Pet peeves with FPS games - starting weapons and boss fights

[gerey]

So, one of my personal pet peeves with the FPS genre is when the starting weapon doesn't fulfill a niche in the arsenal and/or is superseded as soon as you find any other weapon.

A good example is the starting pistol in Doom - the weapon is only marginally better than your fists and ceases to be of any use the moment you get your hands on the shotgun, the true workhorse of the game(s), and is made completely irrelevant when you get the chaingun, which can do everything the pistol does, but also provides a high rate of fire when necessary. To add insult to injury, it also shares the ammo pool with the chaingun.

I guess id agreed with me - the starting weapon in Quake 1 was the shotgun, while the blaster in Quake 2 does behave like the Doom pistol, but with the distinction of having unlimited ammo, thus providing a unique functionality.

Build Engine games are a mixed bag. Duke Nukem 3D has the starting pistol, which at the very least can fire as fast as you can press the fire button, Shadow Warrior tries to mix things up a bit with the katana/shuriken combo, while Blood's flare gun definitely takes the crown. Not only is the flare gun unique to use and can be useful throughout the whole game, but the altfire can make it incredibly useful to clear whole crowds of weak mooks if you have the ammo to spare and don't want to use a more potent weapon.

Dark Forces inherits the dogshit Doom starting weapon philosophy - there is no reason to use the starting blaster once you get your hands on the E-11, which you can get your hands on within 30 seconds of starting the first level.

I'm somewhat ambivalent about the pistol in Half-Life 1. On the one hand it's a decent ranged option, with plentiful ammo, on the other hand it's not particularly fun to use (but that's something that could be said for all weapons in HL1). HL2 is the same, I guess? Really have no strong opinions on the arsenal of either game, both are decisively meh.

Unreal 1 tries to mix it up a bit - not only does the ammo for the starting pistol recharge, ensuring you always have a fallback option, but you can offset its weak per shot damage via the alt fire charging projectile, and on top of all that you can upgrade the weapon throughout the game to make it more powerful.

I'm generally not sure why so many developers tend to be so lazy when it comes to the starting weapon, despite having so many past example of how to ensure players aren't saddled with a completely useless slot in their arsenal.

The other major pet peeve I have with FPS games is boss fights, which really only come in two flavors - bullet sponges or bullets.

I can't really think of that many FPS boss fights that were mechanically memorable or interesting. It's always shooting the bad guy until he dies, or shooting the glowy bits on the bad guy until he dies, or just pressing switches until the bad guy dies. The best devs have managed to come up with in terms of "innovation" is adding bullet hell elements to the mix, forcing you do dodge, crouch and jump occasionally.

[dagal]

Have you played Call of Juarez? I've played the first one, the second one and Gunslinger, and IIRC the bosses in the first two ones were largely based off the western duel mechanics, each of them with some special twist.
In Gunslinger it was mixed: some were duel based and some basically an arcade shooting game where you usually had to think a bit. There is only one clear bullet sponge boss, but that one was rather humorously historically justified.

Guns are largely interchangeable, and often a matter of flavor (e.g. how fast do you want them to shoot vs accuracy vs reload time). I think the first one let you have some uber-revolver on late game, but my memory is a bit foggy on that.

[Finarfin]

COJ had some great weapons. Revolvers, Repeater rifles and such are by far my favorites and in that game even the basic guns were pretty nice to shoot.

[Oyster Sauce]

Dark Forces inherits the dogshit Doom starting weapon philosophy - there is no reason to use the starting blaster once you get your hands on the E-11, which you can get your hands on within 30 seconds of starting the first level.

It's better for sniping, you *******.

[wndrbr]

I don't think it's possible to make pistols as useful as other types of weapons usually available in shooters. It's not like pistols can compete with automatic rifles in real life.

At best you can give your starting gun a suppressor, which would turn it into a niche stealth weapon. But that doesn't work with games that don't have stealth mechanics.

[rusty_shackleford]

pistols should be the weapon you get on missions where you go in quiet

[DrSneed]

I don't think it's possible to make pistols as useful as other types of weapons usually available in shooters. It's not like pistols can compete with automatic rifles in real life.

At best you can give your starting gun a suppressor, which would turn it into a niche stealth weapon. But that doesn't work with games that don't have stealth mechanics.

Can make them utility. Like in Rainbow Six Siege there's high caliber pistols or shotgun pistols that put holes in walls.

[wndrbr]

I don't think it's possible to make pistols as useful as other types of weapons usually available in shooters. It's not like pistols can compete with automatic rifles in real life.

At best you can give your starting gun a suppressor, which would turn it into a niche stealth weapon. But that doesn't work with games that don't have stealth mechanics.

Can make them utility. Like in Rainbow Six Siege there's high caliber pistols or shotgun pistols that put holes in walls.

yeah, but multiplayer games don't have such concept as 'starting weapon'.

[DrSneed]

And? If you have such an autistic reaction to starting weapons being overshadowed, then in your hypothetical game make them utility or offer upgrades for that.

[Tangerine]

I don't think it's possible to make pistols as useful as other types of weapons usually available in shooters. It's not like pistols can compete with automatic rifles in real life.

At best you can give your starting gun a suppressor, which would turn it into a niche stealth weapon. But that doesn't work with games that don't have stealth mechanics.

I've always liked the hand cannon approach. Accurate and high damage but slower rate of fire. Usually contrasted to the game's scoped rifle by having a higher rate of fire, not needing to look down scope to have crosshairs, and a larger ammo pool. It doesn't last through the whole game, but its utility lasts much longer than the 30 seconds it takes you to get your first real gun.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I don't think it's possible to make pistols as useful as other types of weapons usually available in shooters. It's not like pistols can compete with automatic rifles in real life.

It could work in simulations games that simulate the length of a weapon, with long rifles being able to get caught on walls, forcing you to either have to point the rifle down if you want to hug the wall or stay further away from the wall if you want to hold out your rifle horizontally. The rifle could also give your position away if you are trying to wait right around a corner and someone sees your rife sticking out. Whereas a short length pistol would not have these issues.

[gerey]

Have you played Call of Juarez?

A long time ago, I do remember being disappointed you don't play as the badass priest all the time, instead being forced to switch between him and the gay Indian twink.

I did like Gunslinger much more, even though it felt more like a rail shooter than an actual FPS at times. Still, the writing and presentation were great, and the last threeway boss fight was fun.

It's better for sniping, you *******.

The repeater overshadows it completely, much like the chaingun renders the pistol irrelevant. You could have started the player with the E-11 in Dark Forces and nothing would have changed, and there would have been a slot for a more interesting weapon free.

I don't think it's possible to make pistols as useful as other types of weapons usually available in shooters.

The pistols in FEAR are pretty useful and remain relevant throughout the whole game. Granted, that's mostly down to the fact you're fighting the same kind of enemies throughout most of the game.

There's also Ashes with the two pistols. Granted, there the guns are useful because ammo conservation can be an important factor, but both the light and heavy pistol are useful in different scenarios and against different enemies.

I've always liked the hand cannon approach.

I prefer when games just give me slug rounds for the shotgun, rare as the approach may be.

[Oyster Sauce]

[rusty_shackleford]

Just need more scenarios where pistols would be useful. Having to do something with one hand: carrying something, arm broken, etc.,

[gerey]

Just need more scenarios where pistols would be useful. Having to do something with one hand: carrying something, arm broken, etc.,

I do like how in some games drawing your sidearm is quicker than reloading your primary weapon, so there's an incentive to use the pistol for self-defense.