First post, by nezwick
- Rank
- Newbie
So yesterday I finally decided to connect one of my Windows XP PCs to the internet and find a UT99 server to join. Please help me understand a few things about this experience.
I used to play UT at LAN parties back in 03-06, and also occasionally played online during that time once I got a DSL connection, but have not played against another human since then. I clearly remember there being a good mix of different skill level players and it was a whole lot of fun just tooling around and fragging people and capturing the flag. I was never an excellent player, but not a complete n00b either - falling somewhere in the middle of the range.
Recently since I got back into retro gaming I've been playing against the bots and also played through a single player campaign (couldn't beat Xan though). The bots seemed to be mostly predictable and it was fun to frag them.
Today was a whole new experience for me. I don't even know how to explain it. It was like, the moment I spawned or walked around the map for a few seconds I just got obliterated. One shot kills with rockets and sniper rifles like they weren't even trying. Somehow literally flying through the air from one base to the other. One shot kills with the pulse rifle? In small and confined maps, I didn't have half a chance of doing anything productive before being blown to pieces. I mean, I'm not a sore loser and definitely acknowledge that I am not and never have been an expert. I am totally fine with dying in multiplayer games. But how the "F" does someone learn how to play like that?
Another problem that seems completely unrelated to skills (mine or others) is like, the enemies are in front of me one second and then they're just... not. I turn around and they have reappeared somewhere else in the room, usually attacking me from there. Or like, they grab the flag and disappear from view but have "time traveled" a couple seconds away. Sometimes the flag still appears on the flag holder for a couple seconds after being obviously grabbed. I also sometimes cannot get weapons or ammo. No matter how many times I walk through the item, it just doesn't register that I've picked it up. Sometimes rockets or pulse rifle shots come out of literally nowhere. Obviously another player fired the weapon, but I can't see the player.
Maybe it's my nostalgia bias, but I don't remember having these issues back in the day.
I'm sure there is more to question or rant about, but I don't want to go on forever. Has anyone else been this shocked about how "not fun" multiplayer gaming is these days? Or is it just me and I am being a n00b or sore loser?
XP: A64 3000+ S754 / 2GB DDR / 500GB SATA / Audigy1
2K: AXP 1700+ @ 1.61 / 1GB DDR / 120GB IDE / X800XL / Audigy 2ZS
98SE: P3 500 / 512MB SDR / 120GB IDE / V3 3000 AGP / Vortex2
95: P200 MMX / 32MB SDR / 3.2GB IDE
DOS/3.11: Acer 1120SX, 386SX-20