"Apparently, we suck at Episode 1."

Jeremyofmany said:
n00bs expecting the game to be so easy.
"Why don't I conveniently have an unlimited number of explosive barrels and radiators to pwn these creatures?"
*Cries and uninstalls game*
Pffft..
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That is going to be a serious discrimination against those who have unsophisticated skill and insufficient experience in playing Half-Life. Your comment on them seems to be over-exaggerated. For people who are unskillful, their lack of agility is inborn. Yet, they have the right to finish the game and enjoy the new graphic technology. We simply cannot violate that. Therefore, we shall not label these kind of players as "noob".

I just wish to question Valve: why cannot you set a various numbers of zombies in diiferent difficulties? i.e., they can preserve the outnumbered situation in hard level, and reduce the number of zombies in easy level. I would say, this is a true and helpful difficulty system, which satisfies both unskillful players and expert players. I would say this is what must Valve do to modify the car park section in order to delight all customers.
 
I don't see it so much as a right, as a privelege to those that deserve it.

In an old issue of either Nintendo Power or EGM, some buffoon that was no good at Goldeneye wrote in complaining of his lack of ability to access cheats. Cheats were obtained through hardship and required incredible skill (for a teenager anyhow. I was abouts 15).

So this kid complained, arguing he bought the game and "owned" it and therefor had "rights" to it's contents so he should be able to access everything without doing any work. His letter was returned by whoever made Goldeneye at the time and essentially their response was "you own the game, true, but it is our intelletual content, you merely have the right to play. Cheats are a privelege and if you are not good enough to access them, too bad."

I think this case is very similar. Nobody has a "right" to any of any games content. You are either good enough to access it, or you should play something else (or practice, I guess).
 
I am just trying to emphasize the importance of a contrasting difficulty-system. A well-made difficulty system is that it can both let immature players finish the game and retain challenges for people like you, and probably I. I am not saying the difficulty of all levels, viz easy, normal and hard, should not be challenging. In hard, the game should be very challenging. Contrariwise, the game should be really easy when the setting is easy. Afterall, Half-Life 2 is selling its graphic system, not a skilled gameplay.
 
I pretty much agree with that, but as a skilled player, catering to unskilled players really burns my biscuits.
 
_Z_Ryuken said:
I pretty much agree with that, but as a skilled player, catering to unskilled players really burns my biscuits.
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Indeed, an unskilled player can be a skilled player someday. But you cannot turn back to an unskilled player. If the game is too easy, for us, it is permanently too easy. You can never convert thyself into a noob, and feel the toughness of the game. :O
 
This sounds quite myopic on Valve's part - even more so on the gamers who endorse it. The more difficult a sequence is, the more rewarding it is when you succeed. HL1 was great because of this. They seem to forget that. Sure, it's frustrating when you can't get past a tough section, but after you succeed, you'll completely forget about that.

While I'm initially repulsed by this, I can understand their reasoning. The current difficulty system does not allow different content for different settings, so if they adjust something, it's universal. Apparently Valve is really invested in allowing the players to change the difficulty on the fly. So this is the only way they could do it. I just wish they would have waited until they had developed a more complex difficulty system to implement difficulty adjustments.
 
Hopefully Valve will make it applied to only Easy difficulty.
 
i am not pleased by this turn of events. I demand nothing less than grueling punishment from my singleplayer games should i make a mistake. Its the only way to know if I am good or not. In sports you don't ask your opponents to go easier on you, it means admitting weakness, if you win its a hollow victory, and if you lose you look like a bigger loser.

As long as an area is not impossible or requires 50 retries. It should remain at its standard difficulty.
 
So did anyone end up sending a email to Valve?
 
I did.

I e-mailed Gabe Newell, though, and it was pretty long so I don't know if he read it.
 
The best thing valve could do is increase the ammo and increase the amounts of zombies :).
 
Damn. I just got Episode One 2 days ago, and I played through that part thinking it was awesome, but easy... and now I find out about this...

C'mon, Valve! Most of us who sat through the crazy hard Half-Life 1 want more of a challenge with the sequels.
 
The different number of zombies on different difficulties would require changes in the code, seems more like they just did a quick fix.
 
RomeoJGuy said:
The different number of zombies on different difficulties would require changes in the code, seems more like they just did a quick fix.
Click to expand...

Can't see.
The old zombie swarm is really a swarm. It was use to be, when you'd stepped into the elevator, there were about fifty zombies outside. Now, there are only five.
 
Even not fifty, there were at least fifteen.
Valve totally ignored our wish and just let the whole stuff goes cooled down!
 
bb, you are again taking things way out of proportion. You are not sparking the seeds of a revolution.
 
So they've changed it ey?

Does that mean as I completed it pre-update on hard that I get to call people who play post update pussies? Ye, man that was crazy sheet. I was waiting for the evlevator with alyx, we kissed, then 20 fast zomnbies came at me at once, I pushed alyx into the elevator, killed all the zombies with my flashlight, then I climbed up the elevator shaft with my bare hands... True story.
 
Solaris said:
So they've changed it ey?

Does that mean as I completed it pre-update on hard that I get to call people who play post update pussies? Ye, man that was crazy sheet. I was waiting for the evlevator with alyx, we kissed, then 20 fast zomnbies came at me at once, I pushed alyx into the elevator, killed all the zombies with my flashlight, then I climbed up the elevator shaft with my bare hands... True story.
Click to expand...

Then, in the shaft, the elevator itself blocks your way to the first floor. You are
stuck and have to quickload. That's the story.
 
What would be awsome is a dynamic difficulty engine that changes according to how you play. So if you're pwning zombies as soon as they enter, it cranks up the number and/or their health a bit.
 
we11er said:
What would be awsome is a dynamic difficulty engine that changes according to how you play. So if you're pwning zombies as soon as they enter, it cranks up the number and/or their health a bit.
Click to expand...

There's nothing worse than computers trying to be smart.

I still suffer from the Word Syndrome.
 
Actually I play all FPS on Hard straight off, because it's more of a challenge and the game lasts longer. My F6 and F9 keys are so worn they barely work now ;).

I thought E1 was actually quite difficult. One bit I just couldn't do on Hard at all (waiting for the elevator), even with save/load. Well maybe I could have, but I tried around 10 times then gave up and set the game on Easy for that section.

So even with the dumb-down Valve apparently did on this game (I only bought it Saturday, so presumably I got the "easy version"), I still found it much more intense and difficult shooter-wise than the HL2.
 
I just now finished playing through it, and found that section so easy that I'm not even sure where you guys are talking about.......I feel as though I've missed out.
 
Bleeder said:
I just now finished playing through it, and found that section so easy that I'm not even sure where you guys are talking about.......I feel as though I've missed out.
Click to expand...

Because Valve malmodified it, fool!!!!!!!!!
 
Episode One "Aftermath" (2 Viewing)
The first official expansion for Half-Life 2.
 
I just got the game and played through it, and that part really is too easy. I got through it thinking, "That's all? No more zombies? :("

I really would have liked to have been able to play it the way it was before the update.
 
Someone should mod the original encounter.
 
I think what perturbs Valve is the number of players who didn't complete EP1 and so they are looking at the choke points in the adventure that might have caused people to give up (and not even consider buying EP2) . The elevator scene is clearly one of them. I think the problem that most players encounter/experience with that particular level is that fact that the key to success is to change your mindset from kill everything in the room (as in the previous levels) to kill them long enough for you to be able to get the elevator working, then peg it like Billy-O. I agree that more ammo and meds makes sense, but like the majority I disagree on the reduction in the numbers of zombies.
 
I never got to play the hard pre-update one. Damn, because I had heard about it and when Alyx mentioned the elevator I knew this must be it, and was bracing myself for a good fight. Which never happened. (On hard). The whole game was too easy. Games should be piss easy for total "noobs" on easy skill. On medium, they should be hard for noobs with a humble respect for games and a bit challenging for intermediate players who are too lazy to play on hard. On hard, a game should be near impossible for all but industrial veterans.
I would have loved to play it before the update. Strange that this happened despite rigorous playtesting.
 
I never got to play the original either. I wasn't much bothered by that lift scene, but it was annoying how easy the final strider was to kill. I was really low on health and in a good, exciting 'how am i going to make it through this part' - mood, when i come across one of those ridiculous infinite ammo crates. :( What a bummer! And those metal plates that the strider couldn't shoot through... they didn't look that special, how come they can resist the mighty strider?? And why didnt it use its special weapon at those points is beyond me...o_O But I did play it on normal so I suppose I should play it again on hard..
 
It said in the commentery that they modified the strider's AI so that when you fired a rocket at it, it wouldn't shoot you till the rocket exploded, even if you were right in front it. That's why I liked them in HL2, becuase as long as you kept the laser on it, it would keep its machine gun on you, sort of like fair's fair. Pity they took this away for EP1.
 
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