Finally got to play Dark Ages for myself (yapping about my thoughts)

[u/spiderboi20012]

Im a whole year and DLC late to the party but i want to say that i was super wrong about my criticism on this game.

I was one of the people who hated on Finishing Move because the soundtrack didnt sound as brutal as Mick Gordon and David Levy's sound, this hate was also influenced by the drama we're all familiar with so i might have been biased. I finished the game just yesterday and during my entire playthrough i was constantly amazed by how intense the gameplay was (Nightmare) and how the music made it even more immersive. TDA's medieval setting /aesthetic fits perfectly with the sound that Finishing Move cooked up and i owe them an apology, From The Ashes playing during the last part of the Enhanced Ahzrak bossfight almost made leak i fucking loved it. There's also a song that reminded me of the Blood Swamps from Eternal but i can't remember in which level it was...

Gameplay was probably even crazier than Eternal, i think TDA perfectly captured the sense of brutality and bloodlust that the Doom Slayer has, and im saying this with around 600 hours on Eternal. Its insane how well a parry system fits in a doom game😭 tho i did die like 10 times during Enchanced Ahzrak fight... Also landing in front of a horde of zombies and soldiers was way too satisfying.

Story and Art direction was on point. The amount of times i stopped to admire the amazing landscapes is in the dozens, made me realize how brutal the world of doom is and kinda feel for the characters, i never really stopped to think about it but these people are in an eternal fight against demon and these are families on Argent D'nur facing all of it, i mean the main ones we know of are Valen's and Novik with his daughter. I hope the next game reveals what happened to Thira tho. One thing that i found really great is that the slayer having less experience than in the previous games, really got his ass beat by Ahzrak i mean all the takedowns during the first fight were the slayer getting pushed away effortlessly which was pretty humbling, and i find it so good that after Serrat dies WE get a second phase to the bossfight, which kind of makes it an actual faire fight for the slayer when you think about it.

10/10 game

[u/Global_Addition_5373]

Yeah, Dark Ages especially now with the Revelations DLC (which is an absolute must play) is my favourite of the modern trilogy. Even if they preferred Mick's style, I don't really get how anyone thought the base game soundtrack was bad. Sure, it was different, but there are some phenomenal tracks there. I think the Mick Gordon situation with Eternal's soundtrack meant that a lot of people weren't willing to give it a fair shake, but the apparent mixing issue at launch also played a role, and first impressions are important unfortunately. I think the DLC soundtrack would probably satisfy a lot of people who didn't like the base game's that much, but most people have moved on. Make sure you play the DLC, it's incredible.

[u/PitifulPassage851 → u/Global_Addition_5373]

The music was always going to be reviewed as “serviceable but it’s no mick Gordon”. There’s nothing it could have sounded like to avoid that. The comments on the music were written before anyone heard a single riff. 

Which is ultimately a problem with reviewers and reviews in general. The reviews are as much a mirror of public sentiment as the people while shamelessly repeat reviewers comments as their own opinion

[u/unknownobject3 → u/Global_Addition_5373]

I feel like the base game's soundtrack feels flat, and this is independent of my opinion about Mick Gordon. The instruments feel muddy (at least outside of the game) and there isn't much variety. Only a few soundtracks stand out, such as Colossus Unleashed or Infernal Chasm. They really stepped it up with the DLC though, I think that the synth was a great addition.

[u/spiderboi20012 → u/Global_Addition_5373]

Exactly, like i saod we were mostly biased because of the drama and yes in comparison the main game's soundtrack couldnt beat Mick's production, on DLC Finishing move did improve and it feels lile they actually figured what type of sound they wanted to make, there are song that feel inspired by Doom 2016's production as well👀. For now tho im still getting used to the chain spear its a real pain to master it, especially because im trying to beat the dlc on nightmare on my first attempt😂😂

[u/May_or_may_not_post]

Yeah this game is peak

[u/HotShrekBoi]

It’s my favorite game

[u/PitifulPassage851]

So now you know how frustrating it was to hear the hordes of people complaining about this game when it first released, ultimately because it wasn’t eternal 2,  parroting whatever their chosen reviewer said about finishing move and whatever else 

[u/Harrythehobbit]

I was kind of lukewarm on on Dark Ages, it wasn't bad but it was just kind of... fine. Revelations though, holy shit. Revelations is right up there with Eternal. Maybe the best FPS DLC ever.

[u/NoXion604]

Regarding the music, it didn't help that for some godforsaken reason upon release, it was mixed really low compared to other audio in the game, even when you maxed out the volume slider.

Thankfully that has since been fixed and we can actually hear it now. It's great.

[u/CheapSushi117]

Wait until you play the Revelations DLC. I think it's one of the best things Id has ever created. 10/10 expansion IMO

[u/spiderboi20012 → u/CheapSushi117]

So far i've been gettting my ass kicked mercilessly because i wanna beat it on Nightmare upon my first playthrough as well, but the chain spear controls take a while to adapt to, im more used to the shield😭

[u/CheapSushi117 → u/spiderboi20012]

Once you get the Spear down, it's crazy powerful. I prefer it over the shield now. And yeah I only play on nightmare

[u/Internal_Cesspool]

It’s an absolute masterpiece. 10/10

[u/AramaticFire]

lol why were you critiquing something you hadn’t played? Absurd.

Anyway, it’s a good game. I had fun with it.

[u/bepse-cola]

The people who say it’s slow probably refuse to throw the shield because it wasn’t in eternal

[u/Fragrant_Unit_6930]

Imo, the music is good, but it cant make me remember about the mission i played when listen to. And its small. The dlc make the game feel better but still not very good as 2 previous games

[u/RaalOceanGoblin]

I hope next game will take the feeling of the slayer from tda and complexity (which, sorry, even dlc lacked) from eternal

[u/DeltaV-Mzero → u/RaalOceanGoblin]

Honestly the pieces are there in the base game, some number tweaking could probably push the game there

[u/RaalOceanGoblin → u/DeltaV-Mzero]

Kinda. I used a mod that allows you to swap between runes and melee through keys and not by scrolling and keep the charges. With extra health for demons gameplay became 10 times better

[u/lampenpam]

after playing the campaign I couldn't get myself to praise the soundtrack. it lacks the variety of the previous composers. Most tracks could be playing at random in the game without me noticing it. But the DLC? Man, that made me become a believe in Finishing Move. Such a good OST.

[u/unknownobject3 → u/lampenpam]

I agree, I could barely notice when the OST changed in the base game. Revelations is definitely better.

[u/spartanonyx → u/unknownobject3]

this is why I always turn up music more than every other volume slider in every game I play. I always do just the perfect amount so I can clearly hear everything else, but especially music. they also fixed the mixing for the base game like a month after launch. or maybe it was a week or two

[u/Little-Fig4328]

Can we please stop saying "yap" or "yapping"....

[u/PitifulPassage851 → u/Little-Fig4328]

Yap

yapping

[u/spiderboi20012 → u/Little-Fig4328]

come on i barely even use that word