Does anyone remember the good old days?

[WD_ToRMeNt]

*Points at registration date*

 

I was a JK player on the zone, back in the days when FF BGJ/Oasis was fun. We had destruction, grip was awsome, force speed and jump were insanely fast and we had power ups and guns that didn't suck. We had seeing+map which added a new dimention to FPSs. It was the fastest and most demanding FPS ever, hands down.

 

It's saddening to see what has happened to MP in JO/JA, Raven carried nothing from the orginal JK that the hard core players liked into the new game. JK1 MP lasted 5 years, yes FIVE years. I was there for the JO 1.03 and 1.04 patchs, when huge portions of the player base finally gave up on the game after only a few months.

 

I just bought JA out of bordom. The SP was good, better then JO I think but the MP is crap. *Sigh*

[TK-8252]

Play Siege, man. You'll get hooked.

 

Or just wait for Star Wars Battlefront...

[_PerfectAgent_]

I like JA MP.....

 

Anyway, don't forget about force throw. That was my favorite force power. Minimal force usage, lots of damage, quick use and reuse. Too bad that some mappers get lazy and don't put debris in their maps.

[=tom=]

general i dont like JKA either

siege was fun for a while , but most servers r to laggy

but oh well i play JA again , but only the Moviebattles mod

it really gives another dimension

when ur a team player u might check here

 

*edit*

oh and yes i remember the good old days (also on the zone)

when there was asskicker/narz/narbes/vipraven/luke16 etc etc

[Syzerian]

Yeah, I play moviebattles because its pretty much the closest thing to the fun of JKI, when the server is full of course

[Crow_Nest]

JA MP is better than the first JK IMO. You cant even do any cool stuff in JK only force powers. In JO and JA you can do more cool moves and i find it more fun than JK.

 

Oh and siege pwns!

[txa1265]

Originally posted by WD_ToRMeNt

JK1 MP lasted 5 years, yes FIVE years. I was there for the JO 1.03 and 1.04 patchs, when huge portions of the player base finally gave up on the game after only a few months.

JKII & JA are still both top MP games - not at *the* top, but certainly in the top 20. Was JK in the top 20 for MP? I don't remember ... anyway, have we still not resolved the fact that the only thing 'dead' about JKII/JA MP is the brains of the Chicken Littles running around lamenting 'JKII is dead' ... 'JA is dead' ...

 

Oh well ... JK was a great game - still is. I still have it installed.

 

Mike

[lukeskywalker1]

Yeah, I still have it installed too, but by the time I got internet JK2 had been out for almost a year. :-(

[Kurgan]

Yes I remember the good old days (points to registration date).

 

The Zone was a hell-hole for most of the time I can remember. Of course back in the REAL OLD DAYS I refused to use it primarily because it was IE only (and Netscape was so much better for so long) and then they had so many problems requiring you to download and install their software every week and stupid sysops that banned you for any little thing then ignored you when you had a real problem or question, etc.

 

Canyon Oasis was a fun map but people way overplayed it. There were entire clans who refused to play anything else but "FF Oasis" as they called it. And there were plenty of whiners and (real) cheaters in the JK/Mots community.

 

"Honor" existed, but it was less whiney than it is now. There were no admin mods (thank God!), but the "honor code" sort of made sense back then. After all there were no saber challenges, there wasn't even a real "duel" mode (you still had blasters and there were still healthpacks, bacta, force boosts/surges and shield pickups lying around). So to have a real saber fight you really had to make up SOME rules in order to have one.

 

JK & MotS didn't have dedicated servers, and they worked on a peer to peer model. This worked well for modem & LAN players back in the day. The decision to force it only on the Zone for most of its life I think hurt the game though. And the decision not to include dedicated servers was made by the higher ups at LucasArts, due to some (stupid) policy of fearing this technology, that it would somehow "let players compromise the Star Wars story" or something (I got this from the XvT post-mortem from Gamasutra, which covered the same ideas basically). Thankfully now LucasArts doesn't apply that same rule anymore!

 

But, while the online numbers for those games were never as big as some other hyped games, I think it shows some real dedication that so many people continued to play and make mods for the game for so many years. The fact is no game really did what they did from 1998 to mid-2002, so it had that market cornered.

 

Those were some fun games. I played JK/MotS from the time they came out (Oct 97 & Feb 98 respectively) until JK2 came out. I stopped playing JK2 briefly when the first patch came out, and only played sporadically during the time of 1.04. I really didn't play much after that until JA came out. It wasn't because I didn't like JK2, I just didn't have the time (though in some ways I didn't enjoy JK2 as much as JK/MotS, but in many many ways it was equal to or better than the first game).

 

Now that 1.01 is out and with mods like OJP and unofficial official enhancements like Asteroids and the Bonus Mappack, I feel that JA really is the "best" game in the series in terms of Multiplayer. That won't change for a long time, since there is so far no sequel announced (the closest thing would be the "Darth Vader game" but that sounds to me like it's going to be along the lines of a console friendly movie-hype game, not a JK style game like we'd expect).

 

I've run a commercial quality dedicated server for 3+ months and while it's on hiatus now I plan to run one again real soon. It's been a fun ride and I've enjoyed it immensely. There are a lot of jerks and whiners out there, but by not giving them the satisfaction (in game, I know I've ranted about them plenty of times on the forums in the past), I've had more fun and not let them ruin it for me.

 

 

PS: JK/MotS are great games. If you get a chance and haven't before, I suggest playing through the Single Player games. You'll find the parts where you don't use sabers much much better than their counterparts in JK2. The puzzles are more forgiving and the storylines are a bit neater. Finding secrets actually has a purpose, etc.

 

If you can ignore the now primitive graphics, it's really a fun ride.

 

As for MP, again, if you can experience it with a friend (again, it's a bit tougher without DS and without official bot support... though you can always check out http://rbots.massassi.net for some bots that were created by Raynar and worked on by some other fans for both games.) I highly recommend it. For sheer speed, the game is probably 2x, maybe even 4x faster than JA or JK2. Likewise there are more force powers that can be used simultaneously (in MotS at least). While you can't drive vehicles, there's synched AI mods and people even put together some Coop missions. The mod community was small, but over the course of the 4+ years they really built up an impressive collection of quality stuff to try out, free. Massassi.net is a good place to start, likewise there's some hosted sites right here on JK.net that will bring back memories or give you a sense of what went on during that golden age! ; )

[_PerfectAgent_]

Originally posted by Kurgan

Canyon Oasis was a fun map but people way overplayed it.

Don't forget about the sheer amount of Canyon Oasis remakes! Too many! Some were just retextured of the same thing, while others were an extended Oasis, one even featured an exention into an upside-down Battleground Jedi!

 

Battleground Jedi was also another abused map, but much less than Oasis. There was a retextured map of BGJ in black and white! I think the author called it "Battleground Jedi 1938" or something....

[Kurgan]

Yeah, there were quite a few map makers with zero originality. The Oasis/BGJ remakes were the worst.

 

Many of those were so horrible, the random textures, the excessive concussion rifle placement, the horrible framerates... argh!!

 

But, that said, there were a lot of great maps made for the game too. About my biggest complaint with JK/MotS (other than the whole stupid thing with the Zone) were the cheaters, but that waxed and waned in its frustration level for a year or so.

[lukeskywalker1]

Finding secrets actually has a purpose, etc.

 

Yeah, when I got JK2 I always wondered what the secrets would do (because in JK you would get another force star) and I was hoping they would implement into JA (since you have something simular to force stars.) Oh well.

 

And Kurgan, they still make JK maps. I tried once.. before I mapped for JK2, but couldnt get it (I just loaded the program and made a box... I put a big lizard in there though!)

 

For sheer speed, the game is probably 2x, maybe even 4x faster than JA or JK2.

 

Yeah, the runner speed is like double JK2/JKA speeds. And then you hold down a button and you can run even faster Not to mention you could jump higher (just normal jump, not force jump) in JK than JK2/JKA.

 

I love the levels with traps... like you press a button and thermal detonators come raining down on people. Or you press another button and lightning zap people. I used to hit force speed and run through that to see how far I could make it. Of course.. without internet its not that much fun.

[acdcfanbill]

what the... holy crap wd torment posted wow.

[Wilhuf]

Jedi Knight multiplayer lasted seven years (as of this October). You can still find plenty of JK games on Gamespy Arcade.

 

Many of us remember 'the good old days' starting in Fall '97 when Jedi Knight was published.

 

Even though the novelty of multiplayer Star Wars may have thinned a bit over the past seven years, the actual gameplay mechanics of Jedi Academy are still excellent. So is the Jedi Academy fun factor.

 

As a hardcore player of the original Jedi Knight/MotS since the beginning, I find the root of what made Jedi Knight fun is very much alive and well in Jedi Academy. The changes from Jedi Knight to Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy made a lot of sense. Better game security, better network play, servers, level editing and scripting tools, demorecording, bots, support for vehicles, better weapons and force balance, better tempo, better visuals. Besides, there is no need (except for a few who are stuck in the past ) for a facelifted Jedi Knight with the exact same gameplay, especially when the Jedi Knight mod community is still alive.

[Obi_Kwiet]

I liked the MP in JK. I just couldn't get into JO or JA MP. It's just so boring!

[JDKnite188]

Yes, I remember the good ole' days. JK was an award winning FPS. The mod community was huge. The expansion pack, MotS, was sweet.

 

Things have settled down with JO and JA. Graphics have obviously improved (along with all editing aspects and AI), there is an actual saber system, and multiplayer is more secure and developed. The series has no doubt been fun.

 

I liked JK's SP the best. Big maps, good plot (though JK's basic story themes can only be done once, JA's mission based gameplay was a great idea), high quality.

 

I liked JO's MP the best. Fast fun (though all the games were fun) and more social for some reason. The competitive community also lasted longer.

[Master_Keralys]

I loved the original Jedi Knight. In terms of its story and the feel of the levels, it had one of the best SW games nailed - until KotOR came out, but that's a different story entirely.

 

However, I also love the gameplay dynamics of particularly the SP in JO a lot. JA was fun, but unrealistic in many ways: the whole two lightsabers and double-bladed lightsaber thing was fun for a while, but in the end, it was JO SP saber combat that I found most satisfying.

 

The MP is fantastic for all three games, but honestly, I think the "good old days" of JK are being beaten out by what some of the creative teams have and are doing with JA: the Asteroids development, the OJP team, etc. In my opinion, the only thing that JO and JA didn't have the JKI did was the sheer size and epic feel of every single level. Other than that, the games are actually better, at least in my mind.

[Spider AL]

I played JK and MotS in the old old days, on the crap, crap Zone.

 

Kurgan is correct, the Zone was an awful place, full of meagre script-kiddies invading no-hack games, full of abuse and childishness, full of lowbrow idiots with either zero skill or just enough skill to puff up their already turgid and engorged egos beyond breaking point. (My breaking point, that is.)

 

Yes, I met some good people on the Zone over the years I played there, no I wouldn't trade my time there for anything as it gave me necessary practice, but on the whole, it's an experience I'd rather forget. Now Wireplay in the UK... that was a wonderful JK experience. Prize money, good sportsmanship, a tournament every week... That was a golden era for Star Wars FPS playing.

 

As for JO and JA, the only thing that ruined them for me was the realisation that the same whining morons that used to bug me on the Zone were intent on playing the new games as well... and THIS TIME, Raven was going to alter the games to suit THEM.

 

That's why I don't play JA, not because it's inferior to any other game, it is NOT inferior, but because of the people I'd have to play it with:

 

• Admins so young that they're barely out of nappies,
  
• Admins that ACT as though they're barely out of nappies,
  
• Players who scream "honour" every five seconds when they don't know the meaning of true honour,
  
• People who spend all their time insulting the game but still PLAY IT, especially on MY FAVOURITE SERVERS...
  
• The nine out of ten players that do nothing but vent their spleen after every kill, swearing and name-calling, bitter inferiority complexes both justified and unjustified, whining, screaming and general rubbish.
  

 

I love the game, but the people suck. So it's not worth it, for me at least. Enjoyment? Not while they're alive.

[Prime]

Originally posted by Spider AL

I love the game, but the people suck. So it's not worth it, for me at least.

Indeed. I've pretty much stopped playing JA all together, and I have a been a pretty big defender of it in the past. Like you all the fun has been sucked out of it by most of the players I encounter. Every now and then I get the urge to play, but then I am quickly reminded why I stopped in the first place.

 

I don't get much free time to play games these days, so when I do I really don't want to spend it playing with people that drive me nuts.

 

Good to see you AL. Long time no see.

[acdcfanbill]

look at teh people coming out of the woodwork to post i think there are only a few people who even played during the good ole days. to some that might even be jk2 :s

[Prime]

Originally posted by acdcfanbill

i think there are only a few people who even played during the good ole days. to some that might even be jk2 :s

Only to silly people

[Cosmos Jack]

There are simply to many stupid people playing the JK games to get anything out of it fun.

 

Not much else to say on that.

 

Good game

Stupid People

[TK-8252]

Okay... well, basically, I feel that pretty much, the entire Jedi Outcast/Academy communities are pretty much... crap. Back in the ol' JK2 days and early JA days things were better, but everything has changed for the worst. 99% of the servers are Saber Only with restricted Force powers, and ruled by "all-powerful" admins. The game developers coded in blasters, missile launchers, grenades, mines, and Force powers, and it's a shame that 99% of the servers out there waste the great stuff that Raven Software equipped the game with, and instead focus on one thing and one thing alone: lightsaber dueling. No firearms, no Force, just lightsabers. But guess what... lightsaber combat ain't the greatest thing of the game. Just point-and-click like a madman and that usually does the trick.

 

But the real destruction of the communities has got to be the arrival of admin mods. Giving the so-called "admins" the ability to have "god-like" powers and cheats, completely unfair for the average player. You can have full Force on a No-Force server or a full inventory of weapons and ammo on a Saber-Only server. Don't like the way someone just killed you? You can just slap them around, or kill them at will! Most servers let you have a jetpack and grapple hook which eliminates the need to navigate properly around the arena and often saves any falling person from certain death. Or, just put up your chat bubble and become invulnerable to many kinds of damage and attacks. Where's the skill here?

 

Gameplay issues aside, having a decent fight online is pretty hard to come by - because of the players. So much of the community is full of foul-mouthed whiners who spout sexual slurs along with the usual "LAMER" that it's almost impossible to attack someone without worrying what they're going to throw a fit about. It's gotten to the point that any fighting outside of private lightsaber duels (make sure you bow over and over if you don't want to have sexual slurs thrown at you) is entirely out of the question.

 

But don't get me wrong about this - I support servers if they want to set up rules, as long as it doesn't turn into the typical whining and abusing that most servers have. If a server wants to set rules against chat-killing and saber-down killing that's entirely their business and any decent person should understand this. Those people who take it upon themselves to "lame" any server with these rules for the sole purpose of ticking people off and seeing them whine to the admins for help are not helping the situation at all - instead are making it worse, worse because this only makes admin abuse more common, seeing as admins get used to it and players expect that "lamers will be punished."

 

But overall, the Jedi Outcast/Academy communities really should learn to be tolerant of other people and their wishes on how they want to play, instead of forcing their views upon other people and labeling them with vulgarities and other forms of abuse if they think differently. But, I suppose this is just too much to ask for. I believe that the Jedi Outcast/Academy communities are doomed to be in a constant "civil war" among each other over such silly issues, and this is something that will never end.

[Spider AL]

I don't get much free time to play games these days, so when I do I really don't want to spend it playing with people that drive me nuts.

 

Good to see you AL. Long time no see.

Likewise Prime, likewise. Maybe the old pro-JO/JA lobby should all get together on a server (Perhaps Kurgan's, if and when) and we can have a decent game for once. Perhaps even regularly.

 

These things are hard to arrange, however.

[Rumor]

ltns Al

 

as for getting a good pug going once in a while, i'm sure some xover guys would be up for it.