History VideoGame / Nox

The player assumes the control of Jack Mower, [[SummonEverymanHero a normal schmoe]], who is sent to the [[AnotherDimension magical world]] of Nox and must train as a Warrior, a Conjurer or a Wizard and [[DismantledMacGuffin collect four items]] to defeat [[EvilSorcerer Hecubah]], the ruler of TheUndead, in order to find a way back to his home world. Though the storylines of the three classes are overall similar, their respective campaigns some rather significant differences regards to their plots, giving the game quite a bit of replay value.

In addition, it is worth mentioning the good people behind the "[[https://www.patreon.com/opennox OpenNox]]" open source project, who are working on preserving the game through a extensive refurbishing of its engine to be more compatible with modern systems and more easy to create third party mods for. Along the [=OpenNox=] team's long-term goals are HD graphics and new features, such as new classes, created from scratch. [=OpenNox=] is available for free, but requires a legal copy of the original game to work.

%%* AffectionateParody: Of the ''Ultima'' series and SummonEverymanHero stories in general.

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: That airship captain you keep running into is Jandor, looking to stop Hecubah' reign of terror after he saved her as a child.]]
%%* BigBad: Hecubah.
* BlackAndGreyMorality: Hecubah and her necromancers are totally evil and want to kill or enslave ([[NightOfTheLivingMooks or kill AND enslave]]) everyone else in the world, but it's not like the rest of the world is much better. Without necromancers to hate the warriors and wizards turned on each other. Horrendous and his warriors decided that MagicIsEvil and arrest wizards on sight; as a wizard you discover these people are taken to a secret underground prison and tortured to death. Horvath and his wizards decided non-magic-users were sub-human, and as a warrior their shops won't serve you and you get arrested on trumped up charges as soon as you enter their city. If Jack is either a warrior or a wizard he'll be forced to slaughter the other side too, because they would rather let the world ''end'' than work with you. Aldwyn and his conjurers at least aren't hateful, but they are complacent and passive and would prefer to watch the other two sides tear each other apart than get involved. The only completely good person here is the airship captain [[spoiler:aka Jandor]], and also maybe Jack.

%%* ChestMonster: The Mimics.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Wizards get what is generally agreed on as being the best ending in the game. They're also the hardest class to play; sure they have utility but they also have pathetic health and the worst armor. Even Hecubah gets off pretty easy in this ending.]]
%%* EnergyBall: The Force of Nature spell.
%%* EvilSorceress: Hecubah again.

%%* KleptomaniacHero: Lampshaded once, played straight the rest of the game.

%%* ManaPotion

* WaveMotionGun: The fully empowered Staff Of Oblivion. It does about 300 damage per second and [[AlwaysAccurateAttack always hits as long as you are facing in towards the target(s)]]. Right after you get it Hecubah shows up with a veritable army of {{Mooks}} which you can still wipe out singlehandedly. The only downside to the staff is it can run out of mana, and the area helpfully has a bunch of mana crystals. Against Hecubah in the FinalBoss fight, it's not quite the "I win" weapon it is against mooks, but is still the best thing to use on her (unloading it on her when it's fully charged does around 250 damage.

* AnAxeToGrind: Axes are one of the weapons available for warriors. There are also the Ogre Axes used by Ogresses, which do more damage, but are very flimsy.

* BreakableWeapons: Both armor and weapons wear down on use and have to be fixed by a smith or replaced. The only exception to this is the Halberd of Horrendous, the first component of the [[CosmicKeystone Staff of Oblivion]] (and of course the Staff of Oblivion itself). Also, while playing as a Wizard, one may have a little fun by casting AOE spells at friendly [=NPCs=] to break their armor and strip them naked.

* CoolDown: All special abilities, be it spells or Warrior's skills, had a short cooldown period, though the spells were additionally limited by the caster's mana supply.

* HeartOfTheMatter: The Heart of Nox is a part of the [[DismantledMacGuffin Staff of Chaos]] that is a source of effectively infinite magical energy. It is kept at the top, most forbidden floor of Castle Galava's MageTower, whose wizards siphon off the Heart's energy to power their experiments.

* OurOgresAreHungrier: We have Ogre women who wield [[AnAxeToGrind giant axes]] and Ogre chieftains who throw shurikens. As for the hungrier part, dying in their levels gives you a death screen of Jack getting roasted over a firepit.

''Nox'' is a 2000 ActionRPG by Creator/WestwoodStudios.

The player assumes the control of Jack Mower, [[SummonEverymanHero a normal schmoe]], who is sent to the [[AnotherDimension magical world]] of Nox and must train as a Warrior, a Conjurer or a Wizard and [[DismantledMacGuffin collect four items]] to defeat [[EvilSorcerer Hecubah]], the ruler of TheUndead, in order to find a way back to his home world.

* TrappedInAnotherWorld: Jack is, and he only (surely) returns home [[spoiler:in the warrior ending.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Wizards get what is generally agreed on as being the best ending in the game. They're also the hardest class to play; sure they have utility but they also have pathetic health and the worst armor.Even Hecubah gets of pretty easy in this ending.]]

* ActionBomb: The Conjurer can summon Bombers that can be loaded with up to three different offensive spells.

* BreakableWeapons: Both armor and weapons wear down on use and have to be fixed by a smith or replaced. The only exception to this is the Halberd of Horrendous, the first component of the [[CosmicKeystone Staff of Oblivion]] (and of course the Staff of Oblivion itself.) Also, while playing as a Wizard, one may have a little fun by casting AOE spells at friendly [=NPCs=] to break their armor and strip them naked.

* EleventhHourSuperpower: The Staff of Oblivion. An unusual example in that, while it handily vacuums up any regular enemies or even minibosses that come at you, if you rely solely on it during the final boss fight you ''will'' still get curbstomped. To beat the final boss you actually need to use a combination of the Staff and your built-up spells[=/=]skill powers.

* FuumaShuriken: These are used by warriors and, oddly enough, Ogre Lords.

* MarathonLevel: Everything from the Dismal Swamp onward is a tremendously lengthy slog with few merchants in-between (especially the Dismal Swamp itself, which just goes on and on and on even long after you've left the swamp itself.)

* MySuitIsAlsoSuper: Subverted, as your armor and weapons can get damaged and destroyed.

* VendorTrash: Enemies love to drop weak equipment that you can fill your inventory with and sell for a tidy sum later (though inventory space limits keep you from hauling ''too'' much.)

* FollowTheLeader: Westwood's response to ''Videogame/{{Diablo}}''. ''Nox'' was released a few months before ''Diablo II''.

* SaveTheVillain: [[spoiler:Averted on the Warrior and Conjurer routes, which both ends with Jack killing Hecubah. On the Wizard route, however, he is able to spare her life by instead his magic to expel the evil from her soul, turning her into an innocent and amnesiac version of herself.]]

* WakeUpCallBoss: The Necromancer is this for any class. He has 200 hp (a lot more than anything you've fought prior), can turn invisible (although the warrior has an ability by this point that lets him see invisible creatures.) and casts some powerful spells, including some fireballs which will [[Roboteching kind of home in on you, but can by dodged by ducking behind something.]] You later face more necromancers as [[DegradedBoss Degraded Bosses]], including 3 at once in the Dismal Swamp, and even at the max level of 10, they still are far from pushovers.