For those who haven't seen it, I highly recommend one of the "original" speedruns - Quake Done Quick (on Nightmare, naturally). It's less about glitches and more about playing extremely well. If you have ever played a fast-paced FPS, you'll appreciate it. [this video]
Original speedrun showing extremely skilled fast-paced FPS play.
"That describes nearly every single-player FPS ever made." Thief, Rainbow Six (1, 2 and 3, not the crap that followed), Hitman. As for Quake... try doing this - [this video]
> In Q3, it was more the way jumping impacted your movement speed which was a discovery. Not really sure what you're talking about. Rockets and grenades hugely impacted player speed in Quake 1, but not so much in Quake 3. Check the speed run of the following level to see what I mean: [this video] The quad damage'd grenade jump at 11:19 is mind-boggling. I don't remember seeing that in Quake 3.
To get an idea of this madness, it can help to look at some relevant footage. Speedrun of Dead Simple from Doom 2: [link] Quake Done Quick: [this video] ~ That sort of manic movement is, I think, what really sets apart the elite FPS players of the Doom, Quake, and UT era (and the games in the same vein) from folks in the CoD/Halo games. Also, the level design is pretty much strictly better, because it mattered a lot more. With regenerating health and lots of ammo/easy pickups, you no longer have to be quite so careful when putting together a level, because you know that if the give the player X seconds of time without suffering everything will be okay.
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