FA+
Shop
Regarding Doom Eternal+DLC
5 years ago
'Aluminum to me, aluminium to some. You can shine like silver all you want but you're just aluminum.' Barenaked Ladies, Aluminum
I managed to complete the main game and DLC now on Nightmare diff for each, but before I get into that, a brief rundown.
I played the main game originally on Ultra-Violence. Kinda like 'hard diff,' I guess with Nightmare being Very Hard and Ultra Nightmare being super-cheesy in that its the same as nightmare, but one life only. On my first play through on UV I used extra lives here and there, but I dont believe I ever had to restart from a checkpoint, I never died fully. THe first marauder killed me 5 or so times, but I have enough extra lives by then to power through.
I played some more of the game, such as master levels, on UV difficulty as well. Then, eventually, tried a few ultra-nightmare runs. The furthest I ever got was end of the second level, very very end... I died in lava with one enemy left to kill before the level was done. THough I doubt I was gonna go much further. I moved back to Nightmare diff and powered through the main game there, with plenty of deaths and a couple restarts from checkpoints as I ran out of lives. But I got it done.
When the DLC came out, I started it on Nightmare diff.... and I can readily say, that may have been a mistake at first. I was NOT expecting such a huge bump in difficulty. I died plenty even on the first of the three new levels, before things even really got started! But I carried on, I was determined, I was thrilled with the challenge. Death is not the end, it is simply a step on the path to victory. And now, Ive managed to work my way to finishing the DLC on nightmare difficulty too.
I feel awesome. I love it. I love that Ive done this, Ive completed that challenge. And thats the biggest thing about this game that I can praise. The feeling you get when you complete something youre stuck on, a challenge to overcome. The focus of the game is the arenas, the fights, and the developers know this. So when you die, you start just before that fight, rather than 5 hours back or having to redo a bunch of platforming. You can focus on how you died, and improving. The deaths can be sliiiightly frustrating, but not so much as to discourage you from trying again, unless you just feel done for the day. Which I got to at least once, I admit. When my head wasnt there and I was tired, I gave up at one arena and called it quits for the day.
And when I came back to it, I struggled again. BUt each time I felt 'I can do this. I just need to warm up, I just need to get better...' and so I did. In good time, I managed to get that arena down, I passed it and felt all the surge of awesomeness and excitement as does come with accomplishing something you struggled with. I defeated the challenge of that arena, and was rewarded with carrying on... to more challenges! But feeling like Ive improved.
And, well, I have. The game tests your personal skill. No one elses. YOURS. There is no having your game ruined by random teammates, or other players hacking or cheesing or any such. Just you, and a few bugs in the game, but mostly you. So when you make progress, you feel like YOU are doing better, because you are. If you die, you can go 'okay, that was not smart, I should do this instead,' and you learn and you get better until you win.
That there is the key to enjoying this game, in my opinion. The challenge it presents to the player, you. And the rewarding feeling you get when you defeat the hordes of Hell.
From a development standpoint, this game and especially the DLC is well laid out to teach you what you need to do and know slowly. They introduce a new enemy, let you fight it solo, then start throwing them into increasingly difficult battles. They let you see how platforms or such work before you are forced to risk yourself doing jumps or leaps of faith. Theres an old video on youtube that goes over this using Megaman X as an example, and using the word 'conveyance,' which I think id did a wonderful job with in Doom Eternal.
And now Im rambling again. I really just wanted to express some of this delight. Whew.
I played the main game originally on Ultra-Violence. Kinda like 'hard diff,' I guess with Nightmare being Very Hard and Ultra Nightmare being super-cheesy in that its the same as nightmare, but one life only. On my first play through on UV I used extra lives here and there, but I dont believe I ever had to restart from a checkpoint, I never died fully. THe first marauder killed me 5 or so times, but I have enough extra lives by then to power through.
I played some more of the game, such as master levels, on UV difficulty as well. Then, eventually, tried a few ultra-nightmare runs. The furthest I ever got was end of the second level, very very end... I died in lava with one enemy left to kill before the level was done. THough I doubt I was gonna go much further. I moved back to Nightmare diff and powered through the main game there, with plenty of deaths and a couple restarts from checkpoints as I ran out of lives. But I got it done.
When the DLC came out, I started it on Nightmare diff.... and I can readily say, that may have been a mistake at first. I was NOT expecting such a huge bump in difficulty. I died plenty even on the first of the three new levels, before things even really got started! But I carried on, I was determined, I was thrilled with the challenge. Death is not the end, it is simply a step on the path to victory. And now, Ive managed to work my way to finishing the DLC on nightmare difficulty too.
I feel awesome. I love it. I love that Ive done this, Ive completed that challenge. And thats the biggest thing about this game that I can praise. The feeling you get when you complete something youre stuck on, a challenge to overcome. The focus of the game is the arenas, the fights, and the developers know this. So when you die, you start just before that fight, rather than 5 hours back or having to redo a bunch of platforming. You can focus on how you died, and improving. The deaths can be sliiiightly frustrating, but not so much as to discourage you from trying again, unless you just feel done for the day. Which I got to at least once, I admit. When my head wasnt there and I was tired, I gave up at one arena and called it quits for the day.
And when I came back to it, I struggled again. BUt each time I felt 'I can do this. I just need to warm up, I just need to get better...' and so I did. In good time, I managed to get that arena down, I passed it and felt all the surge of awesomeness and excitement as does come with accomplishing something you struggled with. I defeated the challenge of that arena, and was rewarded with carrying on... to more challenges! But feeling like Ive improved.
And, well, I have. The game tests your personal skill. No one elses. YOURS. There is no having your game ruined by random teammates, or other players hacking or cheesing or any such. Just you, and a few bugs in the game, but mostly you. So when you make progress, you feel like YOU are doing better, because you are. If you die, you can go 'okay, that was not smart, I should do this instead,' and you learn and you get better until you win.
That there is the key to enjoying this game, in my opinion. The challenge it presents to the player, you. And the rewarding feeling you get when you defeat the hordes of Hell.
From a development standpoint, this game and especially the DLC is well laid out to teach you what you need to do and know slowly. They introduce a new enemy, let you fight it solo, then start throwing them into increasingly difficult battles. They let you see how platforms or such work before you are forced to risk yourself doing jumps or leaps of faith. Theres an old video on youtube that goes over this using Megaman X as an example, and using the word 'conveyance,' which I think id did a wonderful job with in Doom Eternal.
And now Im rambling again. I really just wanted to express some of this delight. Whew.
