Right, I forgot. People aren’t allowed to criticize games on the internet.
The best thing about Orange Box is we get to read people’s reviews of HL2 4 years after its original release.
Yeah, “advanced players” don’t need any plot exposition - they just want to know what their next objective is so they can blast through the game.
I enjoyed Ep1, but mainly because my tolerance for linear shooters is about 5-10 hours these days, so I like the shorter play time. Having played through both Bioshock and STALKER recently, it’ll be interesting to see how Ep 2 holds up for me.
Right, I forgot. People aren’t allowed to criticize games on the internet.
It’s only natural. If you’re going to bash a game with such a huge fan base, it’s logical that those same people are going to come back to you when your game ships and doesn’t address any of the things you were preaching from your soap box. shrug
And we all know only a single person makes a game.
Oh, and really, as far as I’m concerned, people can say and critique anything they want about any game I’ve worked on. Chances are in most cases I’ll agree with them. Not sure how that’ll mesh with your strange view that I’ll suddenly develop some radical double standard.
And we all know only a single person makes a game.
Oh, and really, as far as I’m concerned, people can say and critique anything they want about any game I’ve worked on. Chances are in most cases I’ll agree with them. Not sure how that’ll mesh with your strange view that I’ll suddenly develop some radical double standard.
Hey, I’ve been through it. I’ve lost count of the number times that I, personally, was blamed for all of Wheel of Time.
I’m just saying that you’re talking a lot of shit and if AC doesn’t address any of it, be prepared for backlash.
Yeah well, you won’t be stuck in a tunnel in AC. So consider it addressed.
Play Portal first. Then determine whether you want to play a single-player FPS (Half-Life 2, followed by the Episodes) or a multi-player FPS (TF2). Revise this decision as necessary.
I’m slowly playing my way through Half-Life 2 for the first time. The thing to remember about the automatic pistol is that there are two ways to use it effectively: as a poor man’s sniper weapon (because FPS cliche law dictates that light pistols are more accurate than rifles), or as a time trial where you score points based on how fast you empty the clip. In the first role, it can be used to modest effect at long range, and in the second, it can be used to modest effect at short range, but it is a very poor mid-range weapon, especially against targets that move around and use cover the way Overwatch/NP Guards/etc. do.
Here’s how I try to deal with those guys:
Long range, stationary: crossbow, magnum, automatic if no ammo for the others
Long range, movement: bugbait if feasible, crossbow or magnum if feasible, otherwise get closer
Medium range: pulse rifle, magnum, SMG, shotgun if you can afford to use the ammo in sub-optimal situations
Medium range, tight group: grenade, SMG alt-fire, pulse rifle alt-fire
Short range: shotgun, magnum, pulse rifle, SMG, crowbar, possibly the automatic
A few things I’ve noticed:
- The magnum is an all-purpose weapon. It can fill any role. But it’s also easy to exhaust its meager maximum ammo.
- A good grenade is almost magical in terms of how much ammo and health it can save. But watch out for the blast radius, because your own grenades will hurt you far worse than the enemy’s.
- The SMG can handle most immediate threats, albeit poorly, and ammunition for it is often plentiful. (During Highway 17, you have access to a literally unlimited supply.) Its alt-fire is a great emergency option. It is the best firearm for killing headcrabs.
- The shotgun is fairly effective at medium range, but really shines at close range, where decent headshots make its six-shot capacity a promise of five or six dead guys.
- Never underestimate the crowbar.
- You can’t count on having good throwables for the gravity gun. This ain’t Bioshock.
- The crossbow’s not really as good for sniping as the magnum, but you’ll use it anyway because it doesn’t have any other applications and magnum bullets are too precious. On the bright side, even a body hit with the crossbow seems to be a killer.
- The automatic has a fair amount of ammo and is accurate, but doesn’t do very impressive damage. It’s good for shooting at your leisure (i.e., when stuff can’t get to you, like barnacles), for killing headcrabs at mid-range, for blowing up exploding barrels, for sniping (aim for the head and expect to need a lot of shots), and (with the fastest rate of fire you can manage) as an emergency close-range weapon.
No, that’s wumpus.
Yeah, “advanced players” don’t need any plot exposition - they just want to know what their next objective is so they can blast through the game.
I was making the reference in the context of gameplay, and I fail to see how it doesn’t apply. I wasn’t inferring that the more advanced players don’t care about the plot, I was illustrating how stopping all relative gameplay so Gordon can listen in on a round table discussion is boring and has nothing to do with some of the best strengths of HL1.
In HL1 you’d come across scripted events, but they were designed to seem “sporadic” like an elevator crash, a scientist getting sucked through the ceiling or pounced by a headcrab in a strobe-lit room; all of this was built around the concept of the facility being invaded, the cascade, etc.
You didn’t walk into a room full of scientists that said “Oh, well this happened and now that happened and now here, take this GravGun and go do this” - that was at the beginning of the game, in the introduction when you were required to manipulate the element into the machinery array. Compared to Quake 2 this was pretty “involved” story telling.
I don’t recall anything like that used as a device to set up new gameplay elements or explain the plot further, and that’s all I have seen in HL2. It seems to have devolved into a matter of presentation over substance.
Also, I don’t think it’s fair to rag on Charles criticisms simply because he works on games. I’ve seen individuals on this board question the “validity” and “qualifications” of others opinions because they aren’t involved with the industry, in production or as a game reviewer. You can’t have it both ways, an opinion is just that and needs no relative qualification with internet credentials.
Heheh. I always got a kick out of the fact that the Magnum is Half Life’s equivalent of the BFG. It’s good at long range, medium range, short range, its good for bosses, its good for grunts, its a get out of jail free card basically.
That’s why I only use the Magnum in emergencies. If I’m ever in a situation where I’m overwhelmed, I bring out the magnum for those guaranteed one-shot kills.
I have to agree in this situation that in most of the linear, event driven gameplay that the Half Life series excels at, it wouldn’t be advantageous to gameplay to just let the player open every door, especially if there’s not much in those rooms.
Of course, I think what Charles is asking for isn’t just that you be able to open the doors, but for the game not to be so blatantly linear. I have to agree with the blatant part, but I do think the Half Life series has made its bread and butter from being a linear event-driven shooter, and they’re some of the best at doing this kind of thing. I just also agree with Charles that in Episode 1 they were perhaps more blatant about it, and a little sloppy as compared to their previous efforts.
I don’t really want the Half Life series to stop being about linear story-telling, so I agree with LesJarvis that adding any half-assed attempts at multiple paths and non-linearity would actually take away from what the series is good at.
On the note of advanced players –
At the very least it would be nice to have a bit of branching in the cutscenes. I see some plugs, I see some equipment not working, why can’t I fix it while the exposition happens? Doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention, it just means I’m rewarding myself by paying attention.
Instead, I have to wait till the exposition is done, then wait for alyx to use the climb ability that’s apparently not possible for me in my power suit (god but that would be a nice addition to HL gameplay), just so that she can joke about not knowing how she fixed it, when all I needed to wait for was the scene to unlock the missing plug that I knew was there.
It’s the obsessive and oppressive game design that drives me up the walls. I understand developers wanting players to see the narrative, it’s something that almost every single game struggles with. But that doesn’t mean you can needlessly retard the player with impunity. Allowing the player to feel clever and get things done faster is something that just about any player (even Les “I have sex with half life 2 I love it so much” Jarvis) can appreciate. It would make the experience better.
But they don’t do it. Because they are stuck thinking the same way about things and don’t actually try and improve their formula.
Don’t get me wrong. Their fine tuned experience prints them money, and that’s cool. I just don’t think having a machine that prints money means you should neglect it and assume it can’t get any better.
But hey, that’s just me, a grunt programmer.
Also, I don’t think it’s fair to rag on Charles criticisms simply because he works on games. I’ve seen individuals on this board question the “validity” and “qualifications” of others opinions because they aren’t involved with the industry, in production or as a game reviewer. You can’t have it both ways, an opinion is just that and needs no relative qualification with internet credentials.
I agree to an extent but then there’s a side of me that doesn’t. (analogy alert) It’s like a cook saying, “That other restaurant always burns their steaks! It’s ridiculous! BTW, we burned your steak but, whatever, it isn’t like I was the only one responsible for it.”
Besides, Charles’s criticisms would be fine if he didn’t belittle and deride anyone who disagreed with them.
It would be more like Stalker or Crysis, lots of doors, most of them work, one objective with a lot of ways to get to it.
And where exactly did I do that? Are you talking about the brain-free comment? That wasn’t an insult against any player, just the game design.
just about any player (even Les “I have sex with half life 2 I love it so much” Jarvis) can appreciate.
ahem
Oh screw you. We’re all crappers here. That’s just par for the course. It’s a friendly ribbing. If Les thinks it’s a giant insult instead of a joke then I’ll edit it out.
I was pretty sure you were humping your Deus Ex CD when you wrote that anyway.
It’s true, I store it in my pants.
I liked Stalker and I liked Far Cry (haven’t played any of Crysis yet) but I don’t need HL to mimic them. They all use perfectly valid yet different approaches to the genre.
This whole thing reminds me of all of the “After Gears and Rainbow 6 I just can’t play a shooter without a cover system” comments from last year. I enjoy the slower paced, more tactical shooters as much as anyone but it doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy a well done run and gun shooter like Half Life or Resistance.
Shooters, first and third person, are pretty much the majority of games these days so I don’t see why there isn’t plenty of room for multiple styles of play within the genre.
Hey man, who doesn’t??