What made Quake great?

[Pvt. Gerpsnot]

When I got my first Pentium-class PC in 1997, the guy I bought it from was a computer dealer in my hometown and was a friend of mine. When I brought the PC home (used), he'd convinced me not only to buy the original Quake CD, but the two mission packs as well (Armagon and Rogue).

The next three months I was absolutely stunned by the atmosphere and gameplay. Not long before I was still goofing around on an old Commodore computer, so it's easily imaginable how sucked-in I was. I mean, it was either Quake or Pak-Man or the like. Needless to say my Commodore gathered dust after that.

I quickly learned about the on-line gameplay experience and could be found at many TeamFortress servers when I was off work for some years to come.

Since those days I've had many nice games, but the only older one I really ever come back to is Quake 1. There are still many new maps and mods being made, and I wonder sometimes just how large of a hard-drive it would take to hold them all.

I also found a great past-time in the making of my own quake levels; something I do to this very day.

have a good one

[grave_digga]

Again, thanks for all the replies guys!

No problem. Just tell the guys at id what the players think that still play their 15 year old crap.

[Infje]

Again, thanks for all the replies guys!

[Frenzy]

Zord, I beat you down in both mods consistently.

And I can hand your ass to you in 3wave, RA, Shmack, and CA, but I'm not out bragging

Competitive games make Quake great!

[cd57]

Zord, I beat you down in both mods consistently.

[powerzord]

quake was awesome because it was competitive, i started out on mplayer, was great with dm clan matches and various tournaments, moved to netquake and quaked with some of the best dmers on the planet, Nowadays its hard to find a Dm team game with consistency, so i learned to play CTF not too long ago and found it extremely fun. But not many people even CTF, You'd think with a game so old it would be easy to get a team game going with the people left playing because people who play a fucking game from 1996 are pretty hardcore about the game , and know how to fucking play DM or CTF and would be willing to fill in for a team game match. BUt shit , half these lamers are scared to even play one FUcking match. Its fucking pathetic to see a runequake and CA server filled with a decent amount of people and DM/CTF servers empty. A big Thanks to all the ***s for ruining quake.

[Miihkali]

The question should read: "What makes Quake so great?"

Where to begin, then?

Control's are excellent. You really feel you are in control of the Quake guy, unlike the modern games where the hero can just get glued to the ground as per Half Life (great game anyways). In Quake, you move like thought, to exactly where you need and want, while in most (or actually every) more modern games I have played the pal moves very clumsily (aim pointing at you, Battlefield).

Gameplay is great also. Every monster is different, not only in the means of power and hit points, but they really attack and move differently, so that you need different strategies to kill them. Especially 2nd and 3rd episodes also fully took advantage from the 3D, which is not seen in many modern games. At some points the gameplay shows its age, as there's no crouching and the gaming is almost all the time quite straight-forward--having some puzzles etc. would make the game even better. But excluding these two, I have never felt the gameplay lacks something. I personally think that adding cross-hairs kills something from the game--maybe that's just how I'm used to play the game, but still aiming at monsters must not be too easy.

But the greatest thing was atmosphere. Huge non-linear levels with Satanic, Hellish, or just bizarre visions of madness, backed with strange sounds, ominous musics, alien Lovecraftian feeling. . . This game is not only scary, but it's at times really terrifying. The alien dream-like feeling is the thing that makes me to play this game again and again--often you want to re-visit your dreams, and I know that when I start Quake I will return to one of the greatest ones I've ever had.

If Quake 5 is coming out at some point, I hope it's mostly like Q1. The combination of SciFi, dark fantasy, psychological horror, and Lovecraft is just unbeaten. What I would add, is proper storyline and some continuity between levels. What I would like to keep, is the limited amount of well-balanced weapons, very limited ammunition (I hate the way newer games give so much ammo that you're never even close to running out), power-ups, and especially the non-linearity of highly atmospheric and thematical levels. I'm bored with all these Call of Honors and Medal of Duties in which there's just a railroad to walk through. And some Nazis.

[bluntz]

It was a great game alright but it would have been loooonnng dead just like all the others are today.
What sets Quake apart from the rest is that the source was released.
What we play today shares little with the 1996 release.
It was/is US that makes the game what it is today.
A big Thank You goes out to all the modders who ever smashed his keyboard.
For me it was my experience with Rook way back when working on his instagib mod. The grandaddy to the railgun.
That was some fun times fraggin lpb's with 250+ ping!!!!!
After that I think I have played over 100 mods at some point or other.
Theres just something about tweaking your own ride thats priceless.
I got all the new games too, but after a year they occupy the rest of the pile.
Never mind leaving friends after 15 years? bah!
No big mystery here.
Also H.P. Lovecraft based gameplay still owns.
If I were trying to recapture the magic of Q1 for sales I would say release the source after sales drop.
It would have to be kept simple game play without a bunch of stupid movie breaks with tons of beautiful carnage and oh yea we want Trent Resnor to do the soundtrack.
Write that down.
Funny I heard those polyester slacks too Seven! LMAO
Now BAck to Id with you SUIT!!!!!!

[King Ghosty]

I liked the community Quake had a few years back. It was so alive and full of people who were friendly. Clan matches and middle-of-the-night shmack games were kick ass.

[Frenzy]

agree'd ninja

and I loved how you could connect at any time of any hour and find a great game, such awesome days

[ninjamonkeyz]

to me what made quake 1 great was the fact that i could play against people online and not have to be the best, the fact that they made it open source etc.. so people could put their spin on it,... the fact that it had and still has a community that is active... it had like all kinds of diff mods full and partial conversion etc even some of these were integrated into servers for online play so we all had them, and for sp on the way-back like mid 90's early 2000's...

[Halm_Barte]

The music, The rusted worn-down look of a dystopian future mashed together with medievil fortifications all set in some 'other' dark dimension. (because if you keep going to hell and winning ...well thats a bit dry.)
Playing capture the scragg ....that was awesome, I wonder what ever happend to that.
The four very distinct campaigns leading to a challenging boss level (exp' on nightmare), the fact that it was the first REAL3D game rather than simulated3D, the source-code was released (eariler than ID wanted) ...it was ported to Linux by enthusiasts, it's highly customisable ect' etc' etc'.

[Grafh]

Excellent Multiplayer made this game great, I never even touched the single player stuff. It has the fastest engine known to man, where you're aim and movement will be tested to the absolute unlike shitty camp games like call of duty. Excellent balance of weopons and the maps are outstanding as well.

[Infje]

Hello,

I googel´d for "Infje", and found that he is a member of:



He is working in "marketing department" with subject:
"How shall Quake 5 be like ?"


If you think this story is true, then push the button:


Seven

I wish!!!!!

[Bloodshot]

I never understood the appeal of the strogg. They just seemed so generic looking to me. It really put me off from enjoying Quake 2, as I really disliked almost every enemy design I came in contact with, with the exception of a few. And the main Q2 guy had an egg head.