Should I Play Quake?

[DSC]

Kind of like a sequel to my "Should I Play Blood?" thread...

 

Anyways just like Blood some months ago, now I'm curious to try out Quake. So, I just want to ask the most important questions:

-what source port should I use?

-what are the best community created map packs?

-how to play multiplayer?

-what are some general gameplay tips?

-is it even worth playing at all?

[Toilet_Wine_Connoisseur]

Quake 1?

 

Yes you very much should.

 

I honestly enjoy quake than Vanilla DooM.

 

DArkspaces if u like a lot of visual bells and whistles 

 

Quakespasm from what I have seen is kinda the go to source port.

-its easy to get running, with a just effort you can get the official expansions and DOPA to run with it.

 

*practice rocket jumping, even being able to do basic jumps expands your movement abilities significantly

 

map packs?

 

Arcane Dimensions hands down the best.

 

DOPA, a '5th episode' made by machine games (the new wolfenstein devs) released for a free on quakes 20th. its a lot of the fun.

 

The official expansions are honestly a lot of fun to play as well. 

[Redneckerz]

''Should i play Quake?''

Is that really even a question OP? Its like asking: ''Should i play Mario 64?''. They are classics for a reason.
 

40 minutes ago, DSC said:

Kind of like a sequel to my "Should I Play Blood?" thread...

 

Anyways just like Blood some months ago, now I'm curious to try out Quake. So, I just want to ask the most important questions:

-what source port should I use?

Quakespasm, Engoo for software rendered visual extravaganza, FTE for modern rendering support.

40 minutes ago, DSC said:

-what are the best community created map packs?

Arcane Dimensions. Zerstorer. Find it all on Quaddicted.

40 minutes ago, DSC said:

-how to play multiplayer?

Rocket jumps, but first play some single player content first. I find these kinds of questions not that important if you have yet to play the game anyway.

40 minutes ago, DSC said:

-is it even worth playing at all?

I'd really love to know why you ask this.

[DSC]

14 minutes ago, Toilet_Wine_Connoisseur said:

Quake 1?

Yes, that one.

 

 

2 minutes ago, Redneckerz said:

I'd really love to know why you ask this.

I hope what I'm about to say isn't going to bother people too much... But I have heard in the past some talk about how Q1 isn't nearly as good as it could have been, because it was rushed and not properly thought out. And that really mad me skeptical of trying it.

[Toilet_Wine_Connoisseur]

7 minutes ago, DSC said:

Yes, that one.

 

 

I hope what I'm about to say isn't going to bother people too much... But I have heard in the past some talk about how Q1 isn't nearly as good as it could have been, because it was rushed and not properly thought out. And that really mad me skeptical of trying it.

 

yea it was a little fly by the seat of your pants dev wise compared to earlier titles but the final product is still incredibly solid and if u didn't know the background on it. The only thing that seems really missing is only E1 and the end have bosses. Gameplay, performance and map quality is everything you would come to expect from a classic ID game. 

[Redneckerz]

10 minutes ago, DSC said:

I hope what I'm about to say isn't going to bother people too much... But I have heard in the past some talk about how Q1 isn't nearly as good as it could have been, because it was rushed and not properly thought out. And that really mad me skeptical of trying it.

Who even states this? Quake's ever the classic as Doom is. Perhaps you are thinking of Quake 2, which did deviate heavily from the id Software gameplay that people got used to?

There is no real reason to be this kind of skeptical about a game, let alone Quake 1. Save that skepticism for a Quake title that deserves it, like Quake 4 for Xbox 360 :P

 

[Smouths]

I've always thought most of the conjecture about 'what Quake could have been' sounded far less cool than what was ultimately in the finished product. Most of the original ideas for it were never fully realized and would have likely detracted from what was actually there- excellent player kinaesthetics/game feel and a terrific (if often incoherent) sense of atmosphere.

 

Yeah, I'd totally recommend it. It's essentially Doom's gameplay formula with extra emphasis on verticality prompted by the engine change. It's pretty interesting when compared directly with Doom II as well, since you can see a lot of its experimental energy better executed in a proper 3D space.

 

Be sure to play it with the soundtrack though.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

15 minutes ago, DSC said:

I hope what I'm about to say isn't going to bother people too much... But I have heard in the past some talk about how Q1 isn't nearly as good as it could have been, because it was rushed and not properly thought out. And that really mad me skeptical of trying it.

It's less that the end result was bad and more that it wasn't what John Romero hyped it up to be.

[Boaby Kenobi]

1 hour ago, DSC said:

I'm curious to try out Quake. So, I just want to ask the most important questions:

 

-what source port should I use?

-is it even worth playing at all?

 

I recommend the Dark Places port of Quake as it has the original music and if you don't like the visual upgrades you can simply disable them and play it with vanilla graphics. It's not the much to download either, 4GB I think.

 

Quake is obviously dated now but it's still worth playing. The levels might seem a little simplistic compared to modern titles but it's still fun.

[Nevander]

I would absolutely play Quake 1. It's right up there with my other classic favorites. My preferred port is Darkplaces. The only caveat with Quake 1/2 is no music if you buy from Steam. Only if you have the original CD or possibly from GoG (not sure on that).

[Chip]

The simple answer is yes. The longer answer would be yeah!

 

It is awesome. I can't answer any of your questions, as all I have is Web Quake for Chrome, but it is fun! Play it! 

[Midnight_00]

Quakespasm is probably closer to the look and feel of the original game than Darkplaces and mods like Arcane Dimensions seem to recommend it. This link tells you how to disable texture filtering on Quakespasm, if you want to do that. 

 

Best starting point would be to play through the original game plus the official mission packs, Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity. Those have a lot of new weapons and enemies, unlike some of the mission packs for other shooters.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Midnight_00

[cambreaKer]

also don't forget to play the expansion packs, especially scourge of armagon, i think they are even better than vanilla quake.

[seed]

Most certainly yes, if you like gothic/Lovecraftian aesthetics and lore, it brims with that.

 

I personally use vkQuake, which is a Vulkan compatible fork of Quakespasm. Once you're done with the base game, make sure to play the expansions too. Once you're done with them, check out Arcane Dimensions and the Map Jams, they're some of the best stuff the Quake community has been pumping out since its inception.

 

As for gameplay tips, just beware the jumping enemies, they don't fool around.

[Pirx]

regarding the quake port of choice, as @Midnight_00  said, quakespasm is closer to the original feel (i use quakespasm-spiked or vkquake, which are derived from quakespasm). vkq has some more texture / effects options than qss, but it's essentially the same thing.

 

if you're more into graphical bells & whistles, than darkplaces or the epsilon quake enhanced pack @ moddb turn it into something looking more like the doom3 or  unreal3 engine, which is cool, but imo clashes with the low-poly maps. it's a bit weird having a boxy room with lens flares and extra shiny textures. but try it first, this is not to say that dp / epsilon is bad in any way.

 

quake has this lovecraftian abstract look, which helps one forgive its dated graphics.

 

however, do yourself a favor and play quake with its original soundtrack.

 

the quad damage rampages are for me the highlight of q1 single player. i have various savegames right before picking up a quad and load them for warming up. it never gets old. enemies are more the annoying kind except for shamblers and vores.

 

@ map packs, play scourge of armagon, dopa, and arcane dimensions. especially arcane is "what quake should have been", well, if computers were powerful enough back then to run maps like forgotten sepulcher or foggy bogbottom.

 

look, these guys did the work for you: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1656659899

 

quake 1.5 is something like brutal quake, heh.

 

 

[BigBoy91]

Definitely play Quake! Quake 2 also.

[Jello]

Most of the bases have been covered, but yes, you should absolutely play Quake. I count Doom 1 and 2 as the same iD game, I just refer to them as Doom, so I'll say Quake 1 is my second favorite iD game. It actually was my favorite iD game until Doom started getting some source ports in the early 2000's.

 

I absolutely love the atmosphere, level design, and monster design. The weapons are a little disappointing, mainly as the nailgun and perforator seem redundant. But the grenade launcher makes up for it.

 

And for source ports, I'll agree with Quakespasm. It's the closest you can get to Vanilla without going overboard. There is Darkplaces, but I think it changes the ambiance too much, especially with hi-res textures. 

 

So yeah, play Quake, enjoy Quake. The mission packs are pretty enjoyable as well.

[Smouths]

Gonna give a quick plug for Mark V (fork of FitzQuake) if you want a fairly easy-to-use true-to-form vanilla experience, with the added benefit of mp3 soundtrack support. That's what I tend to run on my retro setup, just so I don't have to fiddle with the CD.

[Immorpher]

The Quake mapping community is pretty big, it now averages about 300 new maps per year. It mostly exists on discord though.

Here's a great video of getting Quake going, including playing custom maps: 

And I think the most rock-solid Quake port is Quakespasm Spiked. It fixes a lot of bugs and code in Quakespasm. http://triptohell.info/moodles/qss/

A lot of the visual options are enabled/disabled via command line or config files. So if you want something visually done feel free to send me a message and I can tell you the command or of its do able in branches of Quakespasm. :)

[DSC]

Started playing using Quakespasm. On E1M4 right now. So far, the most fun I've had on this game is blowing up zombies with the GL.

[Halfblind]

I have been playing Quake mods since April and I have to say that I have played a lot of really great stuff. I liked Quake better than the mission packs though and I especially liked episode 3 the best.

 

I have been using Quakespasm, because functionally it runs more mods and maps than any other source port. It is the only port that runs Arcane Dimensions properly. The only major game breaking glitches that I have had with AD was in the rotations test map with a lift not lowering on easy and in the Forgotten Sepulcher crashing when I found all the secrets and causing my save file to get corrupted.

 

You can find may great maps at Quaddicted.com. If I like a map a lot I tend to play it twice but not the same day. I have been leaning some basic Quake editing in the process.

 

I have liked these custom maps:

 

Unholy Ossuary

Midnight Stalker

I Pity Thee Not

Fort Ratsack

Metal Monstrosity

Death by a Thousand Cuts

Round the U-Bend

Dreary Disposition

Func_MapJam2 (Most Maps)

Sacrifice Unto Sebek (Retrojam6)

All of Tiddles base maps

 

I haven't played these yet:

 

Red777

Conference of the Shamblers

Gloomier Keep

Rubicon, Rubicon 2, Rubicon Rumble Pack

XmasJam2017, XmasJam2018, XmasJam2019.

Underdark Overbright

Contract Revoked, CR The Lost Chapters, Mapjam9 Contract Revoked

 

There are many other great maps that I haven't listed above but these should get you started in playing some great Quake 1 maps. I have challenged myself to play all speed maps from SM185 to the latest one SM208 and I have found some excellent maps in those packs as well. I am currently playing SM205 and SM206.

 

If you don't use the Quake Injector the best way to launch a custom map pack is to make a folder in your Quakespasm directory and launch the pack via console command. If you want to run Sock's maps in Func_MapJam2 you can make a folder called MapJam2 and type "Game MapJam2" and then type "map jam2_sock" in the console without the quotes. It is actually easier to do it this way than using creating a shortcut surprisingly. You can also type "maps" and it gives you a list of all installed maps. If you don't know the entire map name you can type the first part that you remember and hit the tab key and it lists all maps with that beginning. For example if you type "map Jam2_" and hit the tab key it will list Sock's map in that list.

 

Feel free to also record you own demos with the record command.

 

 

[Final Verdict]

If you enjoy grim-dark atmosphere then yes. Even if you don't it's definitely worth playing, it's a classic. I was going to go into detail about it, but a few others already covered the points I was going to bring up.

[Doom_Dude]

The Quake guy is on the grass.

The Quake guy is on the grass.
Remembering fiends and shamblers and laughs.

[DooM Bear]

Might gain me a little hate but personally I find it a bit meh...

 

That might be because I didn’t play it until years after it came out (my first experience with Quake was Quake 2) but I just found it very drab, brown and not really that much fun to play :-P

 

You can also really feel the creative differences and issues from within Id in that game as almost feels like two completely different games were bastardised and smashed together!

 

All that said though, I’m not hating on it and it’s definitely worth a play if you’ve never played it before :-D Just personally not my cup of tea :-P

[Uni]

When it comes to custom content I would recommend checking out map jam, more specifically Map Jam 1 and Map Jam 2.

[Biodegradable]

If you're awake, you could be playing Quake! ;^) Yes, absolutely, play it. It's the fun one! 

[amackert]

Everyone should play Quake.

 

/endofthread

[frag enabler]

If you're still not sure, you can try this very faithful Quake simulator. It does a really stellar job at recreating the vanilla experience.

Spoiler

I know it's the jump sound from Q2, shut up

 

[mattjoes]

11 minutes ago, SuperchargedEuthanasiaDiv said:

If you're still not sure, you can try this very faithful Quake simulator. It does a really stellar job at recreating the vanilla experience.

  Hide contents

I know it's the jump sound from Q2, shut up

 

I only discovered this five minutes ago but somehow I've been pushing the button for six hours please send help

[Flesh699]

On 7/27/2020 at 4:16 PM, DSC said:

Started playing using Quakespasm. On E1M4 right now. So far, the most fun I've had on this game is blowing up zombies with the GL.

I suggest you use copper mod which fixes nightmare and some other things.

http://lunaran.com/copper/download/

 

Also while I've always been a fan of quake it never really stuck with me like Doom did until last year when I finally sat down and played Arcane Dimensions and map jams.  Once you get into map packs it's where the real fun starts.  Kinda like future validates past ;)