Strife - The Best Doom Engine Game
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- čas přidán 3. 07. 2024
- In this video review / analysis, I analyze Strife: Quest for the Sigil - one of the last standalone commercially released titles to run on the original Doom Engine (idTech 1). Is it still an enjoyable game, worth coming back to today? Did it have any lasting impact, despite utilizing tech that was outdated at the time? That's what I made this video to find out.
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00:00 Intro
01:32 Acquisition
02:52 Story + Writing + Voice Acting
07:24 Core Gameplay
11:47 Weapons
19:20 Enemies
23:20 Level Design
32:44 Visuals
35:15 Sound Design
39:11 Ending (Spoilers)
41:01 Conclusion
Pretend I wasn't incorrect about Strife being the first to feature alternative ammo types. System Shock 1 did it first (and it's weird that I forgot, since I quite like System Shock 1). Whoops! - Hry
How are you not bigger! I love your videos man!!!
Wow, this game had depth. If it was released a year or two later on Quake's engine I bet it would be beloved.
Warren Spector of Deus Ex actually said Strife had a lot of influence on Deus Ex. He said that when he was (Warren) interviewing Tim Willits. Search CZcams for: "Warren Spector interviews Tim Willits".
Funny thing, Tim Willits thought Strife is a "game no one remembers", while Warren said, "no... that was an amazing game, a predecessor..."
That's a genuinely pretty interesting bit of trivia. I was under the impression that it was unconfirmed if it influenced Deus Ex.
Do you have the timestamp for that point of the interview? I wanted to see what he specifically had to say, but the video is nearly 3 hours long.
10:58 There's a secret tunnel and passing through there won't trigger the alarm.
Banjo software actually bought the commercial license to use Doom as a base for their total conversion "game/addon whatever" HacX which was released in 1997.
That was definitely interesting. It’s really crazy how this game was both really innovative and ahead of its time, while simultaneously being pretty dated for the time. That’s really cool how it had a fairly fleshed out set of rpg mechanics. I remember watching Ross Scott’s video on this and thought it looked fun (speaking of Ross Scott on the basically nonexistent chance of us getting a Half-Life movie Gordon NEEDS to be voiced by him. Just make it be a film adaptation of Freeman’s Mind and you’d have pure gold😂). This definitely looks a lot more fun to me than Doom because I’m not a big fan of being unable to look up and down (Doom is pretty fun, but there’s some things holding me back from truly enjoying it. Thankfully mods like mouse looking can drastically improve my enjoyment of those games). I really like how the levels are pretty non linear in design allowing you to go about things is various different orders. I should definitely play this.
The fallout to the pedants was duely noted
When Doom 64 was released for the N64 in 1997 it used the id Tech 1 engine, making it the last commercial game to use the original Doom engine. Note however that subsequent re-releases of Doom 64 for newer platforms used the Kex Engine.
Perhaps, but I have a major reservation about Doom 64's usage of the Doom engine. I'll concede and alter the title if you can prove it wrong.
I'm not too versed on the technical end of things here, but my knowledge is that the Doom engine needed to be significantly rewritten and altered in order to run on the N64. In fact, Doom 64 is based on the Playstation port of Doom, so it's a double port, in a way. Even if the final product does still feel like Doom, I can only wonder how much got lost in translation along the way.
Maybe there actually is still a good bit of the DNA in there. Strife itself did make changes to the Doom engine, sure, but it wasn't modified to run on a framework other than DOS. So it's safe to assume it's a relatively "untainted" version of the Doom engine. Whatever the case, Doom 64's engine strikes me as a Ship of Theseus type situation. Is it still the same engine if it has seen a massive overhaul? When does an engine cease to be a specific engine? Honestly, I'm probably just a lot more fussy about this than most other people. But I do like my specific definitions!
@@marriedtomychair : The Playstation port of the id Tech 1 Engine -- which is actually based on the Atari Jaguar port -- is a relatively straightforward and unmodified port of the engine from x86 to MIPS. The only notable changes are to the engine's audio playback system and for gamepad support. And the N64 console is based on the MIPS architecture as well, hence the reason the Playstation port was used as the basis for Doom 64, but the port does boast some notable modifications: fog rendering, gradient lighting, animated parallax skies, and scripted events (for the story). It's otherwise still the same id Tech 1 Engine that was used to power the original Doom on x86 PCs (or on PowerPC Macs in 1994, and x64 PCs and video game consoles today).
@@blast_processing6577 You sound convincing, so I've changed the title. Hopefully, it should also cover me from anyone who wants to bring up GZDoom engine games as well.
this is how a deepdive has to be done! love your vids!! keep on✌cheers
Strife is the father of Deus Ex, and the grandfather of the Borderlands series.
I had a great time when I played, although stealth wasn't my forte. I even had like 6 accuracy upgrades in my pocket before I knew what the did....
Good video
I thought this was an amazing video 💯💪
It'd be awesome to see a modern reimagining of Strife. It's just the right setting for a proper modern RPG shooter.
Personally, I'd prefer a sequel or a spiritual successor rather than a reimagining. I do imagine some of Strife could look awesome in modern engines, but I'd rather see something new set in the same universe or at least similar environments. Also, a lot of the game is techbase corridors, and that wouldn't be too impressive in HD 4K RTX what-have-you.
I'm about to rip you a new one for calling Rogue Entertainment's level design terrible for Quake 2... Well, I agree, but.. the difficulty makes up for it... halfway decently. The difficulty was meant to make up for their "no challenge" for Quake 1's Dissolution of Eternity by what it looks like. Some places that's true, but other places is like "what the fuck is going on there?". So, I agree, but in a different way.
I personally really hate both of the Quake 2 expansions. Difficulty aside, they've got a shopping list of other issues, ranging from bad enemy design to boring additions to the arsenal. Never been able to stomach either of them. Rogue's expansion, Ground Zero, is definitely the worse of them too, mostly owing to those turrets. Still have nightmare flashbacks to those.
@@marriedtomychair Yeah, well... we'll see about that. I'll be back in a couple years when I put my honest playthrough in it.
Boy.. that sounded like my ego was talking -- totally unnecessary..
i sortof perceived Strife as much closer to both Hexxens and Heretic 1, you know the Romero sidestuff to ID engine supremacy.
i would not call it deus ex-esque due to much different player progression, tho it certainly could've been to some extent an influence
The final Doom engine game... of its era. There have been more since.
Most if not all of which use extremely far-removed, highly updated revisions of the engine, such as GZDoom. Personally, I do not believe games that use these modernized engines are proper Doom engine titles. GZDoom, notably, is a 3D engine in comparison to the original Doom engine being 2D. It's a night and day difference. In fact, I'd wager the original Quake engine is genetically closer to the Doom engine than the GZDoom engine is.
Perhaps there's some kind of sneaky exception to this (like an unreleased region-locked bootleg that stole the Doom engine), but Strife was the last game operating on the original engine to be properly released. If you can name any post-Strife Doom engine games that aren't running through an unrecognizably revised version of the engine, I'm open to hearing it. I'll change the title of the video.
@@marriedtomychair I don't have an list at hand but there were plenty of TCs that were a whole other Doom-engine game for all intents and purposes, that existed before meaningful source ports were common. If you mean official commercial release, that's a different kettle of fish
Strife was great, it added a lot of cool RPG elements to the Doom engine... but jeez the level designs were horrible }:O
funny sylvyon
hacx was the last one
Interesting, I figured HacX was just a mod all these years. Maybe I should add it to my list of games to cover.
I have changed the title to something much more objective. I appreciate your observation.
Welp, this title aged poorly
This game is just eh 🙁. Not really fun like doom. It gets better if you watch playthroughs to progress, even then it's just there, not really engaging or anything. I ended up deleting it for more doom wads instead. It runs well on freedoom app, and can be downloaded for free at internet Archive. No cheats allowed unfortunately. You're right tho Doom does get us hard, cuz it's not boring like this game is. 😅
Personally, I like Strife significantly more than Doom. I struggle to push through Knee Deep in the Dead anymore, since I get bored at the halfway point. I've tried some beloved WADs, such as Ancient Aliens and Pirate Doom, and can't stomach more than 30 minutes of them. Doom is physically unable to hold my interest. Strife, on the other hand, is an annual replay.
Honestly, I actually don't like any of the original Doom engine titles other than Strife. I guess I don't mind Heretic.