Doom: The Dark Ages begins with a 5 minute cutscene that includes three labeled locations, nine speaking roles including four named characters, and a macguffin Doom (2016) begins with someone trying to exposit to the Doom Slayer via monitor and he literally throws the monitor away - ThreadSky

lordravenscraft.bsky.social • 24 days ago

Doom: The Dark Ages begins with a 5 minute cutscene that includes three labeled locations, nine speaking roles including four named characters, and a macguffin

Doom (2016) begins with someone trying to exposit to the Doom Slayer via monitor and he literally throws the monitor away

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lordravenscraft.bsky.social•24 days ago

i'm not even gonna say whether this is better or worse

but i distinctly recall that monitor moment being pretty widely interpreted as "yeah yeah, story, let's get to the shooting" and in retrospect it might end up being one of the most widely misunderstood moments in modern gaming

lordravenscraft.bsky.social•24 days ago

maybe this is just me! but I remember getting a distinct vibe from Doom (2016) of "this game is about shoot shoot. if you want lore, here's a codex to read you fuckin nerd"

and each game since has seemed to shove THAT mentality into its own locker

lordravenscraft.bsky.social•24 days ago

this is my interpretation, too

increasingly, i think the authorial intent behind that scene was "I'm not listening to THIS GUY talk about his noble intentions harvesting demon energy" and not "i don't care about story, let me shoot more stuff"

https://bsky.app/profile/garyastott.bsky.social/post/3lpc776rigs27

lordravenscraft.bsky.social•24 days ago

this also jives better with the scene a few moments later when hayden says something to the effect of "we were only interested in the betterment of mankind" and the camera pans to a dead dude on the floor

but the interpretation of that first moment was really, *really* sticky

temporalwolf.bsky.social•24 days ago

Absolutely. The disdain is not for story. Doomslayer has seen first hand how "using demons and hell for the betterment of humanity" only hurts people outside of c-suites. The disdain is for corporations that value profit over the people they feed into the meat grinder.

garyastott.bsky.social•24 days ago

100%. "I'm not listening to you, bad guy!"

landofobscusion.bsky.social•24 days ago

It does seem like metatextual interpretation has simply become more & more popular over time with people, and that sticking with more straightforward & literal interpretation is almost... too simple for many people nowadays.

I mean, I get why. It can be fun to read between the lines.

anewtypecentury.bsky.social•24 days ago

Reject that argument, “too simple.” People unwilling or unable to engage with the text, dig into a scene, do a close read makes them a poor audience.

Contrarily, far easier to center the work around Player-as-Protagonist, “I am the main character.” No empathizing with other perspectives required!

onomatopecan.bsky.social•24 days ago

It's weird, right? 2016 doesn't miss a beat immediately putting you in Doomguy's shoes with that cutscene and the constant first person perspective.

Sure those codex entries are extent, but they're nowhere near as obsequious and fawning as Eternal's plot, codices, and lore became.

liamloram.bsky.social•22 days ago

playing it again prior to DA, me and a lot of folk forget the multiple occasions you’re locked in a room, unable to move, while Hayden delivers his podcast & you twiddle your thumbs staring at screensavers

garyastott.bsky.social•24 days ago

In hindsight, it's become very clear that the devs didn't intend for that moment to be interpreted the way players interpreted it.

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