DOOM: The Dark Ages (2025)

[igor_kavinski]

Only conclusion I can arrive at, after reading Mick's long reveal of the truth, is that Marty wasn't happy about the publicity Mick received from the success of Doom 2016. Mick may also have asked for more money for the sequel which is totally his right but this may not have sat well with Marty and maybe some of the other bigwigs at id. So they tried to discredit him and make Doom 2016's OST look like a fluke.

I think the only right thing to do is not to pay full price for Doom Dark Ages. That is the tit for tat the current id deserves.

Anyway, came upon these interesting shorts:

She's vicious!

 

[burninatortech4]

I'll never forget that Doom 2016 fresh feeling with a brand new R7 1700 + R9 390 system. That was a good year. Eternal's combat loop was fun but the story lost me a bit. Dark Ages seems like a successor to that. I'll probably still play it.

 

[DigDog]

Mick Gordon.. legal issues with Marty Stratton

1. only casuals play id games with the soundtrack on.

2. having said that, as an ex- music professional, i'm divided between these two guys. I have no problem imagining corporate insanity of the "a team of 9 mothers can deliver 1 baby each month" type, but then reading Mick's response i'm seeing a lot of meaningless statements, when he insists he's going to be very specific. Things like (paraphrasing) "i didn't yet know the mood of a level or what a boss's background lore was". This stinks of auteur, frankly; if you are shown a level and you can imagine a track based on the visuals that you see, great. If you are NOT shown a level, but just told "there will be bouncy platforms here", then just use that as you cue. No, you don't need to see the final level fully polished, just to be able to deliver a competent product. Hey, you know, maybe ask questions, but in the end just write the goddamn music, if they don't like how it doesnt 100% fit the level design, it's because they never showed you the level design, but don't sit on it when you are paid to meet a schedule.

In the world of music business, when you are being paid, if the choice is between delivering what is artistic, and what gets you paid, you ALWAYS DELIVER WHAT GETS YOU PAID. It is the responsibility of the person paying for it, to decide if they want or not something artistic.

I think the problem here is that Mick got a ton of recognition for the (to me, nothing special) soundtrack on Doom 2016, that he now saw himself recruited to yet again deliver a product "as good, as he is being told the 2016 one was". Yeah, no.

Even if, he was supposed to work within a set of constraints that did not exist in the 2016 production, well, that's your job. The only reason you aren't doing it to the statisfaction of your employer is because you're a big fat Auteur.

bonus: THE best version of E1M1 you will ever hear

 

[igor_kavinski]

This stinks of auteur

Maybe they included him more in the discussions for Doom 2016 levels and music and atmosphere.

With Doom Eternal, the pressure was on to deliver, they had no idea what they were going to deliver so they treated Mick as an outsider and maybe they weren't happy that a single person got more publicity than the entire team so they excluded him ON purpose like saying, "let's see you work your magic now, huh?". To a lot of people on id software team, Mick's job must've sounded the easiest. And I suspect Mick was making more than Marty which must've prompted Marty to create his own soundtrack so he could claim credit AND the accompanying bonus/cut from the sales of the Deluxe edition.

I haven't played Doom 2016 so I don't know what kind of mood/atmosphere the music gave it but really great games have excellent soundtracks and more than anything, you remember them more coz of their aural ambiance. There's a free game called Solar Wolf that I've played only to hear the wolf howl. No kidding.

 

[DigDog]

No kidding.

i am RIGHT NOW in a place of employment where the obvious imminent implosion of the team is, like, obvious. like SUPER obvious. Like, you'd need to be a subhuman mongoloid not to see it.
I'll give you the numbers.
56 is BAD. too much to work, but, with exceptional dedication and sk1lz, we can survive. (10-15 would be ideal)
176 is just not possible.
Our current score: 429.

the guy who is in charge of my entire department is a sub-100 IQ human who thinks fiddling the numbers is a permanent solution. This is pretty much what everyone in the world who is paid more than minimal wage needs to deal with.

I'm not taking sides; i'm saying that, if you are given impossible restrictions, don't waste time on banging your head against either those restrictions, or the artistic limits imposed by them. Deliver what you can, deliver the best that can be delivered under the circumstances.

One guy is an asshole, the other is an idiot. I don't really think i can take a side, here.

 

[igor_kavinski]

One guy is an asshole, the other is an idiot. I don't really think i can take a side, here.

I guess that's fair.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I haven't played Doom 2016 so I don't know what kind of mood/atmosphere the music gave it but really great games have excellent soundtracks and more than anything, you remember them more coz of their aural ambiance.

Basically just a ton of amazing metal songs while you obliterated demons at fast pace. The game honestly wouldn't have been the same without the music since it fit the atmosphere so well and you could tell they definitely wanted to give the players a fast-paced FPS and the music greatly intensified the feeling of just ripping through everything in front of you with your shiny new weapons or powerups.

I know it's not the same for everyone, but the soundtracks are generally the most memorable parts of a game for me but I'm also a millennial so I grew up with great soundtracks in games over the years (FF6, Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong 1/2/3, Castlevania (all of them), etc. and I've replayed games in the past just to listen to the music again (mainly with Castlevania Symphony of the Night). For Doom 2016, I recall hearing more about the music than anything from my friends who were playing it because they knew I was a fan of FPS games, but moreover, a fan of metal and every single one wouldn't stop talking about the soundtrack.

Same with the soundtrack link I provided above, if I just sit here trying to recall certain parts of the game, I mostly just remember bits and pieces, but when I play each track, I can remember exactly what that entire level looked like and all the various gauntlets as well as which weapons were acquired in each area. Also, for what it's worth, BFG Division and Skullhacker are my favorite songs on that OST, not just for the music itself, but for how well it fit with the combat in those sections.

 

[DigDog]

i disagree; not in the "you dumb, me smart!" way, but more in a "personal taste" kinda way. I don't like this modern metal as a whole, and while i certainly do like some modern metal bands, the majority is playing a style that doesn't really resonate with me.

Anyway, i can only really think of two games that had really amazing soundtracks, out of all the ones i have ever played. I mean that, there's been many games that had nice, quirky, enjoyable soundtracks, but nothing where i remember the soundtrack being particularly good, so that it becomes as good as a gameplay element. These two games were

WipeOut 2097, and very, very further down
Command & Conquer.

I suppose you could cheat and add Parappa The Rappa on this list.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Descent had a great soundtrack.

I have been over boomer shooters a long time. I will definitely play this one however. A chainsaw shield AND a mace? Oh hell yeah.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

It's medevil except here's a shotgun

And I am here for it.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Descent had a great soundtrack.

Totally! And the adrenaline rush when the countdown started! Man, that was awesome. The levels were designed so that one always faced the countdown (at least I did, playing with the mouse). Indeed one of my most vivid gaming memories.

 

[Shmee]

The best Dooms were the older ones. Recently I have been into the Dragon Sector Remake and Extermination Day as good map packs.