|
sigher posted:There probably wasn't any sort of vehicle since that would require the player to sit down in order for it to be immersive, unless you're driving some weird-rear end vehicle that has you standing to drive it. A platform strider. I could see that causing a lot of performance problems by moving over the city and it likely would have ended up a glorified elevator so it's probably for the best that it didn't happen.
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 05:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 06:39 |
|
|
End of Shoelace posted:Rumor is that Dandridge pissed someone off in one of those secular Valve employee cadres. As far as she knows, she had finished a large part of the voicelines for HLA, then she got the shoe pretty much out of nowhere. She IS very vocal about her character, and worked very closely with the writing team in previous installments. This sounds like every theory about a vocal woman pissing off people in the company I've heard over the past 7 years.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 05:22
|
|
|
sigher posted:There probably wasn't any sort of vehicle since that would require the player to sit down in order for it to be immersive, unless you're driving some weird-rear end vehicle that has you standing to drive it. Yeah that's fair. The cannon at the end to kill the strider already felt awkward.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 05:25
|
|
|
2kliksphilip did a review of the game. I've liked his videos on source engine physics+lighting and Counterstrike. His observations and criticisms echo some of what has been said here.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 05:28
|
|
|
Which also reminds me - I really hated the loading in this game. It's kind of a trope with half life games, but I don't understand why Valve still needs to have these 2 minute-long loading screens between levels. God of War has managed to do a form of asset streaming to eliminate load times. What was especially annoying was dying - I would go back 10 feet to my last save and that would take as long as loading a new level! It doesn't seem to be optimized very well.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 05:35
|
|
|
WOWEE ZOWEE posted:Which also reminds me - I really hated the loading in this game. It's kind of a trope with half life games, but I don't understand why Valve still needs to have these 2 minute-long loading screens between levels. God of War has managed to do a form of asset streaming to eliminate load times. What was especially annoying was dying - I would go back 10 feet to my last save and that would take as long as loading a new level! It doesn't seem to be optimized very well. Which games have 2 minute loading screens? I haven’t played Alyx yet, but Black Mesa’s loading screens are a quick 10 seconds or less for me, and that game is more graphically demanding than the episodes. I actually like how inconspicuous the level loads are, especially in the older games when it’s so quick it seems like you’re in one huge and continuous area.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 05:42
|
|
|
chaosapiant posted:Which games have 2 minute loading screens? I haven’t played Alyx yet, but Black Mesa’s loading screens are a quick 10 seconds or less for me, and that game is more graphically demanding than the episodes. I actually like how inconspicuous the level loads are, especially in the older games when it’s so quick it seems like you’re in one huge and continuous area. Believe it or not no one had an SSD when Half-Life 2 came out. My loads in Alyx felt like they took 30 seconds at the most, although I do have it loaded on a really fast NVME drive. On a different topic, did anyone else think the sounds for physics items were too quiet? Like when I dropped a can or something it felt like it should have been two or three times louder.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 05:51
|
|
|
WOWEE ZOWEE posted:Yeah that's fair. The cannon at the end to kill the strider already felt awkward. That's the one thing in Alyx that felt pretty janky, it didn't feel good at all to do. chaosapiant posted:Which games have 2 minute loading screens? I haven’t played Alyx yet, but Black Mesa’s loading screens are a quick 10 seconds or less for me, and that game is more graphically demanding than the episodes. I actually like how inconspicuous the level loads are, especially in the older games when it’s so quick it seems like you’re in one huge and continuous area. Alyx's loading screens aren't 2 minutes, but they're long enough to be noticeable and they can be quite frequent, the worst part about the loading is that the performance will take a couple of hits and the frame rate will drop and it can be nauseating. I grew accustomed to just closing my eyes for 20-30 seconds so I wouldn't deal with the frame rate drops. It's pretty lame Valve didn't have have maps stream in, that should be an absolute must for VR to be honest.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 05:57
|
|
|
I haven't had any frame drops during loading screens. I have had a few times where the game kind of locks up and just flashes the screens which causes me to take the headset off. Then once that stops, then it starts loading. It's only happened a couple times though. Most of the time I'm just looking at the map for maybe 30-60 seconds and then it loads in. But I do have it on an m.2 drive.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 06:03
|
|
|
I have 3 m.2 NVMe's in RAID 0, it still happened for some reason.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 06:24
|
|
|
WOWEE ZOWEE posted:2kliksphilip did a review of the game. I've liked his videos on source engine physics+lighting and Counterstrike. His observations and criticisms echo some of what has been said here. I had the same issue he had with the shotgun. The ammo was scarce for it and it was a more powerful weapon than the pistol, so I reserved it for powerful enemies/when I had more ammo. But the game barely gives you shells, so it was my less used weapon by far. I should have used it more, then the game would have spawned more shells for it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 07:31
|
|
|
I feel like they could solve that by just chucking you a few extra shells every so often to encourage you not to stay so maxed out with it
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 07:44
|
|
|
Turin Turambar posted:I had the same issue he had with the shotgun. The ammo was scarce for it and it was a more powerful weapon than the pistol, so I reserved it for powerful enemies/when I had more ammo. But the game barely gives you shells, so it was my less used weapon by far. I should have used it more, then the game would have spawned more shells for it. I feel like the shotgun shell pickups should have all been the kind in a box. The single shells were so tiny and nondescript that they were way too easy to miss.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 07:51
|
|
|
I think if you use it more, the game will give you more shells. I have a feeling that it will only let me have a certain number of shells. If I stop using it, I get one or two shells. But if I reload a save, and use the shotgun more, it will give me whole boxes in places where before there was nothing. ^^^ yeah there are times when I go through an area again and realize there was a shell on the ground. They also don't seem to glow like ammo for other guns.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 07:53
|
|
|
That kind of design really frustrates me. It's annoying when you're the kind of person who hoards items or ammo, and it's even more annoying when you realize the game was purposely not giving you any more of something because it decided you already had 'enough'. I understand the need to have infinite pistol ammo available, given the design of some of the puzzles and the lack of melee combat for when you run out of ammunition. But the exploration would really be more satisfying (at least for me) if the rest of the pickups were either hand-placed or truly randomized.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 08:05
|
|
sigher posted:There probably wasn't any sort of vehicle since that would require the player to sit down in order for it to be immersive, unless you're driving some weird-rear end vehicle that has you standing to drive it. Uh, friend, a segway is not a "weird rear end vehicle", and it would have been nice for HL:A to at least try incorporating one--perhaps with some orange lambdas spraypainted on it, and a tau cannon.
|
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 08:22
|
|
|
Turns out mouse + keyboard was supported the whole time and valve forgot to remove them after release. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp5ux4CU-SU Obviously still very janky but enough of it works out of the box that stitching things together probably won't take forever.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 08:28
|
|
|
Lambert posted:Moaning about "secular" cliques is pretty much prime right-wing dog whistle, maybe don't repost any old garbage from reddit, even if its fanfic about the inner workings of Valve. Ah yes, Reddit garbage, not that I was even the person who originally posted the rumor. Indeed, that's what happened. There certainly haven't been multiple instances of ex-employees, verified or anonymous, having complaints about how Valve runs internally. No, this is all just nonsensical Reddit rumors made by alt-right whoevers about Valve being ruined forever. Notable former employees like Jeri Ellsworth haven't voiced concerns about the company culture at Valve, saying "it felt a lot like high school". This is literally stuff that's been talked about since at least 2013, but good job branding it as "Reddit rumors" because Valve can't have flaws apparently. Valve is internally dysfunctional. If you're a specific kind of person who thrives in that environment, then you'll do fine, but it does mean that strange theories like a single employee deciding to replace a VA for some inscrutable reason become way more believable. And oh yeah, Merle Dandridge literally loving said they just stopped recording without any warning, so how about that. She wasn't given direction to sound younger, she wasn't told that her performance wasn't what they had in mind, one day they were recording, about 90% done and the next day they'd replaced her. I think that's a bit strange, especially when all they said about it was that they "wanted Alyx to sound younger". Which in itself is a bit weird since she's only five years younger and your voice doesn't change all that much going from 19 to 24. I guess she could be leaving out some key details, sure, but even still this is a very strange breakup for a long-serving Valve VA who has done other roles and basically was Alyx for some people. Ruflux fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Mar 30, 2020 |
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 08:53
|
|
|
SuperMechagodzilla posted:In a more general narrative sense, it's why Alyx can express fear and desperation while the player might gently caress around stacking objects or scribbling on a wall. After she wakes up on the balcony, she seemingly doesn't realize that her handwriting has changed. That's what's been tripping up this Shoelace guy: Alyx is friends with Russel, but the player isn't necessarily. It could very well be that Alyx unconsciously despises Russel. You are not the protagonist. Of course, I realize that in HLA, the point is that Russel doesn't talk directly to the player, and it's more of a relations simulation between Alyx and him that the player gets to listen to. Unfortunately the only thing we do learn about the relation between the two IS that they are friends, and that's it. This is quite... something for the writing of two characters that can only interact by dialogue in a 6 hour game. Especially strange coming from Valve, who otherwise can pack quite a lot of information in even short bits of text. Regarding the ending: funnily enough, looking at the seemingly complicated time travel, it seems it actually is TOO simple, using almost none of the strengths of a "conventional" (if it can be as such) time travel concept for the benefit of the story. It seems I have to change a bit what I thought about Gordon as the player. The fact that he is mute is not an influence of being possessed by the player: Gordon just simply is mute. The point of the player working as a subliminal suggestion of sorts changes the role of the G-Man as well. He governs the border between the game-world of Half-Life and the world of the player themselves, bringing the suggestion from real life to the game. Also, the stuff about Valve cadres comes from people that work or have worked at and with Valve.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 10:22
|
|
|
Freakazoid_ posted:Turns out mouse + keyboard was supported the whole time and valve forgot to remove them after release. There's entire chunks of the game that would require a total rework in order to play properly with keyboard and mouse. Particularly the multitool puzzles.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 12:57
|
|
|
Also finished the game. So that post-credit scene... Redoing Dog from scratch, for that tiny scene, I assume there's actually more coming. A lot of the Alyx assets would be able to be reused. If there's not going to be a HL3 (anytime within a "reasonable" timeframe), that'd sure be a kick in the nuts. There's been a billion people in the credits, too.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 14:37
|
|
|
They always credit everyone who works at Valve, regardless of whether they've directly worked on the project or not.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 14:41
|
|
|
WOWEE ZOWEE posted:2kliksphilip did a review of the game. I've liked his videos on source engine physics+lighting and Counterstrike. His observations and criticisms echo some of what has been said here. In general, that channel is a pro-click, guy has a great voice. He also runs a Counter Strike-only channel called 3kliksphilip
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 14:48
|
|
|
Another fun channel is DefendTheHouse with their videogame Mythbusters series which has put the second part of their look at Alyx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj2f5tPHByU
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 14:58
|
|
|
Gnome de plume posted:Another fun channel is DefendTheHouse with their videogame Mythbusters series which has put the second part of their look at Alyx Wrong link I think? https://youtu.be/Shw47ChNYYg
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 15:09
|
|
|
Here’s a thing I’ve decided: I prefer the start to Blue-Shift over OpFor. It has a nice “Good morning Calhoun->Oh gently caress!!!!” Cadence to it that is like a mirror to Freeman’s experience. Now question: I remember reading the review of Blue Shift in PC Gamer back in 99-2000 or so, and it mentioned that Barney is the cop that lets Gordon into Black Mesa. I always carried that thought with me and realized that can’t be true, since we see Gordon walking to the lockers or wherever and Barney had just showed up. Anyone else remember that review?
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 15:26
|
|
|
Barney is the guard banging on the door along the left side of the first corridor you enter during the opening tram ride in OG Half-Life. They never meet during the events of the Black Mesa incident.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 15:48
|
|
|
The sequel to Half Life Alyx should clearly be... Half Life: Shepard
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 16:04
|
|
|
Verus posted:and it's even more annoying when you realize the game was purposely not giving you any more of something because it decided you already had 'enough'. I think you decided you had enough, if you like a weapon, use it and you'll get more ammo in the next room you enter By the time I reached the end of the game I had a lot of ammo for every gun. I played on the difficulty above normal I'm going to start a playthrough and only use my shotgun to see how it handles my shells
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 16:21
|
|
|
Al Cu Ad Solte posted:Barney is the guard banging on the door along the left side of the first corridor you enter during the opening tram ride in OG Half-Life. They never meet during the events of the Black Mesa incident. That makes sense, thanks! I thought it was supposed to be the guard who greets at the end of the ride.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 16:41
|
|
|
Soooo I just got through chapter 7 and am now on chapter 8, but from reading achievements I found out you can KILL JEFF?! What the gently caress I was running away from him like an idiot the entire time. Unless you somehow activate the trash compactor at the end?
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 17:28
|
|
|
Claes Oldenburger posted:Soooo I just got through chapter 7 and am now on chapter 8, but from reading achievements I found out you can KILL JEFF?! What the gently caress I was running away from him like an idiot the entire time. Unless you somehow activate the trash compactor at the end? Yeah, somehow...
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 17:30
|
|
|
Claes Oldenburger posted:Soooo I just got through chapter 7 and am now on chapter 8, but from reading achievements I found out you can KILL JEFF?! What the gently caress I was running away from him like an idiot the entire time. Unless you somehow activate the trash compactor at the end? How did you manage to finish that level without doing that?
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 17:35
|
|
|
Cojawfee posted:How did you manage to finish that level without doing that? I ran around him throwing bottles far away and then locking him in places (I think everyone does that though?) When I had to get the three power cells I just used my throw bottle, do action, move around, repeat system and pretty handily was able to grab all the items/resin as well as necessary objects. Same applies for outside, threw a bottle into the trash compactor after seeing the handles there and trapped him inside. Sketchiest part was in the elevator and having to lean over and push the button when he's smashing the wall but again, I assume everyone does that. I threw a grenade at his feet and he did not die so I assumed he was just really loving strong and the point was to just not get caught. It was amnesia levels of "oh gently caress this poo poo" though haha Unrelated but I've been rocking a hard hat and respirator this entire game and thought it was a nice touch when you meet the dude for the first time, as he was leaving he yelled back "Nice hat!"
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 17:44
|
|
|
Claes Oldenburger posted:I ran around him throwing bottles far away and then locking him in places (I think everyone does that though?) When I had to get the three power cells I just used my throw bottle, do action, move around, repeat system and pretty handily was able to grab all the items/resin as well as necessary objects. Same applies for outside, threw a bottle into the trash compactor after seeing the handles there and trapped him inside. Sketchiest part was in the elevator and having to lean over and push the button when he's smashing the wall but again, I assume everyone does that. Ch 7 stuff related to Jeff: so you did trap him in the trash compactor? There was a button you could press that smushed him up pretty good and then you get a fun Alyx line if you walk back in
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 17:56
|
|
|
From Raising the Bar, read B - Doctor Breen, vaguely homosexual.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 17:56
|
|
|
Claes Oldenburger posted:Soooo I just got through chapter 7 and am now on chapter 8, but from reading achievements I found out you can KILL JEFF?! What the gently caress I was running away from him like an idiot the entire time. Unless you somehow activate the trash compactor at the end? Just pressing the drat button?
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 17:57
|
|
|
chaosapiant posted:That makes sense, thanks! I thought it was supposed to be the guard who greets at the end of the ride. You can see that guy dead after the resonance cascade if you break the panel to the entrance to the anomalous materials labs. He's on the broken catwalk next to two clips of ammo. Poor guy. Why yes, I do have the entirety of Half-Life memorized, why do you ask.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 18:15
|
|
|
Cojawfee posted:Ch 7 stuff related to Jeff: so you did trap him in the trash compactor? There was a button you could press that smushed him up pretty good and then you get a fun Alyx line if you walk back in Haha poo poo, okay well at least it wasn't something you could do mid level. Yeah so I pulled the handle and then didn't press the button I guess. I was too happy to be out of that area, and he was still banging away inside the container so I didn't want him to bust out again. Larry made a comment about Jeff still being in there so I guess that was a unique line too?
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 18:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 06:39 |
|
|
I was ready to call that level annoying and not fun (mostly because I spent 20 minutes stuck on one bit in the middle and I got really frustrated), but the catharsis of squishing him dead at the end made the whole thing worth it, in my opinion. It was more than relief. It was victory.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2020 19:09
|
|
