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hardcore_gamer

Why do people remember Doom as fast paced?

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I mean sure it's more fast paced than CoD but I don't really understand why so many people remember games like Doom or Duke 3D as being these super fast paced games. I mean when I was a kid and all I had was the shareware I did not even play the game with a mouse and only used the keyboard which meant the pacing was fairly slow. The levels in Doom are also not generally very big or open though this changed a bit with Doom 2.

 

Are people just remembering Doom wrong when it comes to it's pacing?

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It's not really the game that determines the pace, so much as the player. If you clean rooms one by one, camp doorways, only ever take maximum range potshots etc., then YOU are boring and play slowly.

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I mean I get it that Doom tends to be fast paced TODAY because of keyboard+mouse control and all the custom maps but ORIGINALLY I just don't see how Doom could have been fast paced when most people weren't even playing with a mouse.

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Par times were present in vanilla doom and required players to play quickly in order to match, let alone best. The word "par," meaning average, encouraged fast play from players at every intermission screen.

 

Couple that with doomguy's insane speed (running faster than rockets travel) and yes, doom is a very fast-paced game. Also, it's really excruciatingly difficult to not call doom a fast-paced game after playing some dm's and seeing your targets move, well, faster than rockets travel.

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18 minutes ago, hardcore_gamer said:

I mean when I was a kid and all I had was the shareware I did not even play the game with a mouse and only used the keyboard which meant the pacing was fairly slow.

And whose fault is that?

 

Also it seems you've found your reason why you don't remember it as fast paced, but your reasons aren't true for everybody. Also, like you already said, classic doom has a faster pace than modern FPS.

 

21 minutes ago, hardcore_gamer said:

Are people just remembering Doom wrong when it comes to it's pacing?

I'm remembering it right, you've been playing it wrong...

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The way Romero promoted the game with the intro demos made it feel like it's supposed to be action-packed and quick. Like Fonze noted, the par times in the intermission screens also helped this idea. The included deathmatch mode also pushes you to be fast.

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46 minutes ago, Lüt said:

How many modern games can you outrun your own rockets in?

For that matter, how many oldschool games can you outrun your rockets in? :-)

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56 minutes ago, hardcore_gamer said:

I mean I get it that Doom tends to be fast paced TODAY because of keyboard+mouse control and all the custom maps but ORIGINALLY I just don't see how Doom could have been fast paced when most people weren't even playing with a mouse.

What difference does the mouse make? I play keyboard-only since 1995 and Doom seems plenty fast to me. You can play slow or fast whether you use keyboard-only or mouse-and-keyboard. Mastering the mouse makes it easier to play difficult, high monster density maps, but I both make and play high monster density maps where I have to run my ass off. I just die a lot. ;D

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I think the only time you have to stay ''low'' and think more is with Ultra Violence, maybe Nightmare. You just cant do fast things without getting some plasma in your face.

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41 minutes ago, Steve D said:

What difference does the mouse make? I play keyboard-only since 1995 and Doom seems plenty fast to me. You can play slow or fast whether you use keyboard-only or mouse-and-keyboard. Mastering the mouse makes it easier to play difficult, high monster density maps, but I both make and play high monster density maps where I have to run my ass off. I just die a lot. ;D

Well, I don't play with the mouse, but I know the turns are much faster. I've seen videos where the player angrily shakes the mouse so quickly that it looks funny. 

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When I say Doom is fast-paced, it's for a couple of reasons:

 

1) The most natural thing to compare it to is Quake, which is slower.

 

2) By "Doom," I (and probably a lot of other people) am referring more to what community mappers have done with the game than what id did with the game. Valiant is fast-paced. Sunlust is fast-paced. Scythe is fast-paced. The core gameplay of Doom lends itself very naturally to fast pacing.

 

Anyway, what is an FPS that's more fast-paced than Doom 2? Serious Sam, certainly. Halo, maybe. But there aren't that many.

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OG Doom absolutely was fast-paced compared to most early '90s games, and many players did use a mouse right from the start--it was even recommended in the game manual. If you were used to games like King's Quest and Eye of the Beholder, Doom would have been a revelation. The entire world animated in real time! Back then, screen-by-screen games were still common, and the first person perspective, real-time moving everything, and smoothly animating worlds of Doom and Wolfenstein were practically sorcery.

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I remember Doom being fast-paced more for how rooms are usually always filled with enemies, whether it be the common Zombiemen or hordes of Pinkies, not exactly how fast you run in the game. It might also be that community mappers have ramped up the intensity of Doom's gameplay, ranging from groups of tougher enemies to slaughtermaps where monsters go by the thousands in a single map, pressuring you to have your reflexes and skills pushed to its limits (and a lot of death to follow). While I wouldn't say the original Doom games are super fast-paced seeing that I find myself playing more carefully at times and there are custom maps that are more slower than others, which is not bad at all, Doom is still a game that can be played at high speeds and with constant action. There's also Doom's deathmatch, where there is never a moment to stop and calm down, it's a blast!

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I started deathmatching only about 4-5 years after I first played Doom so even early on I remember it being absolutely necessary to move quickly. Even before the DM years, the top speed of Doomguy really stuck out compared to other games and straferunning constantly was the go-to method for beating bosses like the Cyberdemon. There's also quite a few areas where you have to run fast over rivers of nukage and even a few basic platforming moments where you need to be running to make it. It's true the some people play a bit slower, but once you learn to use Doomguy's crazy speed to your advantage, there's rarely a reason to play slowly for any length of time. Some maps are exceptions where corner shooting is the most effective method, but those maps/areas aren't nearly as common.

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Doom Guy constantly moves at a pace that can be comfortably described as inhuman. One person jokingly made up a story where DoomGuy is actually riding a motorcycle or some such similar vehicle. Enemies waste no time trying to attack you, and it can get chaotic fast when there are multiple enemies in a room. I think most people would classify it as fast paced. By chance, were you playing with auto-run disabled?

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Well when I played as a kid with the shareware I didn't know how to run or strafe yet, so it took forever to get through the levels. But when I started running and strafing and eventually side stepping then it became fast paced. Mouse later on just took my other hand off the keyboard.

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When you reach your peak skill with a strong understanding of a game's mechanics, are you playing it like an expert stealthy ninja? Like a master Chess Guru perhaps? Or are you finding yourself clearing rooms faster while dodging attacks and putting yourself in riskier situations with a successful outcome? If it's the latter then it's fast paced.

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8 minutes ago, Chezza said:

When you reach your peak skill with a strong understanding of a game's mechanics, are you playing it like an expert stealthy ninja? Like a master Chess Guru perhaps? Or are you finding yourself clearing rooms faster while dodging attacks and putting yourself in riskier situations with a successful outcome? If it's the latter then it's fast paced.

So the jury's still out there on Doom's pace, then?

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For me "fast paced" makes 2 requirements:

 

1: The game does not hinder the player by putting up some artificial restrictions to movement.

2: The game does not constantly disrupt the gameplay with lengthy cutscenes thast have to be sat through.

 

Doom - and many other first generation shooters - fulfill both criteria. On the other hand, a game like Quake 4, for example, does not.

 

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1 hour ago, Arctangent said:

So the jury's still out there on Doom's pace, then?

Being able to move fast and handle exposure to enemies properly makes for faster clearing in most conceiveable scenarios, hence doom is on the fast paced side of things. In fact, if the majority of people didn't remember doom as being fast paced, this thread here wouldn't even exist. 

 

Kind regards,

"The jury"

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