Arch Vile's attack psychic or pyrokinetic?

[SYS]

Just had a random brain fart that happens to be Doom related. Would you say the Arch Vile is psychic or pyrokinetic in respect to his attack? I thought pyrokinetic at first but now I'm leaning more towards psychic. His attack does no damage until the peak when the explosion occurs. If it were pyrokinesis wouldn't the initial flames which engulf the target would do damage as well? Discuss.

[Pirx]

i'd explain this with psychic focusing energy from the hellish dimension upon the target, which is released only during the brief moment when the portal is opened. the flames are only a mirroring of this energy in our space (like the light from a fire doesn't do damage). boss enemies are also powered by this energy, so they don't take damage from the archvile's attack. heh, i should write bad books.

[myk]

You don't get damaged standing next to a flaming barrel, torch, exploding monster or teleportation flash either, so the fact that the yellow flames don't hurt the target doesn't mean much. The arch-vile just locks onto a target and channels energy with its body. The victim is finally damaged when the the necessary amount of energy is gathered and the discharge occurs.

The silvery lost soul in the press release beta version of DOOM on the other hand does have a form of attack that seems psychic, as it damages the player without any outward show other than the monster concentrating on the attack.

[Coopersville]

Saying it's just magic makes it sound more demonic. I'm going to go with that.

[Reinchard666]

Is just a hell-fire.

[Butts]

the archvile puts pixelated flames in your face to distract you, then he points his fingers at you, causing you to jump and take damage. id call that a bitch move.

[Grazza]

Maybe both, given that the blast (splash damage) occurs a little away from the target (and can harm other stuff, including the arch-vile itself) and there is also direct damage (20 + jump) only to the target.

In these terms, the former would thus be pyrokinetic and the latter psychic.

[printz]

Given enough magicke, that fire can surely be controlled to burst when wanted. Pyrokinetic all the way.

The diabloist from realm667 "beastiary" has a stronger flame that fries.

[40oz]

As far as I know it's BFG related but that's about it.

[Christoph]

JohnnyRancid said:

As far as I know it's BFG related but that's about it.

That is truly interesting, now that you mention it. (I wonder why I or anyone else didn't think of that yet). It does seem in many ways similar, at least in regards to time elapsed between initiating attack and damage being done. It even seems to do a similar amount of damage as a distant bfg indirect hit (maybe less, I dunno).

[Pirx]

but contrary to the BFG, the damage doesn't decrease with distance.

[myk]

The only relation I see with the BFG is that it takes longer for the monster to make its attack than the player to use the BFG. The designers must have done that to give players using that weapon a good chance against the monster.

[printz]

It's in "relation" with BFG because like the BFG rays the Archvile attack requires sight. A monster firing a BFG shot needs to be hidden from similarly to an archvile.

[TomoAlien]

I have an theory why archvile's flames are not burning.
They are just fireworks, and they can't burn thru the suit.

[John Smith]

myk said:

The arch-vile just locks onto a target and channels energy with its body. The victim is finally damaged when the the necessary amount of energy is gathered and the discharge occurs.

Heh heh heh heh.

[myk]

printz said:
It's in "relation" with BFG because like the BFG rays the Archvile attack requires sight. A monster firing a BFG shot needs to be hidden from similarly to an archvile.

Except that you can step behind a BFG-using monster and not get damaged even when it turns toward you. If you step behind an attacking arch-vile it turns around and still fries you.

[StoneFrog]

If I were to pick one of the two you posted I'd say pyrokinetic, as I think psychic attacks would not be so reliant on him seeing you.

Though I think it's a multi-step process, such as him raising is arms "hexing" you and then who knows what the actual attack does.

But I have to agree with the others, the best possibility is "Hell Magic".

:P

[printz]

myk said:

Except that you can step behind a BFG-using monster and not get damaged even when it turns toward you. If you step behind an attacking arch-vile it turns around and still fries you.

Yeah, and BFG rays are more dangerous than the Archvile, as you may still not see the BFG Sergeant and he still splatters you.

More BFG armed nonboss nonzombie monsters please.

[MmM]

I've always thought it was just Hell magick too. Pyrokinesis is an interesting take on it though.

[EarthQuake]

It's pyrokinetic hell magic. 'Nuff said.

[myk]

I tend to not like to mix the word "magic" with DOOM. What the mosters do is more like The Force in the Star Wars series (the Dark Side of it, at least) than what we'd normally call magic. The latter recalls incantations, spells, and books. Those were mostly removed from DOOM for its release, and more technological stuff was added. I like the fact that the game is ambiguous about it, and that's something that has to go into the perception of the character (because it's aimed at the player). It only shows phenomena and does not make explanations, and that's pretty "materialistic".

[40oz]

How many people caught an archvile and studied it? I have one in my poke-ball but I can't get it out

[swordgrunt]

I never thought on anything else than magic. He summons the powers of Hell, and when the flames are powered for enough time, the blast is sent.

JohnnyRancid said:

How many people caught an archvile and studied it? I have one in my poke-ball but I can't get it out

You'll need a fire extinguisher... and something to keep the runner calm. He looks hungry with that slim appearance... ;)
And don't forget the Light Amplification Visor for studying. Yeah, you'll have a pet Arch-Vile now! :P

[Creaphis]

myk said:

I tend to not like to mix the word "magic" with DOOM. What the mosters do is more like The Force in the Star Wars series (the Dark Side of it, at least) than what we'd normally call magic. The latter recalls incantations, spells, and books. Those were mostly removed from DOOM for its release, and more technological stuff was added. I like the fact that the game is ambiguous about it, and that's something that has to go into the perception of the character (because it's aimed at the player). It only shows phenomena and does not make explanations, and that's pretty "materialistic".

Personally, I consider the powers of Doom's demons to be "magic," but I see them in this same materialistic way. The term "magic" definitely carries a lot of baggage with it, and Heretical or Harry Potter-esque magic certainly doesn't fit in the Doom universe, but "magic" is still the easiest blanket term to use.

[Jimmy]

Sort of related to the topic, does an archvile ever kill itself from its own attack if the target is close enough? The attack is certainly powerful enough to affect lesser hellspawn and barrels within a certain radius of it. Are they immune to the attacks from other archviles?

It's all rather intriguing. :P

[printz]

No, unlike Bosses they're affected by explosions, both theirs and buddies'. But also they don't retaliate against other archviles. Nobody retaliates against archviles.

If you put an invincible player in a crowd of archviles, many of them will die quickly from the booms.

[40oz]

I've never seen archviles kill other archviles by accident yet, but I have seen an archvile harass a hell baron until it killed itself.

[Butts]

i have seen other arch-viles kill other archviles due to slaughtermaps that have a pit of archviles and you are right in the middle of them with an invulnerability.

[Tann&Jerri]

[sarcasm]Its Conan O Brian pretending to be an alligator[/sarcasm]

I go for Pyrokynetics. It'll be the new form of cancer treatment in the near future.

[TMD]

And anybody who is anybody knows archviles are known for their ability to cure cancer. It almost makes TOO much sense