miffy495

The great Valve re-play

Recommended Posts

You just sold me on some fucking HL2 brah! Yeahh gonna load that shit up!

AFTER I'm done with the fantastic Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Man, it's much longer than I remember. And occasionally boring. I'm not a big FPS fan so the sections where loads of soldiers are coming at you are tiring. But it still plays great and I love it. But this thing where they always have you in control, plus the fact that I already know the story: it means I'm messing around a lot when the NPCs are speaking which kind of breaks the immersion.

Yeah, I've found I've been messing with NPCs far more this time as well. To the extent of stealing a person's TV when I'm running through the apartments, then feeling bad about it, taking a TV from an empty room, and going back to give it to them. When they didn't notice or show any gratitude, I threw their brand new TV at their head, and then out a window. Still, it's a whole new way that I'm enjoying the game!

As for the weapons, I found Opposing Force to have the craziest of the bunch. By the end of the game I was leaning so heavily on that lightning-bug-thing that I couldn't imagine how I'd gotten through HL1 without it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just completed Half-Life 2. Took me 16 hours. I'm thinking of going to Episode 1 or 2 next... but I can't remember if I thought ep. 1 was good or not, because I can't remember which parts where in what episode. So, what was in Ep 1? I remember a trudge through citadel buildings(?) with Alyx and coming out of a cave and seeing a bridge collapse... and...?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Episode 1 ends at the train yard stand-off. It's mostly just a trudge through City 17, with some neat bits in a headcrab infested parking garage. It's not the best, but I felt it was pretty fun and a really good setup for episode 2, which was completely stellar. It's like a 3 hour investment though, so I can't really think of a compelling reason not to go for it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Episode 1 ends at the train yard stand-off. It's mostly just a trudge through City 17, with some neat bits in a headcrab infested parking garage. It's not the best, but I felt it was pretty fun and a really good setup for episode 2, which was completely stellar. It's like a 3 hour investment though, so I can't really think of a compelling reason not to go for it.

Played it. I didn't remember half the stuff that was in Episode 1. According to Steam I played 103 minutes, but the game crashed in credits so maybe that's why it's lying. I probably played for more than 5 hours.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Played Episode 2 today. Still my favourite Half-Life. I played both Episodes on easy to save time and avoid save/load in the few big fights. It became too easy, but I can't imagine completing that final fight with the Striders and Hunters on Hard. It seemed very close even now. The games are definitely more interesting on Normal or Hard, but I'm glad I played easy because I wasn't really looking for a challenge this time.

Now I can't wait for Episode 3 again. :frusty: It better be awesome!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Blendo Games (developer of Gravity Bone, Flotilla, Atom Zombie Smasher, etc.) did a blog post recently about replaying Half-Life: http://blendogames.com/news/?p=81

Here it is: the first time I played it, I cheated my way through Half-life. Back when Half-life first came out thirteen (!) years ago, there were two sections of the game that consistently twisted my nipples and made me cry uncle: the underground rail-train chapters, and the Xen chapters. The former is because the soldier enemies are soul-crushingly brutal, and the latter is because I’m terrible at jumping puzzles.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, as I said, I cheated through Half Life and OF back in the day too. It was actually really rewarding to make up for that though, as I got a much more heart-pounding and enthralling experience.

Finished HL2 today and got (I think) about halfway through Episode 1. That game is still fucking great, but I found myself dicking around a lot more this time. Now that I know the beats, it wasn't as engrossing, but it was still a lot of fun. I got held up for about 5 days at the Highway 17/Sand Trap section (held up as in, I was in the middle of that section but didn't really want to keep playing it), but once I'd made it through to Nova Prospekt it was pretty great to just blaze through to the end. I always forget about those two chapters when I'm thinking back to HL2, but man are they slow and tedious compared to the rest of the game. Come to think of it though, it's odd how similar Borderlands is to those chapters, particularly the bits with the giant bug things that you need to shoot in the ass to crit. Given that I thought Borderlands was fairly good but don't like those chapters of HL2, I'm a bit puzzled. I guess what that means is that those chapters aren't actually that bad, they're just not at all up to the standard of the rest of the game.

Anyway, HL2:E1 is now happening. It's better than I remember it being, actually. I'm finding myself totally freaking terrified in the parking garage bits. Zombine fucking suck. New time with the super gravity gun is also incredibly welcome. I love those sections, just fucking with combine soldiers and flinging them every which way. Good times.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Double post. I should probably stop updating here if people have stopped caring. For now though, I'm done Episode 1. Took me two solid nights of on-and-off play during slow periods at work, with the final train yard fight against the strider tonight as the capper. I played HL2 and both episodes on Easy back when they first came out, with my current mindset of challenges being fun and not irritating being a relatively recent (last 2 or 3 years) development. Playing games on Normal or above was a New Years resolution in 2009 that I found to greatly enhance my enjoyment of games, and I have to say that following that trend it is a hell of a lot more interesting playing them on Normal. The memory that I recounted earlier in the thread of Half Life 2 feeling much less balanced for health and armour allocation than Half Life 1 I will now declare to be bullshit. I've almost always been immensely relieved to see health or armour, and needing every scrap I came across. At the same time, it's been rare that I've actually died during combat (although god DAMN did I die a bunch during that run from the Strider to the rocket case at the end of Episode 1). It's really great. I'm very excited for Episode 2 now, which I will probably be starting on Friday night. Then come Research and Development, Portal, and Portal 2. I'm amazed that I've made it this far, frankly. I figured I'd lose steam somewhere around Opposing Force to be honest. Ongoing discussion in this thread has certainly helped keep me going, but also these games are living up to my memories and I don't want to stop enjoying them yet. Good times.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Double post. I should probably stop updating here if people have stopped caring.

Personally, i just don't have as much to say about HL2. I've already talked those games to death in other venues, and i'm sure other people have too. I don't know that there's really a lot to really bring to the table on that topic.

The memory that I recounted earlier in the thread of Half Life 2 feeling much less balanced for health and armour allocation than Half Life 1 I will now declare to be bullshit. I've almost always been immensely relieved to see health or armour, and needing every scrap I came across.

My gripe with how HL2 is balanced is more an issue with how i feel scarcity of supplies should be handled. Specifically, HL2 gives you lots and lots of ammo, but only lets you carry a little of it. Whereas HL1 has fairly generous carry limits, but doles out supplies in a fairly restrained fashion, which is just something i much prefer. I think games are probably harder to balance in that fashion, so i appreciate it more when i see it. HL2 is by no means a badly balanced game, it's just... Heh, Doom taught me to not leave supplies behind, and it really makes me really crazy when i have to. I don't like that kind of arbitrary enforced scarcity, i guess it's a player preference thing. I mean, i don't really see any reason why the overwatch rifle in HL2 has such a low carry limit compared even just to other weapons in your arsenal in that game, other than the obvious reason of it being a weapon that is both powerful and common, and so that's simply how they chose to balance it out. I don't really feel it was maybe the best solution, but that's the one they went with. I just think HL1 is a lot more elegant about that kind of balancing.

Then come Research and Development, Portal, and Portal 2.

Wait, what? Research and Development? I am not familiar with this.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Wait, what? Research and Development? I am not familiar with this.

It's a mod for Episode 2 that came out in mid-late 2009 to a really fantastic reception. I've been meaning to play it for forever and this is my excuse to do so.

As for the ammo thing, specifically the overwatch rifle and shotgun, I've found that everything about those guns makes sure that I only use them when I'm backed into a corner. For example, at the escort section at the end of Episode 1, I chose to use exclusively the rocket launcher and crowbar because there was a crate of rockets there. I probably should have used an actual gun, but was way too worried about ammo. Also, something that I've noticed is that on Easy, 3 rockets is enough to bring down both a gunship and a strider. On Normal, the Gunships take 5 and the striders 6, so you can't actually carry enough to kill even one. That makes it bloody terrifying when they show up, and the horror of seeing one makes it so much more effective.

I too have talked HL2 to death over the years, but playing it on Normal instead of Easy has definitely provided me with a lot to think about.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Miffy's writings are starting make me want to do the same kind of run with the Valve games, though I would skip Blue Shift as that's the only of the bunch that I don't have in Steam.

I did start HL1:Source some time ago, but that has been just waiting for a long time now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
...Research and Development...

For a moment I thought you meant Science & Industry, and got all excited. Damn, that was a fun mod.

But R&D looks very interesting. I think I'll check it out, too!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As I remember, R&D was mostly puzzles so that should make a fine (fun) transition between HL and Portal.

Not to turn this into a mod discussion, but if you haven't played the Minerva mod that's worth it as well. it's surprisingly detailed and they ended up hiring the guy who made it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I remember playing Minerva back when it came out, and kinda want to limit myself to just this one mod (Actually, I didn't intend to have any mods, but was reminded of this one a couple of weeks ago and this seemed like as appropriate a time as any to get on it) so I don't think I'll be trying another. That said, I decided to boot it up before Episode 2 as I honestly feel a little bit actioned out and wanted to give myself a puzzle break. I'm on chapter 4 (of I believe 6) now and like it quite a bit. It can be a bit infuriating at times though. For example, there was one puzzle where I had to work my way up a flooded maintenance room by breaking pipes to raise the water level and swim to the top. However, you get to this room through a tunnel that has a broken ladder at the start of it. You can pick up this ladder, so I swam with it all the way to the room and spent ridiculous amounts of time trying to lean the ladder just so in order to climb up to the top of the room. The really irritating thing was that the ladder was actually big enough, but it just wouldn't work. Eventually I got fed up and threw the ladder across the room, accidentally hitting a pipe with it and flooding the room. Damn it. There was another thing where I had to guide a replacement fuse through a maze with the gravity gun, avoiding the walls at all cost. Took me fucking forever. That said, it's a really fun game and feel like the closest we may ever get to an adventure game in the HL2 universe.

EDIT: Just beat Research and Development. That was pretty sweet, particularly in concept. The final battle between

the vehicle that you built and a strider

was rad as hell, but the thing controlled like crap. Also, it was really weird the few times it took you into third person. That said, everyone even a little interested in this game should play it up to the point where you power up the gravity gun. That was badass. All told, good times were had. On to Episode 2!

Edited by miffy495

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If we're talking mods now, have you ever played some of the old-school HL1 solo-focused mods? The Neil Manke stuff was always pretty cool, like the "They Hunger" mods.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, I played They Hunger, but the most time I spent with Half Life was honestly just me and a few friends in the 9th and 10th grade playing the multiplayer maps from Opposing Force over and over forever. Never really got into the mod scene too much.

About halfway through Episode 2 now. After all the times that HL2 and E1 kicked my ass and made me feel desperate for the next health pack, I'm finding Episode 2 surprisingly easy. It feels like, compared to the other games at least, they took more of a cue from contemporary (read: easier, hand hold-ier) shooters. I'm also spending waaaay more time just watching a scripted thing. That's not to say that HL2 and E1 aren't super scripted, but I'm not allowed to jump around during them in E2 where I could in the others. So far, between watching

Alyx get stabbed by the hunter

and

the g man walking in while the vortigaunts are reviving her

I think I've been taken out of having (at the very least) camera control more times in E2 than I remember happening the entire way through the other Half Life games leading up to this. It's weird to play them in such quick succession like this where things like that really stand out to me.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I happened to come across a used cd of Gunman Chronicles, the old GoldSrc game. This game is supposed to give you Half-Life Platinum pack in Steam:

  • Half Life
  • Half Life Blue Shift
  • Half Life Deathmatch Source
  • Opposing Forces (This I already have anyway)
  • Team Fortress Classic
  • Ricochet
  • Day of Defeat

But with my luck of course someone had already used the cd key and with Valve's rules I can't get it anymore after someone else has used it even after they sold the physical copy forwards. Would've been evil and sweet to get that pack and it away from the original unlocker, eh.

Anyways I found this page to help Gunman Chronicles "get in to Steam" because that game for some reason is not sold in Steam and not supported officially either for the exception of the cd key.

http://www.nextdimension.org/gunmantosteam/

I did what the page says, but I guess I need the original Half-Life also for this to work. I only got the Half-Life: Source version...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I remember Gunman Chronicles, that was a pretty cool game, really buggy though.

Man, Valve really was mining their mod community for talent and product right from the start.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Has anyone else had a problem turning off/hiding the achievements in HL2/Portal? No matter how many times I tick the 'hide achievements' box, they keep popping up to piss all over the cinematic moments. I actually emailed Gabe about it but the fucker hasn't got back to me. Maybe I should shout louder.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You should start a petition and a boycott.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Finally finished Episode 2. Halfway through replaying this my computer went kablooey and I had to reinstall windows, so that put a bit of a damper on my momentum. All done the HL series now (as much as the ending of Ep 2 makes that statement infuriating) and am moving on to Portal 1 and 2. HL2E2 is still the best Half Life overall, in my opinion, but also feels kind of hamstrung by how much more scripted it is than the others. In every other Half Life game, when you can't move on your own it's for a brief period at the beginning and a brief period at the end. This time it happens far more often. Also, in previous games when you couldn't jump around like an ass, you could still control what you are looking at. Here it locks your camera control as well. Ok, so I accept that you can't move around all the time, but I should at least be able to move my neck. A minor thing, but given how much else E2 gets perfectly right, it feels like a step backward for the series and is frustrating.

Also, that final battle against the striders and hunters was much easier this time than last when I realized that I could just run the fucking hunters over with my car. I can't believe that didn't occur to me the first time through the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thread seems to have died after the HL1 discussion ended (makes sense, given that all the other games that I played have been released within this forum's lifetime and talked to death), but I wanted to give some closure here. That's right, over the past week I've replayed Portal 1 and 2, and have thus completed all of the single player games in the Half Life universe in the span of just over a month. I really can't add much about Portal that hasn't been said a million times in the thread for that game, but there are two things I want to say. First off, it was a shock to hear how robotic GladOS was at the beginning of Portal 1. It was a natural progression while it happened, but man did they do a lot to humanize her over the games. My mind had fooled me into thinking she was always like that, but no. At the start of the series, she really was just a cold robot. Second, an even bigger shock was seeing a loading screen in Portal 2. After a month of my primary gaming experience being Valve's "pop up the word loading, no separate screens ever" model, what the fuck Portal 2? That bothered me a bit when playing it the first time, but this time it stood out even more and made me really bummed that they decided to go that route. A real pity, given how damn good everything else about that game is.

...and that's it. I think I may try The Witcher now, given how much everyone has been talking about it lately and that I have the game sitting on my Steam list unplayed. I'm honestly a little sad because I know that the next shooter I play will almost certainly be inferior to what I have been playing. That's mildly depressing knowledge to have.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Second, an even bigger shock was seeing a loading screen in Portal 2. After a month of my primary gaming experience being Valve's "pop up the word loading, no separate screens ever" model, what the fuck Portal 2? That bothered me a bit when playing it the first time, but this time it stood out even more and made me really bummed that they decided to go that route.

Yeah, the loading screens bothered me and were absolutely not what I expected from Valve (not even after Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead).

A few loading screens appear in the middle of escape sequences, killing all momentum. Even Gordon Freeman racing down Highway 17 kept that momentum going during loading.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's funny because the loading screens didn't bother me at all. I remember before I played Half-Life everyone was going on and on about it having no loading screens, then when I played it for the first time the game suddenly stopped and I saw the word "loading", I was shocked to say the least.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now