The Big FPS Playthrough MISSION COMPLETE

[SecretAsianMan]

You can argue about developer intent, but to really capture the spirit and the zeitgeist that Quake introduced, I think mouselook is totally appropriate.  The legacy of that game is definitely not in the single player (outside of speed running anyway).  While Quake may not be the birth of that control scheme (Wikipedia says Terminator: Future Shock is the first game to have it on by default while Marathon is the first to have it at all), it's certainly responsible for making it popular.

[Ben X]

Okay, why is everyone going on at me? I said I'd try it like 5 posts ago!

[SecretAsianMan]

The real question is whether you're using WASD or not.

[Ben X]

Of course!

[Ben X]

I'm on the 4th episode and it's starting to get very tough, with the first annoying enemies - these weird slime things that are really tough to shoot, and explode when they die, which remind of me of the extremely irritating kamikaze things from Duke Nukem - and a couple of really harsh monster closets.

 

Generally still very much enjoying it, though. I like the homing rockets things that the vores shoot, and how you can generally trick them into hitting walls - there's unexpected comedy in legging it round the whole level getting chased by a rocket and trying to make sharp enough corners that it misses you. It's surprisingly short as well, but in a good way - I'm relieved it hasn't turned into the slog that led me to quit previous games.

 

Mouselook is generally an improvement, especially when the levels get multi-tiered. I do sometimes wonder if I'm missing a few targets that I would have got with no mouselook but auto-aim on (and set to the standard 0.93).

[thepaulhoey]

How scary was Quake viewed upon release? I'm noticing a lot of enemies hiding in the dark and only activating when you pass, jumping from around a corner etc. It seems like it was designed to always have you on edge and I can imagine when this was cutting edge tech these were pretty good jump scares.

[osmosisch]

Quake was for me a step down in scariness from Doom, the monster designs were just not as detailed and creepy. Also the monochromatic brown/desaturated pallettes really limited their design space. Maybe it was just texture/polygon limitations, I don't know.

[Ben X]

I haven't watched this yet, but here's a vid series about Doom mods.

[SecretAsianMan]

Quake was for me a step down in scariness from Doom, the monster designs were just not as detailed and creepy. Also the monochromatic brown/desaturated pallettes really limited their design space. Maybe it was just texture/polygon limitations, I don't know.

 

This and also the fact that Quake for me was much faster paced due to mouselook.  It might be subjective, but Doom felt slower to me because I was using the keyboard and couldn't react as fast while Quake was basically non-stop running and gunning/jumping.

[Ben X]

Phew, I finished Quake. The EOGB level is a nightmare - tons of vores and shamblers with nowhere to hide. The best tactic is to get them to fight each other as much as possible. It's not as interesting as the end of episode boss for Ep 1, but at least it has that little trick at the end.

It's still a great game - level design (all that nice Doom-y looping back on itself, and I never got lost), aesthetics (it may have a lot of brown, but I still love all the gothic architecture), balance, all top-notch.

Next: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

[Trip Hazard]

Quake is still great, glad you enjoyed it. Enjoyed it more or less than Doom™?

[eot]

I'm on the 4th episode and it's starting to get very tough, with the first annoying enemies - these weird slime things that are really tough to shoot, and explode when they die, which remind of me of the extremely irritating kamikaze things from Duke Nukem - and a couple of really harsh monster closets.

 

Generally still very much enjoying it, though. I like the homing rockets things that the vores shoot, and how you can generally trick them into hitting walls - there's unexpected comedy in legging it round the whole level getting chased by a rocket and trying to make sharp enough corners that it misses you. It's surprisingly short as well, but in a good way - I'm relieved it hasn't turned into the slog that led me to quit previous games.

 

Mouselook is generally an improvement, especially when the levels get multi-tiered. I do sometimes wonder if I'm missing a few targets that I would have got with no mouselook but auto-aim on (and set to the standard 0.93).

The fourth episode of Quake is by far the worst, and you're right that those slimes are a pain in the neck. I actually recommend skipping it entirely. Also, if you want to play it I can hook you up with a copy of Shogo because I like it so much D: (it's a '98 game)

[BigJKO]

This thread is great Ben!

 

I'm so happy Dark Forces was on your list. I don't think I ever actually played the full game. I only played the demo (and I played that demo over and over and over) and thought it was fantastic. Bummed, but not surprised, that it gets repetitive..

[Ben X]

Trip - I think I enjoyed Quake about equally to Doom, though it was a bit shorter, which was a relief!

 

eot - I'd love to get Shogo off you as long as a) it's legitimate and sunglasses) you won't be offended if I don't like it and give up on it fairly quickly!

 

JKO - thanks!

 

I've started Jedi Knight. Needed a fan patch to get the music playing (gog has sorted it, but Steam hasn't)  - I've got the original discs too but it would probably be more of a hassle trying to get those to work on Win 7. I was finding it insanely hard at first, so I put it to easy and enabled auto-aim! This might have been because I hadn't figured out bacta tanks yet - I probably need to read the manual for this one, as it's got loads of different stuff going on.

It feels like a bit of a come-down after Quake, because it's damn ugly in places (especially exteriors, which i think was the case with DF too), the shooting's not as satisfying, and it's back to loads of switch puzzles and platforming. Once I got the lightsaber, though, it immediately got a lot more fun - slashing open vents, deflecting shots, getting all Anakin on tusken raiders. Speaking of which, I've met triclops, Greedos, Gamorrean guards and sand people so far, as well as a few robotic and human NPCs and some big mosquito/scorpion things, which feels like a good amount of enemy variety so far.

The FMV cutscenes are mostly terrible - corny writing and acting, and flat direction, but the visual effects are often very nice. It's a shame that the music is now canned tracks rather than iMuse.

[Dinosaursssssss]

I have very fond memories of trying to beat Jedi Knight and having a friend sit at the PC with me, mashing the key to do Force Heal during the final boss fight so I could keep moving around. There were some really cool levels in there; granted some are massive and really difficult to navigate, but seeing some grimy industrial parts of the SW universe was really neat.

 

Kinda surprised you like the lightsaber stuff, I remember thinking it was pretty lame. It got really fun in the next game (and peaked in Jedi Academy) but it never really felt useful to me in JK1.

[Ben X]

Ok, yeah, the lightsaber doesn't remain that fun for long - it's pretty much useless when you have multiple enemies. I managed to get a bit of force speed and jump, which are fun occasionally but don't really help in combat.

 

Anyway, I've now quit this game. I wasn't having much fun because it's so fiddly and unsatisfying. Unsatisfying weapons, fiddly combat, annoying level structure and shitty platforming and switch puzzles. I was trying to push through, using a walkthrough to get past the more irritating puzzles (generally to do with switches and bridges) until I got to one level which demands incredibly difficult platforming (sloped surfaces from which you'll easily fall to your death) while trying to find a well-hidden vent, all while a TIE fighter bombs you. I decided to try a few cheats to skip ahead, but just kept on coming up against shitty hidden switches and routes.

 

I'll just have to hope that when I get to 2002, the next two Dark Forces games won't have the same irritations as the first two...

 

Anyway, onto Quake 2!

[Salacious Snake]

I'll be curious to see your thoughts on Quake 2. I have mixed feelings about it. 

 

Do you have any interest in checking out the multiplayer side of these things? I could be down for a deathmatch if you want to hit me up in Slack. (I'm jd.)

[Ben X]

Mmm, probably not, tbh. It'll be a load of hassle just to get frustrated after two matches because I suck. Thanks for the offer, though!

[Jutranjo]

Just get more people so it isn't a 1v1!

[Salacious Snake]

Yeah, an unevenly matched 1v1 in a game like Quake is just immensely frustrating, but it's not as bad in a group free-for-all. Or we could join another server together and all get spanked the lunatics who are still actively playing after all these years.

 

The multiplayer was such a huge part of the zeitgeist with these games. 

 

Also, don't forget about cooperative! Doom or Duke 3D with a buddy can be so good.

[Trip Hazard]

(if anybody ever wants to play co-op Doom with me, I am so up for that it hurts)

[Ben X]

I might be up for co-op (though I'd need to buy a USB headset as my bluetooth headphones are really temperamental with my PC for reasons I can't work out)....

[Ben X]

The game jam has put a halt to this for the moment, but I'm just popping in to say thanks to eot, thepaulhoey and laco for gifting me Shogo, Allied Assault and some Jedi games, respectively.

 

I did play a bit of Quake 2 before the jam, though, and am not enjoying it as much. It's nowhere near as tight as the first regarding balance, shooting or level design. The gung-ho space marine feel of it is fun, though, with enemies who try to get one last shot at you before dying or stumble around headless for a moment. There's a more coherent though still very shallow story this time, with an opening cutscene which feels more like an engine demo and some irrelevant mission goals. And there's a transit system level! I should probably set up an FPS bingo card - transit system, kamikaze enemies, weapons taken away mid-game etc.

[Trip Hazard]

I like the sound effects in Quake 2, but it's a pretty ugly and largely tedious affair, I feel. Maybe if I kicked up the difficulty? Eh, got other stuff to play.

(sweet railgun though)

[thepaulhoey]

I started Quake 2 and I agree with much of what Ben said. To add, the weapons don't feel very good, Doom and Quake felt really vicious but Quake 2 doesn't at all, there's no feedback when you're shooting enemies due to both the sound of the weapons and the animation of the enemies. The setting is very dull, just large empty brown rooms and while I do like the character of the enemies insofar as their last stand etc. I think they're not as visually interesting or fun to fight as the monsters of Doom and Quake. Not having much fun with this so far.