Mortila (HEXEN MOD) [BETA 2.66 RELEASED]

[SallazarSpellcaster]

Greetings.

Really awesome mod, as it has been since the beginning; of course, it is much better now and far more fun to play.

Currently, I'm playing through as the Heretic, having reached as far as the water temple; thus far, the only nitpick I have is the Ethereal Crossbow being too weak, compared to other weapons. I edited the damage values in Mortila.pk3, doubling them to 22, 14, and 10 for the projectiles, and it feels about the same as it was in Heretic, and it works perfectly fine.

Another small nitpick, is that keeping track of quests can become a bit of a hassle later on, so if I may, I'd like to recommend a "journal" of sorts, similar to the one found on Strife. Lastly, a description for the items in the wizard's shop, on map 13, to make it easier to understand what certain items do, aside from the obvious ones.

Those would be the only complications I found through the game. Overall, it's quite awesome and fun to play, and it's incredible to see how it went from the first, somewhat wonky release, to its current status.

[BigProjectAlone]

Greetings to you dear SallazarSpellcaster.

Nice to see that you still follow the project !
Thank you very much for those kind words, it is really much appreciate and it really encourage me to continue my works.
I'm glad to see that you like so far.

You played as the heretic ?, its a good choice at my though since he have lots of weapons and can use the Tome of power.
I might add altfire to the fighter, cleric and mage.. or add new weapons.

For the ethereal crossbow i will check this out.. i will try with the numbers you give for the projectiles and will see.
And about the quest log/journal it is planned but i'm not sure yet how to do it.
I will check in strife to see what you talking about.


By the way can i ask you how many hours it took to reach the water temple ?
And do you think the coins/jewelry drop system is good balanced?

Thank you again for those kind words!, hope you will like the rest of the beta!

Just a tip, if you manage to reach an area with a gigantic green portal, this is the fartest place you can reach.. there's nothing after this for now.
But you can continue to explore and see if you really have done every quests.

Did you do the gorgon's place yet?
Its an optional quest so..

[SallazarSpellcaster]

Of course I do. This has been one of my favorite projects since it began and, as I said, it is quite cool to see its progress through the years, as well as your progress as a mapper, storyteller, and modder.

That's why I chose him, he has the most varied weapon set, and he can use the Tome, so overall he has a better kit for dealing both with groups of enemies, and one on one. That is something I forgot to comment: Adding extra weapons to the Hexen classes, along with possible tomed effects, could add a lot of depth to the gameplay. For this, I may recommend looking either at the latest version of UltimateDoomer's Serpent: Resurrection http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=23024, or at Carnage Galore 3 http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=29032. This last one has a myriad weapons already coded, along with tomed effects, which you could see as a basis for possible new weapons for the other classes.

The Crossbow is the only weapon that felt comparatively weak for the Heretic, the rest of the weapons felt alright, especially the Firemace, I really like the changes you gave it. Strife has a keybind that brings up a popup screen, showing what you have to do on a quest, and it keeps track of various such events. It may be useful that way and, also, to give small hints to players.

It took me about 4 hours or so, doing everything I can and whatnot. Admittedly, I cheated a little in certain parts: To be specific, the realm of Disorder, as jumping over the floating spikes became somewhat frustrating after a while, as the "platform" areas were difficult to find out, and kept falling off. That's the only part that I didn't quite like, and I cheated to fly to the top. Also, I found the ah... well,

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the floating, locked door that spawns the crazed girls when you get close to it. I couldn't kill them through normal means, so I used God Mode and ended up finishing them, I take it the area beyond that door isn't meant to be seen, or is it an as of yet unfinished map?

Another thing that could be helpful for players, is having certain places, such as writings on the wall or stuff like that, that give the player small hints to progress such as "The item of this temple was stolen by the people of that realm," or something like that. EDIT: Similar to the ones that appear in Hexen 2.

The gold is balanced at the beginning, but later on you have too much, and little to nothing to do with it. With the jewels it goes the other way around, you have too little and many things to purchase. What I'd recommend for this, is using the empty store at the Dwarves' Camp to set up a "jewel shop," so you're able to trade in jewels for gold.

I haven't reached that far yet, I'm still at the water temple as that's a quite difficult place to navigate, but it's fun nonetheless.

I did do the Gorgon's Territory, I really liked the aesthetics of the place, as it looks like a proper wasteland, and the meteors in the ground are really cool. On that note, I remembered the Siren's Temple, I take it that map isn't finished yet? Whatever the case, I think that's an excellent addition, as a fully underwater area is really cool and has a lot of potential for exploration.

All in all, I really like how the mod is progressing, you're doing a most excellent work.

[BigProjectAlone]

For the tome of power for other classes i dont know yet since the tome was planed for heretic only.
Thanks for the links though, i will check this out !.

For the map that floating door lead, yes.. unfinished.. even not really begin yet Ahah.
Sirens temple too.. far from finish yet.

In the disorderrealm the platforming part is not necessary anymore, did i forgot the portal at the top of that ??

For the messages on the walls, i think its a good idea.. i may use that idea but kind of diferrently hmmm ..

Thank you again for commenting !

If you find some other things when you will continue, tell me so i can fix those things !

[SallazarSpellcaster]

I have finished the mod, as far as it's done.

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I really liked the Water Temple, even though you need to backtrack a lot, the whole puzzle is concentrated in the same mapset, that is, the opening and closing of doors and finding the clock gears. I highly recommend you keep a similar structure with the other areas: Keep the puzzle contained within the Temple itself. Similar to Legend of Zelda, maybe you need an item to go in that's located in another place, but the things you need to clear the temple are all within itself; in this case, the temple emblem was located in the Disorder realm, but the temple items were all within the temple itself. That's really good as it gives you a sense of progress and accomplishment.

A small bug I found, is that at the gate where the two gear slots, right before level 5, I pressed one of the slots without having the gear and the "This looks like it needs something to work" text appeared. After I returned with the gear, it wouldn't work, and I couldn't use the gear at all. Also, I couldn't find out how to leave the chamber where the Victor's Torso was at, so I noclipped out.

Another difficulty I ran onto, was at the bottom of the waterfall. I couldn't figure out how to exit, after I picked up the Victor's head, and I couldn't manage to talk to the wizard down there. I simply used "Fly" to get over the ledge and then walk back to the Forest of the Witch.

Other than that, I really liked the whole of the mod, and the maps are amazing, my favorite being the Darkness realm and Disorder realm. For the Darkness realm, I'd suggest the huge, ugly head to be some sort of guardian, or bossfight; it's just too cool not to be something you can kill. In the same realm, I liked the fight against... that three breasted lady whose name I can't remember, and the whole Castle of Illusion was a fun setpiece.


Another small bug in the Tranquil Forest, water realm, is that the exit for this map is placed not atop the bridge, but in the far wall, so I had to noclip to the bottom of the map to be able to return to the water castle.

As suggestions well, perhaps having a hidden shop or something that lets you spend your hidden coins.

Bosses for every realm. Because bosses are really cool, and fights for one's life are really fun. I really liked the giant boss fights too, the music of Shadow of the Colossus really added a lot of excitement to the fight.

Of course, more fleshing out of the other realms, so they take longer to explore and with stuff to find.

Finishing the Mortila temple, and the Sirena temple.

All in all, things that I think are already contemplated

I had a lot of fun playing through these maps, finding stuff and breaking lots of pots. Once again, it's awesome seeing this mod develop, and seeing how it has evolved through the years. You've done an excellent job.

[BigProjectAlone]

I really liked the Water Temple, even though you need to backtrack a lot, the whole puzzle is concentrated in the same mapset, that is, the opening and closing of doors and finding the clock gears. I highly recommend you keep a similar structure with the other areas: Keep the puzzle contained within the Temple itself. Similar to Legend of Zelda, maybe you need an item to go in that's located in another place, but the things you need to clear the temple are all within itself; in this case, the temple emblem was located in the Disorder realm, but the temple items were all within the temple itself. That's really good as it gives you a sense of progress and accomplishment.

Thats how it is planed

A small bug I found, is that at the gate where the two gear slots, right before level 5, I pressed one of the slots without having the gear and the "This looks like it needs something to work" text appeared. After I returned with the gear, it wouldn't work, and I couldn't use the gear at all. Also, I couldn't find out how to leave the chamber where the Victor's Torso was at, so I noclipped out.

Really ? .. d**n, my mistake.. i did not put "repeatable action" on those lines -_-.

Another difficulty I ran onto, was at the bottom of the waterfall. I couldn't figure out how to exit, after I picked up the Victor's head, and I couldn't manage to talk to the wizard down there. I simply used "Fly" to get over the ledge and then walk back to the Forest of the Witch.

There is suposed to be a way back to the top here.

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Other than that, I really liked the whole of the mod, and the maps are amazing, my favorite being the Darkness realm and Disorder realm. For the Darkness realm, I'd suggest the huge, ugly head to be some sort of guardian, or bossfight; it's just too cool not to be something you can kill. In the same realm, I liked the fight against... that three breasted lady whose name I can't remember, and the whole Castle of Illusion was a fun setpiece.

The huge head is already planned as a boss, for now you can still animate it by doing "puke 911" in that map.
Its a scene that is not activate yet since something else ( that is not done yet ) is supose to happens before.

Another small bug in the Tranquil Forest, water realm, is that the exit for this map is placed not atop the bridge, but in the far wall, so I had to noclip to the bottom of the map to be able to return to the water castle.

Am i this stupid? -_-, it is fixed now :3.

As suggestions well, perhaps having a hidden shop or something that lets you spend your hidden coins.

In another realms ?

Bosses for every realm. Because bosses are really cool, and fights for one's life are really fun. I really liked the giant boss fights too, the music of Shadow of the Colossus really added a lot of excitement to the fight.

Bosses, maps, temples, are already planned for realms it is just not done yet :3.

Of course, more fleshing out of the other realms, so they take longer to explore and with stuff to find.

Finishing the Mortila temple, and the Sirena temple.

All in all, things that I think are already contemplated

I will off course finish those temples.

Thank you again salazar for all those comments, thats really help me. Since i never noticed those problems before ... really thank you !
I hope you will continue to follow THis project, the next beta should be nicer and may contain a bunch of new player classes.

[SallazarSpellcaster]

That's the way I used back to the top, but I didn't manage to find a way to reach the ledge without cheating. It was too high to reach, and there were no stairs, or climbable objects nearby. Also, I take it the wizard at the bottom is going to do something later on?

I animated the head. It's really awesome, and cool looking. Properly, well, scary as hell. Though on that note I remember, the ghostly Isuldarii warriors hit really, REALLY hard, and that's never explained. As a suggestion, during the first siege of Mortila you could have the last warrior to die say something like "We'll be stronger in death than we ever were in life!" or something like that, to explain the increased damage.

A shop or something that lets you spend hidden coins could be, well, hidden. It could be set at the end of the Gorgon's territory, to provide with some incentive to explore the area, or well, just be plain hidden. A hidden shop for hidden coins, and it could sell "cheat codes," in a way. Dunno, items that you can activate to fly, or be immortal, have infinite ammo, or silly overpowered weapons, that kind of thing; mostly optional stuff, not necessary to progress, but fun to mess with.

On that note:

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The coin hidden at the bottom of the well in Water Temple 4, when broken, has a "noscript" or something like that.

Looking forward to that new beta. As it is, the experience of playing through this mod was, I insist, quite enjoyable. It really has that Legend of Zelda/Darksiders type of vibe, which makes it really cool and fun to explore nooks and crannies, just to see what's around next corner.

[BigProjectAlone]

Sorry took so long to answer, I was kind of busy.

That's the way I used back to the top, but I didn't manage to find a way to reach the ledge without cheating. It was too high to reach, and there were no stairs, or climbable objects nearby.

Can you send a picture of that unreachable ledge ? because i can't figure out what you talking about hm has i dont find any problem on that path.


Also thanks i'm glad to see that you found that head scary !! it has been inspired by the Hellraiser movies.

And yeah for the NOSCRIPT coin, its possible.. i may have forget to put the script on this map.
This is not finished yet, i mean.. the coins scripts .. some maps are missing the coin, Or/and the script.









EDIT: ALSO, i introduce you the Artificer classe !!

The artificer is a guy who build weapons with junk pieces and/or wood pieces.
Using also gears and every kind of parts.

He can't buy weapon from shops since he do build them.
So you have to find junk pieces all arround the Earth realm.
Then you can go in a specific house in the town to build them. ( the house is a new one that i've put near the shops.)

And he don't use magics, so no scrolls, no mana for him .. .
It may make the game a litle bit harder at some places.

I dont want to reveal yet is weapon set.. so i will just tell that is first weapons is a home made spear.
And is second weapon is a nailgun!
Hes arsenal contain two more weapons.
So 4 weapons in total.

Here they are!:

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[SallazarSpellcaster]

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That's the place on the map and the vista. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to climb up there, without using the "Fly" cheat. There's a wizard down there, surrounded by a forcefield (third picture) that I couldn't figure how to interact with. Does he have anything to do with going out of there?

The resemblance is noticeable. It's a really cool touch, and adds to the chaotic atmosphere of the Darkness realm.

That class looks like it's going to be a lot of fun to play as. Maybe a bit difficult yes, but fun nonetheless.

[BigProjectAlone]

Thanks for the pictures.. this is not suposed to be like this.. its suposed to be a planed sector hmm... i will check this out ..

Yeah, i do have to test it through the game so i see if its ok though but it might be great .
This classe if diferent from all the others since it have Gun's like arsenal.
I've had to change many things so its balanced.
Since the monsters drops lots of gold, and mana.
I did make hes own drop system, so less gold, and the mana's as been replaced by hes ammo type.. Gunpowder, and flammable liquid .

Thats been a lots of work just for this classe.
So i hope it will works great Ahah.





EDIT:

Deep fall problem fixed... i'm so stupid that i just forgot to make that this sector is planed.. thanks to you!

[SallazarSpellcaster]

Alright then. You're welcome.

I insist, it sounds as if it can be a very unique and fun to play class. What about armor? Does he get to buy that, or he has to craft his own armor as well?

[BigProjectAlone]

For now he's using hexen armor has the other classes but now that you tell that.. it sounds like a good idea if he had to build them too hmmm... i will think about it!

[SallazarSpellcaster]

That'd be quite neat as a feature for that class.

Another thing that I've noticed, is that the Isuldar soldiers don't count towards monster count, none of them.

Also, the backpack could benefit other characters, too. As in, well, similar to how it behaves in Heretic and Doom, it could increase the total mana characters can carry, as well as the amount of powder for the Artificer, or the knives and shurikens for the Assassin. Basically, well, making items be useful not only for one character, but for all of them. That's merely a suggestion.

[BigProjectAlone]

Seriously, isuldarknight dont count ?? **f i will fix that immediatly.

And for the backpack yes, its a good idea. thank you again Sallazar

[BigProjectAlone]

Hello everyone! i did'nt give any news since a while so i though i could before i leave for a week.

Again, many new bugs have been fixed.
Since last time i've mostly worked on maps and the story and on the player classes.
The Artificer just need he's ammo pack and he's ready to play.

Sirena and Mortila temples are greatly in progress!

To for now thats pretty all i have to say.
Back in a week with more ! thank you for playing

There's some preview of those map.

Mortila temple

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Sirena temple ( might looks small as **it but i might do a video soon and you will see that it is bigger than it looks cause.. its too hard for me to explain)

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