/vr/ - Retro Games

>>4958789
Levels that are designed with pistol start in mind deliberately set up enemy encounters and how resources are doled out to compel the player into certain tactical challenges and induce feelings of tension and release.

Not to get too artsy fartsy, but there is a kind of dramatic arc that comes from how a pistol start level is usually designed. For example, E4M9 starts you out immediately under fire from every direction, and you're forced to make a decision of where you can go. You're being descended on by pinkies and spectres, which you can't afford to fight with your pistol. You'll either run straight into the front door and take the shotgun, in which you'll be forced to fight imps with only a few shells, or you'll sprint to the left and kill the shotgunner and grab the shells along the wall, in which you'll be cornered and have to shoot it out against that mass of pinkies, blasting the barrels to try and catch them in the explosions and save ammo. From there you have to run around to gather more shells and resources while cacos chase you and fireballs and shots keep coming, and the level continues from there with telefragging the baron inside to save more ammo but throwing you right in the middle another melee that you need to escape to grab the rocket launcher, getting the plasma rifle and taking the fight back to them, etc.

On the other hand, if you come in with the BFG and full cells from E4M2, then none of that matters because you can just shit out a bunch of blasts and kill everything without even thinking about it. It completely flatlines the peaks and valleys of tension and release and turns it into a single note of "keep shooting til they all die."

Pistol starting changed my whole perspective on Doom and made it way more emotional and exciting. Once I started pistol starting, I never looked back.