QuaketallicA

What are you, Dr. Dolittle?

Nothing. The games are perfect as is. Really, I really mean that. I don't think we'd still be here today if they were any less.

I've played them a couple times but haven't revisited them as much as the iwads. They're just a collection of maps from the 90s that were maybe a cut above most for the time. What's more to say about them?

I find Halo on second hardest difficulty much more punishing than Doom. Half-Life also leads to much more death/reload than Doom does.

I agree. I think it would work best as a spinoff, focused on some random soldier, not the godly Slayer.

It would be interesting to see a "tactical" Doom game, but I am skeptical if that would really work well, only because the tactical genre of Rainbow Six and SWAT is a rather niche market, and even Doom 3 is still to some degree an action game. In the mid-00s the tactical genre got streamlined so that friendly a.i. controls only required one of a few different options--games like Rainbow 6 Vegas, Star Wars Republic Commando, or Brothers in Arms. However, in this genre of games, at times the directions were so simplistic and obvious, that it made the a.i. characters seem stupid for not automatically doing those things themselves. Actually one of the major innovations that Call of Duty 2 and 4 added was precisely the fact that the friendly a.i. didn't need to be hand-held like a baby and could handle themselves in firefights and seem competent without micro-management from the player. I wouldn't really call Doom "complex." Mil-sim games are complex. Way too complex that they're off-putting to me. Doom on the other hand has a beautiful simplicity to it that makes it instantly obvious how to play the game and how to figure things out. No tutorials, no explanations needed. You figure out the game just by playing it and discovering that you can get chainsaws and berserk packs, that secrets can be found. I think you're referring to the non-linear level design vs CoD being linear, but I don't know if being non-linear is necessarily more complex to play, just more interesting, with more options on re-play. There are actually a couple of the Black Ops games that, while still linear, don't feel usual corridor-like and actually offer wider open combat areas and multiple lanes to traverse down. Black Ops 2 campaign even has a rudimentary style of secret areas.

Well the original "Doom 4" project strikes me more as a successor to Doom 3. I'd hardly call that a "CoD clone," since it would probably still feature many different weapons (not a 2 gun limit) and actual health/armor not regenerating health. It would just be a much more grounded, narrative-driven approach which would make for good contrast to the recent games. It could take inspiration from series like Metro, Far Cry, or Terminator: Resistance. It could be just as much about scavenging and surviving as it is about shooting. It could go back to a more survival horror direction, but still feeling enough action movie-like to still feel like Doom. I don't see how they can top Doom Eternal. That game is perfect, and with the two Ancient Gods expansions, they take the formula that began in 2016 to its fullest. Both in story, and in gameplay, I think they've taken that excellent formula as far as it can go. Any follow-up that is less than the perfection that is Eternal, will inevitably seem anti-climactic. (Kind of like how Mortal Kombat 1 is a little disappointing to some only because MK 11 set the bar so high). That's why I suggested perhaps it's time to revisit the Doom 3 school of Dooming, and having a protagonist who is not the great Slayer but a lowly marine, which would actually be more in line with the original Doom Guy, as he was envisioned. Have a more serious, gritty tone rather than the fun, almost comedic tone at times. Not that I have a preference for one style over the other; they're both great. It just would provide good contrast since we've done a lot of the other style in recent years.

"Thank you, I'll be here all night."

Sigil II is amazing. I think it's a natural progression and evolution from the first Sigil, and I like it even better. Definitely don't do UV first time through...learned that the hard way. Cyberdemons everywhere make it a wholly unique challenge compared to normal difficulty. Also, the Jimmy Paddock soundtrack. And the Sigil 1 Buckethead soundtrack. Pure bliss. I absolutely love the midi and mp3 soundtracks. Romero has such wicked good taste in music, and the community has such talented composers.

I think Ultra-Violence is easiest to do first, since you know where everything is and tested the map yourself a bunch, so whatever the most fun, ideal sweet spot lies, that's UV. Then HMP aims to be just as satisfying as UV, but for someone who doesn't yet know what to expect or where the secrets are. So to be as punishing as you can, while still not dying and having to reload, without relying on secrets for health/powerups.

I landed up on this much circulated video of the cancelled Doom 4, before it morphed into 2016, and someone in the comments suggested this could work as a spin-off, which got me thinking. What if we got a new Doom game that is set as a prequel to Eternal, from the P.O.V. of the ARC members as Earth falls to the demons? Sounds like it would be a great idea for a game. The last two Dooms have been amazing, but it would make for good contrast. Those are a total power fantasy for the player, with minimal story, maximum gameplay. They could pivot to a radically different style of gameplay for the spinoff, since you're no longer Doom Guy but one of the lowly soldiers who is fated to fail. All you can do is retreat, and hope to survive to see another day. Something with a real, post-apocalyptic vibe like the future war segments of the Terminator films, where the Demons are just as menacing as the machines in those films. I think that could totally work and make for a great game. What do you think? Would you be interested?

I think there's a way to disable that. Try disabling Steam in-game overlay, see if that does it. Or some option in settings for notifications.

I don't know about removing it entirely, but you can go to Brutal Doom options and turn down the gore to the minimum setting, and in GZDoom settings turn "decals" limit to 0, so you don't get any blood splattering on walls.

Thank you! I feel the same way! I don't see any benefit in retro-actively adding them to games that previously didn't have them. I mean, it's a nice thing in modern games that when you beat Chapter X of story mode, you get a nice popup or after-game "achievement" telling you you've done so and so, and that's fine and all, but I've never felt a need to got hunting for achievements, in most games. They're a nice thing to try and unlock if it's reasonably feasible, but I wouldn't ever stress or obsess about getting them all. There will always be a couple you miss for whatever reason (usually the multiplayer achievements.)

Well you're not alone. They added those Secret Encounters in Doom Eternal. It is a nice idea. Of course for Serious Sam, every secret is practically going to punish you far worse than whatever armor/health it originally gave anyway.