Would Quake III be the way to go? I am not concerned with the higher price so much. I would like to go for the best graphics and gameplay, and I am assuming these improve over the course of the franchise, but I know this is not always the case. Single player campaign would be a secondary consideration.

Quake 1 has the best campaign, more of a dark fantasy feel than sci-fi and a great soundtrack (By Nine Inch Nails!) and atmosphere, the graphics are lower tech but the art design is the best. Quake 2 has a weaker campaign that's a bit more standard in setting, tone and soundtrack, but a better multiplayer, graphic tech and mechanics. Quake 3 has the best multiplayer, graphics tech and overall mechanics but no campaign mode and not as styalistically interesting as the first. Basically, i'd recommend 1 or 3 depending on what you want from it.

With source ports, Quake and Quake 2 look better than Quake 3 (in my opinion). But, for multi-player, you'll like 3 most.

Quake 1 - atmospheric, dark, fast, challenging, single player.
Quake 2 - more story, slower, single player
Quake 3 - fast, multiplayer arena shooter (no traditional single player experience. You can play by yourself with bots though).

Quake, Quake 2 and Quake 3 have nothing in common. They should have been called something else completely.

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Unreal Tournament 2004 might be more what you want though. That's an arena shooter too (like Quake 3), but that has much better graphics and ragdoll physics.


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I recommend you watch a few youtube videos of each to see which appeals to you most.

Thanks. I ended up just getting the trio. I do have all the Unreal Series games that GOG offers.