On hard too hard?

[m00b]

Well this might be old news but dont you guys find that playing on hard is a bit too hard? I'm always low/out of ammo because you need to shoot everything more to kill it/them, even with the shotgun. So I passed canals before airboat somehow but now on Ravenholm with all those fast zombies there's no way to stay and fight. I'll just have to run away then, or?! :|

 

[Mediocrity]

In those instances, I generally find the Gravity Gun fairly useful. Along with liberal usage of the sprint key.

 

[MaverickUK]

I didn't even know there was a sprint key till I completed the game.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Use the crowbar. It's got infinite ammo!

 

[DoctorGordon3]

I beat it fine on hard. Had no trouble with ammo.

 

[Zenrazor]

I'm a veteran of 1st person shooters and although I'm no ultra great player I think I do ok. My feeling was that the game on hard is about right. It does get annoying worrying about ammo esp early on before you have a weapon variety. It does get better starting at ravenholm but you still need to be proficient with all your weapons. I've found the crowbar is fine against zombies simply by using the bob/weave/bash technique.
Simple things help.
1. Don't kill things you really don't have to unless you want to for fun. I remember at the beginning running low on bullets as I killed all those damn ceiling leeches when I could have just avoided them
2. Choose the right weapon for the situation. Distance sniping requires the pistol, magnum, crossbow, and to a lesser extent the pulse rifle. Save your machine gun and shotgun bullets for close up combat.
3. Get handy with the gravity gun! Throwing saw blades in Ravenholm around can get addicting. Any time you can kill something by using the gravity gun do it. It is ammo saved. And it's fun!
4. Remember caches of unused ammo. If you are full and run across a stash of ammo you can feel a little safer overusing that weapon as you can go back and fill up.

 

[m00b]

Well its not only the ammo. It's those fast zombies. They find me fast and I have no time to kill all. And it looks like shotgun "double shot" doesnt kill them at once. So it's kinda I dont have time, I'll just run!!! LOL! :stare:

 

[Kaen]

Chuck explosives at them, there's plenty lying around on Ravenholm, but that and a single shotgun blast usually kills them DEAD
Didn't find hard too hard, the zombies got mowed down by my vicious assualt of physics objects. I feel that hard mode could have been harder, I expect zombies to shamble, but the Combine just stand there and get shot, I even saw an Elite vapourize himself because of the angle he fired at me from Maybe a higher difficulty level mod would be fun (Nightmare/Impossible/Realistic?)

 

[kupocake]

Maybe a higher difficulty level mod would be fun (Nightmare/Impossible/Realistic?)

I second this ^^. It seems quite uncommon for FPS games to ship with just 3 difficulty settings: Easy isn't going to be touched by anyone but the newbies, normal is a good option for playing through a first time and tbh, I noticed so little difference between Hard and Normal that i'm not entirely convinced that the difficulty level selector works at all. I personally think Halo's Legendary mode is a good example.. though I think making a game "harder" shouldn't just be about making it frustrating...

But yeah, more difficulty options for all those future playthroughs please!

 

[Kaen]

Here'a a few suggestions:-
-Increase enemy use of phys-objects for cover and attack.
-Keep all projectiles same damage except for SMG weapons, reduce those, (MP7, pulse) but make rate of fire higher. Pursuades player to be more accurate.
-Alter locational damage make it harder to kill Combine by shooting them in the bulletproof vest and/or other pads.
-Increase enemy line of sight, gives the impression of more realistic eyesight, possible increase viewing radius around the NPC, so you have to be right behind them to sneak up.
-Increase Physgun force when firing objects slightly, it will probably be your main weapon, pursuades player to conserve ammo for tougher portions of the game.

I could think of a few more, but these are some good ones I pulled off the top of my head.

 

[MiccyNarc]

Hard was too easy, if you ask me.

I've been tweaking the skill.cfg file, makes the game alot more entertaining.

 

[xdiesp]

I finished the game on Hard the first time,and so got ultra-bored real quickly. So I started making a new difficulty level by the console commands! And that's not everything,I also spiced up all the lonely parts you encounter in maps. http://xdiesp.altervista.org/index.html

 

[m00b]

Just make Combines bullets be one shot kills and there you have an "entertaining" game.

Actually I think I'm gonna go and make a mod where almost every weapon and enemies have one shot kills. That would be something close to reality. :imu:

 

[m00b]

All we need is a new skill.cfg file...

 

[m00b]

Shall we double the damage that enemies do to player?
I think its lame that the player cant be easily killed by a gunship of helicopter so we should make sure that not the case here.
Work with me ppl lets make a good "ultra hard" mod! :bounce:

 

[Mouldy Punk]

sprint key? I didn't know there was one. Will you be so kind as to share your wisdom with me I'm too lazy to read the controls. I only know the controls I figured out on my own.

 

[m00b]

Actually looking into the skil.cfg i noticed that you weapons do 1/10 of damage to us as they do to enemies. I'll make sure that's equal now. :E

 

[Kaen]

I don't know if this is possible, but do enemies have specific damage values for their weapons? As in, can you alter the Strider cannon without altering the chopper's cannon. If so, I'd like to see some staggered damage. Make the chopper very dangerous, and the strider's machine gun nearly lethal. Also buff the Elite's pulse cannon damage, just to keep you on your toes.

 

[m00b]

I just did that. I made a small mod called "ultra hard". You'll be dead by 4-5 bullets from combine or 3-4 from chopper or 2-3 from gunship. Sniper could be instant death etc...
I still need to tweak this to give player a chance too. :naughty:

Could someone tell me where to upload it when I'm done?

 

[xdiesp]

do you really think that having to shot 2 times a cop in the head with the shotgun to kill him would be so fun? I've preferred doubling the number of enemies instead

 

[m00b]

No no no. I doubled (sometimes trippled) the damage enemy weapons do on YOU! Your weapons do the same damage as in normal HL2. I'm not changing that at all.

 

[wongb18c]

Normal is already pretty hard for me... =(

 

[f|uke]

First time through, Normal was too easy and Hard was too hard.

Second time through, Hard was easy.

 

[Tantalus]

Maybe a higher difficulty level mod would be fun (Nightmare/Impossible/Realistic?)

Yes. Definately. Except with different names... like Gargantuan. Yeah, Gargantuan.

 

[Cormeh]

I'm not very experienced when it comes to FPS games, and with a game so realistic in terms of intelligence as Half Life 2, you can damn sure believe hard mode is a struggle.

My ultimate thought is that any game which boasts hard mode (as all seem to do), encourage you to use your head more than your trigger finger.

This would explain my failure to progres very far on Hard.

 

[Kaen]

Does the player model have locational damage? If so, make headshots on the player one-hit-kills, since Gordon doesn't wear a helmet.
If tweak the damage rather than out and out double it, find a good middle-ground where you can at least sustain a little fire before death.

 

[m00b]

It does. Headshot with a pistol will take you 60 health, while body 20. I need to test the mod more...

 

[Verifist]

It does. Headshot with a pistol will take you 60 health, while body 20. I need to test the mod more...

You guys are crazy :rolling:

Might be a little frustrating at times, especially in the parts where you have to drive the boat and the buggy...you get shot a LOT. :x

 

[Warbie]

More challenging difficulty settings would be very welcome.

So far i've been able to run and gun through the game on hard with little care or attention, only dying a handful of times. It has really effected my enjoyment of the game - rarely feeling the tension, or in any real danger.

I blame online gaming - everything else is pretty easy in comparison.

 

[m00b]

Well now I just drive straight no matter how many times they shoot me because the damage pistol and smg bullets do is 3-5 health!!!! They have no chance of killing you and you have 1000's of healthpacks along the way.

I tried playing a bit and it was still not too hard on these new settings although now they can hurt you as much as you can hurt them, and the chopper isnt useless anymore. .

 

[m00b]

Remember when you start route canal and you have to kill cops with a crowbar? In there they are very dangerous.

 

[Warbie]

n1 m00b

How difficult is it getting the balance right? (I imagine there's a fine line between challenging and annoying)

I'm enjoying the game far more without the crosshair (crosshair 0 I think the comand is) The 'brackets' are still there, but the central dot isn't. It doesn't really make the shooting much tougher, especially as all the weapons in HL2 are very spammy, but the experience is more enjoyable imo. Can't really explain why - check it out (makes using the magnum more satisfying .... now yu have to 'aim')

Let us see what you've done when it's finished m00b

 

[m00b]

Yeah I havent finished balancing it. I must play many parts to see how it all works. But in case you get stuck you can always cheat.

 

[nrjizer]

how do you edit the skill.cfg? isnt it buried in the gcf?

 

[m00b]

Yeah I can open gcf. Anyways I had to create a whole another mod folder because putting these new settings in the hl2/cfg folder doesnt work. :|

 

[Mikademius]

Hard was way too easy...

 

[happymushroom]

not on the subject but:

WHO LOVES THE UPGRADED GRAVITY GUN IN 'OUR BENAFACTORS'???

 

[m00b]

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1097035#post1097035

 

[kaption]

Im sure you all of you have played Goldeneye for n64. I loved their way of increasing difficulty.

Not only did you give less damage/enemies were tougher. There were more objectives to complete for each level of difficulty.

I think thats the best way Ive seen of having multiple difficultly levels. I am not sure if they could have done this in HL2, but I think they could have done something more then just weakening you/strengthening enemies.

 

[Warbie]

Im sure you all of you have played Goldeneye for n64. I loved their way of increasing difficulty.

Not only did you give less damage/enemies were tougher. There were more objectives to complete for each level of difficulty.

I think thats the best way Ive seen of having multiple difficultly levels. I am not sure if they could have done this in HL2, but I think they could have done something more then just weakening you/strengthening enemies.

Definately.

In terms of combat and challenge GE go it so right (as did Perfect Dark)

It didn't actually take any more damage to kill the badies - they were just more deadly