Doom to others!

Today's post: Playing old games with new twists!
In a few instances, this concept requires cheating, and may not be for everyone, but they might just be a good way to get some more play out of an old, good game.
The first and the one that I've been playing this way for the longest is something I fondly refer to as Beastmaster DooM, perhaps not-so-aptly named after the movie of the same name. The concept is to play DooM - as in the video game of the same name - while putting a new twist on it. The idea is never to kill anything yourself. In many levels, especially those in Doom II, there are plenty of monsters and zombies and what-have-you that you may never have to actually dirty your own hands to get through the level and even get close to a 100% kill ratio. Here's how you do it.
Start the game off as normal - begin the level in question with a pistol, and that's it. Sure, you could cheat if you wanted to and give yourself more guns and ammo with a simple code, but there's no need. What you do want to do, however, is to make yourself invulnerable (otherwise known as god mode) and gain the ability to walk through walls - and thus, monsters as well. This keeps you from picking up any more ammo or weapons too, but in this scenario, that's a good thing, as you only need the one gun that you already have. Besides, if you get really strapped for ammo, you can fix that easy enough with the aforementioned cheat code.
I never really decided on a real story idea behind this one, but the beastmaster idea always appealed to me, for the same reason that I enjoy Pokémon - you get to be in virtual control of something else that you can make fight for you. And because the monsters in Doom will fight each other if you can get them to damage each other - a brilliant and fascinating game feature that seems far before it's time for such an old game, and one that I've never seen correctly reproduced - you can go through the entire game letting everything else fight for you.
Walk through the level chosen as normal, getting the attention of the demons and zombies therein and enjoying the symphony of their screams and rage as you do so. Don't worry, you're not even here - practically an illusion to them, since you can walk through them and they can't affect you in the least. If you're not getting the proper attention, take it from them with your pistol; consider it a godly smite for not worshipping properly, or a simple slap from a trainer to get the unruly beast's attention. Since it takes several pistol shots normally to kill anything, even the simplest zombie, the pistol is the best weapon to use. Then, after you get a decent sized group following you, lead them into another group, and have fun! See which side comes out victorious, and egg them on if you have to.
Here's a few tips and strategies I've found work well with this type of game:
* Imps are the best army of folks to use in this scenario for one simple fact - their ranged attack doesn't aggravate or damage their fellow imps, so they'll never set upon themselves. Because of that pack mentality, they'll be the best to get to follow you, and they'll follow you the longest.
* Try to stay close to your chosen herd. If you have their attention, they'll usually engage you in melee (that is, those who have melee attacks will, anyway). If you want something else to get their attention, pop out of melee - remember, you can walk through anything - and get the attention of some long-ranger with your smite pistol, then hop back behind one of your herd as the other target shoots back. Instead of hitting you, the new target'll hit your herd, and then you'll be at it again!
* Try to stay away from elevators and teleporters. Sure, almost all of them work for the monsters, too, but sometimes it's hard to get them to follow you onto them.
* Use Doom Legacy. All you need is the (small) program from their site to run the game, and the (large) Doom and/or Doom II and/or Heretic .wad files that hold the game information. Honestly, the main problem these days is actually getting your digital hands on the wads; unless you own a copy of Doom or Doom II, they're practically impossible to find, and since they're supposedly still being produced, it's not abandonware.
* Have the monsters respawn. It's not an actual cheat code like you'd expect, but apparently a game setting (at least, I know it was available in the copy of Doom 95 I used to play on, and in Doom Legacy as well). The monsters are on a timer; after they die, their corpses disappear in a flash of green light and they respawn where they originally are. This will greatly increase the amount of time you can spend in a level having fun, and (if you're a completionist like that) also increase the chances that you'll get at least 100% kill ratio greatly.
* Pick the right level. A good level for this type is a decently large one with a good selection of monsters and a good number of them. Of course, always play the game on the hardest difficulty - not Nightmare difficulty, since the cheats don't work, but the one below that - so you get the largest number of monsters in each room. My favorite level to play this style of Doom in is one from Doom II. It's called the Refueling Station, and I believe that it's level #14 in the wad, but it's been a while.

I was going to use this post to also describe my thoughts on how to make playing Furcadia more interesting if you're tired of just hanging out in one dream and/or role playing in one place, but I don't want this one to get too long.

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