[inhales, sighs] Just breathe in. Just calm down. We're gonna have a nice, comfy episode. No threats of human extinction, uh,
no monsters, no Cancer Mouse. Oh, thank God. I think he's sleeping. Whatever happened to Raven? They used to take engines from id Software
and make pretty good games with 'em. Except Hexen. Except Hexen. Fuck Hexen. [crack!] [rattle!] Switch hunting is not a puzzle! [rattle!] "One sixth"?! [rattle!] Bullshit! [♫ E1M1 (Heretic) - Kevin Schilder]
Heretic was medieval Doom, starring an elf
named Corvus. You get it-- Corvus, like the raven, like... Heretic is okay; it's not mind-blowing. It's literally a Doom clone with a few nice additions,
like being able to look up and down and an inventory, even if half those inventory items
are basically Doom powerups-- I'm lookin' at you, Torch,
Shadowsphere, and Invincibility!-- but, you know, some new stuff,
some interesting enhancements which they then bring onto Hexen, which... Hexen looks very nice for a Doom engine game;
the architecture is the best the engine ever saw. The switch hunting is so bad that I was gonna do
an episode on it, but then I played TekWar. So for a long time, Raven was close to id Software--
like, right down the street at one point-- and so they used id engines to make games, and after Quake, they started makin' games
with the id engines that were usually better than the tech demos that id was putting out. Shut up! Quake II is a tech demo. It's nice. It's decently designed. It can be fun.
But it lacks the soul of earlier id games. With an upgraded engine from Wolfenstein 3D,
Raven made ShadowCaster and CyClones. With the Doom engine, they made Heretic and Hexen. With the Quake engine, they made Hexen II,
which I actually like. For the most part. Just 'cause they're red doesn't mean
they should have ten times the HP, you assholes! ARCHER LORD:
[death scream] [splat! thud!] CIVVIE:
But then in 1998, they used the Quake II engine
to make Heretic II-- [tape rewind SFX]
sorry, I forgot about MageSlayer and Take No Prisoners. I've played MageSlayer-- it's OK--
but who the fuck else has played MageSlayer? I know you're already typing;
leave a comment if you've played MageSlayer. So Heretic II came out in 1998, followed by
a slew of just remarkable games from Raven: Soldier of Fortune; Dark Forces III:
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, which is fantastic; Quake 4, which isn't bad, but I'd kill for a Quake I reboot, because I could not possibly give
less of a shit about the Strogg. Remember that Wolfenstein game from 2009? No? Looks a lot better after New Colossus, doesn't it? Is that the best you got? [choking, groaning] Then your best won't do. ♪ Your best won't do! ♪ ♪ We're not gonna take it ♪ ♪ No, we ain't gonna take it ♪ CIVVIE:
Yeah, suck it, Hitler! You're not my real dad! But then Activision turned them into a
Call of Duty factory. Thanks, Activision. No, that's fine; I prefer when
Activision uses talented studios just to make themselves fuckin'
Call of Duty DLC, you *fucks!* Even if I didn't like Hexen, Raven was a company
more than capable of creatin' a good game. So I was in an Electronics Boutique in the late '90s, and even though they weren't
supposed to sell me M-rated games, I got a copy of every Quake II-engine game there. Except one. ...What was I talkin' about? Heretic II. What the fuck is this game? OK, what if I told you that this was
a fun and awesome game, right? And the design meetings were like, "Hey, let's make
an action game that looks as good as Unreal and is also a third-person shooter,
but it controls way better than Tomb Raider", because Tomb Raider's controls
and platforming were dogshit? So Heretic II came out October 31st, 1998,
and if you can't see where this is goin', Half-Life came out less than three weeks later, Half-Life came out less than three weeks later,
because we can't have nice things, Gabe! That's not fair. This game's kinda been buried
because of Activision. And also id, I guess; there's a rights issue between those two,
which is why you can't buy Heretic II anymore. You can buy Heretic and Hexen
and Hexen II, but not Heretic II. I'm glad I own a copy, because Heretic II is probably
the best and the most fun game in the series. This game's great, and it deserves a re-release. Let's take a magical journey, kids,
to the land of Parthoris for some nerdy D&D shit, but not *too* nerdy, because this is still an action game. You are Corvus, and in the last game--
meaning in Heretic, not Hexen or Hexen II, which kinda take place in the same universe-- there's three Serpent Riders: D'sparil,
who's the boss of Heretic; Korax, who's the boss of Hexen;
and Eidolon, the boss of Hexen II, but D'sparil is the only one who actually rides a serpent,
and he's an asshole who teleports around, so fuck him. [chanting] Anyway, the first episode of Heretic is
The City of the Damned, where Corvus lives. He is a young Sidhe [sid-hee], which is some kind of elf,
but the totally ripped kind who doesn't wear a shirt and can't go a hot minute without killin' monsters, and he gets possession of this magic wand. And this is retconned in Heretic II, but I don't care. This is a wand made by his ancestors, the Seraphs--
very powerful wizard types-- which I don't understand, 'cause without the Tome of Power, that wand
is only slightly more effective than Doom's pistol. For resisting D'sparil, he was called "the Heretic"...
which is actually a pretty awesome name. Corvus found one of the OG Tomes
of Power and carried it with him. He used it to fight D'sparil,
which is where the Heretic II story begins. Ever the brave warrior! [laughs evilly] Your serpent lies dead. It ends here, D'sparil. [chants magic spell] [grunts]
[boom!] [fwoosh! boom!] D'SPARIL:
[sinister laughter] [boom!]
[grunting] A gallant attempt, but your stand ends here. - A gallant attempt, but your stand ends here.
- [groans, grunts] [fwoosh!]
Aah! Curse you, Corvus! I curse you with all the despair
of the Lost God...! [echoes] CIVVIE:
And D'sparil cursing him to roam the outer
dimensions forever without bein' able to return home-- that sucks-- until the Tome of Power, which also talks now,
says that she can open a portal because she can hear her sisters calling because
some absolute dick in Parthoris tried to use 'em. TOME:
The other Tomes of Power have been opened,
and a powerful spell has been cast. The aura will serve as a beacon, allowing me
to open a world rip to our realm. CORVUS:
So many ages... Parthoris was becoming just... fragments in my mind. [warble!] This isn't right. Where *is* everyone? CIVVIE:
Guys, look at this fuckin' game. I'm just runnin' this with official patches
right now, but this ain't a source port. This is running in 1080p and proper widescreen (by using this hack program and editing the FoV
accordingly, obviously; PC Master Race over here), and it is *beautiful.* I compared it to Unreal earlier. It easily looks
as good as Unreal, sometimes better. Better than Half-Life, just in terms of art design. The colors, the effects, the skybox-- it's just
absolutely breathtaking shit for 1998. I only had one major problem with the graphics,
which is that if there's fog, like underwater or in this one level that's foggy, all the spherical
effects that surround a projectile are-- well, look. [zap! powpowpowpow!] It's a bitch to play through, but it's not a deal-breaker. But Quake II was developed as an engine for first-person
shooters, so how did the transition to third-person go? The camera is almost never a problem.
The movement is slick and responsive. It never feels like Quake II movement; it feels a little
more grounded, and it only gets wonky occasionally. [metal clanking] [flapping] [slow-motion audio] Corvus here, our shirtless Sidhe warrior,
has 1600 frames of animation that are almost all tied to the action perfectly. I can't overstate how well this is done,
especially for 1998. Your first moments in the game involve killing rats. Aiming is a little bit of a problem, 'cause your attacks
don't always go where the crosshair says. There's a little bit of a delay; they're not hitscans. And it makes it a pain to hit these rats-- the weakest
enemy in the game, but also the most prevalent-- so just step on 'em. [rats chittering] [death squeaks] [rat squeaks in pain] [death squeak] The first attack is a fireball. It consumes Green Mana. You have Green Mana for offensive spells
and Blue Mana for defensive spells. Startin' you off with the fireball spell equipped
buries the lead a little bit, 'cause you also have this: the Durhnwood Staff, which is a holdover from
Heretic I, where it was garbage and a last resort. Not anymore. [zap!] PLAGUE ELF:
You're gonna die! [grunts] CORVUS:
What ails him? He looks to be diseased. CIVVIE:
It's not enough to make a
third-person combat game, no; you need to make one with
some sweet melee mechanics. This staff is the reason I don't play
with Always Run selected in the options menu. OK, let's break this down. [♫ E1M5 (Heretic) - Kevin Schilder]
Walking and swinging: simple attack; running forward and swinging:
you do a more powerful frontal attack; straferunning and swinging does a circular attack; walking, jumping, and pressing Attack
does a difficult-to-use, but effective downward stab; and running and then jumping with the staff
does a pole-vaulting kick to the face. It's a little better than this shit. If any of this looks familiar, well,
I'd like to think of it as a trial run for when Raven would go on to make the definitive
version of lightsaber combat in video games. I don't care if you tell me I'm wrong about
the other stuff; that last part is objectively true. So you're just bummin' around Silverspring, the
former City of the Damned, and a plague happened. That shit sucks, man. I know. With the weapons, you might recognize a lot
of the attacks from the first Heretic and even the Hexen games. The fireball is wimpy and weak; the force blast spell is like a shotgun, somewhat like the
Ethereal Crossbow in the last game, but punchier; the Phoenix Rod is now a Phoenix Bow; the Iron Doom spell is like the powered version
of the Dragon Claw in the first game, and its powered version in this game is like the
powered version of the mace staff in the first game, which was the only reason to ever *use* the mace staff; also, electric explode-y spell, Firewall spell, and instead of the Dragon Claw bein' your extremely
obnoxious-sounding machine gun replacement... [pow! pow! pow!] CAPTAIN CLAW DOLL:
Magic Claw! CAPTAIN CLAW DOLL:
Magic Claw! Magic Claw! CAPTAIN CLAW DOLL:
Magic Claw! Magic Claw! Magic Claw! CIVVIE:
...you get the Hellstaff, which is like
the first game's Hellstaff, but the powered-up version doesn't do this cool effect
here with the rain; it just shoots like a machine railgun. Not that they removed that storm effect;
they just gave that to the Storm Bow. Shoot an arrow into the general vicinity of an enemy,
and not only does it drop damaging rain on them, it strikes them with lightning. It's endlessly useful. 10 outta 10. [whoosh! thock! whoosh! thock! whoosh! thock!] [rainfall, thunder rumbling] [swooshing, blows landing] As for defensive spells, you get the Tome of Power, which will strengthen all your primary attacks
on offensive weapons. You get the Ring of Repulsion, another Hexen
holdover that works... fine, I guess. Teleport-- you get it really late in the game,
and it sends you back to the start of the map It can get you outta sticky situations or one time I got
stuck in the level... for some reason. I dunno. Meteor Storm, one of the more useful ones,
which locks on and homes into targets, which is really helpful for these things, these Harpies. We'll *ffffucking* get to them! [♪♪] The Lightning Shield, which is also awesome and useful,
blastin' nearby enemies with... well, lightning, and the Morph Ovum, again returning from the
previous game so it can turn enemies into chickens, which is never not satisfying. [swoosh! splat!]
[chicken crows] Most of these weapons, if not the attacks,
have all appeared in the series before, but here, they're all as refined as they've ever been,
and they're really fun to use. What else? Uh, Shrines. Shrines are important. You have Spirit Shrines, which can
top your health off to 150. You got Armor Shrines that either give you the
Silver Armor, worth a hundred points, or the Gold Armor, worth... Holy shit, 250 points?! Seriously?! OK, that's cool. There's boring ones, too, like Shrines to refill your Mana
pool; Shrines to let you breathe underwater for longer; a rarely seen Reflective Shrine that can
bounce projectiles off of ya; a Light Shrine, because we don't have a torch anymore; uh, a Ghost Shrine, which is in the manual
and I'm sure is somewhere in the game, but I've never seen it (and which might
be a pretty clever joke, honestly); there's Chaos Shrines that give you somethin' random. But the best is the Blade Shrine... [warble! zap!] ...which upgrades the attack on your staff
so that it can... I don't know, be a flaming stick of unyielding *death!* [whooshing, blows landing, Seraph Guards
groaning throughout] This game isn't nearly as hard as previous
Raven games, like, specifically, fucking Hexen II. Heretic II starts off easy enough: killin' all your
fellow townspeople who got infected with the plague, some of whom can turn invisible,
for some reason. Elf magic. There's the townspeople, the rats, and the Plague
Spreaders, who *will* give you trouble at the beginning, 'cause they shoot this plague gas that
really, really fucks with ya. I mean... TOME:
Corvus... you must listen to me. You have been infected. No... not now! I will not fall to this! CIVVIE:
Yeah, well, it happens. TOME:
I can protect you for now. CIVVIE:
There's no mechanic of you dyin'
from the plague. Don't worry about it. As far as I can tell, they developed this game in
less than a year. It shows occasionally, but not often. The cutscenes are just-- they're OK, I guess. They're cheesy as hell, but they don't
look bad for 1998 cinematics. The plot is usually told to you through in-game
cinematics, though... which-- also for 1998-- not bad. Nobody's mouth moves, but they all have
cutscene-specific animations, and it almost looks like they're emoting sometimes. Corvus actually had a rudimentary skeletal backbone
for his model, so he could, like, look around convincingly instead of bein' like this. You are Corvus? [gasps] Forgive me. - You know of me?
- The slayer of D'sparil. A hero's tale travels far. Who are you? What has happened
to Silverspring and-- and our people? I was once the Harbormaster. I am Dranor. The people-- they hide. At least,
those who've been spared. - Spared?
- From the plague. The infected-- they are consumed by insanity. They attack anyone in sight. Thousands have died. But you... you can save us once again. There's talk that a Ssithra healer has found
a cure... across the swamps in Andoria. You-- you must go there. It is not my destiny to be a hero. [fire crackling] [♪♪] Can you help me? [gasps] The Heretic! You are Corvus. I know who I am. Are you the healer? Will you help me? Yes, I am Siernan, the healer. But I cannot help you. CIVVIE:
I'm havin' trouble just gettin' to the point of this,
because this game is really fun. Everything blends together really well. There's basically four sections of the game: Silverspring,
then Andoria, then K'chekrik, then Morcalavin's fortress. You go to Andoria to find a cure for the plague, and
once you're done fetchin' the ingredients for that cure... Yes. [sighs] It heals, just as before. [breathing shakily]
The potion... I-I-It's not.. Why are you healed and not me? Why?! I feared this. Ssithra are not like the Sidhe [shee]. - CIVVIE: The what?
- The Sidhe. OK, but there's a "D" in that word,
and that's how I'm gonna pronounce it. Our anatomies are very different. The cure must be incompatible with your kind. Can it be fashioned for the Sidhe? Not in time to save you. But don't give in to fate just yet. The High Priestess
of K'chekrik is very wise in the arts of magic. She may be able to conjure a cure,
fight magic *with* magic. K'chekrik?! It is too far. I would have to travel
around the Kell Mountains! CIVVIE:
Corvus is kind of a dick sometimes, but I understand. If I'd been trapped in the Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent
Riders episodes for years, I'd be pretty upset, too. If you haven't played those, this is
what the first level is like: [weapon fire, miscellaneous enemy noises throughout] [death scream] It's like Hell Beneath all over again. So the healer sends you through some caves
to K'chekrik, which is where the T'chekek-- Goddammit-- which is where these giant fucking bug people live. It's assumed that they're immune to the plague,
and they want nothing to do with the outside world, so Corvus, who's infected, storms into their fucking hive
and kills everyone-- *everyone*-- who stands in his way. You gotta understand, right?
The Ssithra, who were infected by the plague, which-- the healer finds a cure for them
that works and that you brought him, and you kill the shit outta all of *them.* The T'chekrik are *not* infected-- at least, not visibly--
and you're not only bringing the plague into their walls, you're invading their fucking nest-- like, where
they lay their eggs, where their broodmothers are. And there are these things runnin' around
that also appear in the wild called G'krokon. Thank fuck I still have the manual for this game. G'krokon usually live in the wild, but
they're also in this hive all over the place, which leads me to believe
they're like pets. They're like dogs. I'm bustin' in there and killin' everybody
and their dogs, and nobody says anything about it. If there was a sequel, it would be about one of
these fucking bugs going John Wick on me. The T'chekrik eventually capture you,
which is bullshit; I could have taken all of them. TOME:
Because you have returned the Warrior's Amulet,
you will be granted permission to earn the right to see the High Priestess. Challenge accepted. [elevator rumbling, T'chekrik chittering] CIVVIE:
To get to the Queen, you have to go through
the Gauntlet, which is, you know, platforming and stuff. It's not bad, I guess. I didn't have much trouble with it. Every time I roll through one of these,
I feel like Indiana Jones. [♫ digitized version of Indiana Jones theme] [music cuts off] CORVUS:
[choking] [lava gurgling] CIVVIE:
When you fight the T'chekrik Queen,
she *is* affected by the plague. [echoing]
Truth be told, I am grateful to you. The madness has disappeared... for now, it seems. "Madness"? CIVVIE:
Katie, if you put a Sparta clip in there,
I'm gonna tell 'em about you and [REDACTED]. You want [REDACTED] to lose his
pension, Katie? You want his wife to find out? I thought the T'chekrik were unaffected. Not... fully. Morcalavin's magic is powerful. He uses a unique strain
of the plague to control anyone he wishes-- myself, your Celestial Watcher... even his own people. We have *all* become part of his army. CIVVIE:
Why does a bug have titties?
This was years before DeviantArt. Actually, Civvie, there are some types of flies,
cockroaches, and even spiders that lactate. Oh, hey, there you are. It's really cool that you know that. Also, I think it's important to discuss l-- - Also, I think it's important to discuss l--
- Katie, cut his mic. Morcalavin... is a Seraph. A lie! A Seraph would *never* unleash such evil! CIVVIE:
And she helpfully opens
a portal to Morcalavin's fortress. Morcalavin is the one responsible for the plague
'cause he's a Seraph, an ancestor race of the Sidhe. The story really suffers from the "Let's get
this game out by Christmas" philosophy, which is weird, 'cause it released on Halloween. Now you go straight to the mines, and any
difficulty this game had is practically gone by this point. This section of the game is the weakest--
I mean, after the mines, because I can't help but be charmed by the Ogles. They're described in the manual
as "a short, pathetic creature that lives in the darkest part
of almost any mountain range." That's kinda harsh. They're enslaved by Morcalavin's goons. The most common enemies you'll see
goin' forward are whip goons, axe goons, and the Plague Spreaders from before,
aside from some fire traps, which are more deadly than any enemy in this game. CORVUS:
[agonized scream] CIVVIE:
If you damage these slave drivers enough,
the Ogles will start attacking them. You know what? My heart isn't
made of stone. This is adorable. OGLES:
[battle cries] SERAPH GUARD:
[grunting] OGLE:
[whoops] CIVVIE:
Whatever they're mining down here,
there's liquid that sets ya on fire if you touch it. [creaking, liquid gurgling] CORVUS:
I'll have to open this elsewhere. [agonized scream] CIVVIE:
I spent the last parts of this game
breezin' through most of it, slashing these dudes apart with
the blade while usin' a Defensive Spell. At least on the Normal skill, you can
dominate through this section. The enemies are slow, they usually don't do a lot of
damage to ya, Gold Armor Shrines are everywhere. I'm not gonna say that being able to do
this kind of thing late-game isn't totally awesome, but I was expecting more of
a challenge from a Raven game. Makes me think that these last areas
got the least amount of care before release. OK, so this is the strategy I used for the
last parts of this game. It's foolproof. [♫ "James River" - DJ Williams] [sounds of carnage throughout] [music continues] [music fades out] You may have been a Seraph once, but are no more! You have slain the mighty Serpent Rider.
I suppose you intend the same... for me? If it has to come to that. CIVVIE:
Spoiler alert: it comes to that. And Morcalavin goes down like a pussy, too,
because once you damage him enough, you jump into the center of the arena
and press the Use key while he's down. It's simple, and I didn't die once. OK, Morcalavin was tryin' to cast the Spell of Ascension to make his *nearly* immortal, godlike form
into a *fully* immortal, godlike form. He needed all of the Tomes of Power to do this,
but since Corvus had one of them in some shitty backwoods dimension
that D'sparil sent him to, Morcalavin decided he would just try to use a fake one, and then that released a plague
that nearly wiped out the world. Good job, asshole. So to beat him, you have to finish that spell
with *your* Tome of Power after hitting a bunch of switches
around the entire Goddamn castle that deactivate the Tomes
in the arena, for some reason. Yeah, the final section isn't great. But what pisses me off is that Morcalavin ascends
anyway... leavin' your sorry ass to clean up his mess. No! Send him to Hell! Send him to Hell's Maw,
or whatever! What the fuck is this?! He just gets away?! And even when he's not
crazy evil anymore, he sounds... Corvus... the plague is no more. CIVVIE:
...still really crazy?! And evil?! And then it just kind of abruptly ends. I assume Corvus gets the shaft again
and has to rebuild the whole society. Dude can't catch a break, but I guess he's King now. As I rise, so must you. Forge the way. Undo the wrongs I have done. CORVUS:
That I will. [♪♪ hopeful outro] CIVVIE:
I would still highly recommend this game. I hope id and Activision stop fuckin' fighting
about it and give us a proper re-release. It's not like you can't already run it under Windows 10. Alas, Raven Software is doomed to an
eternity of Call of Duty. Poor bastards. There's a "Nevermore" joke in there,
but... God, I don't want to do it. [♫ "How'd I Do?" arrangement - Lee Jackson, Speedy]
Loved this game growing up. I always thought it was so cool that if you maimed the enemies, they'd stop trying to fight and run away, since it's kind of tough to fight with no arms. You still very rarely see anything like that in games outside of scripted events.
I've only owned Heretic II for about two years, but it's really enjoyable. I wish people had been more open-minded about it being third-person instead of first-person like the other games in the Heretic/Hexen series, because honestly, the perspective change doesn't make it any less fun.
I strongly believe this game deserves to be rereleased on Steam (alongside Portal of Praevus, the expansion to the previous game in the series, Hexen II) and join the other Heretic/Hexen games that are already on there, and I hope Activision and ZeniMax can come to some sort of agreement to make that happen.
‘Heretic’ was my introduction to the FPS gameplay style! We found it on the computers in high school and would play it after we finished our programming assignments (we did 90-min block classes). After that someone brought in the shareware version of Wolf 3D and it was soon loaded on the machines. Was great until that one kid got motion sick and told his parents what we were playing. Week later, all deleted. LOL
The only issue I ever had with Raven was every boss fight ended up being a big arena where you just straif em down running around in circles..
I can remember getting close to the end in RTCW and thinking I bet its a round area with the boss and YUP..
love their games otherwise.
Civvie is a great content creator. Surly, snarky boomer with an unabashed love for the games he grew up with. He's like a crotchety version of LGR.
I really enjoyed it as a kid, thinking "WoW, a 3D game that actually look like a city" Before that, Doom, Heretic I and Hexen was all about a giant complex that don't look like anything.
A pity my game crashed at the second city when I tried to get the crystal vial. Ironic that there is exactly 1 flask in the entire city...