Alright, we're just one day away from the launch of Legend-9 Interim Beta0.4. I have completed pretty much all the tasks that i've planned for this release, except one: the scripts and Legend-9 specific text messages. The modification of the map scripts, meaning so that they reflect the correct level names: "a door has opened at the earth shrine" AND NOT "a door opened on the guardian of ice". I have just confirmed that this is possible to achieve. Tried and tested, it worked. The process, however, is nuanced and every small mistake is going to break the maps. So obviously, this requires full focus and is not something to be done in the last hours before the release. But, rest assured - this is going to happen. By the next update (a complete hub 3), all the level progression text messages will be fixed, (including level names) and additional directions toward the objectives in the levels will be given. Hopefully, i'll be able to incorporate brief hints to what all the switches do and the "secret area" messages as well. It should be as straightforward as what i did in the Invasion Demo, but to make sure that the vanilla map scripts and the new scripts coexist - will demand more research.
Other stuff: found another glitch that i've been hunting for since version 8.1, when the swamp entrance artillery traps at Shadow Wood would somehow activate without the player ever setting foot there. It is fixed now. It was a rudiment relic from my noob years, lol.
Compiled the new soundtrack, cleaned up the mp3's and did some basic mastering to them. Not too in-depth, but i'll be examining it in further detail when i get to longplay tests. And i am very happy with my selections. Surprise or not - but I actually do NOT like the original Hexen soundtrack. I consider it extremely boring, even though it does have a few cool intros. That is not to say that i do not like the works of this composer (Kevin Schilder). The new soundtrack consists of his other works on the subject of atmospheric dark fantasy. I do like his later stuff, and apparently - so does he, as after he composed the soundtrack for Hexen II - he was incorporating these motifs in a number of other games non-stop. One could say: you can take Kevin Schilder out Hexen II, but you can't take Hexen II out of Kevin Schilder. (though Hexen II tracks per se are not used in this selection).
I will also briefly add the enemy tier division of Legend-9:
TIER D: Cannon Fodder. Ettins and Centaurs. Minimal threat, minimal damage potential.
TIER C: Legend-9 workhorse monsters. Wraiths, Gargoyles, Weredragons, Slaughtaurs and Stalkers. Easy to counterattack, defend against or kill. Despite that, their damage potential can be high. Weredragons and Wraiths can both negate certain types of cover and make strafing their attacks a bad decision.
TIER B: Heavy monsters. Chaos Rider and The Minotaur. Both deal very high damage and can withstand multiple hits from a powerful weapon. Especially the Minotaur. Still, their projectiles can both be counterattacked and defended without expert timing. And they are vulnerable to magic.
TIER A: Elites. Dark Serpent, Golem and the Fire Mage. All three don't go down easy. Their damage potential ranges from high to extreme. All three are impervious to magic. Fire Mage is virtually impossible to counterattack or defend, while Golem has ways to negate player's dodging with the AOE damage. Elite enemies become especially common in the second hub.
Disciples of D'Sparil do not encounter until hub 3.
Dodging out of the way is not automatically the best option. Sometimes it will not be possible, or will simply backfire. Some projectiles are too fast to dodge from a dead stop when the range is insufficient. And there are multiple enemies that can get the player behind cover. However, almost all attacks in the game can be defended and countered. This is the intended design. Wraiths and Weredragons can shoot through corners, - making the cheese tactics that dominated version 8.33 useless (finally! lol). Black Gargoyles can at last evade incoming attacks.
Ladies & Gentlemen, start your engines :D very, very soon we'll begin our glorious crusade.
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P.S. Hub 3 when? Sooner than i'd like. Originally, i intended to switch immediately to my Doom-3 project and give it the much needed finalization, but i have trouble with that computer. It overheats and restarts. So i need to track the faulty parts and replace it, before i can get to editing. And i have to wait a little before spending money on parts. Legend 9, on the other hand - is not depended on that machine, and so - it's more Hexen for me, lol - and subsequently for you. Surely will take me a few months, but not more than 3, i hope. Maybe earlier, cause i don't need to deal with game mechanics at this point. I have examined hub 3 briefly, and there are 3 levels that need different degrees of upgrading. Not as much as what i did for hub 2, but nonetheless. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.
