[Elysium]

Feb 21, 2006
Demons have their own languages. Some of the chittering little freaks are a bit unnerving. I'm not sure if our more humanoid offshoots of higher level castes will eventually speak English, or at least opt to in certain situations. I honestly don't know that yet. But the mightier demons far up in the hellish hierarchy are certainly capable of it.

Feb 22, 2006
Q.Will there be the possibility to slay bosses like in Diablo: Slay – Save Game – Slay, for getting better Items?
A.This is not possible.

Q.Will we be able to slay (the good way) large groups of monsters in a few seconds like in Diablo?
A.Yup. Lots of things can die very quickly if you're tough.

Feb 28, 2006
1. We have at least 30 distinct monster types. At least. But remember also that within each type of monster are a number of wildly different variations. There are no less than six different variations of zombie and just as many different versions of Darskpawn and other miscellaneous demons. And... Each of those different variations of the same type is also randomized within reason, meaning they all come in different shapes and sizes and have different weapons. Our systems really do work together to create a very diverse assortment of enemies. Of course, there are also bosses.

2. Quote:
JOE THE DEMON (Species)
QUOTE
+ Joe Elite
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Elite class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Laser
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Laser class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Laser Darkling
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Laser Darkling class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Laser Gremlin
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Laser Gremlin class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Melee
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Melee class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Melee Darkling
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Melee Darkling class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Melee Gremlin
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Melee Gremlin class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Ranged
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Ranged class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Ranged Darkling
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Ranged Darkling class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Ranged Gremlin
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Ranged Gremlin class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Shaman
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Shaman class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Shaman Darkling
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Shaman Darkling class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.

+ Joe Shaman Gremlin
--- Randomized sizes and minor skin variations within Shaman Gremlin class of Joe. Randomized weapon sets, too. Same general color distinction.


I called this demon type Joe because it's changed names like four times since I've been here. Darkling, Darkspawn, Imp, whatever. It's the Joe type.

Anyway, Joe is just one type of the 30 types of demon we have. And you can see how within that type there are sub categories, each with minor variations of their own.

3. You can expect some seriously bad ass demons / it-things from lore and myth to be our bosses, but I'll not divulge who / what the final boss is. I've the read the basic outlines for a few of them and they're pretty damn sweet.

4.

That's what we're calling the Exospector. I haven't seen it in the game yet, but it's apparently a sort of demon bomber. More scientifically speaking, it's a "Huge floating thing that spews flame down on dudes."

March 8, 2006
1. Different AI patterns are being programmed into the different monster types. Some enemies lay in wait and then spring out when you approach them, others shuffle around aimlessly (zombies, mainly), and still more will charge you aggressively while some flee and fight from afar. It all depends on what you're fighting. So different monster types do generally behave differently.

2. Q. will there be bosses at the end of each acts like in diablo?
A. Well, I'm not sure if the acts are going to be obvious. That is, while we currently have acts in the game, they may be transparent to the player when Hellgate ships. Right now each act has an end boss (and more besides), but we may not associate those bosses with the acts themselves when the final rolls around. Does that make sense? So like Shulgoth may not equal Act 1, section 2 boss. He may just be Shulgoth, that son of a bitch you meet in that one place.

3. Monsters do not respawn while you are adventuring through an instance. Whether they will or not when you return to an area has yet to be determined, though I imagine they will, since the world is supposedly overrun by hell beasts.

March 15, 2006
We have a scaling system in Hellgate that provides us with very short monsters and very tall monsters. Some are no bigger than children, others are twice as tall as men and three times as wide. But I do believe we'll be going much bigger than that. There is even a monster in the design docs with accompanied art that is absolutely enormous. Think the size of one of the Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus. I really hope he/it makes it into the final game.

April 06, 2006
Q.how many monster-types will make it into the final game?
A.Types? At least 30. Minimum.

April 28, 2006
It's not that we make our enemies smarter at harder difficulty settings, it's that we make them more challenging; they can do more, they can inflict more damage, and they can take more damage.

AI in its current state is pretty minimal. We have some cool things planned with monster behavior, but I would not expect our foes to behave nearly as intelligent as enemies in AAA shooters like FEAR.

May 24, 2006
The monsters will be randomized right alongside the instances. But, certain areas are designed to house certain types of monsters (so you'll never see Shulgoth in Covent Garden Market, for instance). This is so that we can more evenly reveal new monsters and present the player with more challenging enemies as the player advances through the game.

August 11, 2006
1. We even have a Blood Zombie. You can blow its arms, head and upper body apart. And then, even as it's squirting blood everywhere, it will still try and kick you to death.

What we do not have is a system whereby a player can selectively cut a monster and the realistically watch it bleed to death. We do, however, have sustained damage effects. So, a monster that is on fire or poisoned or being electrocuted will eventually die even if you don't continually shoot it with new pain inflicting goodness.

2. We might include randomized names for our randomized equivalent of champions (those are basically tougher versions of scrubs with special powers), but the actual legions of the damned will be generically categorized, I'm sure.

3. All of our unique monsters thus far are major and have names of their own.

4. Some monsters teleport and others are pretty quick. But, we do have speed boosts that make escape in open environments pretty easy. Some of our more claustrophobic areas are difficult to flee, however.

Weapons and Items

Feb 15, 2006
you can wield a melee weapon in conjunction with a ranged weapon at the same time. Some even play off one another.

Feb17, 2006
I don't think there will be any other pieces of household weaponry beyond the cricket bat. I'd personally love to see Templar enhanced chainsaws and circular saws and hedge trimmers and leaf blowers and golf clubs and mannequin arms, but that's just me.

Feb27, 2006
1. Q.Does every character have to wear "Can-like" gear?
A.The "cans" you speak of are tied to specific types of armor for a specific class of character, the Templar. Templars are our Knight characters. Other types of armor on a Templar will still look different, though. Additionally, other types of armor on different classes will also look considerably different. So an armor type looks the way it does based on what class is using it and what gender the member of that class is.

2. Right now there are only skills and medical packs dedicated to healing. That could change in the near future, however.

3. Loot leaps out of a dead monster's corpse much like in Diablo. You can pick up Loot with the cursor, or just walk near it and hit an assignable 'item grab' key and snatch up everything in your immediate area.

4. Q.Can everyone grab all items that get dropped in a Multiplayer game, or only the one who killed the monster?
A.We don't know how this is going to work yet.

5. There are item sets and colors will be assigned to specific sets, but will still be randomized within preset guidelines. Colors and sets are not exclusive to rare items, however.

6. Q.Is there gonna be something like "magic find" in Hg:L like we had it in Diablo2 LoD or is the drop rate just gonna be random?
A.Drops will be entirely randomized within reason. Meaning you'll get certain drops from within a greater pool from certain enemies within a pool of their own.

7. We have mods, which are basically the equivalent of Gems and Runes. You can [insert] different categories of mods into different categories of item. Mod categories can further be broken down into mod types and specific mods within a type.

8. Q.Will there be polearms in HG:L?
A.I'm no weapons expert, but I understand a pole arm to be any weapon that is long and lets you strike your opponent before they strike you. I believe everything from a spear to a pike could be classified as a pole arm. But if you're specifically asking about the really long shaft with an elaborate axe on the end and a big pointy tip, then no, we do not have that. But we do have a variety of shock, lighting, fire, poison, spectral and plasma weapons of various shapes and sizes. They're almost as nice.

Feb 28, 2006
1. I don't believe we have soul bound items at all then. It's my understanding that our system of item management will be much more similar to Diablo than WoW.

2. There is not one best weapon or feature set people are looking for in Hellgate. Our items have randomized properties and appear as part of randomized areas, which would make it impossible to continually quest for that one sword that everyone wants even if that one sword actually did exist.

3.

That's an automated defense turret the Templars setup to help protect critical chokepoints to their underground havens and forward outposts from marauding demons.

March 3, 2006
1. Q.will the best items in the game be random or predetermined items?
A.The very nature of randomization implies that they could be random. So I get STAR SWORD OF GOD WRATH FIRE KILLER DEMON BANE from some dude. It's a good weapon. Entirely by chance I may also find one that's a randomized version with a plus 1 spectral damage. Who knows.

Q.there are different damage types (fire,ice....), are they added to a physical damage which always exists (like in diablo 2) or will the weapon only deal magical damage like fire, ice..?
if only magical damage: wouldnt that be a problem for example if u encounter an enemy which is resistent to some kind of damage, which unluckily ur weapon deals?
A.They are added to physical damage. It's a compounding effect. So a weapon may do 10 - 15 base damage and then receive additional bonuses for augmentations related to different damage types like fire or shock or spectral. But it'll still do 10 - 15 base damage.

Q.Will there be a BFG hidden in a secret room?
A.No. We don't have those old school DOOM-styled panel secrets. We do have ridiculously powerful weapons, however. I killed 20 zombies yesterday with one swipe of my Superior Firebrand. Punk-ass zombies exploded into fountains of blood.

2. There are a preset number of inventory blocks for holding items. I believe certain bonuses will add space for your character and I also believe that there will be designated storage areas for stuff you want but don’t really want to haul around. Right now there are 50 slots that hold things in the inventory screen. Some, like those around your body, only hold a specific type of weapon of course (helmets go on your head). Right now each item in the game also only takes up one slot. And we do not use a weight system, BTW.

March 8, 2006
1. It's not possible to acquire demonic abilities from a demon in real-time (like Rogue from X-Men), but we do have special demonic weapons, skills and items.

2. There are TONS of weapons and items and armor. You can buy a lot from vendors, but most of it will have to be discovered. There are also a huge amount of class specific weapons and items and armor, but I think the vendors will buy pretty much anything.

3. We do have "Holy Relics" in the game that act as one type of weapon augmentation. They include recognizable items from religious history (multiple religious histories, actually). That being said, our demons are not vampires. So garlic and sunlight and holy water doesn't do a whole lot. But part of some ancient religious artifact strapped to a rocket launcher might help.

4. The starter weapons changes constantly and varies depending on class. For a long time it was the cricket bat, then it became something else, which became something else, which turned into something else depending on what class was chosen. It could wind up being the cricket bat again.

5 Melee is very well supported and backed by a variety of character boosting skills designed specifically to give melee oriented characters huge bonuses. It is in no way taking a backseat to ranged combat, though ranged combat is just as well developed. I'd hardly say it's pitiful. I use melee all the time, just because I like the idea of hitting things with swords. What you choose is of no consequence to me. I'll still happily hit things with swords.

6. We actually don't have any traditional axes in the game right now.

7. Most of our melee weapons are mystical, arcane or futuristic, so they don't really fall into a D&D category like short sword, great sword, bastard sword, axe, spear, bludgeon, dagger, etcetera. But I suppose they're all pretty sword-like in that they're primarily used for slashing and cutting bloody swathes through demon ranks.

8. You can dual wield all one-handed weapons, period. That means you can dual wield any combination of swords and guns, so long as they are one-handed. We do still have two-handed weapons, though. But it seems like that list is getting shorter and shorter.

9. There are Ammo, Rocket, Battery, Fuel and Relic modifications. Each category of add-on also has many different types such as Superior, Unlikely and Inferior. And within each type there are a variety of different specific adds (superior +5 fire, or whatever the nuts). Right now we have a Holy Grilled Cheese Sandwich you can stick into your gun for a powerup. I kid you not.

10. Q. Can you take something like Adrenalin-Drugs to gain more Power for a short time?
A. Yes. We have all sorts of power-ups. We even have power-up kiosks scattered throughout the game world.

March 11, 2006
1. None of our items sustain damage in the field right now, but items you find that are broken can be repaired at our Techsmith.

2. We do have multiple colors in the game. How they're going to be implemented has not yet been determined, however. For instance, maybe a dye kit could be found as part of some loot, or maybe it could be purchased, or maybe you could accumulate a whole range of dye kits stored in a palette. Maybe each specific type of armor would have a specific color that could apply to your suit... We're still debating which implementation will be best. In any event, there will be different color schemes and we do also have plans to support some form of Guild logo. In what way, we are not yet decided.

3.
I. So there are these different Mods, right? There's Battery, Fuel, Ammo, Rocket and Relic. Some weapons may be able to accommodate different combinations of these Mods. So maybe one type of weapon can realistically hold Ammo, Rocket and Relic Mods, but another could hold Fuel, Ammo and Battery Mods. You use the available slots in the weapon window to determine what Mods the weapon can hold and how many of that Mod. So maybe one weapon can just hold Rocket Mods, but it can hold four of 'em to make a really powerful, but very specific type of weapon. That could happen. Of course, how many Mods a weapon can hold and of what type is one of the things we randomize when we randomize all the weapons.

II. It's good to think of our Mods as different categories of expansions. Right now they're named a little strangely (and sometimes don't make much sense), but the basic categories are Battery, Fuel, Relic, Ammo and Rocket. Each category of Mod can contain a wide variety of individual Mods of varying effectiveness and type. So within Relic there may be some kind of Superior +4 Spectral Damage Mod, but there may also be an Inferior +1 Fire Mod. The same goes for all the different Mod categories. Right now, I don't have the full list of different individual Mods and how they can be changed, but hopefully that example will give you some idea of how it all works.

III. Though, certain slot types are always included or excluded from certain weapons. Like, a grappler can never have a Fuel mod. But that's just an example.

IV. The amount of slots on a weapon is randomized, but I don't believe the size of a weapon has anything to do with how many slots are technically possible.

V. I believe all Mods take up just one slot. The bonuses and sets isn't something we have in right now, but I believe they are planning it.

VI. It'll be very important to Mod your weapons. Mods are readily available, too. So it won't be hard to do. It's not like a special thing you get later on in the game. You can do it right off the bat.

March 13, 2006
1. All mods obviously do not apply to all weapons, but you'd be surprised how many a melee weapon can hold. Fuel for instance, could also grant a melee weapon toxic spray damage and Rocket could grant a melee weapon an extra explosive effect. Keep in mind I said the titles for these mods were still placeholder and could be a bit misleading, so that's why it may seem most would only apply to projectile weapons. Mods also primarily focus on the type of damage given and the amount of that damage. Primarily, anyway.

I don't, however, believe there are any special melee mods.

2. No rings or amulets yet. No sunglasses. We're thinking about putting in cloaks and shields.