Anime Is there any mod that makes Quake 2 not suck?

[Morgoth]

At least it's not Unreal.

Yeah, it's nowhere near as good as Unreal.

 

[DraQ]

The options were "Strogg" or "Loaded" IIRC

Well, they do fight like they're severely loaded.

If you know what I mean.

Blood 2 FEELS like garbage, SiN is an elaborate joke in terms of gunplay and enemies

Blood 2 IS garbage, but SiN shits on Q2 from stratospheric heights in pretty much all the aspects imaginable.
It makes no difference that it has never looked particularly hot, or that it has pathetic rocket launcher.

At least it's not Unreal.

Also, at least it's not particularly good.

Unlike Unreal. (which also shits on Q2 from so high it needs thermal shields on its turds to not have them burn up before impact)

Hell, pretty much any semi-contemporary FPS shat on Q2 from great heights.
Blood 2 was a sad exception.

Thats just the game being consistent... Remember that its set in a single giant location (Strogg capital city) so you cant suddenly have a beach with palm trees jumping out of nowhere. And even then, the levels are actually quite varied and different from eachother.

Consistency is a poor excuse for lack of creativity, especially if you have full creative control over your work.
It's not a fucking documentary, you know, it's an entertainment about shooting evil cyborgs from outer space.
Entertainment is not supposed to be boring.

 

[A horse of course]

Blood 2 was actually more contemporaneous to Half-Life and SiN if my release dates are correct.

 

[DraQ]

Blood 2 was actually more contemporaneous to Half-Life and SiN if my release dates are correct.

H-L *also* shits on Q2 from somewhere around Karman Line.
Figures.

 

[luj1]

Brothers Quake 2 had one of the best, I repeat, one of the BEST level design (i.e. what they referred to as "mapping" back in the day) thanks to American McGee. It allowed for non-linear gameplay (you could complete most levels in very different ways, say rocket jumping on a platform that is the end of the level, then going backwards or bypassing certain lasers, keys, doors, etc.), lots of secrets, backtracking and hand-placed details (such as a weapon next to a corpse impaled on a crystal, or a dead marine with a rebreather in an underwater secret, etc.). That kind of environmental storytelling reminds you of some games like Morrowind.

The visual style was different from the Lovecraftian horror Q1 was known for, but it wasn't bad just different. It was more industrial and bleached yet it was something most modern games dont have or dont even know exists - a distinct, cohesive art direction. Adrian Carmack was another genius ID had.

 

[luj1]

HL also shits on Q2 from somewhere around Karman Line.

HL is a very different concept, a streamlined technological gothic story arc, with Black Mesa complex playing the role of a spooky old castle.

 

[Maggot]

its called multiplayer

This. Q2 DM is (or was) kind of fun. Q3A is leagues better, though.

Q3A has dumbed down movement and is therefore inferior. QL brings back double jump though.

 

[shihonage]

If you get the most expensive videocard, you too can experience the technological breakthrough of Quake2, just like 23 years ago!

 

[luj1]

Haha damn my bad

 

[DraQ]

Unreal is kind of ‘meh’ in its own way, though, mainly in combat and level design. It never really quite came together well enough, at least until Unreal Tournament. However, it did have excellent environments and atmosphere. In that it is better than Quake 2, but Q2 is still a decently fun game regardless.

By the way, you can turn off blurry-texture-mode in Q2 by adding this to the game's launch parameters:
+set gl_round_down 0

With that, weapons and enemies will actually display at their full resolution instead of looking like they have N64 textures.

The only problem with Unreal's combat is that weapons could use a bit more oomph, making enemies a bit HP-sponge-y.

It's still infinitely superior to slaughtering electric retards in Q2.

its called multiplayer

This. Q2 DM is (or was) kind of fun. Q3A is leagues better, though.

Q3A has dumbed down movement and is therefore inferior. QL brings back double jump though.

What is this "back" you're talking about?

If you get the most expensive videocard, you too can experience the technological breakthrough of Quake2, just like 23 years ago!

Have they invented gameplay cards yet?

Because that's the kind of technological breakthrough Q2 could actually use.

Brothers Quake 2 had one of the best, I repeat, one of the BEST level design (i.e. what they referred to as "mapping" back in the day) thanks to American McGee. It allowed for non-linear gameplay (you could complete most levels in very different ways, say rocket jumping on a platform that is the end of the level, then going backwards or bypassing certain lasers, keys, doors, etc.), lots of secrets, backtracking and hand-placed details (such as a weapon next to a corpse impaled on a crystal, or a dead marine with a rebreather in an underwater secret, etc.). That kind of environmental storytelling reminds you of some games like Morrowind.

The visual style was different from the Lovecraftian horror Q1 was known for, but it wasn't bad just different. It was more industrial and bleached yet it was something most modern games dont have or dont even know exists - a distinct, cohesive art direction. Adrian Carmack was another genius ID had.

Rocket jumping counts as sequence breaking and doesn't really reflect gameplay-as-designed, unless you can prove otherwise (yes, there is one secret explicitly requiring and referencing RJ, this doesn't prove that it's the case in general).

The organic, semi-open design like that was also semi-common back in the day, with most attempts yielding less bland environments than Q2 (take Build engine games).

And, of course, all FPS games of that time were 100% hand-placed stuff and details with attempts at environmental storytelling.

 

[Master]

Consistency is a poor excuse for lack of creativity, especially if you have full creative control over your work.
It's not a fucking documentary, you know, it's an entertainment about shooting evil cyborgs from outer space.
Entertainment is not supposed to be boring.

But its not boring. Mainly for the reasons luj1 mentioned - all the maps are interconnected which is a huge deal.
You say that was semi-comon back in the day but it really wasnt. Neither Quake nor Unreal feature it.
Also there is no ''hand placed stuff'' in older shooters (AFAIK) at the level of Quake 2.
For example right before you enter the Prison level, there is a crashed drop pod in a courtyard, but there is no body anywhere or blood. Then in the Prison you see where they take all the prisoners. Neat and subtle stuff like that just wasnt there before.

That kind of environmental storytelling reminds you of some games like Morrowind.

This.

 

[Maggot]

Typical Draq brainlet post not even worth glossing over. If you actually played either game you would know what I'm talking about as Q3A has neither stair jumping or double jump.

 

[DraQ]

Typical Draq brainlet post not even worth glossing over. If you actually played either game you would know what I'm talking about as Q3A has neither stair jumping or double jump.

Have you been born played anything before Q3A?
If so, do kindly explain which of the older Quakes featured double jump to bring back?

 

[PorkBarrellGuy]

"Double jump is a good thing!"

Nah.

 

[Maggot]

Typical Draq brainlet post not even worth glossing over. If you actually played either game you would know what I'm talking about as Q3A has neither stair jumping or double jump.

Have you been born played anything before to Q3A?
If so, do kindly explain which of the older Quakes featured double jump to bring back?

Doesn't even know what I'm talking about by double jump LOL. Keep digging that hole.

 

[Maggot]

Doesn't even know what I'm talking about by double jump LOL. Keep digging that hole.

Who even cares about some miscellaneous movement glitch? What does that have to do with the actual intended design of the game? Is that really what defines the whole Quake 2 experience for you?

It's not miscellaneous when it's a defining feature of the multiplayer component, which is what I was talking about retard.

 

[DraQ]

But its not boring. Mainly for the reasons luj1 mentioned - all the maps are interconnected which is a huge deal.

Not if you expect an FPS rather than walking sim. For an FPS just having good map connectivity doesn't cut it. Sure, it's welcome but the name of the game is shooting stuff and have it shoot back - the latter in particular not being Q2's forte.

You say that was semi-comon back in the day but it really wasnt. Neither Quake nor Unreal feature it.

Build engine games typically had very open, organic and sequence breaking-friendly layouts.
In Unreal it varied, but you had for example Bluff, Dark Arena or Sunspire.

Also there is no ''hand placed stuff'' in older shooters (AFAIK) at the level of Quake 2.

100% of content in older shooters is hand placed stuff.

For example right before you enter the Prison level, there is a crashed drop pod in a courtyard, but there is no body anywhere or blood. Then in the Prison you see where they take all the prisoners. Neat and subtle stuff like that just wasnt there before.

That kind of environmental storytelling reminds you of some games like Morrowind.

This.

Environmental storytelling has been attempted since at least Doom, with varying levels of effort and success. Doesn't change much if the story itself is hardly worth telling.

I am a master communicator and also a very smrat smatr clever person.

Sure, pal.

It's not miscellaneous when it's a defining feature of the multiplayer component, which is what I was talking about retard.

Some random frame dependent glitch is absolutely not a defining feature, by definition. I'm not entirely sure what a double jump is even supposed to be. I've never been aware of it before, and I've actually played more than enough of multiplayer. Maybe that means I suck at the game and have no idea what I'm talking about, or maybe it's actually just that it's insignificant and beside the point. So what, Quake 3 doesn't have some minor movement quirk, why does that matter? You know what else is different? Everything. I don't mind the existence of such exploits, but it's not at all what any of the developers had in mind, and it's not something to cry over when they're missing.

I only know of falling damage cancellation glitch (which was relatively easy thanks to low engine tick rate), but that was fixed with some patch.

 

[thesoup]

Maggot
This is what happens when you argue with people who play single player shooters. They believe they have become profound fountains of wisdom. You deserve exposure to this lethal dose of brainlet retardation for defending single player fps.

 

[schru]

Multiplayer shooters would have been so much better if that stupid Id Software just hadn't started making those pointless singleplayer games and derailed the genre.

(Just in case, I don't have a problem with interesting skill-based mechanics that come from exploits and other unforseen behaviours.)

 

[Ash]

I like Q1 and 2 campaigns probably equally.

At least it's not Unreal.

Unreal is another FPS classic.

As for mods: Pro-tip. Take the gamex86.dll (I think that's the file name) of the Quake 2 expansion that improves the AI (I don't remember which expansion did this, The Reckoning possibly), and use it in place of the base game's. I tried this once and if I recall it worked without issue, improving the AI of most of the game's enemies and making it a challenge more comparable to the original Quake.

 

[Ash]

Unreal is kind of ‘meh’ in its own way, though, mainly in combat and level design. It never really quite came together well enough, at least until Unreal Tournament. However, it did have excellent environments and atmosphere. In that it is better than Quake 2, but Q2 is still a decently fun game regardless.

I agree Unreal's combat is not up to scratch, and its level design does have mediocre moments especially early on, but later things get epic from time to time on a scale that Quake probably doesn't ever achieve. I have a boner for Chizra Water Temple, the Sunspire, Nali Castle, Nali Sanctuary Town among others.

 

[Maggot]

For the sake of furthering the discussion here is a list of some (but not all as it's missing slope jumping) tricks you can use in Q2.
https://kb.speeddemosarchive.com/Quake_II
Some example jumps on the most popular map.

An example of jumps being used during an actual match.

Whether or not you care about these physics is a moot point when just about anyone playing Quake 1-Live will know the tricks of their respective game and use it to their advantage. This is not up for debate.
Also interesting little article:
https://people.freebsd.org/~danfe/Quake%20II%20Physics.pdf

 

[Viata]

I miss playing Quake online. I sucked, but I still loved that.

 

[Master]

Slope jumping? I noticed lots of those sloped walls everywhere.

 

[Venser]

To me killing enemies in Q2 feels super satisfying, especially with shotgun and I love sounds in the game. I prefer to play it on lower res so everything looks grainy, just like it looked when I played it back in the day. High res doesn't do the Q2 atmosphere any good. I used to love single player as a kid but now it's just damn too easy and I can't play through it in any other way than speedrunning. Multiplayer is still good although I prefer the other Quake games. If anyone wants to try it, here's everything you need to play multiplayer: http://q2s.tastyspleen.net/
Don't even need to own the game; demo, patch and upgraded client is all you need for full multiplayer experience