Death's advocate approaches ... (Doom 3)

[Guest]

deleted

[[wcip]Angel]

"I have a rocket launcher now. Ho ho ho."

I think the game suffers a bit from letting you save and load whenever you want. Whenever I get attacked from behind and lose more than 2hp, I quickload and do the next 5 seconds over. (I quicksave after every kill.) Needless to say, this leads to a lot of quickloading, and it sort of ruins the game. Now I could just *not* save and load every so often, but I'm a perfectionist: If I can take a monster down without losing any armor or health - and taking it down by using the least amount of ammo - then that's what I'm going to do, no matter how many attempts I have to make.

I would have preferred a Far Cry-ish save-system where the game automatically saves at a designated junction which becomes the next starting point if you choose to quickload. It keeps the flow of the game going by forcing the player to choose to play on, instead of having to redo the last 5 minutes of the game. In a game like Doom 3 (and Far Cry for that matter) which relies too heavily upon atmosphere and the player being mindlessly engrossed in the game, the quicksave/quickload-approach-to-battle has a tendency to chop up the game into small pieces instead of presenting a continuous flow of monsters and mayhem, which really does detract from the overall fun of it.

I know I should just force myself to abandon the quicksave-button (or at least the quickload-button) for at least for 30 second intervals, but I just keep thinking "what if there's a boss fight around the next corner? Will I be prepared" and so forth. Obviously there are no boss fights around the corner, because there are almost no bosses. (I've just fought the one so far; the one that reminds me of Duriel.)

It's a good game, but in addition to me playing it like a moron, there are a few problems I have. I don't like spawning monsters. That's one of the reasons I hated Soldier of fortune. The scripted events can be a tad too scripted. It feels like I'm in a play and not in a real live world. But then again, that could be attributed to my save/load-mentality.

[Munkay]

Angel,Aug 10 2004, 03:24 PM] I know I should just force myself to abandon the quicksave-button (or at least the quickload-button) for at least for 30 second intervals, but I just keep thinking "what if there's a boss fight around the next corner? Will I be prepared" and so forth.

With all due respect [wcip]Angel,

I blame your save finger and not the game fine sir.

Surprising to see a paranoid perfectionist created outside of American Capitalism. :lol:

-Munk

[Cryptic]

Demonic Abomination From the Depths of Tartarus: GRAAAAR!!

Space Marine McFly: Do over.

DAFtDoT: Graar?

SMMF: Nope, sorry. Look, you got infernal ichor all over my boots, and I just polished them. Not to mention you furrowed the crease in my fatigues. Do you know how long it took to put that in there?

DAFtDoT: *sigh*

SMMF: Hey, I know. You put all the work into your ambush, the site was nicely chosen, the timing impeccable. You're proud of what you've done, you want affirmation. But I'm proud too. Kthxbye.

*DAFtDoT shuffles around the corner, sheepish and ashamed*

SMMF: OK. Let me finish my latte and we'll try this again.

:P

[TaiDaishar]

Thank you for giving a sick man a small thing to laugh over :lol:

[Nystul]

I think the game suffers a bit from letting you save and load whenever you want.

Easy solution: don't use save or quicksave at all. The game autosaves at the beginning of the level, which is a reasonable restart point.

[[wcip]Angel]

I'm just not that kind of person. :)

[anarchae]

Self-discipline is a highly-admirable trait! Lay-off the saves and hone your combat-skills. Make your goal to get through w/as few saves as possible. Go through sloppy and perfect technique. It may be necessary to backtrack (i.e. game specific events that are mis-triggered), so save only in the middle of each level (or after particularly hairy battles/problems). Then go through attempting "cleaner" play. It'll help re-playability!

on a side note: I'm tickled to death to learn that when I bought this machine (2 years ago) it was w/DOOMIII in mind - I guessed right on the system and won't need to upgrade for min playability. Video card is the limiter, here, so I may be looking to upgrade that. Otherwise I'm in excess in the other reqs.

[kandrathe]

Although, it is sad that you waited 3 years and built a machine around a game that you can finish in 50 hours.

[Dozer]

I beat the game(before Legitmaan GOT to Delta Labs :P) .... I didn't really have a probelm with not having my flashlight out all the time, although I did turn my brightness and contrast up ALL the way ^_^

[anarchae]

Its mostly gaming and graphics work that places the higher demands for faster/better comps to be produced, anyway. I just don't like buying a new computer more than once every 7-8 years. My last comp was a P 200, the one before that was an AppleIIGS. I'm hoping HL2 will come in w/mins I can skate under. Otherwise, I may have to wait to play that as I don't intend another cpu purchase for another 5 years (or so).

[Wiccan]

Did anyone get the contest thing about the website www.martinbuddy.com, i,e the locker contest thing its in the pda and when you actually go to the site it gives you the number, its actually website and the number is right there.... since everyone is up to probly past the labs and on the city part, i figured what the hey.
to see what is in that contest i never got it yet just the email thing in the pda and the website just have to find the locker now....

jUST remeber there are secret levels dozer... or dont you remeber the orginal doom, and wolfientien when they had secret levels that you needed to look for.... i am taking my time

[Wapptor]

I saw the locker, I just wish I could go back and find it again... If I do I'll give more info as to where it is. Trying to find this code drove me crazy...I should've known.

-Wapptor

[Artega]

The code to the Martian Buddy cabinets is 0508. The first one, found in Administration, contains Combat Armor, a Chaingun, and two Ammo Belts. The second one, found in Delta Labs Sector 2 North, contains a BFG 9000 and Combat Armor.

[Nystul]

290,000 unique visitors to a website that only exists as an Easter Egg in a game that has been on the market for about a week... remarkable.

[pakman]

The second one, found in Delta Labs Sector 2 North, contains a BFG 9000 and Combat Armor.

If possible, could you take a screenshot of the BFG? I have not been able to find one at all. And, if you have enough power cells, show us the aftermath of one blast?

[Guest]

Although, it is sad that you waited 3 years and built a machine around a game that you can finish in 50 hours.

-_- you really took your time if it took you 50 hours. I finished it in about half the time, and all the reviews say it has about 20 hours of gameplay.

Is it just me, or do good graphics suck? My friend's got tar uber fast comp, and he can't even get a steady 60 frames per second with everything on lowest. I'm hoping that devs start focusing more on gameplay than graphics... I was lured by both Far Cry's and Doom 3's screenshots, but the rest of the game was horrible, and Far Cry at least doesn't look good with everything on lowest.

Graphics are probably the lowest thing on my list of qualities that make a good game; playability and gameplay being foremost. Playing anything at less than 60 fps is an unenjoyable experience, IMO.

I think that single player first person shooters in general aren't that great. I can't think of ONE with a particularly good story; why would you want to play a FPS single player if you aren't getting something out of it? You beat a game. Big whoop. Can't wait to call up all your friends and tell them how you squandered 20 hours, eh? In the case of Doom 3, you didn't even learn any valuable skills, and only increased your twitch marginally. The bullets go straight to the center of the screen ALL THE TIME. This game REALLY is Doom remade in 3d... Christ. Taking an FPS online is the only way to go, and I find all of the 'great' SP shooters to have bad online play.

A little off topic here, but what is the deal with Half-Life? The story is 1984 meets Quake and the gameplay is horrible and unrealistic, so what is with the big fuss about it? Everybody I talk to seems to want to have its' babies.

[Dozer]

I have the same complaints about Halo, unrealshadow, and THAT game has the same kind of following.

[Chaerophon]

I think that single player first person shooters in general aren't that great. I can't think of ONE with a particularly good story;

Deus Ex.

A little off topic here, but what is the deal with Half-Life? The story is 1984 meets Quake and the gameplay is horrible and unrealistic, so what is with the big fuss about it? Everybody I talk to seems to want to have its' babies.

It was revolutionary in its time.

[Guest]

Deus Ex.

I thought that game was an RPG...

It was revolutionary in its time.

Oh.

Re Halo: I think that the reason Halo has a following as large as it does is because there are a bunch of half-breed gamers who played it on Xbox (where it is more tar shiz, relatively) and wanted new weapons. Just a theory, based on the fact that consoles rarely get good FPS's ported.