Who's Better? Hexen Vs Heretic

[Lordareonz]

I'd like to know the community opinions about this both games

Cheers!

[Gez]

Heretic is closer to Doom in gameplay and more fun as well. Hexen is potentially more interesting but its gameplay is often a bit tedious.

[Lordareonz]

Thanks For you POV ( Point Of View), it is very interesting

If i would say mine it would be giant, i thinks that Deathmatch in hexen, at same time its something interesting becouse we use classes, it very bad when you are the fighter and need to go chasing other players with the punch!

another thing, comparing heretic with doom, its heretic "difficulty" do anyone ever count how much pistol shots need a zombieman to killed? 2 or 3, and in heretic how much eleven wand shots need to be shot in fire gargoyles? it much more! comparing shotgun guy with golem, golem is harder to kill becouse with the shotgun, one shot in him and his is dead, in heretic it takes 2 or soemtimes 3 shots to take them down!

[Captain Toenail]

I would say that Hexen has a much nicer atmosphere, it's darker, the textures are nice and the levels can be vaguely spooky at times. Heretic's textures are much brighter and more vibrant and make less sense, to quote myself "they look like something out of a gay-pride parade"

Hexen initially seems more interesting and fun with the different classes, but the lack of variety and dullness of the weapons is a let-down.

Heretic has more going for it in the gameplay department, faster gameplay, more traditional level style, hunt for switches, keys etc. but sometimes it simply feels like Doom reskinned, which is sort of essentialy what it is anyway, and the weapons can also feel underpowered and unsatisfying too.

I would say Hexen is my favourite, but I'm not sure which one is better than the other.

[Enjay]

I pretty much concur with the good captain. I think that it is worth revisiting the Hexen weapon situation. Sure, in total there are a lot nut per game you only have a maximum of 4. Even if the weapon parts for the ultimate weapon in each class did something (a bit like the sigil in Strife) it would have been better. 4 weapons for such a large game just feels inadequate to me.

The only thing I would change about Cpt. Toenail's comment is the last line. For me it would read:

I'm not sure which one is my favourite, and I'm not sure which one is better than the other.

[Lordareonz]

I made this Thread because i wanna play Hexer Or heretic, but i dont know who choose!

[Jodwin]

I have fond memories of playing vanilla Hexen in coop with a nephew, so I'll say that's better.

[Gez]

Lordareonz said:

I made this Thread because i wanna play Hexer Or heretic, but i dont know who choose!

You can choose to play both. Start with Heretic, and then continue on to Hexen, that's the logical progression both in term of how gameplay elements are introduced (Hexen deviates more from Doom than Heretic does) and storywise too (since Hexen is the second game in the Serpent Rider saga, its full title is even "Hexen: Beyond Heretic").

About the Heretic weapons being underpowered: that's why there's the Tome of Power. Few things are as great as switching to the necromancer's gauntlets to heal yourself at the expense of some poor schmuck golems. The rain of death and the flamethrower are old favorites as well.

Hexen really should have had a Tome of Power and use for partially-completed weapons. It would have given it a total of 12 attack modes per class, instead of just 4.

[Lordareonz]

I know much about heretic and hexen, all hsitory all missions, but i want to play just one! is just something of mine

GEZ:Hexen really should have had a Tome of Power and use for partially-completed weapons

Yeah something that hexen should have is the tome of power.

when i am rating the games somethign that i look is the Longetivity, something like how infinite it can be, and heretic looks the perfect choice, because it have the original game + Aditional Maps + map generator + converter from Doom, So its praticly infinite! but hexen dont have much maps, the generator is poor, and convert maps to it give a bit of work :/

And about texture i think both of them are great, heretic the colouts look more vivid, the missions with ice and lava i jsut look nice to my eyes, it looks good :D

[CODOR]

What Captain Toenail said.

I got both around the same time but because Hexen seemed more interesting (at least at the start), I've played a lot more of it.

[Stilgar]

Pretty much agree with Captain Toenail's assessment, as well. Every installment in the series was flawed in some way (some more than others), but Hexen was the most memorable/atmospheric. It could've used having a Tome of Power and/or a larger arsenal (maybe more enemy variety too) to make the gameplay more interesting, and maybe some other tweaks here and there, but it was the closest the Serpent Rider games came to something really great.

[Gez]

Lordareonz said:

I know much about heretic and hexen, all hsitory all missions, but i want to play just one! is just something of mine

Why can't you play one, then the other once you've finished the first? Are you going to spend the rest of your time on a desert island, with just one book, just one CD, and just one computer game?

[Lordareonz]

it just inst that, happens that both of them even that they are froms ame storyline they are very diferent, and i want to do some other things, but my will doesnt count, we are discusing the games only, not what i want to do!


and back to the subject:

I think that what heretic doesnt have is a ultimate Weapon, like the BFG on doom, some people just waits to get the latest weapon, and then is just a normal weapon with nothing much special!

[Gez]

Try it with the Tome of Power. A huge steel sphere that kills any non-boss enemy in a single hit, actually seeks them out (it changes direction and aims towards the nearest enemy), and can follow teleporters.

[Lordareonz]

Ok, looks like i just dont explroer the good points of that weapon!

[VinceDSS]

I like :
- hexen in coop with friends (single player gets boring)
- heretic for both solo and coop

So overall I have a slight preference for heretic. Only downside is that it doesnt have so many good megawads...

[kristus]

Heretic is really nice with the weapons and the variety in that department. The atmosphere is different from most anything else which makes it special and memorable.
There are great artifacts to use in it, but they aren't really up to match the artifacts of Hexen.

Hexen got great atmosphere and a bit more work done on level progression than Heretic, which is a lot like Doom. So for the person that likes a bit more puzzels, Hexen is the win. I dunno if people noticed, but there's a lot more to it than just "a door opened somewhere in some place"
The greatness of Hexen though is the weapons and the artifacts. Or rather, the combat. Hexen only have 4 weapons per class. But it's very nicely balanced with the artifacts that are also efficient weapons creating a much more varied game play than any of the other games.
Hexen also have special conditions for Coop, with different classes and different artifacts doing different things for the different classes. But also artifacts that are extra useful in coop. The mystic ambit incants. Since they affect all the players if they are close enough, but again, in different ways depending on what class they are.

I'm not gonna say either is better. I really like them both, but for different reasons. IMO they are quite different games.
Oh yeah, and both of the games got very rewarding weapons for the most part. Some favorites being the Crossbow and powered Dragonclaw in Heretic and the Arc of Death and Firestorm in Hexen.
The absolute favorite is probably the Disc of repulsion though.

[Gez]

Oh yeah. Disc of Repulsion + bottomless chasm = fun.

[kristus]

Or, Cleric + Flechette + Disc of repulsion. Instant win.

Or Enemy projectile + Disc of repulsion. <3

Or Enemy + a lot of discs of repulsion + wall = pin them down until they go blat.

EDIT: Or you can use the Disc of repulsion to get a monster close to a wall, then fire the firestorm at it so the surrounding ring will detonate against the wall and do extra damage.

[printz]

Heretic definitely has better huge monsters than Hexen. And is more fun (and fair). In Hexen you usually have to fire precious mana or use slow and difficult missiles to mow down persistent and hard to avoid monsters. But Hexen also looks and sounds much better, and it can be much more moddable; shame for the general imbalance it has. Hexen has to be credited for ZDoom though.

[kristus]

Did we play the same game?

[Reaper978]

I have to say I really like both of them for different reasons. I do think the four weapons of Hexen is a bit limited, and the maps are easy to get lost in, but other than that I like it. Heretic has a bit more of the fast-paced Doom feel set in an awesome, gothic fantasy world.

Can someone explain the sound effect for the arc of death?

[printz]

kristus said:

Did we play the same game?

Take the quietus for example. By itself, is a fine weapon. But it's not so cool when you spend 12 of each mana and have to shoot repeatedly to kill a large squad, when you could use the lesser third weapon for better economy. More or less the same with the mage, but I haven't got too far with him (got beaten by that gibbet bug and I couldn't cheat either). The wraithverge could have better been a class-specific artifact, due to its mass potential. BUT, on the other hand, it makes sense, knowing how the cleric is the warrior of light who burns the heathen and summons spirits for vengeance. Some roleplaying may help to understand the way things go :)

I also saw recordings where the cleric player was killing the heresiarch solely with flechettes. Too quick, IMO.

Ice monsters and plasma wizards are the type who can deal quick and hard to avoid low damage. Ice monsters can actually kill. But I'm not much fan of that still.

That doesn't say I hate and avoid Hexen, though. It's got huge potential with the scripting and what could be done with it, and very good soundtracks. I listen to them all the time when I do homework.

[kristus]

The No4 weapons are meant to be expensive. They're not supposed to replace the old weapons. (this did happen with Korax mod however, since you could use the Queitus without any mana, just like Timon's Axe)

And the Heresiarch is an easy enemy for all classes really. But I agree that the gas flechette of the Cleric is a bit problematic because it works through any and all shields in the game. It makes sense that it works on the Centaurs and Slaughtaurs. But the Heresiarch got a magic shield. Should be covered for toxic fumes then you'd think.

[EarthQuake]

Though technically this isn't correct, I consider Hexen and Heretic to be the same game, just as most would consider Doom and Doom II to be the same game. So honestly, I can't choose one or the other. I know they don't have many similarities between each other, but I got both games at roughly the same time, and they are pretty much implanted in my mind as being parts of the same universe.

[pavera]

Well isn't Hexen pretty much the sequel to Heretic?

[40oz]

If Hexen was anything like the slaughterfest that Heretic is, Hexen would kick Heretic's ass. Hexen looks cool but it's boring as fuck to play after all the monsters are dead.

Lordareonz said:

I made this Thread because i wanna play Hexer Or heretic, but i dont know who choose!

I'm assuming you play doom. So play heretic. But what's stopping you from playing both? Both of them together probably cost half as much any modern game today.

[pavera]

I prefer Heretic to Hexen, simply because I always forget what the hell to do once I finish the first hub in Hexen. And even that first hub is still confusing to me. Not only that, but it's probably some of the most boring level design ever.

[David_Dweedle]

Ive not played Hexen so I guess this is a Biased View but I just love Heretic.. its always going to be one of my favourite FPS games.. the Fantasy Feel it has..

Also I loved Heretic 2 even tho its a different genre.

[kristus]

EarthQuake said:

and they are pretty much implanted in my mind as being parts of the same universe.

They are part of the same universe. Hexen is the sequel to Heretic. It's just a damn shame they never made the third and last part of the saga. :(