Chex Quest HD has been announced for Steam and even a limited boxed run. However, the most notable thing to me is that there's multiplayer, and to help distinguish players I guess, there are now six player characters. At long last, the other members of Chex Squadron are revealed, and must I say...
Really loved the Chex Quest Trilogy so I made fanart that was meant to be done 3 days after playing through it for the first time, but once again procrastination and lack of motivation got in the way.
How did you come up with the personalities of each of the characters in their bot files?
This is a pretty interesting question.
Like most nerds, I’m enthralled with the idea of crossover interaction, characters from one series just hanging with the other. I really nerded the fuck out writing up personalities for all the chars to give ‘em chatfiles, and it’s really fun to imagine them all interacting together.
Keep in mind this is all my own personal interpretation, and hardly The One True Personality for them all.
Doomguy:Personality: The stoic leader. Doomguy has gone through far more than any of the other Heroes in his 20-year war on Hell, and has gained their unanimous respect by sheer experience alone. A man of few words, a simple glance can settle a dispute and in the rare moments he speaks in his dry manner everybody sits down and listens. He is an unshakeable man with hardened nerves and keen aim, and can surmount the impossible with two loads of buckshot and sheer determination alone. Nothing can intimidate him, nothing can unnerve him, and nothing can defeat him.Origin: Doomguy is an interesting character to write for, mostly because everyone has run the gamut of possible personalities for him. Most people would point at the Doom comic and Brutal Doom and characterize him as a near-insane psychopath who thirsts for blood, but people like that (hopefully!) wouldn’t even pass a military psyche test in the first place, not to mention it would be an unbelievably boring character to write. Most people would point at the Doom novels and characterize him as a scared man out of his element who’s gotta do what he’s gotta do, but not only did the novels suck ass but they also have absolutely no grounds in canon. The little text blurbs at the end of the episodes, however, give a decent bit of insight as to his thought process, along with the fact that he grins wickedly on picking up a weapon, and the bot personality he has in Quake III. So I settled with a combination of the three. He’s a taciturn man who isn’t fazed by much, with a love of what he does and the drive to finish it, and can basically take care of any situation thrown at him.
Chex Warrior:Personality: Fred is the optimist of the group, always cheerful and friendly, looking for the silver lining in every situation. To him, there’s not a single scenario that can’t be given a good ending by smart thinking and hard work, and being polite never has any downsides. He backs this idealism up with a steadfast refusal to compromise the safety of others, and a terrifying ability to crush any threat without skipping a beat—he may be a nice guy, but by no means is a man to cross.Origin: This is a bit of a no-brainer. Fred’s a friendly guy in cutscenes, in the manual, and he’s basically a Saturday Morning Cartoon protagonist. Done deal.
Corvus:Personality: Corvus is a warrior with two defining traits—his nobility, and his bloodlust. Corvus adheres to an archaic code of chivalry that dictates respect to his superiors, defense of the innocent, and that honor is the highest reward for any task. To his enemies, though, he is not unlike a beast; he charges into battle with a mad fervor, tearing them apart while screaming with mad laughter. He is equal parts virtuous and vicious, a knight in shining blood-stained gore-caked armor.Origin: While Corvus in Heretic II had a personality, it was mostly boring and extremely whiny. Still, one of his lines I think stands out the most—“It is not my destiny to be a hero”. In Heretic I, he’s quite satisfied to see the Maulotaurs wriggle in death at his feet, dude laughs on picking up a weapon, and the very last line in the game says that it’s not in Corvus’ nature to go without a fight. Together, this means that Corvus doesn’t think of himself as a hero, just doing what needs to be done. And in his case, what he thinks needs to be done is a lot of killing in order to make things safe, which is certainly hero material, but…Ah well. Combine the psycho Heretic I Corvus with the eloquent and noble Heretic II Corvus, and viola. Personality.
B.J. Blazkowicz:Personality: Technically Doomguy’s superior, B.J. Blazkowicz is happy to let Doomguy lead the pack anyway. B.J. is a simple man with a simple philosophy—there is good, and there is evil, and it’d be really nice if evil was shot. He approaches this philosophy with a dry sense of humor, assessing situations clearly and quickly and adding a smartass remark at the end of it. A steadfast soldier through and through, he refuses to let a matter go once he’s latched on to it and will go through hell and back to see it done.Origin: Judging by the text blurbs at the end of each cutscene, B.J. is a man who considers his duty above all else—after escaping the Nazi prison, the first thing he does is report back to his superiors and then go right back in to the hellzone of the Nazi prisons. And the very first thing after killing Hitler is a disgusted one-liner.Pretty cut-and-dry, really.
Parias:Personality: Parias prays for peace, but prepares for war. Being a high cleric, he is more interested in intellectual and religious matters than the others, and can often be found studying or praying when not in training. He constantly seeks to better himself in every way, be it mentally, physically, or spiritually, and always keeps a keen eye on his current limits. He is generally straightforward and no-nonsense, focusing on the task at hand and getting it done quickly without muss or fuss, and it shows in his sheer power.Origin: I basically invented it whole cloth, since there’s absolutely nothing of any indication as to what Parias could be aside from “cleric”. So let’s ponder another question—what is he a cleric OF? What god(s) does the church server?Well, let’s look at his weapons from the original Hexen. One, his Flechette gives him the ability to turn chemicals into an acidic, deadly toxic gas, powerful enough to kill people with just a bit of exposure. Two, his Serpent Staff is, obviously enough, a weapon that deeply poisons people and saps their life away—and if it’s close enough, it actually physically latches onto them and drains the life out like a vampire. Three, his ultimate weapon, the final representation of his power, literally raises the angry dead and damned and feasts their hungry souls on the realms of the living to tear their body apart. What this means is that Parias has an affinity for decay and death; life failing and getting sapped away. And in one cutscene, he swears by the gods of death.Hmmmm.
Duke Nukem:Personality: In a word, Duke’s an egotist. In a few more, he’s arrogant, self-aggrandizing, womanizing, and immature. Duke is rarely able to stay quiet and even less able to talk about how badass he is. Underneath that, though, is a great fighter who always wants to fight for what’s right and looks out for the little guy, and will charge into the fray to defend either—even if nobody else thinks it’s a good idea. The other Heroes don’t socialize well with him…at all…but they all know when push comes to shove, he’s got their back.Origin: Come on, everyone knows Duke’s personality at this point. He’s fucking Duke Nukem. The thing about this, though, is that Duke Nukem Forever basically missed the entire point of Duke. The core of Duke Nukem’s character isn’t that he’s super-invincible and absolutely perfect at everything, the core of Duke’s character is that he’s a TV-watchin’ beer-chuggin’ burger-munchin’ joe who gets by with badassery alone. In a world full of aliens, military super-soldiers, and more, Duke only has his tenacity and his willpower to keep him going—and that’s really all he needs. Even in Duke Nukem Forever, when you pick up the minigames for an ego boost, there’s no way you’re going to get them right the first time, but you’re sure as hell going to try again because there’s no fucking way Duke gives up—so to pretend he’s an awe-inspiring Mary Sue is an exercise in futility.
Security Officer:Personality: The Security Officer is dour and world-weary, and lives by the creed of how even the brightest of situations can easily turn sour with just a minor slip-up. Whenever he’s not fighting, he’s usually off napping if only to stave off the worry about how things can go wrong. Still, he’s not apathetic to everything; he originally picked up the job of a security officer for a reason. Perhaps it’s best this stuff happens to someone who can handle it.Origin: Like Doomguy, the Security Officer has a whole lot of different possibilities to interpret how he views things, and each with a whole argument behind how valid they are of aren’t. The two major proponents behind my interpretation, however, is the pragmatic sleepyhead of the Marathon 1 manual (which many have argued isn’t even canon) and the Dream Terminals in Marathon Infinity (which many have argued isn’t even the Security Officer). Yet, funnily enough, my interpretation could probably be completely debunked by someone else with a far more valid viewpoint and even more evidence—the plot of Marathon is crazy that way.
Ranger:Personality: Ranger is a cross of nihilistic survivalist and Lovecraftian cynicism, and is perhaps the oddball out of all the Heroes. While the other Heroes generally are concerned with doing good and saving the world, Ranger focuses more on ensuring humanity’s survival…no matter the cost. He tends to think on as broad a scale as his mind can manage, and often misses the here and now in favor of the long run. Frequently alternates between depression at humanity’s insignificance on the cosmic scale and determination to kill all the bastards that stand in his way.Origin: Lovecraftian heroes tend to be incredibly cynical and downbeat. Ranger’s lines in Quake III reflect this, but trade the eloquent tone for a gruff and gritty military badass tone. It’s just a simple combination of the two.
Prisoner 849:Personality: Intergalactic prison life is tough, and you’ve gotta be tougher to hang aboard the Vortex Riker—but tenacity is a powerful thing, and Prisoner 849 has it in spades. Though Gina might seem like a rough punk on the outside, with a deep disregard for authority, a penchant for sarcasm, and an obvious criminal background, on the inside is a great heroine that cannot be stopped even in the face of death. While she might not be a pristine white knight, as long as she has a finger on the trigger she’s a dependable ally fighting the good fight.Origin: Practically all of Unreal’s female characters have the same personality—tough, determined, and with a host of snarky one-liners. Most of them making a repeated appearance in everyone’s verbal arsenal. While a few of them may have an extra character quirk of being sexy (see: Selket and Sapphire), for the most part they’re all staple action girls.Gina, however, has the advantage of the Return to Na Pali logs, and from those we can glean a few bits of her personality—she feels a kinship to the Nali (makes sense, as she’s a prisoner), she’s in way over her head and knows it (she talks several times about being scared, intimidated, and wanting to give up because things are hopeless), she has a clear problem with authority (openly refers to the marines as bastards and isn’t surprised when they betray her), she feels empathy for the critters and people around her (she feels remorse for the 150 “souls” that died in the Prometheus crash). The biggest defining trait behind all of her logs, however, is that she presses on. No matter what, no matter how weary she is, how tired she is, how injured, depressed, or angry she is, she keeps on hiking.
