DOOM: The Dark Ages

[Dankster Morgan]

Im kinda glad that its not eternal.

On first playthrough of eternal i was like damn this might be the best most epic fps ever, it was sick and i was super excited for the dlc.

But i just cant play that anymore, its too cracked out, after playing ancient gods part 1 i was totally over the that cracked out gameplay.
They took the speedrunners weapon switching tech of doom 2016 and decided to trun it up to 11 and make the whole gameplay ultra fast and centered around the weapon switching and combos. Finished dlc part 2 and i never touched the game since and i originally tought after the main campaign ill be playing it alot.

Dark ages seems to be much slower and closer to doom 2016 style, hugos comment of: if you were a ferrari in eternal then you are a tank in dark ages is all i needed to hear. As fun as eternal was im totally burnt out from that gameplay style.

I also prefer a slower pace. Eternal isn’t a game I can play all day

What are you talking about? The entire design of that game is based on rock-paper-scissors. The game had no freedom in combat at all, it was completely dictated by the mechanisms of the monster you were facing. There was no choice, you see an enemy you act EXACTLY the same every time. It is like the most famous thing about that game is the weapon swapping. The game was on rails, and on top of that you bounced around like a rubber ball. It was hella-stupid.

Not true at all really. Only the stone imps in TAG 2 and the ghost things in TAG 1 were truly only one option to kill, which I agree in that case.

There are tons of legitimate strategies.

 

[Juxtapose]

The game had no freedom in combat at all, it was completely dictated by the mechanisms of the monster you were facing. There was no choice, you see an enemy you act EXACTLY the same every time.

That's not the case at all, with the exception of the two Demons @Dankster Morgan highlighted. You could use any weapon you wanted against any enemy and completely ignore enemy weak points and quick switching. It would make things much harder, but was absolutely possible.

A Cacodemon was insta-kill with a Sticky Grenade or Frag Grenade in the mouth, but you could still take them out with the Chaingun, Arbalest, etc., as an example.

Once you got in the flow of the combat loop though, and were moving quickly while settings things on fire, stunning with frags, freezing with ice bombs, etc., you were restacking your health, armour, and ammo constantly. It was quite the dance.

All the platforming, while I get what they were going for with mobility, I was less keen on but it was all still great.

the ghost things in TAG 1

The Spirit. Technically, there were 2 ways to kill it, 1) The Microwave Beam, and 2) Kill every other demon in the arena so it had nothing to possess. It then dies.

Dude, remember the Spirit possessed Marauders... Ugh.

 

[Juxtapose]

Okay, I caved and pre-ordered it on Xbox. It's a Play Anywhere title, so I get the PC - Microsoft Store version at no extra cost.

Overall, the Premium Edition cost me $3.76 CA with tax, thanks to Microsoft Reward Points and a previous credit from Xbox.

 

[Jynks]

DA is out... game seems fun so far. I'm having a little trouble with the dash thing... it seems that when I do it as I rush into the middle of the area I get surrounded and hammered from all sides!

 

[Jynks]

My thoughts on DA.

So far, I am only past the first section, the game is extremely good.

Those Eternal fans will be happy to know that bouncing about is still a thing, which kinda sucks imo. The game is actually extremely fast. Jumping, shield dashing into a bazillion things, ricocheting green attacks and punch walking for health. There is a lot going on and it feels frantic at times. I actually think it is more like Eternal than Doom or 2016. There is an option to turn on "always sprint" which is the equivilant of "always run" in classic doom, make sure you turn that on. Once you get into the rhythm of it, the game plays much like Eternal, as in super fast, bouncing all over the place. This "stand and fight" thing, is just a marketing phrase.

I have been playing on default nighmare and so far, it is only level 1, the game has been very easy. I think I will drop to ultra-violence though to make it more chill. The health drops from the punch-walks is extreme. As long as you of not get hit twice in a row, you're good. In Eternal the chainsaw thing or w/e it was, shoulder gun, I forget, to get back health was a more deliberate act. Now health gain is more just part of playing naturally, kind of like a health regen in a round-about way. This is a lot of fun, as the action is not broken up. I heard someone say DA you feel like a bererker, and I get where he was coming from. The more you attack, the more health and ammo you have as a direct result.

The sets and environment is amazing. I play on a ps5 (not the enhanced ps5) and it looks great, and the frame rate is neat. Even though the ps5 can just plug in usb mice and keyboards, I am still using the controller, as that is how I like to play. still, looking at the steam forums I can see pc players already starting their bazillion tech support threads... consoles rules. Put in the disc, press play and your done. Plus they cost like a 3rd of the price as a gpu for pc : )

I've not been to sold on the sound yet. The music is great, but the actual sound effects feel muted and sorta more in the background. Maybe tweaking the sound mix setting will help. It astounds me that in 30+ years of gaming Doom2 still has the single best shotgun and Super-Shot gun sounds around. How did they nail it so perfectly.

The secrets in the opening level are not secrets, the map is so well done that finding them is just a matter of opening your automap. I have not yet found anything quirky like classic doom levels and stuff like that. The map has these cool "no return" markers so you can tell if you are leaving an area, giving you a chance to explore with minimal low tier respawns. So secret searching is not really a thing. At least not so far.

All in all DA is off to a great start, I mean it is no Doom2, but it is defiantly holding it weight.