeletal structure for a potentially interesting story is there already, as well as some super iconic imagery (cacodemons, doomguy’s armor, unnatural amounts of blue carpet indoors, etc etc).

 

Where the heck is the damn movie about Average Joe Military man with a heart of gold who beats up his CO, saves Earth, gets all

emotionally fucked up about losing his only loved one (his pet) then literally decides to live in hell to keep Earth saved, but gets trapped in a tomb by the demons, leaving the door wide open to a sequel that will never come!?

 

I mean fuck, take that premise, add in a couple good actors and some snappy dialogue but also some emotional bits to “humanize” Doomguy all while remembering that it’s a cheesy action flick that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Add plenty of ultra violent slapstick (exploded corpses running down stairs and stuff) and you got yourself enough material for an “actual” Doom movie. FFS I typed this summary up in 10 minutes, why is there not a single author or director who wants to tell the “real” damn DOOM story?! 

This was from a thread about the second Doom movie, hence the odd framing, but yeah, eh is pretty cool and doesn’t afraid of anything

 

Oh also, regarding him being a blank slate - I know it’s true in some sense, but...

On 4/2/2020 at 9:04 PM, Doomkid said:

I spend all day being boring old me. I play games to get away from that monotony for a while!

 

[omx32x]

i love both the the doom guy and the doom slayer versions of the character

 

i still think his best was in doom 64 but i like how they expended the character on the new series

[K_Doom]

Really bad. I liked it when he was a marine and did everything possible and impossible to save the planet. The sci-fi horror style of Final Doom gave me the impression that maybe he was scared because of the sinister songs, who wouldn't feel in his place? I thought his personality and personal life would be developed in the new games, so he would be a character closer to us like "Wow! I could be like him." But not. He's basically a machine, doesn't feel anything but rage and just accepts being abducted and put into a coma on a strange planet haha. Other than that I wanted something more down to earth, but Doomguy basically turned into a soulless superhero in super armor.

[K_Doom]

7 hours ago, Mayomancer said:

Eu pessoalmente acho que deixá-lo como uma lousa em branco funciona muito bem, é um 'cara durão' e um pouco de tradição (e o coelho de estimação) fazem apenas o suficiente para estabelecê-lo como um personagem agradável.

 

Outros jogos como Blood e Duke 3D podem ser divertidos, mas a simpatia dos personagens dependerá muito mais da sensibilidade do jogador. Se você não aprecia o machismo e a paisagem moral dos anos 90 de Duke Nukem, você pode pular o jogo totalmente por causa disso, e a falta do intelecto superior necessário para apreciar as cenas de CGI adiantadas de Blood também afetará sua diversão com o jogos.

Doomslayer doesn't even look human, so it has as much personality as Jason Vorhess lol

[K_Doom]

The aspect of adding new alien races where Doomslayer works / allies with them, becomes a prisoner of Argenta, gains new powers and then destroys "God" (Dark Lord) ??? Wtf

And after he goes into a coma, Maykr puts him in a coffin and his life is basically going to be waking up, killing some demons and sleeping again... bruh

[Sergeant_Mark_IV]

The ending makes Doomslayer look like a sub. The alien is like "ok fun time is over, back to your little box" and Doomslayer is like "yaaaas daddy!!!!"

[Mayomancer]

3 hours ago, K_Doom said:

Doomslayer doesn't even look human, so it has as much personality as Jason Vorhess lol

 

I'm talking about the main character of the original games, since the question is about Doomguy. Doom slayer is pretty much another thing entirely since they decided to turn him into a demigod like figure. I'll agree with Sgt. MkIV on his opinion about that.

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Mayomancer

[Teo Slayer]

6 hours ago, Doomkid said:

Halo straight up jacked the character design, obviously SOME people thought it was pretty damn cool or iconic or whatever we wanna call it

I personally don't see Master Chief as I see Doomguy. He is ok but for me, he isn't cool like Doomguy

[Teo Slayer]

47 minutes ago, Sergeant_Mark_IV said:

The ending makes Doomslayer look like a sub. The alien is like "ok fun time is over, back to your little box" and Doomslayer is like "yaaaas daddy!!!!"

Ancient Gods Part II ending in a nutshell

[chemo]

50 minutes ago, Sergeant_Mark_IV said:

The ending makes Doomslayer look like a sub. The alien is like "ok fun time is over, back to your little box" and Doomslayer is like "yaaaas daddy!!!!"

Where is it established in the ending that Doomguy goes back into stasis willingly?

 

If such a sign of weakness ruins the character for you, then how come the ending of Knee-Deep in the Dead didn't?

[F your good vibes bad vibes only]

Doomguy seems pretty cool-headed all things considered. And resilient.

[NoXion]

Doomguy is no ordinary human in my opinion. He fights through at least three entire games' worth of Hellspawn and chooses to stick around in Hell. I think most people would shatter into a million pieces under that kind of pressure. But while Doomguy may have cracked, he didn't break.

So I really don't have a problem with the newer games giving him a wild sci-fi barbarian backstory. He's the perfect candidate for the job.

[SLOTH MARINE (CB)]

10 hours ago, Sergeant_Mark_IV said:

Doomguy? Great.
Doomslayer? Cringe.

exactly (no offense to doom eternal fans)

[Final Verdict]

 

For me Doomguy was the quite type with a will of iron.

 

Yes he's stocky and fast and overall in excellent physical condition, but it is his strength of mind that makes him who he is. It is an often overlooked quality, but no less important. Without it you won't get far in life and I would argue it's even more significant in the modern age. It's why I prefer the original Doomguy, he was just an average marine going through hell (both kinds). His only real weapon was his mind. 

 

To me that is Doomguy. Quite, strong, determined and with an iron grip on life. Slightly angry too, but we'll skip that part.

 

Then we have the Slayer, he walks into the room and everyone stops to look upon his majestic form. Mouths open in in pure awe as they try to comprehend the brilliance of the figure before them. He settles his god-like gaze upon the vast hordes arrayed against him. Then with a dismissive 'hmpf' he dives in and proceeds to wreck shop.

 

The Slayer was modelled after all the super hero stuff of the last decade. Sure it's cool in a power fantasy kind of way, but it doesn't quite connect in the same way. The modern games were enjoyable but I personally wasn't into the Slayer as a character.

 

I couldn't help but feel that if you replaced the Slayer with some super hero you'd barely notice. Except for the costume. 

 

In any case, that's my thoughts on both Doomguy and Doomslayer.

 

 

[1Destro3456]

he's the protagonist of the video game Doom

[garudave]

14 hours ago, DavidN said:

I love the He-Man comparison, I hadn’t thought of it that way but it really does resemble it, a mixture of magic and technology with an invincible hero who lives in a floating castle. And what is Skeletor, if not a Revenant in a cowl with a silly accent. I loved Doom Eternal (and Doom 2016) as games, but I think of them as something completely separate from Doom because they’re not good (classic) Doom games - they play more like Devil May Cry, with you bashing demons to earn upgrades to bash more demons in increasingly stylish ways.

 

I agree, I think Doom Eternal is a high quality game, and I've personally made the same comparison to Devil May Cry.  DMCV and Doom Eternal are two of my favorite games from last gen.  I love the aesthetics of Eternal in particular, there is a wild variety of great locations and cool monsters to fight in that game. 

 

I would just prefer if there was less context and exposition given, it really ends up being a nuisance for me, especially skipping all of it in my recent playthroughs.  A great part of classic Doom is all the mystery as you move between abstract levels, it instills a sense of wonder as you explore the environments.  That feeling is definitely absent in the new interpretations, and I think they could bring it back in a big way if there weren't codex entries about every location and Vega radioing in to tell you what's going on.

 

That same mystery and wonder applied to the Doomguy in the original games and to some degree in Doom 2016.  The little tidbits of characterization in the intermission screens were just enough to let you color in the details as you were moving around in the game, alone in hell's halls.  That's another big part of the Doom experience that was eschewed in the reinterpretation: the loneliness.

 

As much as I like new Doom, I think there is a lot of potential to make an interpretation of it that taps into the weird, exploratory, and thoughtful vibes of the original games.  I would love to see a AAA title come out about fighting a lonely path through vague nightmare worlds with the bare minimum of motive or characterization to pull you forward.  Giving the player room to ponder is core to the Doom experience imo.

[NUCLEONBOI]

On 6/24/2021 at 6:54 PM, CrystalHawk_Doom said:

He/she/whatever is pretty cool, although I say that since I've always considered doomguy to be a blank template for the player to project onto.

He is a he. It literally says GUY in his name. I don't even think he is a GUY he is the pinnacle of MAN.

[1Destro3456]

10 minutes ago, NUCLEONBOI said:

He is a he. It literally says GUY in his name. I don't even think he is a GUY he is the pinnacle of MAN.

Guy is gender neutral lol

and even if it wasn't that's not @CrystalHawk_Doom point, CrystalHawk's not talking cannon 

Edited June 25, 2021 by 1Destro3456

[Hawk of The Crystals]

54 minutes ago, NUCLEONBOI said:

He is a he. It literally says GUY in his name. I don't even think he is a GUY he is the pinnacle of MAN.

Bruh, tell me where in any official media outside of the fanbase doomguy is the marine's official name?

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

1 hour ago, NUCLEONBOI said:

He is a he. It literally says GUY in his name. I don't even think he is a GUY he is the pinnacle of MAN.

Doomguy is supposed to be you, whether you're a boy, a girl, a robot, or something else, "he's" supposed to be an avatar, so the player can feel like it's him/her/etc. who's massacring hell.

[snapshot]

(nevermind, misread original question)

Edited June 25, 2021 by sluggard

[The Lone Wolf]

DoomGuy who tries to survive through horrors filled corridors of UAC facilities with hell force.

DoomSlayer just a demigod who can single handedly kill demons.

 

-I love my doomguy as a crazy ordinary man who lost his mind after what he witnessed in UAC Phobos accident. I don't mind new DoomGuy honestly but not my type of man.

[RDETalus]

He is Flynn Taggart

[Jello]

He's Doomguy, and he kills demons. His business is killing hordes of hellspawn, and business is good.

 

I still don't understand why he needs a backstory or lineage, the entirety of the game is summed up pretty quickly. "He's a Space Marine. Everyone else is dead. And there's a shitload of demons."