What made Nova Prospekt such an amazing level?

Nova Prospekt was shit.

it had a cool name

>>388606640
Your opinion is shit

>>388606745
It was a boring level, eat me

>>388606559
Entanglement is better gameplay-wise.

>>388606796
I don't eat shit

I thought Nova Prospekt was boring, literal hallway after hallway of shooting. Highway 17 was better.

>>388607409
The entire game is just hallway after hallway of shooting, some are just dressed up "highways"

>>388606559
Nothing really. It wasn't that great. None of the level design in HL was really "great". It was mostly just good atmosphere.

>>388607446
I know but Nova Prospect wasn't even trying anymore.

Antlions I guess

>>388607454
>None of the level design in HL was really "great"

wat

ravenholm was a conceptually great level design, because it blended hords of zombies, classic HL corridor crawling and forced you to use physics because you were always low on ammo.

>>388607409

Yeah Highway 17 is probably my favourite level as well. Seeing the aftermath of Combine occupation and Xen creatures wreck the global environment was pretty epic. Also all the crumbling human infrastructure and the more open world progression was refreshing after nothing but tunnels and headcrabs.

>>388608103
>you were always low on ammo.
Maybe if you sucked at shooting.

>>388606559
This was one of my less liked levels desu.

>>388608103
i too liked the wide open air and the abandoned houses along the road
i liked exploring them even though they werent super duper in-depth to explore but it felt natural and i liked it
never again i guess

I actually hated nova prospekt. I much rather play on the fucking bridge against the flying maggots or whatever they are called

>>388606701
Pretty much the only redeeming part of the level

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I always liked this map. I can't find a good picture of the map itself right now but I always thought this one staircase approaching it was pretty memorable. It's the one where the Breencast is chastising the Overwatch in the background.

i didnt like nova prospekt, the first half sucked, the antlion herding sucked, the choke points sucked, waiting for alyx sucked, the waiting for her some more sucked, the boxed in fight sucked and showcased just how badly the ai sucked, i did like the tiny exposition breen had with the combine overwatch, i did like the quazi opressive atmosphere it had, but everything felt really bland and samey, the level feels like a blur or a water color pallet of turret guns and ant lion screaming, just an incoherent mess showcasing just how incompetent the combine and the ai of the game really was.

>>388610767
I liked the beach segment where it's dark and there are bunkers you can raid with antlions. The outside of the compound was also kinda cool as you work your way in. But yeah, once inside it was all kinda the same, like the citadel but without the cool sights and events.

>>388607379
I'm not a shit you're a shit

I don't think I ever bothered finishing Nova Prospekt.

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Battle for city 17 with the bunch of striders was simply one of the best parts.

>>388613264
I didn't like it. Striders are fucking awful enemies and ally AI is dumb.

>>388606559
Half-Life 2 got good only with the episodes. The basement fight in 1 was fucking amazing, highlight of the series. Then they nerfed it into shit because the target audiences said that it was "tooo haaard! ;_;"

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>Nova Prospekt gets painted as this super dark place where people disappear into and Combine does whatever horrors unimaginable
>getting actually there, it's just a regular slav prison

>current year
>people are ACTUALLY pretending to think HL2 was bad for le contrarian 4chins badboy points

jesus christ

>>388614403
The Combine were the good guys all along.

>>388608103
honestly the ""physics"" aspect of ravenholm was my least favourite part of it

It just turns the Gravgun into a single-load ohk with infinitely reusable ammo, basically how any other game uses bows (though that might have become a trope /after/ hl2, don't really have a clear perspective)
the traps could have been laid out much more interestingly too, have the player collect parts before a horde of enemies comes in or whatever, as is it was just some click-to-use EZmode shit that heavily encouraged passive gameplay
I didn't like the citadel's gravgun part either, it was the same shit except you didn't even need to collect 'ammo' at all anymore

Questionable Ethics
Friendly Fire
Captive Freight
Route Kanal
Urban Flight
Riding Shotgun

>>388614403
>Nova prospekt is the same as any other prison
Woah man...what if it's trying to say that...like...WE are the bad guys?

hl2 didn't really have any remarkable levels except maybe ravenholm and the citadel. the rest are forgettable corridors.

>>388614531
It wasn't bad, just highly overrated. It was basically an advertisement for the Source engine.

>>388616617
ep2 was pretty great tho

>>388614403
>super dark place where people disappear
>just a regular slav prison

Yes, and? Seems right to me.

>>388614531
It's not bad, but it's just really really mediocre. Pretty much every high profile shooter at the time is at least as good.

>>388614671
bows became the hot new gimmick some time around 2012-2013

>>388614531
Compared to Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Call of Duty 1, Halo, Far Cry and Doom 3... yes it was shit.

>The Orange Box is 10 years old

>>388614531
People, especially on this site, tend to hate on things that other people like too much purely to balance it out. It's impossible to call half-life 2 a *bad* game. But so many people consider it the best game ever when it's really just quite good, so certain people feel obliged to hate it purely because others like it too much

It's like how people give things a 0 out of 10 on metacritic. Nobody actually thinks these games are literally 0's out of 10, but giving it a 0 will move a game closer to the 6 or 7 out of 10 that you think it truly is.

>>388616961
HL2 isn't the best thing ever but it's miles above bland WW2 shooters.

It's also better than D3.

>>388616506
City 17 was great to experience in the beginning.
Water hazard was kinda dull until you could fight back - I really didn't like stopping to throw a switch every now and then but I guess the constant driving would have gotten boring too.
Ravenholm was a great change of pace and is probably the most unique place in the game.
Highway 17 was fun, I liked the dune buggy and the lighthouse village fight on the cliffside was rad.
I remember Sandtraps being a bit of a slog, but it had a new gimmick and the antlion guard so I don't think too poorly of it. The pheremone thing with antlions was ok.
The actual assault on Nova Prospekt was great, travelling along the beach at night dealing with bunkers, followed by the gunship fight inside the compound but still outdoors. The interior was fairly dull though.
The full streetwar back in City 17 was fantastic and had a lot of great moments like the strider battle and taking the building with the suppression cannon on top of it.
And finally working your way up the citadel was great too, like that strider fight down the long corridor with the supercharged gravity gun.
I haven't done a playthrough in years, so why haven't I forgotten all of those levels if they're so dull?

>>388617264
>ever but it's miles above bland WW2 shooters.

MoH:AA and CoD1 were a milestone of the FPS genre. HL2 were just a milestone of bad marketing and paid journalism.

I always disliked Nova Prospekt the most. Mainly because it's just a prison, and not a cool Combine research facility. What are they defending? It's just empty cells and a whole single torture room for vorts. I know about the combine depot built on it, but the prison itself was supposed to be a set of labs and research facilities, full of machinery and stuff. Same with the Overwatch Nexus. It's just an empty government buildings with one strange room full of metal shit and two energy balls. Woah.

My favorite levels are route canal and water hazard. I love those old city sewers meeting modern city sewers and canals.

>>388606559
Putting DOA girls in the cells in Gmod.

>>388617314
>I really didn't like stopping to throw a switch every now and then
Those were the only good moments of Water Hazard and I still maintain that revolver battle is the best designed combat encounter in HL2.

>>388617449
Call of Duty 2 was more of a milestone, but at what cost?

>>388617565
can you expand on that a bit?

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>>388616906
It wasn't supposed to be a regular prison.

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>>388617697
It was supposed to be the center of research for the combine, where they researched and developed Stalkers and Overwatch soldiers. Not a broken down prison.

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>>388617771

>>388617697
>beginning is a familiar human environment
>gradually more alien touches appear
Sounds exactly like Nova Prospect -> Entanglement progression, though I'd like even more alien stuff as well.

>>388617976
>gradually
>go through a completely empty prison without any hint of it being the main R&D center on Earth for trans-humanism
>jump into a hole
>suddenly in the depot

>>388617475
Did you miss the part where they stored thousands of dissidents in Stasis?

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>>388614403
Not only that, the prison is run down and super busted, clearly even before the Antlion attack, unfit to function as a detainment facility or a serious base of any description.
>inb4 the Combine wall and the pods were the actual prison
Then why did the Combine have guards and security devices posted all over the old parts as well?

>>388618149
I missed the part where I saw all the labs and the staff that experimented on them in the actual buildings of the prison.

>>388618214
Buffer zone

/devil's advocate

>>388617264
>better than D3
It sure as hell isn't better than Doom 3.

>>388618214
>Then why did the Combine have guards and security devices posted all over the old parts as well
They only really had mobile turrets and haphazardly installed energy wall screens/barricades which they installed to keep Freeman from reaching Entanglement, outside of guarding the walls that is.

>>388618808
It really is in most respects. Doom 3 has the stronger last third though, I'd say.

>>388614204
You mean the one where you're waiting for the elevator? That was tense as fuck.

>>388606559
it was awful

>>388616506
t. never played the game

it astounds me how people constantly bitch about Highway 17, saying it was just a boring vehicle round. Nigga there was a new gimmick around every corner.

>>388606559
natepack

from what i remember it was the most bare and empty genetic prison design, so it's interesting to hear it was supposed to have all that combine tech and shit. did they just not take time to simply stick some greebles around and flavor it up a bit or did they drop that idea?

>>388617449
They were just more shit in the ww2 winter of the early 2000s and HL2 was a huge step up from the Quake 3 and Gamebryo engines they were all using.

The game itself lost me mid way through but that's much better retention than another fucking ww2 game.

>>388616506
/thread

>>388614671
>I didn't like the citadel's gravgun part either
Really? I always thought that to be my favourite part of the game just for going fucking crazy on the Combine after your struggle the whole game.

>>388606559
Nova Prospekt is right when the game begins to drag on

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>>388606559

The only real bad part of this game is when you go through the sewers/waterways and they keep throwing manhacks at you.

The best and most comfy part if when you get to ride along the coast in your car.

>mfw MANHACKS ATTACK all over again

>>388606559
I hated NP on repeated playthroughs. Herding antlions felt like a chore and that one bit with wave fights is easily my least favourite part in all of HL, bar maybe Xen in HL1 or the hostage rescue in EP1.

>>388619810
The sewers are absolutely the best part of the game.

>>388619901
>said nobody about any game ever

>>388619979
What is it like to live without taste?

>>388620103
I can't think of one game where the sewer level is the best part.

>>388619762
>after your struggle the whole game
HL2 is easy enough as it is...

>>388619896
>that one bit with wave fights
It's the best part of HL2!

I wouldn't even consider replaying HL2
Too many terrible slogging sections

>>388619810
Incoming, THE HAXXXX

>>388619810
On your first playthrough the Manhacks are awesome because they're actually terrifying and cause pandemonium.
Once you get the Zero-G Manipulator, or whenever you realize to bravely confront them with the crowbar they become merely a chore.

>>388619550
can you describe this level I can't remember it. is this the one where you're driving the car and at some point gunships start chasing you?

>>388620820
Yeah. There's a ton of other stuff that goes on, like the tunnel filled with Zombies, the house filled with rollermines, crossing underneath the bridge etc. Honestly it has the most varied and exciting level design in the whole game, and it really feels like you're covering ground while the Combine gradually start to set up traps against you.

>>388620471
Not literal difficulty but Gordons struggle to reach the Citadel.

>>388606559
Does somebody have the layout pic for the "series reaction" meme. You know the one with the stick guy and going
>Our God is an awesome God
And such. I'd like to make one for hl2 chapters

>>388621096
alright I remember now, I'll give you that this level was pretty awesome, crossing the bridge and the gunship fight were top tier vidya moments

>>388606559
I didn't like Nova Prospekt because I got lost in it.

I have honestly no idea how it even happened looking back but there was a door I literally couldn't find, I circled around the place for hours and found out where I was supposed to go.

I went on to play Episode 1 afterwards.

I'm honestly ashamed at how retarded my 12 years old self was.

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>>388621372

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>>388606559
Nova Prospekt was fucking awful, hail to the real king baby

>>388619979
>>388620346
VTM

>>388621649
Thank you

>>388606559
the only god tier part of hl2 was ravenholm. rest was varying from good to a bit tedious

just bought vr headset, i'm going to replay hl2 and its episodes and i'm going to have loads of fun

>>388606559
nostalgia.

>>388620346
Crash team racing
Oblivion

>>388619550
>>388620820
There are a lot of pretty nice set pieces in Highway 17 (needing to stop and fight off the combine and find the car batteries to lift the gate so you can keep driving. That one house were you can stop to get supplies and the combine park out front and start shooting at you, that train bridge part and the small town like section before it, that dark tunnel with zombies. that ending shootout with the combine near the lighthouse, that hidden resistance fighter that killed himself with a revolver. The real issues with it are that the car is just not fun to drive at all, it feels bad in comparison to the muscle car you can drive in episode 2.

The boat section has a lot less going on, you only really stop to find a small thing of supplies or to solve a physics puzzle, outisde of that part where you open the dam up. Beyond that it's dodging that choppers bombs and you eventually fight.

Outside of the slow start, the boat section, and the survivor AI HL2 is a pretty damn fun game. I know it's hip to shit on because it's one of the most overpraised games ever made but it still does a lot right. The atmosphere, the overall pacing, and the fact that you travel pretty far without ever losing control of Gordon is pretty goddamn neat. Shame half the game's guns just aren't fun to shoot shit with and the games weapon and enemy variety are sparse as shit. Also fuck being unable to shoot those snipers back, shit sucks.

>>388618808
>le spoopy corridor shooter with like 1 actual level in Hell
Eat my ass you contrarian shit.

>>388622032
>Better graphics
>Better handled physics, no spaz ragdolls and shit
>God tier atmosphere
>Doesn't have a pacing problem like HL2 has
>Isn't just a large tech demo made into a game
Aside from the story, and the gunplay feeling a bit weak, Doom 3 is a much better game overall. Half Life 2 has too many pacing issues, shows off it's gimmicks way too much, and the gunplay is not great. Plus the argument of Doom 3 being a corridor shooter applies to HL2 as well, it's just that the two games dress the corridor differently. I played both, and i like both, but as far as favorites go, Doom 3 is way above Half life 2.

Are there any mods that keep the game the same but just improve the textures and so on? I haven't played HL2 in probably a decade and I reckon now is as good a time as any.

>>388619810
no worst part of the game is the first city portion
You're moving through cramped alleyways and apartments with retarded followers. Literally the only legit bad part of the game, every other "bad" part is overblown.

>>388622630
i can think of one certain title that features various fully modelled pieces of anatomy

except raping all of characters, fakefactory rendering enchancements and textures can look great

>>388622439
>God tier

stop using this phrase god's not real WUBBALUBBA DUB DUB shit on the floor

>>388622630
Half Life 2 Update touches up the lighting and not much else. It's graet.

>>388618808
doom 3 is literally a poorman's half-life 2

>>388622439
>pacing problem like HL2 has
HL2 has the best pacing of any FPS ever made

>>388622767
FULLY MODELED ______?

>>388622786
I'll check it out. Thanks my dude.

>>388622771
ok, it's "better than greatly amazing"

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I tried

>>388622004
>fuck being unable to shoot those snipers back
You just have to blow them up anon, don't tell me you haven't gotten every achievement in the game

>>388622874
compared to what? A Jrpg? Compared to HL1 the game drags on way too much, especially the vehicle sections. Some of the essential plot elements take way too long to develop properly, and then it's suddenly ending, and you are just wondering what the fuck is going on, since you almost fell asleep driving and stopping to shoot some combines for hours.

>>388623045
>He thinks Highway 17 isn't the best chapter in the game

>>388623045
>and then it's suddenly ending
right, like the massive assault on city 17 was abrupt and your time in the citadel was too short. come on fag

>>388623182
>>388623102
i might have enjoyed them, if i wasn't sleeping trough them. But no, you are right, the citadel was too long, like the rest of the levels.

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You gotta love all the contrarian faggots lurking around this board claiming Half-Life 2 is in any shape or form a bad game. The game came out long before most of you cunts were even born, doesnt surprise me you would prioritise something like call of duty black ops and borderlands

>>388623026
I don't think I've fully replayed through the game since they've added the achievements, when the fuck was that anyways? Also It's still a bummer that you can see their hidey holes from a distance but it's impossible to actually shoot them out of there. I know they wanted to stress the importance of grenades being used to flush them out, but goddamn is it annoying to take away player freedom like that.

>>388623182
The Citadel is like the lowest point of the game IMO. Only having a super gravity gun is annoying and isn't that fun. I should replay the whole game though, despite the flaws I have a huge soft spot for it and the game has this godlike atmosphere that matches STALKER imo.

>>388623430
Half-Life 2 was objectively shit compared to HL1, it's just all you underage fags that didn't even play HL1 constantly hyping it up to be something it isn't.

>>388623541
reminder that OpFor is the best HL game

>>388606559
Nothing, it was a garbage level.

>>388623629
>Gman treated him exactly like Gordon
>He could be potentially brought back as an additional force to aid Gordon
>Valve wont make Opposing force 2
>It wont even make HL3
>We will never see Adrian again

>>388606559
Why do the guns look and sound like utter shit in this game?

Vertical level design

>>388606559
Didn't like it. Nothing trumps ravenholm, they should've put it in the end of the game.

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>>388623541
I don't know whats worse, HL1fags or HL2fags that think their protocods are anything special

>>388623541
HL1 and 2 are so close in terms of game design making hyperbolic statements like this only outs you as a fucking retard

>>388623629
OpFor is the best datadisk for any game ever.
>More guns
>More features
>Level design on par, if not better than the base game
>Exactly the right length

>>388623942
HL1 at least did something to improve and refine the FPS formula, HL2 just copied it. It was special in it's time, and it didn't age that well, i agree. But this thread is about HL2, if you want to shill modern shooters, you have an entire board to do so.

>>388622921
It amazed me how little people understand about the situation of HL2. The fact that people keep going on about "oh, the situation is completely hopeless, humans can't beat the combine" when 99%+ of the combine can't reach earth due to them being stuck in another dimension. It was only a small fraction of them that made it through and conquered earth in that 7 hour war, they were trying to reopen the portal to bring more to our dimension but you shut that shit down during Half Life 2.

>>388623541
It's for sure worse than 1 and only caught so much praise because of Half Life 1 but it's still a very solid FPS game. People just seem to knee jerk into either extreme of it being shit or it being the best game ever.

>>388623953
Well i don't see you making any argument.

>>388624152
I want you to explain everything you hate about HL2 and then I will explain how HL1 had exactly the same shit

>>388624113
i'm in no way saying it's a bad game, but it's not a masterpiece. I just like the lore behind all the games.

>>388623629
>The Displacer Cannon will never come back
Almost as much of a tragedy as Shepard not coming back.

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As much as I love and adore Half Life series, I must admit that they had absolute garbage storytelling.

Half Life 1 especially. There isn't a one, a single one unique character. In hindsight, you start the game, you walk by identical, no face, generic scientists and security guards then shoot soldiers and aliens thus finish the game.

There are no subtitles, no characters, no notes or correspondences, no audio logs, literally nothing to tell a story.

There are at least characters and less then a handful audio logs to listen in Half Life 2 but the problem still persists.

The lore and story is interesting but the games do almost nothing to sate the player's curiosity.

I don't know, feel free to call me a faggot but this is what I feel.

>>388624240
I liked the Barnacle.

>>388624186
Alright
>Half life 2 has levels that drag on for way too long, they just outstay their welcome.
>The gunplay is weak, the guns also sound weak, they either take too long to kill a basic enemy, or handle like shit, the best guns are just copied from HL1.
>All the bossfights, if you can call them that, boil down to shooting rockets, or throwing physics object's at something, the final boss is just throwing balls while getting swarmed by combines
>too many instances of just showing off the engines "look we have physacs!", t. gravitygun

>>388623629
>shitty (((gearbox))) fanfiction
>best half-life game

>>388624240
>>388624371
i liked the thing that puked green balls, oh and the electric spider

>>388624354
I don't think you're a faggot, but I think it's possible to tell a story without having interesting characters. It's a simple story, sure, but it works

>>388624354
Half Life's story telling is some of the best in the industry nigga, what the fuck

>>388614531

Don't worry anon. some of them were not even born when this game revolutionized FPS. they can't see the brilliance in it because most games that come after it copied it.

>>388624420
>>Half life 2 has levels that drag on for way too long, they just outstay their welcome.
Blast Pit, On a Rail, Residue Processing
>muh guns
like you've already said, they're exactly the same as HL1 in 90% of cases.
>bossfights
how is that any different from the helicopter in HL1 or the final boss in xen?
>look we have physics!!!
right, just because something was also new that means that it can't possibley be fun or add to the game in any way. I can think of only one that's objectively terrible and that's when you're on the hoverboat and have to use floating barrels to create a jump. Everything else just adds to your level of interaction with the environment which objectively makes the game better.
>muh gravity gun
fucking RULES. it's not a gimmick, it's an innovation. It objectively raises the bar for gunplay in the series which has yet to be superseded by any other series because of it

>>388624461
>Half Life 2 isn't fanfiction-tier

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>>388624536
Half Life 1 has little to no story telling whatsoever.

Forget what you have learned from lurking in HL threads, forget what you have learned from browsing the wiki, forget what you have learned from reading the artbooks and concept arts.

THE GAME ITSELF does almost nothing to tell you a story.

>>388623967
Am I the only one that thinks OpFor is insanely hard on hard mode? It's like every enemy is a much harder version of the ones from vanilla Half Life.

>>388624212
I agree completely. Some game's just get overrated brutally, HL2 is one of them. The Half Life name carried it. Gggmanlives did a solid video on Half Life 2.

>>388624186
Half Life 2 took most of the guns from 1 and put them into an environment were they do not work well, they also left a lot of the more interesting weapons in HL1 for some reason. The grunts in HL1 are the least fun enemy type to fight, and they made them the most common enemies in HL2. Granted HL2 does make them more fun to fight, they're still pretty annoying to deal with. The work horse weapon of HL2 is the SMG, and it's a straight up unfun weapon to use. The combine rifle is fairly samey but harder hitting, it's not really fun either. The revolver, shotgun, rocket launcher, crossbow, and occasionally the gravity gun with grenades are the weapons that are actually fun to use, and their ammo supplies are super small so you'll be spending most of the time using the SMG instead. The only one with a decent ammo pool is the shotgun, and it's clearly highly situational.

Basically the big issue with HL2 is that they took the lesser guns from HL1 and put them into a game were you'll be fighting soldiers at medium range, which sucks.

>>388624354
>muh exposition
I bet you think DaS has shit storytelling too. It's environmental storytelling and its's 100% the best way to tell a story in games.

>>388624420
not the anon you replied to, but
>on a rail
>kinda agree, the guns felt heavier for some reason
>exactly the same if not worse, helicopters, nihilanth, both need rocketlaunchers or at least the gauss, the headcrab thing was basically an antlion guardian and the giant tantacle monster was more setpiece than boss
>hl1 constantly changed the environment like this too, blowing areas up, trippling things over and whatnot, not to mention them showcasting their gore system at every opportunity

>>388624354
>The VOX announcment system literally dispences information about what's happening all around the facility
>The environment you explore is filled with subtle touches to hint at what's going on/happened
I mean, HL1's storytelling isn't perfect, but it's really well done. I dunno, i guess i'm the faggot here, but i really love thinking about the event's that happened in black mesa, put them on a large map and think about how all the part's of the facility were affected. The game makes that possible, not only do you get to play from 2 different perspectives in the datadiscs, but you also can tell how much time passed based on the day and night cycle the game has over the course of it's levels.
I mean, think about this:
>You fuck the experiment up
>Fight aliens
>don't know how large the cascade really is
>try to get topside
>find out that pretty much the whole facility is now under lockdown
>soldiers are not there to rescue, they came to silence the whole facility
>Suddenly the perspective and scale changes
>You are no longer trying to escape, you are now trying to fix this mess, because you realize that this is no longer just black mesas problem.

>>388625018
DaS does have bad storytelling. Half Life 1 tells a really simple story about shit unfolding after a disaster event happens, beyond that it's not really a great story.

>>388624919
Also fuck how the rocket launcher can only carry 3 rockets. Shit's damn near useless until hey plop down an infinite ammo chest for you to use.

>>388624712
Half-Life was a collection of scifi clichés

Half-Life 2 was a more modern take on scifi, heavily inspired by 1984 and the like

Opposing Force was MUH OVERPOWERED MARINES! MORE GUNS! MORE ENEMIES! MORE EXPLOSIONS MORE EPIC! NO STORY! MY OC IS IMPORTANT TOO! BETTER THAN GORDON! GMAN HAS A NUKE!

>>388625328
>MUH OVERPOWERED MARINES! MORE GUNS! MORE ENEMIES! MORE EXPLOSIONS MORE EPIC! NO STORY!
thank you for explaining why OpFor is so good

>>388625286
>can only carry 3 rockets at a time
>can only carry 12 revolver rounds at a time
>can only carry 60 heavy rifle rounds at a time

No really, what the fuck were they thinking?

>>388624919
>The revolver, shotgun, rocket launcher, crossbow, and occasionally the gravity gun with grenades are the weapons that are actually fun to use, and their ammo supplies are super small
Aren't the contents of supply crates in HL2 dynamic, meaning they will drop whatever you lack?

>>388625453
>>388624919
>>388625286
real talk, any mods to increase carrying capacity? I feel like it'd be the simplest fix in the fucking world that would make a major difference

although don't increase the rocket capacity. It's supposed to be a situational only weapon. Using it against regular enemies is not that cool and most of the tension in the boss battles is being able to spatially manage getting to and from the rocket chests constantly

>>388625286
>he doesn't know anything about good storytelling
welp

I'll at least give a little explanation. Storytelling is very dependent on the medium it's being told in. Videogames more or less just copy the format from movies which works, but it isn't interesting or unique. Considering videogames are about "actually experiencing" this and that, it makes sense that the story is told through personal experiences of discovery. This is a unique format for videogames and is really how all games should strive to tell their stories.

>>388624704
on a rail. blast pit, and residue processing don't take more than 30 minutes to complete, highway in hl2 takes like 2 hours for comparison.

The weapons have the same design, which is not a good thing by the way, most of the guns fit in hl1, there was a military force, and you were inside a company that has military contractors. in hl2 there could be a lot more alien weapons but the only new weapon is the AR2 or whatever, and that's just a plasma version of the SMG, why does the crossbow exist? it makes no sense, the rebels could literally have sniper rifles, i mean they already got their weapons on other combine weaponry, but no, heated rebar. But my problem with guns in hl2 is that they feel weak, they have no impact, in hl1 the shotgun had a fucking punch to it, in hl2 it's just "plap".

The xen boss has phases, plus a pattern you need to learn, not that ground breaking, but better than the breen fight in hl2.

you do realize other games already had physics before the source engine was conceived? it was nothing new, and the physics in hl2 were really janky half the time, it wasn't horrible, but it was way too obvious, what was the purpose?

The gravity gun is fun, but nothing more than a gimmick, refer to the previous post for why. It was the weakest one, unless you count repeatedly picking up a barrel and banging the enemy with it, all the other weapons were a faster way to kill something, there was no reason to use it other than occasionally picking up an item in an unreachable area, and that felt really staged most of the time.

>>388625786
>on a rail. blast pit, and residue processing don't take more than 30 minutes to complete, highway in hl2 takes like 2 hours for comparison.
Highway was full to the brim with variety. Play it again. It's certainly not as flat as On A Rail.

>>388625050
you can pretty much understand everything in your first playthrough, a second one helps. If you're not a retard.

>>388606640
you are correct.

>>388619810
>The best and most comfy part if when you get to ride along the coast in your car.

Fucking this. Stopping by abandoned houses and shacks to explore and get some supplies. It was great.

>>388625917
you mean packed to the brim with all the other issues i talked about.
>Physacs puzles
>schutt combin
Real great to know.

>>388624704
The advanced physics were innovative to a degree. Repeatedly doing a see-saw "puzzle" to get to the next section is tedium. Also, Turok did a gravity gun a year before HL2.

>>388625714
Dark Souls largely does story telling through item description's, Half Life 1 and 2 do a lot more environmental storytelling with HL1's story telling being much more simple and intentionally vague. Half Life 1 pretty much only has 2 characters in it.

If you didnt play HL2 when it came out why do you think your opinion is relevant?
How would you be able to judge the game if you played it after playing games for decades that learned from HL2 and tried to improve upon it?

>>388606559
>super secret ayylmao installation
>uniforms have the installation's name in contrasting colour on them
>in english

>>388606559
You had the antlions as a weapon and it mostly was designed around protecting them

>>388626450
so what you are saying that the game has no real strong point's outside of the new tech it brought, since all the storytelling innovation was already done by HL1. This game didn't even invent half the gimmicks it so proudly shows off, ragdolls and physics existed in games in 1999.

>>388606559
Minerva had the best levels in the Half Life universe and it wasnt even made by Valve.

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>>388626453
>Nova Prospekt
>Secret

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>>388626453
>Prospekt
>English

>>388626680
>didn't even invent
who cares? It did it better to the point where it's the first game where it mattered

>>388626808
Agreed. It's a shame Adam Foster was never properly used.

>>388626957
Truely the deepest lore.

Which city was City 17 modeled after anyway? I know they did take some cues from Prague but ultimately scrapped most of it due to the gothic and reneissance artstyle clashing with the soviet blocks. Balkan maybe?

>>388627502
It's like a mishmash of Ukraine, Balkans, and Hungary/Czech. Basically Central/Eastern Europe inspired

>>388627502
it's most generic, old styled, pre-ww2 "apartment blocks" (and some commie blocks of flats). i rented a room in polish Wrocław once and stairs were pretty much same as in hl2, except no oldschool elevator. I don't think they really ripped off any place entirely, it looks like it was made from imagination

>>388626350
>Repeatedly doing a see-saw "puzzle" to get to the next section is tedium.
So you haven't played the game?

>>388626808
>playing this mod on hard
>a fuckton of unavoidable hitscan damage flies your way
>stop playing

Shit annoyed me, but the level design was solid. I really should just replay it on normal. Also Mission Improbable is goddamn great, and there was another one that was an hour long that let you grenade bounce around that was really quality, but fuck if I can remember its name.

>>388626450
I played it when it was new and upgraded my mom's PC just to run it, loved it to death back then but overall it's an overrated game. A good game that does a lot right, but not the revolutionary FPS its marketed as, and it's arguably a step down from Half Life 1.

>>388628115
I can think of one literal seesaw in the canals, and then another in Episode 1.

That's it.

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>>388628214
There is the one in Episode Two, too. But that's what I'm saying. I've been seeing the seesaw complaint for YEARS. It's just shitposting and parroting.

>>388620346
TMNT:TiT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH-lLbHbG-A

>>388628343
The hoverboard level with the city in the background was better.

>>388628323
There are a lot of "puzzles", but they're quite short and simple and generally pretty varied. Really they're just there so you don't get bored of shooting constantly.

>>388626350
>>388626680
>This game didn't even invent half the gimmicks it so proudly shows off

Who gives a fuck? It's insane that people will go digging around some obscure game that was otherwise disliked in order to prove this, then act like that's an argument

>>388628568
obviously you can't be good at something if you weren't the first one to do it

>>388625328
>MUH OVERPOWERED MARINES!
What? No it wasn't. The marines get shot down in the opening. The entire opening is about them getting fucked by the enemy. The first chapter opens with a scientist failing to revive a marine. The first zombie in the game is a marine zombie. Jesus fucking christ.
>MORE ENEMIES!
There is nothing wrong with this.
>MORE EXPLOSIONS
Forget About Freeman? Blast Pit? Just shut up.
>>388628449
Downtime, yeah.

Half Life 2 is one of those games that has aged like milk.

The story is laughable garbage, visually it is incredibly bland now that it is no longer impressive, the bland physics puzzles pervade the entire game. The actual combat isn't very fun either, with enemy AI that just stands and shoots at you and weapons that aren't fun to use. (The shotgun is okay I guess)

There's a reason Valve never finished it. Even with Episode 2 you can see them frantically scrambling to enhance the gameplay with new ideas. The final defense mission was actually pretty cool.

Then they stumbled into much more compelling games like Left4Dead and Portal, before releasing hats for TF2 and becoming a company exclusively focused on monetizing random bullshit on Steam.

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>>388628343
Now that's some good shit right there.

how long do you think it took to build the citadel?

>>388619123
>Doom 3 has the stronger last third though, I'd say.
Yeah, once they drop the "horror" thing entirely and finally let you play the Doom portion of the game. Ressurection of Evil is what Doom 3 should've been from the beginning, no fucking around

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ATTENTION TO DETAIL

>>388628646
>reddit spacing

>>388628668
Considering it popped into existence via portal, not long.

>>388628921

>Breaking individual topics into separate paragraphs is now "Reddit spacing".

Typical mouthbreather.

>>388628646
>The story is laughable garbage
How so?
> visually it is incredibly bland now that it is no longer impressive
Blatantly untrue. Viktor Antonov created iconic visuals with HL2; there is no video game today that looks like HL2 except the other games that Antonov worked on.
>the bland physics puzzles pervade the entire game
Lol we just went over this.
>The actual combat isn't very fun either, with enemy AI that just stands and shoots at you
Untrue.
>and weapons that aren't fun to use.
Except for the pulse rifle, grav gun, magnum, shotgun, bugbait, yeah.
>The final defense mission was actually pretty cool.
Amen.

>>388628723
Resurrection Of Evil has less interesting maps, and the bosses are gimmicky and shitty as fuck. All the RoE bosses are on par with D3's Cyberdemon except for the Maledict.

>>388628983
Le ebin, upboated!

>>388623430
nice gex render

and you're right

>>388624354

Nigger what? If you pay attention to the Announcements system you'd know exactly what was going on.

Take an hour an watch this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Iu4GXUHfU0

>>388628804
>light battery dies
>Alyx jokes about asking Kleiner about a battery battery

>>388614403
Yeah it's like rumors and hearsay don't give an accurate representation of what something is about! How about that!

>>388626453
>nova
>prospekt
>english

>>388629131
Those announcements aren't from in-game what are you smoking?

>>388628646
I don't know if I agree with this post, but I certainly like Half Life more than Half Life 2 + episodes. It has a more completed feeling to it. Like Valve left nothing unnecessary in the game and cut all the content that wasn't quite good enough to make it into the game.

Half Life 2 + episodes always felt like it was missing that. It's a great game and I'd easily recommend it to anyone looking to play a fun FPS with a cool environment and good gameplay but I'd recommend Half Life first (and not just for story purposes).

>>388622767
>>388622786
Cinematic Mod 2013 really does make Half Life 2 look like a PS4 game, it puts the HL2 Update to utter fucking shame technically

But the lewd childish graffiti & some very questionable character models utterly ruin it

The ferns are fucking stupid also, but there is one part at the end of Ravenholm when you are chasing Girgori & there is tons of ferns which hide the fast zombies so you have to rely on sound to hit them before they get you, likely unintentional but it was cool

>>388629405
>some very questionable character models
You can select just the high res models of the characters.
>The ferns are fucking stupid also
These are out of the latest version.

>>388628992
I've never found the Half Life 2 story compelling. Human resistance vs overwhelming force stories don't do much for me because they're unrealistic. Gordon as a character in the story is also completely ridiculous. Gordon worked in HL1 because while other people recognized you and stuff, you didn't spend much time interacting with people. You were just a dude trying to survive. In Half life 2 they made you into a hero figure for the resistance and it all very dumb. Alyx romance stuff is also again stupid nerd fantasy shit. The combine mystery stuff wasn't engaging either.

There are some nice visuals in City 17 and Episode 2, but that's about it. 90% of the games is bland sewers, beaches and ruined city streets. It reminds me of F.E.A.R in that it is a game with some really brilliant moments in terms of art direction but then the vast majority of it is bland shit.

As for the combat, I'll just say that other FPS games have done better. F.E.A.R that I mentioned above is a significantly better shooter than Half Life 2 could ever hope to be and it came out a year later.

>>388628568
Half Life 2 really didn't do anything new though. I like the game a ton but it sure as hell isn't revolutionary.

>>388628646
>Half Life 2 is one of those games that has aged like milk.

lol.

>>388628804
Episode 1 and 2 are a shitton of fun. Shame they both start out so goddamn slow for some reason, but once they get going they're both fucking fantastic. That elevator hold out in episode 1 where you need to use flares and the flash light intelligently was awesome as fuck, as was the hospital section.

>>388606640
Kys

>>388626080
you too hipster.

>>388626453
>he thinks Overwatch soldiers are ayys

>>388629291

They've been took from Black Mesa Source.

They just changed the voice but the texts are all the same. Womyn voices are more scary

>>388628646
I know you're trolling but you're not wrong.

HL was a masterpiece and holds up even today. HL2 was okay, I'd say good even but mostly rode the fame of its predecessor and became incredibly overrated.

>>388629513
>Human resistance vs overwhelming force stories don't do much for me because they're unrealistic
That's a personal gripe, then. Not something objective we can argue about.
>In Half life 2 they made you into a hero figure for the resistance and it all very dumb.
It is completely organic. The very first thing that is said to you is "I didn't see you get on." In the square people will tell you to mind your own business. Nobody knows who you are except Barney, Kleiner, and Alyx. Then THEY start spreading the word that you've returned, but it takes a while for it to catch up. In Route Canal, there are multiple NPCs who do not know who you are.
>Be glad you're not the guy they're looking for. Poor bastard doesn't stand a chance.
And other lines. But once Gordon continues his journey, proving himself to everyone, do they start to see him as messianic.
>Alyx romance stuff is also again stupid nerd fantasy shit.
Lol wut it's completely toned down.
>The combine mystery stuff wasn't engaging either.
This is a personal gripe.
>90% of the games is bland sewers, beaches and ruined city streets.
How are they bland? Compared to what?
> It reminds me of F.E.A.R in that it is a game with some really brilliant moments in terms of art direction but then the vast majority of it is bland shit.
So F.E.A.R. and HL2 are bland, but F.E.A.R. almost entirely takes place in office buildings and HL2 has large and varied environments. What the fuck are you looking for?
>As for the combat, I'll just say that other FPS games have done better
Yes.

>>388629526
>Half Life 2 really didn't do anything new though. I like the game a ton but it sure as hell isn't revolutionary.
There are times when a post is so fucking wrong you just have to reply to it. This is one of those times.

If there was just ONE thing Half Life 2 was revolutionary for, it was physics. That's what people everywhere were jerking off about was the physics of the Source engine.

>>388629706
>but you're not wrong.
Of course he's wrong. He's fumbling for shit as seen here: >>388629513

>>388629706
Not actually trolling.

I liked Half Life 2 when it came out. However unlike many other games I enjoyed in my teens, it holds zero appeal for me anymore.

It's a 7/10 game touted as a 10/10 game and all the people clamouring for Half Life 3 don't realize that the reason Valve abandoned it was because they realized the gameplay barely held up in 2007 and wasn't going to fly in 2008-2010 when they wanted to release Episode 3.

>>388629927
This. People upgraded their PCs just for HL2. It may not have been the first to do it, but it was the trendsetter.

>>388616961
Saying Half-Life 2 is shit compared to Half-Life has always been around.
This "Doom 3 is better than Half-Life 2" is something completely current though. Everyone alive and paying attention the the industry at the time (not modern /v/) was aware of its technological, narrative and game design achievements and the way games since copied from it.
Of course any 18-year-old going back and playing it now will just think "wtf this is just another mediocre FPS."

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>>388629958
Lol you don't get to say this bullshit 'till you answer me here: >>388629871

It was cool seeing the Combine get fucked before you even get there.

Highway 17 was awful.

Best level is Anticitizen one

So even though Half Life 3 or Ep. 3 was never truly declared dead, it's basically never ever at this point correct? I'm sure Valve would get many buyers who enjoyed the Half Life series but the hype train has certainly left years ago and most if not all of the writers for the original series have moved on from Valve.

I'm not saying that it would be impossible to get new writers but what is Valve even creating at this point? They just seem to be supporting their old games (good on them) and supporting Steam. When was the last time they created a new game or even hinted at creating a new game.

>>388630176
imagine having taste this shit

>>388622004
>half the game's guns just aren't fun to shoot shit with
god, this is so true
it's such a pain to fight enemies with anything other than the gravity gun, shotgun and revolver. The smg is so loud and boring, and the accuracy on both it and the pulse rifle are terrible. The crossbow is fun but impossible to use 99% of the time and the the pok pok pistol is awful

>>388623541
Even if half life 2 is worse than half life 1, that doesn't make half life 2 bad.

>>388630530
>Even if half life 2 is worse than half life 1, that doesn't make half life 2 bad.
what? You're saying 7/10s don't exist?

>>388630530
>the pok pok pistol
I always heard more of a "pof pof"

>>388630486
The writers were only people who even cared at Valve.
They left because no one was making games.

>>388629871

Some of my complaints are personal gripes, but ultimately I feel like all the characters in Half Life 2 are extremely one note, have no development (except maybe Mossman) and it's hard to care about the larger plot because the situation is so hopeless.

And yes while I realize Gordon wasn't a complete demigod the second he reappeared, that doesn't mean that him becoming a resistance movement icon wasn't just a cheap way of empowering the player's fantasies. Same deal with the Alyx crushing on Gordon shit. Gordon simply is not a real character, he's an avatar for the player. Giving him any sort of "place" in the story just feels cheap player pandering.

>How are they bland? Compared to what?

Prey (2006), Halo 1 & 2 and by the time Episode 2 came out the series was competing with Crysis, Far Cry 2 etc.

I think FEAR was very deliberate about its use of mundane environments for supernatural events and they overcompensated for this criticism in the sequels, but it still needed some more variety.

Half Life 2's problem is that it doesn't have labyrnth design, all the levels are instead quite large with a constant forward progression through them. This forces you to play through a very large game area with largely the same skin (i.e Canals, Highway, etc) rather than a smaller area where instead you figure out new paths to different vantage points within the same area. (Ravenholm was the closest to this)

>>388629526
>Half Life 2 really didn't do anything new though. I like the game a ton but it sure as hell isn't revolutionary.
B
O
I

>>388623541

HL2 was not objectively shit compared to HL1. It advanced visual effects and real-time physics well beyond HL1. It was an immense step up in visual fidelity. It showed an attention to detail in terms of level design that was literally impossible in HL1. It provided a usable mod software that allowed the playerbase to make levels. It had far better sound design. It progressed the lore and basically set up the style of the world in the Half Life universe - HL2 was only set in Black mesa. It added physics puzzles, it added vehicle travel, it make the level sizes much much bigger while adding player interactivity to almost everything because of the physics.

There's literally so much shit that I'm skipping most of it here. You can personally love HL1 to your heart's content, but trying to argue that HL2 wasn't an enormous leap for video games is downright wrong.

>>388630530
The Pulse Rifle makes the coolest fucking noises though

>DUHDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHDUH
>vvvvVVVVVVVEEW-BOING

>>388606640

First post
Best post

>>388629131
That's a pretty cool video.

>>388630492
Have fun with your literal sandbox.

>>388629405
Speaking of CM - does anybody know if old versions work on post-orange box HL2? My memory is not really good, but I think early versions mostly just added hi-res textures, so it may worth a try finding them. I think that after 8 or 9 he started going full Hollywood.

>>388630601
No.

>>388630702
I quite liked doctor Breen, as he was pretty understandable and sensible and also had really really nice voiceacting. Wasn't as much of a fan of when he got all smug and villainous at the end (although I liked the idea of being destroyed in every way possible, as well as several ways that are not possible)

Personally, I quite liked the long distances that you travelled, and the whole idea of a big long journey from one place to another.

>>388630887
the DUHDUHDUH was nice but I really didn't like how both it and the smg are so innaccurate, or how you only get like 5 combine balls in the entire game.

Also, is it me or is episode 2 really foggy? Did I just have some kind of setting enable that I wasn't supposed to?

>>388629706
That's pretty agreeable. I enjoy the game and think it's great but it's not the amazing 10/10 shooter the marketing tries to make it out to be, and HL1 is a better game overall. I think most people can agree to this.

>>388629513
>Human resistance vs overwhelming force stories don't do much for me because they're unrealistic.

I always dug the nature of the Combine, and how we know so little of them other than the fact that we need to close their dimension off from ours because they're just way too hard for us to fight off and a fraction of their forces conquered the earth in 7 hours.

> Gordon as a character in the story is also completely ridiculous.
>Alyx romance stuff is also again stupid nerd fantasy shit.

Agree hard. Alyx was just fan service for lonely nerds and Gordon being some legendary hero amongthe rebellion makes 0 fucking sense. He was noteworthy at Black Mesa because the HEV suit made it possible for him to get shit done and survive, but there'd HAVE to be a more combat ready person in the world beyond Gordon. His only talent is the G Man helping him.

>>388629958
>It's a 7/10 game touted as a 10/10 game

Wow, Half Life 2 is overrated, I'm sure that's never been stated before on /v/ or multiple times in this thread and is a thoroughly agreed upon opinion.

>Valve abandoned it was because they realized the gameplay barely held up in 2007 and wasn't going to fly in 2008-2010 when they wanted to release Episode 3.

Not really, Episode 2 is still fucking awesome and not that many other FPS games can stand up to it. There's only really been like two noteworthy singelplayer FPS games released withing the last 6 or so years, it's not like the game would have a ton of competition.

>>388630530
The SMG is the only weapon I don't like in Half-Life 2. It's the only weapon that sounds and feels more powerful than it is. And I've never found much use for it whereas every other weapon has its place.
The pistol is weak, as reflected by the way it sounds, but it is accurate and ammo is plentiful. It is probably the weapon I've found the most use for throughout the games.

>>388622921
>Black Mesa was an inside job
why is this hardcore?
The G-Man gave them the xen crystal that lead to he cesonance cascade
nothing hardcore about actual game story.

>>388630530
>The crossbow is fun but impossible to use 99% of the time
Lrn2hipfire

>>388630702
>Halo 1
Speaking of hopeless situations in which you are basically "The One", Halo 1 does this very well.

I always thought they handled enemy and friendly presence fantastically.
>start of the game: mostly light enemies with light weapons but squad tactics are involved (also thought killing Elites to make the underlings scatter was well done), friendlies are scattered about but well armed
>mid game: both sides are bringing their full arsenals to bear as they are more coordinated while hunting for the "weapons cache" on the installation
>mid game with Flood: 343 Guilty Spark and Library level is like tomb raiding with undead mummies replaced by space zombies, enemy forces are frantic and friendly forces are becoming sparse
>end game: Flood compromise a large portion of enemy forces now, Covenant are scattered and rarely cohesive, friendly human forces are nowhere to be found, basically the goal is "get the fuck off this ring alive and blow it up"

>>388631335
>it is accurate
eh, at short ranges

Whenever an enemy is far away the only weapons you can really use are the revolver (which has fuck all ammo) and the crossbow (which has even less ammo)

>>388631431
the bolts always hit like 5 hours after I fire.

>>388630702
>but ultimately I feel like all the characters in Half Life 2 are extremely one note, have no development (except maybe Mossman)
For sure. The characters don't have any arcs, but they serve their purposes well enough. Sometimes people don't have arcs. Rounded characters.
>and it's hard to care about the larger plot because the situation is so hopeless.
Is it? We start off seeing metropolice fucking with citizens, then Gordon takes a crowbar to the metropolice's face, takes their guns, and continues on.
> that doesn't mean that him becoming a resistance movement icon wasn't just a cheap way of empowering the player's fantasies.
How was it cheap? You start out with a crowbar, then you get a pistol. You keep that pistol for quite a few maps before getting the SMG, then you don't get any other weapons for a long while. Steady escalation.
>Same deal with the Alyx crushing on Gordon shit
None of this is apparent until the last chapter of HL2, which is just one line
>Thanks for coming back for me.
The beginning of Episode One where Alyx hugs Gordon, which is not at all unreasonable. The line
>Hurry back
When Gordon goes into the dark energy core's chamber. And Eli encouraging them to fuck. Four parts across three games. Real cheap player pandering, yeah?
>Prey (2006)
What the fuck? You don't know what you're talking about, do you? Prey takes place on an alien construct. The visuals are completely different and going for completely different moods.
>Halo 1
Halo 1 has copy/pasted room, after room, after room, after room, after room, after room, after room, after room, after room, after room,
>2
Halo 2 is really good. I enjoy it, but the only real similarities are the city battles. Halo 2 has nothing like Highway 17, Ravenholm, Point Insertion, etc.
>You don't know what you're talking about, do you?
>Episode 2 came out the series was competing with Crysis,
Crysis has most games beat to be honest.
>Far Cry 2
Ehhh Africa vs forests.

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>>388630981

Ikr. Always wanted to see a video like that, love how they show the same timeline between them, their advances and developments. The annoucements give a pretty good immersive touch as well.

Too bad the guy didn't added the Decay agmeplay, because some of the announcements like the relay dish ones are from actions from Decay.

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>>388631574
It makes me wonder if there is a full map of the black mesa facility, that would make a rad poster.

Closest I found was this, which is already pretty neat.

>>388631187
>the DUHDUHDUH was nice but I really didn't like how both it and the smg are so innaccurate, or how you only get like 5 combine balls in the entire game.
Much like SW:BF rifles the Pulse Rifle becomes more innaccurate the longer you hold the trigger down. I believe after like 5 or 7 shots the accuracy starts to decrease, but you only need like 4 shots to kill heavy Combine. It leads to the Pulse Rifle becoming more like a power weapon which makes sense because of its low ammo count.

The SMG is a peashooter I agree. I think its purpose of being inaccurate was to force you to close in on enemies instead of hanging back but it just feels so dinky. Also it seemed like you never got as many grenades for the launcher like you did in Half Life.

>foggy episode 2
Maybe. It's been forever since I played it last. It may have been done to reduce draw distances or give it a spoopy vibe.

>>388630702
>but it still needed some more variety.
Did it? What makes you think so?
>with largely the same skin (i.e Canals, Highway, etc)
No. God no. Each area in HL2 was distinct from each other thanks to the brilliance of Viktor Antonov.
>where instead you figure out new paths to different vantage points within the same area.
This isn't inherently an issue, however. Most games would benefit from Crysis 1's level design, but it is not inherently an issue.

>>388631568
I'd say medium range, as far as Half-Life is concerned. You might miss one or two shots because of RNG, but ammo is a non-issue with the thing and the fire rate is high enough that it won't get you killed.

>>388630530
>>388631335
>The smg is so loud and boring, and the accuracy on both it and the pulse rifle are terrible.

Yup, the SMG is the workhorse gun and it's no fun to use. It and the big combine rifle are fucking cone-of-damage bullet spam guns that never feel good to use in FPS games.

It's amazing that EYE uses the same engine and has infinitely better feeling guns.

>>388630702
>and it's hard to care about the larger plot because the situation is so hopeless.

It's not? Why do people keep memeing this shit up?

>>388630860
>You can personally love HL1 to your heart's content, but trying to argue that HL2 wasn't an enormous leap for video games is downright wrong.

Meh, the only really big thing it did was physics, FEAR and Doom 3's lighting was more impressive tech. I really feel like Half Life 2 and Halo CE/2's impact on gaming is always overstated.

>>388631757

The map on video is pretty much on point as well.

Even though it looks a bit different from ur pic. Like how the Lamba Complex is right below Sector C.

All this talking about story in HL1 and HL2 got me thinking about things.
Now, I don't want to say that HL2 has many cutscenes, but they are clearly more numerous than HL1's, and are more like exposition dumps. But why's that? Answer is simple - Valve have cut way too fucking much stuff. Remembering Raising the Bar and beta HL2 makes me think that old HL2 barely had any big scenes in it. It was mostly "show, don't tell" deal, with Freeman visiting so many places: Air Exchange, Arcade, City 17, Outskirts, Borealis and so on. All those places told one way or another how did Earth became what it is now, but since it all was cut out, Valve had to add more talking and cutscenes to explain some plot points, and most got left out anyway.

>>388632348
>It's amazing that EYE uses the same engine and has infinitely better feeling guns.
Engine has nothing to do with how a gun feels??

>>388606559
Worst level

>>388630776
Stop that.

>>388631480
Halo CE does have a really creepy feel to it. You start the game running from the Covenant and then they destroy your giant ship and you end up barely surviving a crashed drop pod escape onto some strange giant satellite just to fucking run from them. The whole game is just you and whatever human forces you have left running on momentum and trying to save themselves and then they get themselves into even more shit by doing that. There's never a safe from harm moment until the end of the game. shame about all those goddamn copy and pasted interiors and backtracking though, fucking hell

>>388631986
Gunplay in Half Life was always about rapidly closing in on the enemy target and spamming the fuck out of the SMG, or hanging back with the Revolver and sniping with it. The Pistol was good for barnacles or headcrabs because it was so weak. The Crossbow was good for sniping and bigger enemies but had low ammo counts. Wall mines are rarely used unless you prefer to bait enemies. C4 was rarely used. Grenades were good for flushing out enemies. Everything else, like the Rocket Launcher or the myriad of energy weapons, was a power weapon best reserved for bosses or large groups of enemies.

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>>388629131
Looks like it's time for another playthrough

>>388632348
>Meh, the only really big thing it did was physics,
Not who you're talking to, but IMO, Half-Life 2 did something entirely different: it made a world feel alive and it had a ton of atmosphere. Sure, FEAR was atmospheric but very limited in its scope and the same can be said about Doom 3. The art direction in HL2 was amazing at the time. While FEAR, while being a game i genuinely love, had a very generic aesthetic and Doom 3 literally looked like a B action film, Half-Life 2 felt like playing Children of Men. Its art direction was something new at the time. This, at the same time as it had big open spaces, beautiful water and fantastic physics. Sure the physics aren't as impressive now, but remember that around the time HL2 was released, there were still games with five different death animations being reused everytime you killed someone.

>>388633135

It's not even a playthrough, it's just the general view and how big of a clusterfuck Black Mesa went after the incident.

>>388632993
The thing is even though you are drastically outnumbered and outgunned by Covenant, at least in the first half of the game you and your human allies put up a good resistance in the made scramble for the "weapons cache". You are clearly a Vietcong-tier rebel force against the might of the Covenant who have plenty of ships and other cool shit that you don't have but you manage to scrape by.

Post-Flood the situation becomes a Grade A clusterfuck. I think the backtracked levels, while somewhat redundant, do wonders for making you feel how different the world became. The areas you have previously traversed are now full of Flood and shit. The game really takes a dark turn when you do the backtracking level to get Captain Keyes. IMO it's one of the better levels in the game because it's just different enough from the level where you enter the Covenant Ship, it's full of Covenant vs. Flood, and it's fucking spooky as hell

>>388633083
In Half-Life 2, I feel more safe using the USP over the MP7 for the rushing in and shooting shit up part.
The shotgun is of course preferable at extreme close range.

>>388632348
>I really feel like Half Life 2 and Halo CE/2's impact on gaming is always overstated.
Half Life 2 gave gamers a love of physics. Halo CE gave gamers a love of plot twists.

Halo 2...a lot of gamers liked its multiplayer. Too bad the PC version was fucking Vista.

>>388606559
>the concept
>how you get there along the last stretch of coastline with your antlion pods
>the fact your pods are useless for the first half makes you feel (unjustly) vulnerable
>the feeling of entering a place where bad things happened before, during, and after the Seven Hour War
>all those empty cells from which headcrabs and zombs and whatnot could, but more frequently, don't spawn
>great compound level design
>varied fights
>the three turret fight
>Antlion bull fight is a nasty surprise for first time playthrough
>relief when Alyx rejoins you
It's the perfect transition between coast and the tower, however short it is. I remember being more terrified of it than Ravenholm when I first played it.

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>>388627502
the cyrilic letters look Bulgarian, however this building is the parliament building in Belgrade. Looks familiar?

it's a gumbo of eastern european cities

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>>388632414
I think that's a straight up model rip, kinda like this one.

>>388617771
>>388617830
That looks cool af.

>>388627006
It didn't matter, valve just forced it on players, to make it seem like it mattered. One doesn't have to do a seesaw puzzle to climb a fucking wall, but it's a great way to show off your wacky physics engine.

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>>388634715
>Looking at the DaS map
>Then the Artorias of the Abyss which lines up perfectly
>Then the fucking mess of a DaS2 map clipping through itself at multiple instances

>>388618291
Presumably the Combine moved everything into the tower as it expanded. Doesn't explain why it's so fortified, but those could be remnants and the soldiers just attack because of Breen's order to hunt Freeman and Alyx.

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>>388623967
>datadisk

>>388635034
It was literally a main draw point of the game, of course they're going to have you use the physics engine to do stuff in the game. Half Life also used puzzles and some minor platforming because it's not a shooter like Doom where shooting is the main focus.

>>388628568
>Max Payne
>Obscure

>>388630530
>the pok pok pistol is awful
shit taste

>>388630702
>Half Life 2's problem is that it doesn't have labyrnth design, all the levels are instead quite large with a constant forward progression through them
that is what makes HL2 so god damned special. It's such a long and varied journey. If they made another labyrinth design THAT would have been a shitty copcat of HL1

>>388630702
It's not a labyrinth, but there are plenty of side areas and hidden caches around every level

>>388631757
God this place looks like hell for a new guy to navigate

>>388631572
>Crysis has most games beat to be honest.
good post

>>388634715
I played DaS for one day, I think I recognize where I was. Is that blue area the area with the spoopy ghosts that raped my poor booty?

>>388629131
oh shit, i just watched this before entering the thread, aside from using vox lines from black mesa it was incredible. But it really put's the whole plot aspect in perspective. Now i want this video but with Doom 3 and system shock

>>388606559
Antlions, atmosphere, sentry gun fun, the idea you were taking it directly to the Combine instead of just running for your life as they chase you.

>tfw no one ever talks about decay even though its another gearbox game

>>388635665
True, although you'd probably get affected to a single sector, have the monorail drop you there and you wouldn't see 90% of the facility.

>>388622752
Literally every citizen escort part is terrible, doubly so with striders. And it's mostly because the AI is so terrible they can't even move to the actual spot you direct them at because the command is only valid for some 10 seconds or if you move more than 10 meters or so from where they are. They're literally cannon fodder and trying to keep them alive requires luck and lots of reloading quicksaves, plus they invariably die to striders no matter what. Not sure if they were meant to be cannon fodder but the game at least gives the player the idea they're not supposed to be since you can get them through the earlier sections easily. As soon as there are snipers or Striders involved it just becomes a fight against the friendly AI more than the enemy AI though and that can't have been the idea behind the design.

>>388629871
I agree, the story was one of the better parts of HL2, it was more movie like in a sense, but it was still great.

I keep hearing that the Combine AI in Half Life 2 is really incredible. If that's true, why does it seem like Combine soldiers get fucking rekt so easily?

Even if you load up GMod and place friendly AI and Combine AI, the friendly AI humans will always win.

>>388634715

Must be.

If you look the Sector C is North, while the Lamba Complex is south.

>>388635729

I liked the Black Mesa announcement instead of the original, gives more depth like i said.

and i wanted the guy to add the Decay game.

>>388624354
>There are no subtitles, no characters, no notes or correspondences, no audio logs, literally nothing to tell a story.
There are some good bits of environmental storytelling though.

>>388613264
That was the worst part of the series by far.

Did they finish Xen yet for Black Mesa?

>>388617697
yeah then like most of HL2's original design they realised it would make for a horrible game

>>388636591
Somebody made a copy of the original Xen for Black Mesa. I'm not sure if Black Mesa team is even making the new Xen anymore.

>>388635112
Datadisk was like a DLC, but it contained a lot more content, and cost much less money, plus it came on an actual disk. The only reason it wasn't called a game is because it required the base game to run.

>>388636591
>>388636710
http://www.pcgamer.com/black-mesas-xen-level-has-been-delayed-again-but-you-can-see-some-new-screens/

>>388625453
You have plenty of ammo and it adds realism and tension. Stop spraying and praying, sperg.

>>388636829
>has been delayed but see some screenshots of what you can't have yet!
this is torture

>>388635305
>it was a gimmick to sell the game
>that somehow makes my argument not count
A gimmick was used as a gimmick, i already knew that.

>>388636816
It wasn't just called an xpac?

>>388636939
>gimmick
No.

>>388636859
>It adds realism and tension!
>Every single time you have to use the rocket launcher there is a box with infinite rockets

>>388635935
Decay wasnt that good, plus before the mod came out, you needed a ps2 to play it.

>>388636910
>spending 7 years developing one quarter of a game that you're copying from anyway
literally what the fuck is wrong with them?

>>388636829

>Xen becomes woodstock at a hippie perspective

>>388636816
yeah, we know, normal people call those expansion packs.

>>388625453
>waah why can't I spam the OP weapons

>>388637006
yes

>>388636953
well i never heard anyone use that term in relation to a datadisc.

>>388637061
>rockets are only available where massive ammunitions transports have dropped them off because carrying one around with the rockets out in the middle of nowhere is retarded

>>388624354
>implying that finding out that black mesa had been experimenting with aliens way before than you thought wasn't a cool twist

>>388635935
It was released where not much people cared about it, and forgotten therefore. True, there is fan port on PC, but it never got popular too, since
>lol half-life is dead
>lol fan game not half-life
and so on. Plus, there already was definitive HL1 coop game, so all Decay could do was staying true to it's name in oblivion.

>>388637119
i live in europe, so maybe we use a different term. Everyone here always called it a datadisk, but i guess it's because our words for expansion and pack are really long, while we literally call data data, and disc disk. The whole world isn't america you know.

>>388637345
I would rate drop the shitty SMG and carry twice the ammount of rockets.

>>388637328
It's better to be the one doing the beatings then getting beat yourself. Plus judging by what some NPC's say, metro police get perks like better food rations and the like.

>>388637435
>i live in europe
So do I nigger. Never in my life have I heard the term datadisk. Maybe in some bad sci fi action movie.

>>388621747
>Crash team racing

My man.

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I just realized I don't have Half Life 2 or Half Life 2: Episode 2 on Steam. How often do they go on sale?

>>388637328
to fuck bitches and not starve

>>388630945
Ah, the quintessential Reddit Response that's found in almost every thread.

My favourite HL chapter is Direct Intervention

>>388637576
>he didn't buy the Orange box a decade ago

How? I pirated almost everything in my life and I still decided that the orange box was worth the 10e price.

>>388637534
i live in Czech republic, expansion is "rozšíření" and pack is "balíček/baťoh/balení..." "rozšiřující balíček" just doesn't make as much sense as "Data disk".

>>388637435
>The whole world isn't america you know.
False

The whole game is mediocre

>>388637773
where I live we just called them expansions or "ekspanzija". Why not do the same and just call it rozšířen? Does it sound weird in Czech?

>>388630486
>I'm sure Valve would get many buyers who enjoyed the Half Life series
It's more profitable to pander to whales in Dota Two and CuckS:GOyim

>>388616958
> tomb raider definitive edition
> rise of TR
> battlefield 3 aftermath dlc
> assassin's creed 3

You cannot be more right unless I'm missing a game

>>388637576
>sale
Half Life 2 is $10 and Ep 2 is $8 right now. Just buy them if you want to play them.
>b-but muh deal!
You'll save $5 and wait until Christmas sale. Woohoo!

>>388636316
Plot armor because they're usually much more combine than rebels together, with striders, mines, drops ships, and turrets on top of it.

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>>388609884
>Breencast is chastising the Overwatch in the background.
>tfw the game itself points out how silly the premise of the game is by calling attention to how ridiculous it is for a limp wrist physicist to defeat entire legions of cyborg super soldiers

>>388637923
well it's quite a hard word to pronounce, it just doesn't roll of your tongue as well. I'm sure that if we had "expanze" as an official word, we would use that.

>>388636316
> If that's true
Because is not.
>We totally make a godlike AI guys!
>We just made maps were they look retarded!
>Is just that hehe!

>>388606559

It wasn't, it was shit, best level is probably coast

>>388636316
They aren't fighting for freedom.

America.gif

corridor shooting, more corridor shooting and mindless turret defense
yeah great level

>>388629927
Max Payne 2 had the same physics before HL2.

HL2's "revolutionary physics" is a fabrication by the retarded gaming press who apparently don't notice features unless they're shoved down their throat.

>>388637576
Don't give them money for a single player game after what they've become.
Just pirate that shit.

>>388637989
Crysis 3

>>388638492
Pirating is for poorfags, especially Eastern euro poorfags. That's what pirating studies say anyway.

>>388638482
but does max payne 2 use them as puzzle elements

>>388638578
I'd bet a nut rich ass greedy misers pirate. You don't get rich spending money you don't have to.

>>388638623
Yeah, it's a lot better.

>>388638623
No, which is a good thing. Physics should be used to add a layer of depth to how the player interacts with the world, not as a gimmick.

>>388636859
>realism and tension

No it does not, saying it adds "realism" is the ultimate non argument when talking about a game's mechanics. Half Life 2 does not go for realism. It doesn't add tension either, they just did it in a bad attempt to balance the weapons.

>>388637129
More like "why can't I use a gun that's fun to actually shoot things with". The SMG and Combine rifle are just spray guns with firing cones on them, they aren't fun to use.

>>388638482
Example? I don't remember any physics a millionth as impressive as the gravity gun.
That games strength was flying through the air in slow mo blasting some schmucks.

>>388638710
Rich people don't care about $60, dude, much less $10. That's like pocket change to them.

>>388638827
Nah, I like actually having to switch weapons, or resorting to weak ones. It makes the game much better. You have shit taste. Go play fallout 4 and you can hoard ammo and use one gun to your hearts content.

>>388638578
>Eastern euro poorfags
WTF I hate pirating now!

>>388638914
You underestimate human greed and the desire for money. Plenty of rich as fuck guys that pack their lunch for work and drive a Honda to save money.

>>388638914
A lot of rich people maintain their wealth by actually being thrifty in every situation they can. I am friends with some rich fucks in my town at least, they still try and save money whenever they can.

>>388638914
God it feels good to have a job again. NEETs really do deserve to suffer. I would know, I was one.

It was fucking shit, only reason I barely replay HL2 is because of Nova Prospekt

>>388639085
oi! What's wrong with us eastern europoors? Afraid of our big dicks?

>>388639118
To add, they didn't get rich blasting off fat stacks on everything. Frugal behavior is engrained in them, and has been heavily rewarded, reinforcing the behavior.
Hence why inheritances evaporate within two generations. Those people don't know that no matter how much money you have, there is inherent value in a single dollar.