DeFRaG has stolen my heart

Hello everyone! Long time no post, but I thought I'd share my latest gaming obsession with you all.

I stumbled across a Quake 3 DeFRaG video on YouTube (Hangtime2 Cup) and was blown away by it. I wasn't previously aware of a Quake community devoted to parkouring like a maniac around a map, while abusing the physics system in the most beautiful and skill intensive way I've ever seen. Needless to say, after I'd binge watched all the videos I could, I inevitably re-bought Quake 3 and installed the DeFRaG mod.

It's hard. Really, really hard. You know those rare kind of games where your skill progresses slowly, but each slight skill increase fills you with that most satisfying smugness and unparalleled feeling of personal accomplishment? That's DeFRaG (although the name actually means removing the fragging aspect from an FPS, replacing it with what is essentially a freeform speed-run to the end of each level).

I wish I'd been aware of it during its hight of popularity, but there's still a strong enough community producing new videos and maps even today. So if you enjoy purely skill intensive experiences with no narrative attached whatsoever, then give it a go, or at least watch a DeFRaG movie. You might be as pleased as I am that you did.

I knew Quake had some pretty big speed running stuff, but I wasn't expecting that...

Nice to hear from you Azarayus. I have a lot of great memories with Quake 3 Arena and the series as a whole, and defrag looks pretty cool from what I've seen. Always wicked to see a game's essentials overhauled and expanded with mods, and the Quake games already lend themselves well to speedruns and high-mobility gameplay. The extra tricks with defrag seem to really take that up a notch.

@Lost
I've not seen game physics abuse on this scale before, and I've been playing Quake with mods since the first game. I just had to give it a go after stumbling across it, but wasn't expect the skill wall that confronted me. The videos had made it look so easy, after all, lol

@Anubis
The main things defrag brings to Q3 are the custom maps and CPM physics (although most maps also support Vanilla Quake 3 physics too), which allow for even more crazy air-strafing and control. I'm finding the personal skill climb very slow, but steady. On the first try I was pleased to break 500 ups, but now I get upset when I can't be maintaining at least 800 ups by the sixth jump. Accuracy when jumping is the toughest nut to crack personally though. This has to be the first game that has be hitting the 'restart level' button every twenty seconds.

Yeah, the videos usually make it look a lot easier with things like that. I've had a decent amount of fun with various physics mods and what pretty much amounts to mobility-specialization, with or without speedrunning. I like the emphasis on custom levels and map design that seems to come with the defrag territory/community. The original Starsiege: Tribes and Tribes 2 had some wicked physics mods, but mods for those games are all over the place in terms of both availability and development, although you could still do some pretty insane stuff in the vanilla games. Just about the only thing that immediately comes to mind with enough freedom of movement to compete with the likes of Q3A in terms of what we're looking at here, although defrag is basically time attack for pathfinders and speedrunners. It's almost like looking at what Mirror's Edge might've been, if Mirror's Edge actually delivered.

Restarting every 20 seconds...fun times. Dat perfectionism though.