A(n?) HeXercise v0.0.6
In Bringing Back Something That Wasn't There In The First Place
Spoiler:What's in there
If Hexen is awesome (hint: it is), few will argue that it's because of the combat. Design principles, the do's and don'ts, what works and what doesn't — those weren't quite as firmly established as they are today, and while the various elements of Doom's design happened to be put together in just the right shape as to — ahem — Withstand The Test Of Time™ (more like plow through it like it's a tissue, but that's another thing), the same can't quite be said of Hexen.
The thing I love Doom for the most isn't the quantifiable kind — it's a feel, a certain sense of flow. For its faults, Heretic did an admirable job at bringing back a fraction of it, as does Hexen in places. Hexen's combat, however, has this nasty habit of constantly grinding to a halt in ways ranging from minor gripes, to tedious annoyances, to out-and-out infuriating. This is compounded by the game's art design, which — after an intro consisting of beating 40 big-arse monsters to death with your bare hands — never stops begging for the sort of over-the-top badassery that heavy metal covers have made an art form of portraying. Topping it off is a healthy lot of imbalances between weapons, classes and monsters.
A lot of those gripes, Raven themselves had fortunately wisened up to by the time Hexen II was being made; but this isn't Hexen II we're talking about here. This isn't quite Hexen, either. This is more or less Hexen according to design principles which I hold. With a side helping of Metal. You tell me how that fares.
tl;dr: Hexen weapon mod. You're OP as feck. Have fun.
-Reworked Weapons (Bet you didn't see that one coming)
-Unrandomized Damage The hell with that, random damage is back.
-Class-Specific Abilities
-Reworked Enemy Balance
-A Sprite (But what a sprite it is!)
-Absolutely Nothing Else
The Stuff
Spoiler: Who and what you kill things with
Fighter Health: 125
BRRRRAAAAAAWWWWLING'S IIIIIIIIN MY SKIIIIIIIIIIIN—ahem— yeah. If you aren't smashing something's face in, trying to smash something's face in, or trying to get in something's face so you can smash it in — you're doing it wrong. Also, you're left-handed now.
Special Abilities
—Bloodlust: There isn't a single thing the Fighter loves more than feeling his own fists shatter the bones beneath his enemies' skin.
(Should you decide not to cancel your punches, you'll gain a small health boost.)
—????: ????????
(You are to discover this one yourself. "Slot 4" is the only clue I may give you.)
Gauntlets
Primary: Same old, same old. But you've got two hands now!
Secondary: combo-ender. Stick it behind at least two weak hits in a row and it'll come out faster. In a pinch, you can also punch a projectile back to its sender.
Timon's Axe
Primary: Got a bit of a speed boost on the first hit. By the way, you now burn twice as much Mana per hit...
Secondary: ...so don't hold back on the knucklewiches. When your punch connects, hold primary fire to cancel it into a faster, weaker, Mana-less axe swing.
Hammer of Retribution
Primary: Still throws the same old hammers for twice the Mana, but the real star here is its newfangled close-range power — a blow so crushing it can damage or even kill surrounding enemies, nevermind the one who takes it. And it doesn't even consume Mana! But it does need it, so try to keep some of it handy at all times.
Secondary: For four times the Mana (that's 12 for you uninitiated in the art of Hexening), you get to blast away any personal space invader with a pound on the ground as mighty as the throbbing heart of a dragon made of steel and fire. You're also completely invulnerable while you're doing it. Don't hesitate to combine it with a jump should you get bored of the ground in favor of somebody's skull.
Quietus
Primary: Smite thine foes with a mighty swing. Splash-damage-powered, far-reaching melee attack for 8 of each Mana.
Secondary: For 15 of each Mana, a volley of nine magical blades will tear through everything in their path.
Cleric Health: 100
It's Doom! Except not quite. While backed up by decent brawling, accuracy is the name of the game with our jack-of-all-trades. Close to medium range is the man's forte.
Special Abilities
—Foresight: What power he lacks over the Fighter, what knowledge he lacks over the Mage, the Cleric makes up for with wisdom and more importantly, resourcefulness.
(You spawn with 2 Quartz Flasks, 3 Flechettes, a pair of Dragonskin Bracers, a Krater of Might, a Mystic Urn and a Torch.)
—Undying Faith: A lifetime of kicking arse for the Lord has earned you the old man's esteem. Blessed be His name, for He gets stuff done.
(You have one chance to escape death, and can restore it at any time for 150 of each Mana.)
Mace of Contrition
Primary: Doubled the power. Successful blows recover twice as fast; 3 of them will put an Ettin down.
Secondary: Make way for The Sprite! You have a shield now. Don't bother trying to block stuff, you're supposed to bash things with it when you'd like some personal space. Its range is low and its damage tiny, so put your weight into it. (I lied. You can deflect projectiles.)
Serpent Staff
Primary: Twice as much damage for twice as much Mana. A glorified plasma gun.
Secondary: Sacrifice offensive power and ammo efficiency for steaming health-sucking action. Hopefully not yours.
Firestorm
Primary: Largely unchanged, minus the input delay. Generally more reliable thanks to a sprinkling of splash damage, provided you hit something.
Secondary: Engulfs you in holy fire. Nice for brawls, but good luck hitting anything that flies. Or dodging projectiles for that matter.
Wraithverge
Primary: Three levels of charge. First releases one soul, second releases three, third level is the cluster hellbomb of yore.
Secondary: Q1 RL. Enough said.
Mage Health: 75
Positioning and resource management will bring out the best of his abilities; shoot the right guy from the right place. Much of the time you'll spend in brawls will involve trying to get out of them. Or dying like an idiot.
Special Abilities
—Aura: The Mage's extraordinary proficiency in the arcane arts allow him to engineer the very fabric of his own body so as to absorb minute amounts of Mana within the very air surrounding him.
(Whilst the Frost Shards or Arc of Death are selected, their respective Mana regenerates.)
—Manipulate Mana: He's a mage. Derp.
(You can convert Mana, heal 10HP for 10 of each, cast a slightly weakened Firestorm for 15 Green Mana and teleport yourself to safety for 75 of each.)
Sapphire Wand
Primary: Hold for old, tap for inaccurate non-ripping projectiles. Nice for single monsters up to medium range.
Secondary: Short-ranged weak energy blast, and I do mean short-ranged. A fully-charged blast at point-blank range will barely kill an Ettin. On the plus side, it can deflect projectiles. (See a pattern here?)
Frost Shards
Primary: Ice shotgun! Will freeze an Ettin in one well-aimed blast, for twice the Mana.
Secondary: Ice nailgun! Gets there slightly faster and gives you better control over how much you want to spend.
Arc of Death
Primary: Unchanged. There's nothing I could've done to surpass the sheer badassery of this thing.
Secondary: Little did poor Corvus know that his precious gauntlets were merely the peasant's version of what any self-respecting mage has fully mastered by their third year.
Bloodscourge
Primary: Projectiles now bounce on surfaces, disappearing after a set amount of time.
Secondary: Fires one of those, at a rapid ROF, minus the seeker powers.
Spoiler: The things that you kill
Ettin: Unchanged.
Afrit: No longer invulnerable inside their shells. They also wake up faster.
Centaur: NO MORE FRICKING SHIELD, GODDAMN. What were they thinking? I get the reasoning for a boss enemy like the Heresiarch, but for the second most common monster in the game? Good fricking riddance. To compensate, they're given the Slaughtaur's projectile attack, though slightly weakened. (Coincidentally, they also replace Slaughtaurs themselves.)
Wendigo: Glass Cannon. As absurdly powerful as ever, but they die as fast as they can kill you.
Chaos Serpents (green and brown): Height increased to match their sprite.
Stalker: Unchanged.
Death Wyvern: Gained 2360 HP for a total of 3000, so as to fit what the game makes it out to be (ie the boss of an entire hub)
Dark Bishop: Unchanged.
Reiver: Unchanged.
Traductus: 1000HP. Begins the fight with his Mace, switches to each of the Cleric's weapons as his HP goes down.
Menelkir: 750HP. Begins the fight with his Wand, switches to each of the Mage's weapons as his HP goes down.
Zedek: 1250HP. Begins the fight with his fists, switches to each of the Fighter's weapons as his HP goes down.
Heresiarch: 10000 HP, no pain.
Korax: Ditto, plus a final surprise I have no intention of spoiling.
Spoiler: Screenies (like THAT'll help)
Spoiler: This one actually IS a spoiler
