[UPDATE] Hexen redux Seven Portals WIP DL up

[SallazarSpellcaster]

Might work, yes. And I see, that is quite strange.

[acidhoez]

its probably my fault tbh, its usually something very simple and i just forget to do it lol

[SallazarSpellcaster]

It may be, oftentimes the simplest of things solves problems. Also, do you plan on using only the satyr archers or also melee ones?

[acidhoez]

id like to use both, but necrosis only uses the archers, so ill have to go through serpent resurrection and see if i can get it from there

[SallazarSpellcaster]

I see. Well, hopefully that is possible, and if it is you might as well nab the Death Knights and Guardians; they may fit in good in Korax's domain and in the Castle of Grief.

[acidhoez]

im definitely including some death knights, and what do you mean by guardians ? also do you have any thought about the bright crucible ?

[SallazarSpellcaster]

The Guardians are the enemies that look like Ophidians with hellknight legs, and fire a flurry of energy balls.

The bright Crucible hm... well, that map strikes me as a shrine to D'sparil's demise, on this regard I think that perhaps making the pivotal areas much larger and more detailed, making it for example, that his heart is in a large shrine, guarded perhaps by disciples and other Heretic creatures and is rather difficult to reach, hallways with traps and whatnot. I think the area where you place the heart originally could leave and instead shift the focus to the center temple. In this case, the Crucible would have 3 main areas: The outside that serves as a link between the heart's shrine and the central temple, the shrine and the temple itself. The temple could be made much larger and full with traps and monsters, however the reward should be worth it; I'd recommend that the secret levels house the extra weapons you intend to add, this would make it so the challenge of finding them is actually worth the risk and effort I believe. Also, I don't know if there's any ghostly form of D'sparil because think about it and it could make an excellent boss for the Bright Crucible, summoned after you use his heart, thus "releasing his soul" if you will. Also, the shrine to D'sparil's heart could have textures from Heretic, particularly his dome.

[acidhoez]

oh those guys, eh i dont really like them honestly. that would be cool, and definitely have bishops and disciples and what not. and for d'sparil, i could take him out of carnage galore and make him transparent, but thats about all i could do i think for him, i doubt that theres another version of him

[SallazarSpellcaster]

Fair enough, though they're still good quality sprites. And that might work for D'sparil, as a nod towards Heretic; though that'd be just to make the Bright Crucible have more of a thematic to it, related to well, D'sparil. It might also work in other ways, or as an "opposite" to the Dark Crucible, a similar layout but with lighter and colorful textures, and little darkness.

[acidhoez]

hmm..having the blue tiling could be cool there also, those are one of my favorite textures from heretic. and since its a secret level, fighting d'sparil wouldnt really make the story seem confusing, since its a nod to heretic. i mean i doubt anyone would really care, but there might be some purist's that hate it

[SallazarSpellcaster]

Hence why I suggest having a ghostly form of D'sparil, and when using his heart perhaps showing a message that says backwards "Who has summoned me?" or something like that. I mean, it fits within the fantasy context of the game, the Heart of D'sparil serving as a vessel for his soul and thus making it possible to call it forth from the netherworld; this has been seen in Hexen II: Portal of Praevus where the souls of the three Serpent Riders were enslaved by a sorcerer who tried to use their powers to become an ultimate avatar of destruction.

Thing is that while I see why purists would hate it, it is an uttermost fallacy seeing as there're the elements for it to work: D'sparil's soul gem acting as a link and a vessel for his soul, Cronos' portal network which could act as a medium to call back his soul from wherever it is or from within his heart, and since there's no secondary vessel (i.e. a body) to give it a physical manifestation, it'd make sense that he'd be a ghost if invoked in such a manner. However, being a considerably powerful demon, despite having no physical body, his powers would not be diminished and he'd still pose a threat for the player.

Also for the record, I spend quite a lot of time devising eh... "Magical Theory" to explain why and how magic and similar things in videogames work. It can be convenient for story writing and to make sense of situations such as this, instead of just using the oftentimes abused "because magic" argument.

[acidhoez]

i really have to try and beat hexen 2 some time...idk why but its very unappealing to me. that would be cool, i like this whole idea tbh, as for the whole purist thing, idk sometimes people just need to let it be..its a game ffs. i do agree with the adding a small reasoning behind why he would actually come back, but if we cant figure anything out for that then i suppose just having him reanimate would suffice for a very good secret boss fight. and from what you told me about the portal of praevus, it sounds like serpent resurrection was more or less that same story, im not saying anything negative towards the mod because its absolutely fantastic, but it just sounds very similar.

[SallazarSpellcaster]

Hexen 2, when I played it years ago, honestly disappointed me: I was expecting it to be like Hexen, however it was very different. It did grow on me though, because it is by no means a bad game, it is pretty unique in its settings and gameplay and it is recommendable to play the full game and its expansion, they're actually quite fun but being fair do need a while to get used to.

Purism is okay if and only if the entire essence of the game is changed, in such a way that all the good things of the original game are stripped away and what's left is an unrecognizable mess; however in this case I think it'd be farfetched because well, you'd be keeping with the lore of the game, using assets of the same series and whatnot. I'm actually avidly discrepant with people who take series' purity to a high degree, to me it appears they just ruin the enjoyment of the game for themselves over meaningless nitpicking; I can see why it'd bother people that certain things are different, but if they're explained and are made to make sense within the context of the game, its lore or within the self-contained story of any given mod, then what's the point in nitpicking for technicalities? It baffles me entirely.

Yes and no. Serpent Resurrection actually references Portal of Praevus on its introductory voyage as it tells the story of the Serpent Riders their, their fall, and Praevus' attempt to harness their power. Difference is that while admittedly similar, in Serpent Resurrection they are actually resurrected into their corporeal forms by a wizard lured to their power; Praevus wished to use their power combined to conquer the universe, Profien brought them back so they could wreck havoc and he could serve them. Similar, yes, but not the same.

[acidhoez]

ah okay. hexen 2 doesnt really feel like hexen to me tbh, i guess i just feel that ID went down the drain after quake 2 in all honesty. i mean i did like doom 3, i prefer it over the first two only because its not as repetative and the levels arent extremely confusing later on in the games. i do agree with the purist thing and having the game stripped of what made it good, i mean thats happened tons of times with games, movies and everything else actually. a good example is duke nukem, it completely ruined the name, and we probably wont ever see a good one unless the ROTT team actually does it well, and on the subject of ROTT, i never really liked the original games, but i did see enough of it to understand why people wanted the new game to be similar in almost every aspect, it was good and overshadowed, and i feel that the 2013 addition stuck true to its roots, same with the new shadow warrior, even though the racial humor is gone, its still fantastic.

[SallazarSpellcaster]

Hexen 2 was developed by Raven actually, and came before Quake 2, I agree though that it doesn't quite feel like the first game, to me it feels sort of... "stiff", less fluid than the sprite based original. Being honest, I'd rather like to see it being "demade" into the GZDoom engine and with Hexen's assets, I think that the original's look and feel would enhance the experience, plus also increment the effectiveness of the RPG element present in Hexen 2. As it is however, I'd still recommend to play it. And I liked Doom 3 as well, though I did miss the original Doom layouts and confusing levels, that's just a matter of personal taste though, it was still a pretty nifty game.

Indeed, that is why a "modernization" of the Heretic/Hexen series would best be done by fans (such as mods) or not at all. Thing is that companies are getting stuck in their comfort zone, and many of 90's games features just don't fit anymore with modern gaming. I mean for example, look at the simplest map in Hexen, the Sacred Grove and compare it with any map in Call of Duty: The former is literally a circular arena, but within it you have 5 secret rooms which you may miss altogether, you have spawning monsters that can make the map unbeatable if you don't kill them promptly and even mocks your for taking so long; in the latter, it's a literal straight corridor where the player must actually make an effort to die, they cannot explore outside of the "combat zone", and has at the most like what? 9 or 10 generic enemy soldiers. There is just no comparison between older game design because then it was about how much value could you get for your money, while now it has shifted to lackluster storytelling and stunning graphic power. I remember looking forward to videogame realism because I thought games would keep being like Heretic or Hexen but just looking incredible and adding lots and lots more to the game, alas I only saw as games became more like movies than anything else. I think the industry as a whole has taken a very bad turn, it's an understandable one but that doesn't make it good for games: They're edging towards profit over value.

That is why I like expansive videogame mods, such as this one, or Wrath of Cronos or Serpent Resurrection: They're the manifestations of my childhood's desires, presented in glorious 640*480 upscaled resolution, and life's good.