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[Blood-Pigggy]

Actually, it was butchered by the critics.

[Treewyrm]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Blood-Pigggy @ Oct 6 2006, 12:41 AM) [snapback]259655[/snapback]</div>

Actually, it was butchered by the critics.
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Critics? Critics?! Dude, a good gamer doesn't give a damn about critics (IMHO). /sigh Oh yea, I suppose they had to write review for the game they weren't able to finish and *bam* the obvious review conclusion: Hexen sucks! Well, we all have seen examples of games receive low rating just for the fact of being difficult to complete, however for me and lots of other hexen fans it means nothing. The game is good, much like it's predecesor it brought innovating ideas into the genre, all in all it's a high quality game. Frustrating for generic gamer but an interesting one.

[Blood-Pigggy]

Not really, it was just a rehash of old game concepts that had been done before and that had been done better, the RPG stuff could easily be found in System Shock or Ultima Underworld, and you could get Doom if you wanted a shooter.

It did lots of things, but it wasn't very good, and the level design was poor, which is probably one of the largest reasons as to why it was so difficult, there's a difference between tough puzzles and not knowing which switch opened which door.

[Treewyrm]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Blood-Pigggy @ Oct 6 2006, 02:22 AM) [snapback]259670[/snapback]</div>

Not really, it was just a rehash of old game concepts that had been done before and that had been done better, the RPG stuff could easily be found in System Shock or Ultima Underworld, and you could get Doom if you wanted a shooter.

It did lots of things, but it wasn't very good, and the level design was poor, which is probably one of the largest reasons as to why it was so difficult, there's a difference between tough puzzles and not knowing which switch opened which door.
[/b]

And why is it poor? Because of frustrating puzzles again. Eeh. Well, Hexen does have a good level design considering it's just a doom engine, it's detailed and complex, what else could ask for the game of that time? Sure it doesn't tell you what every switch does and where (except for a few hints) or did you expect every one of them to have a tablet above describing what it does or better off just put a magical imba map marker telling you where to go next? Hexen requires patience and attention to every little detail on the map, it's a well-known fact. Many of it's puzzles are easily solved when observed carefully, hidden switches are often found when you open the map and find symmetry in rooms. Some puzzles are based on architecture, look for the strange walls, signs and etc. If you just pay attention to those things you'll find that the game isn't that frustrating and diffucult, it's just that we don't expect such things from a doom clone. If you expect to open doors just by pushing all the buttons you can find then you'll soon find yourself stuck, no wonder some people can't complete it. Also I wasn't saying a word about RPG, it's a typical FPS with elements borrowed off from many other games and I don't see problem here, it's how the genres evolve. And those were innovating to the genre which it's based on. Why ignoring it then?

Let's just end this, I think I have explained enough. Like I said to the rest: try and play it, and if you feel it's too diffuclt for you - shift-delete it and play something else - it's ok, the game isn't just for everyone, but don't just ignore it for the fact of being frustrating sometimes. Walk around, pay attention to the details and you'll solve the puzzles, they aren't difficult really. You can't complete it if you just run around crazy killing monsters, the game expects player to act differently and that's what people often fail to see especially when they're only seeing "doom clone" stamp on it. And for the record: I love watching people killing themselves when Heresiarch boss casts the reflecting spheres. He should be in WoW, I can imagine raids blow themselves up fighting him.

p.s. I used to make maps for FPS games I like, when I saw Hexen I was blown away with it's amount of those little tiny details designers put into it, the effect was so strong that I still see those old Raven games as an example of how level designers shoud make their maps.

[Iowa]

Hey, you know what? I just realised that i've disliked almost every game made with the doom engine (including the first Doom itself). Before you even say anything though, Duke 3D was made from the Build Engine, a deviation of the Doom engine, and therefore securing me with a loophole!

Is it too simple to ask for another Blood?...All I want is to be able to paint a level red with the entrails of my enemies, is that too much, is it Monolith? Is it Id?

Arrgh...ranting over...

By the way, so I can put it to scale, compared to Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition, about how hard is Hexen? Because i've beaten Duke...

[Treewyrm]

Hexen is a different game although it's too a FPS. What is difficulty? Difficulty to beat monsters? To solve puzzles? To find an exit in a really weird and illogical maze? I don't know how to compare those games really. Try and see it for yourself, I can't rate difficulty of a game because it's more or less quite a personal characteristic. One would find it's easy to kill tons of monsters in Serious Sam on highest difficulty while someone else thinks that puzzles in 11th Hour are quite easy to solve, but when you swap games both players find them extremely difficult.