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Sarafan

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You've probably noticed my other thread in which I suggested some great mods which overhaul the graphics and gameplay of Q1. Now I decided to take one more trip to the past and installed Q3 Arena. Yup, the multiplayer mostly game from 2000. :) I was wandering whether there are people still playing it. The game servers are filled mostly with bots unfortunately, but I'll give it a try on the weekend and I'm pretty sure that I'll find some people still playing this game in 2020.

Q3 aged worse than its predecessor. Blurry textures are worse than pixelated ones, so of course I decided to find some mods. There are two ways to mod Q3, but only one allows to play on the most of available servers. You can download ioQuake3 engine and mod it with new, shiny icons and textures which don't interfere with online play. Basically with these mods you'll have access to almost all Q3 servers that are still working.

There's also another way with the use of Q3 Spearmint engine (which is based on ioQuake3 and that's why the mod page states that it's ioQuake3). It overhauls the game textures even more and has some improvements regarding widescreen support (bigger weapons for example). The only problem with this version is that it requires the servers to be modded with it as well. As of now the server browser found only one available server, but you can always create a custom one by yourself. Single player part works with this mod without any problems.

The game is fun even with bots. The player movement, pace of the game and level design are of top notch. It's a true continuer of Quake heritage (unlike Q2). It has dark, atmospheric maps which clearly draw from Q1 style. If anyone here has the game than I'm of course interested in mutual play, but bare in mind that I'm living in CEST time zone and sometimes have wacky work shifts. :)

Would I recommend the game these days? Yes and no. It's a multiplayer mostly title and there's only a few people playing it these days. Single player part is fun, but it's not the same as a multiplayer skirmish. If you desperately need some title that draws directly from Q1 heritage and want to explore some fantastic arena maps, you can give it a try. If you're already bored by Wrath: Aeon of Ruin that is. ;)
 

OsaX Nymloth

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I played a lot of Q3 back in the day. After school I would usually take a coin to the internet cafe nearby and spend hour or two there playing mostly Q3 with others in the cafe. There was even a "league" where I somehow ended up being second if my memory doesn't fail me. No reward, I got smashed by much older guy who won the whole thing, but it was fun and first time competing in a game ever for me.

Later I would of course try the Quake Arena that was pretty damn impressive - back then running even older game like Quake 3 in a browser seemed like a weird dream out of the future. Played a bit Quake Champions as well but somehow it didn't "click" with me.

Last time I played Q3 was at my last workplace. It was a couple of boring days with not much actual work to do, boss decided to play something and digged up some Q3 from somewhere and invited everybody to play on LAN. Well, he wasn't too much happy when I was winning 1 on 2 fights regularly by using some crappy mouse with no mousepad and a monitor that I had to "brighten" to the max to even see a damn thing.
I guess I know why I never got a raise, huh.
 
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Sarafan

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20 years ago I was rather an Unreal Tournament type of guy. Somehow this game appealed to me more than Q3. But I've spent countless hours in Q3 demo as well. Of course playing with bots because I didn't have Internet connection. And I remember that it had difficulties running on my PC. The framerate was bad, but it didn't discourage me. Anyway I have better memories of Q1 than Q3. It probably would be different if I had better access to Internet back then... I've installed the game mostly because I was curious whether someone is still playing it online. Also wanted to check the mods that I've found. It's a great nostalgia trip nevertheless. :)
 
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Dec 9, 2019
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20 years ago I was rather an Unreal Tournament type of guy. Somehow this game appealed to me more than Q3. But I've spent countless hours in Q3 demo as well. Of course playing with bots because I didn't have Internet connection. And I remember that it had difficulties running on my PC. The framerate was bad, but it didn't discourage me. Anyway I have better memories of Q1 than Q3. It probably would be different if I had better access to Internet back then... I've installed the game mostly because I was curious whether someone is still playing it online. Also wanted to check the mods that I've found. It's a great nostalgia trip nevertheless.
Your post really resonated with me as I was way more into UT back in the day. Playing both now, I think Q3 held up better in terms of pure gameplay. The pure deathmatch experience of Q3 is just hard to match still.
 
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Sarafan

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Your post really resonated with me as I was way more into UT back in the day. Playing both now, I think Q3 held up better in terms of pure gameplay. The pure deathmatch experience of Q3 is just hard to match still.

Agree on that. Even the more modern incarnation of Q3 - Quake Champions can't match the original. The game is great even these days and there are still players playing it online (after 20 years!). This shows how important and influential is this game in the history of FPSs.
 
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