ETPC

@ETPC

video games

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ETPC @ETPC1/27/2023, 2:38 PM

Chris Franklin @Campster

it's suzy @trashbang1/27/2023, 1:24 PM

Doom Eternal is odd

I think I like it, but I'm not going to feel comfortable with its combat for a long time

I guess that's why I'm intrigued, mostly—it's rare for a modern shooter to really ask anything of me. Even Doom 2016 was very "use whatever, it's cool". The way it throws all these tools at you and then actually forces you to use them feels antithetical to the 'play it your way' open-approach design of a lot of AAA. I frequently feel clumsy or overwhelmed, forgetting about various parts of my arsenal or the way they answer various threats, but I do feel compelled to overcome and master it. And presumably, the game trusts me to do that too.

The overload of tools, upgrades and constant tutorial windows spelling out everything with Capitalized Terms feels like a borderline parody of an AAA video game, but I do see what they're going for with the more prescriptive, rigid, character-action-y approach. I don't think you can really beat Doom 1/2 at being Doom, so I'm happy to see sequels trying to branch off in different directions. It feels like the healthiest thing for a long-running series to do, even if individual entries aren't always the most popular (I'm still a Doom 3 apologist, though).

The levels feel like 'playgrounds' in the vein you might expect from a 3D Sonic—somewhere with ostensibly a vague sense of place, but lots of abstract affordances like floating platforms, bounce-pads and swing-bars just kinda hanging out there. Not offensive, but again, strange. They also feature a lot of the good old AAA invisible wall over ambiguously traversable environment art (although in spite of that, I'm still having a good time hunting for secrets. There are some fun little spatial puzzles in here).

I think the only part I find truly objectionable so far is the increased obsession with lore, and factions, and the Doomguy's own personal mythos. It reads like a pulpy fantasy novel, which is very funny until you get the dawning impression that they expect you to care. Doomguy's characterisation in 2016 was near-perfect—a raw force of disruption who spoke more with gestures than some characters do with their entire script—and there are echoes of it here, but he's too much of a factor in the narrative, too much of a Named Character. He even has a secret base with a gaming PC and a bunch of guitars, as if we are to believe this is a man with a concept of 'free time'.

I like it, I really do. I'm glad it does something different. But I will not budge on this: Doomguy is not a gamer.

#doom eternal

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in reply to @trashbang's post:

Pivot DeerPup @pivot1/27/2023, 2:26 PM

My biggest problem with Eternal has nothing to do with the mechanics, but moreso the narrative framework and level structure. I agree with you on Doomguy's characterization, it's not nearly as well done as 2016. In addition to what you said, one of the best parts of his character was his unwillingness to sit and let people talk at him. He didn't care, he wanted to get shit done and will break himself out of any situation where a cutscene would start to go on for more that 20 seconds.

Now in Eternal, they jump to third person camera directed cutscenes CONSTANTLY to just show doomguy standing around and listening to others talk at him. Where did his personality go? The only memorable scene was the one that stayed in first person where he grabbed the dudes security badge as everybody around him collectively shat their pants.

As for the level structure, I was really disappointed to see the linear connected level format of 2016 was abandoned in favor of a hub world. 2016 felt like an adventure, and every level was connected in space in a way that felt real. You'd travel to different parts of the facility by train, it made the facility feel huge. In Eternal, almost all of the levels feel disconnected from one another. Every time I'm pulled back to the hub world I'm taken out of the experience.

"Let's chill for a bit and hang out in your cool space fortress before fighting some more demons." No, doomguy knows there are more demons out there and he wants them dead now. I want to feel more connected with the world like I did in 2016. In Eternal I'm just playing disconnected "video game levels."

it's suzy @trashbang1/27/2023, 2:39 PM

I totally feel this, especially the point about cutscenes.

Sometimes I think about how great it was when Asura's Wrath had a recurring gag where you could prematurely end a villain's monologue with an optional button prompt to punch them in the face. Doomguy is a perfect fit for the same kind of impatient action, but instead he just kinda silently watches.

noah @mahalis1/27/2023, 2:51 PM

yep. I enjoyed the gameplay a ton (except the Marauder) but the narrative was a huge miss for me. I think they did a great job in 2016 of telling a story around a character like Doomguy, conveying that he gets what’s going on, that other characters have agendas that he’s not interested in, etc.… but the first time I was in a room with a demon (alien, whatever) and he just hung around listening, it snapped my suspension of disbelief in half, and the next time it happened and he fuckin kneeled to somebody (I’m still not clear on who) it took those snapped pieces and threw them in a woodchipper. I had no attachment to or interest in Doomguy until playing the first one of these but like… I’m sorry, that is not the same character. you have swapped him out with the protagonist from a different game.

evie @ewie1/27/2023, 4:22 PM

doom eternal imo was really good gameplay-wise. i honestly wouldn’t have minded the story as much if they made it more pulpy and silly, like doom is fun! let doomguy have fun! i also later played ultrakill and it surprised me at how much better it scratches the same itch as doom eternal. like it promises the same thing of more interesting combat with higher levels of depth, but it fully commits to the idea in a way that makes it hard to return to doom eternal.

Itzu @Itzu1/27/2023, 4:29 PM

my husband just beat it for the third time, this time on the second highest difficulty, and it looked about as intense and involved as devil may cry. Very fun to watch. If I wasn't busy making a game I might try it out. It looks exactly like my shit

chris jeffers @showerskeleton1/27/2023, 5:23 PM

The change in tone and presentation style to be much more obsessed with lore and telling the player that the Doom Slayer is a badass instead of just showing it is such a disappointment after 2016. The best characters in video games that year were the Doom Slayer's left and right arms, that's all you needed to understand and embody him, and it made the game both exhilarating and hilarious. With Eternal they made the awful decision to show him in third-person all the time and it just took me right out of it. Still a really fun shooter, tho I have gripes with repetitive arena and encounter design. Weirdly I like the 2nd DLC quite a bit more than the rest of the game, felt like they just made enough changes and additions to really make the combat sing, and the new HUD they added that puts most info around the crosshair is very nice.

@AndrewYoder1/28/2023, 8:01 AM

I love the level design of Cultist's Base. Some fantastic gameplay-first combat encountets and traps.