I've just scrolled through this whole thread, I finally got Eternal on Game Pass after adoring 2016
Maybe it's just cause i'm not good at it? Compared to 2016 anyway. These levels go on forever it feels like. I got the automap on the cultist level and saw how much i had left after already being in this level for 2 hours and groaned. I shouldn't be groaning at the prospect of more Doom!
Speaking of hours, it is not fun that i've been playing this game for hours now and am still constantly out of ammo because i can only carry 16 goddamn shotgun shells. The combat so far is an exercise in frustration, constantly running out of resource. I clearly need to be using the systems better, but remembering my homework mid combat 10 moves ahead so I don't end up with no ammo, no chainsaw and a Mancubus left isn't my idea of a good time. I don't feel a sense of accomplishment when beating an encounter, cause it feels like I've ground it out from the previous x number of deaths, I don't feel like I'm getting better at the game or learning the systems, I've just bumbled my way through the fight somehow and barely escaped alive. If I die playing, for example, Apex, I'm annoyed at me for fucking it. Thus far in Eternal, I'm mad at the game.
The combat to exploring ratio also feels wildly different to my memory of 2016. I don't even hate the platforming, that plus some of the soundtrack give me Metroid Prime vibes that I'm into, just it feels like I'm doing more of that than combat encounters (ratio wise, not counting all the times I had to redo them)
There's a bunch of presentational aspects that also feel really dated, there's an abundance of invisible walls that i don't remember from 2016, things that look like walkable terrain a distance away (in a game with no fall damage) that when you jump for, it fades you to black and jumps you back. The worst offender for this is in the ship, where you can see a platform below you. You can jump down from the balcony, but it resets you back to the balcony, because you're supposed to take the lift down. The camera work for cutscenes also feels old and worse than I remember 2016, that game was all about fast camera whips and zooms from your 1st person viewpoint to the point of interest, and right back to you. Eternal has both "serious game" dialogue cutscene angles, and fade cuts to totally different areas then fade backs that feel straight out of 2012, both of which haul me out of the sense of immersion 2016 had. I may be explaining this badly, or misremembering, as I haven't seen anyone else mention this.
Speaking of the tone, why is there a giant Iron Man hand in level 1?? as someone who loved the 2016 story and lore, what happened to Hayden imprisoning us or whatever? Why are we on a ship? Why does my ship have the sword he took as a big dramatic reveal at the end of 2016 on it??
I remembered the reception being mixed at launch, but skipped reading it until i'd played, so i wondered how much of this is me being out on an island, it's nice to know it's not just me even if the "solution" to me not liking it is "git gud"
Maybe it's just cause i'm not good at it? Compared to 2016 anyway. These levels go on forever it feels like. I got the automap on the cultist level and saw how much i had left after already being in this level for 2 hours and groaned. I shouldn't be groaning at the prospect of more Doom!
Speaking of hours, it is not fun that i've been playing this game for hours now and am still constantly out of ammo because i can only carry 16 goddamn shotgun shells. The combat so far is an exercise in frustration, constantly running out of resource. I clearly need to be using the systems better, but remembering my homework mid combat 10 moves ahead so I don't end up with no ammo, no chainsaw and a Mancubus left isn't my idea of a good time. I don't feel a sense of accomplishment when beating an encounter, cause it feels like I've ground it out from the previous x number of deaths, I don't feel like I'm getting better at the game or learning the systems, I've just bumbled my way through the fight somehow and barely escaped alive. If I die playing, for example, Apex, I'm annoyed at me for fucking it. Thus far in Eternal, I'm mad at the game.
The combat to exploring ratio also feels wildly different to my memory of 2016. I don't even hate the platforming, that plus some of the soundtrack give me Metroid Prime vibes that I'm into, just it feels like I'm doing more of that than combat encounters (ratio wise, not counting all the times I had to redo them)
There's a bunch of presentational aspects that also feel really dated, there's an abundance of invisible walls that i don't remember from 2016, things that look like walkable terrain a distance away (in a game with no fall damage) that when you jump for, it fades you to black and jumps you back. The worst offender for this is in the ship, where you can see a platform below you. You can jump down from the balcony, but it resets you back to the balcony, because you're supposed to take the lift down. The camera work for cutscenes also feels old and worse than I remember 2016, that game was all about fast camera whips and zooms from your 1st person viewpoint to the point of interest, and right back to you. Eternal has both "serious game" dialogue cutscene angles, and fade cuts to totally different areas then fade backs that feel straight out of 2012, both of which haul me out of the sense of immersion 2016 had. I may be explaining this badly, or misremembering, as I haven't seen anyone else mention this.
Speaking of the tone, why is there a giant Iron Man hand in level 1?? as someone who loved the 2016 story and lore, what happened to Hayden imprisoning us or whatever? Why are we on a ship? Why does my ship have the sword he took as a big dramatic reveal at the end of 2016 on it??
I remembered the reception being mixed at launch, but skipped reading it until i'd played, so i wondered how much of this is me being out on an island, it's nice to know it's not just me even if the "solution" to me not liking it is "git gud"
yeah, the super shotgun still feels nice, sure is a shame i can only fire it 9 times
like, i'm going to keep playing, but that's hours and hours now of my doom experience where i've been having a shit time
