Quake Thread - For fans of Quake 1 and beyond

[LightDragonman1]

Definitely need to give it a go again soon, now that the update is up.

Now all they need to do is remaster Quake 4. Unpopular opinion, but that is the second best in the series after the first game imo.

 

[BrunoMattei]

The problem is that it's Quake 2. The most generic brown FPS you could find.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

The problem is that it's Quake 2. The most generic brown FPS you could find.

That's not fair. It is incredibly orange as well.

 

[TVB]

That's not fair. It is incredibly orange as well.

It's more toilet brown and no other shade of brown.

 

[The handsome tard]

The problem is that it's Quake 2. The most generic brown FPS you could find.

It was brown before it got annoying

 

[The Penultimate Warrior]

Yes Quake 2 is just brown and orange, but not as if Quake 1 wasn't just brown and grey either. Playing through the remaster now and it absolutely holds up, the movement and weapons just feel so good, and even with the lack of visual variety it still manages to create its own atmosphere. Haven't tried the expansion packs yet, so will be interesting to see if they are as good as Q 1's, which in some cases were better than the base game. If I had one minor complaint it would be the new Beserker leap attack, which doesn't feel balanced. But that aside, it's great.

 

[LOWERCASE LETTERS]

If you're quick on the draw, you can shoot the Berserkers in midair and stop them before they hit you.

 

[The handsome tard]

Yes Quake 2 is just brown and orange, but not as if Quake 1 wasn't just brown and grey either. Playing through the remaster now and it absolutely holds up, the movement and weapons just feel so good, and even with the lack of visual variety it still manages to create its own atmosphere. Haven't tried the expansion packs yet, so will be interesting to see if they are as good as Q 1's, which in some cases were better than the base game. If I had one minor complaint it would be the new Beserker leap attack, which doesn't feel balanced. But that aside, it's great.

This remaster does seem to change a few more things than the Quake 1 remaster did, probably given how Quake 2 has a bit more flaws and exploits than Quake 1 (the major change they did in 1 was making nightmare just hard with a health cap because apparently Nightmare could be a piece of cake because the faster attacks made some enemies just very easy to cheese).

They added the compass as to make the somewhat confusing layout of levels far easier to traverse and I think they were also aware of the Berserker being a piece of cake so they wanted to shake things up by buffing them with a new attack that counters the usual strategy. I applaud Nightdive for this, for the mere reason that it forces vets to rethink how to approach such classic enemy. My grip is that the range of the attack is a bit too wide, so even if he "misses" you, he still knocks you back and takes some health. If they patch the range to be smaller, Im fine with it as is.

 

[The Penultimate Warrior]

Compass and weapon wheels are definitely good QoL improvements, one of my complaints with the original was wandering around now empty levels trying to remember where to go.
The shadow casting is a great touch as well, not only helpful but kindof creepy when you see a giant silhouette coming down the hallway. The way the Beserkers wave their arm whilst running does remind me of an old man telling those damn kids to get off his lawn though.

 

[skykiii]

Ahhh, Quake. I have some memories here.

The funny thing is I actually played it before I learned of all the hype for it. One school night I was bored and couldn't sleep, so I went looking through the disc included with some PC games magazine my dad had bought for me on our old Pentium 75mhz Windows 95 machine... I think the disc also had this weird mech game called Amok, and may have also had Blood.

But I saw Quake, installed it, played it, and I remember thinking "that was fun. That killed a few hours." I may have had to play it without sound because that PC had IRQ conflicts--back then none of us knew how to fix that shit. I also remember another thing: I used to be a weenie who always played FPSes with the cheat codes and Quake (along with Hexen) was one of the first times I didn't, simply because I didn't know the cheats. It wound up being an experience that turned me away from that path.

But yeah, at the time I had no clue Quake was this massively hyped thing--it was just "that game on that demo disc" for awhile. It wouldn't be until later that I started seeing the hype.

....................

One thing I notice whenever Quake 1 is brought up specifically is... well, I feel like there's some revisionist history here. People say that it was beloved immediately, and while it was certainly a commercial smash, I don't quite remember its history being so rosy.

For example, a lot of those gaming magazines often presented a Nintendo vs Sega-style conflict: Quake versus Duke 3D. This could be the letters section, articles and comparisons, anything. Even on the internet, for years afterwards, I recall seeing articles and places like Usenet, people would argue about whether Quake was all that good. A common sentiment was "Quake was when Id stopped making games and started making engines."

In particular, Duke 3D was considered by many to be the superior game because of its more colorful graphics (even at the time, Quake was criticized for its drab colors. Hell even magazine previews for Hexen II--which ran on Quake's engine--would have lines like "look at this, actual sunlight!") and the more varied weapons--Quake 1 had several weapons that were just variants on the same thing, while Duke 3D had weapons that had different usability and function.

True to that earlier "id makes engines, not games" claim, most of the time when people preferred Quake over Duke, it had to do with the game engine--most notably, its capacity for modding.

I recall having a lot of fun with this one mod that gave you a grappling hook. Now, there were tons of these... but this one you could SWING on! The mechanics were unrealistic and the hook itself was also an overpowered, unlimited-use weapon you didn't even need to manually select.... but nothing beat spider-manning around these huge levels. I just wish someone had made bigger maps that took advantage of it. Come to think of it, I need to try Swinging Grappling Hook on that fifth episode that one group made for an anniversary....

Anyway, it's kind of weird how on the modern internet, the story has become "Quake was universally loved and its flaws were only revealed in hindsight." It makes me wonder if I can trust anything I learned in history class when so much modern history is bullshit.

For what its worth by the way, I did eventually decide I had to own Quake and wound up getting a pack that included both the expansions.

..............................

As for Quake 2.... I never played this beyond a demo. I can't quite remember if there was a big defining reason for it... I think I just wasn't into FPS games at the time. It wouldn't be until years later when I decided to download a demo, and when I played it, well... I couldn't help mentally comparing it to Half-Life, which at the time I thought owned the "kinda-sorta story-driven FPS" genre. Half-Life itself is a game where my opinion has fluxed from loving it to thinking it ruined the genre to loving it again (and no, I never played Half-Life 2, and my copies of HL1 are all pre-Steam).

Quake 3 I did play.... about five years back, when I was just handed a copy (a friend was moving and he gave a lot of his games to me). Surprisingly this and Unreal Tournament are pretty fun with bots. I never got a chance to play either one online.

I never played Quake 4 or any beyond that.

 

[The handsome tard]

For example, a lot of those gaming magazines often presented a Nintendo vs Sega-style conflict: Quake versus Duke 3D.

"I aint afraid of no Quake"

After the Doom engine, there came two "sequel" engines you could say, the quake engine and the build engine. The latter had more interactivity but was still 2D while the former was 3D but its gameplay was far less interactive, Quake 1 really was 3D doom but a fine one none the less. It really depended if you were after atmosphere and graphics or interactivity and immersion. It did help the build engine was easier to mod for also.

A common sentiment was "Quake was when Id stopped making games and started making engines."

Depending how cynical one is, that either happened with Quake 2, Quake 3 or hell, Doom 3. Quake 1 they still had most of the Id crew together, that is until John Romero and a few others left to work on their own projects (with mixed results...)

Civvie does talk about it in his video how Quake 2 might have been the beginning of the end for classic Id, despite it itself being a good game.

In particular, Duke 3D was considered by many to be the superior game because of its more colorful graphics (even at the time, Quake was criticized for its drab colors. Hell even magazine previews for Hexen II--which ran on Quake's engine--would have lines like "look at this, actual sunlight!") and the more varied weapons--Quake 1 had several weapons that were just variants on the same thing, while Duke 3D had weapons that had different usability and function.

The interesting thing with these is about legacy and identity.

Quake is looked back more foundly than Duke for a few reasons (justified or otherwise). For starters, Quake's lack of a consistent identity kind of helped with said lack of major identity being ruined by a bad entry, there wasnt much to "ruin" there so you can only go but up, right? At most you see people debating if Quake is, to them anyway, more about the eldritch shit or the strogg shit but I feel like either identity works because they havent been sullied over the years. It also helps that Quake didnt have too many "#cancelled"-able aspects for modern culture to take it apart (except maybe the sexy strogg lady enemies that were oddly missing in the new expansion pack...Wonder why...).

Duke, however, was awfully mishandled after 3D with 3D realms having no fucking idea on what the next big entry will be all about (and for all this talk about Duke being better despite being on a technically weaker engine, they were surely obssessed with putting Duke in the newest engine even if it comes at the cost of what they have already made). The nail on the coffin came with D.N.F. Duke's reputation took a very heavy blow from it and the fact that his macho personality made it easy for modern culture to tear it apart also didnt help any chances for a possible come back.

As they are, Duke, as an IP, is far more unlikely to have a big come back than Quake. At least Quake is being currently handled by people that grew up with it and love it, while Duke is being handled by people who didnt fucking make him and most likely have no interest in doing anything with the IP besides hoarding it with grease all over so not even Nightdive can entertain the possibility of doing their own Duke remaster (which would properly bring every expansion and make most visual and gameplay changes optional at best, unlike what Gearbox themselves made).Even if Quake doesnt have a new major entry, it will still be remembered well by people while Duke is in an uphill battle with his true fans fighting tooth and nail to keep The King culturally alive (like with the Restoration project) since a new game seems highly unlikely (and even if so, do we even trust Gearbox with it?)

The way the Beserkers wave their arm whilst running does remind me of an old man telling those damn kids to get off his lawn though.

"Damn flesh bags, get off my planet! Ehhh!"

Anyway, it's kind of weird how on the modern internet, the story has become "Quake was universally loved and its flaws were only revealed in hindsight." It makes me wonder if I can trust anything I learned in history class when so much modern history is bullshit.

Join the club.

"History is a set of lies agreed upon"
- Napoleon

 

[skykiii]

As they are, Duke, as an IP, is far more unlikely to have a big come back than Quake. At least Quake is being currently handled by people that grew up with it and love it, while Duke is being handled by people who didnt fucking make him and most likely have no interest in doing anything with the IP besides hoarding it with grease all over so not even Nightdive can entertain the possibility of doing their own Duke remaster (which would properly bring every expansion and make most visual and gameplay changes optional at best, unlike what Gearbox themselves made).Even if Quake doesnt have a new major entry, it will still be remembered well by people while Duke is in an uphill battle with his true fans fighting tooth and nail to keep The King culturally alive (like with the Restoration project) since a new game seems highly unlikely (and even if so, do we even trust Gearbox with it?)

To answer that last line...

Honestly, I get the sneaking suspicion that Gearbox actually hates Duke. It's a suspicion I've had ever since Duke Nukem Forever came out.

Duke was always macho, almost a parody of action movie heroes.... but DNF went and made Mr. Nukem basically retarded. I'll admit I haven't played the game, but every time I watch a review or see clips, they seem to be intentionally trying to make Duke as unlikable as possible,

Getting sucked off by women who he makes dress like schoolgirls (when in Manhattan Project he outright rejects the advances of someone who isn't legal), playing with literal shit (and in general there's an abundance of gross imagery), being such a manbaby that he sees alien sacks that kinda resemble boobs and actually gets enjoyment out of slapping them, and of course the "power armor is for pussies" line (note the awkward reaction of the guy Duke is talking to in that scene)..... everything just screams "you're supposed to hate this character."

DNF Duke seems less like Duke Nukem and more like Biff Tannen after taking several blows to the head.

And I can't really prove it, but I just feel like the Duke of Duke 3D or the original side-scrolling platformers would just... not behave in the ways he's portrayed in DNF. Outside of the parts where he kills aliens.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

One thing I notice whenever Quake 1 is brought up specifically is... well, I feel like there's some revisionist history here. People say that it was beloved immediately, and while it was certainly a commercial smash, I don't quite remember its history being so rosy.

The difference between was single player vs multi player. Quake single player wasn't all that good, Quake was all about the very accessible online multiplayer arriving at the perfect time.

while Duke is in an uphill battle with his true fans fighting tooth and nail to keep The King culturally alive (like with the Restoration project) since a new game seems highly unlikely

Have you watched the trailer for that new Ion Fury game? It's called Phantom Fury.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1733240/Phantom_Fury/

The trailer really references the 2001 DNF trailer. And the devs/publisher ("3D Realms" in obvious quotation marks) have the old DNF builds.

"Do you think that arm makes you look cool or something"

 

[BiggestKai]

Holy fuck Arcane Dimensions is excellent. I'm usually not too into map packs where a different guy worked on each map but it works wonders here.

Have you watched the trailer for that new Ion Fury game? It's called Phantom Fury.

Is that SiN's Blade? Wow, can't believe that series is still kicking.
>modern day 3D Realms
Oh, it's a game that'll never see the light of day

 

[Desu Mountain]

Am I the only one who played the Nintendo 64 release of Quake 2? I got really confused when trying out the PC version as an adult because the campaign was completely different and not a single one of the maps was familiar.

 

[skykiii]

Am I the only one who played the Nintendo 64 release of Quake 2?

Nope--Stop Skeletons From Fighting covered it back when he had a weird phase of covering console ports of PC first person shooters.

 

[Kulee Baba]

Yes Quake 2 is just brown and orange, but not as if Quake 1 wasn't just brown and grey either. Playing through the remaster now and it absolutely holds up, the movement and weapons just feel so good, and even with the lack of visual variety it still manages to create its own atmosphere. Haven't tried the expansion packs yet, so will be interesting to see if they are as good as Q 1's, which in some cases were better than the base game. If I had one minor complaint it would be the new Beserker leap attack, which doesn't feel balanced. But that aside, it's great.

The thing about Quake 2 is that the design choices it helped pioneer, from having cutscenes to tell a story, levels with mission objectives, and greater focus on multiplayer. Well games that came after immediately improved upon it. Quake 2 as good as it is especially for its time still feels like a forerunner for great things to come.

Whereas with Quake 1 it's simplicity and minimalist presentation well there's something special with that. Like Doom it just gives the very minimum of information presented. There's just a charm to that old school design, you don't see it often after the early 90s. Quake 1 to Quake 2 just feels like a separation of eras. It's when mainstream games really stopped being arcade experiences. What came after Quake 1 was games that focused on creating a story or featuring advanced mechanics to make the games more engrossing, or the games were focused on muliplayer and that was a whole different thing. And yes I know Quake 1 had MP but how many people back then but how many had the internet speed to play it?

TL;DR ID Software was rightfully criticized for Quake being more Doom. But after Quake 1 we never really got "more Doom."

 

[The handsome tard]

Nope--Stop Skeletons From Fighting covered it back when he had a weird phase of covering console ports of PC first person shooters.

Its an interesting rabbit hole seeing how companies worked with the weaker hardware and in some cases, did an experience that held its own to the original, showing limitation breeds creativity.

TL;DR ID Software was rightfully criticized for Quake being more Doom. But after Quake 1 we never really got "more Doom."

Not even their Doom 3 was more Doom lol

 

[skykiii]

Speaking of console ports of PC games, I actually own the Saturn port of Quake 1. It's actually still a really fun game, though I wouldn't call it superior to the original... although, the secret levels show more imagination. One of them takes place on these mountains connected by wooden bridges. I've heard a fan ported these over to the PC.

Apparently the N64 version of Quake actually fixed the "drab colors" problem, but I wouldn't know, as I don't have that version.

Not even their Doom 3 was more Doom lol

Doom 3 was basically Half-Life Goes to Mars. To be fair I played it again recently and it was a lot more fun than I remembered, but its still basically a new IP that arbitrarily had the name Doom slapped on it. You could've called it Quake Mars and nobody would ever suspect its a Doom game.

The real Doom 3 was Doom for the Nintendo 64.

Not that we necessarily need a Doom 3 considering how many WADs exist for the original two games. (in case anyone here is not an oldboy, "WADs" was the name of mods and levels for Doom-engine games. Its an acronym meaning "Where's All the Data").

...... Actually, one of my brief moments of happiness was looking through my CDs of The 7th Guest and the 11th Hour... and finding the latter actually contained WADs recreating the house from 7th Guest in the Doom engine. Three versions, actually: one for the original Doom (this had custom music), one for Doom II, and one for Heretic. I guess just in case you owned one game but not the others.

But that's surreal to think about... that at one point, a bonus feature with a game could be levels meant for a completely different game. Why aren't computer games this awesome anymore?

 

[Mr. Duck]

The new expansion that came with the remaster has ties with Quake 1, this and the expansion for the Q1 remaster feel like a teaser for the supposed new Quake game that MachineGames is developing, and while these new expansions are good, i still don't know what to expect from them, it could be good but it could also be a pretentious mess full of unskippable cutscenes like Wolfenstein 2.