- Joined
- Mar 2, 2010
- Messages
- 10,880
I've been replaying through Hexen and its expansion. It's been a very long time and I'd actually forgotten a lot more of the puzzles and maps than I thought. What a marvelous game.
People always say the cleric is the easiest class because of his obscenely overpowered flechettes and Wraithverge. While this may be true, and he's certainly the most versatile, his play style is not the most straightforward early on, and the 2 hubs before you get Wraithverge require more careful playing. The fighter is in some ways easier; sure he needs to be up close and personal most of the time, but his high speed and innate damage reduction make it rather easy to do that. You get the Axe very early on, and the Hammer is actually a very potent range weapon (and until you get it, you can always use grenade-flechettes). I started as a cleric but ended up switching to fighter, and found that gameplay was much faster. Quietus is extremely satisfying against bosses, and both Heresiarchs went down very fast (Korax himself was a pushover, but then I had plenty of Kraters and Icons).
Let's talk about the much-maligned puzzles. If you thought the switch-hunts in Doom/Heretic detracted from gameplay than I can completely understand being infuriated with Hexen's and the comparatively glacial pace that they create. I happen to love Hexen's puzzles, but it's a fair criticism. That aside however, and judging the puzzles purely on how they are designed, I don't agree with complaints about their specific implementation (again, notwithstanding whether we think the should even be there). The game is actually VERY good at handing out clues and hints on where you need to go (sometimes in messages, sometimes in the level design itself). When you pull a switch and see "stairs have risen on Seven Portals", the teleport back to that map opens up right next to you; when you arrive you see (and HEAR) the stairs immediately rise right in front of you; they have a very distinctive floor tile, and there are 2 identical stretches of this tile nearby; the next 2 times you see "stairs have risen on Seven Portals", you really should know where to go. Same with "one sixth of the puzzle has been solved on Shadow Wood", once you find the temple there and see the 6 tiles, each of the 3 pairs with the same symbol as the keys and matching doors, and corresponding tiles lighting up, it doesn't take long to figure out what this is about and what needs to be done. The puzzles are superbly designed that way, and while there is some backtracking, you almost always have a very clear indication when you need to come back and where. It helps the levels aren't very big, so if you miss something you can usually narrow down the search area to something manageable. The only exceptions where no hints are given is with secret levels, and that's fine; there are only a couple of critical puzzles that are too obscure, and I admit these are not well designed, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
I think the instant death traps are probably the most annoying thing about the game, especially since some are not indicated at all and at least one depends on millisecond-perfect reaction time. The very limited weapon selection really hurts too, though the weapons fulfill different roles nicely. Combat is even slower-paced than Heretic, and I was surprised at the monster count on some maps (skill 4). Level design is excellent, with some nice architecture once in a while, and I felt almost every level has a distinctive look and feel, as in Doom and moreso than Heretic. The scripting capability was quite impressive, and is used quite creatively sometimes (annoying traps notwithstanding). I really think it's a great game even if I understand those who don't like its puzzles.
Deathkings of the Dark Citadel is more of the same but much, MUCH harder. I finished it on skill 4 but was exhausted by the end, and if I replay it it'll be on skill 3. Nothing new here except more maps. Most are good, on average about the same as the base game, with a few cool surprises. Puzzles are about the same level of difficulty, though they do assume you've played the base game and know how things work, so they don't hint as much. It's a fun expansion, though obviously if you dislike Hexen don't even bother. If you thought Hexen was too easy then this is for you.
The original HexDD release didn't play any music due to an oversight. There's a patch for the WAD to fix this, but I think most ports will fix this themselves (I know ZDoom does).
People always say the cleric is the easiest class because of his obscenely overpowered flechettes and Wraithverge. While this may be true, and he's certainly the most versatile, his play style is not the most straightforward early on, and the 2 hubs before you get Wraithverge require more careful playing. The fighter is in some ways easier; sure he needs to be up close and personal most of the time, but his high speed and innate damage reduction make it rather easy to do that. You get the Axe very early on, and the Hammer is actually a very potent range weapon (and until you get it, you can always use grenade-flechettes). I started as a cleric but ended up switching to fighter, and found that gameplay was much faster. Quietus is extremely satisfying against bosses, and both Heresiarchs went down very fast (Korax himself was a pushover, but then I had plenty of Kraters and Icons).
Let's talk about the much-maligned puzzles. If you thought the switch-hunts in Doom/Heretic detracted from gameplay than I can completely understand being infuriated with Hexen's and the comparatively glacial pace that they create. I happen to love Hexen's puzzles, but it's a fair criticism. That aside however, and judging the puzzles purely on how they are designed, I don't agree with complaints about their specific implementation (again, notwithstanding whether we think the should even be there). The game is actually VERY good at handing out clues and hints on where you need to go (sometimes in messages, sometimes in the level design itself). When you pull a switch and see "stairs have risen on Seven Portals", the teleport back to that map opens up right next to you; when you arrive you see (and HEAR) the stairs immediately rise right in front of you; they have a very distinctive floor tile, and there are 2 identical stretches of this tile nearby; the next 2 times you see "stairs have risen on Seven Portals", you really should know where to go. Same with "one sixth of the puzzle has been solved on Shadow Wood", once you find the temple there and see the 6 tiles, each of the 3 pairs with the same symbol as the keys and matching doors, and corresponding tiles lighting up, it doesn't take long to figure out what this is about and what needs to be done. The puzzles are superbly designed that way, and while there is some backtracking, you almost always have a very clear indication when you need to come back and where. It helps the levels aren't very big, so if you miss something you can usually narrow down the search area to something manageable. The only exceptions where no hints are given is with secret levels, and that's fine; there are only a couple of critical puzzles that are too obscure, and I admit these are not well designed, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
I think the instant death traps are probably the most annoying thing about the game, especially since some are not indicated at all and at least one depends on millisecond-perfect reaction time. The very limited weapon selection really hurts too, though the weapons fulfill different roles nicely. Combat is even slower-paced than Heretic, and I was surprised at the monster count on some maps (skill 4). Level design is excellent, with some nice architecture once in a while, and I felt almost every level has a distinctive look and feel, as in Doom and moreso than Heretic. The scripting capability was quite impressive, and is used quite creatively sometimes (annoying traps notwithstanding). I really think it's a great game even if I understand those who don't like its puzzles.
Deathkings of the Dark Citadel is more of the same but much, MUCH harder. I finished it on skill 4 but was exhausted by the end, and if I replay it it'll be on skill 3. Nothing new here except more maps. Most are good, on average about the same as the base game, with a few cool surprises. Puzzles are about the same level of difficulty, though they do assume you've played the base game and know how things work, so they don't hint as much. It's a fun expansion, though obviously if you dislike Hexen don't even bother. If you thought Hexen was too easy then this is for you.
The original HexDD release didn't play any music due to an oversight. There's a patch for the WAD to fix this, but I think most ports will fix this themselves (I know ZDoom does).
) and finally completed it. Played it on easy mode, lol (AKA select Royalty class at character creation).
