Exit 17 - The good, the bad and the ugly

[Asknoone]

So I finished up playing Episode 1 last night on my dads comp (swanky top settings), and I have to say - Exit 17 really does suck. Perhaps that's a little harsh, because I've certainly played alot worse, but the fact still stands in my mind that this is Valve at its worst.

Now originally I was all for Exit 17, even to the point of defending the dull citizen escort, but that was probably due to being swept up in release hype and that oh-so-wonderful ending. So what's wrong with it? Well, alot of things really. First, we've got the citizen escort. Now, escorting NPC characters has always been a problem in the genre, and I'm not sure what Valve were smoking when they thought they could pull it off. I'm going to blame Alyx for this one. A rather revolutionary NPC in that she isn't useless, she's a well established character and because she aids, rather than hinders.

The same can't really be said for the rebels. I think I lost more in the Nexus courtyard than I did in the final stages of the evacuation. For starters, I didn't have the ability to tell them what to do or where to go. So when the Combine soldiers came bursting through the windows, I couldn't send my rebels to the other side of the warehouse. So I either let them get mowed down or I take huge damage from the shotgun toting soldier. It isn't very practical. Perhaps if they'd had the sense to do it themselves?

"Don't forgot to reload Dr. Freeman!"

The next problem would be how repetitive it is. You go back and forth a total of 5 (?) times, including repeated enemy placements. Not to mention the complete lack of urgency. The only thing that reminded me of the Citadel's imminent destruction was when I fancied a look up. No sirens were sounding, no vortex lightning crackling and certainly no "Come on Gordon we have to keep moving!". Now I think alot of that was down to the back and forth nature of it all. You don't really get a sense of urgency when you have to linger in the same dull spot for about half an hour.

It wasn't fun, it wasn't exciting and it really let the rest of the game down. I felt the urgency in the Citadel, I felt a reason to keep going and I felt as though I really should get moving. Infact, I felt that very same thing when I emerged from the sub tunnels. Kleiner's rather straight to the point speech had me hurrying for the exit.

So ok, the escort mission is over. What next? A strider battle. Now this was great, and it was very well done. Trouble was, it didn't feel like the finale it should have been. It wasn't the climax I'd been waiting for. It wasn't how the chapter should have ended, and more importantly, Alyx wasn't present. Alyx had gone through the entire episode with me, and I wanted her there at the end. A true opportunity was missed here. We started it together, we should have ended it together.

But the ending made up for alot of it - because it was, by all means, bloody awesome.

To sum it up, I feel as though Exit 17 let the game down. It really did. It should have been replaced with some a great deal more climatic. Perhaps a hectic battle through a series of train yards? Anything really.

Your thoughts?


Spoiler: Kupoartist sucks

 

[Beerdude26]

/me concurs

 

[jondy]

He's woken from his post-apocalyptic slumber!

 

[Asknoone]

D:

l

 

[kupocake]

Agreed. 6 months ago and with persistant nagging until you came up with the opinion that you've now formulated. I demand to be credited

 

[brad92]

You know, thinking about it now really makes me see where your coming from Samon. It didn't make it seem as if the Citadel was about to blow at all. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ridge]

Good point. Exactly like you said, up through your entrance onto the city streets, you felt the need to get the hell out of there as fast as you can. Once you got topside, the story just went out into left field....it was about killing your way to the trains.

Yes, the Strider battles was great, and was made wonderful by the shipping crate maze you had to go through...

But escorting the citizens was just irritating as all hell. Ive done that chapter a half dozen times, and only survived it twice. You are pretty much on your own with a load of baggage until you get to the other side of the train car where Alyx has agun, and even then thats no guarantee of safety...

 

[knut]

The Strider battle could of been so much more epic and, yes, more of a finale. It should of been ploughing through walls, knocking shit over, kicking trains off the rails, etc. But no, it was just a bog standard 'I've got a ton of health AND infinity rockets hur hur hur!' fight, as we've all done before.

 

[Shift]

Yup, I hated the NPC escort bit, even the first time I played it, I finished it and thought 'well that was a waste of time'. The strider battle at the end was a good fight, I mean I loved when you are turning the crank and out of the corner of your eye you just see this Strider crambling around the corner only for you dive for your dear life as it fires its primary weapon at you. But I would have liked a last ditch stand off for the climax, like so:

You move through into like a small security hut, Alyx logs into the computer and says the train will be here soon, then you hear that distant siren, and that voice echoes overhead, Alyx switches the channel of the monitor to the trainyard security cams, and you see swarms of Combine troops, that have finally caught up with you after your detour through the hosptial. The scenery is there, its just you and Alyx, and you must hold off the swarms of Combine. You do this for quite a bit, and just when you think you have dealt with most of them, a Strider appears supported by troops, Alyx distracts the troops while you deal with the Strider. The Strider is defeated, Alyx says that there must have been a lot more than that, and with a 'I hate when im right' moment, the main bulk of the force appears (you wre fighting the scout troops which before being killed informed of the rest of the force of your position), swarms of troops and APCs appear, you fire frantically at them, but the train suddenly arrives. You have to dash to the control room nearby to open the gate to the train, Alyx makes haste to the train. As you run back, past the initial cover, the troops or closing in, and three Striders appear, you run through the gunfire and for the train that is slowly moving so you have to sprint to get on it, taking fire from behind as you do. You start to speed away from the Combine force, and end with the Citadel going fully critical.

Or something like that would have been better xD

 

[PimpinPenguin]

The escort mission showed Valve's weak side yes they did an excellent job on Alyx's AI and was a pleasure to fight with her but the citizens were a pain and seemed even worse dues to Alyx's AI.
I died loads of times dues to the fact they sometimes decided to run toward a combine wielding shotgun they seem extremly dumb and i really hope they never do that again cause it really slowed the game down and totally killed the sence of urgency. Shift idea would have been a lot better.

 

[Max35]

The problem wasn't going back and forth (well, okay, that was part of it), it was the fact that the environment didn't change. There were no buildings toppling over (maybe that would be extreme) no thunderous ambient sounds. And worse, no sense of urgency from the NPCs. This wasn't just Valve at their worst, it was Valve at their laziest. Don't get me wrong, I love EP1, but this chapter definitely showed a rushed effort.

The Strider battle at the end was great, but as the above poster said, it wasn't what I wanted or expected. It wasn't the worst, but it wasn't the best either. I expected more from a company that gave us HL1-2. But bascically, though, I think it comes down to a lack of inspiration. According to Valve, EP1 (and City 17) were a narrative necessity. I believe EP2 will provide that inspiration with the main new character (now permitted in the narrative) and the new setting/emphasis on vehicle gameplay. As well as being able to propel the story forward, which was somewhat stagnant in EP1 aside from escaping.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for EP2, and hope Valve delivers this time around, both a successful intro, and outro.

 

[Loke]

Samon, you've seen the light! Hooray! \o/

I agree with, pretty much, everything you said. Exit 17 is indeed a dull chapter, especially the escort part. I didn't really care so much about the Strider part, but it wasn't very exciting I got to admit.

It should definitely been more epic, especially given that it was the last chapter in the game and that you were about to leave City 17 and never return. I can't say how but definitely better than what the outcome was.

However, I can't see Episode 2 having parts like this, as it looks, in a good way, freakin' insane, but you never know.

 

[Ridge]

The only thing that changed between refugee runs was the spawning of combine metrocops and the one APC...all in all that whole section really did feel thrown together at the last moment...

 

[Asknoone]

Episode 2 looks amazing - I've no doubts.
And that said, the beginning of Episode 1 was amazing, so that sort of makes up for the end. Almost.

 

[el Chi]

What pissed me off was that, once you've escorted the first lot of rebels across to the trains, one of them says something like "Wow that was easy! We should've all gone at once!"
F*ck off mate, that's exactly what I was thinking. Oh well, here's the second lot - maybe we should take all of them together now we know it won't be all that hard - whaddya say? Hmmm? What's that? You say you'd rather wait 'til this last ditch escape attempt is glaringly obvious to the Combine and they send shit loads of people to stop you? Well, it's a bit of a weird idea, but what the hell, let's try it out!

That part of Exit17 was indeed a let down. It didn't feel urgent, which is surprising as Valve were so good with pacing beforehand.
It's a game. You know that unless a countdown comes up in the HUD, time is no specific obstacle, but by thunder it felt like it was when you got back in the Citadel. The whole game was about fleeing and it really felt it, but that ending sequence didn't feel as desperate and frantic as it should've.

You should have been feeling exhausted and like you were on your third or fourth wind, but instead that really brought it home the fact that you were playing a game. It's been done before and you knew that the next time you went to get some people there'd be a couple more Combine soldiers rapelling down the walls.

There were other moments that were blatant game cliches, such the stand-off with the zombies near the lift, but they were done well. That sequence had me shit-scared.

I know what Samon means about finishing it with Alyx. That part diudn't feel as polished or even professional as so much of the rest of the game.
On trhe other hand, I still enjoyed it thoroughly and the ending sequence more than made up for it.

 

[Shift]

Indeed, the Citadel going critical was probably the greatest thing I have ever seen in a game, literally blew me away from my seat

 

[Wanted Bob]

Yeah, the escort part was boring, but I did enjoy the Strider fight was fun, and the final train scene was awesome. My favourite part was when the gunship tried to follow you but crashed in the tunnel, and that explosion along with the HDRI practically blinded you as you where moving through the tunnel.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

Well said (including Samon), I think it could've been a bit more climatic. It was missing some things. In the end of Half-Life 2 you had to stop Dr. Breen from transporting to the combine homeworld & you had to solve some puzzles such as firing those energy orbs w/ the G-gun right at those pedals of the dark energy reactor. That extro was awesome (mainly because of the G-man).

Ep1 on the other hand was missing some key things & lacked bits n' pieces. Instead of fighting a Strider or escorting citizens to safety, I would've perfered a tough puzzle in the the midst of the heat of battle, Valve style. (I would've loved to hear something of the G-man there, it was missing the whole episode. Even if Gordon was hearing things, it wouldn't hurt to have a little G-man whisper into Gordons ear for a few seconds after the the Citadel blew up)

 

[bigburpco]

I did like the gameplay in the escort bit though. Sure, it may have been the worst part of the game, but hell, it was still fun.

 

[MorganFreeman911]

The Strider battle could of been so much more epic and, yes, more of a finale. It should of been ploughing through walls, knocking shit over, kicking trains off the rails, etc. But no, it was just a bog standard 'I've got a ton of health AND infinity rockets hur hur hur!' fight, as we've all done before.

That would be HELLA hard to do right.

 

[Mahalis]

a little G-man whisper into Gordons ear for a few seconds after the the Citadel blew up

That would've been cool. They could even have reused the clip from so long ago... "Cleverly done, Missster Freeman."

I did like the gameplay in the escort bit though.

It got pretty old until I realized I had an infinite rocket crate and lots of closely-spaced Combine to use it on.

edit – also, was I the only one who found it incredibly difficult to RPG the sniper without getting bullet-raped by him first?

 

[Ridge]

LOL. For the soldiers, I picked up the mines and threw them at em! I did RPG one of the scanners carrying the mines, though...

 

[Jintor]

The end battle should've involved Alyx, and shouldn't have been an infitite-strider-spawn-until-you-reach-the-rocket-crate.

 

[Operational]

Alyx with a rocket launcher .

 

[knut]

That would be HELLA hard to do right.

I don't know, would it? The Striders have kicked stuff over before (Nexus courtyard) and Valve have done far more greater things with the game then something ploughing through a building. What about the Gunship fight on the hospital roof or whereever it was? That showed destructable environments.

 

[Jintor]

I don't know, would it? The Striders have kicked stuff over before (Nexus courtyard) and Valve have done far more greater things with the game then something ploughing through a building. What about the Gunship fight on the hospital roof or whereever it was? That showed destructable environments.

Actually (Because I had spoiled the chapter for myself in the sense that I knew a strider was coming), I kept thinking a Strider would burst through the roof on the last escort mission back to the trainyard. I was so twitchy...

Kinda dissapointed with what it turned out to be, then.

 

[ríomhaire]

Valve at its worst.

Residue proccessing.

Anyway, I agree with the rest of your post. It needed more of a sense of urgency. I think a few adjustments could really have made it so much better:

• Hearing random explosions and seeing flashes of light from the citadel.
• Have the rebels running through the yard rather than stopping to shoot the soldiers
• Soldiers coming through constantly
• Barney and a few more rebels that stay in the yard to help hold off the waves of soldiers
• More noise and shouting in general

Also I felt it was very cheap that after spending nearly the whole game with Alyx she just disappears for the climax. I felt like hitting her when she popped out right after I killed that thing by myself.

 

[knut]

The citizens/Resistance deffo needed some more to them. I'm talking the guy in front of another member getting hit in the neck and tumbling backwards as the other guy leaps over his falling body (Saving Private Ryan-esqe), bullets kicking up the ground, (it seriously felt like everyone was after me, not anyone else), rubble and girders falling from the ceiling, walls being blown open by charges + Combine entry teams, etc.

It was just... run, run, run, well done, more people run, bit of gunfire, run, maybe someone will die by a grenade, more running, bit of gunfire, end area.

 

[Jintor]

I just can't believe they missed the opportunity for a strider to come bursting through the roof of the train-fixing building. It would've been so Cinamatic...

Alyx: Wait... can you hear that? It sounds a bit like a...

*charging up laser cannon-firing noise, roof explodes*

RandomRebel: STTTRRRIIIIDDDEEEEERRRR!!!!!

 

[Loke]

Residue proccessing.

Am I the only one who liked Residue Processing?

Every time I play that chapter I'm like "Yaay! \o/" while everyone else is like "Meeh! /o\".

 

[Asknoone]

There's a few chunks of HL1 that just plain suck ass. Residue Processing is one of them.

 

[Darkwolf]

The Strider battle was fairly cool. Mostly because at one point, I got stuck behind a shipping crate just as it was about to fire its distortion cannon. So I grabbed a barrel and put it sideways against the wall and the crate. The blast pushed the entire crate into the wall but stopped me from being crushed.

Then for the next five minutes I sat there while it repeatedly fired its cannon. Was fun...

EDIT:

I would've loved to hear something of the G-man there, it was missing the whole episode.

That was one of the big plot points. The fact that G-man did not appear in the whole episode was... disconcerting. But if you recall he was 'barred' from you the whole episode. If you look however, you'll see that there is someone in his stead. A combine advisor, he appears on screens all over the games, then dissappears, in the same manner as G-man.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

It would've been cool, after you escape the citadel explosion, a strider come's through like "IMA CHARGIN MA LAZER!!!!" & knocks the train off its tracks when its about to go over a bridge with a large canion of river's & thing's, the train's bunk's would go tumbling & Alyx says "Gordon... HOLD ON, ITS GOING TO BE A BUMPY RIDE!!!" & the train's bunks fall into the pit of rivers;

Then you see G-man & he has stopped time. Gordon wakes up & then he see's G-man walk into his stasis with Alyx in it, G-man then walks in & is standing over Alyx's knocked out unconcious body. He then say's his G-speech "You're not supossed to be here. Forget about all this..."

Thats how it should be + some thoughts on how EP2 intro might start.

 

[Shift]

I would like to see that Alyx and G-Man in stasis bit more in the middle of the episode

 

[MultiVaC]

The citizen escort makes Residue Processing look like pure genius. It was easily the lowest point in any Valve game, perhaps in the entire HL saga so far. What were they thinking? EVERYONE hates escort missions, has anyone ever met someone who thought "Oh, cool, an escort mission!" when they came to one? And to add insult to injury, it was even bad for an escort mission. It was just taking groups of complete morons through the same train station five times over. This isn't Halo, leave the repetition out.

 

[Ridge]

Werd.

 

[Adabiviak]

I treated the escorts like a puzzle with multiple solutions. Once I knew where the Combine were going to come from, I'd take the explosive barrels and hoppers and plant them at the entrance points. If I did it well, I would have no problem with the rebels walking over at their leisure. If I didn't place them right, I'd have a couple of 'leftovers' to focus on. The escort across the plaza was pretty similar every time but the escort across the garage part differed enough. I'd be thinking I was good to go once I got into the building until something changed, and I'd have to navigate another path. I enjoyed it, although if I had to pick a 'worst' spot, it'd probably be this.

 

[Wanted Bob]

I treated the escorts like a puzzle with multiple solutions. Once I knew where the Combine were going to come from, I'd take the explosive barrels and hoppers and plant them at the entrance points. If I did it well, I would have no problem with the rebels walking over at their leisure. If I didn't place them right, I'd have a couple of 'leftovers' to focus on.

That to me sounds really interesting. Might improve the longevity of that section for me:thumbs:

 

[Jintor]

I tried that, but apparently the APC spawns and doesn't set off the hopper mines.

Seriously, it was parked right on top of them.

 

[UseAbuse]

There's a few chunks of HL1 that just plain suck ass. Residue Processing is one of them.

So Samon, what would you rate Half-life 2: Episode 1?