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

[Lyric Suite]

best gman sequence

what? how? the sequence in episode 2 and at the end of half life 2 are better by quite a margin.

Seems like he's dropped the stuffy bureaucrat persona in this one, and really relishing fucking with the main cast's plans

So basically now he is a generic villain.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Anyone else oldskool enough to feel that it would have been much cooler to have a HL VR game set in Black Mesa?

Especially in hindsight, this isolated location was for me far more immersive than all that resistance / City 17 stuff. Obviously I must be in a minority or even alone thinking that way.

Half Life 2 is the console shooter. Most people don't remember the original, they only remember the "amazing" and "totally revolutionary" sequel because it was the one they played on their Xbox, and console gaming is all that matters now while PC might have as well never existed.

Half Life 2 was complete shit too and this game is even shittier, as the whole VR thing is nothing but a gimmick and will never be anything than a gimmick. The very idea of shooting shit while holding up my arm in real life like a fucking demented retard is hysterical to me. We are at a point now us nerds can actually laugh at the normies who bought into this fad for how embarrassing it is.

 

[ADL]

Here's your desktop mod bros

Spoiler

Boneworks is extremely comparable to Alyx

 

[Dexter]

"Press E to do Everything"

WOW, amazing game design!

 

[Morgoth]

"Press F for

"

 

[SpaceWizardz]

Tyler already has it working with KB + M.
It's an absolute mess but non-VR mode might come sooner than people think.

 

[Dayyālu]

Half Life 2 is the console shooter.

Srs, HL2 is by design a console shooter as Alyx is a M&B game. HL2 plays badly on gamepad compared to M&K, and the levels aren't designed for the limited mobility of a gamepad. Case in point: Sandtraps.

But this is again another trite rehash of "HL2 baaaad HL1 goood". They're both good in their own way. "True" console shooters are theme park rides where the player is brought from scripted sequence to scripted sequence, or small cramped games with limited verticality.

Here's your desktop mod bros

Holy shit it's Trespasser

After checking streams/videos a bit, I'm still significantly butthurt that resources were wasted for this, but this is not a shooter so it can't be judged as a shooter. It's more like a walking sim with limited and slow combat.

I'm curious if someone in the VR cult can explain to me the endless anger I've found in some corners of the Net with people screaming that Alyx is shit because it's "2016 VR gameplay and that's SO OUTDATED HURRR DURRR". I legit don't understand.

 

[A horse of course]

https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-23-hp-reverb-g2-vr-headset-teaser.html


New VR 650$$$ from HP, Valve and Microsoft.

Prediction: In not so distant future schools will be virtual with virtual kids attached to VR.

School is already virtually useless so that's appropriate.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Neither Half-Life 2 nor Doom 3 were made for consoles.

I bet they fucking were and the fact they came on PC first doesn't mean neither Valve or id soft didn't anticipate the multi-platform craze (100% the reason Doom 3 is so fucking slow is that they fully wanted it to be a success on consoles, and cash in all those sweet, sweet console money. You are full of shit if you don't think that's the case, it is beyond obvious), but even so, i wasn't talking about how they were made for console, i said they are remembered because they were popular on console. If you talk to the masses of mouth breathers who claim Half Life 2 was this unparalleled artistic masterpiece (lmao), very few of them remember Half Life 1 at all.

Half-Life 2 really doesn't play much worse than the original, which was already very easy and linear.

Now i know you are a retard, because Half Life 1 played much, much better than Half Life 2. It's not even an argument. Half Life 2 was boring as shit, with slow boring enemies that were dumb as bricks compared to the original and then a shit load of gimmick fake puzzles.

If HL2 is shit, then HL1 was already shit, too.

Confirmed for utter retard if there was doubt left the first time.

 

[Lyric Suite]

They're both good in their own way.

No. One is this knewl sci-fi extravaganza while the other is a pathetic pandering tech demo made by committee. Half Life 2 is a soulless game, while the first one had charisma coming out of every pixel.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Tyler already has it working with KB + M.
It's an absolute mess but non-VR mode might come sooner than people think.

Yeah but what for. Game was designed for VR. There's no point in playing this thing if you don't like that gimmick.

 

[schru]

Neither Doom 3 nor Half-Life 2 were designed for consoles in the least. The console versions were an afterthought and they were made after the PC versions had been released. The slower, easier combat most likely comes from the mistaken focus on realistic style and polished presentation, something quite evident in how the developers talked about things at the time. It's also dubious that they're remembered more for their console versions, the Xbox versions were rather limited and the Xbox360 versions came late and didn't make that big an impact there, which isn't to say that people who made a big deal out of them and played them on PCs appreciated the original games.

I get your distaste for how much people praise or used to praise Half-Life 2, but you really exaggerate the problems it has. The original was also very easy until the soldiers showed up, but those were certainly better than the ones in HL2 because they were tougher and faster, or the player was more vulnerable, and the encounters were designed more interestingly: barricades in the railway network, being overpowered in the surface chapters, then fighting in some ruins, and more set pieces where they fought against aliens. Also, I suppose the original had stronger aliens with more interesting attack patterns towards the end, while HL2 didn't really introduce much new later on.

HL2 just had lots of those tedious sections in narrow corridors in the prison and the street war, or that nexus building, where the AI could basically just stand in place and shoot, but the soldiers moved around and used grenades enough in more open areas to provide for some tense encounters. Then also things like the AI companions who didn't add anything to the gameplay but only tied the player down and the stupid hopping mines spoiled the flow of combat. I suppose the main problem with the sequel is area design and holding on to the idea of combat with a team of companions because Valve were too committed to the idea of it, regardless of how trivial it was in practice.

How was it a tech demo or a game designed by committee, though? It's clear Valve cared very much about the game, even if the physics system is considered superfluous. They certainly didn't have any outside, non-developer committee tell them what to do. The plot with focus on some character drama was the main writer's idea because he thought family themes would be something people would easily relate to. Not that I think the result was very good. The setting, enemy designs, and the basic feel of the weapons all have a lot of personality, too.

(For context, before you assume I don't have a point of reference, I consider the original Doom to be pretty much the best shooter, I think Quake and Duke 3D are among the best otherwise, and do think the soldiers in HL1 are more fun.)

 

[rezaf]

Well, I did enjoy HL2, but I liked HL1 better. I'm Not saying it's the better game objectively, it merely suited my taste better. And it definately had it's warts, holy platforming mother of Batman it did.

HL2 felt like a collection of setpieces created mostly to showcase capabilities of the engine. Seen that? Yeah, we can do such, now let's never talk about it again. On to the next area...

Also, I didn't really connect with the convoluted alien invasion resistance story. Black Mesa with it's limited scope worked better for me.

I remember liking the Episodes better, but then Valve just stopped making them and now it's been what, a decade since the last one?

And then a VR exclusive. I'd definately try it if I had a VR set, but I don't, and I think this game is not a $800 system seller.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Guess i need to whip out this this old thing again:



BTW, check the ratings on that video. This is what i'm talking about. This game is art and if you disagree than you have bad taste. There's no arguing with the rabid drones who bought into the hype of this thing and haven't been able to let go of it since 2004.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Confirmed for utter retard if there was doubt left the first time.

Please, just go back to metaphysics. You clearly don't care about being accurate about this at all, and you're incapable of experiencing anything anyway, so why the hell are you even here? Everything you're saying is factually incorrect bullshit you pulled out of your ass. Just because you're more intelligent than most people doesn't mean you can neglect every detail and go on a mad rant because you still have some stupid butthurt you refuse to let go of.

I may be hyperbolic in my diss of the sequel but to claim the two games are the same is to demonstrate great ignorance. Half Life 1 was superior in every conceivable way.

 

[schru]

Guess i need to whip out this this old thing again:



BTW, check the ratings on that video. This is what i'm talking about. This game is art and if you disagree than you have bad taste. There's no arguing with the rabid drones who bought into the hype of this thing and haven't been able to let go of it since 2004.

Examined Life is wrong about mostly every point he brings up about HL2 from what I recall, being tediously nitpicky about things that aren't even very relevant to how the game plays, while missing some of the basic things that are actually a problem with it. It's really strange how people tend to be unable to pin down what is actually wrong with that game. I could try to go over it, but it would probably be boring.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I may be hyperbolic in my diss of the sequel but to claim the two games are the same is to demonstrate great ignorance. Half Life 1 was superior in every conceivable way.

They're not the same, but the difference isn't as great as you say it is, either. I don't really disagree that it was ‘superior in every conceivable way’, but it's not superior by THAT much.

It's big enough that i finished the first one more than once while i finished Half Life 2 only one time and the idea of playing it again makes me nauseated. Kinda like Doom 3.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Neither Half-Life 2 nor Doom 3 were made for consoles. Can't you turn off your brain damage for one second and at least try to know what you're talking about? Half-Life 2 really doesn't play much worse than the original, which was already very easy and linear. I understand you're butthurt about Alyx-waifu Gordon-messiah pandering, but really. If HL2 is shit, then HL1 was already shit, too. I appreciate your not giving a shit about things that are actually terrible, but a lot of the time you're just an overly bitter retard. It's appropriate in a lot of cases, but not everything deserves it, and I can't imagine acting like that is good for whatever it is that's wrong with you.

The console ports for both games were barely functional pieces of software.

 

[Onionguy]

Half Life 2 is the console shooter. Most people don't remember the original, they only remember the "amazing" and "totally revolutionary" sequel because it was the one they played on their Xbox, and console gaming is all that matters now while PC might have as well never existed.

Half Life 2 was complete shit too and this game is even shittier, as the whole VR thing is nothing but a gimmick and will never be anything than a gimmick. The very idea of shooting shit while holding up my arm in real life like a fucking demented retard is hysterical to me. We are at a point now us nerds can actually laugh at the normies who bought into this fad for how embarrassing it is.

Neither Half-Life 2 nor Doom 3 were made for consoles. Can't you turn off your brain damage for one second and at least try to know what you're talking about? Half-Life 2 really doesn't play much worse than the original, which was already very easy and linear. I understand you're butthurt about Alyx-waifu Gordon-messiah pandering, but really. If HL2 is shit, then HL1 was already shit, too. I appreciate your not giving a shit about things that are actually terrible, but a lot of the time you're just an overly bitter retard. It's appropriate in a lot of cases, but not everything deserves it, and I can't imagine acting like that is good for whatever it is that's wrong with you.

wow, I know that hl2 has always been highly praised among jurnos and soyboys, but it would never occur to me, that so many people here also think that it could stand anywhere near the first one. Hl 1 is often on rails, indeed, but is also perfectly paced and being a long game for an fps, manages to remain fresh till the very end. The same cannot be said about its sequel, that boasted lengthy vehicle sections, noticeably inferior gunplay and gimmicky gravity gun. HL2 has some quality as well, but that mostly comes down to its unique artstyle and mood.

 

[Dayyālu]

The thing has been discussed to death already billions of times.

Half Life 1 has more weapon variety, fighting HECU is more satisfying than fighting Combine soldiers, etc.etc. but they're genetically essentially the same type of shooter, going from the Doom/Quake model to pseudo-realistic yet still "gamey" enviroments and a focus on setpieces/arena combat. HL2 lacks interesting weaponry bar a couple and the Gravity Gun, etc.etc. everything has been discussed to death.

Preferring Halo to Half Life 2 is a sign of peculiar taste. Likewise Marathon. Marathon is a storyfag game, its gameplay (and particularly its level design) completely inferior to Doom: it's interesting mostly due storyfagging reasons. Nonetheless, Halo CE is slow, lacks verticality, and many levels are pretty much grinds (everyone remembers the Library, right? Let's copy&paste a level to waste everyone's time). It has some nice setpieces and it's still "cinematic", the bane of console shooters.

I may be hyperbolic in my diss of the sequel but to claim the two games are the same is to demonstrate great ignorance. Half Life 1 was superior in every conceivable way.

Essentially the same genre, yes. Much like FEAR: the entirety of that genre of shooters went the way of the dodo, killed by CoD-likes and the need for simpler console-based shooters. I'd suggest for you to check real console shooters (like, I dunnow, Timesplitters 1&2) to see how they are markedly different from PC shooters. I still remember the era when console FPS were considered an oddity. Control schemes impact on game design.



schru you deserve some praise , seriously, I never considered how bad mines disrupt the flow of the street war level. A read "duh" moment.

manages to remain fresh till the very end.

Not exactly true: I like the Xen levels but there is a noticeable dip in quality. Alien Factory is a mess. HL2 is far more.... coherent. Sure, the ending is a cheat section, but they did it to add variety. And hating on HL2 because "journos like it" is a poor position: I'd honestly love a game with HL2 attention to ambience and encounter design and the visceral combat of FEAR, but alas it never happened.

(does someone here even care for the walking sim now that we have seen it?)

 

[Lyric Suite]

It's like the brain that made the original game left and it was up to the artists to try to come up with something like that but it turns out those people couldn't do much besides drawing well. It has that feel of trying things without having a clear idea of what they are doing. First game featured this mysterious Area 51 like secret lab complex? I know, this time we will have some old European town ruled by aliens! It's like they didn't understand why Black Mesa was such an amazing place and the tone shift is just absurd. How did Gordon and everybody from Black Mesa even ended up in a place like that? Black Mesa was in New Mexico, where the hell is even City 17? But hey, it "looks" cool, doesn't it? And that's the amount of thought that went into it.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Not exactly true: I like the Xen levels but there is a noticeable dip in quality. Alien Factory is a mess. HL2 is far more.... coherent.

You people just keep proving how dumb you are and how you didn't understand a god damn thing from HL1.

Xen is an alien place. It's... alien. It's not supposed to make sense at all. That was the point. All this sperging about "muh platforming" seems to have completely forgotten that jumping sections are sprinkled through out the entire fucking game. It's actually one of the major gameplay aspects of the game besides the shooting, as much as the gimmicky physics puzzles are in HL2. So when they got to Xen they had to take it up a notch.

Meanwhile, the Citadel is uninspired boring shit. A massive let down that was designed to be the anti-Xen because of all the retard mouth breathers who didn't get Xen and bitched about how weird and bizarre it was.

 

[Onionguy]

Xen levels aren't half as bad as people make them to be. I am not saying that HL1 is flawless, but I've honestly never played a better paced action game in my whole life. And sure it is achieved at the cost of doom-like expansive levels, but I never felt particularly constricted because of it. Fear is also a good game, but one that never manages to keep me engaged all the way through. The gunplay and AI are unsurpassed but the closer you are to the end the more obvious its faults become. It just desperately screams for more varied enemies and locations.

 

[Dexter]

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

They seriously thought that would be impressive? In 2020? Fucktards. Developers need to start focusing on AI more. FEAR was a good start, but no body ran with that. Shitty video game AI is the ultimate immersion breaker (which 99.9% of games have).

 

[Dexter]

"Press F for

"

Or don't.

They seriously thought that would be impressive? In 2020? Fucktards.