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SchwarzeKrieg posted:Messing with projectiles in games was always fun. I had a modded Xbox and made Halo’s assault rifle shoot Scorpion tanks instead of bullets, then stood on the bridge on top of Assault on the Control Room and rained tanks into the valley until the Xbox melted. Nightmare Reaper has this as a mechanic, one of the possible weapon stats you can get is "random projectiles" and in the last day or so I have had an SMG that fires gigantic saw blades and a shotgun that fires flaming shuriken. Which I have kept because it also has the +1 attack stat so when I shoot both barrels at something they get hit by like fifty flaming throwing stars.
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Mar 22, 2024 09:40
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I mention these two topics mainly because I was present on the old Black Mesa forums back in the 2000s, but the general subject/relevant quotes is an absolute pain to find: the archived Leakfree forums have no search function, the Internet Archive doesn't have many pages of the original forums fully saved & the useful community Wiki link (not the crappy fandom one) is broken. In both the 2012 mod and retail release, I noticed some improvements/differences with things like grenade use with the AI grunts, but not dramatic changes. I felt this especially the shotgun HECU, they felt identical to HL2 shot-gunners IMO. Since BM started as a free HL2 mod, many of the team left after the 2012 mod release, there's a ton of old technical debt that would be easier to re-use than rewriting everything etc, I would attribute this behaviour entirely to those factors. However, I'm a little curious, because I remember the Crowbar Collective team boasting on their forums about how HL2's AI behaviour was due to a mess of spaghetti code, so they spent a lot time rewriting it to be better than vanilla HL2. Specifically, they said: https://web.archive.org/web/20160831175033/https://wiki.blackmesasource.com/Main_Page https://web.archive.org/web/20160917062311/http://wiki.blackmesasource.com/HECU_Marines quote:Artificial Intelligence What happened then? Did the team actually use their custom AI code in all their game versions, only for it to ironically perform very similar to HL2 anyway? Was the level design the real factor i.e. in custom maps, you feels quite different, but in the Black Mesa levels, it feels mostly like HL2? Or did they rewrite it in 2009, realise it wasn't working or didn't really feel different in-game, so they just went back to using entirely HL2's system for their released builds? Fun random fact, the BM team also created their own Face Creation System in the late 2000s, instead of just re-using the random face feature already in HL2. Since I believe this technique of facial deformation wasn't widely used at the time (I think AAA games use a more sophisticated version of this nowdays), Crowbar Collective was a international team making a free mod & they did NOT have source code access at the time, it's very cool. Why did they go to all this effort trouble then? Unhappiness with the HL2 random face feature? A clever artistic choice to "replicate in spirit" the limited faces of the original Half-Life characters? They were double dared to? https://web.archive.org/web/20161023014542/http://wiki.blackmsasource.com/Face_Creation_System quote:The face creation system in Black Mesa is a very sophisticated yet simple system that allows there to be a wide variety of faces with very little work but high visual fidelity. The system utilizes a base face mesh to derive phenomes and other core assets that drive the facial animation system. On top of this system, it uses an optimized set of face-shaping facial flexors in real-time to deform any given face into a pre-configured appearance. The result is that in real-time any given character in game uses a combination of face-flexors, textures and submodels to create a unique individual character. Because of this system the developers are striving to have every character in Black Mesa have a unique personality and face. Granted, seeing HECU, guards & scientists all with the same base face model does feel a bit off. I don't know if they had to use the same heads for everyone in order for it to work (i.e. no "HECU only" or "Guard Only" model flags), or whether they just didn't bother making an extra head for the HECU. The point is, I'm an old man yelling at clouds who is curious about this things, but will probably never find out.
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Mar 22, 2024 11:34
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SchwarzeKrieg posted:I'm probably about 2/3 through and running out of steam (eh? EH?) so I'm not sure I'll finish, especially given the reputation of Xen. Maybe I should've just tried Black Mesa instead since apparently it fixes a lot of the issues I have. I bounced off Black Mesa pretty early, but if the reputation of Xen is a concern for you then I'm not sure how much Black Mesa would really solve for you? I hear they straightened out some of the original Xen's rough edges but also made it way longer? Like, hours upon hours longer? To me that sounds like a nightmare and absolutely not what I'm looking for from an "improved" Xen. Also HOT TAKE CLAXON but the OG Xen is fine. It's way less troublesome and way less long than some would have you believe. That said, if you're already not fully enjoying the Half Life experience then Xen probably has enough additional friction to top you over the edge towards dropping it.
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Mar 22, 2024 11:52
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LvK posted:I bought Outlaws on Steam sale and, man, it's still absolutely one of my favorite FPSes of all time*, but even after editing the config to bump up the resolution, I'm getting sick of my monitors going black and blinking out when it tries to shift resolution between gameplay/menu/cutscene. Especially because I want to try and beat it again on "Ugly" difficulty, which is of course going to require a lot of loading games. I know that the game infamously never had a fully-finished source port, but are there any patches or edits that make it a bit less of a blinking madness? No idea, but the guy who independently brought Dark Forces right up to the finish line (and then also helped Nightdive with their effort) is definitely working on Outlaws too.
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Mar 22, 2024 12:18
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Black Mesa's Xen is way, way too long and constantly recycles plug puzzles over and over. HL1's Xen isn't really that bad, apart from the first level of Interloper, and there's a quick shortcut at 5:57 that let's you go onto the much better second map in just a few seconds. It's very short compared to Black Mesa's Xen chapters, so it does work better IMO as a final story climax compared to Black Mesa's. Bumhead is right, if you're not really feeling Half Life currently, you'll probably stop playing at the Xen chapters. I love the truly alien, other worldly feel & utter isolation of the border world in the original personally.
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Mar 22, 2024 12:55
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Quantum of Phallus posted:Black Mesa is a soulless remake. Correct. Bumhead posted:Also HOT TAKE CLAXON but the OG Xen is fine. It's way less troublesome and way less long than some would have you believe. That said, if you're already not fully enjoying the Half Life experience then Xen probably has enough additional friction to top you over the edge towards dropping it. Original Xen is fine and I didn't know people hated it until years later.
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Mar 22, 2024 13:10
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I loved the original Half-Life and I also loved playing through Black Mesa. I thought it was a great remake that brought a lot of new stuff appealing to someone like me who's played the original a thousand times. The intro to Xen was fantastic, but the quality fell off a cliff with Interloper and I don't know what the hell they were thinking with the Gonarch fight.
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Mar 22, 2024 13:13
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Balls. They were thinking of balls.
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Mar 22, 2024 13:18
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Hell,
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Mar 22, 2024 13:23
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I didn't like Xen the day I played it, so I would replay the game up until Xen quite a few times when my internet was down or whatever and I couldn't play the specialists or counter-strike
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Mar 22, 2024 13:38
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half life rules
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Mar 22, 2024 14:20
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Black Mesa isn't really THAT different from Half life 1 as for one to be 'soulless' and other 'soulful' or whatever. I didn't like their Xen , but also that area was a weak point of the original, so...
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Mar 22, 2024 14:20
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I didn't really like Black Mesa very much. Didn't get all the way through it though. I don't know if it's "soulless" exactly but it did feel like its intention was to impress/surprise people who have played Half-Life as opposed to having any kind of real creative vision. It is impressive though, I will give it that.
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Mar 22, 2024 14:33
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I will say I think Black Mesa is a really cool project on a number of fronts. I think it's cool they did it, got the opportunity to finish it, and I think it's cool that Valve as a company is not only OK with it existing but is happy to sell and promote it through their store. Like, good poo poo all round. Personally I still just really like the original game, and not only tolerate but actively still really like 90's era PC visuals, so a 360-era visual remake (plus other tweaks) just did very little for me. A cool thing to exist and look at but.. when the mood strikes to play Half Life, I'm playing Half Life.
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Mar 22, 2024 14:52
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Did anything ever come of that group that were going to release the Halo 2 E3 demo as part of a MCC mod? They released Halo 1 beta content and then disappeared.
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Mar 22, 2024 15:06
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I really liked Black Mesa. Do I prefer it over HL? No. HL is one of my GOATs but I never liked OG Xen. Black Mesa is a great ride and at least their Xen was fun for me, even if too long. I treat them as separate games that I can play, not like an original release and a remaster where the latter makes the original totally obsolete.
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Mar 22, 2024 15:12
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Guillermus posted:I really liked Black Mesa. Do I prefer it over HL? No. HL is one of my GOATs but I never liked OG Xen. Black Mesa is a great ride and at least their Xen was fun for me, even if too long. I treat them as separate games that I can play, not like an original release and a remaster where the latter makes the original totally obsolete. Yeah, Black Mesa could never take that spot when Half-Life: Source already exists. 
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Mar 22, 2024 15:29
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SparkTR posted:Did anything ever come of that group that were going to release the Halo 2 E3 demo as part of a MCC mod? They released Halo 1 beta content and then disappeared. Their youtube channel and dev blog haven’t updated since last summer and there was no new stuff in last month’s MCC update. It might happen at some point but I wouldn’t be too surprised if the E3 demo never makes it. If all of Bungie in 2003-4 couldn’t make it into a real game, i kind of doubt a couple modders in 2020s can do so in their free time
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Mar 22, 2024 15:36
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John Murdoch posted:Yeah, Black Mesa could never take that spot when Half-Life: Source already exists. Well, HL Source doesn't have a store page so it just exists on accounts that already own it 
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Mar 22, 2024 16:05
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John Murdoch posted:Yeah, Black Mesa could never take that spot when Half-Life: Source already exists. not anymore!!!
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Mar 22, 2024 16:09
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Black Mesa is half life with better graphics (until xen when I tap out), and all I wanted out of Black Mesa was half life with better graphics so I'm generally happy with it.DoombatINC posted:I'd put the Metro games on that list, too I've never played the Metro games before but have somehow ended up getting all 3 of them for free. But I have Metro last light complete edition on steam, which is unlisted in favor of last light redux, and i have LL redux on gog. Does anyone happen to know the difference between the complete edition and redux?
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Mar 22, 2024 16:17
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site posted:Black Mesa is half life with better graphics (until xen when I tap out), and all I wanted out of Black Mesa was half life with better graphics so I'm generally happy with it. To my understanding, Redux has everything Complete has, plus revised graphical aspects. For Last Light Redux, the revised graphics may not be substantial, but include little things like new melee animations.
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Mar 22, 2024 16:20
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site posted:I've never played the Metro games before but have somehow ended up getting all 3 of them for free. But I have Metro last light complete edition on steam, which is unlisted in favor of last light redux, and i have LL redux on gog. Does anyone happen to know the difference between the complete edition and redux? Redux was a re-release of 2033 and Last Light with all the final updates / content, and with 2033 ported over to Last Light's tech
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Mar 22, 2024 16:24
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I never had any problems with the original Xen, but I also don't have problems with first person platforming. I can understand why some people would hate it after so much ground to shoot grunts on before.
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Mar 22, 2024 16:36
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site posted:Black Mesa is half life with better graphics (until xen when I tap out), and all I wanted out of Black Mesa was half life with better graphics so I'm generally happy with it. I think all Metro games are worth playing at least once. I'd start with Metro 2033 and if you like it, Last Light then Exodus.
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Mar 22, 2024 16:45
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Yeah I love the Metro games. Unsurprisingly, Exodus gave me particularly strong STALKER vibes, and I ended up playing it in its entirety twice, which I rarely do with games like that.
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Mar 22, 2024 17:36
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Calling Black Mesa, a decade-long labour of love by a group of modders who so impressed Valve with their passion that they were given the go-ahead to turn it into a commercial game, "soulless" is a new type of Goon brain poisoning I don't think I've seen before.
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Mar 22, 2024 18:01
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It didn’t have souls mechanics
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Mar 22, 2024 18:02
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Jehde posted:I never had any problems with the original Xen, but I also don't have problems with first person platforming. I can understand why some people would hate it after so much ground to shoot grunts on before. It's like gordon gecko said: ground is good
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Mar 22, 2024 18:49
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Mordja posted:Calling Black Mesa, a decade-long labour of love by a group of modders who so impressed Valve with their passion that they were given the go-ahead to turn it into a commercial game, "soulless" is a new type of Goon brain poisoning I don't think I've seen before. I dunno what a "soulful" remaster is supposed to be. Felt great to me; elaborating on things that made sense without stepping on the original vision. Maybe people wanted it to be more like a different game.
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Mar 22, 2024 18:56
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Half-Life's gunplay (series in general) is much more palatable with MMod. I had a lot of fun using that with the original. But yeah, Half-Life's one of those "you had to be there" experiences that influenced the industry so much. Final boss still blows chunks though. Black Mesa's version was so much better.
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Mar 22, 2024 19:10
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Any FPS boss that isn't just a big enemy you can blast until its dead is bad imo. The Icon of Sin sucks as a boss, for example. Nice design tho
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Mar 22, 2024 19:22
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https://www.humblebundle.com/games/back-with-vengeance-best-boomer-shooters Ultrakill Turbo Overkill Forgive Me Father 2 Deadlink Prodeus Quake II Postal: Brain Damaged - Connoisseur Edition For like 18 bucks? 16.46€ for me.
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Mar 22, 2024 19:48
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Angryhead posted:https://www.humblebundle.com/games/back-with-vengeance-best-boomer-shooters Worth it for Ultrakill and Turbo Overkill alone. I haven't played Postal: Brain Damaged yet but heard good things. Also having finally finished Prodeus recently, I quite enjoyed it so that's worth a go as well.
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Mar 22, 2024 19:53
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Zane didn't want Slayers X in that bundle because they misspelled vengance
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Mar 22, 2024 20:19
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Angryhead posted:Quake II
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Mar 22, 2024 20:34
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when will someone make a Bubblegum Crisis FPS, then it could be sold in these bundles
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Mar 22, 2024 20:35
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ExcessBLarg! posted:I'm having a hard time with the "Boomer Shooter" label applied to Quake II, but that's probably just me. If Half-life is boomer, Quake 2 is certainly boomer
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Mar 22, 2024 20:44
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skasion posted:If Half-life is boomer, Quake 2 is certainly boomer The term (as I interpret it) specifically refers to modern games done in the style of early FPSes, both informed by them and often parodying them to some degree. Whereas contemporary early FPSes are just, early FPSes. I recognize that genre labels are fluid though.
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Mar 22, 2024 20:53
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ExcessBLarg! posted:I wouldn't call Half-Life one either. Even calling it a genre is a stretch I think, it’s just semi-ironic joke to the effect of “haha old people”
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Mar 22, 2024 20:59
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