Hey! Three days ago, on August 10, id Software and Night Dive Studios released a remaster for Quake II, which was also given as a free upgrade to already existing Quake 2 owners on digital storefronts. Much like the Quake remaster that had been previously worked on by Nightdive, this also includes a new episode by Machine Games, dubbed “Call of the Machine” which seems to have some elements inspired by Q1 maps thematically.
Was curious what people think of this here, and if they’ve played it already! I think it’s very nice to see both games given this treatment, and the Q2 remaster also includes loads of bonus content and some enhancements to the base gameplay (fast weapon switching, improved enemy AI) to make it a truly remarkable package in my opinion.
I have yet to play Call of the Machine but this remastered sounds good, but like its Q1 counterpart is not very “mod friendly”. I hope some Quake 2 custom episodes will be released as official DLC like happened with the Q1 Remastered, AFAIK the only custom episodes that work without problems are those without the custom .dll file
The developers have done a great job. “MD5” models are very cool compared to the original ones. Bitch and mutant - generally cool models turned out. The disappointing thing is that a shambler was added to the game with the same stupid animation, which I corrected for a long time.
Shadows under monsters are just shit - a dark circle. And this is taking into account the fact that the developers have redesigned dynamic lighting. In “Q1” it was even better. Moreover, a high-quality dynamic shadow with a silhouette is calculated from the player.
The textures were of poor quality and remained so. It’s a pity that you can’t add external HD textures to the KEX engine.
Added a new episode with a hub of levels, like “DotM” in “Q1”. And there the battles begin immediately, surprised by the presence of a tank in the first room. And I have a machine gun in my hands, received at the start. :)))
The “PAK” file is very huge, editors are stupid with it.
Conclusion after 10 minutes of playing and 15 minutes of digging in the “pak” file:
Improved “MD5” models can be safely used in mods, shambler will have to be replaced with a completed animation. The mutant is really cool, feel free to transfer the model to the “MDL” format and use it in mods for “Q1”.
The developers have done a great job. “MD5” models are very cool compared to the original ones. Bitch and mutant - generally cool models turned out. The disappointing thing is that a shambler was added to the game with the same stupid animation, which I corrected for a long time.
Shadows under monsters are just shit - a dark circle. And this is taking into account the fact that the developers have redesigned dynamic lighting. In “Q1” it was even better. Moreover, a high-quality dynamic shadow with a silhouette is calculated from the player.
The textures were of poor quality and remained so. It’s a pity that you can’t add external HD textures to the KEX engine.
Added a new episode with a hub of levels, like “DotM” in “Q1”. And there the battles begin immediately, surprised by the presence of a tank in the first room. And I have a machine gun in my hands, received at the start. :)))
The “PAK” file is very huge, editors are stupid with it.
Conclusion after 10 minutes of playing and 15 minutes of digging in the “pak” file:
Improved “MD5” models can be safely used in mods, shambler will have to be replaced with a completed animation. The mutant is really cool, feel free to transfer the model to the “MDL” format and use it in mods for “Q1”.[/quote]
Cool, I hope they can be used in Yamagi like Q1 remastered models were used in sourceports like FTEqw/Darkplaces/Quakespasm and its forks and maybe even thew new campaign.
I am not fond of the monster and weapon rebalancing. As well as the overall change in lighting, it’s brighter in general, especially in the open areas. In some places (data center tank boss battle, or central big open circular area in Q2DM1) it’s almost as if r_fullbright is enabled. The original maps and mechanics should’ve been left as they were in the original game with just some minor entity fixes that correct the targets/targetnames of some of the monster teleport triggers. The only change I would welcome is an optional feature to disable or nerf the turrets in Ground Zero. As for restoration of all the cut or unfinished stuff like AI code and animations, and change of the weapon and monster balancing and behavior, a perfect place to use all that would be the new expansion. That would be a nice compromise. I mean, they didn’t tweak this stuff in Quake Enhanced (except restoration of E2M6 intro, but that’s a special case), so why they felt it was warranted in case of Quake II Enhanced?
All in all, the younger people who are enjoying the current “retro shooter revival” wave are praising this rerelease (of an actual “retro” shooter no less), while those who played it for years are either annoyed or just baffled with all these changes. In general, it just feels like some rebalancing mod that you can not disable is forced with the game. It has many small differences that added up together do change the way this version Quake II feels and plays. So I guess it’s closer to somewhat of a remix, rather than a “remaster”.
It is strange that dev modded one-handed mutant to use teleport but there’s no option to revert to original mutant. This makes balance strange because monster is much ore powerful but the number of monsters remains the same.
All in all not impressed. Hope they try harder with Quake III Arena and will eventually release modding tools/guides compatible with KEX.
For me, this Quake 2 remake leans more towards the positive than the negative, but I agree with anyone who says that it’s not the same Quake 2 anymore. Perhaps that’s why they officially named it Quake 2 Enhanced.
First and foremost, this game has lost some of the “heavy” atmosphere of the original Quake 2 in many places. It’s brighter, more colorful, and decidedly faster. Weapon switching, movement - everything seems faster. I find the changes to enemies to be debatable. On one hand, I had a nostalgic moment when I saw the Berserker waving one of its arms before an attack (I had only seen that animation in videos on YouTube, where someone dug up those unused animations). But on the other hand, when the Berserker attacked from a jump without any telegraphing… and that attack is nearly unavoidable in 90% of situations… it felt like a bit of a fail.
And there are more situations like that here. Nevertheless, I had a great time overall. The package is packed with content. There are even bots for deathmatch and cooperative modes.
In my opinion, though, this remaster is much better than the one served to our beloved Q1. It’s not as buggy on day one. Nightdive really botched the launch two years ago. Not as bad as with Blood, but I consider their Quake remaster to be their second-worst production right after Blood.
For me, refreshing Quake 2 was generally enjoyable.
What I also liked is that after launching the original campaign of the game, I saw an expanded map with new locations. I think that the developers have supplemented the level somewhere further.
Why am I completely at a loss why the developers did not combine this remaster with the RTX version of the game, it would have become even better?
Maybe the Berserker mod will someday add the ability to use MD5 models? It will be really cool, because in the remaster shadows are shitty circles under feet.
I honestly don’t understand the complaints about the Berserker’s jump attack. Seriously, these guys were some of the most worthless pushovers in the original game; now they’re actually threatening and people are screaming about it? Jesus, people are never satisfied.
Also, very glad they added muzzle flashes to weapons and improved the lousy bobbing animation of the player, always felt like I was running around on a skateboard.
@nOnAmeUser, you could always tweak bobbing via command. However changes to monsters makes it essentially a new game. For example new monster balance breaks speedrunning records. Berserker is way too dangerous now. Enter a tiny room with 3 Berserkers and you’re dead in 3 sec. Quake 1 remake was more authentic in this regards (only Nightmary difficulty had been altered). Hope this monster regression will be fixed with a new option in future patch (like in Quake 1 remake an option to use old models).
The remaster has a complete rebalance of weapons and monsters. For example, many monsters need an additional 1-2 shots from a railgun, for example, flyers. Soldiers can shoot from a prone position. Tanks kill the player with several hits. But the hyperblaster has become the most lethal gun. The balance of battles and the number of monsters in one arena was made similar to Q1, especially in the new episode. But it didn’t get so boring.
I hope the Q2 remastered will get official addons like the Q1 remastered. my wishilist:
1964 On Sacred Ground
Castle of Stroggos Part 1/2/3
Citadel
Deaf, Dumb and Blind
Derelict Facility
Oblivion (very underrated, one of my favourite one, a little gem)
On the Circulation of Blood
Operation Scorched Earth Part 1/2/3
Slightly Mechanical Destruction
Sonic Mayhem
The Grapes of Madness
The Ulysses Project
Zaero (why not? Not a masterpiece but quite enjoyable,the best unofficial expansion set)
1964, Derelict Facility, Sonic Mayhem and other maps/mods that has not its own game.dll and not overrides original stuff should be playable right now, as is.
Q2 universe even not such big as Q1, and the remarkable Q2 mods there is a few. So Zaero and Slightly Mechanical Destruction is obviously the first candidates for remastering.
