Quake virgin here: Should I buy Quake or Quake II?

[cmk]

I've NEVER touched Quake, always knew it was a thing tho, it just didn't seem to be my type of game for some reason.
But recently I've been playing some classic "boomer shooters" here and there... So I decided to give Quake a try, looks fun after all.

So, which game would you guys recommend me to buy as someone who has never played Quake before? (Can't get both lol)

And btw I'm posting this here because it seems like Quake II got enhanced recently or something like that, so I figured there's plenty of people playing it at the moment.

[Electric Cupcake]

They're completely different. Quake 2 wasn't even supposed to be a Quake.

Quake 1 is basically Doom with Gothic/Lovecraftian theme and many more fan mods and packages than Quake 2.

Quake 2 is somewhat generic alien invasion sci fi Starship Troopers fare, except it takes place after the alien invaders had been beaten back from Earth and humans are counter-invading the alien homeworld. The Q2 remaster is decent, except for that rather insulting baby mode compass.

Also, don't ever say "boomer shooter." The FPS genre is almost entirely the work of Gen X. Though the id team were originally inspired by Silas Warner who was a baby boomer.

You might say he was their 'Muse.'

[Pony Princess]

I second everything the previous poster said, with a couple more details.

Quake 1 was a revolution technology-wise, and can be a museum piece. The developers created what they called Quake C, a combination of the programming languages C and Assembly. They were one of the first developers to release their source code to the public, leading to a nigh uncountable number of mods, including the original Team Fortress. Correct me if I'm wrong about this, it has been a long time, but I believe one or more minds behind the Reaper Bot mod, which became the first multi-player bots out there, went on to work on Unreal and its AI. Quake C is technically still in use today, because remnants of it still exist in any Source game.

All that being said, it's definitely an entertaining game, and the current remaster adds some stunning levels plus built-in bot support for multiplayer. Comparing it to Doom is a bit of a simplification. This game, unlike Doom, is a true 3D game, including jumping, falling, looking up and down, etc. Gameplay is smooth. Story is minimal, and I would advise you to ignore the Strogg logo on certain crates in the game, as they were most likely re-used in Quake 2 simply because they looked cool.

It's hard for me to divorce my own experiences and the historical significance of the game from my assessment, but I feel strongly that you should try it out, particularly if you're into "retro" games.

Quake 2 features an updated engine and a more concrete plot, though at its core it's a straight up action shooter (first person) with some brutality and horror elements, which mostly take the form of the Strogg treatment of prisoners. Several games released after Quake 2 were basically Quake 2 mods (total conversions), though atm I don't feel like looking them up to compile a list lol.

Quake has been such a big part of my gaming life, I find myself recommending both games to you, though again this is colored by my own experiences and the historical significance of both games. If you're very much on the fence, wishlist and wait for a sale maybe. In any case, if you do try them out, probably try Quake 1 first, and I hope you enjoy your experience!

[mdesaleah]

Both 1 and 2 are most likely being given for free tomorrow on Epic.

So unless you really don’t like having an extra store, just get it then

[Rushup_Dee]

Quake II , I would sure choose but sometimes it can be nice to visit the first one. Look some gameplay with both games on YouTube with no talking so you can get a feel for it! Don't forget to practice some strafe jumps etc.. Have fun!

[Electric Cupcake]

Originally posted by Pony Princess:

Several games released after Quake 2 were basically Quake 2 mods (total conversions), though atm I don't feel like looking them up to compile a list lol.

Why drag Daikatana into it?

[Pony Princess]

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Originally posted by Pony Princess:

Several games released after Quake 2 were basically Quake 2 mods (total conversions), though atm I don't feel like looking them up to compile a list lol.

Why drag Daikatana into it?

lol.

This was the case with Quake 3 as well, where certain games that were not multi-player arena focused used that engine, such as Jedi Outcast or Star Trek Elite Force (the second one, at least, unsure about the first). This gave these games excellent multi-player since they used the Q3 engine already.

[NeutronVortex]

Originally posted by Pony Princess:

...Quake C is technically still in use today, because remnants of it still exist in any Source game. ...

Hehe this reminds me, if you open up the Half-Life source code(for hl.dll, not client.dll), press ctrl+f and search for 'carmack', you'll still find one comment from Carmack left in there about the need to delay and spread out think times to allow doors to spawn to properly.

[cmk]

Oh well, I decided to buy Quake II at the end, thanks for your comments guys

[TheOddsBodkins]

Originally posted by cmk:

Oh well, I decided to buy Quake II at the end, thanks for your comments guys

The rumour is that Epic games will give both Quake and Quake II for free this Christmas. If you don't mind using the Epic games Launcher, you may want refrain from playing Quake II over two hours on Steam so you can still get a refund, and get both games from epic games store if the rumour is true.

[Electric Cupcake]

Originally posted by TheOddsBodkins:

Originally posted by cmk:

Oh well, I decided to buy Quake II at the end, thanks for your comments guys :postalsax:

The rumour is that Epic games will give both Quake and Quake II for free this Christmas. If you don't mind using the Epic games Launcher, you may want refrain from playing Quake II over two hours on Steam so you can still get a refund, and get both games from epic games store if the rumour is true.

Who let the goons and stool pigeons in here?

[=CrimsoN=]

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Also, don't ever say "boomer shooter." The FPS genre is almost entirely the work of Gen X. Though the id team were originally inspired by Silas Warner who was a baby boomer.

I always thought they were called "boomer shooters" because of the emphasis on close quarters combat usually with shotguns and other guns that "go boom".

[Mr.Raygun412]

Play both amigo, both are cheap and fun as hell

[TheOddsBodkins]

The Epic games giveaway for Quake and Quake II rumour, was for the 23rd, and they gave away a Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition game instead. So the rumour was not true, at least for the date part.

[metamec]

Did Epic not already giveaway Quake I? I have it on my Epic account but I don't recall buying it.

[phredreeke]

Both are good. Personally I prefer Quake 2. I suppose Quake 1 has more content thanks to community DLC which Q2 is unlikely to get. The Quake 2 remaster includes the N64 campaign, which is closer to Doom and Quake 1 in that it got a set of mostly new levels that you play through sequentially, rather than Q2's units of interconnected levels.