Potatoguy

To clarify, "reactionary" enemies are any enemy in Doom Eternal that require quick reactions/responses to allow the greatest means to damage them. Easiest example is Marauder, everyone's favorite asshole. He's pretty much the poster-child for this enemy type in DE; the enemies that are otherwise invulnerable or very hard to kill UNLESS you do this specific thing in a short amount of time. Marauder is somehow much harder to kill with any other conventional means that would annihilate scores of demons without a second thought. As intended, the only reliable way to inflict the most pain to the Fallen Sentinel warrior is to hit them during the telegraph attack wind-up. Popularly referred to as "green-light, red-light" combat. Marauder isn't the only reactionary-based enemy. Some others, bosses included, fall into this category as well, most coming from the DLCs. Gladiator, Blood Angel, Armored Baron, and the Big Red Man of Hell are all reactionary enemies. Some better executed than others. But the main question still stands; Would DE have been better without these kind of opponents? I would say yes, but I wouldn't want a complete removal of them either. My biggest beef of a lot of these reactionary-based enemies is how much they FORCE you to attack them in very few options. As mentioned, normal weapon tactics used to kill any other demon are just rendered useless against these enemies. The obvious example is a BFG shot doing jack sh@# to the Marauder unless he's been hit during his wind-up. This is a very big reason why I REALLY don't have full satisfaction against the Marauder. I really do like him as a concept, but overall execution is so restricting to battle tactics available, it just saps a lot of enjoyment that he could have otherwise have. Like, would have been so HARD to make his shield be a mechanic of itself? Like maybe the shield isn't invulnerable, and instead had a very high health threshold. I would have been SO DAMN HYPED if that shield of his was destroyable with any super-weapon (BFG, Unmakyr, Crucible, etc) in quick succession, but it would then make the Marauder MUCH more aggressive. Since now he has lost his means of defense, the Marauder could now go on a complete offensive, probably attacking and closing the gap twice as before. This is only just wishful-thinking, but SO MANY of these reactionary enemies would have been far more enjoyable for me to fight if I can just fucking DO something to remove their invincibility bullshit. Let there be a drawback, sure, but FUCK IT, let me KILL THEM. What are your guy's take?

I have no idea who that is. Looks like a Makyr person. [sarcasm]

It's hard to get excited for any film nowadays when the notion, "it's X, but-" keeps popping into my head. In a nutshell, stop with goddamn reboots/prequels/sequels, and come up with new shit. The only most recent film i've thoroughly enjoyed front and back was Hardcore Henry. I was disinterested in the entire MCU, to the point I still haven't even seen Endgame fully yet. Practically no film of the above even garnered an interest, since i've been burned out by too many of them just being ok. It's just... hard to find a film to give a damn for, when I feel we've reach the creative bottom of the barrel at hollywood, that just continuously makes the most recognizable or safest shit.

Took me awhile to realize that was a zombified president. I think.

The added "Looney Tunes birds over the head of stunned enemies" was really unnecessary. Makes it doubly-worse that you can't toggle the effect off, like you would practically any other FX or indicator in DE. I believe the atmosphere was utterly gutted from 2016 to DE, and just moreso into the 2nd DLC. Less grit, more flamboyance. Less reservedness, and more in-you-face. Probably why I have this notion is that there were unexplained or obscure things in 2016, whereas DE just explains EVERYTHING. Losing that mystical atmosphere, and just having everything dumped at you, regardless if you want it or not.

Just less of Eternal, and more of 2016. Be it in gameplay, lore, level design, etc. Whatever they did on 2016. Do more of that. Be it Quake, another Doom, or fucking Daikatana. Just less of however Eternal went.

I've come back from the dead to rant about how dogshit of a boss fight Davoth/Dark Lord/Satan/whatever the fuck he is. MAN, I've never felt so unsatisfied for a final boss this hard. It's not the fact that this is suppose to be the BIG ULTIMATE "ALL OF REALITY DEPENDS ON THIS FIGHT," boiling down to man vs armored man. It's not the fact that so much lore bullshit was redone, rewritten, remade, and regurgitated for this to happen. It's not the fact that just getting to the mythical "heart of hell" area being underwhelming as sin to get there. It's not the fact that SO MUCH FUCKING LOOSE ENDS WAS LEFT after beating the fucking thing, that killing him was unsatisfying. HELL, it's not even the fact that this boss is just a Marauder 2.0 with shit lifesteal sprinkled in to drag a 5 minute boss fight to a 50 minute slog. I am so goddamn pissed at this boss fight for it's just doesn't let me have freedom to fight it however i want it. You know what was a good boss fight? Cyberdemon from Doom 2016. What's an even better boss fight, that's also a final boss? Icon of Sin of DE. I can just list so many fun boss battles in the Doom franchise, and practically all of them share the sentiment that you can kill them however you please. Doom 1's Cyberdemon/Spidermastermind can be laughed at with a barrage of plasma or BFG shots. Doom 64's Mother can be trolled to death with a full powered Unmaker. Hell, Icon of Sin could be destroyed with a non-stop barrage of every single gun in your arsenal. Cause you had the freedom to do so. You can mention however many bosses in the doom franchise and how fun they were, for you can approach them however you please. They all would share the sentiment that you can kill them with whatever you got. Just shoot at it until it dies. The only notable stinker boss battles in the franchise would probably share the same flaw that "you have to kill it this way," and no others are present. It's that ol' testament everyone adores Doom Eternal (and to some extend, the franchise) for; being an FPS chess battle of sorts. You got all this shit you can approach fights with, and the situations made for you to go ham on. There's 3 barons; you can either Unmakyr them to oblivion, Mobile Turret them to mincemeat, Triple Rocket them to the floor, or FUCK IT, Crucible all 3 each for the hell of it. There's optimal ways to approach the fight, sure. But there's always going to be better ways to approach situations in all games. Its better to do X with Y, than with Z. It's just letting you having the option to do so is what makes the best FPSes, and the challenge orchestrated to make the options allowed at their greatest. DE (campaign only) stands as a very damn refinement of FPS mechanics for giving loads (maybe too many) of options to play with, and the heart-pounding intensity to gratify it (adjustable difficulty included). The DLCs started making this freedom, this FPS chess battle worse, for FORCING you to approach things in specific ways. This is why I love the Icon of Sin battle, and UTTERLY LOATH THIS FUCK of a final boss fight of the entire DE series. For being the absolute king of demons, the DARK LORD OF DARKNESS IN THE DARK PLACE OF DARK, being a goddamn stringent fight that you HAVE TO APPROACH in so few ways to win it. Can't just unload your entire arsenal of weaponry at it; he fucking HEALS BACK THE DAMAGE YOU DO if you time it wrongly. Can't have no other laid-back means of dodging his attacks except super-reactionary, else he heals it back if he gets a hit at you. Can't even just STUN HIM AND FIRE AWAY, LIKE YOU WOULD ANY DAMN MARAUDER. No, you HAVE to use the Sentinel Hammer to keep the stunlock for longer. Then and ONLY THEN... you have that faint sliver of "freedom" to hit him with whatever you got. BETTER DO IT QUICK BEFORE YOU DO THIS SHIT ALL OVER AGAIN. And FUCK YOU for even DARING to get hit or shooting at him at the wrong time. What cap this boss fight as a shitpile is those mistakes you do in the fight results in "time wasted." No other boss fight in DE has so much "time-wasting" mechanic as blatant as this bastard is. I've had my beef with Doom Eternal in other places, but its gameplay was something I can respect and love messing with. I just REALLY hate that this is how all of D2016 and DE ends at; a boss fight that is an antithesis of what made both modern Doom games so loved by many; the "freedom of approaching combat however you please." If this final boss fight was comparable to "chess," it would be having to battle 5 Queens with only a Rook and a Knight. Yeah, that sounds like fun. Fuck this DLC. Thank Christ i got it for free.