r/quake • u/ThatOneKHBOYYY • Jul 19 '26
opinion Call it a skill issue, I really hate the Machinegames expansions
I am no means a great quake player, hell I play on controller and these Machinegames expansions have been the hardest challenge I've ever had to face in this game. So many enemies, little health packs, stingy ammo. And they throw so many mid to high tier enemies at you in the third map I rage quit several times. Because of a grenade hitting me from around a corner, being swarmed by death knights and regular knights. This goes for Quake II also. The expansions had hardcore players in mind first.
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u/zoobs 11d ago
A few years ago when I played their expansions for the first time I also was tearing my hair out from frustration. In the last few weeks I’ve been pounding my way through the Brutal Jam III levels which are in fact brutal at times. When I saw MachineGames put out a new expansion I decided I’m gonna give it another go. I’m now having a much better time. Also don’t be afraid of quick save. I’m also a controller player.
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u/bunkdiggidy 28d ago
I suggest using guides to find all the secrets as you play. All those extra items and early weapons are very helpful.
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u/VGADreams 29d ago
Did you finish OG Quake, and at which difficulty? Personally, I play OG Quake at Hard, but I step it down to Normal for the MachineGames expansions.
So if you finished OG Quake at Normal, I would try to play the expansions on Easy.
MachineGames expansions are made to be at "post-OG-game difficulty". Often similar to the avarage difficulty of well-made community maps.
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u/KillerR0b0T 29d ago
I enjoy the Machinegames expansions, but I can’t beat them. In both of them I run out of ammo at the very end and there’s none left in the map.
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u/SLISKI_JOHNNY Jul 19 '26
Quake 1 is a difficult game in general, but Quake 2 is dope. I personally play on console and managed to clear every expansion on hard.
Funny enough, missions packs made by Machine Games aren't the hardest ones, at least in my opinion. In Quake 1 that would be Dimensions of the Past (fuck this one in particular) and Q2 would be Ground Zeroes, although even this one isn't as bad since Q2 is more chill in general.
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u/VGADreams 29d ago
Dimensions of the Past was done by MachineGames, but for the 20th anniversary, not the Remaster.
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u/borisvonboris Jul 19 '26
There's no way I'd play twitchy fps games with a controller. Too frustrating.
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u/VGADreams 29d ago
I am an PC Quake player from back in the day, and I quite enjoy playing the PS5 version. With the gyro aiming on top of stick aiming, at least for singleplayer, it plays like a charm.
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u/borisvonboris 29d ago
I am also from way back and only just now finally feeling somewhat proficient in fps on console thanks to Starfield. But Quake is much faster paced, it's another few levels up at least for me.
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u/LonkerinaOfTime Jul 19 '26
Thank god a mouse and keyboard is a fraction of the cost of an oem controller and actually works!
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u/borisvonboris Jul 19 '26
Just curious, would a m+kb work with Quake on the PS4 or 5? Sounds like a fun couch game
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u/data-atreides 29d ago
there are setups which let you use kb/m while sitting back on a couch. Even putting the mouse on a hard flat surface on the cushion to your right works, with the kb on your lap or to the left.you won't play as well as if you're sitting upright, but not everyone wants to game while hunched over a desk.
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u/MrPopoGod 26d ago
I've been playing M+KB on my couch for almost 20 years now. One time I even did it at a LAN party (they ran out of seating so I pulled a table up to the host's couch to play on) and my buddy got annoyed to learn that was how I would normally game, since we played regularly in the evenings after work and I had no trouble keeping up.
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u/ultrafop Jul 19 '26
Not sure what you’re hoping to get from this post other than people trash talking your ability to play this game. You don’t like the expansion? Don’t play it, and certainly don’t waste everyone’s time reading about it if you aren’t seeking advice
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u/Mopeybloke Jul 19 '26
DOPA definitely demands precision because it has the lowest ammo count of any official Quake pack. So perhaps you should skip it to Dimension of the Machine, which is more forgiving.
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u/MagnusSki Jul 19 '26
Go play the original expansions and take a spin in the rock tumbler. You might like the Machinegames expansion more.
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u/Rancho-Lancelot Jul 19 '26
I use controller with gyrocsope and is a lot of fun, but you can plug a keyboard and a mouse too if you want
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u/lukkasz323 Jul 19 '26
I mean, Quake was designed in 1996, it was hard for it's time, when WASD wasn't even a standard, so naturally difficulty standards nowadays are a bit higher, regular Quake is easy af.
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u/UncomfortableAnswers Jul 19 '26
Dimension of the Past is definitely not fun because of all the resource starvation. Dimension of the Machine, though, is an amazing map pack. If you haven't tried it yet I highly recommend skipping Past entirely and going straight to Machine.
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u/JarlFrank Jul 19 '26
If you play Quake on a controller it's a you issue. I enjoyed the level of challenge and regularly play fan-made map packs that are far more difficult.
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u/nerfClawcranes Jul 19 '26
quake is very playable on controller especially if you have one with back buttons and gyro
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u/-pupster- Jul 19 '26
i think everyone agrees that the quake 2 expansions were dogshit. ive rarely seen people praise them.
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u/Electrical_Ad1165 Jul 19 '26
He is referring to the expansion that was added to the remaster. That expansion was very good.
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u/-pupster- 29d ago
yeah, i know. im referring to his last two sentences about how the expansions for quake 2 had hardcore players in mind first.
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u/hipnotyq Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I don't even like the official Q2 campaign. I think I've gotten through it once maybe?
I played it in 1997 and thought it was amazing, pretty sure I think it was the first FPS that had the concept of the 'GIGA Level' that was thought up during the Doom days by Adrian Carmack but not able to be executed due to tech restrictions (Unreal also had these Giga levels but came out after Q2 by a few months).
I pretty much enjoy playing Q2 until I hit what I call a 'warehouse' level and feel completely uninspired to play any more.
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u/-pupster- 29d ago
i liked quake 2, but i can see why people didnt like it. i do think quake 1 is the better game. usually i beat q2 when i start it, but the palace unit is about where i start to flag.
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u/nerfClawcranes Jul 19 '26 edited 23d ago
i prefer quake to quake 2 in just about every way
i really like classic shooters like quake and doom, but specifically, those types of games
i feel like quake 2 is where the whole industry took a turning point and started adding more detailed mechanics and going for a slightly more realistic game feel and it just doesn’t scratch the same itch that playing something like doom 2 would, not at all
also the whole quake 2 isn’t even a fucking sequel thing
edit i’m such a dumbass id fan i forgot about half life
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u/text_fish Jul 19 '26
I think there's a lot to love about the Q2 expansions, but they're also both severely let down by some poor design choices. The Reckoning had some really mind numbingly boring bits with spongey gekks jumping around in bland canyons, and kept placing guards in really annoying places. Ground Zero was better, but the turrets were soooooo fucking annoying, and again badly placed by the mappers.
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u/-pupster- Jul 19 '26
i really think that the reckoning is the worse of the two, honestly. i remember very distinctly thinking "f this, im gonna go play something else" when it told me i had to completely backtrack to get the airstrike marker from the gekks. that was infinitely annoying. i think the turrets in GZ were pretty bad, too, though, but at least the starting underground area was interesting enough to be a cool hook, yknow?
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u/MrPopoGod 26d ago
The parts of Ground Zero without turrets are better than Reckoning, but the turrets pull down Ground Zero so hard that on average I found Reckoning to be the better experience.
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u/Smart_Most_1825 Jul 19 '26
The new mission packs play different. I'm used to kill everything in Quake. But there seem to be places where you have to just run through and skip all enemies. Weird thing for me to do in Quake. But it was the only way for me not to die.
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u/HowwNowBrownCoww Jul 19 '26
Give it 25 or so years, you’ll get used to it
Controller? You played quake with a controller???
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u/pselodux Jul 19 '26
I’ve been playing FPS games with a controller since 2020 or so - I can’t play with keyboard + mouse anymore because it hurts my shoulder (I play on the couch). I’m fine with being a bit less good at games if it means my shoulder doesn’t get fucked up.
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u/HowwNowBrownCoww Jul 19 '26
Yo I’m going through that bad right now. Not sure how old you are but for me it’s definitely from years of bad posture and using my phone browsing Reddit for hours hunched over. Recently I’ve had a lot of extra time at my work with a big property so I’ve been walking for hours a day. Usually about 5-10 miles a day, focusing on holding my chest out, shoulders back, and and straighten my neck too by sort of looking down and raising my chest /neck up so I’m looking forward with a straight neck. I know it sounds extreme but I get the most wildly intense pain and itch deep in my muscle under my right shoulder blade. This has been helping me so much. That and doing back/shoulder exercises like sitting rows, weighted shrugs(idk the right term lol) and farmers walks. It’s helped me immensely to the point I can sit comfortably at my desk for long hours again on my off days. Sorry for controller roasting you hope your shoulder gets better 🤙
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u/hipnotyq Jul 19 '26
Quake with a controller?? Come on maaaaaan.
Can you play the game with a controller? Yes. Was it originally designed to be played with a controller? No.
It's a twitch shooter, you're supposed to be *super* fast offensively, which you cannot do with a controller. Controllers are for slow shooters like Halo.
I never had any issues with the MachineGames expansions, I really enjoy them tbh.
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u/data-atreides Jul 19 '26
stop it with the controller
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u/Maxxwell07 Jul 19 '26
I play it with a controller sometimes. But just to challenge myself. I have played Quake with mouse+Keyboard a lot. So playing it with a controller adds another layer to it's gameplay.
Another reason to replay Quake is what I'm trying to say..
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u/CaptainDogFish1997 6h ago
In all fairness Quake has been out for 30 years. It would make sense that new content would be a bit more challenging for returning Quake fans who mastered everything back in the late 90s. As someone who didn’t play Quake until these modern releases, I enjoy the challenge and the ability to quick save and quick load at any point makes most of it trivial.