Doom: Eternal

> Chainsawing Spider

As you said, it requires more fuel tanks to do. You can chainsaw most of the enemies in the game, and they require a different number of tanks depending on whether they're fodder or heavy class.

> Mastery Challenges

Agreed, these aren't very fun. If they cut the requirements by about 50% id be okay with them, but as they are it's just padding to make you play more, but encouraging you to play in a very specific way over and over again.

> Finishing the game

I think I must be getting close. I'm on Mission 12 with most things unlocked. Is there any use for leftover Praetor tokens once you're maxed out on the upgrades? I'm enjoying every fight still, but whenever I come across a Marauder or Archvile I sigh a little.

The negativity surrounding the game is getting out of control, though the 'git gud' comments to the critism isn't helping matters either. I really hope we don't see the gameplay get nerfed as a result.

> swimming levels
Yeah removing them would be even better. It would've been better had the first swimming section not be one that also deals damage to you. Also don't really like the timed challenges, they feel like an afterthought honestly.

> marauder
You can stunlock him, apparently it was already common knowledge in some circles but you can stunlock him to death using Gauss >SS combo on repeat, he can't escape.

> mastery
Thankfully you can skip the harder ones with the late-game tokens, which is a cool addition. Maxed out everything just before the finalboss. Some of the end-game fights are absolutely bonkers, love it. I do admit to finding the last level, aesthetically, to be disappointing though.

> marauder / archville
I used the spoiler weapons for the latter, just overal painful enemy to deal with. Marauder, despite the loop mentioned earlier, I just don't like him. There's a late game fight where he constantly spawns with shield-dudes which is just super annoying.

> left over tokens
Useless iirc, might be used in the DLC campaigns promised in the Deluxe Edition.

Every other topic/post on Gfaqs is about ammo, platforming, or cutscenes. I thought this game was going to attract fans of the genre and not a ton of casuals.

>Marauder Gauss>SS

That’s what I’ve been doing. It’s lame that he’s immune to ice grenades. I get that his whole thing is how aggressively he tracks you but it still would’ve been a nice option.

>mastery tokens

Very thankful for these, those mastery challenges in the last game made me just give up on them past a certain point. I guess it’s not really great design to let you just skip something intentional but eh.

>archville

Does a maxed chainsaw work?

I don't think the Archvile can be chainsawed even with full meter...but I'm definitely going to try it!

I'm really surprised by some of the discussion I'm seeing for this game on Reddit (although I probably shouldn't be). There's so much criticism over the ammo count for how it's a "lazy way of forcing you to use all of the weapons", but one of the biggest criticisms of DOOM 2016 was that there was never an incentive to use anything other than the strongest weapon you had ammo for. I would personally disagree with that criticism of 2016, but clearly you just can't please some people.

One quote here says "they take away all the freedom that we had in the first one" (referring to 2016). I don't remember it being a common opinion that 2016 provided "freedom" in combat. I barely ever used the chainsaw in 2016, and when I did it was usually because I couldn't be bothered to fight one of the spongier enemies. Now, it's a much more important tool because ammo management is much more crucial, but you can still use it to one-hit-kill something in a pinch.

I've also seen Eternal be criticised for not allowing any decision making during gameplay, and that the game effectively plays itself because most enemies have a weakness and an optimal strategy associated with it. I think this is an outrageous opinion, because I have never had to use my brain so much playing an FPS. Sure, you're going to use the sticky bomb/frag to stun the Cacodemon above you, but do you do that before dashing away from the demons behind you? Before you snipe the arm cannons off of the Mancubus ahead of you? Before you make the choice between running away and looking for a health pickup or braving it to go for a glory kill? Before you chainsaw the imp for ammo because you've been shooting the shit out of everything and you're low on ammo? There are LOADS of decisions to make and the game demands that you make them quickly, or you die.

DOOM 2016 also got praise for being "video gamey" and returning to the genres roots by ditching regenerating helath and the need to sit behind cover for most of the experience. Now, with Eternal, I've seen critcism that the game is "too gamey". I don't like to come across as elitist but I don't think the casuals like that you have more to do than running, pointing and shooting. I really do feel in some ways that they've turned DOOM into a first-person character action game and I think it's brilliant. It's certainly not a perfect game, but I'm all for developers making more FPS titles like this one.

Played the Master Level from the Deluxe Edition yesterday, honest to god loved it. It even crashed in the last fight, meaning I had to restart, and I didn't mind. If that doesn't speak volumes of my love for the game I don't know what does.

That said, you already notice the game is running out of ideas. The last fight throws two Tyrants, an archville, a ton of revenants, mancubi and Pain Elementals at you and it still isn't enough to put up a fight for a leveled up slayer. I really wonder how they are going to deal with that in the post-game content.

> event XP
Anyone know of a good way to get this easily?

> gamefaqs
It is easing up a bit, even Bemo tried to have a slice of the salty-pie but I shut him down fast thankfully before he got started in full force.

> marauder
His immunity to stuff is annoying, and it is a trend I am noticing in the game in general. There's a lot of invisible walls and unclimbable walls unless you come from 'the intended' angle, which is weird in a game so big on exploration for secrets. A tad less handholding would have been appreciated.

> mastery
Some are doable, but others like those of the Ballista or Plasma Gun just made me nope out.

> plasma gun
Derped around with it and finally found a use for it outside of shield killing. That tether it has is based on the enemy's CURRENT HP value, meaning it starts out nearly filled up if the guy is nearly dead. Used it on a Tyrant I staggered yesterday and he exploded into a billion bits pretty fast, well worth it.

@greg

> reddit and other discussions
There's a lot of retroactive posting as you noted. Doom 2016 was a good balance between allowing hardcore players to weapon swap, and casuals to just run around guns blazing. I think though that Hugo and co. really wanted to make a balls to the walls difficult action game with weapon swapping and that's what they did here.

> freedom in combat
Honestly it feels the otherway around now. Combat in Doom 2016 was very binary imo, you only had one choice: kill. Now there's weaknesses, special kill states like the grenade swallow of the Cacodemon, the tactical decision to let a big foe live for a bit to generate more armour from him while he's on fire. Not to mention that most of the high-level players in 2016 basically forgot where the grenade-key was haha.
Note: it is games like this why I hate generic rebootnames. Having to type Doom 2016 is just so dull.

Fully agreed on the fact that Eternal has a ton more microdecisions going on. I think we're mostly hearing a vocal minority, since every high level player so far is extremely happy with the game.

> running point and shooting
While harsh, that's the truth. A lot of people just want an easy power fantasy. I just really hope the team doesn't cave to them and nerfs the game or doubles the ammo count.

>freedom compared to 2016

Definitely agree it’s much higher here, in 2016 it really boiled down to weapon swapping for highest DPS in every scenario. Like greg pointed out, there’s still decision making with the weakness system, even if they are clear “best ways” to deal with situations. I’d like to add that in 2016, I was always swapping between the same four weapons or so(something a lot of people seem to be saying) while here I’m frequently forgetting to equip tools that would help me out(both grenade types, chaingun shield, flame belch). So again, not sure how anyone thinks this game funnels you into a play style, there’s a much higher variety of useful things on offer here.

>too gamey

This game is sort of in a weird spot with being marketed to both casuals, as well as longtime fans, so comments like this are going to come up. Everyone wants their vidya to be super serious cinematic OTS feels a thons like modern Sony games.

>game running out of ideas

Everyone will probably think I’m crazy here, but this is a problem I tend to have with games with high enemy counts. Typically you’ll see everything the game has to offer long before it’s over, and throwing just “more” at the player is all that ends up happening as the game goes on. I’m on the last mission and in the last two the feeling of “okay, wide open arena, let’s see how many enemies there are” fatigue was starting to set in. It seems like in most games that pile the enemies on, when their numbers dwindle there’s just nothing they can do since you’re used to fighting them in large groups.

>bemo

His topic didn’t even make sense to me, complained that only 3 guns were useful in the last game but was upset the most broken thing was changed? Wut

>plasma a tyrant

Didn’t think to try that, will have to do so next time I see one.

>combat in D16 binary

Not gonna lie, don’t know how I’ll feel going back to it after this. The addition of some mods, dash, ice grenade, etc. will make it weird to play that again. I watched some high level play last night and the game really is Weapon Swapping: The Game. Not to mention the lower enemy variety and count.

>nerf the game

It’s coming, just brace yourselves. No way a game with this kind of brand recognition doesn’t get appease the casuals in some way. They did buff Nightmare in the last game though, so I could be wrong.

> Master Levels

I haven't tried either of them yet (still got the final mission to beat), but from what I've heard high level players are loving them, which is great news. I've really enjoyed my playthrough on Ultra-Violent so far. It's kind of weird though - I feel like Eternal is harder than 2016, but I definitely got stuck on more fights in the latter. It's probably the 1-Ups that have been bailing me out.

> Game running out of ideas

I agree with this, especially Infinity's point. I think the enemy variety in this game is pretty good all things considered, but it does start to get a little tiring fighting so many of the same spongey enemies (i'm looking at you Archvile). Does anyone know if he can be killed by the Spoiler weapon (the one that uses "pips" of energy, I think the game calls them)?

> Plasma Gun

I haven't used the microwave beam much, but the heat wave (I think?) mod is great for getting a group of demons out of your face in a hurry. Some weapons and mods are more situational than others, but I genuinely don't think there's anything that I'd consider a waste of time. Huge improvement over 2016 IMO.

> Nerf the game

I'll be extremely disappointed if they do nerf the game. Some things could maybe use a tweak (Marauder AI being the main one) but ammo consumption is absolutely not an issue for me, and everyone on Reddit is moaning about it. I was actually impressed by how much I felt it improved the combat, as it makes the chainsaw just as important as the other weapons.

>archville killed by spoiler weapon

Yep, my go-to strat is ice grenade+spoiler weapon. Kills them before they can do anything.

>heat wave

I like to use it as I’m closing distance to the enemies, I’ll start with normal fire and when I’m up close the heat blast is ready to use and I can stun every enemy nearby, good stuff.

>chainsaw just as important as other weapons

It’s nice that you can save fuel to instakill a larger enemy as well. Sometimes when I’m surrounded and need to get some space, I’ll chainsaw a fodder enemy just to activate blood fueled, great way to get some speed on the fly.

Speaking of the Chainsaw, I don't get why everyone complains about how they "have to use it on trash mobs". Like, dude, it regenerates. It's okay for you to use it. Yeah, I wouldn't mind if there were some enemies that only required 2 fuel, but it's not a big deal.

Just finished the game on UV. Final Boss was pretty intense, but also killed my frames. I had Bloodicide blasting in the background.

Overall, great game. Wasn't a fan of the Earth levels, since those were kind of bland art-direction wise, but other than that, game was a total blast.

Gonna start up the master levels tomorrow.

Well, it sounds like I'm the only one who really enjoys fighting the Marauder, then!

I love the idea of a defensive enemy with telegraphed openings forcing you to be patient, kinda like some of the Ninja Gaiden bosses. It's not something you see very often in FPSs and I haven't noticed any particular issue with his AI being unreliable. Even in larger fights I find him enjoyable to take down.

One might argue he doesn't fit very well with the rest of the game's combat ethos, and yeah I can see that. But another way of looking at it is that every enemy in this game has their own unique properties and optimal takedown strategies anyway.

If Id were to patch in some changes to address players' feedback and frustration (which I'm not sure they should do), then maybe there could be an option to overload his shield for a brief falter. It should take a significant amount of damage, like 7-10 direct rocket hits, but it would be a tad less restrictive and provide less patient players an opportunity to beat him while leaving the rest of us with the SS counter > Ballista combo. I could live with that.

> too gamey
It's weird since the previous game saw us chainsaw enemies for ammo and rip things apart to get health, while the slogan was based off of a hilariously bad tie-in comicbook from nearly a decade ago. All while having zero story and just pure gameplay. It was about as 'gamey' as one could get. Fact that the inclusion of about 5 minutes worth of cutscenes in Eternal is being hated upon, I really have no idea where we stand. It is still as 'gamey' as before, especially when compared to other games out there. It used to be a plus, now it's a minus? I am so confused.

> high enemy counts
Ditto. Ironically the lord and savior of action-games, Ninja Gaiden II (ha!), doesn't have this problem since it doesn't bother remixing foes even in its mission mode (a really missed opportunity). I think it's because fights there tend to be single-wave and smaller, while here it sometimes just keeps going. I absolutely loved both Master Levels (finished them on nightmare, without dying), but eh... it really is "kitchen sink" qualities now. You noticed the same in later DOOM and DOOM II levels. DOOM III played it smart imo by saving Hell Knights for special occasions.

> D16
It will probably still hold up and the old SS > Gauss > RPG combo is going to have a lot of people coming back. That and that game did support better strafe-jumping iirc, a tech that seems mostly absent in Eternal (at least, I couldn't get it to work). The level design will really be a turn-off for me though, especially the first few levels. I will admit I was surprised there was no Foundry-esque level though, that one was the most akin to classic DOOM imo in terms of layout.

> nerf
God no. Please, if they do it, just have it be an option in the menu that you can turn off.

> plasma
Though understandable since we have Freeze now, I do miss the stunbomb.

> chainsaw
Started my Life-run on Nightmare and the Chainsaw is really handy if you plan your route around it, allows you to chainsaw nearly every Arachnatron along the way for easier kills.

NOTE: anyone else finding that enemies have ridiculous tracking? Some attacks seem to have huge hitboxes. Also wished we could walk through enemies honestly.

> earth levels
Didn't care for them either. The one where you fight the Marauder for the first time is pretty sweet when you go underground, but that's about it honestly. The final mission was a big let down for me.

> slayer club
Going to attempt to get to a high score in here so I can get the goodies, if you want you can join too through this link: https://slayersclub.bethesda.net/en/referral/e81fa306a2e4050484c078c14242c56a (shameless plug I know haha).

> Marauder
He's okay, but just a tad too glitchy imo. His entire design is to stay at mid-range, but he'll sometimes axe you from up close and SS you from range (hitscan), sometimes he flinches from an SS to the face, sometimes he tanks through - it all feels very random. That and he's very binary imo. Bait, punish twice, move on with your life. Think it would be more interesting if he had a tad more health but more options to deal with him i.e. destroying his shield, flanking him etc. As it stands I'm really curious if they'll make a Master Level where you fight two of them at once.

> skins
Which skins you guys rocking currently? Mostly using the Sentinel Training Gear right now, love its look for whichever reason.

> Too Gamey

Agree with Roy 100%. Maybe the chainsaw ammo drops being more than one colour is the thing tipping people over the edge

> Marauder

I don't want a "nerf" as such, but maybe one or two more options for creating openings against him would be nice. Like KSub said, something to overload his shield, or maybe you could use the Spoiler weapon to parry his axe swing and then counter attack (something like the timing on Royal Blocks on DMC or Bayo's parry) and using 2 or maybe even all 3 pips of energy? Could be a quicker way of dealing with them at the cost of losing a useful tool. Maybe that'd make him too easy to fight but at least you'd need good timing.

> Chainsaw

I didn't realise until Firmanent said - are there really no enemies that use up 2 fuel stocks on the chainsaw? That does surprise me.

> Skins

I've been using the Classic Doomguy one, although I like all of them!

> Final Boss

Agreed, the boss was a bit underwhelming. I didn't hate either of the last two bosses, but they weren't great. They didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying the game though. Putting the multiplayer modes of shooters to one side, I think this is my favourite single player FPS. I don't know how anything else is going to measure up to this game, if i'm honest.

Nightmare is really, really difficult. Not only are there slightly remixed enemy encounters here and there, the damage you take is through the roof. One Dread Knight managed to sneak a hit in during the first Slayer map and OHKO'd me at max health and some armour to spare. Not to mention there's a lot more homing attacks it feels like. I am getting a lot better now though.

I'm doing two runs at the same time now, one is default Nightmare, the other is with Life mode enabled. I do a stage on my regular run, trying stuff out, and then go over to my life-mode run. Some rooms really are insane though, and require a lot more efficiency. The 'isle of torment' (final combat of mission 2) is bonkers, as is the trap room just before the super-shotgun.

I think you really have to pick and choose which optional fights you're going to do as well. The first slayer-gate is pretty doable, but there's a timed-challenge in Cultist base where you have to kill 2 wiplashes and a mancubus at close range - that's just a recipe for disaster. Best to avoid that one I'd say.

I do admit, it is cool to get better. My first attempts on stages on nightmare are very hit and miss, but my Life-run is very professional, much better spacing, knowing what enemies appear and when and playing into it. Fantastic game.

> favourite single player FPS
I still love Painkiller's OST more and Knee Deep in the Dead's campaign better, but as a whole experience, this probably tops it for me yeah. Fantastic FPS.

Really want to dive more into classic FPS as a result. I own most of them but never played them to completion like Blood, Unreal, Quake etc.

Just don't get hit and you're set.

Don't be so mechanically blind!

You can't avoid all damage in this game, that's not how it was built. Lots of hitscan, attacks with splash three times their visual size etc. They really upped it to force players to use the new health-systems.

What are these systems?

For some reason, I watched all the cutscenes on YT.

Must have been a short video haha!

> systems
Damaging a foe enough (or using some weaknesses) staggers them, allowing a cinamatic kill (glory kill). This gives health. Using the flamethrower on enemies lets them spawn armour for you as long as they are alive. Freezing them drops health. Chainsawing them gives ammo. The game wants you to constantly juggle these 'states' on foes and decide who lives and dies to keep your health and armour refilled as it keeps emptying. That's why a lot of attacks are homing for instance.

Note, you can Spoiler-weapon kill a marauder. Use the grenade to stagger him and just run up and slice. Easy kill.

Wow, that is easy! Nice find!

At the risk of sounding stupid - is there anything on the HUD that displays your blood punch charges?

Yes, bottom left, next to your dash :)

And yeah it..really is that easy. Timing is a tad strict though. The splash has to hit him from behind also, kind of like the RPG remote detonate.

I finished the game finally and am up to the doom hunter base on nightmare. All in all, wonderful game, the most I’ve enjoyed a new game in years, despite its issues. Probably my new favorite FPS, and I’m usually not one to make such bold claims after one playthrough.

>life run

So how does this work, those extra lives you pick up are your checkpoints, and if you die you get sent back to the beginning?

>last mission a letdown

Had some insane fights but the environment was really....bleh. Underwhelming for a final mission, the one before it was incredible though. I actually liked the final boss, a decent take on the classic and it was pretty challenging.

>getting better

I’ve been surprised at how easily I’ve crushed the first three missions. Obviously I died a few times(holy shit, that damage) but making smart use of grenades, blood punch, and blood fueled is making me tackle fights way differently and more efficiently.

>skins

Classic Doomguy, will always be the best imo.

> life run
It works the same as a regular game. The only difference is that you start with 3 lives instead of zero, and if you lose all your lives you get a game-over. It's a pretty sweet mode for people like me who don't have the endurance for Ultra Nightmare, strikes a nice balance as it allows for some fuck'ups, but not a lot.

> last mission
Great fights, fully agreed, but indeed the enviroment was really dull.

> first three missions
The last bit in hell in mission 2 really gave me trouble, as well as the early fights in mission 3 pre-RPG. Surprised by just how dangerous enemies can be if left unchecked. Still, having a ton of fun.

> Blood Punch

I wish I knew that earlier! Thanks! I can't believe I played through the whole game without questioning what that other gauge was...

> Marauder Timing

So do you want to stun him with a grenade as he swings his axe, like how you would usually stagger him? I gather you could just counter him the normal way with one of the guns and then Spoiler him up real good?

> Nightmare

I might start a Nightmare run soon. Did you guys start with a fresh save? I'd love to do a NG+ but I feel like it'd make the game too easy. Are there any Argent/Spoiler ammo pickups on missions that occur before you gain those weapons if you're doing NG+?

> Marauder
No, you use the grenade while his shield is up. You set it off behind him or to his side. This will stagger him for a brief second allowing you to get a hit in, including a Crucible hit or a BFG shot.

> Nightmare
I started on an NG+ run, but it was just brain-dead easy. The later missions might put up a fight, but the start was just child's play. That and it is nice to start over again. And there aren't any special power drops in the earlier levels sadly, not that I've seen.

Do we think any sort of challenge runs are possible? I know you can customise the weapon wheel to remove certain weapons, but I'm assuming that doesn't change what ammo types spawn/drop from enemies.

I think the way the enemy weaknesses work means that the game isn't really suited to doing runs where you limit yourself to specific weapons. A shotguns only run sounds cool on paper, but I can't imagine it'd turn out to be very fun.

A no upgrade run should definitely be possible, so no upgrades to mods, suit, or runes. Besides certain exceptions you could probably do a no glory kill run to limit health too.

A no-chainsaw run should also be possible if you manage your ammo carefully. A full on NUR is on my list, I think it's pretty sweet. Don't know if it's possible to avoid picking up the first mod though.

Wow, you can apparently use the microwave beam to hit multiple foes at once. Derped around with it yesterday and nailed 10~ bastards at once. This beam is seriously good.

Oh? Meaning the initial wave hits them all or the explosion at the end does it? Interesting either way.

Everyone fills up on their own bar. So say I have a beam on a Mancubus, and 3 imps join in between, they will all fill up and explode before the mancubus. Pretty sweet.

https://youtu.be/45kpj-f2z_A

Really proud of this fight, this arena gave me a lot of trouble, but on my Extra Life Run I absolutely mauled it I feel. I do start to feel though that spawn-knowledge is very important and really makes fights (a lot) easier when abused, like me knowing when that Whiplash was going to spawn and where.

Finished the game last night.

All in all, I think this is probably the most mechanically accomplished FPS I've ever had the pleasure of playing. I adore the direction they went in when redesigning this game's combat system and I can't wait to get back into it as soon as I can. I love the weapon handling, I love the enemy variety, I love the level variety and intricate layouts, I love the Marauder, I love most of the bosses (although the environmental hazards in the final two are a bit too much imo).

Couple of caveats, though:

First of all, way too many glitches. None of them are game-breaking, but I'm really tired of games getting pawned off to consumers as soon as they reach 80% of their development cycle like it's the most natural thing in the world. I would have gladly waited a couple extra weeks / months for a more polished and complete package. Less Bethesda-tier debauchery and more Nintendo-style quality control, please.

Second, the complete absence of any additional modes apart from the very thin and lackluster multiplayer is an absolute shame. A game like this absolutely needs a proper arcade mode with substantial replay value to make the best out of its fantastic combat system. And I'm not talking about the half-assed scoring system slapped on top of the basic campaign from the first one. Open-ended Slayer Gates, enemies getting stronger and more aggressive with every wave, leaderboards, Bloody Palace, that sort of thing. I really hope the devs are planning on bringing something like this as DLC because it would be a completely wasted opportunity if not.

It's a flawed overall product, but at it's best it's simply unrivalled.

Very understandable regarding the unfinishedness. In its defence, there's still a ton of content on display here, but a lot of it relies on online-events etc to get unlocks. My biggest gripe, of all things, is the invisible walls. The game is very, very strict with where it wants you to go. Some climbable walls don't even 'work' until you touch another. It is so restricting, really demotivates exploration imo and makes for a dull routing. I don't even bother anymore with finding cool ways to get around since it just doesn't work most of the time.

I do hope some sort of Arcade Mode, replayable Slayer Gates or a bloody palace is added.

This game would benefit so much from an Arcade Mode and a Bloody Palace-esque mode. I think the DLCs in the season pass are supposed to be proper story mode add-ons, but if it turned out that they were replayable challenge modes I'd be happy with that.

I saw in a video before that you can dash in to fodder-level enemies to stun them for a glory kill, which I don't think the game tells you. I wonder what other cool little tricks there are...

Yeah I found that one out too few sessions ago, it deals pretty neat damage actually. Wonder if the optimal punish meta will end up being dashing into foes while attacking them. In terms of tech, we have the wacky Plasma gun as noted above, the OHKO strat for the Marauder that was used recently (using two grenades though).

We also got some stats, ish. Flamer actually deals damage, just really little, and for some reason the Freeze Grenade doesn't give a damage boost when attacking Pinkies from the front.

Ooh, I like tech/stats. Will be interesting to see what else gets uncovered over time. I don't remember ever trying it, but can you dash cancel the recovery frames on weapons like the Ballista to improve the fire rate? Maybe you could get the same effect doing a quickswap cancel, too.

The dash animation isn't an overruling animation, i.e. you can just do any action during it, so it doesn't cancel animations. Note that the game also has a lot of enemy weaknesses and resistances, Hell Knights and Barons (iirc) are weak to Gattling Gun shots for instance and take extra damage from them - you can find this information in the codex.

I surely must have known that from playing through the game, but I didn't consciously realise you could freely attack during dashes!

I didn't know that about the Hell Knights/Chaingun either. Admittedly, I paid no attention to the codex at all. I'll have to go back and read through it next time I play.

JTB Getting it done with a damn pad!

Skimmed the run a bit, fantastic on him for going at it with a pad. Seeing the gameplay I'm glad to be playing this game with M&K, mostly because of the playstyle. It just looks so much less mobile, also in crowd control. I do wish there was a way to skip the first upgrade for the shotgun. Things like weaknesses will be a big annoyance for him until he gets the Ballista. Thanks for sharing the vid, going to keep an eye on it. Smart that he didn't go for extra-lives run though

I am really looking forward to seeing a UN run on pad. Like is that shit even possible? This game looks night and day on pad vs mkb. 2016 was doable but it moved at a snails pace to eternal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbIjBB_e2aM

Here is an Ultra Nightmare run, with all Slayer Gates done as well, on the Xbox One. He technically 'died' but the second-chance rune saved him.

Watching gameplay from Joe is always a pleasure. Although the video bugged out a few times, and I thought something had gone wrong with my laptop...

My friend was kind enough to share his account with me, so I can finally get to this. I'm only on the fourth stage and while I think that it's a straight upgrade action-wise from 2016 (already one of my top 5 favorite FPS games), I am a bit troubled by a lot of ancillary elements around the action. It feels like they made the upgrade system more convoluted for no real reason other than to give the illusion of more progression than there really is. I REALLY like the opening cutscene but I think the story is a real slog. A lot of "hhrrhhgh DOOM MAN....you cannot DESTROY THE EVOL". But they are skippable which makes it neutral. I'm playing it on pad because I can't play complicated action games on kbm on UV anf I'm doing fine tbh, lives aren't even helping because I tend to burn them on random straggler fights between the real arenas. It's tough but it's not unfair with the controls. Gameplay is just pure gold tho, I can't get enough of it, and the art design of the levels is gorgeous and amazingly detailed, I have to consciously stop and look at all the cool giants and shit because otherwise you just sprint by

I've been watching JTB's Nightmare NUR and enjoying it. I don't know if any M+KB players feel the same way, but my instinct is that the game has been "re-tuned" for controller players. The enemies on his Nightmare run seem less aggressive than I remember them being in my UV run on PC.

If this is the case, that's a good thing - it's a shame Vanquish didn't get the same treatment on it's PC port (unless that framerate bug wasn't a bug after all).

Inspired by JTB I started my no upgrade run, even if I still need to finish Nightmare.
I did the first two missions, it's a ton of fun and forces you to approach enemies and encounters in a different ways. The spider demons in the first mission, for example, become pretty much mini bosses when you don't have a consistent way to destroy their turrets.



Unfortunately the recording for mission 1 got corrupted and I can't re-record it until I'm finished with the run.

Awesome stuff Tai! Watched the run, looks intense and cannot wait to try it myself. Like that you kept the slayer gates in your run too, no mercy. Great stuff!

I'm currently watching the first 100% Ultra Nightmare run, pretty interesting stuff. I do feel Hedfone's prediction is coming true, even now, with relatings to spawn-camping. A lot of the combat is absent, with enemies dying before appearing, which is a shame.

@Greg
Most definitely, though I do feel there are hitscanners now or projectiles have a lot more homing capabilities if they are off-screen. Damage also seems (a lot) higher. But enemies are a lot less agressive. Doom 2016 was really brutal for me on Nightmare, while this game is quite a breeze so  far imo.

>No upgrade run

Nice, will watch when I get off work.

>Doom 2016 was really brutal for me on Nightmare, while this game is quite a breeze so  far imo.

Interesting, I feel the opposite. I thought once you got to Argent Facility in the last game the rest was really easy on nightmare, enemy compositions weren’t as elaborate(barons were usually by themselves) and some foes like the mancubus(mancubi?) were just so much easier. Imps were WAY tougher in the last game but aside from that no enemy even came close to their versions here(Revenants couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn in D16) and power ups like berserk and invincibility were available in almost every major battle.

That being said, the honeymoon is over. I still stand by what I said about this being possibly my favorite FPS mechanically, but there’s some things I still want to see improved:

-The abundance of enemies who simply have one or two attacks is a bit much. Maybe trim is down to really give enemies some more flavor and personality.
-Remove some overlap with enemies. The prowlers look like the gargoyles and move quickly like the whiplash, for example. Not sure why they’re here.
-A huge crowd control option in a game like this would be perfect, something like a mod for the BFG.
-Would have liked one of the automatic weapons to have some kind of special armor piercing property(unless one does?).
-As previously noted, ditch the cooldowns and go with some kind of shared meter. Let me use a few grenades if I want, and if I don’t have the meter for blood punch, that’s on me, that’s how I wanted to do it.
-Buff the standard melee to give it a purpose, and make it so that accidental blood punches don’t occur so often.
-More pips and opportunities to use the chainsaw. I like how D16 did it, 5 charges and what you needed varies depending on each enemy type(could even chainsaw a baron or mancubus).
-More powerups for the larger fights. Tweak berserk so it isn’t so unbelievably braindead.
-Less “do this specific thing 6 times” to kill bosses. The fight with the gladiator felt extremely monotonous to me.
-A mission mode or bloody palace, as someone pointed out, would be amazing here.

Might take a small break from this to play some mega man zero. I’m close to the end of nightmare though...

Infinity_Divide wrote:
-More pips and opportunities to use the chainsaw. I like how D16 did it, 5 charges and what you needed varies depending on each enemy type(could even chainsaw a baron or mancubus).

Well, you can chainsaw the Mancubus in Eternal as well, but it just takes three charges instead of just one.

One charge for the fodder type enemies, three for the heavy ones. It's only the super heavies (Arch-vile, Tyrant, Doom Hunter, Marauder & Baron of Hell) that are immune.