I actually love Q4 as it packs so much into the game. I guess it’s a love or hate game.

But I’ll need to play the expansion first.

> I actually love Q4 as it packs so much into the game. I guess it’s a love or hate game.

I guess it is, and if we're being honest I'm a certified hater.

I played all of the Quake games online, a lot, at their corresponding time of initial release. First on software, then accelerated on 3dfx Voodoo cards, then later on NVIDIA RIVA TNT and the original GeForce cards (to tie this into some of today's other big news).

I played untold hours of netQuake, Quake II and Quake III Arena and have my own semi-controversial opinion that of them all Quake II was actually the best of them all (most people tend to either prefer the original, or III). But you may be the first person I've ever encountered online or IRL who has professed love for Quake 4. (I'm sure there are others out there, I just haven't run into them).

I barely played any of them in single player, to be fair, so that could very well be a big factor in the difference of opinion(?).

Online games are too fast to let the atmosphere sink in. Playing the new Quake anniversary levels and they are a real treat. I hope to do the brutalist game jam levels next.

Q4 is actually by Raven Software using the Doom 3 engine, id tech 4. Raven also did Heretic and Hexen.

Basically id had Raven do a more single player focussed Quake game.

The late Q2 era and Q3A/Q3TA era were amazing.

Yeah I think that's the whole difference.

For single-player, Quake 4 felt more related to Doom 3 and the later Doom remakes. A more modern, atmospheric, FPS dungeon crawler.

For me, Quake 3 was the end of my appreciation for Id games, since I am only interested in single-player and it didn't even try to offer that. I am drawn to the immersive FPS environment, but I have no competitive urge nor enjoyment from having random participants disrupting the experience.

Yeah I get that. I also came from the Quake I era but I rarely played multiplayer games. I get why many Quake players dislike Q4 because it has little to do with the original Quake games gameplay-wise. Quake 2 is of the same universe but the style is different.

I tend to treat Q4 as a good FPS and that’s it. It is a polished game with a lot of contents so I love it. Quake I is still my fav FPS but Quake 4 is a good game as well.

I also love DOOM 3 for a similar reason —- completely different from the other DOOMs including DOOM 4 but still a fun game. I guess I prefer slower pace when I grow into my 40s…

That said, I still haven’t played my dream game —- a first person RPG —- something similar to Hexen/Skyrim but with richer contexts. Something like a first person D&D game.

I remember really enjoying the single-player campaign for Quake 4 at the time, but I don't know how well it holds up. I still have the discs in the original retail packaging, tucked away in a closet somewhere.