Half Life -- First run through

[Whirlwind]

Half-Life is such a great game.....I loved my first play-thru.

The game is epic.

 

[0roo0roo]

http://www.cinematicmod.com/
if u think graphics are dated, run that graphics update mod
its got heavy heavy requirements.

 

[dpodblood]

Half-Life 1 still stands up to today's gameplay wise. Graphics wise not so much, but its not so bad that it un-playable. Also it's a helluva lot more challenging than HL2, which could be a plus or a minus depending on your preferences.

 

[Homerboy]

http://www.cinematicmod.com/
if u think graphics are dated, run that graphics update mod
its got heavy heavy requirements.

Thats for HL2 though.
OP is playing HL

 

[DanDaManJC]

Yeah I've already played HL2. However... I'll probably give that a shot. Looks like a nice update to hl2

 

[0roo0roo]

oh hl1
i swear there was a higher res texture pack for that back in the day as well.
but it was nothing close to the level of effort of the cinematic mod of course.

 

[Zenoth]

oh hl1
i swear there was a higher res texture pack for that back in the day as well.
but it was nothing close to the level of effort of the cinematic mod of course.

Gah, that reminds me of the fiasco of the Dreamcast version, I still have a poster of it, it's rectangle in shape, two pages coming from a gaming magazine which I do not remember the name of. At the top we can read H λ L F - L I F E, under the title we can see to the left Gordon Freeman's face (looking towards you), at the middle we can see some dual-rotor transport helicopter from which Marines are descending by ropes, and to the right side what I believe is an Apache helicopter firing two missiles towards us the viewers/readers, and to the complete right side on top of a trefoil radioactive circle symbol we read "Reserve Your Copy Now". Under that we can see three pictures (that's on the second "right" page) of the game, and finally at the bottom of the left page, we read "Play it on Sega Dreamcast Fall 2000".

I'm speaking of this because back then the Dreamcast version was meant to "re-do" most of the game's default (PC version) textures and models as well, and tons of pictures in various magazines were shown as part of the advertisement for it, it was a title that many were looking forward to. Then, it was delayed, and then, it was canceled when news came that Sega would retire from the hardware market... BUT the game itself WAS completed, and illegal copies of it are supposedly available, not just for download on the Internet but actual completed hard copies with the official packaging and instruction manual (although I've never seen the manual of the DC version, but I did see a picture of the disc which seemed quite legit, a few years ago).

Anyway, it was eventually released on the PS2 instead, and it came with Half-Life: Decay, which I believe has never been released officially on the PC, but I'm still unsure about that, it was fun though, it was made with co-operation in mind, but it was extremely short. The PS2 version had those High Definition textures and models too, the exact same ones that were supposed to make the DC version so special, and by the time it came out on the PS2 the Half-Life buzz died long ago, but I think it did sell well enough. It's something I don't want to live too often, it's not the only game for a specific platform that I had been waiting for that got canceled, but when it happens there's nothing more frustrating, outside of trying to beat Contra or Ghouls & Ghost.

As of now however it is possible to get that exact same High Definition "pack" for the Steam (or the older retail non-Steam) version of Half-Life, it's a .GCF file if I recall correctly, in which all the textures and models are included, and with that file installed then the game applies the pack properly and voila, you're playing the original Half-Life with a bit of a better visual quality, models and textures, and to this day it's the only "worthy" textures/models "mod" that I know of for the original Half-Life (excluding Black Mesa: Source of course).

 

[BFG10K]

I actually enjoyed the original game more than the sequel. The guns and gibs were meatier, and the level design was better.

 

[0roo0roo]

naw the older the game the frustrating the game/level design. you know the hunt and peck or other nonense they put in as "puzzles". the idea of playing an old game tends to be better than reality i've found.

 

[AdamK47]

My first run through was in 98 and I still remember some of it.

 

[Northern Lawn]

So I'm currently working on my first run through half life. I had played single player before, but for one reason or another always ended up stopping right after the blast pit level. iono, school, work and lost saves due to formats would happen and I just never bothered playing through. I have played HL2, ep1 and ep2 though...

anyways, back to HL. Talk about a great game. No doubt the graphics are dated (duh).. but the AI is superb. Level design -- given the tech they have to work with -- is also great. I really like the variety of the levels (I thought the same of HL2, but again, on older tech they did a great job with HL). The puzzles are nice too... they're all just challenging enough to have me scratching my head about which door to find or conveyor belt to climb without being distractingly hard.

makes me wish i had played through the game sooner

The game completely falls apart once you hit the alien worlds and has thee stupidest looking final boss ever. First half of the game is great, no need to play the 2nd half.

 

[Zenoth]

The game completely falls apart once you hit the alien worlds and has thee stupidest looking final boss ever. First half of the game is great, no need to play the 2nd half.

And interestingly Half-Life 2 was the opposite, I thought that the first seven chapters were quite boring, and once I got to Nova Prospekt and the Citadel it became fun, for me anyway. Fortunately both following Episodes improved the game on all fronts, in my opinion. As a whole, including both Episodes Half-Life 2 is great, but honestly vanilla Half-Life 2 is quite inferior to the original. I for one never really liked Xen either, but I preferred it over H-L 2's first half, especially Route Kanal, We don't go to Ravenholm and Highway 17 (excluding some redeeming moments in Black Mesa East).

I will certainly agree on one thing though, that Half-Life's end boss was horrible, and I'm not even comparing it to Half-Life 2's final battle, just on its own the original H-L's boss is indeed boring, even if it makes sense with the story (or not, either way I wouldn't care since it has never been officially explained what the heck that thing's role was, we can only presume and pretend about it). On the other hand however I really liked the mini bosses (Ichthyosaur, Assassins, Gargantuas, Gonarch), especially that big monstrosity in Opposing Force.

 

[magomago]

ya second half of the game is total WTF. I enjoyed the human environments more. That said, when i went back to play it after all these years its more acceptable.

and taht is a good point - the game doesn't have any pure cinematic cut scenes...however, to be honest, you are essentially trapped in a small area to watch scripted actions at certain parts in the game. Yeah you can look around and see different things...but in general only one angle had things happening, and a nice cutscene could have had more eye candy.


I'm about to start playing HL2:EP1 finally =) What happened after the end of HL2 again? The human leader of the aliens got pwned, tower fell, that chick went into oblivion or some shit?

 

[DanDaManJC]

ya second half of the game is total WTF. I enjoyed the human environments more. That said, when i went back to play it after all these years its more acceptable.

and taht is a good point - the game doesn't have any pure cinematic cut scenes...however, to be honest, you are essentially trapped in a small area to watch scripted actions at certain parts in the game. Yeah you can look around and see different things...but in general only one angle had things happening, and a nice cutscene could have had more eye candy.


I'm about to start playing HL2:EP1 finally =) What happened after the end of HL2 again? The human leader of the aliens got pwned, tower fell, that chick went into oblivion or some shit?

yeah pretty much. you destroy the citadel with everyone on top (breen, alyx, yourself)... and the game ends right before the explosion. of course, you dont die (hence ep1 and 2)

I just beat HL too. I thought the floating aliens were pretty uninspired... felt a lot more like doom. i guess the poor graphics were more acceptable in black mesa since it had a lot of interiors -- but the alien world definitely needed the organic flow. overall, i really dont think the second half was that bad. the goofiest thing I noticed was some of the platform-style "puzzles" where you had to jump from ledge to ledge. those are definitely legacy puzzles. cap it off, it was great to finally get to see how freeman was locked away in stasis at the end of hl. I had read some background material before playing hl2, but always thought id play hl, so i didnt have all the details.