Quake II Remastered

[Lila Feuer]

I almost feel like Ritual could be partially blamed for the Q1/Q2 crossover with Scourge of Armagon, seeing as one of "Quake's generals" is suspiciously Strogg-like via his lower half. Maybe a bit of a stretch because debatably canon mission pack content but it's a possibility.

[BGreener]

15 minutes ago, Lila Feuer said:

I almost feel like Ritual could be partially blamed for the Q1/Q2 crossover with Scourge of Armagon, seeing as one of "Quake's generals" is suspiciously Strogg-like via his lower half. Maybe a bit of a stretch because debatably canon mission pack content but it's a possibility.

 

That big boy is also in line with the "sci-fi/fantasy" cocktail that Quake 1 and Doom were interested with, and it could be argued that similar elements are present in Wolf3D as well! I've found it interesting as of late how Quake 2 was only ever about the "sci-fi", even after The Reckoning and Ground Zero were released; it would've been real easy for either of those to have brought in the more "fantastical" elements from idSoft's previous shooters.

 

It's also not to say I didn't enjoy Call of the Machine: I thought it was great and with good level variety, and I would've been just as happy if some of the levels made connections to Doom instead.

[Yhe1]

Hello I heard that the PS1 exclusive enemies are in the Remaster, are they in the new campaign or are they put into the original campaign? Thx!

[Dynamo]

36 minutes ago, Yhe1 said:

Hello I heard that the PS1 exclusive enemies are in the Remaster, are they in the new campaign or are they put into the original campaign? Thx!

I know that the arachnid appears in at least one of the missions of the new campaign, I am unsure if the guardian appears at all however.

[scalliano]

I'm not against unifying the timeline, I'm actually all for it - it's just that IMO the approach by MG breaks too much other stuff. I'm talking from both an environmental storytelling and enemy placement standpoint here. Personally I feel that the Generations Arena mod for Q3 handled this better, placing the events of Q1 and Q2 (not to mention Doom and Wolfenstein) at separate points in the same timeline. Like I said, I actually like the idea of a Strogg excavation uncovering an ancient Eldritch temple. That's cool. If it was left at that I'd have been all over it, but the idea that the entire Strogg race was created by a couple of oversized Shamblers backed up by a load of Mutants (which are supposed to be indigenous Strogg wildlife messed up by pollution) just felt like a cop-out. If Shub-Niggurath herself had come back for a second round (or even Chthon for a third) in a more powerful form, I might have bought it, but as it stands, it feels like something a rookie modder would do. Hey, bring back Armagon, even. That would have nailed it (and also would have been a more interesting final fight).

 

12 hours ago, Dynamo said:

Why not? It's the same reason why the demons in Doom use cybernetics.

They are but one aspect of the hordes of Hell. Only a handful of the enemies in Doom have cybronic implants, and fusion of flesh and metal adds to the whole "abomination unto God" vibe (speaking as an atheist). The Strogg on the other hand are ENTIRELY cybernetic, driven by artificial intelligence and with little-to-no free will of their own. It just doesn't gel with the reality-bending powers of the Elder Gods. For me, at least.

 

12 hours ago, Dynamo said:

It sounds like you essentially wanted them to stick very close to vanilla Q2 thematically, but personally - and I think the majority would agree with me here - I feel like thematic variety is what has given these games so much mileage over the years, regardless of whether it's official content or not. To each their own, though.

Not necessarily, although for the most part, they actually do - with the exception of some of the trials, it was the fifth unit where they lost me. It basically looked exactly like the first episode from DotM with the exception of the Strogg ship and just felt out of place. Not as much as the final boss, but I've covered that already.

 

Like I said, these are my thoughts and mine alone, and for what it's worth, I enjoyed the majority of the expansion. There were just a few too many elements that prevented it from being the barnstormer that was DotM in Q1.

Edited September 3, 2023 by scalliano

[TheUltimateDoomer666]

This is a minor issue, but in the Ground Zero intro cinematic where the subtitles say "[unintelligible]", I can clearly hear the marine saying "We're not pulling free."

 

Spoiler

 

Additionally, the story in the original Ground Zero manual confirms that the dialog there is "Dammit! We're not pulling free."

[BGreener]

9 hours ago, scalliano said:

They are but one aspect of the hordes of Hell. Only a handful of the enemies in Doom have cybronic implants, and fusion of flesh and metal adds to the whole "abomination unto God" vibe (speaking as an atheist).

I’m realizing that the small handful of enemies that have them in the original Doom are only the cyberdemon and mastermind - the most “elite” and strongest demons in the game. They would continue this trend in Doom 2 by having the Icon of Sin itself be some hellish engineering abomination. 2 would also introduce more augmented enemies, but I think it’s important how this aspect is emphasized on the deadliest demons.

[Dynamo]

The Spider Mastermind was the leader of the Hell forces in Doom 1, and was more cybernetics than anything else already. I don't see how it's different in Quake 2, or indeed in Scourge of Armagon. There is absolutely nothing weird about monsters utilizing cybernetics in my view, whether it is Doom, Quake 1 or Quake 2. It just fits thematically with what id Software did back in the day for all three games.

[Rudolph]

Plus it fits Scourge of Armagon's overall futuristic/techbase aesthetic.

[Marmiteman02]

How is the COTM expansion ? I haven't played it yet.

[Dark Pulse]

11 hours ago, Marmiteman02 said:

How is the COTM expansion ? I haven't played it yet.

Most people think it's pretty good, though apparently a few players are upset that Iron Maidens aren't in it and are accusing the devs of being "woke" as a result.

 

Which is... fucking absurd, but hey. Surely it can't be that splash damage and aggro on tight, close-quarters maps is a bad idea, nawww.

[Lila Feuer]

They seem to prefer the beta class Gladiator for their splash damage missile enemy, it's the only logical conclusion I can come to.

[scalliano]

12 hours ago, Dark Pulse said:

Most people think it's pretty good, though apparently a few players are upset that Iron Maidens aren't in it and are accusing the devs of being "woke" as a result.

 

Which is... fucking absurd, but hey. Surely it can't be that splash damage and aggro on tight, close-quarters maps is a bad idea, nawww.

Well you can't really argue censorship when the enemies in question are still in the rest of the game - with added jiggle physics. Not exactly conducive to current year puritanism.

 

Had they been removed from the OG campaigns, then I'd have had a problem. That said, I am a little miffed that the obits no longer acknowledge my pronouns :P

[D4NUK1]

15 hours ago, Dark Pulse said:

Most people think it's pretty good, though apparently a few players are upset that Iron Maidens aren't in it and are accusing the devs of being "woke" as a result.

 

Which is... fucking absurd, but hey. Surely it can't be that splash damage and aggro on tight, close-quarters maps is a bad idea, nawww.

Don't bother to talk there, a lot of bait, troll and people with the shittest options on stuff. They go further of the extremes of I got a criticism.

 

[Azuris]

Call me crazy but i have beaten Quake 2 64 now twice (on PC and Switch)

 

I am also playing Turok 2 and it is a nice d

Distraction from running three Days through same looking Holes to find the Hole you haven't went through under Water, where you can barel see, behind a Corner.

 

Quake 2 64 has a pretty nice Pacing to pick up and play and i really like the Level Progression and those little Sightseeing Spots.

 

I think i'll play it again.

[Rudolph]

28 minutes ago, Azuris said:

Call me crazy but i have beaten Quake 2 64 now twice (on PC and Switch)

I would rather call you lucky, since I have yet to have the chance to play the remaster myself.

 

Why oh why did they choose August to release the game? :(

[Dark Pulse]

I guess technically I've beaten PSX Quake II and PC Quake II at least four times.

 

I say "at least" because I genuinely can't remember how many times I beat Quake II on PSX. I know I unlocked every cheat, so that's Easy/Medium/Hard.

[Lila Feuer]

PSX Q2 was my first completion of the game since I only had the demo on PC for a while. I made up for it later on by acquiring the Quad Damage release, which has the base game, both mission packs and Extremities.

[dustarma]

Was it ever explained why the original ending of Big Gun was just a bunch of explosions in a barely textured box?

[Lila Feuer]

Well I learned recently from @Edward850 the game was rushed to release in time of the holiday season so they probably just didn't have time to flesh things out more.

[Murdoch]

On 9/4/2023 at 3:47 PM, Dark Pulse said:

Most people think it's pretty good, though apparently a few players are upset that Iron Maidens aren't in it and are accusing the devs of being "woke" as a result.

 

Which is... fucking absurd, but hey. Surely it can't be that splash damage and aggro on tight, close-quarters maps is a bad idea, nawww.

 

Jesus. Some people will do anything to have a whinge. Fuck logic, i want to cry in public like a petulant toddler!

[Duke of Pathoris]

That is one hell of a remaster. Just like the Quake remaster, this is the way to remaster.

[Kinsie]

On 9/15/2023 at 5:49 AM, Lila Feuer said:

Well I learned recently from @Edward850 the game was rushed to release in time of the holiday season so they probably just didn't have time to flesh things out more.

Quake 2 had a LOT of development issues. Both on the technical side and on the human side. Look up the MASSIVE Shacknews article/ebook Rocket Jump for the full details from several of the people that were there.

 

Be warned: You will think considerably less of at least one Id veteran as a result.

[Individualised]

7 hours ago, Kinsie said:

Be warned: You will think considerably less of at least one Id veteran as a result.

Does their name happen to begin with a T? Because I'm pretty sure people already don't have a good opinion of that particular person.

[LadyMistDragon]

1 hour ago, Individualised said:

Does their name happen to begin with a T? Because I'm pretty sure people already don't have a good opinion of that particular person.

He has the face of someone who liked pulling the wings off of flies as a kid. Is that a surprise?

[Lila Feuer]

I already didn't think very highly of them if this is who I think it is.

 

Spoiler

Also Rage is id's only bad IP and thus failed series because it bears no resemblance to anything id did before or after.

[Marmiteman02]

COTM has moments where it's trying to be DOOM. 

 

I'm talking about Monster Closets and areas with 30-odd enemies at a time. That approach works for Doom, but not for Quake 2.

[Jayextee]

I felt the same thing, except I think it *does* work. Not to the same degree, but Quake II's player arsenal is essentially an expanded version of DOOM's so there are the tools for the job.

The encounter design does feel like they've taken inspiration from the modern DOOM mapping scene though.

[BGreener]

3 hours ago, Marmiteman02 said:

COTM has moments where it's trying to be DOOM. 

 

I'm talking about Monster Closets and areas with 30-odd enemies at a time. That approach works for Doom, but not for Quake 2.

Why does that approach work for Doom and not Quake 2?

[ducon]

Because Quake 2 is a science and technique world but Doom has science and magic in it.