Shadows Of Chaos standalone v1.17 file

Ok, first of all, I should apologize in advance for the lenght of this post. I have yet to try this mod throughly, but based on what I've seen so far I think it really improves the game and it has a lot of potential to bring some much needed further changes. With that in mind, if I'm allowed to offer some suggestions for additional changes, here are some things I thought of that perhaps could be targeted in future versions of this mod, providing they are planned.

Character abilities: The idea of adding abilities to each class was neat, but not really a crucial element, mostly owing to the game's relatively unchallenging nature, and while both the Crusader and Necromancer have mildly useful skills, the Assassin and the Paladin didn't fare that well. The latter's ability to remain underwater indefinitely I found pretty pointless, because due to some unfortunate level design choices there are barely any underwater areas in the game, and those that exist don't really pose any threat of drowning whatsoever. The Assassin got hit the worst, though, with both her abilities serving absolutely no purpose at all throughout the entire mission. I don't know who in their right mind thought that implementing stealth mechanics in this kind of game was a good idea, but their choice of skills for this class was plain absurd and nearly ruined an otherwise perfect character.

Items: Personally, I'd get rid of the Torch and the Boots of Speed and replace them with something else entirely. This is just my opinion of course, but these artifacts were as useless here as in the first game and weren't even worth picking up. The Force Cube, though, is actually an interesting new item but it could use some modding as it dealt insignificant damage even to weak enemies such as spiders. It's worth remembering however that Portal of Praevus features a much better version of it.

Enemy behavior: Archers and Werejaguars should not duck constantly when shot. This pattern in their AI was laughably idiotic and only made them easy prey for the next series of attacks (I still can't believe this was actually reused in Quake II). Also, I'd love to see some improvements done on the Golems. These are probably my favorite enemies in the game from a visual standpoint, but unfortunately their AI was pretty retarded. They were easily stymied by staircases or slanting floors and were unable to give chase by doing something as simple as going up or down them; they had modest health points when it should be otherwise given their formidable appearance, and on top of that they weren't particularly challenging unless at close range. Stone Golems are featured in some maps from Arcane Dimensions, and they have this really cool attack where they hurl pieces of rock at you. Think of how awesome it would be if they could do that here too.

Falling damage: As far as I'm able to remember there was no penalty from falling from any altitude anywhere in the game; like, at all. It was bad enough that there were barely any hazards such as crushing ceilings, deathtraps, pitfalls or any other manner of watch-your-step situations like the first game, but not taking so much as the mediocre amount of fall damage players took in Quake was ridiculous in my opinion.

Ambiance sound effects: I saved this for last because this aspect of Hexen II was very, very disappointing for me and could benefit from some serious rework. The levels were barren regarding atmospheric sound effects, so no thunder crashes, no birds chirping or owls hooting, no chain rattlings, no distant bells or gongs, no cricket sounds, and so on; everything that Hexen had aplenty in this field this game did not. Instead, it was mostly the sound made by wall torches and the endless wind blowing in outdoor areas what haunted most places in Hexen II. The funny thing is there are a handful of really good unused sounds inside the game's pak files clearly meant for this very purpose, but for some reason they are never heard anywhere in the game.

So I guess that's it. Sorry again for that huge spiel, I hope it was not too exhausting.