Multiplat DOOM: The Dark Ages

Chubz said:
Yep, just finished my Pandemonium run yesterday and attempting an Ultra Nightmare run right now!
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Nice! How many attempts did it take for pandemonium? And which were the worst levels?
 
KidBaize said:
Nice! How many attempts did it take for pandemonium? And which were the worst levels?
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I beat it on my very first attempt, but died ~3-4 times. I would argue one of the toughest levels is Belly of the Beast, just because it has so many tricky scenarios. That first big room where they dump nearly every enemy in the game on you is brutal (you have to deal with an Armored Mancubus, Revenant, Armored Arachnotron, Cacodemon, Cosmic Baron, Acolyte (Leader), several Battle Knights and Nightmare Imps, a bunch of Stone Imps, and more... hands down one of the most intense fights in the entire game).
 
Chubz said:
I beat it on my very first attempt, but died ~3-4 times. I would argue one of the toughest levels is Belly of the Beast, just because it has so many tricky scenarios. That first big room where they dump nearly every enemy in the game on you is brutal (you have to deal with an Armored Mancubus, Revenant, Armored Arachnotron, Cacodemon, Cosmic Baron, Acolyte (Leader), several Battle Knights and Nightmare Imps, a bunch of Stone Imps, and more... hands down one of the most intense fights in the entire game).
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Damn that's good. I made one attempt and it ended in Siege 1. I assume you did any%... what were your preferred weapons?

You're right, that first arena in Belly of the Beast is pretty crazy. How do you play it? I've been starting up the left side and working clockwise but those nightmare imps by the armored manc are such a pain. And then the cosmic baron always catches me off guard.
 
KidBaize said:
Damn that's good. I made one attempt and it ended in Siege 1. I assume you did any%... what were your preferred weapons?

You're right, that first arena in Belly of the Beast is pretty crazy. How do you play it? I've been starting up the left side and working clockwise but those nightmare imps by the armored manc are such a pain. And then the cosmic baron always catches me off guard.
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Nearly every weapon in the game is really good overall, but I would say my top choices are the Impaler and Chainshot, with the Cycler and Ravager coming out when I feel I need a higher rate of fire.

The Impaler is tremendously good, and should be the first weapon you try and upgrade to the 2nd tier (i.e. the 'Ruby' tier) IMO. When you upgrade it to that tier, you get two choices: Power up your bolts every time you use your shield in some way, or slow down time when you hold the fire button. The slow-mo upgrade is utterly worthless, so forget that shit. What you want is the power-up. As soon as you get that, you basically start launching supercharged bolts of doom. These things are so stupidly powerful, they literally one-shot Nightmare Imps and Hell Knights (if you headshot them) and can even superheat armor fairly quickly.

The Chainshot is almost as good, but falls a bit short for a few reasons. The main thing it's stupidly good at doing is pulverizing armor. Once you upgrade it, a single fully-charged shot can shatter an Armored Arachnotron in just a single hit, for example, which is insane. Sure, the SSG can crush armor as well... but can it do so from like 30+ yards away? Didn't think so! Its shortcomings are that it doesn't self-regenerate ammo like the Impaler (something I forgot to mention; jesus, that gun is the gift that just keeps on giving), it doesn't have quite the same range, and its rate of fire also isn't quite as high. It's still a phenomenal gun overall, though.

I'm not as crazy about the Cycler or Ravager, although they are tremendously useful in certain situations--especially the latter, since it can provide a steady stream of health once you fully upgrade it. The main issue I have with them is they simply can't kill as quickly as the Impaler and Chainshot, and they're also nowhere near as good as shattering armor.

Surprisingly, I've gotten to where I literally never use either of the shotguns. The basic Combat Shotty can be useful for applying burn and regenerating a bit of armor, but the weapon-switching is so slow I'd rather not constantly cycle over to it to burn targets, then back to another weapon. It's just too risky, and often not worth the reward. The SSG is super powerful, but its range is shit which seriously limits it compared to the Impaler and Chainshot. I personally feel those two guns render it damned near obsolete. It's still great fun to use though, and utterly WRECKS nearly everything provided you can close the distance.

I also don't think I can emphasize enough just how important it is to max out your shield early. The very last upgrade, which greatly increases the duration of the Shield Saw stun, is a godsend! That's one of the most important moves/abilities in the game, and for it to lock down demons for such a long period of time is something that will singlehandedly save your ass and make fights far more manageable.

As for that first Belly of the Beast arena, what I like to do is quickly kill the Battle Knight that runs towards you at the start of the battle, then immediately head counter-clockwise and kill the acid-spewing Mancubus up top. There's a climbable wall just underneath where he's positioned, and so you can use that to get up there to him. You can use the Shield Saw to stun him in place as you climb up there (and even well afterwards), preventing him from immediately counter-attacking up close. Once he's dead, you then work your way down and demolish the Armored Arachno with your Chainshot, using your Shield Saw to lock down his buffed/possessed Nightmare Imp(s) so that they're effectively neutralized the entire time. As soon as the Armored Arachno goes down, a Caco spawns near the middle of the arena, and so you have to turn your attention to it otherwise it's going to catch you off guard.

I feel this strategy is easier overall, because afterwards you no longer have the Arachnotron and Mancubus constantly bombarding you from the high ground as you try and deal with all of the demons down below.

Once you work your way down to the Armored Mancubus and kill him as well as his possessed/buffed Revenant buddy, a Battle Knight will show up, and I'm pretty sure killing him is what causes the 'Baron/Acolyte' duo to spawn in. As soon as the Baron shows up, use your BFC to take it out of the fight instantly (there's a BFC bolt in that arena, near the bottom, and so you'd might as well fire a shot!). Finally, focus down the Acolyte with something like the Cycler or Ravager. Since the Acolyte is a 'Leader' variant (can't be Shield Saw'd) and also doesn't give you much to parry, I don't find the Impaler or Chainshot to be nearly as useful versus it.
 
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Chubz said:
Nearly every weapon in the game is really good overall, but I would say my top choices are the Impaler and Chainshot, with the Cycler and Ravager coming out when I feel I need a higher rate of fire.

The Impaler is tremendously good, and should be the first weapon you try and upgrade to the 2nd tier (i.e. the 'Ruby' tier) IMO. When you upgrade it to that tier, you get two choices: Power up your bolts every time you use your shield in some way, or slow down time when you hold the fire button. The slow-mo upgrade is utterly worthless, so forget that shit. What you want is the power-up. As soon as you get that, you basically start launching supercharged bolts of doom. These things are so stupidly powerful, they literally one-shot Nightmare Imps and Hell Knights (if you headshot them) and can even superheat armor fairly quickly.

The Chainshot is almost as good, but falls a bit short for a few reasons. The main thing it's stupidly good at doing is pulverizing armor. Once you upgrade it, a single fully-charged shot can shatter an Armored Arachnotron in just a single hit, for example, which is insane. Sure, the SSG can crush armor as well... but can it do so from like 30+ yards away? Didn't think so! Its shortcomings are that it doesn't self-regenerate ammo like the Impaler (something I forgot to mention; jesus, that gun is the gift that just keeps on giving), it doesn't have quite the same range, and its rate of fire also isn't quite as high. It's still a phenomenal gun overall, though.

I'm not as crazy about the Cycler or Ravager, although they are tremendously useful in certain situations--especially the latter, since it can provide a steady stream of health once you fully upgrade it. The main issue I have with them is they simply can't kill as quickly as the Impaler and Chainshot, and they're also nowhere near as good as shattering armor.

Surprisingly, I've gotten to where I literally never use either of the shotguns. The basic Combat Shotty can be useful for applying burn and regenerating a bit of armor, but the weapon-switching is so slow I'd rather not constantly cycle over to it to burn targets, then back to another weapon. It's just too risky, and often not worth the reward. The SSG is super powerful, but its range is shit which seriously limits it compared to the Impaler and Chainshot. I personally feel those two guns render it damned near obsolete. It's still great fun to use though, and utterly WRECKS nearly everything provided you can close the distance.

I also don't think I can emphasize enough just how important it is to max out your shield early. The very last upgrade, which greatly increases the duration of the Shield Saw stun, is a godsend! That's one of the most important moves/abilities in the game, and for it to lock down demons for such a long period of time is something that will singlehandedly save your ass and make fights far more manageable.

As for that first Belly of the Beast arena, what I like to do is quickly kill the Battle Knight that runs towards you at the start of the battle, then immediately head counter-clockwise and kill the acid-spewing Mancubus up top. There's a climbable wall just underneath where he's positioned, and so you can use that to get up there to him. You can use the Shield Saw to stun him in place as you climb up there (and even well afterwards), preventing him from immediately counter-attacking up close. Once he's dead, you then work your way down and demolish the Armored Arachno with your Chainshot, using your Shield Saw to lock down his buffed/possessed Nightmare Imp(s) so that they're effectively neutralized the entire time. As soon as the Armored Arachno goes down, a Caco spawns near the middle of the arena, and so you have to turn your attention to it otherwise it's going to catch you off guard.

I feel this strategy is easier overall, because afterwards you no longer have the Arachnotron and Mancubus constantly bombarding you from the high ground as you try and deal with all of the demons down below.

Once you work your way down to the Armored Mancubus and kill him as well as his possessed/buffed Revenant buddy, a Battle Knight will show up, and I'm pretty sure killing him is what causes the 'Baron/Acolyte' duo to spawn in. As soon as the Baron shows up, use your BFC to take it out of the fight instantly (there's a BFC bolt in that arena, near the bottom, and so you'd might as well fire a shot!). Finally, focus down the Acolyte with something like the Cycler or Ravager. Since the Acolyte is a 'Leader' variant and doesn't give you much to parry, I don't find the Impaler or Chainshot to be nearly as useful versus it.
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I'll have to try going up the right side next time. It would be nice to get rid of the manc and his annoying acid bomb spam.

The impaler is definitely good but don't sleep on the shredder. Its ricochet upgrade can clear a room. It's just a shame they share the same ammo or I would main both. And I actually like the cycler, especially coupled with the heaven splitter rune so you can immobilize 20 enemies with shock. Great for crowd control.

Good luck with UN!
 
Well, last night my first attempt at UN came to a disappointing end on the very last section of Harbor of Souls (Ch. 19), where you have to clear out all the demons on top of the massive barge. I got too aggressive and ended up overextending and being caught in a crossfire and dying. It was pretty heartbreaking, especially since I was so close to the end of the game and had played the rest of the stage damned near flawlessly, not being in any real danger so much as once.

I think that's one of the coolest things about UN, though. You can't get cocky or overconfident and loosen up too much, because the game will fuck your shit up if you do, and you will lose every ounce of progress as a result! I love that it keeps you honest from start to finish, and demands that you never lose focus/concentration.

This is the first time I've ever played UN in any of these modern Doom games (I was admittedly too much of a sissy to attempt it in 2016 or Eternal), and so for me it's been a wild new experience. Despite making it so far and then having so much progress wiped in an instant, I'm eager to start up another run and hopefully see it through to the end this time.

Have any of you guys played UN in the modern games before (and are any of you working on a UN run in The Dark Ages right now?)? And have any of you suffered a similarly brutal death near the tail-end of the campaign, only to see your save file wiped clean?
 
Chubz said:
Well, last night my first attempt at UN came to a disappointing end on the very last section of Harbor of Souls (Ch. 19), where you have to clear out all the demons on top of the massive barge. I got too aggressive and ended up overextending and being caught in a crossfire and dying. It was pretty heartbreaking, especially since I was so close to the end of the game and had played the rest of the stage damned near flawlessly, not being in any real danger so much as once.

I think that's one of the coolest things about UN, though. You can't get cocky or overconfident and loosen up too much, because the game will fuck your shit up if you do, and you will lose every ounce of progress as a result! I love that it keeps you honest from start to finish, and demands that you never lose focus/concentration.

This is the first time I've ever played UN in any of these modern Doom games (I was admittedly too much of a sissy to attempt it in 2016 or Eternal), and so for me it's been a wild new experience. Despite making it so far and then having so much progress wiped in an instant, I'm eager to start up another run and hopefully see it through to the end this time.

Have any of you guys played UN in the modern games before (and are any of you working on a UN run in The Dark Ages right now?)? And have any of you suffered a similarly brutal death near the tail-end of the campaign, only to see your save file wiped clean?
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You're really close already. Amazing.

I've made a bunch of UN attempts in Eternal but haven't made it past Cultist Base. That level is a big skill check and kills a lot of UN runs apparently. I did finish Extra Life mode on nightmare but total deaths were around 15 so still a long way off from deathless. Maybe one day.
 
Chubz said:
Have any of you guys played UN in the modern games before (and are any of you working on a UN run in The Dark Ages right now?)? And have any of you suffered a similarly brutal death near the tail-end of the campaign, only to see your save file wiped clean?
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The idea of being able to get far in UN within a month of the game being released is somewhat of a joke though.
Its clearly way easier than 2016 or Eternal where UN is pretty much just off limits for many even experienced players.

Nightmare on Eternal was enough of a challenge and accomplishment for me for the investment of time I am willing to put in.
 
Not as fun as 2016 or Eternal but Im slowly plodding along. This is my cool down game from when I need a break from Lies of P or PoE 2
 
Well, my second UN attempt was thankfully a success!

I breezed right through Ch. 19 this time, including the final section that killed me on my first attempt. I pretty much crushed the last few chapters as well. I did, however, have an INSANELY close call in the final boss battle. While focusing on the Witch I took a massive blindside hit from Ahzrak that brought me down to 5 HP. What made it even crazier is that the arena was full of projectiles, and so here I am with 5 HP, running around like a fucking headless chicken trying not to be touched by one of at least a dozen projectiles flying every which way... all while trying to dodge other attacks. It was an incredibly tense moment that my entire playthrough literally hinged on, but thankfully I managed to stagger and 'Glory Strike' the Witch, giving me a huge health boost and bringing me back into the green, and I was never again in danger for the remainder of the battle.

I'm really disappointed with myself for fucking up so badly in the final boss battle of all places, but I guess the important thing is that I never actually died. With UN out of the way, I'm not even sure where to go from here. I guess I'll probably take a break from the game until the first DLC drops. After all these playthroughs (including lots of 'practice runs'), I'm nearly burnt out on the game. It was loads of fun while it lasted, though!
 
They fixed the trophy bug, loaded up the game and got the platinum while still on the main menu screen. Glad I didn’t have to play through it again and upgrade my stuff just to get one additional trophy
 
I finally got this after building a new computer.

I love this. Best one yet. Hate the fur cape.

But the game and google cant tell me.....you press R to throw the shield. HOLDING R causes all game play to slow down and the shield saw spins. Ok....

Why? It doesnt go any farther. Nothing tells me the function.

Anyone help?
 
TrueBias said:
Why? It doesnt go any farther. Nothing tells me the function.

Anyone help?
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Doom Eternal mechanics were overwhelming for most users. Especially on console from lack of controller inputs. With Dark Ages they reduced the main mechanic to a single item that operates differently depending upon its one input action.
 
KaNesDeath said:
Doom Eternal mechanics were overwhelming for most users. Especially on console from lack of controller inputs. With Dark Ages they reduced the main mechanic to a single item that operates differently depending upon its one input action.
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So...it does nothing? Kinda means the entire lower left wheel means nothing.

They made entire new game, left this in from the previous model and.....?
 
Finished it a 2nd time.

All 3 newer Dooms, the upgrades....they're great at first as you get good, but later, they suck.

There are weapons i played with in an effort to try to love but I cant.
 
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