10 yrs since hl2......wow

J3RK said:
I've come to the determination that the more modern id games aren't for a lot of people. The people that like them really like them, and then there are the others that just plain don't like them. There isn't much of a middle ground with them. I just find that the overall id aesthetic pulls me in a bit more than a lot of other games. It's not necessarily down to just this or that graphical feature, (though they do play a part,) or how many polygons they used to drawn an imp, etc. It's some collection of their art style, the things they DO choose to focus their engines on, etc. I also like their simplistic play style.
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I like how they went to more than just graphics and run and gun (Serious Sam was fun, but like you said - it does get repetitive and boring). They did a good evolution of the games. It just wasn't for me. They are ok games, but I just couldn't get into them.

Maybe I am not a fan of the corridor style games anymore. It just seemed too much like it was "Go this way, then that way" and planned, rather than open like Far Cry, Just Cause and other games.

I really can't pinpoint why I don't care for Doom 3, Rage and those newer games....
 
I played HL2 first when it released. It was good, not as much as HL1 but I got through it and enjoyed every moment. Never played the episodes, I'm waiting for the final bit of the story before plunking down money. I detect a horrid ending like Lost, I hope I'm dead wrong!

I tried Doom3 demo at release but was just bored to death by it. I enjoyed the graphics and atmosphere, but it just wasn't "fun" to play, more stressful.

I played Far Cry just last year and must say... I REALY enjoyed it, it really holds up nicely. Had I played it when it came out I woulda went nutz about it. Glad I didn't though because I woulda been geeked about #2 and then majorly disappointed.
 
Thunder888 said:
Those were good times - the build-up, delays and leaked code. Doom 3 was OK, but the monster closet approach killed it a bit. Along comes HL2 and it was awesome after all the build-up. Half-life has always been about the story-telling and atmosphere, which it had in spades.


And then Far Cry came along and stole the show. Prolly because no one expected a damn thing from it and it had eye candy to die for. Gave everyone justification for spending all their money on their hardware and still wanting more. Semi-shite story, but I actually remember the plot better than HL2 or D3, go figure. Far Cry 2 was great and crap, all at the same time. Having spent most of my life in Africa, I can say they got it right, but the inability to fast-travel was painful.

They got it right with Far Cry 3 - best game I've played in a long time, barring the faults.
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FarCry released March 2004
HL2 released November 2004

How did FarCry steal the show after HL2? It was not set anywhere close to Africa and why you may think its open world, it really wasn't...it was a very linear game. Sure you aren't thinking of FarCry 2?
 
Domini said:
FarCry released March 2004
HL2 released November 2004

How did FarCry steal the show after HL2? It was not set anywhere close to Africa and why you may think its open world, it really wasn't...it was a very linear game. Sure you aren't thinking of FarCry 2?
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He was saying that Far Cry 2 at least got the African environment right for all the things that were wrong with the game. Notice the surrounding sentence changed the subject focus:
Thunder888 said:
Far Cry 2 was great and crap, all at the same time. Having spent most of my life in Africa, I can say they got it right, but the inability to fast-travel was painful.
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Far Cry was as "open world" as Crysis I think, in that there were large areas to explore in each mission, but the line of progression was still linear. Far Cry 2 was open world in the sense that you could go anywhere in a large map and progress at your own rate.
 
TheMadHatterXxX said:
Yup and then Far Cry came out at the same time and ROFLPw3nd them both.
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I loved FarCry, right up until the point of the fighting the ridiculous mutants. Dunno why but it really put me off of finishing the game. Never did bother.
 
castun said:
I loved FarCry, right up until the point of the fighting the ridiculous mutants. Dunno why but it really put me off of finishing the game. Never did bother.
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I think I got to that forest or something where the mutants showed up and maybe a bit further and then stopped. I think it started to become a bit harder, less interesting and I think scary at the time(I must have been 8 or 9). It was fun though, very different combat compared to HL2.
 
Oh man those were the days. The days where I was much more excited about gaming. I too had the ATI x800. HL2 was an amazing game for its time. Hopefully Im not pushing up daisys by the time HL3 comes out.
 
I built my very first DIY computer when HL2 had been out for a bit. I was so pumped to play. Cooler Master Wave Master aluminum case, one of the early Sceptre monitors (I thought they were neat then). Fired it up and loaded the CDs. And oh that main menu sound... Still hangs with me today. Good times.
 
I recently went through HL2 using the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator (hey, I liked D-r Mossman) almost exclusively. I just wanted to make crazy jumps and drop out of the levels :)

I was stacking all kinds of stuff, then rocket jumping with the gravity gun.

Loads of fun. They don't make games like this anymore. Some don't even allow you to jump, which, for some reason, some people dare to defend...
 
CMadki4 said:
I built my very first DIY computer when HL2 had been out for a bit. I was so pumped to play. Cooler Master Wave Master aluminum case, one of the early Sceptre monitors (I thought they were neat then). Fired it up and loaded the CDs. And oh that main menu sound... Still hangs with me today. Good times.
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I really liked that case. They had that black aluminum model with the blue lights coming out the front. I remember wanting one really bad but could not afford it. I ended up with some antec case which is long gone at this point.
 








i went though my photobucket library looking for old HL2 screenshots but i guess i didn't take any. old EP1 shots will have to do. i think it's time i replay this series.
 
I'm a HL and HL2 fanboy, and won't deny it. However, I can articulate why Valve games, especially these, are hugely ahead of anything else in their time, and even years later. In the case of HL2,
  • Storytelling. No cutscenes or other clunky story mechanics, just a highly discoverable world with scripted events that leads you through some wild action. Main character doesn't speak, so you 'become' him.
  • Variety of environments - when I compare this game to Doom 3, it's eye opening how much better it is. In Doom 3, every level is basically identical. In HL2, I'm navigating waterways on a hovercraft, in an old jail killing giant spider things, in a creepy zombie town, driving on a highway, in a lab, in an alien citadel, in sewers, rooftops, countryside, downtown streets...
  • Level design. Nobody else does this like Valve. NOBODY. Massive level of detail in every level; places thought out to reflect real environments, re-use of structural elements as pathways criss-cross. Locations used cleverly for action sequences. Art direction is basically at a cinematic level. Scripted events for creating ambience and mood. Every single inch has been painstakingly considered.
  • Music - just solid
  • Balance of puzzles and combat. Both very well implemented and further the story, and use the environment around them intelligently.
  • New technology - just as HL broke new ground when it came out, HL2 did as well. Physics - cutting edge. Character facial animation - cutting edge.
This game 'raised the bar', by a huge margin. In this fanboy's opinion, it put pretty much everything else to shame. Wild to think it was 10 years ago.
 
TheMadHatterXxX said:
Yup and then Far Cry came out at the same time and ROFLPw3nd them both.
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So true.

The first Far Cry game was a sleeper hit for me. It just came out of nowhere and blew me away.

As another poster said, it all went to shit when the mutants came along but all in all a great game that we played the shit out of!
 
xIronCrossx said:
I think I got to that forest or something where the mutants showed up and maybe a bit further and then stopped. I think it started to become a bit harder, less interesting and I think scary at the time(I must have been 8 or 9). It was fun though, very different combat compared to HL2.
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Completely agree, a few levels after that point I couldn't even get past a part. I remember I got to a point where I was basically surrounded by enemies and the monsters were there as well. I never did beat the game, but man was it a great showcase for SM2.0
 
the_b_man said:
I'm a HL and HL2 fanboy, and won't deny it. However, I can articulate why Valve games, especially these, are hugely ahead of anything else in their time, and even years later. In the case of HL2,
  • Storytelling. No cutscenes or other clunky story mechanics, just a highly discoverable world with scripted events that leads you through some wild action. Main character doesn't speak, so you 'become' him.
  • Variety of environments - when I compare this game to Doom 3, it's eye opening how much better it is. In Doom 3, every level is basically identical. In HL2, I'm navigating waterways on a hovercraft, in an old jail killing giant spider things, in a creepy zombie town, driving on a highway, in a lab, in an alien citadel, in sewers, rooftops, countryside, downtown streets...
  • Level design. Nobody else does this like Valve. NOBODY. Massive level of detail in every level; places thought out to reflect real environments, re-use of structural elements as pathways criss-cross. Locations used cleverly for action sequences. Art direction is basically at a cinematic level. Scripted events for creating ambience and mood. Every single inch has been painstakingly considered.
  • Music - just solid
  • Balance of puzzles and combat. Both very well implemented and further the story, and use the environment around them intelligently.
  • New technology - just as HL broke new ground when it came out, HL2 did as well. Physics - cutting edge. Character facial animation - cutting edge.
This game 'raised the bar', by a huge margin. In this fanboy's opinion, it put pretty much everything else to shame. Wild to think it was 10 years ago.
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I agree nearly all of this, except where the setting is concerned. For D3, it's a science installation on Mars. How varied can the scenery possibly be. If this setting isn't for you, then cool, but expecting that varied of environments is unrealistic on Mars. Once again, I agree that the variety in HL2 is great, and really makes THAT game. On the other hand, I think that if you look on a more "micro" level, the environments in D3 really are actually varied quite a bit within the overall setting, and in ways that are consistent with it.

As usual, it comes down to taste, but I wouldn't discount one over the other. Both are very well crafted, but they are very much different at the same time. Some of the things you praise (becoming the character through silence, scripted scenes, etc.) are also the way things were done in many of the id games, including D3. Also, even though it's not as integral as say System Shock/BioShock, the emergent portions of D3 add a bit to the play. Reading crew logs, hearing voice recordings, etc. I am also still in awe over some of the over the top giant machinery in D3/Q4/RAGE/etc. The scale of some of it is quite amazing to behold.
 
xIronCrossx said:
I think I got to that forest or something where the mutants showed up and maybe a bit further and then stopped. I think it started to become a bit harder, less interesting and I think scary at the time(I must have been 8 or 9). It was fun though, very different combat compared to HL2.
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Completely agree, a few levels after that point I couldn't even get past a part. I remember I got to a point where I was basically surrounded by enemies and the monsters were there as well. I never did beat the game, but man was it a great showcase for SM2.0
 
Far Cry was one of the most beautiful games IMHO while in the lagoon areas in the beginning up to the carrier. Over the years I have often replayed those first few levels. FC2 - just sucked with the move out of view range respawning enemies. FC3 was pretty good.

HL2 was better than them all. The levels - Ravenholm was eerie and creepy - one of my favorite levels in any game. The story - seemless and immersing. The graphics - facial animation top notch, and generally with the cinematic mod it still holds up today IMO.
 
I'm still convinced that there was a good game hiding under Far Cry 2's bad design.

If they did simple things like a proper fast travel and let you take on more than one mission at once, even the checkpoints wouldn't be so bad.


I never was a big fan of Half-Life 2, but the original Far Cry was a huge game for me. To this day, I still replay it every couple of years (along with other greats like Doom and Descent), and it has held up surprisingly well.
 
I seriously doubt we are going to see another Valve game. They have made way more money being a content middleman.
 
I tried the Doom 3 demo and didn't like the shit-jumping-out-at-you factor.
Far Cry didn't hold my attention. Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance.
Half Life 2 was and still is just stellar.
 
benzino_86 said:
I tried the Doom 3 demo and didn't like the shit-jumping-out-at-you factor.
Far Cry didn't hold my attention. Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance.
Half Life 2 was and still is just stellar.
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HL2 is indeed stellar, but I'd give D3 another try at some point. It's not ALL shit-jumping-out-at-you. There's a lot of that, yes, but there is definitely more to it. The BFG edition is usually pretty cheap, and goes on sale during the sales a lot. I think I picked it up for $5 last time. I imagine there's a summer sale coming up soon.

Also, and granted the story isn't nearly as good as HL2, RAGE is better than most people think/say, and if you like shooters with buggies (like HL2) it's definitely in the category. It looks better, and plays extremely well, but yeah, it can't beat Valve's storytelling. Still solid if you haven't tried it.

As you can tell, I'm an id fan, so I do have a little bias, but I hate to see people pass up decent games.

Far Cry was good, but as is the case with a lot of games, (including id games,) it starts off incredible, and kinda goes downhill a bit as you get toward the end. I wasn't a fan of the trigen portion of the story. Still a good game though if you can grab a cheap copy. I think Crysis was a bit more fun overall though.
 
Did the graphics mods for D3 ever get fixed for the BFG version, which I remember reading broke them?
 
castun said:
Did the graphics mods for D3 ever get fixed for the BFG version, which I remember reading broke them?
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I'm not sure about that actually. I have both versions, and never tried to mod the BFG version. I played SIKK MOD on the original D3 binaries, (though I had to tweak a few weapon defs to balance it out a bit.)

I have BFG installed now, so I could give it a whirl to find out.
 
I haven't tried the cinematic mod for HL2 yet. I remember reading about it a long time ago. Is it mostly visual? (I'll have to go check it out.) Anyway, SIKK MOD was pretty much an entire overhaul. It adds a lot of nice graphical features, but it also tweaks gameplay as well. I think they over-did it on some of the monster difficulty (requiring a ton of shotgun hits to kill an imp for example) so I went into the weapon defs, increased bullet mass, damage per unit of ammo, and added a touch of knock-back just for fun. With those tweaks it felt really good, and looked excellent. There may be others, but this is the one that I've tried.
 
theNoid said:
I've still never finished this game. Got to Ravenholm and was too afraid to go further. :/
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fixed that for you.

i was young when i played half life 2 and can remember how i couldnt wait to gtfo of ravenholm.

half life 2 is still the best single player game ever made imo.
 
does anyone know if the fakefactory cinematic mod any good? don't want to play it if its changed all the character models.
 
Whach said:
does anyone know if the fakefactory cinematic mod any good? don't want to play it if its changed all the character models.
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It's great IMHO, you have the option to keep the original character models fortunately.
 
J3RK said:
I haven't tried the cinematic mod for HL2 yet. I remember reading about it a long time ago. Is it mostly visual? (I'll have to go check it out.)
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It completely redesigns a lot of the game. Every part of the game has high resolution textures. They added some music to the game to create a cinematic feel to it which I don't really care for. It also adds new character models but I believe most of them can be kept to the original

Whach said:
does anyone know if the fakefactory cinematic mod any good? don't want to play it if its changed all the character models.
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Its great, I recommend a try. You can keep the models to vanilla
 
I think they also changed the gunplay and damage around a bit too, parts were a lot harder than I remember.
 
castun said:
I think they also changed the gunplay and damage around a bit too, parts were a lot harder than I remember.
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I think new weapons were added as well, lots of them were silly. I remember having throwing scissors lol
 
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