Posted April 08, 2019
In response to the OP.
Shared ammo pools? Unless you mean Doom 1-2 and Quake 1 (and II to a very minor extent, cells shared between hyperblaster and BFG), where an ammo type is shared between no more than two weapons at least. Quake III and Doom 3 all have different ammo types for each gun. Also Wolfenstein 3D literally has universal ammo for all three guns, so I don't understand your argument here.
'Levels that take too long to finish' vs. 'levels go on for way too long' so which is it? Are they even different from each other? I'd wager if anything Wolf3D levels take longer to complete because of how maze-y they are, even after playing the game several times through, I still get lost from time to time even though my spacial awareness in that game is pretty good. That's just bad level design then.
'A total lack of immersion' uhhh, wouldn't Wolf3D be considered much less immersive compared to Doom and Quake? Everything is on one plane/elevation, it's all 90 degree angles, there's no textured flats (ceiling/floor), and making levels for Wolf3D and making them genuinely interesting and immersive is no small feat. The original id set of levels I would call anything else but immersive, they are same-y and the tile set is very limited. Doom and Quake meanwhile have all sorts of height variation and much less restrictive in terms of architectural possibilities (especially Quake), diminishing lighting (Doom), baked lighting and shadows (Quake), sector effects and triggers, outdoor areas, ambient sounds (Quake), they literally trump every aspect of Wolf3D's 'immersion'.
AI that isn't smart? Well the AI is the same in Wolf3D, enemies make a beeline towards you and stop to attack most of the time, and in Wolf3D's case this is all their behavior dictates, minus the dog, the bosses are just souped up guards, nothing special at all. The only thing Wolf3D has over Doom is that enemies can patrol. But they brought patrolling enemies back in Quake, and the Quake II enemies make an effort to crouch your projectiles. It ain't much, but it's safe to assume the bestiary of id's other games are infinitely more interesting to fight than Wolf's ever were. I can assure you the times that Wolf enemies seemed smart was due to clever usage of floor codes to dictate what they could hear or not, prompting ambushes from several rooms away. Doom does this too, it just uses sound paths through architecture and linedef triggers instead, which is instantly more versatile.
Also, all the boss fights are terrible in id games, this isn't news to anyone who's played them, they're all pretty underwhelming and easy to bring down. They are not these game's prime strengths. At the very least Quake 1's bosses were unique in that you had to use the environment to kill them, as they were impervious to the player's weapons. Everything else is literally shoot it until it dies, and circle strafe to win.
Don't get me wrong, I actually really like Wolf3D, and I think it aged surprisingly well still, it's as old as I can go back for FPS games until I think they're just painful (Catacomb 3D). The game's greatest strength is really the talent of the community who created a lot of cool stuff for the game over the years. But my opinion is not the majority, and I understand that. It is definitely antiquated by modern standards, even by Doom standards. Less can be more, but sometimes less is really just less.
As for the difficulty, Wolf3D is undeniably more difficult than later id shooters, but for entirely different reasons, hitscanners dominate the game and at high difficulties dish out absurd amounts of damage. This is a pet peeve of a lot of people, so much to the point you start noticing hitscanners showing up less and less in old school style shooters made today, indie or modern. Because hitscanners ain't fun, they can miss sometimes, but in some games they straight up cheat and auto-aim you. Unavoidable attacks, especially very damaging ones, are seen as cheap. I like the lethal firefights in Wolf3D, but I also hate the Mutants because those guys really are just OP, I'd put them on the same field as Blood's Cultist. Instant reaction times with high damage output and you have the most horrible enemy I can imagine in a shooter. So I'd say it's mostly balanced, because the player can often deal critical hits with even a measly pistol, but it's not very balanced. It can be tense yes, but that doesn't mean it's always the most fun, and can be a pacing killer, especially in something so arcade-y. When I think of a really balanced shooter with hitscanners, I think of the first FEAR game, even on that game's highest mode it is still completely fair and doable, you just can't afford making more than a couple mistakes or it's lights out.
Shared ammo pools? Unless you mean Doom 1-2 and Quake 1 (and II to a very minor extent, cells shared between hyperblaster and BFG), where an ammo type is shared between no more than two weapons at least. Quake III and Doom 3 all have different ammo types for each gun. Also Wolfenstein 3D literally has universal ammo for all three guns, so I don't understand your argument here.
'Levels that take too long to finish' vs. 'levels go on for way too long' so which is it? Are they even different from each other? I'd wager if anything Wolf3D levels take longer to complete because of how maze-y they are, even after playing the game several times through, I still get lost from time to time even though my spacial awareness in that game is pretty good. That's just bad level design then.
'A total lack of immersion' uhhh, wouldn't Wolf3D be considered much less immersive compared to Doom and Quake? Everything is on one plane/elevation, it's all 90 degree angles, there's no textured flats (ceiling/floor), and making levels for Wolf3D and making them genuinely interesting and immersive is no small feat. The original id set of levels I would call anything else but immersive, they are same-y and the tile set is very limited. Doom and Quake meanwhile have all sorts of height variation and much less restrictive in terms of architectural possibilities (especially Quake), diminishing lighting (Doom), baked lighting and shadows (Quake), sector effects and triggers, outdoor areas, ambient sounds (Quake), they literally trump every aspect of Wolf3D's 'immersion'.
AI that isn't smart? Well the AI is the same in Wolf3D, enemies make a beeline towards you and stop to attack most of the time, and in Wolf3D's case this is all their behavior dictates, minus the dog, the bosses are just souped up guards, nothing special at all. The only thing Wolf3D has over Doom is that enemies can patrol. But they brought patrolling enemies back in Quake, and the Quake II enemies make an effort to crouch your projectiles. It ain't much, but it's safe to assume the bestiary of id's other games are infinitely more interesting to fight than Wolf's ever were. I can assure you the times that Wolf enemies seemed smart was due to clever usage of floor codes to dictate what they could hear or not, prompting ambushes from several rooms away. Doom does this too, it just uses sound paths through architecture and linedef triggers instead, which is instantly more versatile.
Also, all the boss fights are terrible in id games, this isn't news to anyone who's played them, they're all pretty underwhelming and easy to bring down. They are not these game's prime strengths. At the very least Quake 1's bosses were unique in that you had to use the environment to kill them, as they were impervious to the player's weapons. Everything else is literally shoot it until it dies, and circle strafe to win.
Don't get me wrong, I actually really like Wolf3D, and I think it aged surprisingly well still, it's as old as I can go back for FPS games until I think they're just painful (Catacomb 3D). The game's greatest strength is really the talent of the community who created a lot of cool stuff for the game over the years. But my opinion is not the majority, and I understand that. It is definitely antiquated by modern standards, even by Doom standards. Less can be more, but sometimes less is really just less.
As for the difficulty, Wolf3D is undeniably more difficult than later id shooters, but for entirely different reasons, hitscanners dominate the game and at high difficulties dish out absurd amounts of damage. This is a pet peeve of a lot of people, so much to the point you start noticing hitscanners showing up less and less in old school style shooters made today, indie or modern. Because hitscanners ain't fun, they can miss sometimes, but in some games they straight up cheat and auto-aim you. Unavoidable attacks, especially very damaging ones, are seen as cheap. I like the lethal firefights in Wolf3D, but I also hate the Mutants because those guys really are just OP, I'd put them on the same field as Blood's Cultist. Instant reaction times with high damage output and you have the most horrible enemy I can imagine in a shooter. So I'd say it's mostly balanced, because the player can often deal critical hits with even a measly pistol, but it's not very balanced. It can be tense yes, but that doesn't mean it's always the most fun, and can be a pacing killer, especially in something so arcade-y. When I think of a really balanced shooter with hitscanners, I think of the first FEAR game, even on that game's highest mode it is still completely fair and doable, you just can't afford making more than a couple mistakes or it's lights out.
