We can play as Scampie, it's all good. 

never liked raven games much
Ill take scifi over fantasy/realism any time

fate: dont try being funny plz, you always fail 

The first one was ace, the second was shite.

There you go, an informative disection of two FPS titles. 

at first i'd like to tell that indeed old raven's games were much more better than latest, but that coul dbe because they were first games i played, hence first impression is always stronger than later...

as for the mentioned hexeretic games:

i liked that they were more complex than id games. also, there were that nice touches like scattering leaves etc, very clever usage of id's engines. that's their strong plus.
i disliked that sometimes they were TOO complex ;) though, the gamedesign was top in all the titles.

i think that fps and fantasy go rather well together, the main flaw in hexeretic series was that it was the way too rpg like, i.e. complex to find way/button/whatever. fps must be much easier than your general RPG game.

cannot think of good hexeretic kind of games amongst modern ones atm... oh!! there is RUNE! fucking amazing game in the medieval setting! this one beats everything around...

as for the new hexeretic game: more speed, less VERY complex secrets, strong atmosphere and more other things any FPS dude would add... and please don't bring gfx part before gameplay! we need interesting games first, then eyecandy.... 

I've played a couple of Raven games. HexenII was the first, and I loved the art and atmosphere but got bored of wandering around endlessly in circles looking for some obscure potion containing essence of badger nipple that may or may not open some secret door hidden in a random bookcase that I need to find to exit the level.

HereticII was kinda similar but less puzzley, which I dug. I found it too boring overall to bother completing it though.

Soldier of Fortune was really really cool with it's uberviolence and giblets - I liked this game. Soldier of Fortune II on the other hand, kept my interest up until the first maze of crates somewhere in the middle of the first map. What a waste of money that was �_� 

Scampie, I shall have my revenge!


Out of all 3 Heretic/Hexen/Hexen2 games, Hexen was, by far, the best. Hexen 2 was the worst. The reason I think this: Hexen pushed innovation - change in how levels worked, multiple classes to play as, an intriguing story and atmosphere with creative and class level design and monster design. Everything about Hexen was innovative IMO.

Hexen 2 was NOT. It was a bad clone. They took out all the neat monsters, all the creative level design for "real world, researched and handcrafted to emulate the feel of a real ancient civilization" which I think was the WRONG way to go. As a result, the levels are boring, drab, the monsters are not creative, the level design has suffered. The story plain sucked. The characters were neat, and I like that they were able to enhance the game with RPG-ish elements. The Necromancer, for example, can gain life back from his Scythe after he's level 10, or so. The problem was that they sapped all the creative energy out of Hexen to try to offer us Egyptian levels!! WTF!! Gimme my castley-cliff swamp levels back!! On a plus note, they brought back the Tome of Power, which was great considering there were 20 weapons already, for a total of 40 weapon effects!

I've pushed Scampie to get Raven to make Hexen 3, but he has declined my kindly sage advice.

As for another game in the tradition of Hexen/Heretic... I DO think RPG elements are OK. For example, I wouldn't mind having a more real-world model, where you could go to a town and buy upgrades to weapons, visit a blacksmith, go to a bar and find an under-ground seller of banned Necro-magic, etc etc. I think a driving story is almost necessary, and a real-world setting helps that.

Multiple characters are great. They offer multiple play styles, which offers great replay value. I would like to see a small differing in perspectives during the course of the game depending on character, though. For example, the Barbarian would go through levels A, B and D, D being a Barbarian only level, while the Baby-eater visits A, C, and E levels. As an example. That way you play through the game as different characters, but you also get different pieces of the story.

Different weapons are great, but THEY MUST BE UNIQUE. I am very tired of regular weapons that do the same shit over and over, especially if it's a fantasy game copying a BFG. Hexen was great at this, especially the Cleric. You had the Serpent Staff, which shot these 2 sin-wavey bolts, or absorbed life at short range. Plus the staff had an eye that would blink at you. Then you had this fire-cross thing that would shoot streams of fire, which would hang around and incinerate nearby monsters. THEN THE ULTIMATE WEAPON OMGFGF GIIASDFB was awesome. Shot out a whole bunch of tortured souls that would scream around and tear the shit out of any monsters, but sometimes would go after you if there was nothing else. Neat stuff.

In Half Life, you had the G-Man taunt you during the game. In Doom 3 you had that Betruger guy. In Hexen you had Korax. There needs to be some bad-ass Darth Vader kinda guy you can expect to face down in the end. It gives the game a sense of an epic. Just my opinion though. Half-life was a bit wierd, because you see G-Man over and over, but you face some giant flower-headed monster. That came out of nowhere. In Doom you KNOW you're gonna face the Cyber Demon last. In Hexen, killing Korax was a sweet spot.

Anyway. Hexen 3 should be awesome, as long as Scampie is kept off the team. I gtg to school!!!! 

When I saw "real-world" I do not mean influenced by THE real world. I mean a world with characters that are believable, etc etc. 

Walking around in my unfinished knights of the temple map with enclave monsters and weapons from a first person view was pure sex and made me want to do a firstperson rpg... 

LOMA 

...but I don't want to... OH THE MEMORIES! THE HORRORS!

The burnt bodies... the children with the necklaces of human ears... please make them go away, why MUST MY MIND TORMENT ME SO!?

I remember when Raven Software marched into my hometown, remember when they round them all up, all the men and women, so gentle, so innocent. The slackers and the winos and the ninjas. All the differant fruits of the world, rounded up and shot behind the chemical sheds.

How long has it been since this evil empire took over? I cannot say for sure anymore. They control the clocks, the calenders. The information. Whatever sinister deeds there are done by them, my own twisted thoughts will never match what the history books say and I have no way to ensure my reality is ours and the same.

Days I wish, in vain, that perhaps these times of ours had never come, that Raven had stayed but a simple publisher of violent games. I can never forget what they did. To my family. To my friends. To my mind.

...please help me before it's too late... 

http://www.planetquake.com/pjw/grafix/applause2.gif