Disappointments in Doom 3

[Amuro]

If YOU were to program the game, just as an example, and are the HEADS of ID Software, what would YOU have changed in the game? Would you have changed anything at all? Not released it for another year? Added more weapons to make it complicated? Through the entire weapon/enemy system out the board and redo it? Move away from its current engine to follow a new one or another existing one? Please speak your mind, as I would LOVE to hear what would you people have on your minds.

[superklye]

I would've let you use a flashlight while holding a gun, albeit, the flashlight would have VERY limited time (maybe 20 seconds before it died).

I would've come up with some better ideas for guns...what exactly, I don't know, but look at how many FPSs there are and look at how many have the exact same weapons. Blood 2 had some AWESOME weapons and "borrowing" from them wouldn't have been such a bad idea. Dual pistols maybe?

I wouldn't have made the game QUITE so dark.

I would've either made higher res. textures or at least released a patch soon after game launch with high res. textures.

But otherwise, I think this game is awesome. It has consistently scared the crap out of me and I love it. Those are just minor gripes, really and I think this is one of the best games I've ever played.

[Fatman]

I don't know about delaying the game, but I would definitely rethink some of the design aspects. First let me list some of the issues I have with the game as a gamer. It's damn dark, way too dark. Flashlight helps, but there are instances where it's even too dark to aim and shoot. It's one thing when the imp ignites his fireball and lights up the area, but killing a marine in the same environment is next to impossible without taking unnecessary damage. Another issue I have is with monsters spawning behind me, and some of the trap doors. Once again you are forced into situations where you must take damage, and that is cheap IMO. If you really want to scare people, make it dynamic, at least some sort of scripts in rotation. Forcing a player to take damage, or killing him, just so he can reload and avoid the whole spawn/ trap ambush is poor design IMO.

I finished the game, and frankly I was really bored towards the end. Sure delta labs looks cool, but I don't need to play through it two times. Most of the game takes place in the same, or very similar environment. Which reminds me of Halo... Enemy spawns become very predictable, so do traps. The only reason I even played the last few levels is because I wanted to see the damned boss. And with all due respect, he was pretty cool.

Things I would have done differently, well flashlight for one. Duck-tape mod anyone? IMO that was a great idea. A tight beam, for all if not most weapons. I don't know if its technically possible, but perhaps even a beam that dissipates over distance. Say 6-10 feet, and it's pitch black again. Bottom line is that it doesn't need to be dark to be scarry.

Load-out. Futuristic research facility, there should be TONS of weapons. Halo approach would have been much better, choose and pick, but 2-3 weapons tops. You find a new locker, you change your load-out, etc.

[D.K.Tronics]

I would've let you use a flashlight while holding a gun, albeit, the flashlight would have VERY limited time (maybe 20 seconds before it died).

I completely agree with that, and was thinking the same thing. Sort of similar to the infra-red goggles in Farcry, in that they run down in a few seconds, then charge back up again.
Imagine the tension then, far greater than just bumbling around in complete darkness.
You enter a new room, hear a load of scary sounds, and suddenly your torch starts to flicker, then off. And you then have to wait for a few seconds to charge back up. Surely, thats a lot more tense than keep swapping between torch and gun ?

And pretty much everything Fatman said, I agree with.

[nitromullet]

Originally Posted by D.K.Tronics

I completely agree with that, and was thinking the same thing. Sort of similar to the infra-red goggles in Farcry, in that they run down in a few seconds, then charge back up again.
Imagine the tension then, far greater than just bumbling around in complete darkness.
You enter a new room, hear a load of scary sounds, and suddenly your torch starts to flicker, then off. And you then have to wait for a few seconds to charge back up. Surely, thats a lot more tense than keep swapping between torch and gun ?

And pretty much everything Fatman said, I agree with.

You'd be dead by the time it got recharged....

Plus, anytime you have to wait for anything in a video game it is annoying. The way id set up the lighting situation, you have control over when you get the light and when you don't, but you have to make a choice. How many times would it take you getting killed while waiting for your stupid flashlight to charge back up before you were on this forum asking for a flashlight that actually had real batteries? I personally think that for what they were trying to do they did it well. Just bind the flashlight to a key you can hit quickly (I personally use the right shift key), and you can bounce back and forth between the flashlight and your weapon very quickly.

[npras42]

Yeah. I think I would find a timed flashlight atached to a gun more annoying than just a flashlight with no time limit.

[superklye]

they should've just given us a camera flash bulb with 24 uses before it ran out. Then, using the non-gun hand, we could hold it up and flash one quick with a five second countdown between flashes.

[DaveW]

How about flares? Like in the movies "The Thing" or "Pitch Black". You can hold them in your hand until they burn out, or throw them around and they will burn on the floor for 60 seconds. You can pick them up in bundles of 5 as you go.

[mczern]

Originally Posted by kev13dd

No helmet.... but he can go outside and have oxgen... right...

K

Well if you look in the mirror or any of the cut scenes you don't see him with a helmet on like the other marines do you? Most of the possessed marines have face masks on and some of the other marines have helmets on that seem to be solid with no eye slits, much like the multiplayer models. Perhaps he is holding his breath like Arnold in Total Recall? :P

[nitromullet]

Originally Posted by superklye

they should've just given us a camera flash bulb with 24 uses before it ran out. Then, using the non-gun hand, we could hold it up and flash one quick with a five second countdown between flashes.

Yeah, because that would be loads of fun and makes way more sense than a flashlight. Maybe id could have bought the rights to The Cure's 'Pictures of You', so it could be playing in the background. Pardon my sarcasm, but that just gets a bit convoluted IMO.

Now the flare idea has some merit... Might have been interesting, but that might also leave you in a situation where there is total darkenss and you have no flares left.

[Timothyb]

-- Didn't they say if you shoot out every light you'd be in darkness, but I find you can't do that since you can't shoot out 99% of the lights.

-- The physics seem pathetic in the interaction. You shoot a light to make it swing, looks good, but a second later it pops with a jult back to a still postion, some in different areas don't even swing. Also, There were a bunch of barrels next to a red one. I shot the red to explode and the other barrels didn't even move, yet you can push them with physics.

-- Again with the physics, a wire moves and dangles like some ghost hit it, so you find you can shoot it and make it move too, but the wire next to it don't move. Or a you shoot can of soda, but the paper lunch bag doesn't budge.

-- You can shoot a human in the toes and he dies, what's up with that. I mean SOF they'd probably hop around screaming.

-- Why does it take to shots from a gun to blow up a barrel, yet it only takes one fist punch to explode it, and why the hell does that cause the barrel to explode.

[Moot]

Originally Posted by Timothyb

-- Didn't they say if you shoot out every light you'd be in darkness, but I find you can't do that since you can't shoot out 99% of the lights.

I’m glad Timothyb brought this one up as I forgot to metion it in original post. I was hopping most lights could be destroyed. What good is real time lighting if you can’t turn out the lights?

The thing about the barrels is pretty valid as well. Why does it take two shots rather than one?