Half Life thread - Discussions about Valve's FPS magnum opus(es) and any related content (spin offs, expansions and etc)

[Nameless One]

Black Mesa plays worse than Hl1 In the intro and it's a lot harder to know where the fuck you're supposed to go. More complexity in navigation doesn't make a better game.

 

[thhrang]

>It's another Tyler reads off the Miro board I've already 500 times already video.
wake me up when he brings in something new.

He's done another of these:

I think he's stalling for time with these whenever there's nothing new to datamine lol.

 

[The handsome tard]

I agree but most consensus I see is Black Mesa is better than OG HL1, which I vehemently disagree with

What nigga unironically thinks that BM is better than HL1?

 

[Korpon]

What nigga unironically thinks that BM is better than HL1?

R*ddit

 

[The handsome tard]

R*ddit

 

[Star Classic]

What nigga unironically thinks that BM is better than HL1?

Me.

Ok, not better, but it has a special place in my heart. they're pretty equal and I think Black Mesa does most things better but saying a remake is better is cheating because no crap its better, it SHOULD be better, you have hindsight with you. Black Mesa was the first game I ever played on my current PC in 2018, and I'd be lying if part of the reasoning behind building that PC wasn't playing Black Mesa, I pulled an all-nighter and played pretty all of the way through (Xen wasn't out at the time), its one of my most of cherished gaming memories. Man I miss being excited for new games.

 

[Star Classic]

He's done another of these:

I think he's stalling for time with these whenever there's nothing new to datamine lol.

Absolutely. I wish every job was as easy as reading to people who can't be bothered to read.

 

[Diesel]

Black mesa is a totally different game that plays nothing like HL1, I played it just to cross it off the list but I fell no need to go back to it when they added Xen.
The gun-play is different
The movement is different
The maps are different.

It's just puppeting around the skin of Half-life. All it did was make me think god HL1 is such a fantastic game why am I not playing that right now?
It's polished and well done but it does not scratch the itch for me.

 

[Patrick Bait-man]

HL1 and Black Mesa are simply two different games, no matter what anyone wants to say to the contrary. Anyone spouting off that you should play Black Mesa over HL1 are not True & Honest™ fans, Black Mesa is a reimagining for fans of HL1 to experience and it does that job very well. Only consoomers believe a remake can replace the original.

 

[Powerhouse of the Cell]

The Simpsons treehouse of horror did a great classic time travel bit. But I feel like time travel can only make sense under comedy or autistic space sci fi or horror stories. It's open and shut with that part of the episode. A time travel story is best told either within less than an hour or within an anthology that's actually well written.

Parallel universes are usually gay but an exploration of the past especially a characters past or future, can be interesting. We have to go back to the future.

Time travel stories can typically work if it operates within the logic of predestination.

Where when you Time travel, you simply become part of the history in the past that you were always a part of.

It's why Tenet doesn't feel like it has contradictions regarding, and why Doctor Who's time travel works.
Any Time travel story that involves the ability to change the past with Time travel always ends up being a clusterfuck to write.

 

[The handsome tard]

Time travel stories can typically work if it operates within the logic of predestination.

Where when you Time travel, you simply become part of the history in the past that you were always a part of.

It's why Tenet doesn't feel like it has contradictions regarding, and why Doctor Who's time travel works.
Any Time travel story that involves the ability to change the past with Time travel always ends up being a clusterfuck to write.

Time travel can work if the plot does one of two things

1- Builds the plot around it and stick with one theory (aka, pre destination, cycles, new timelines and etc) consistently
2- Uses it as a small part of the setup without much focus given to it (kind like Looper and Terminator where, when asked about how the time travel stuff works, the one sent through time gives a vague dismissive answer like "I dont know, I didnt build the freaking thing" or "We can waste countless hours discussing how it all works but we have more pressing matters atm")

When it is used as an excuse or workaround, that is when problems begin.

 

[Varretnon847]

I think the 1st game is the better one, is that the common sentiment?

Both HL1 and HL2 are equal in my opinion. I’ve tried before to place one above the other, but I feel both games equally have different things about them that I like or dislike, so I can’t say whether I like HL1 or HL2 more, just that I really enjoy both games.

I actually like the Cinematic Mod (outside the dumb NPC models)

I played Cinematic mod 7 years ago specifically just to see the environment changes. Sure, the mod is not faithful to HL2 at all, but I still consider to be an interesting experience to play through HL2’s maps but with a different take on them visually, just as long as you turn off the new character models.

I agree but most consensus I see is Black Mesa is better than OG HL1, which I vehemently disagree with

I don’t know of anyone who thinks BM is better then HL1, except maybe some journalists. I like BM, but I have a hard time viewing it in the same place as HL1 due to how different it is. I respect it as its own game, but it feels so vastly different from HL1 that I don’t think it’s right to view BM as “better” or as a “successor” to HL1. Both games do their own things.

 

[Star Classic]

HL1 and Black Mesa are simply two different games, no matter what anyone wants to say to the contrary. Anyone spouting off that you should play Black Mesa over HL1 are not True & Honest™ fans, Black Mesa is a reimagining for fans of HL1 to experience and it does that job very well. Only consoomers believe a remake can replace the original.

Well this is a growing problem with just about any remake. For some people the very idea that two things can coexist with the same name and be equal is puzzling.

I do wish more games took liberties with naming themselves separately like Black Mesa did, I've been replaying RE4 and boy howdy do I really enjoy having to use (original) or (2005) in every brave search, that sure hasn't gotten old. Even just a subtitle would go a long way.

That said, the more I've been thinking, the more I find how much of an apt comparison this is: Black Mesa is to HL1 what RE4R is RE4.

 

[Historical Strelkov]

Ok, not better,

I think its incredibly telling that you can remake Half-Life 1 in the source engine, but to remake Half-life 2 in Goldsrc means having to build a physics engine because that was the main "valve" driving the game engine. Which is why Half-Life 1 is still the best one. I can just play Half-Life 1, and I don't have to wait very often for Alyx to point at something and go "Oh no Gordon, the combine just left us a physics puzzle...maybe you can use the gravity gun!" I don't have to deal with Half-Life 2's lesser weapon feel or ammo count, or sprinting vs running or whatever.

 

[ifxztykgdnfvmsdjhfbSD]

I prefer Half-Life 2. HL1 is good but nothing in it really compares to sections in HL2 like parkouring along the underside of the bridge as trains go across or fighting your way to the top of a building as Striders blow it up. I do think parts of it tend to drag a bit but I'd rather sit through Kleiner's lab or Black Mesa East than most of HL1 where you're running in circles in a grey room trying to remember which conveyor to follow because the characters are entertaining enough and it only lasts so long before you're on to something exciting. There's not really anything in HL1 that makes me want to go back so I can see it again but I'll often start HL2 just to replay the prison or city war.

 

[Nameless One]

I like them all. Except Black Mesa. I don't like Black Mesa but it doesn't even count cause it's not a real Half Life game by Valve .

Approved or not, I don't give a fuck. It feels worse, looks worse and plays worse than the original game and the 2nd game and has the remake pitfall of dragging out the experience to a degree that's unenjoyable and soul sucking yes even compared to the original XEN segments in HL1, at least I was rewarded with a fun boss battle for my platforming and a cool look at space...

I'd rather fucking play Half Life Source or the original PS2 port that may or may not be a zombified Dreamcast game.


Black Mesa would be a despised remake if it was published and made by Valve. It is a remake that commits every sin in the book and people convinced themselves they liked or preferred it because they saw that behind the scenes documentary on its development, and because it is a project made by fans. This is the same energy some dogshit studio like Virtuos has when remaking games like Oblivion.

Somehow, some way some faggot is going to sperg out over this take down the line. It's pretty hot compared to the lukewarm stances on Black Mesa. But it's a notable one nonetheless. Also the models just fucking suck, if you prefer them to the original soulful polygonal caricatures you'd love Gearbox's HD models. Half Life is an experience that needs no refinement. It's the slippery slope of justifying a remake. Games are allowed to have faults and flaws. You don't have to fucking grind them into palatable puddy for the masses to consume and "experience too" because the original is such a cornerstone of the medium. That's the problem with every remake. Even the RE1 remake that's heralded as a gold standard. They already had Director's Cut. The original game already incentivizes multiple playthroughs with Chris and Jill. They remade the original to justify a GameCube purchase. It wasn't out of love for the original game and you have to have a deep genuine naive nostalgia if you believe a lick of what snakey devs and companies were pulling back then. I have no nostalgia for these, but I do have admiration, and I have played them, so I'm judging with as pure a lens as I can.

The original RE1 remake pads out the game beyond it's original runtime, has some of the worst fucking mechanics out of survival horror, but LOOKS beautiful at the expense of completely removing a lot of what made the original manor a pretty unique atmosphere, albeit obviously an early prerendered game background look. The gameplay is arguably worse due to how sluggish it is, and has additional mechanics that don't need to exist, their only purpose being FUCK YOU let's make this game HARD so we can get extra money off of rented games. It's nice that most of the content is there but the additions only serve to drown what was originally a 3, 4 maybe 5 hour game run into an 8 hour one. Crimson zombies should have been an NG+ feature or something, not on a fucking timer. It stops being scary if you ever try to replay the game and it's like a damn chore versus the original directors cut version. "Oh boy here we go again, I better set up what I can before the timer goes off and has those damn crimson heads spawn...".

RE1 remake is the gold standard because it is the original sin of what remakes went for. And because of its fucking success we've never really recovered. Remaking 2d games is a lot different and can have positive effects since the gameplay is a lot more simple but it's also unnecessary unless the original is so busted it's just not playable, or no one desires to give a shit about the original.

Remakes have poisoned everything. Fuck them and the horse they rode in on. One day someone's gonna try to remake HL2 or HL3 if people still care about that shit. And the same shit will happen.

 

[Jotch]

I like them all. Except Black Mesa. I don't like Black Mesa but it doesn't even count cause it's not a real Half Life game by Valve .

Approved or not, I don't give a fuck. It feels worse, looks worse and plays worse than the original game and the 2nd game and has the remake pitfall of dragging out the experience to a degree that's unenjoyable and soul sucking yes even compared to the original XEN segments in HL1, at least I was rewarded with a fun boss battle for my platforming and a cool look at space...

I'd rather fucking play Half Life Source or the original PS2 port that may or may not be a zombified Dreamcast game.


Black Mesa would be a despised remake if it was published and made by Valve. It is a remake that commits every sin in the book and people convinced themselves they liked or preferred it because they saw that behind the scenes documentary on its development, and because it is a project made by fans. This is the same energy some dogshit studio like Virtuos has when remaking games like Oblivion.

I was not following the development of Black Mesa at all and heard about it after finishing all the Half Life games. I liked it, especially its soundtrack. I was very impressed with how they turned Xen into a second half of the game, particularly after the real Xen was cut super short because of deadlines.

 

[Nameless One]

I was not following the development of Black Mesa at all and heard about it after finishing all the Half Life games. I liked it, especially its soundtrack. I was very impressed with how they turned Xen into a second half of the game, particularly after the real Xen was cut super short because of deadlines.

I hated it. Only thing I can give compliments on is I like the way they use darkness more and maybe a few puzzles.

 

[Conan]

Xen is a nightmarish chitin and flesh covered pocket dimension, not a coral reef rainforest like in BM

 

[30+GameOvers]

Black Mesa is alright, and for better or for worse, people will play that over the original going forward. As long as there is a distinction between the two, there really is no need to get upset.