Hi everybody,

I'm tempted to buy the original Wolfenstein 3D (mostly because I usually like playing a game series in chronological order). But I'm worried that, after playing through Dooms 1 and 2 along with Quake, the game will seem too archaic for me to really enjoy as much. I know Doom 2 has the Wolfendoom mod, which is supposedly a Total Conversion of Wolf 3D. But how is it compared to Wolf 3D? Would I do well to just download Wolfendoom instead of buying Wolf 3D (especially given that GOG is charging TEN BUCKS for the game)?

Thanks!

You MUST play Wolfenstein 3D in its original form. Nothing archaic about it: it's not DOOM, just something different and enjoyable on its own.

I disagree. Wolf3D just isn't that good, and the first episode (which you can get for free if you grab the shareware version) is more than enough of it.

You MUST play Wolfenstein 3D - 2

I finished Doom games long ago and decided to finish Wolfenstein games a few years ago, and it was awesome, I really enjoyed playing old Wold3D games, especially the expansion Spear of Destiny because it was harder with larger levels and ammo crates while in original there are only ammo clips.
However commercial addons to Spear of Destiny Mission 2: Return to Danger and Mission 3: Ultimate Challenge not worth your time since FormGen developer decided to change skins, sounds and level design for the inferior ones. They are almost unplayable and you can stuck in several places if wrong wall block is moved.

As for Wonfendoom, I played it, I didn't liked it at all. It's not Wolfenstein 3D, it's a Doom mod with inaccurate moving physics (called it whatever you want).

Wolfenstein 3D isn't the first Wolfenstein game, that title belongs to Castle Wolfenstein and was followed up by Beyond Castle Wolfenstein and only then Wolfenstein 3D came out.

P.S.
Also check out Castle Smurfenstein.

I accidentally found Blade of Agony looking for Wolfendoom. While Blade of Agony was incredible, I still don't know where one downloads Wolfendoom.

http://lazrojas.com/wolfendoom/index2.html

Thanks!

So Wolfendoom is not the same as Brutal Wolfenstein?

Wolf3D has its own feel, it's worth playing even after Doom 2. You might not play all bazillion episodes from it and Spear of Destiny, but it's worth a good run through the original 3 at least.

I assumed you played games newer than Doom and Quake. Did that stop you from enjoying them? If no, then there's no reason they should stop you from enjoying Wolfenstein.

Personally, I think Wolfenstein is still quite fun, though I don't really feel like playing through the whole thing again. Then again I did have a ton of fun with Catacombs 3D, and that's even older and more crude.

Yes, I'd definitely agree with at least playing through the first three episodes. It may seem primitive by today's standards. And for me personally, the lack of an auto-map was annoying. But, Wolfenstein 3D is a milestone game in the first person shooter genre. Playing through all 6 episodes may start to feel a bit repetitive. And also playing through Spear of Destiny, plus all the FormGen expansions, is really overkill unless you REALLY enjoy the game. But the first three episodes can easily be beat in under a week of casual play. And they'll give you a firm foundation for what the game was all about. The other episodes plus expansions were basically more of the same -- larger levels with more complex layouts and greater numbers of enemies.

I'd also recommend checking out ECWolf: http://maniacsvault.net/ecwolf/ . It runs the Wolf3D games natively under Windows and provides some "quality of life" features... like an auto-map, wide-screen resolutions, vertical sync, etc.

I'm thinking, a little later, I'll buy the Wolfenstein 3D/Spear Of Destiny pack here on GOG, run it through ECWolf, and then mod it with CeeJay's enhancement pack to beef up the graphics a bit without losing the vanilla game's spirit.

CeeJay also has three soundtrack updates on his ZDoom thread. Two are "remastered" versions of the original Bobby Prince score, and one is the 3DO soundtrack. Even though I've seen people recommend using the 3DO soundtrack, I may use one of the two "remastered" versions of the original soundtrack, so that I can enjoy Bobby Prince's classic tunes while playing (unless the 3DO version's soundtrack is itself a remixed version of the original soundtrack?).

If a game is good enough, then it will never become too archaic to play.

I'm currently playing through all the Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny games without saving. It's not that difficult, you quickly hoard up 9 lives, so it's not as though it were a rogue-like., The challenge basically entails playing thrugh it before some bug or machine issue ends it for you. Spear of Destiny is particularly good, there's some great level design there, especially in the Return to Danger and Ultimate Challenge expansions, which have different skins and sounds but are just as good, or maybe even better, with more oomph to the guns, sound-wise. A nice addiction if you can get used to getting around without a map.