Archived from groups: alt.games.doom (More info?)
All,
Well it's taken me 2.5 months but I've finally finished my walkthrough of
Doom 3 - http://members.iinet.net.au/~tmorrow/index.html. The only
modification I'll be making from now on are errata updates and I expect
there to be quite a few of those.
Having written a walkthrough of this size it became clear to me just how
much work id put into the game. The sheer volume of material both written
and spoken is overwhelming.
I'm going to retire from walkthrough writing for a while. The Doom 3 one has
taken its toll. I must admit that there were times when I was just going
through the motions and not enjoying it as much as I should have - being a
hobby and all that.
What follows are some afterthoughts on the game for those interested. They
aren't the truth, just my subjective views. I welcome any reasoned
responses. I know many of these topics have been discussed before, but
topics are a bit thin on the ground here lately.
Despite what some have said regarding the Doom 3 storyline being a "B Grade
Movie", I found the complete opposite. The story is actually one of the
highlights of the game for me. It is very well put together, carefully
revealed and unveiled to the player and extremely detailed. Id hired experts
for the story and it shows.
The other high spot for me was the audio, it really built the mood and
immersed me in the game experience. I was often afraid to open the next door
or move further into an area that I knew was trapped - I attribute a lot of
this to the sound effects added onto the excellent video.
I have to agree with many that the game has a closed in, dark, claustophobic
feel that eventually gets irritating and tedious. Doom 3 was designed this
way from inception, but I feel that in restrospect that it was overdone. I
hope the next Doom 3 game pack goes a long way to addressing these
limitations. Let's have some bright, open spaces to fight in please. Use the
video and audio to immerse us and bring on the enemy.
The missions and objective concept needs to be refined some. Missions kept
changing through the game without warning, old missions coming back again
later. Subtle name changes of the missions made it confusing and irksome -
is it the same mission or a new one? The objectives were handled well though
and had clear starts and finishes.
The Storage Locker concept was interesting but now it's been done and I hope
id don't pursue it too much further. Basically storage lockers are the
reward for reading your emails and audio logs. In some cases they are the
only way forward through coded doors. I would prefer that extra items are
the reward for finding cleverly hidden locations or by landing in a
difficult to reach area. There are some very good secrets in Doom 3 and I
think they should expand upon this idea rather than lots of storage lockers
that require gamers to write down 3 digit codes on scraps of paper.
The dreaded one way trip. I have always found these irritating in the
extreme. In many cases it is poor level design to refuse a player access
into previous played areas. The exceptions are when the level layout changes
as a result of game events. I say limit the one way trips to a bare minimum.
I think there is room for cooperative play if the levels are designed
properly. This was one of the enjoyable aspects of playing Doom/Doom2 for me
and I miss it in Doom 3.
Cheers,
Tim
All,
Well it's taken me 2.5 months but I've finally finished my walkthrough of
Doom 3 - http://members.iinet.net.au/~tmorrow/index.html. The only
modification I'll be making from now on are errata updates and I expect
there to be quite a few of those.
Having written a walkthrough of this size it became clear to me just how
much work id put into the game. The sheer volume of material both written
and spoken is overwhelming.
I'm going to retire from walkthrough writing for a while. The Doom 3 one has
taken its toll. I must admit that there were times when I was just going
through the motions and not enjoying it as much as I should have - being a
hobby and all that.
What follows are some afterthoughts on the game for those interested. They
aren't the truth, just my subjective views. I welcome any reasoned
responses. I know many of these topics have been discussed before, but
topics are a bit thin on the ground here lately.
Despite what some have said regarding the Doom 3 storyline being a "B Grade
Movie", I found the complete opposite. The story is actually one of the
highlights of the game for me. It is very well put together, carefully
revealed and unveiled to the player and extremely detailed. Id hired experts
for the story and it shows.
The other high spot for me was the audio, it really built the mood and
immersed me in the game experience. I was often afraid to open the next door
or move further into an area that I knew was trapped - I attribute a lot of
this to the sound effects added onto the excellent video.
I have to agree with many that the game has a closed in, dark, claustophobic
feel that eventually gets irritating and tedious. Doom 3 was designed this
way from inception, but I feel that in restrospect that it was overdone. I
hope the next Doom 3 game pack goes a long way to addressing these
limitations. Let's have some bright, open spaces to fight in please. Use the
video and audio to immerse us and bring on the enemy.
The missions and objective concept needs to be refined some. Missions kept
changing through the game without warning, old missions coming back again
later. Subtle name changes of the missions made it confusing and irksome -
is it the same mission or a new one? The objectives were handled well though
and had clear starts and finishes.
The Storage Locker concept was interesting but now it's been done and I hope
id don't pursue it too much further. Basically storage lockers are the
reward for reading your emails and audio logs. In some cases they are the
only way forward through coded doors. I would prefer that extra items are
the reward for finding cleverly hidden locations or by landing in a
difficult to reach area. There are some very good secrets in Doom 3 and I
think they should expand upon this idea rather than lots of storage lockers
that require gamers to write down 3 digit codes on scraps of paper.
The dreaded one way trip. I have always found these irritating in the
extreme. In many cases it is poor level design to refuse a player access
into previous played areas. The exceptions are when the level layout changes
as a result of game events. I say limit the one way trips to a bare minimum.
I think there is room for cooperative play if the levels are designed
properly. This was one of the enjoyable aspects of playing Doom/Doom2 for me
and I miss it in Doom 3.
Cheers,
Tim
I know, I'm Grandpa and old and slow 
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