Half-Life: Alyx - Valve's full-length flagship VR game set between HL1 and HL2

[Dayyālu]

People always rationalize the "gameplay-related progression of strength" about Combine forces with the fact that Gordon&co is merely fighting a skeleton occupation force. The Combine on Earth are the equivalent of a poorly equipped colonial police, the place is useful mostly for looting resources, getting new bodies for transhuman forces and getting spiffy new teleportation tech.

They try to explain it in-game with Breen and his spiel about humans "being tested as a worthy member of the Universal Union". There is without doubt a massive change in tone between HL1 and HL2, but the reason the Combine soldiers&police exist is simple, fighting the HECU in HL1 was fun and they needed a human enemy a tad less problematic than US soldiers (I think today that kind of shit would not easily fly, I mean, imagine a AAA shooters where you kill US Marines that are chopping up civilians in a black op. That's incredibly 90ies).

HL2 mods are all shit, though.

Entropy Zero is a tad clunky, but I'd argue is on a good level as a mod. Well-managed boss fights, interesting details (like your precision being significantly lower because you don't have a HEV suit). The ending is suitably lulzy.

Fuck the sickness thing, tho.

 

[Sentinel]

They do though. Breen makes a big deal out of Freeman returning when you accidentally teleport into his office. Then, when Barnie is throwing you the crowbar, he mentions the citadel going on full alert ( you can see the scanners pouring out in the hundreds ).

The "combine" forces on Earth are all humans converted to the Combine cause, not actual Combine. We only see one of the "main" combine races in episode 2, and Gordon has 0 chance. The player literally cannot move.

 

[Deadass]

Spoiler

 

[Egosphere]

People always rationalize the "gameplay-related progression of strength" about Combine forces with the fact that Gordon&co is merely fighting a skeleton occupation force. The Combine on Earth are the equivalent of a poorly equipped colonial police, the place is useful mostly for looting resources, getting new bodies for transhuman forces and getting spiffy new teleportation tech.

Maybe, but when we get inside the citadel it doesn't really seem like some ragtag militia. They have gunships, striders, crab synths, mortar synths etc. It's not something you'd set up if you didn't intend on having a serious military on the planet. Also, they have those giant munitions full of head crabs which they used against Ravenholm.

 

[Dayyālu]

Maybe, but when we get inside the citadel it doesn't really seem like some ragtag militia. They have gunships, striders, crab synths, mortar synths etc. It's not something you'd set up if you didn't intend on having a serious military on the planet. Also, they have those giant munitions full of head crabs which they used against Ravenholm.

It's a ragtag militia for a interdimensional empire that can build Dyson spheres an' shit. It's a "serious military" for Earth (and not even that much, it fails to manage a insurgency devoid of heavy equipment).

Again, they try to explain it in-game but the real reason (as it should be) is gameplay related: a progressive increase of foes to fight. Even HL1 had to juggle the problem with Elite Assassins and in Opposing Forces with Black Ops Grunts.

I would not think too hard about it, shooters need to focus on ambience mostly. We're not there for the plot.

 

[taxalot]

Spoiler the shit of that summary, but it's similar to things I have been alluded to.

I guess nothing of value is lost.

 

[Egosphere]

.

The series reaches its own 'nanomachines, son' moment :D

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Anyone who needs a refresher about the Combine can watch this useful video:

 

[ADL]

VR is just a gimmick guys stop being excited about this

Spoiler

cope

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

VR is just a gimmick guys

It is. And this clip only reinforces your statement.

 

[GhostCow]

VR is just a gimmick guys stop being excited about this

Spoiler

cope

This can be done without a VR headset. There is no reason for this game to be VR only. Yeah you'd need those special controllers for this but there's no reason this couldn't be rendered on a monitor and that's what I hate about VR. Give us a monitor option for people like me who only have one eye please.

 

[Icewater]

VR is just a gimmick guys stop being excited about this

Spoiler

cope

pretty cool

still not worth $1000

not even worth a few hundred

 

[GhostCow]

On second thought that same thing could have been done with a wii controller so it's really even less impressive to me now. Not that it was impressive before.

 

[GewuerzKahn]

This can be done without a VR headset. There is no reason for this game to be VR only. Yeah you'd need those special controllers for this but there's no reason this couldn't be rendered on a monitor and that's what I hate about VR. Give us a monitor option for people like me who only have one eye please.

You could use a VR headset with one eye.
The "fun" part of VR is moving around in a virtual world, not the 3D effect.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Spoiler

Right I call bullshit on this. If this was the plot, then Tyler off Valve News Network would've had an aneurysm on camera about it.

VR is just a gimmick guys stop being excited about this

Spoiler

cope

This can be done without a VR headset. There is no reason for this game to be VR only. Yeah you'd need those special controllers for this but there's no reason this couldn't be rendered on a monitor and that's what I hate about VR. Give us a monitor option for people like me who only have one eye please.

I want you to tell me right now of a game where you can grab a chair, and use it to dynamically push a Headcrab out of window, interupting it's attack and animations without any scripting. And have that all done using just a mouse and keyboard.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

From the Edge magazine who already reviewed the game (Score: 9/10), here's their post script:

"The odd thing about reviewing Half-Life: Alyx is that it isn't just a game. It isn't even a system seller, in the traditional sense of that term. It has been specifically designed to make the argument for an entire medium...

Alyx not only has to sell people on the dream of VR, it has to sell them to the tune of almost £1,000 (plus a sufficiently brawny PC to do it justice). This is admittedly only if you want the best possible experience. Valve is supporting every PC VR platform you could possibly name. We play Alyx on an Index, but also test it on the considerably cheaper Oculus Quest and HTC Vive. While the visual downgrade is noticeable, it doesn't hurt the game too much. The bigger constraint, for our money, isn't a technical one at all. It has to do with space.

Here's the ugly truth: your enjoyment of this game is going to be directly proportional to the amount of space you have to play it in. With VR, physical space becomes an extra system requirement to take into consideration - and even those of us who find the allure of Alyx enough to drop a grand on an Index are unlikely to also shell out for a new living room. And even that might not be enough. We play in optimal conditions - a spacious room, all but cleared of obstacles - and still frequently find ourselves brushing up against the translucent boundary wall in-game.

It's a problem we cant see a solution to, at least not from a technical perspective - and warehouse-sized VR arcades, much as we'd love to see them, don't feel like a realistic prospect.

Occasionally, even with the presence of that gridded wall, we manage to let go of that second layer. The game envelops us entirely, and its a magical moment - until we bump shin-first into a chair, or punch a wall. Honestly, the experience of playing Alyx is worth these minor battle scars, but VR more broadly? We're not sure whether it ever will be."

VR, just another (demanding and expensive) gimmick.

Let's wait for Gaben's brian interface controller instead.

 

[Egosphere]

If Vr becomes the norm, I hope there's a push to bring some beauty to video game environments. You can conjure up whole cities in any architectural style in the digital realm, yet there's barely any games that bother trying to push those boundaries. Mostly it's just bog-standard 'realism'. Yeah, forests and rivers and whatnot are really nice, but I can find and visit scenic views irl. Give me something that's worth looking at for hours on end, if you insist on slowing the game down.

 

[GewuerzKahn]

Yeah, you need some space for VR. That's nothing new.

 

[A horse of course]

From the Edge magazine who already reviewed the game (Score: 9/10), here's their post script:

"The odd thing about reviewing Half-Life: Alyx is that it isn't just a game. It isn't even a system seller, in the traditional sense of that term. It has been specifically designed to make the argument for an entire medium...

Alyx not only has to sell people on the dream of VR, it has to sell them to the tune of almost £1,000 (plus a sufficiently brawny PC to do it justice). This is admittedly only if you want the best possible experience. Valve is supporting every PC VR platform you could possibly name. We play Alyx on an Index, but also test it on the considerably cheaper Oculus Quest and HTC Vive. While the visual downgrade is noticeable, it doesn't hurt the game too much. The bigger constraint, for our money, isn't a technical one at all. It has to do with space.

Here's the ugly truth: your enjoyment of this game is going to be directly proportional to the amount of space you have to play it in. With VR, physical space becomes an extra system requirement to take into consideration - and even those of us who find the allure of Alyx enough to drop a grand on an Index are unlikely to also shell out for a new living room. And even that might not be enough. We play in optimal conditions - a spacious room, all but cleared of obstacles - and still frequently find ourselves brushing up against the translucent boundary wall in-game.

It's a problem we cant see a solution to, at least not from a technical perspective - and warehouse-sized VR arcades, much as we'd love to see them, don't feel like a realistic prospect.

Occasionally, even with the presence of that gridded wall, we manage to let go of that second layer. The game envelops us entirely, and its a magical moment - until we bump shin-first into a chair, or punch a wall. Honestly, the experience of playing Alyx is worth these minor battle scars, but VR more broadly? We're not sure whether it ever will be."

VR, just another (demanding and expensive) gimmick.

Let's wait for Gaben's brian interface controller instead.

Speaking as someone who had both the DK2 and HTC Vive, this is the thing that really holds back VR for me. Even though great strides are being made in things like resolution (which is a big deal for immersion, anyone who says otherwise has never transitioned from an Oculus to the latest high-end stuff), putting a world in VR also forces much greater expectations on the experience because to really appreciate it you need to have a similar level of freedom and interactivity as in real life, even with a very simple environment. Experiencing VR using teleportation or a gamepad is like having your legs cut out from under you. I'll still consider upgrading my VR in the future for the sake of porn, but I repeatedly tell other people who ask me about my VR setup that it's STILL not worth it.

I want you to tell me right now of a game where you can grab a chair, and use it to dynamically push a Headcrab out of window, interupting it's attack and animations without any scripting. And have that all done using just a mouse and keyboard.

This has absolutely nothing to do with VR. It's all in the control scheme and interactivity.

 

[Sentinel]

https://streamable.com/v92s3

Review confirms the AI is popamole poop. Doesn't flank, barely moves, and isn't very aggressive in general.

 

[Dayyālu]

Review confirms the AI is popamole poop. Doesn't flank, barely moves, and isn't very aggressive in general.

You can't have an aggressive AI if people have to deal with manual reloading. We're not talking about practical shooting people here, as he admits he never touched a gun and even the concept of reloading is alien to him.

That's kind of honest: I liked how in the end he admitted that he would like a "real sequel" for the masses and not for the VR "enthusiasts".

I'll wait for a full-game stream or something, I'm very interested about level design and the like.

 

[GhostCow]

This can be done without a VR headset. There is no reason for this game to be VR only. Yeah you'd need those special controllers for this but there's no reason this couldn't be rendered on a monitor and that's what I hate about VR. Give us a monitor option for people like me who only have one eye please.

You could use a VR headset with one eye.
The "fun" part of VR is moving around in a virtual world, not the 3D effect.

Why waste the processing power to run two VR screens when it's no different for me than using a monitor? It's just dumb. The headset is nothing but a waste of money and GPU cycles for someone like me. The headset doesn't add anything except for the 3d effect. You could argue for head tracking but there are already other ways to do that without a headset.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

.

The series reaches its own 'nanomachines, son' moment :D

Well the "nanomachines son" (and Revengeance in general) was a parody of Metal Gear's absurdity. This one here they are being completely serious, so this more of MGS4 situation.

I want you to tell me right now of a game where you can grab a chair, and use it to dynamically push a Headcrab out of window, interupting it's attack and animations without any scripting. And have that all done using just a mouse and keyboard.

Press "Interact" button to grab chair/object. Aim camera towards Headcrab. Wait for it to perform it's lunge attack. While enemy is in mid-air and once he enters you reach, press "Attack" button to bash chair/object. Done...

https://streamable.com/v92s3

Review confirms the AI is popamole poop. Doesn't flank, barely moves, and isn't very aggressive in general.

What a surprise. Players can't perform complex and fast actions in VR Action games. As such enemies, and general challenges, can't require as much of the player as even the more typical shooters.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

 

[GewuerzKahn]

Why waste the processing power to run two VR screens when it's no different for me than using a monitor? It's just dumb. The headset is nothing but a waste of money and GPU cycles for someone like me. The headset doesn't add anything except for the 3d effect. You could argue for head tracking but there are already other ways to do that without a headset.

From reading your posts, I guess you never tried a VR headset like the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift. Please do this , because you don't know what you are talking about.