Why is it that open arena is so much quake-stylish? You run the same engine, you make your own maps, but they come in the same style as quake arena.
Odd. I think the complete opposite. OA doesn't even match the Quake 3 style
a bit! OA does not have this creepy and violent tone similiar to Quake games. It starts with the sounds and ends with the character and weapon designs. Oh, and btw, AFAIK, none of the maps shipped with OA were specifically designed for OA. They're ports of more or less popular and GPL'd Quake maps.
Is oa meant to be different, or meant to be a Q3A replacement?
Kind of a replacement I think. When you want a different flow or look, check Nexuiz (uhh, really *UNREAL* physics there; sometimes really bothering!), Warsow (Attention! K1ddy 4pp431
) or Sauerbraten (really, really, oldschool. Almost no dynamics. !*!License!*!) out.
Well, good luck with your modelling projects =)