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I've got a number of probably unusual experiences as a Doom fan.

 

On my first playthrough of Doom 1, I did well against the bruisers and the Cyberdemon, though I probably died once or twice, but I died nearly immediately against the Spider Mastermind and then several more times because of the harder pistol start. Even funnier is that I think I was aware of its reputation as a lame easy final boss already, so I was certainly taken off guard. It's also probably the first time I learned to use infighting as a strategy. All of this is to say that the Mastermind was, for me, the most challenging and satisfying boss to defeat.

 

I nearly always play Doom fairly cautiously and slowly and as strategically as I can which is probably related to the above point. I wouldn't have gone in guns blazing with the BFG against an unfamiliar enemy.

 

I also had a lot of trouble against the Icon of Sin, and I think I might even have looked up what I had to do. Apparently the giant opening wasn't an obvious enough hint. I think I gathered that you need to use rockets, but somehow failed to deduce that you need to time your shots while the platform rises. It's been a while, so I'm not sure about the specifics.

 

It took me a long time to play Plutonia, and when I did it was on GZDoom with Smooth Doom. I didn't find it appealing sounding, since its reputation as highly difficult turned me away along with not having any new mechanics like weapons or enemies.

 

Most of the time I don't save the game unless I want to stop playing. I also haven't really committed to either continuous or pistol starting, and I usually base it on if I die or not.

 

It took me until last year to play Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil and Doom Eternal. I still haven't played the Ancient Gods and probably never will.

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I'm not really sure this is all that controversial, but a little part of me dies every time I see another public Zandronum server hosting Brutal Doom. There's something viscerally satisfying and extremely commendable about the simple elegance of the original Doom's engine, and secretly I worry that magic will one day be forgotten forever.

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i don't want to play wads that use exclusively (or predominately) vanilla textures in 2023, unless i'm replaying the OG games/expansions. the "90's look" is beaten to death, lazy, and extremely overrated in general.

 

and no, disliking new Doom games isn't a personality trait.

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3 hours ago, noisebloom said:

I'm not really sure this is all that controversial, but a little part of me dies every time I see another public Zandronum server hosting Brutal Doom. There's something viscerally satisfying and extremely commendable about the simple elegance of the original Doom's engine, and secretly I worry that magic will one day be forgotten forever.

 

I agree, I have never enjoyed any mod as much as the original design and so at most they're fun to try out and appreciate. Brutal Doom is fine work but I also will be blunt and say it's not Doom. Something like Metadoom at least doesn't stray so far and it's nice as a tribute to the franchise. Even though it's the point of it I think it has far too much in it.

 

I am the opposite of the person above me, I love the original looks of Doom 1 and 2, and I much prefer a tasteful reinvention of that than trying to do something extremely different which really moves away from the essence of Doom. I think Back to Saturn X is fun, it's pretty, it's well designed and the music is great... and none of it is very Doom outside of the gameplay experience. 

Edited by hybridial

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In 2013, the first time I played Doom 2: Hell on Earth; I got bored a third of the way thru and was to excited by the new-to-me Brutal Doom and ended up beating it while idclip-ing the Icon of Sin

 

near a decade later in 2021 and rediscovering the wonders of Doom: I vowed to beat all of Doom 2's 32 maps UV Pistol Start vanilla; and got sick and tire definitely by downtown and was way to excited by the new-to-me Codename: Demolitionist and ended up beating it flying up to the Icon of Sin

 

By now I have finally beaten 31 maps of Doom 2: Hell on Earth UV Pistol-start vanilla, I am also currently on map 27 of Evilution and 23 of Plutonia under the very same restrictions and am a staunch advocate of chunky specter rendering; But to this day I have yet to figure out what the shit to do in downtown and am unable to beat it (Or barrel's o' fun) [or The Chasm]

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On 1/28/2023 at 7:34 PM, El juancho said:

I think that Alien Vendetta map11 is one of the best maps in the WAD

 

I think Alien Vendetta map 11 is one of the best classic Doom maps ever made. Ever.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't know my Doom history well, specifically knowing about which authors did what. I can absolutely remember obscure maps from certain megawads but not knowing who did them. If you asked my favorite mappers, I would have a hard time to instantly think of many, cause I forget those details.

 

For example, you say Alien Vendetta map 11 above, and I instantly jump "YES! That epic map with the huge marble temple on top of rocky mountains!!!"

But who did that? I need to check the doom wiki right now.

 

Yesterday I finished a relatively unknown megawad that I liked, called Echelon. I see the name of the author and I am like "sounds familiar" but let's see doom wiki what else he did. And I was like, wow! Some of my favorite maps in Eternal Doom, and Master Levels. I instantly know these maps are by the titles and number slot. But without checking wiki I wouldn't have known who did what. And then I forget.

 

I like listening to episodes of An Evening with Nirvana, but maybe 10-20% of the names are familiar. I need to refresh my doom history..

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  • 2 weeks later...

- I play with the mouse, auto aim disabled and no cross hairs, but I just can't get bit by the keyboard-only bug now that we've got mouse look available.

    * Only ever defeated the Icon of Sin at the end of DOOM 2 just ONCE, without the mouse.  

- I save and load a lot.

- I'm slow af. A typical, modern pwad level's par will be at 3:00 and I'll take 49:49 to get through it.

- The first time I beat both episodes of FINAL DOOM it was on I'm Too Young To Die, the second was on Hey Not Too Rough...it was only my THIRD run through that I could handle FINAL DOOM on UV.

- In 1994, the sound of Imps snorting and former humans growling in other rooms scared me so bad I would still hear them for a few seconds after I exited the game. Same applied for Arch-Viles.

    * As a result of this, for a while I played with the sound off, until my preteen brain realized the lack of situational awareness made the game even scarier.

- The first couple times, I used cheats to skip the areas of Knee Deep In The Dead with the slow strobe lights.

- Seeing a pattern here? I am keen to point out that, if you're as old as I am and played DOOM in 1994, for some of us once upon a time, DOOM actually was terrifying. Not for nothing did DOOM 3 try to be scary, though the original never really relied on jumps scares as such...thus DOOM 3 is a thing all of its own. 

 

Edited by TheEyeOfStone

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On 2/23/2023 at 3:27 PM, Xfing said:

I used to pronounce UAC as "you ack" before I heard the proper way to pronounce it lol

I still do. I mean, are you supposed to pronounce each letter individually? That takes longer than saying youack; and people generally tend to mispronounce abbreviations or acronyms anyway, like SCUBA or LASER. I'll keep saying youack thank you very much. And I'll still call the mod "Marines of UAC" "Mooack".

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1 hour ago, Jello said:

I still do. I mean, are you supposed to pronounce each letter individually? That takes longer than saying youack; and people generally tend to mispronounce abbreviations or acronyms anyway, like SCUBA or LASER. I'll keep saying youack thank you very much. And I'll still call the mod "Marines of UAC" "Mooack".

Nice, I thought that was just something a non-native speaker like myself would do. Looks like it's just pure, basic intuition to do so, after all :D

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Huh, i just got a new Hard Disk Drive and i Must've Installed The Wrong "doom" and the Demon's keep saying "i gotchu dude" and shooting their guns at me. sometimes a "wooooo" too

Edited by heliumlamb

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I will still die to MAP02 of TNT (Human BBQ) like 6/10 times I play the map. I've beaten Scythe 2 on UV.

 

I̶'̶v̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶t̶i̶o̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶i̶s̶h̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶e̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶.̶

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Doom 2 chasm is the best map in the doom 2 and you cant change in my mind.

Edited by Ozcar

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I never absorb any of the architecture or general level design of WADs I play. If I remember it off the top of my head it's because either I've played it multiple times or I've forced myself to pay attention so I can appreciate it more.

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Until the last 3 days, I had never attempted a Pistol Start/No Save run ever in all my years of playing Doom/Doom II.

Gotta say it was quite the experience, and it felt like playing the original games all over again fresh because you have to approach everything so differently.

The game is definitely harder... and not always in ways you'd expect.  My most difficult levels being:

  • The Catacombs
  • Barrels of Fun
  • Against Thee Wickedly
  • The Pit

In about that order, now onto TNT and Plutonia...

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One day I thought I was home alone and was mindlessly singing the midi for Doom II MAP04 when I suddenly had the horrible realization that my mom was in her room hearing everything. We've never spoken of it since.

Edited by spineapple tea

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-I use the pump shotgun more than the super shotgun.

 

-I find the plasma rifle to be practically useless.

 

-I think the arch-ville is a cool enemy (even though I will absolutely decimate him on sight).

 

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-I use the pump shotgun more than the super shotgun.

 

-I find the plasma rifle to be practically useless.

 

-I think the arch-ville is a cool enemy (even though I will absolutely decimate him on sight).

 

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On 3/1/2023 at 11:00 PM, spineapple tea said:

One day I thought I was home alone and was mindlessly singing the midi for Doom II MAP04 when I suddenly had the horrible realization that my mom was in her room hearing everything. We've never spoken of it since.

What's wrong about it?

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On 3/4/2023 at 3:04 AM, MrHellstorm17 said:

What's wrong about it?

Can't speak for spineapple, but it always came across (to me) as the cheesiest sounding track from Doom II.
A good track by all means, but more of a guilty pleasure you wouldn't want to be caught singing.

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On 2/25/2023 at 2:03 AM, spineapple tea said:

I will still die to MAP02 of TNT (Human BBQ) like 6/10 times I play the map. I've beaten Scythe 2 on UV.

 

I̶'̶v̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶t̶i̶o̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶i̶s̶h̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶e̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶.̶

Painfully relatable. That specter / pain elemental trap is not easy without an SSG. And there's no way to do it with one. I've beaten a lot of hard wads cough cough Community Chest cough cough I still have trouble with the occasional IWAD map. Doom 2's Catacombs still gets me, especially from pistol - start. 

2 hours ago, Robo_Cola said:

Can't speak for spineapple, but it always came across (to me) as the cheesiest sounding track from Doom II.
A good track by all means, but more of a guilty pleasure you wouldn't want to be caught singing.

I mean, singing a midi from an (almost) 30 - year - old game is a little embarrassing. I'm guilty of the same though. Some of the new stuff is darn catchy too. Ever listen to Desk Lamp from Sunlust / Ancient Aliens?

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3 hours ago, Robo_Cola said:

Can't speak for spineapple, but it always came across (to me) as the cheesiest sounding track from Doom II.
A good track by all means, but more of a guilty pleasure you wouldn't want to be caught singing.

That and my false perception of being home alone led me to add some autistic artistic flair to it. Frankly, decino is at fault for this whole thing because I had seen a meme related to him show up earlier on Youtube with the midi and it got stuck in my head. Curses.

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Despite growing up on Doom 2 and also having Final Doom and Icarus: Alien Vanguard on the family computer back in the day, I never actually played Doom until last year. I'm 34.

 

I also only recently did the math and realized my dad had some of the hottest PC games of the 90s within a year of when they came out.

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  • 1 month later...

For the longest time I thought the Doomguy's face shrunk and got narrower when going from the above face (40-59% health) to the bottom one (20-39%)

 

image.png.36b715363c68184d9d765c951b3c5c64.png

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I honestly don't remember experiencing leaky Radiation Suits until after I had read about them in the Doomwiki, now I feel they're a lot more common lol

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