Multiplat DOOM: The Dark Ages

Chubz said:
Damn dude, you are SO right. I just tried the Super Shotgun against him and he goes down SO fast that way! All you basically have to do is shoot, then parry--rinse, repeat. After just a few point-blank shots he's done for. If you encounter him from afar, you can also use a Shield Bash to instantly close the distance and do a bit of damage in the process. When you do that he'll almost immediately swing at you with a (parryable) attack though, so you have to be ready to parry instantly or else you're going to take massive damage.
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Super Shotgun feels a little broken tbh. I’m using it for the duration of a lot of fights and it melts anything I’m able to get close to.
 
your
Dizzy said:
Super Shotgun feels a little broken tbh. I’m using it for the duration of a lot of fights and it melts anything I’m able to get close to.
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many weapons feel very strong.. I’m only on ultra violence but I’m running through it with the SS, chainshot, and impaler mostly. The weapons and mods are very enjoyable.
 
TheMaster said:
I hadn't played a DOOM game for about 30 years until 2016 and got bored after the first couple of chapters. Same formula I remember as ever, circle strafe shoot jump circle strafe repeat. I get that they wanted to introduce it to a new audience and pay homage to the original but I was suprised I was getting feelings of monotony that reminded of just DOOM or Quake with better graphics. Eternal on the other hand was what OG DOOM was for this era; a ground breaking and inovative game the pushed the genre to new heiheights
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I was never a Doom fan until Doom 3. By the time I played the OG's, compared to quake engine 3 Jedi Outcast-like games (my first pc), they were super dated and were never as good as Dark Forces or Duke 3D to me.

I only had access to a few games on my dad's pc back then. Maybe if I played OG Doom near launch like Dark Forces I'd have some nostalgia for them.

I hear Doom 2016 is close to how the originals were, but it's fresh for me and vastly different from D3.

It's the mindless kill fest I needed right now, with some cool lore.I especially love how you need to pull off glory kills.

Melee It's so satisfying, especially against the tougher enemies, like those shield pricks you need to circle around. I feel like a boxer. Is there a better way to take those shields down? Please tell me we get some upgrade that nullifies them, they're really my only threat so far.

It sucks to hear that the music guy is gone from Dark Ages. The way it's implemented makes it as crucial as any game mechanic. It's sooooo damn good!
 
It's funny, I clearly remember people complaining about Doom Eternal for being different than 2016- common complaints were about the platforming/movement mechanics and being asked to switch weapons.

Now people are comparing Dark Ages to Eternal, as if those were the good old days.

ANYWAY after 2 levels in I have some impressions.

I have speed set to 120%, difficulty to Nightmare, parry window is at 2nd to lowest.

I am having fun.

I am not looking for any differences or anything. Just playing the game and having fun.
 
mixmastermo said:
It's funny, I clearly remember people complaining about Doom Eternal for being different than 2016- common complaints were about the platforming/movement mechanics and being asked to switch weapons.

Now people are comparing Dark Ages to Eternal, as if those were the good old days.

ANYWAY after 2 levels in I have some impressions.

I have speed set to 120%, difficulty to Nightmare, parry window is at 2nd to lowest.

I am having fun.

I am not looking for any differences or anything. Just playing the game and having fun.
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I can't remember exactly what I didn't like about Eternal's combat, but I think it was how we attacked? Did you need certain bullets, or weapons for different enemies, otherwise you did no damage?

I also remember how they placed things like ledges (monkey bars?) to traverse, which looked out of place in the world. It made it feel gamey. I liked the movement though, and it ran well despite my older PC at the time.

I'm looking forward to trying it out again though. At least it's dirt cheap often on Steam.
 
GtehMVP said:
I can't remember exactly what I didn't like about Eternal's combat, but I think it was how we attacked? Did you need certain bullets, or weapons for different enemies, otherwise you did no damage?

I also remember how they placed things like ledges (monkey bars?) to traverse, which looked out of place in the world. It made it feel gamey. I liked the movement though, and it ran well despite my older PC at the time.

I'm looking forward to trying it out again though. At least it's dirt cheap often on Steam.
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You don't need certain bullets or weapons for different enemy types but enemies do have weaknesses to certain weapons so they are more effective. Combine that with ammo being relatively sparse you're incentivized to exploit those weaknesses and use those weapons- but it is not mandatory.
 
Finally got around to playing the first level last night. Out of the gate the changes to the gameplay are a bit jarring but it’s way too early for me to give an opinion on how this will stack up to 2016 and Eternal for me when all is said and done.

As for my two cents on the changes, I think overall it’s good for id software to change things up and try something new. I appreciate that Eternal was not a rehash of the all the same mechanics as 2016 and I appreciate that Dark Ages is not just more of the same as Eternal. Of course Eternal “purists” won’t appreciate it, but I appreciate innovation and trying something new. At the end of the day, outside of og Doom to Doom II, the series as a whole has stayed fresh as Doom 3 is nothing like the og games, 2016 was very different than what came before it, Eternal was different and now Dark Ages being different still is a good thing too.

I haven’t tinkered with any of the sliders, but frankly I think it’s a good way to make up for the fact that Eternal was so restrictive in how it made you play the game. As a diehard fan of the og games who will always say they’re the pinnacle of the series (and probably my favourite games of all time) I for one did not like how Eternal dictated how you had to play, that certain enemies had to be hit in specific weak points, or at certain times, or with certain weapons (the most irritating having to “ghost bust” the blue ghost guys in TAG 1). IMO all weapons should be viable at all times against all enemies.

In any event, even if Dark Ages turns out to be the weakest of the trilogy I’ll nonetheless respect and appreciate that they’re trying something a little different. Will report back with further thoughts later.
 
I'm about halfway through the game now, and I’m definitely enjoying it more. At this point, Doom 3 is back at the bottom of my Doom ranking, though honestly, they’re all good games.


That said, this one’s still kind of a mixed bag. The combat’s great overall. Like the first two, once it clicks, it just feels natural. Controls are super responsive—I almost never get stuck on the environment, so any worries I had about janky movement are gone. It’s still slower-paced compared to the others, but when I die, it’s on me, not the controls. Lots of options like others have said. I am playing with the highest enemy aggression, lowest parry, and on UV. It really isn't too bad, and I like the amount of difficulty those few changes have brought. Took a while to die, but now it happens more regularly, which I don't mind either. Nightmare should be really fun.


Visually, it’s darker and muddier than the last one, but I actually don’t mind that. Those super-saturated colors can be a bit much after a while. Performance-wise, no issues at all. It runs smooth, no crashes or bugs, and I’m playing on Game Pass for PC.


The guns are awesome. No complaints there. There’s a good mix: long-range, close-range, crowd control, and some heavy hitters for armored enemies. It’s all covered. And the Pulverizer? That thing is just awesome. Love the design. The shield and melee are super useful too, so definitely worth upgrading early. You can play the way the game seems to want you to, but honestly, once you get into the rhythm, you can still run and gun and hold your own.


Level design so far is just okay. Nothing terrible, just nothing really memorable. It’s a lot of “go find the next fight, drop into an arena, repeat.” Again, that was done before. Luckily, the combat’s good enough to keep that from getting boring. The Atlan parts.... Whatever. Dragon ones? A bit less whatever. Neither are too interesting overall.


My biggest gripe is the art direction. It’s kind of all over the place. Eternal had some of that, but this one goes even harder. You’ve got barbarian kings with a semi-normal looking chick, futuristic characters, aliens with tentacles, demons, spaceships in Hell, Hellships in space… it’s a lot. If you like a mix of everything thrown at you at once, you might be into it, but for me, it just feels a bit chaotic. I do appreciate it having more iconic imagery, but I miss the days where it was completely overboard. Guess they had to go more crazy with the art because they didn't want to make it more Judeo-Christian than it has to be. Not really sure.

Overall, it is still a pretty damn good game so far. First impression/half of the game score? 7/7.5.
It definitely picked up the last 3 levels, so hopefully it continues to get better as I go.
 
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GtehMVP said:
Melee It's so satisfying, especially against the tougher enemies, like those shield pricks you need to circle around. I feel like a boxer. Is there a better way to take those shields down? Please tell me we get some upgrade that nullifies them, they're really my only threat so far.
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In 2016? I always used grenades.
 
ObsoleteSoul said:
I'm about halfway through the game now, and I’m definitely enjoying it more. At this point, Doom 3 is back at the bottom of my Doom ranking, though honestly, they’re all good games.


That said, this one’s still kind of a mixed bag. The combat’s great overall. Like the first two, once it clicks, it just feels natural. Controls are super responsive—I almost never get stuck on the environment, so any worries I had about janky movement are gone. It’s still slower-paced compared to the others, but when I die, it’s on me, not the controls. Lots of options like others have said. I am playing with the highest enemy aggression, lowest parry, and on UV. It really isn't too bad, and I like the amount of difficulty those few changes have brought. Took a while to die, but now it happens more regularly, which I don't mind either. Nightmare should be really fun.


Visually, it’s darker and muddier than the last one, but I actually don’t mind that. Those super-saturated colors can be a bit much after a while. Performance-wise, no issues at all. It runs smooth, no crashes or bugs, and I’m playing on Game Pass for PC.


The guns are awesome. No complaints there. There’s a good mix: long-range, close-range, crowd control, and some heavy hitters for armored enemies. It’s all covered. And the Pulverizer? That thing is just awesome. Love the design. The shield and melee are super useful too, so definitely worth upgrading early. You can play the way the game seems to want you to, but honestly, once you get into the rhythm, you can still run and gun and hold your own.


Level design so far is just okay. Nothing terrible, just nothing really memorable. It’s a lot of “go find the next fight, drop into an arena, repeat.” Again, that was done before. Luckily, the combat’s good enough to keep that from getting boring. The Atlan parts.... Whatever. Dragon ones? A bit less whatever. Neither are too interesting overall.


My biggest gripe is the art direction. It’s kind of all over the place. Eternal had some of that, but this one goes even harder. You’ve got barbarian kings with a semi-normal looking chick, futuristic characters, aliens with tentacles, demons, spaceships in Hell, Hellships in space… it’s a lot. If you like a mix of everything thrown at you at once, you might be into it, but for me, it just feels a bit chaotic. I do appreciate it having more iconic imagery, but I miss the days where it was completely overboard. Guess they had to go more crazy with the art because they didn't want to make it more Judeo-Christian than it has to be. Not really sure.

Overall, it is still a pretty damn good game so far. First impression/half of the game score? 7/7.5.
It definitely picked up the last 3 levels, so hopefully it continues to get better as I go.
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How does it compare to space marine?
 
Berserker13 said:
How does it compare to space marine?
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Doom is still much faster. The three similarities I feel right off is the hefty feel of melee paired with slowdown, character movement, to a slight degree, and parrying with its generous window. Though it is funny you mention it, as a level here has a kind of Necron-y vibe. It was a bit too familiar.

Both have that zoning out quality to the combat. Obviously no classes in Doom, as it is a traditional fps at its core and not a third person
 
I figured out my biggest issue with the soundtrack, the songs take too long to really get going and the fights are over too quickly. Eternal’s arenas could last for some time and Mick’s tracks punched you in the mouth almost immediately. There are so many good songs here but they never get a chance to do their thing.
 
Law Talkin’ Guy said:
I haven’t tinkered with any of the sliders, but frankly I think it’s a good way to make up for the fact that Eternal was so restrictive in how it made you play the game. As a diehard fan of the og games who will always say they’re the pinnacle of the series (and probably my favourite games of all time) I for one did not like how Eternal dictated how you had to play, that certain enemies had to be hit in specific weak points, or at certain times, or with certain weapons (the most irritating having to “ghost bust” the blue ghost guys in TAG 1). IMO all weapons should be viable at all times against all enemies.
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I hear this criticism sometimes about Eternal but I don't really think its valid. 2016 actually also basically incentivizes you to spam SSG and play a certain way which is why thats what most people do and you don't even need to utilize your full arsenal. Level design is simplistic, and glory killing is poorly implemented in comparison. It felt a chore after a while to me which is why I couldn't stick with it.
Eternal nailed it in strongly incentivizing being dynamic and using your entire arsenal and coming up with movement strategies that are necessary to proceed. How else are they going to do this other than giving enemies certain weaknesses and making ammo limited unless you replenish? Its a masterpiece of combat flow when you get into the 'Doom dance'.

There is still however a good range of ways to play. I found this because I was struggling with the Exultia part on Nightmare with the room with three of those arachnid bots where you start on a ledge above. I didn't have rocket launcher mod as there had been some glitch I think where it didnt save my upgrade before and I hadnt worked out they could be blasted with the machinegun SSG mod, so spent a good few hours having to learn to run-dash and jump around pot shotting them and switching up to take out everything in the room using this limited arsenal...by the time I completed that stage I had skilled up a lot before discovering accidentally the easier ways to kill them in the next scene. Actually it was a good thing because I just figured I was no good so had to master the movement dynamics then those skills translated. It did demonstate for me however just how good the level design was.

I can see similar potential with this game when they tweak the updates and do the DLC'S it's an interesting combat dynamic in its own right they have developed.
 
Not proud, but it’s done. 21 hours in one UV play through, and missing only a few things in a few levels. 4 achievements left. Easy 100% of this game if you’re into that sort of thing.

Would rate it overall a 7. I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed. Just missing that something something to make it a great Doom game.

Last 3.5 levels were fantastic though, especially the last two. If they had that design and energy throughout, it would be an 8. The start of game is just very weak imo, and the Atlan sections can kick rocks. Very very underwhelming. Dragon fares little better, but better than the Atlan stuff isn’t that difficult to achieve. Whoever directed when the music plays, the sound level it plays at, when it spikes, all that, is not utilized correctly. Not sure who that falls on, but the soundtrack is not bad. How they used it certainly is. It would just start getting some steam and killer riffs going, and then it’s over… Maybe it was Mick, and since he left, it wasn’t delivered properly. I’m not entirely sure, but it was disappointing nevertheless. ANNNNNDDDDD.....
The BFC? GTFOH

Let’s see what they do in the inevitable dlc. Hoping an all-hell journey. There was far too little of it in the three newer games imo.
 
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