My One (Small) Complaint...

[Asknoone]

And yet the combat sections in Ep2 were nothing more than a shooting gallery.

Nice; that's what combat sections are. The point is that's all most shooters actually do for the entire game; that would be a true shooting gallery.

But it's no longer innovative. It's getting old fast, because it hasn't been drifting away from the FPS genre; it's been stuck in it. It either needs to embrace its genes and improve on the FPS elements or it needs to get rid of them entirely, neither of which is it doing.

You can't put your finger on innovation the way you're doing it right there. That's some flawed thinking. It's drifted entirely away from the FPS genre, most of which have barely begun to break from the mold of doing little more than shooting down enemies. Such mundane and superficial gameplay points don't really exist within Half-life as it is now, save for any point with the antlions, which was pretty dire (especially the caves). It innovates constantly with new approaches to situations; for instance the Strider battle or the auto-gun yard; the chopper/gravity gun scene or the 'run to the Thumpers - all innovation within the gameplay. You can't pin innovation on a single element in any way, shape or form. Innovation is not always smack in your face. It's about diverse, multi-tiered gameplay, and doing something persistently different from the corner you last took; we may have seen a few of the set pieces in EP2 before (namely the physics puzzles and various zombie encounters), but it's still one of the few games that continues to innovate with its gameplay and elevate the core of the game to more of an experience.

To brush it off as "shooting the same kinds of enemies with the sames kinds of guns" is to side with the narrow minded idea that this is all an FPS can achieve. It really isn't and Half-life, along with a few other games, is a testament to that.

 

[jimmyjam]

christ you can be a bit of a pretentious douche sometimes samon
what's funny is that if ep3 came out with 10 new weapons, you'd go on about how new weapons are like, a total paradigm shift man!

 

[leib10]

If you've read any of his comments about new guns, you wouldn't be saying that. Which tells me you haven't really done your homework.

If you're going to be calling somebody names, you better be damned sure you know who the person is that you're talking about.

 

[jimmyjam]

I've been calling samon names for 3 years or whatever, but thanks

 

[Asknoone]

christ you can be a bit of a pretentious douche sometimes samon

I do my best.

what's funny is that if ep3 came out with 10 new weapons, you'd go on about how new weapons are like, a total paradigm shift man!

But it won't. So there's that swept into the crap pile.

 

[ShadowJustice]

I do think that hl2 has an excellent variety of situation. The enemies and the weapons are relatively few, but they are used creatively. Think about the fight with the gunship in the attic in episode one, the ambush sequence in episode two, etc; absolute gameplay brilliance. Every chapter in the game offers at least a new situation, and that's what I love about the series.

But I also think that the arsenal needs some additions or reshaping (maybe in hl3?). The machine guns are horribly unfunny to use (cone of fire and damage are ridicolous), and the gravity gun is getting old.

Also, the combine soldiers need to be improved. They are too weak and unchallenging. The marines in hl1 were thousand of time cooler (they had too much hp anyway...) and had more character. Do any of you remember the "On a rail" chapter in hl1? Those marines had a surprise for you around every corner: dynamite to blow your track, other soldiers using trains to shoot at you, soldiers hidden behind the crates and so on..... the overwatch forces looks a lot more tame in comparison.

I would give them more abilities (like carrying those forcefield ala SMOD), and a faster rate of fire, at least at hard skill level. And more sequences like the ones in half-life 1 involving the marines (also, the dude who opened the hatch to throw the satchel charge and then close it back... that was cool)

Also the goddamned elite supersoldier. What a joke. He should be rethinked entirely as an enemy. At least give him instakill ar2 secondary fire (it does what, 20 hp of damage at hard skill level.... it makes no sense)

 

[kupocake]

Also the goddamned elite supersoldier. What a joke. He should be rethinked entirely as an enemy. At least give him instakill ar2 secondary fire (it does what, 20 hp of damage at hard skill level.... it makes no sense)

The Hunter is basically the new Combine Elite. Though they nerfed him as well

 

[Cheomesh]

The Combine Elite has always struck me as a soldier "in on more secrets" i.e. further brainwashed. They're tough to kill.

As for not having a crapload of weapons, we're fighting a force that constitutes a regular military; why would they have a thousand different weapons in the infantry? This isn't anime.

Hell to be honest, I'm not even sure why the Overwatch soldiers even got the MP7; should have been a CP "special" weapon.

 

[jimmyjam]

Also, the combine soldiers need to be improved. They are too weak and unchallenging.

Increase damage caused by their weapons
keep their HP the same
give them more ability to use cover and stuff
bam like emeril

 

[Asknoone]

The Elite looks lame compared to the cyborg-looking soldiers. Too naziish.

 

[leib10]

The Combine Elite has always struck me as a soldier "in on more secrets" i.e. further brainwashed. They're tough to kill.

As for not having a crapload of weapons, we're fighting a force that constitutes a regular military; why would they have a thousand different weapons in the infantry? This isn't anime.

Hell to be honest, I'm not even sure why the Overwatch soldiers even got the MP7; should have been a CP "special" weapon.

Good point. Truth is, the more weapons you issue, the more of a burden you put on the logistics system (applies in real-life as well). Having 20 different issued weapons doesn't make any sense at all from a military standpoint. Not only do you have to make the weapons themselves, but you have to have different ammunition (although some weapons may share the same ammo, ie MP5 and 9mm pistol in HL) and spare parts for each one.

It simply adds realism to the game, as well as tightening gameplay.

The Elite looks lame compared to the cyborg-looking soldiers. Too naziish.

I agree. I can't believe they decided to make the suit white. How the hell will that fit in? (Although in this upcoming episode, it might fit in perfectly). Also, the boots are straight up Knoebelbeckere. They even tuck the pantleg into the boot in the German fashion. I'm surprised they didn't have any Stielhandgrenadiere sticking out of the top of it!

 

[LordPomposity]

The Elite looks lame compared to the cyborg-looking soldiers. Too naziish.

Now, now. There's nothing wrong with blatant Nazi overtones. The Elite looks lame because it looks lame.

 

[Laivasse]

The elite looks great. The metrocops with their jackboots actually look more nazi-ish. I don't see how it's a bad thing, however.

 

[jimmyjam]

they should bring in crazy offworld troops in ep3
like, relief dudes sent by other citadels

 

[Cheomesh]

I would like to know how the new Overwatch guy fits in. Is he a scout-type, like I assumed?

 

[jimmyjam]

he has a shotgun
that's about it

 

[Planetary]

Has anyone noticed that the Elites (at the White Forest Inn" drop HEV batteries when you kill them? Before it was just health vials when your health gets low.

As usual, Valve can't bring themselves to create a tough game. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you.

 

[Cheomesh]

Nope, didn't notice. That fight was very frantic tbh, especially the part where I was up above the inn itself.

 

[Laivasse]

Ep2 was plenty tough in places. I admire Valve for challenging the design philosophy that says the only way a game can be challenging is to force you to die all the time.

 

[kupocake]

The Combine Elite was never going to be a favorite after it turned out to be a camouflage challenged soldier who ripped the head of a Female assassin (I'm for the fact that they didn't have an overtly gendered Combine type, but HL1's assassins were one of the best enemies by far).

I think of them as less Nazi-influence than they are Star Wars influenced tbh. One of the more interesting concept cuts from RtB is the Combine Guard, which is probably the most overtly fascist-police design in the book. Guess trenchcoats are just out of the question for a few years to come.

 

[jerkasaur]

Good Ol' Gordon Freeman had more toys to play with back in Black Mesa. Give us Tau guns! Sniper rifles! Chainguns! Flamethrowers! Tripmines! Satchel explosives! And most importantly... Snarks!

i don't remember having those in HL1.

















ok i'm being a dick, just ignor me.

 

[jimmyjam]

a dick or someone with a really poor concept of how the english language works

 

[Cheomesh]

i don't remember having those in HL1.

Sniper Rifle was in OpFor.






As for the Comb. Elite being camo "challenged", what do you suggest that we wear inside of a BUILDING? At that rate, just call security guards and city police cammo challenged as well. C. Elites where never supposed to be used outside of the citadel...

 

[Narvi]

He needs optic camouflage.

 

[kupocake]

At that rate, just call security guards and city police cammo challenged as well.

Err... they are camo challenged. But Security Guards and City Police are supposed to be visible. Cops don't sneak up behind people unawares to catch them doing crimes. They're supposed to be visible as a deterrent to crime and a visible means of support for citizens. They're not a covert ops team.

C. Elites where never supposed to be used outside of the citadel...

Because naturally, the best place to deploy your highest-tech soldiers is inside your personal fortress that has never even been breached. And white isn't even a camouflage colour inside the citadel. It'll work wonders in the arctic mind you.

 

[leib10]

Spoiler

My thoughts exactly. We're probably going to be seeing a lot of Elites in Episode Three (hell, we've already seen two in Mossman's video). From now on we might be straining to lookf for a single red dot...

 

[Cheomesh]

Because naturally, the best place to deploy your highest-tech soldiers is inside your personal fortress that has never even been breached. And white isn't even a camouflage colour inside the citadel. It'll work wonders in the arctic mind you.

Personal Body Guard. It's a formality.

 

[Jintor]

Every Evil Overlord needs their personal elite soldier team.