I have a false memory of Hexen being big and popular, almost like Doom and Duke 3D. I was surprised to know that it's not the case.
Maybe it was more of a Yurop thing? PC gaming was big here in the 90s, unlike US.
I have a false memory of Hexen being big and popular, almost like Doom and Duke 3D.
Was it unsuccessful? I mean it obviously didn't do as well as Doom, but I didn't think it was less known than other first-person shooters back then, or Descent for that matter which was touted in magazines as the next step in 3D gaming after Doom with its six degrees of freedom. I remember playing the Hexen demo a lot on the mac back in the day but never played the full game.
Back then your world wasn't the internet but friends and family, all my friends played Hexen so I thought it was popular as well.
I mean it IS popular, there's indies trying to ape it 30 years later.
It was probably regionally popular, like
says. Where I live it wasn't that popular but known.
It also released on everything, so that helps
This. OP has memory of seeing Hexen on store shelves and shareware cds or in gaming magazines. It was a reasonably well-known game in the late 90s. It put a cool twist on the Doom formula.
It was reasonably popular, it sold pretty good, had sequels, and is remembered fondly by those who like this kind of game, but Hexen itself was never AS massive as Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, or Half-Life. Doesn't diminish its qualities or anything, it's just how some things are.
For an unpopular FPS, I would say Strife is a good example. It has its flaws, but it also has its good sides and lots of charm, it's really not a bad game. However, being a Doom engine game trying to make it in a market which was dominated by Quake and Duke, it looked very dated to an audience which had a preoccupation with technological advancement (as tech was developing at insane speeds from the 80s to the 2000s).
Also a factor.
i used to find the N64 version pretty often
It was popular. Kinda like MDK. But when it was published there were alot of other fps, so the competition for staying as a franchise was hard.
My opinion is that this was forgotten after Quake and Unreal took off. And Diablo as a sense of fantasy/medievil setting.
MDK was popular? Cool.
The fact it's not talked about in retro circles more is a shame.
He's not. Heretic is easily lesser known of the two.
It was big and popular. It's a fantastic game, it's also a mess and makes me want to throw my PC out a window. You gotta understand it was a different time.
>a false memory
Do YoU mEaN tHe MaNdOlIn EfFeCt?
Hexen was pretty ubiquitous, as Doom and Quake was in the Shareware circuit. I just think less people bought Hexen.
Hexen II was more popular by my recollection, as it did something interesting and a bit different with the Quake engine. It was definitely being listed as a 'classic' in Top 10 shooter lists by the late 90s.
It's neither an RPG (at all), nor a good shooter, it's primarily a puzzle game, but the puzzles are more annoying than fun, it's just searching for a brown switch behind a brown tree in a corner of two brown walls, and once you finally find it the game will tell you that "one fourth of a puzzle has been solved".
IMO combat wise, the ammo is a big issue, there's just nowhere near enough to use your "good" weapons often, so you're stuck with your starting weapon for a huge chunk of the game. Hence why so many people pick the mage as his ice wand is the only ranged weapon in the game that doesn't consume ammo (the whole game can be cleared with it).
It's no surprise that people whine about the game, then it turns out they picked the class that takes 10 shots to kill the basic b***h enemy. Pick the fighter, not the mage.
Yeah. I chose mage my first time and hated it. He pretty much sucks ass until you get the lightning spell. Fighter and cleric are much more fun.
IMO the Fighter and Cleric are the most tedious, Mage's starting weapon is like a railgun where you can get multiple hits for your shots by lining up enemies in a row, so even if it uses ammo it can easily do so much more damage.
Mage got the worst flechette. Nuff said.
Once you get mid level good at the game, you realize that mage is the easiest class, warrior is second and cleric is the hardest.
No, all those anons saying that the starting ranged attack that doesn't consume ammo is busted are completely right.
No, it's warrior's. Poison clouds stack.
>Poison clouds stack.
Poison clouds are Cleric's (and objectively the best)
Mage got time bombs. Fighter got grenades.
Damn, I remembered wrong. I thought the only difference between cleric and mage was that the latter's wasn't thrown. I still prefer stationary flechettes to thrown fighter has.
Cleric has average stats and the worst no-ammo weapon. But thanks to all that you've listed he is still very good. I think the flame hands weapon is very good because it's faster than the hammer and does decent AoE. Serpent staff is probably the weakest of his weapons but it's still good.
Cleric has gas cloud flechettes that annihilate centaurs, a rapid fire staff that leeches health at close range, and the Wraithverge, which is just flatout the best weapon in the game.
Hexen is a game where everyone played the first level
and then it became a 'buy the strategy guide' affair
due to dogshit puzzle design
Hexen 2 doubled down on the bad puzzles
the enemy count was lowered, ran worse than quake, only ran on windows
the real mystery is how it got so popular as it did
>and then it became a 'buy the strategy guide' affair
Bullshit you dumb fricking moron. Ask me how I know you're 18 years old. Fricking idiot.
None of the puzzles in the game are HARD. You don't need a fricking "strategy guide", and that entire fricking "reeee strategy guide makers are trying to fleece me it's a scaaam" mentality is dumb fricking teenage commie twatshit.
The reason Hexen sucks ass after the first 4-5 levels is it's a fricking slog full of endless shitty sandbag monsters with too much health and too repetitive attack patterns and inferior weapons until you get the T4s. Had fricking nothing to do with the puzzles.
>ohhh i'm so confused, i pulled a switch and it said a door opened on the 7 portals, where do i go now?? i just can't figure it out, help help police I'm being robbed!
this turd of a game is not even worth pirating
that fact that you are in love with it doesn't change things
What part of that makes you think he likes it? He's just pointing out that there's not that much difficulty in the puzzles, and only in figuring out you have to backtrack.
Let the autistic rage flow through your veins
Heretic is the one where the monsters have way too much hp. The issue with the monsters in Hexen is that there isn't enough ammo and cleric and mage starting weapons do pitiful damage.
The way you write comments has me convinced you're mentally handicapped.
Hexen is better than Doom.
You might be thinking of Heretic.
Either way it's what it is.
Among console players it might've been close to Doom's popularity. So if you were a kid at the time that might be why. It was out for N64, Saturn and PS1 iirc. I knew a few people who had it, but didn't have PCs.
Could just be your clique
This is called the Mandela Effect, in my timeline Hexen was as popular as Doom was
>I have a false memory of Hexen being big and popular,
I remember seeing ads for Heretic and Hexen deathmatch servers a lot in the late 90's. Maybe they didn't make the same historical impression as Doom and Douk, but Heretic definitely had a big scene back in the day, I'd say that it was almost as big as Doom at the height of its popularity.
Had to start somewhere. Not bad.
What's Hexen/Heretic modding scene like? I don't like Doom or Quake on their own, but I love playing Doom Supercharged and various Quake mods.
I've stopped checking about a decade after the first DOOM source ports have emerged when I've realized that no one ever will make a mod that tastefully adds more weapons that fit the theme and setting/characters.
There have been some ok maps including full episodes/hub worlds etc. but that's about it.
Brutal Heretic RPG mod is nice since it makes weapons work how they should.
Dunno if it's still worked on, but it makes base game more replayable.
>Brutal Heretic RPG mod is nice
Yes, it's a well made mod.
>it makes weapons work how they should.
I don't think so. You could say that about the Wayfarer Tome's, maybe. Brutal Heretic RPG is something completely different, even Brutal Doom is closer to the original Doom because Heretic is a slower game.
I enjoy vanilla Heretic with fast monsters gameplay the most.
Think heretic was more straightforward. Both deserve yet another playthrough