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Hell Hound - What were they thinking?


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Hello, I've just recently gotten into playing with mounted combat. I love my dragon mages' draconicons.

 

I like how my current Shadow Warrior's hellhound plays, (faster movement, more maneuverability, defense and hp bonus), but the biological design of the animal is bugging me.

 

For starters, this beast is clearly not a canine. Its body structure most closely resembles that of an ape - high forehead, in-line jaw with no snout, massive upper body, less massive lower body, hip design is one evolutionary step away from walking erect. So, should I think King Kong?

 

Then, what kind of mammal moves like that? It hops with both hind legs and then lands on its forelimbs. The only mammal I can think of with that kind of motion is the rabbit - hardly a cool mount for a warrior!

 

Even worse, the only animal in the entire animal kingdom I can think of which moves exactly like the hellhound is the frog! A giant, furry frog? Again, not cool.

 

The ends of the forelimbs appear to be in armor, but are those paws or simian hands in there? They're awfully small for a creature that leaps into the air and then lands with its entire body weight slamming into those forelimbs. And what is it with those feet? Again, they look more froggish than mammalian.

 

And furthermore, the beast looks too top-heavy. Its preferred method of locomotion is to hop and jump. Any creature which behaves that way ought to have hindquarters which are more muscular in relation to the upper body, not less.

 

Has anyone who uses hellhounds imagined some way to think of it as a cool companion? It can't be a canine as the name implies - no snout, no long tail, and it doesn't move or behave right.

 

So could it be some kind of bear? Or is ape the best way to think of it? I considered werewolf, but there's that missing snout again.

 

Really, I kind of wish the Shadow Warrior had a cooler and more appropriate mount!

Edited by belgarathmth
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Some more thoughts after some more playing...

 

I'm finallly starting to get attached to the big guy a little more.

 

I wonder if the art designers for the hellhound were thinking of brachycephalitic (flat-faced) dogs like the bulldog and bull mastiff. That would also make a connection to the much-loved Mabari from Dragon Age.

 

Maybe they were thinking of making the hellhound like a giant, rideable Mabari. Or maybe something like a Wookie, or the Hoth ice monster. Those images help me get into him a little more, but I still think I would have preferred a more traditionally canine appearance, such as a scaled-up wolf like the kobolds and goblins ride.

 

He also looks and moves a bit like a small Rancor monster, but, ewwww.

 

I'm still interested in other people's thoughts about this.

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When Ascaron was still alive in time before 'Ice and Blood' Anca Adelina Finta did a first of april joke, claiming that the new special mount would be a terrible beast which turned a whole fertile continent into a desert (the descriptoipn sounded like australia) and it builds nests in caves and bringing the bones of prey into the cave, cursing them for all time. It had razor sharp teeth and it hind legs could do boxiung while the front feet had 'horse shoes' with deadly claws. Even a picture was added (sadly it seems Anca's account vanished, so no longer the pictures at the german forum). It was called der schreckliche Hoppler: the terrible hopper and it looked like a very big killer rabbit. The thread was named Addon: Special Mount preview and was on official Ascaron announce forum group: http://forum.sacred2.de/showthread.php?t=63205

 

Back to the hellhound

Many mammals land on their front legs first and then both rear legs. But normaly the front legs are inline , one just a bit in front of the other:

gepard_1.jpg

 

tierspuren-1.gif

 

The traces above are slowest movement left and fastest right, as you can see a squirrel,otter or weasel would have a similiar movement. For the real life animal closest to this movement and look: In my forest I would vote for the lynx at full speed.

 

In the fantasy TV series Primeval a future predator appears which is a not flying evolution of the vampire bat. The series aired just 1 year before the appearance of Sacred2. Walking/running bats have a similiar movement as the hellhound.

 

FuturePredator29.PNG

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCqC7lAiGPQ

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When I was looking at the first screenshots of Sacred 2 many months before its release, and I noticed the one of Hellhound, my first thought was: 'What? Do they really suggest us to ride a Poisonous Troll?!' Because back then I tried to compare Sacred 2 with S1 in design (I really thought that Ancaria would look more or less the same in the sequel) and this beast seemed very close to the one on the picture. I still think that they look somewhat alike.

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The Hellhound is a very peculiar beast and in all honesty is such a stupid idea for a mount that I don't bother with it. Let's face it, despite the Shadow Warrior fighting from its back in the intro movie, how could anyone manage to hit their target enemy on a beast that can't even move unless it is in ruddy great lurches? It's like trying to fight while attempting to stay mounted on a bucking bronco and would be more at home in a rodeo than on a battlefield.

 

Of all the special mounts in the game, it is the most ridiculous, unrealistic and just plain awful. Even the mount for the Dragon Mage (which looks like something thrown together in a hurry and without any real consideration), looks and acts better than the Hellhound.

 

Rant over, I'm off now to develope my anti-Sabretooth Tiger weapon. Now where did I put that ball of wool? Here kitty, kitty.....

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heh, great analysis of the hell hound guys. Yeah he's a strange beast. Ugly as all hell, and... I never "got" his physics. I remember laughing a lot at the mount when the first pix were released, as I didn't understand how it was possibly moving around, while also wondering what kind of spell the Shadow Warrior was using to stay upon top of him as this huge bullfrog leaped around Ancaria.

 

It's scary looking, ugly, kind of like the stuff from Hell Raiser, but I hardly think it's fearsome. In fact, the way this animal moved kind of added to a lot of the "hokey" I felt about the Shadow Warrior coming from the physical model Ascaron continues to use for males as well as well as the most unorthodox armor for warriors I've ever seen.

 

rant over

 

:P

 

gogo

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Thanks, guys, your answers are better than I could have hoped for.

 

@Chattius, I especially appreciate the scientific charts and the videos.

 

I really want to figure out some way to filter the mount through my imagination into something cool, because I love to play shadow warriors, and I am starting to love mounted combat.

 

I do still wish they had gone with a traditional looking canine, though. A direwolf or werewolf body template for something we're calling a "hellhound" would have been awesome!

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A direwolf or werewolf body template for something we're calling a "hellhound" would have been awesome!

 

You had me thinking here... it would have been really awesome if one of the class's mounts has been comprised of an actual morph into something else entirely... a "mount" therefore arriving from an extension or augmentation of their very own body!

 

:bounce:

 

gogo

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Gogo, was that not the case with the Dragon-Mage?

 

But something like a centaur playable-character that can morph to full-human, full-horse or hybrid, yes. Oh, heck yes.

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Personally I like the Hellhound. It's kooky to watch, somewhat original, and you sit on the things HEAD! That in itself is cool.

 

If you were to apply real-life physics and logistics to it all, it would be rather ineffective and the like. As for trying to attack from on top of it though, it would certainly be a bit cumbersome. However, enemies too would be taken aback by its unpredictability as well. It seems as though it would be able to change direction very quickly with those massive, powerful forearms it has....

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I always thought of this'n like you were riding on the shoulders of a gorilla :cool:

 

Yes, it does look kind of like that. That's why I compared it to King Kong in my OP.

 

An ape doesn't leap up and down like that, though. Someone above compared it to a rodeo's bucking bronco riding. After reading that, I noticed that the shadow warrior moves his right arm and hand in circles above his head for balance while riding, exactly like a rodeo cowboy - not so cool, not for a swords and sorcery game.

 

I am still using my hellhound, though, because now that I'm used to riding, going on foot seems so darn slow, even with high run speed bonus, and also my Frenzied Rampages are more effective and more concentrated while on the hound. The extra hitpoints and defense aren't bad, either.

 

With the camera zoomed out, part of where my knee sticks out past the hellhound's head kind of makes it look like it has a snout, so I'm just squinting my eyes a little and using my imagination and pretending it looks more like a werewolf.

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*Gasp*

 

It is an abomination from hell!

 

You're right. Check out the movie; definitely like he is riding a bull or real broad backed horse.

Usta mess around with stabling for a lil bit, so from my experience it couldn't be any more accurate.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I use a ranged staff (I cant remember its name cos its been awhile since I played)and cast Scything Sweep, Frenzied Rampage , buff with Reflective Emanation and Nether Allegiance and Im set. I dont get a scratch so I can afford to wear some lighter more appropriate armour.

 

Does Ruinous Onslaught cause the Hellhound to charge? And Belligerent Vault to leap?

 

Ive not tried them yet..prolly cos my hound died. sad day. :sigh:

post-1608-0-42249800-1304031222_thumb.jpg

post-1608-0-31915400-1304031393_thumb.jpg

post-1608-0-23592400-1304031429_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Regarding the design of the Hellhound, after I read the post I remembered what Hellhound reminded me of, and I believe that is the closest match, I don't think it was modeled according to any animals but rather another spawn of hells, but from a different game...

 

Remember Doom 3? And the demons?

 

Here r a few pics :D

 

16.jpg

pinky_demon.jpg

doom3pinky.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Regarding the design of the Hellhound, after I read the post I remembered what Hellhound reminded me of, and I believe that is the closest match, I don't think it was modeled according to any animals but rather another spawn of hells, but from a different game...

 

Remember Doom 3? And the demons?

 

Here r a few pics :D

 

16.jpg

pinky_demon.jpg

doom3pinky.jpg

 

Ahhh, that's it! It really looks like where the hell hound got inspiration from.

 

Nice catch

 

:)

 

gogo

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