UT2003

It's great. If you want to play an excellent FPS, this should be your choice. Spec requirements are fairly high (higher than the ones they claim on the box for it to be truly playable), but it is worth it.

I don't care if you're a Quake fan, Half Life fan or UT fan, this game is very, very good. It looks and plays like a hybrid of all three. If you don't believe me, download the demo and look for yourself.

 

Is UT2003 an online only game? Or is there a single player campaign also? Or at least multiplayer maps with bots that you can play alone.

 

It has single player, which is apparently pretty good.

 

It also has bots, which can refine your twitch skills, but to really get better you'll have to play online. Which is where most of the action is going to be, but a LAN would also be good.

It's also been made the official game of CPL, so draw your own conclusions from that.

 

Doom 3 and Quake 4.

Those are the games I'm waiting for.

But you know what the sad part is about online fps games? There are more people playing CS than q3 and UT combined. I just don't understand why... I tried all those games and CS is even worse than UT which seemed really shitty to me.

 

CS is free, and you can cheat without consequences.

 

Jinxed, I am not kidding you, at least try the demo. This game is awesome.

The new physics add an element of realism that adds ... ya know ... that special something that just makes playing such a crack.

The new graphics are just amazing; the atmosphere in some of the maps is almost tangible.

The background story has led to some great character visuals and audio.

I know you've stuck your pin in the Quake region of the donkey's arse, but maybe it's time to lift the blindfold.

 

It seems you haven't got the slightest idea of what online fps gaming is about.

There are 3 levels, which are:

Normal FFA player, this person has a lot of fun, thinks he rules ect, but in reality, he sucks, knows nothing.

A clan boy, this player starts to learn the real chemistry of the game, starts to play against better players, ect.

The cream. These people are legends, they know the game as well as their own lives, they earn money this way.

Now jar, the cheats thing, yes you CAN get away with cheats, however, when playing clan wars, where are a lot of people watching, people that can tell. You can get banned expelled and so on. Cheating is not as easy as it seems. The truth is that only the FFA newbies do that mostly, cause no one is watching them.

The clannies do that also yes, but they do fear the fact that they might get caught and their career would crumble.


Get this, I have been playing q3 for the past 5 months everyday. And I'm nowhere near the elite. They have been playing the game for years and I know that you "casual" gamers have no idea what fps games are about. You are just not interested that much.


Fatman, I would try to play UT2003 but I can't. I lack the time. I already have one online fps, and I don't play just for fun anymore. I also play the game to be better, something which would be impossible when switching the games all the time.

5 months ago, I thought I was really good in q3. I'm around 20x better now then then. It's the same with everyone. Including you guys.

I'm waiting for q4 and doom 3. Maybe I just like ID software...

 

That's your loss. You're missing a great game.

I know about the learning curve. I played UT to the point where I could hold my own against the players on some very popular servers, including top clan players. By hold my own, I mean I was in the top 4-5 out of 20 on those servers, generally. I rarely won, but I was almost never too far down the list.

I didn't count myself as any of the types of players you mentioned, although I have witnessed all three types. I think there is a 4th type, which is someone who plays enough to get pretty good (I play most days) but doesn't feel the need to join a clan and hasn't got the dedication/talent/machine to become a legend.

Cheating isn't as clear cut as you mention, at least not in UT. Some players spend as much time becoming good at covering up their cheating as others do at practising fair play. Admins go through the logs if someone is accused of cheating, and apparently it is easier to tell from there, but it still isn't foolproof.

So far, my experience of 2003 has been varied. I've won a few games, but I've also had my bum kicked quite a lot. I think I'm about average right now. Maybe I'm suffering a bit from not having spent months playing the demo.

 

3 months ago I thought beating a bot on nightmare is sheer folly. Now I win 40 to -2 without blinking once. You see, joining a clan is the next step. You suddenly have more to play for. I've seen many people that didn't join clans, sooner or later they started to falter compared to the clannies who began around the same time as they did. It's the natural order of things.

Clannies are also intruduced to something else, the player's config. In quake 3, a custom made config is 20% of succes. It needs heavy modification. Casual gamers couldn't care less about it. (they don't need to win everytime) But clan wars and such are important and everything in everyone's power is done to win.

 

That's a pretty accurate description of how I feel about it. Hard work and fun rarely attempt to share my computer chair. They get all squashed and peevish.

Besides, leaving yourself an excuse is always good for deluded souls like me. If I don't try too hard, I'll always be able to secretly know that if I did put in the effort, I'd beat them all. BEAT. THEM. ALL.

Another accurate description. Burns your eyes, doesn't it? Even a decent refresh rate can't save you from the effects of keeping yours eyes open and minutely focused for hours on end. We'll all have cataracts by the time we're 35.

 

I didn't wear any eye protection during The Great Clensing Nuclear Strike. My eyes are in a jar.

And I place it at the far back of the room.

 

I play Quake3 for the sheer fun of it. I have done some custom config file trickery, but it's nowhere near the CTF-talk, weapon-combo stuff some people have.

I play against bots mostly on Hardcore difficulty, and although i'm not completely pathetic, I do get smacked every 1 in 2 or 3 games.

Then again, Quake3 is not the only game I play. I also play UT and a few others, and I have no ambition to become one of "The Cream". I think it's fun to play, even though I get horribly owned 50% of the time (or more).

(Oh, and I don't really want to be in a clan. I play because I think it's fun. I don't want to start believing that I'm fighting for some greater cause. Yes, I'm probably a casual gamer, and hey! I like it!)

 

Do you understand the concept of a joke? I'm beginning to think you've edited your config file so that the lack of humour provides more brain power to play Quake 3 with.

Some people would also call "the cream" losers. Not me though. No way.

The proliferation of this type of player is the exact reason why I don't play online anymore.

I think they'd be more worried about their rep, which I guess you could call your career.

[qote]Get this, I have been playing q3 for the past 5 months everyday. And I'm nowhere near the elite. They have been playing the game for years and I know that you "casual" gamers have no idea what fps games are about. You are just not interested that much. [/quote]

Don't try and talk down to me about being a "casual" gamer. I may be a "casual" FPS player, but in no way am I a "casual" overall gamer. That said, like Fatman related, I can hold my own easily in any game once I get the hang of it, which usually doesn't take very long. Started to kick arse in the UT2K3 demo after 5 minutes, and beat my friend who'd been playing it for several weeks, and all he does is play FPS's.

Another example is when we had a massive LAN game of Quake (original, not 2 or 3) at school, and despite the fact that I'd played as much Quake as I had squash, I still managed to finish in the top 5 out of about 32 or so, against people who religiously played FPS's every night.

There's a word for your type of people - fanboys .

 

Sheriff - do you think UT2003 has gone a bit too far towards Quake3? That seems to be a common complaint(?) on forums I've read.

 

Hmm ... I dunno. I really disliked Q3, but I don't see that there is anything wrong with UT getting more like it in some respects, as long as I enjoy the overall effect.

Not having played a huge amount of Quake, I'm not sure what aspects they'd be talking about, but here's my guess:

• Physics. Moving around feel a little more like Q3, especially jumping. I never enjoyed Q3 movement, but UT2003 is spot on.
• Weapons. FPS weapons are all very similar, including Quake, Doom, Duke Nukem and UT. They're borrowed from the real world and from sci fi. The only valid arguments about them is how they're tweaked. The UT2003 weapon set works very well. My only bitch is the lightning gun; I'd have preferred if they had kept the sniper rifle and changed the way it works.
• Character selection has been a bit Quakerised, but the result is excellent. Characters were always a strong point of Quake, anyway. Skin creation is still supported.

They've kept all the game mechanics (scoring, sprees, etc) from UT and the industrial feel, rather than going with Quake's awful cartoony style.

On the whole, I'm glad they raided Quakedom for good bits, rather than making UT2003 a more pure, but less enjoyable game.

 

Hmmm... I never got into Quake 3 after playing the demo - it all seemed too fast, cartoony and felt 'light'. UT felt better for me because it was more tactile and solid. Meaty weapons, more 'realistic' movement and better separation of scenery, objects and players.

UT2003 has made all the weapons weaker, quieter, slower and just not as much FUN to use as they used to be. And the sniper rifle's replacement - the lightning gun - is OK, but not nearly as good as the original. They are more balanced, which is a good thing, but just firing a shot with any weapon in UT was enjoyable. Not so now. Definitely a Q3 influence.

The characters are now a mass of colours and polygons that just seem too 'silly' to me. The old UT characters were simple and elegant, but the Quake influence has struck again here as everyone gets loads of bits bolted on to them and they just end up looking stupid. Many of the maps and weapons also look too bright and cheerful, so it sometimes reminds me of 3D games like Warcraft III were everything just seems to blend into one. Less is more in this case.

But now that I've slowed the game down to 85%, I find it's much more like the old UT that I know and love. It's still an excellent game that's growing on me more and more as I play. I just wish they hadn't changed things in an attempt to court the Quake 3 crowd.

And it looks incredible!

By the way, what kind of frame rates are you getting, Sheriff?

 

Maybe your system is different to mine.

I haven't noticed the weapons being quieter. The flak cannon and rocket launcher seem just as meaty as the old ones. The minigun and plasma cannon seem even more so, if anything (although I miss the "deathstream" right click fire). I miss the feel of the enforcer (and REALLY miss double enforcers), but quite like the default automatic weapon.

I find the graphics stunning. The ccharacter skins are more distinctive than the old ones. The new maps seem every bit as dark and atmospheric as the old ones. I love the misty feel of the floor of the forest map.

Can I ask, what game type do you normally play? I play TDM, and I have noticed that some of the CTF and BR maps (which I don't often play) are quite a lot brighter and more open. I'm looking forward to seeing user made maps.

 

TDM all the way so far. The flak cannon and rocket launcher are significantly less satisfying to fire than they were. Whether that's due to a different sound effect or simply volume I'm not really sure...

The problem with the minigun (and the lightning gun) is the spin-up delay. By the time you've started firing, your target's gone!

I agree that the graphics are truly stunning! But I hate the beefy characters whose heads virtually disappear inside their armour!

Obviously, all this is from my having the game only a few days, and playing only a handful of hours, so I'm sure things will improve. I've just copied all the maps to DM-'s so I'll be playing all of them soon, and will be able to judge them properly.

And I love the Slow Motion Corpses Mutator!!! :minigun:

 

The spin up on the minigun takes some getting used to, but differentiates the weapon. I find the minigun works best when you're holding a position against an onslaught. Just press fire and keep firing until you're out of ammo or can see nothing but corpses. I love the feel of that weapon. It really judders.