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TheFluff posted:This is true but the term itself goes back to the first game where the third chapter (which starts immediately after the test chamber explodes) is called "unforeseen consequences". Well, obviously. I'm just saying that's why Eli says the line, he's lamenting the G-Man's warning of unforeseen consequences. Also the reason I'm using spoiler tags is because all of this directly relates to the extremely unexpected ending of HLA. It's pretty easy to infer spoilers from just those words for anyone who happens to remember the dialogue and I'd rather not have somebody get mad at me for accidentally spoiling HLA.
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Mar 24, 2020 14:35
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SCheeseman posted:The gags serve a gameplay purpose, they defalte tension. I haven't had a problem with the writing quality and it seems mostly up to par with Portal 2, I've found the jokes to be pretty funny. Why the need to deflate tension? Why build anticipation in a setpiece, only to flatten it out with non-sequiturs? It's shooting yourself in the foot. Also, the gags don't serve a gameplay purpose. Nothing in the game advances, neither the characters or gameplay, with the inclusion of gags. That's why gag humor is reserved for things like American Dad and lovely Pixar knockoff movies. Also, the fact that they can't use just a Vortigaunt and write him well, having to rely on a Vort that has BrAiN dAmAgE who is crazy and wacky is a baaaaad loving sign. The Vort that accompanies you in episode 2 is wonderfully written AND funny without having to rely on a crutch to not write a compelling character. End of Shoelace fucked around with this message at 14:46 on Mar 24, 2020 |
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Mar 24, 2020 14:40
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End of Shoelace posted:Why the need to deflate tension? Why build anticipation in a setpiece, only to flatten it out with non-sequiturs? It's shooting yourself in the foot. Too much tension and people just stop playing. I'm guessing you were not a fan of Portal 2.
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Mar 24, 2020 14:44
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Naw, gags are good. Alyx is good. Few hours in and no real complaints so far.
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Mar 24, 2020 14:44
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SCheeseman posted:Too much tension and people just stop playing. People sometimes had to leave the theaters to finish watching The Excorcist. Is this a sign the movie should have had a computer UI cracking jokes at you in the corner?
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Mar 24, 2020 14:49
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End of Shoelace posted:People sometimes had to leave the theaters to finish watching The Excorcist. Is this a sign the movie should have had a computer UI cracking jokes at you in the corner? For someone who complains about poor writing, you sure do say a lot of dumb poo poo.
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Mar 24, 2020 14:50
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End of Shoelace posted:People sometimes had to leave the theaters to finish watching The Excorcist. Is this a sign the movie should have had a computer UI cracking jokes at you in the corner? People in thr 70s were a hardier breed. Modern gamers are as likely to simply give up or disengage
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Mar 24, 2020 14:50
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End of Shoelace posted:Why the need to deflate tension? Why build anticipation in a setpiece, only to flatten it out with non-sequiturs? It's shooting yourself in the foot. This has kinda always been the tone for Half-Life man, even HL1 had plenty of jokes and moments of levity. The series takes after action movie classics and it's a staple in that genre to have plenty of humor. One liners are inextricably connected with Arnold movies for example.
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Mar 24, 2020 14:54
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Ah yes, the Half-Life tradition of a huge room filled with explosives and improbably placed tripwire mines.  Who tf put these here anyway??
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Mar 24, 2020 14:55
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JK Fresco posted:People in thr 70s were a hardier breed. Modern gamers are as likely to simply give up or disengage There's plenty of film today that makes The Exorcist seem tame by comparison (and I absolutely love The Exorcist) it's kind of a joke to say people in the 70s were a "hardier breed" when it comes to entertainment as modern media tends to be far more gruesome and dark in general than most of what you saw back then. The envelop gets pushed and new artists need to find ways to unsettle people again so it's almost a linear process.
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Mar 24, 2020 14:56
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VR games have an enormous advantage in terms of enviromental storytelling compared to most game genres. To note, the world designers in Alyx were very much on the ball with this, with choices like starting you on a balcony serving as a clear connection between the ingame world and the limitation of wearing a VR headset. In the first 10 minutes of gameplay, you are given a headset to listen to a telephone discussion between two non-compelling characters, taking you out of the enviromental storytelling. They trade something with true value with something much worse.
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Mar 24, 2020 14:59
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Al Cu Ad Solte posted:Ah yes, the Half-Life tradition of a huge room filled with explosives and improbably placed tripwire mines. Gordon Frohman strike again.
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Mar 24, 2020 15:06
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Only played 15 minutes but so far very very impressive. The striders are really scary, I can feel my hairs stand up whenever they come into view.
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Mar 24, 2020 15:07
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Thoughts/questions Is there no way to sprint? I can’t seem to go faster than the basic walking pace. Same for crouching. Obviously I can crouch in real life, but is there no button? Game runs really well on my 1080ti/Ryzen 2600x. I left it at the settings it auto picked for me and it’s pretty much flawless. I really wish switching the hand that you hold your gun with didn’t switch the hands you use to move and turn. I want my locomotion controls “right handed” but I want to hold the gun in my left hand The art design in the QZ is positively disgusting and extremely organic. It’s very effective. I’m blown away at how much detail goes into the level designs. They include things like suspended ladders for holding cables and building code type of stuff that even if you don’t know what it’s for, you’ve seen in IRL buildings and it really adds to the feeling of it being a real place I’m really liking it.
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Mar 24, 2020 15:09
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Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:This has kinda always been the tone for Half-Life man, even HL1 had plenty of jokes and moments of levity. Gordon is not a classic action movie hero, though. He is the player, mute and dumb. One-liners are not connected to the writing of the half-life series in any large way. There ARE one-liners, but this isn't James Bond we're talking about. The single one-liner I can think about in HL2 is: "Doctor Freeman, I presume." Which is directly from Henry Stanley finding doctor David Livingstone, working as a nice quip on Gordon's absence and as character writing for Alyx, establishing her as someone who is possibly quite book-smart in terms of old literature, and knowing of old-world "forbidden knowledge".
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Mar 24, 2020 15:10
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End of Shoelace posted:Gordon is not a classic action movie hero, though. He is the player, mute and dumb. I was using one liners as an example of how humor has been a consistent presence in otherwise serious subject matter in a particular genre, not that they were a traditional aspect of the HL series.
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Mar 24, 2020 15:12
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Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:I was using one liners as an example of how humor has been a consistent presence in otherwise serious subject matter in a particular genre, not that they were a traditional aspect of the HL series. Well, what's your point then? That Half-Life has one-liners? That is objectively TRUE, but... Also, if Half-Life takes after any action movie series, it's The Matrix, not Arnold movies.
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Mar 24, 2020 15:22
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I was not ready to see the inner workings of Combine machinery, but in hindsight, I'm not that surprised, given how they mesh organic and mechanical for their armies - the Hunters, Striders, Drop and Gunships are all living things with armor strapped on What's next, seeing how a Stalker is made?  
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Mar 24, 2020 15:22
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End of Shoelace posted:Well, what's your point then? That Half-Life has one-liners? That is objectively TRUE, but... My point was that Half-Life had always had a sense of humor and that the genre that it's a love letter to inspired that sense of humor, my specific examples were only that, examples. It's not about which specific films so much as the general aesthetic that it's clearly attempting to homage.
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Mar 24, 2020 15:24
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End of Shoelace posted:Well, what's your point then? That Half-Life has one-liners? That is objectively TRUE, but... HL came out before the matrix though?
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Mar 24, 2020 15:26
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Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:My point was that Half-Life had always had a sense of humor and that the genre that it's a love letter to inspired that sense of humor, my specific examples were only that, examples. It's not about which specific films so much as the general aesthetic that it's clearly attempting to homage. Sorry, but Half-Life has very little to do with old action movies, humor or otherwise. None of the jokes I can think of in Half-Life seem inspired by 80s action movies, unless you count driving the HL2 dune buggy 80mph into an electric pole and being totally unharmed like Arnie in Commando. You could then argue that the invincible carnage machine protagonist type ala Doom and Quake is a reference to Arnold movies, but this would make literally every action FPS with a gun into Arnold movie references.
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Mar 24, 2020 15:44
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End of Shoelace posted:Sorry, but Half-Life has very little to do with old action movies, humor or otherwise. None of the jokes I can think of in Half-Life seem inspired by 80s action movies, unless you count driving the HL2 dune buggy 80mph into an electric pole and being totally unharmed like Arnie in Commando. Jesus Christ man. The Drill Sergeant in OpFor, Barney's quips throughout the entirety of HL1 and 2, the multiple goofy hazard setups where scientists get killed in dumb ways in HL1, Lamar in HL2, the cat joke in HL2, Alyx's quips throughout HL2, Kleiner's comments about procreation in Ep2. I could go on and on and on. The obvious issue here is that you're just insanely obtuse and are obsessed with hyperspecifity, HL as a series is so incredibly intertwined with the DNA of the action genre across the decades that if you can't spot it because you need literal, on the nose references to get it then that's your problem.
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Mar 24, 2020 15:54
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Has anyone found a way to reset your orientation like you could in Saints and Sinners? I got tired half way through my play sessions and wanted to play seated, but I couldn't adjust my height, or reset what the game considered as 'forward' (where the feet on the ground point). The game is loving phenomenal though and I don't feel bad buying a Rift S just for this. VR is getting good boys.
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Mar 24, 2020 15:56
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How could anyone forget Zombine
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Mar 24, 2020 15:56
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Are you guys playing standing or sitting like true goon?
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Mar 24, 2020 16:07
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Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:Jesus Christ man. The Drill Sergeant in OpFor, Barney's quips throughout the entirety of HL1 and 2, the multiple goofy hazard setups where scientists get killed in dumb ways in HL1, Lamar in HL2, the cat joke in HL2, Alyx's quips throughout HL2, Kleiner's comments about procreation in Ep2. I could go on and on and on. Opposing Force is pretty much Full Metal Jacket. I would hardly label that an action movie, seeing how it's not an action movie and satirizes war movies. Barney is maybe a buddy-cop kind of character? And sorry, I don't get how Lamarr is a reference to action movies, as he (it?) is a reference to classic cinema actress Hedy Lamarr. Maybe he's a bit like a facehugger? Half-Life (meaning the series) is referential to some movies, creating its own narrative with them, not a "love letter". Anyway, can someone defend the writing in Half-Life: Alyx?
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Mar 24, 2020 16:07
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End of Shoelace posted:Opposing Force is pretty much Full Metal Jacket. i'm not convinced you are familiar with either of these things if you think this
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Mar 24, 2020 16:13
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End of Shoelace posted:Opposing Force is pretty much Full Metal Jacket. You should watch that movie and play Opposing Forces instead of just talking about them like you have, I have to assume you haven't done either because lmao what
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Mar 24, 2020 16:18
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cargohills posted:i'm not convinced you are familiar with either of these things if you think this Opposing Force literally starts with drill sergeant Cheap Jeremy Ermey screaming at you to get your rear end in gear in boot camp. A dramatic time and genre shift happens, and helicopters carry the newly trained marines into an exotic land to fight with an elusive, strange enemy. OpForce unfortunately has almost no commentary on its subject matters, unlike Full Metal Jacket. Structurally they are very similar. A thread challenge: remove, in your head, Russel from Half-Life: Alyx. How do the story and narrative change? End of Shoelace fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Mar 24, 2020 |
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Mar 24, 2020 16:19
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End of Shoelace posted:Opposing Force literally starts with drill sergeant Cheap Jeremy Ermey screaming at you to get your rear end in gear in boot camp. A dramatic time and genre shift happens, and helicopters carry the newly trained marines into an exotic land to fight with an elusive, strange enemy. Half-Life Alyx is good. Great, even. It will be remembered as such.
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Mar 24, 2020 16:23
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End of Shoelace posted:Anyway, can someone defend the writing in Half-Life: Alyx? Yes, it's good OP. Does exactly what it's supposed to do. I'm not sure why you came into a half-life game expecting heavy dialog-driven story.
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Mar 24, 2020 16:25
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Is it me or is there no smooth turning? I turn quick turn off and it’s STILL on. Is there a dev console command to force it off? I loving hate snap turning.
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Mar 24, 2020 16:26
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Smooth turning is broken, bug fix is coming from what I understand. Also, the writing is pretty good. I especially like Alyx asking to have someone talk to her in the dark.
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Mar 24, 2020 16:28
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Sekenr posted:Are you guys playing standing or sitting like true goon? Standing. It's more immersive.
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Mar 24, 2020 16:28
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NtotheTC posted:Yes, it's good OP. Does exactly what it's supposed to do. I'm not sure why you came into a half-life game expecting heavy dialog-driven story. I'm sorry, I was spoiled by the good (in terms of video games) writing of Half-Life 2 and its episodes. HL2 has some dialogue and tells a lot. HL: Alyx has some dialogue and tells very little. You get more about Breen's character in about 10 minutes of dialogue than you get with Russel in 30 minutes. I do agree that Half-Life: Alyx is a good game, but not well written. The enviroments tell a better story than any of the characters. I suggest turning character dialogue to 0 in the volume options to get the true Half-Life: Alyx experience. End of Shoelace fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Mar 24, 2020 |
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Mar 24, 2020 16:31
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So...needs more Zombine jokes?
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Mar 24, 2020 16:44
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I think the jokes kind of mirror the players headspace as evidently the first thing anyone does when they get in the game is draw dicks on the glass and throw things at pigeons. It doesnt want to immediately tell the player to get srs.
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Mar 24, 2020 17:07
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I smashed a pot and a chunk of it hit the cat that’s on the balcony below and I felt terrible 
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Mar 24, 2020 17:10
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The zombine joke is pretty nice. It's a rare, occasional joke by Alyx, giving us an idea what kind of humor she likes: very dry, taking this into context with the doctor Livingstone quip. She is awful at telling jokes, but tries regardless. It'sa very nice use of Gordon's muteness to make a second layer for the joke, as she gets no response and is left laughing by herself. There's also the more abstract joke of "combining" two things together awkwardly in the context of the Zombine itself, like the two entitities themselves, or the words Zombie and Combine. Also worth mentioning is the ironic aspect of an alien race striving for singularity finding themselves the victims of it. Here's a joke in Half-Life: Alyx. Russel says he has downloaded the entire internet. This means Russel has hundreds of gigabytes of child porn and animal torture videos on his hard drive. What does the joke tell us of Russel? That he really downloaded the internet? That he's maybe a liar? Most of the dialogue by Russel tells us that he is maybe autistic and Alyx finds him annoying. If he really DID download the internet after all... why is downloading the internet funny? What makes it a joke? End of Shoelace fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Mar 24, 2020 |
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Mar 24, 2020 17:11
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End of Shoelace posted:Here's a joke in Half-Life: Alyx. Russel says he has downloaded the entire internet. This means Russel has hundreds of gigabytes of child porn and animal torture videos on his hard drive. What does the joke tell us of Russel? That he really downloaded the internet? That he's maybe a liar? Most of the dialogue by Russel tells us that he is maybe autistic and Alyx finds him annoying. I think the problem is you.
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Mar 24, 2020 17:19
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