Episode 1 - The Wrong Game for Alyx?

[Asknoone]

I'm beginning to think that Episode 1 is the wrong game to test bed Alyx's AI, or simply companionship AI in general. I know the idea behind the Episodes is to pick up on a specific gameplay element, frame it, and develop it, but what if the game element they chose wasn't really suited to the game they've selected? Take a look at Episode 1. It's still essentially "Aftermath", the "what happened directly after Half-life 2" to fill the gap and set the storyline on its next course. The Citadel has been de-stabilized and from the get go the game was pinned as the "evacuation of City 17". The City is now in ruins, at least for the most part, and it's overrun with all manner of alien monstrosities . The Combine has pulled out, there's hardly anyone left - and you've got to make your way through it.

So really, I should be on the edge of my seat the whole way through. I should feel the need, the tension and the urgency that comes packaged with the idea of evacuation. And for two chapters, it was there. The opening at the foot of the Citadel was simply amazing, and the trek into the bowls of the Citadel both atmospheric and tense. This was all hastily thrown out of the window once I emerged from the sub tunnels. The City chapters are devoid of tension and urgency, and certainly enough effort hasn't been put into making City 17 the "Now it's this other thing" it was touted as being. That might sound harsh, but as I've discovered from a recent play through it is quite literally the case.

Here's how I look at it. If I were developing a game where the player is accompanied by an NPC character throughout I'd immediately put my head down and say, "Right, what we need is a slower paced experience." With an NPC character besides you there should be no hurry, as you explore and fight alongside them. Episode 1 is based around an evacuation that should have a fast, immediate pace and for the player to be moving from one location to another at a brisk pace. With an NPC character you are hindered, the level design is restricted and immediately the pace lessens.

My problem with this particular aspect of Episode 1 is that the City environments are built with the sole purpose of providing a cooperative experience, an environment where the player and the NPC character can engage in cooperative gameplay. In short, these environments are built specifically for Alyx. There's a definite sense of restriction throughout, and that the level design has been toned down to allow Alyx to seamlessly go wherever the player can go. It works, its fun, and I enjoyed Alyx's company, but it works against the setting of the game constantly. City 17 is little more than an ash filled skybox, a few randomly de-constructed buildings and a Citadel in the centre. Now these are all cool, but where's the tension?! What about the urgency?! A few new details won't cut it.

First, there really shouldn't have been as many resistance fighters in the streets as there were. The first one you come across is simply standing there shooting at Antlions. "Were going to see if we can help anyone else get out." I mean, even she wasn't feeling it! Don't worry miss; you're only going to die. Second, there's a random resistance fighter on a roof with a rocket launcher. No cheery wave, no gtfo out of here were all going to die. Nope, he just stands there and smiles. Even Alyx doesn't give a shit. Then we finally come to the resistance stronghold, and if things haven't gone down hill already, well, they have now.
The woman at the door finds the time to ask for the password and the man at the door complies. No urgency. "Everyone should clear out of the city!" "Uh, the Combines not making it easy." Well, what, you going to die then? And then we enter the little living room to find everyone huddled round a T.V. Now for me, this section would have been so much cooler if you had to walk through a few corridors of anxious, worried and nervous resistance fighters, some leaning against the wall tapping their fingers, others pacing, worried. I mean, the Citadel is about to BLOW for christ's sake! But no, they are too busy mocking Kleiner (a disgrace in itself) and talking about sex. Guys, you aren't going to get any at this rate because you'll never get of the city alive.

And then we have Barney. Old buddy old pal. The talkie scenes in Half-life 2 were fantastic, I loved every one of them, but this, well, this just isn't that good at all. I enjoyed the Shorepoint scene more than I enjoyed this. "Alyx! Gordon! You're alive! Swell. How'd you get out of the Citadel?" "We just did. What about you?" "Let me tell you, terrible!" "All right, cool. We stole some stuff. And, well, were going now." "Right, right. I'll see you at the station yeah? Take the most dangerous route will ya, cheers."

And that was about it to be honest. Barney wasn't anxious, Alyx wasn't anxious and there just wasn't any kind of chemistry there at all (Nothing to do with the actors, they did a fantastic job, I'm simply talking about dialogue). Perhaps if they'd approached a map and looked for the nearest station, whilst hurriedly trying to form some sort of plan to escape. Anything! But he had a cool line, and we all love our Crowbar/Barney scenes. Then we approach the Hospital. Now by all means, it's a fantastic level. The gameplay is top notch and I really enjoyed Alyx's company here. But. Yes, there's a but. It pulled me away from the evacuation once again. There was no tension and no urgency and it shouldn't have been played out the way it was simply because it worked against the setting. Another example of an area developed and designed for Alyx coop. I loved it, but it just worked against the game yet again.

Another major problem with the City portion is the gameplay. For me, the City should have been pretty totalled. I was expecting to be traversing rubble, scrambling through shattered buildings and making my way down pitted roads. There should have been signs of that street war I took part in. The barricades shown in one section were a good example of this, but never used again. I wanted to see the aftermath of it. Zombies should have been clambering over the rubble, antlions should have been literally pouring into the city in huge numbers rather than in two's and three's, the whole place should have gone to hell and back. But it didn't. There were a few zombies, a few destroyed buildings and this and that but overall it just wasn't what it should have been. I wanted the aftermath of that street war to be bouncing off of me like it was in the Citadel. "Woops. Last time I blow up a reactor!"
There's only a single antlionguard battle. I mean, what? It plays out in exactly the same way as all the others have and ultimately, it was exactly the same battle.

Then there's another problem! Combine soldiers. Now, after the street war, I'd imagine that most of them would have pulled out. Not so. Instead of the Combine being shipped in from other cities or outlying outposts we just happened to stumble across these soldiers at every turn. They were just there. It didn't convey the idea of being hunted down in the least. Dropships should have been landing on rooftops in the thousands! But no, they just sat behind barricades and waited.

Perhaps it's easier to spot these flaws because after the plaza scene (which was awesome) and Kleiners broadcast because the story pretty much stops. Or at least, new information does. And therefore the gameplay is required to hold it's own.

So I've ranted a little and ended up with something overly critical. Which is probably a little too harsh, and it would be fair to say I'm perhaps paying too much attention to these things instead of enjoy it for what there is. But these stand out to me and detract from the experience. You may disagree, but I feel Alyx is to blame for the lack of tension and pace that should have been at the heart of Episode 1. Not to say they didn't do an excellent job with Alyx - because they did - it's just that this, to me, isn't where she belongs. She shouldn't have been put to the test here, it's simply the wrong environment and without her the content could have been much, much stronger. It's as though the designers forgot about everything and simply went ahead with designing coop gameplay.

I love Alyx, and I think her character is excellent. I just think Episode 1 was the wrong game for her to be by your side throughought.

Your opinion?

And a Merry Christmas to you.

 

[Rim-Fire]

I agree with most of you points except for saying the hospital was put in for Alyx. I found that Alyx did sweet **** all in the hospital. I almost completly forgot she existed for much of that chapter (which in itself is a bad thing).

Also about the soldiers standing around, why would they have pulled out? There was a war there up until a few hours ago. The Combine probably would have deployed all available men into the city so there should be alot of soldiers around. Though, what you say about not getting the feeling of being tracked down in true.

 

[Que-Ever]

I agree with your post entirely- the episode, which should have been like the ten seconds in a movie where the main character has to choose between the green wire and the blue wire, was extended to have it's own feature-length film. A good thing that came of this, perhaps, was that players will have a stronger bond to Alyx when she takes her little tumble in Episode 2, if it's even that big of a part.

 

[Jintor]

Definantly. There was no sense of urgency for most of the game; minor setpieces where the earth would rumble and the citadel go 'Oogaboogabooga!' notwithstanding, noone was like "OMG, omgomgomgomg, we're all going to die, run for your lives!"

I mean, you'd expect at least one person to be like that, right?

 

[Shift]

Well you could show Valve that essay and I bet they could strike it down somehow but I have to say I agree with you. As much as I loved EP1, there were a lot of elements missing to make it a brilliant couple of hours gameplay, and the tension and 'lets get the **** out of here' feel was pretty much non-existant.

However, I think this is because Valve weren't aiming at creating that sort of atmosphere, I think its because the remaining resistance members in the city, and obviously Alyx and Freeman, know that it will be a few hours before the Citadel goes critical again, so i dont know, maybe they dont see the need to rush. But yeah, it would have been 10x better if they put their primary focus on creating a generally shit situation that Freeman, Alyx and the remaining resistance fighters would have been in, and really gave the sense that this Citadel could literally flattern City 17 at any moment, so lets not be doddling.

But really, they had to put a focus on creating this relationship with Alyx somewhere, so they chose EP1, which pretty much indicates that the urgency of the gameplay in the future epsiodes will be much greater.

 

[Asknoone]

minor setpieces where the earth would rumble and the citadel go 'Oogaboogabooga!' notwithstanding

LOL. Made my day. Which is odd, since it's Christmas. Hmm, you've made my hour!

 

[Acepilotf14]

It did seem a lil easy for me. But, it did give me a reason to kill some zombies without feeling that 'Surrounded!' feeling.

 

[bigburpco]

In my opinion Alyx didn't make the game suffer from no sense of tension. It's more of a problem with the game itself. It's hard to create that mood and stick to it, really, and there simply wasn't a lot of evident tension, except maybe in Exit 17.

 

[Max35]

Well, you do lose a sense of urgency after so many playthroughs, at least I do. But, that's really not relevant. Even during my first time, I went pretty slowly, enjoying the graphics. I think the problem here, is a lack of a sense of scale. Many facets of EP1 lacked the "epic" size that, to me, was dreadfully necessary. There weren't enough Combine forces, you were supposed to be hunted down. The information Gordon stole was so critical that they were willing to blow the entire Citadel to send it off...yet they couldn't sacrifice a few more companies of Combine soldiers/Striders?

I remember listening to the commentary, and how Valve said that they removed some of Alyx's original responses to Gordon stopping/or trying to lead because it annoyed playtesters. IMO they should have kept that in, to a lesser extent obviously.

Perhaps this wasn't the best Episode to get to know Alyx's character, because of the rushed pace. But, maybe you can learn more about a character during times of tension/their reactions to it. Unfortunately, we really didn't. It was as if the characters were daydreaming of marshmellow clouds and chocolate rivers. Alyx didn't seem perturbed, at all really. Except at the beginning, even then she had a slightly-less-than-calm attitude that didn't effect the atmosphere much.


But, nothing is perfect, and for the most part I enjoyed EP1. The lack of character interaction/set pieces, the lack of a sense of scale were really big detractors from the experience, though. Hopefully, Valve will strike a gold vein with EP2.

 

[function9]

What I would've liked to have seen is having the core explosion on a timer. Say it's linked to the game difficulty level you choose. Like if you choose easy, then the core will explode in 7 hours of game play. Or it could be linked to every level, spend too much time and you start getting small quakes and activity from the core. And maybe even toppling buildings/cutting off paths. If you don't speed up and make it to the next chapter quick enough it'll explode. That way you would have to keep some kind of quickened pace to make it onto the train.

Overall for me Ep1 was so so. Gameplay I thought was ok, but there were details/key points missing that could've made the whole "mad dash" scenario believable.

 

[Jintor]

Fuction9, that would have been seriously cool, but possibly difficult to implement.

Can you guys imagine a whole game that was onna timer? Scarey thought. >>

Well, maybe Valve will hear our whining complaints and use ub3r st34m t3ch to make sure non-urgent Episode 1 never even existed.

 

[Shift]

I think the timer idea would kick serious ass, you have 5 mins before it blows and then the Strider turns up in Exit 17, the tension would be awsomely high, but yeah it would be very difficult to do, since you really need to see the Citadel going crazy as you are moving away on the train, now if you still had 30 mins before it was meant to blow, wouldn't make much sense, unless they have some sort of twist in the event where if you are ahead of time the Combine find someway of completely overriding the fale-safe inside and making it blow up ahead of time, and have Alyx state that as you are moving away.

But i think we will continue to learn a lot about Alyx as the episodes go on, but Im sure Valve will nail EP2.

 

[heer0]

And lose the chance of gazing at the beautiful graphics, exploring everything, even the slightest detail?! No no no...The player should have all the time they want, to play the game and see everything they want in this masterpiece called Half-Life 2, not just rushing from a scene to a scene.

Valve did a good work on it. The player is supposed to fight the bad guys along with Alyx, not just saving his *ss out of the city.

It's the storyline adapted to the gameplay, not the gameplay adapted to the storyline.

 

[Rim-Fire]

What I would've liked to have seen is having the core explosion on a timer. Say it's linked to the game difficulty level you choose. Like if you choose easy, then the core will explode in 7 hours of game play. Or it could be linked to every level, spend too much time and you start getting small quakes and activity from the core. And maybe even toppling buildings/cutting off paths. If you don't speed up and make it to the next chapter quick enough it'll explode. That way you would have to keep some kind of quickened pace to make it onto the train.

Overall for me Ep1 was so so. Gameplay I thought was ok, but there were details/key points missing that could've made the whole "mad dash" scenario believable.

Dear god no. Not only would this be incredibly annoying. You might end up spending too much time in the second chapter and leave yourself with not enough time to get to the end and then you would have to replay HOURS of gameplay again. It would be horrible. Plus it's incredibly unrealistic. How could Alyx accuratly predict when the citadel would go especially when the rate of destrusction is increased in mid-Urban Flight?

 

[Hurlxy]

And boy, do you know how long it would take Valve?

 

[function9]

Dear god no. Not only would this be incredibly annoying. You might end up spending too much time in the second chapter and leave yourself with not enough time to get to the end and then you would have to replay HOURS of gameplay again.

It could be done for the whole game or chapter by chapter. I can understand some would find this annoying. But at the same time there are some that are annoyed when almost everything in the beginning of the game leads us to believe that getting to the train and out of the city asap is of utmost importance. We find ourselves walking through corridors and standing around having to kill 20+ enemies when we could easily just run away. I'm not talking about the elevator, but in the hospital. I don't believe Alyx will leave an area if there are enemies alive.

It would be horrible. Plus it's incredibly unrealistic. How could Alyx accuratly predict when the citadel would go especially when the rate of destrusction is increased in mid-Urban Flight?

That's the whole point, not knowing. I think it would make for much more intense and fast paced gameplay like the story and dialogue depict. Alyx could be used in as something as simple as telling you "Hurry up", "We have to get going", etc. The more time you waste/spend in one area the more anxious she gets.

And boy, do you know how long it would take Valve?

I'm not a programmer or anything, so I don't know if I'm way off base on what it would take to implement. But wouldn't it be like any other trigger in the game? If the player doesn't reach spot X on the map or game in Y amount of time, it activates say a sequence to run that produces tremors or small quakes. And it keeps building like that until too much time has passed and the player has advanced too little through the map. The Citadel goes.

I'm sure there are other ways one could improve the gameplay and atmosphere of Ep1, personally I think something like this would be sweet. I would like a bit more dynamic gameplay in games (and I don't think this would be non-linear). Where the player is forced to make choices and based on the choice he/she makes it will actually effect other characters in the game and the environment.

I see empty or hollow choices throughout games, meaning regardless of the choice you make, the remaining game is played the exact same way. One example is D3 when you have to send the distress call to the military. The game doesn't change one bit whether you choose to send it or not.

 

[Rim-Fire]

That's the whole point, not knowing. I think it would make for much more intense and fast paced gameplay like the story and dialogue depict. Alyx could be used in as something as simple as telling you "Hurry up", "We have to get going", etc. The more time you waste/spend in one area the more anxious she gets.

So you're going through an area and then suddenly you loose with next-to no warning? That'd be even worse.

 

[function9]

So you're going through an area and then suddenly you loose with next-to no warning? That'd be even worse.

What I'm saying is, you wouldn't know exactly when its going to go. I'm not saying you start a game and then for some reason 3 minutes into it the core goes with no warning or anything. There would be hints. Like I said it would be a progression. First would be an increase in activity from the core. Then things like tremors or small quakes would start occurring. The longer you take the more violent the quakes start getting, maybe even resulting in some destruction of surround buildings. And finally if you're still falling behind, the core goes.

You could easily be forewarned of this by Kleiner or Eli at the beginning. Telling you that as the core deteriorates and grows unstable it will send shockwaves out to the surrounding area. Or something like that.

 

[heer0]

Welcome to "HL2 - EPISODE ONE: HALFLIFE2.NET FORUM Edition" !
Ideas, comments and suggestions are greatly accepted

 

[Mahalis]

Alyx could be used in as something as simple as telling you "Hurry up", "We have to get going", etc.

Valve considered it - see one of the first commentary nodes in the Citadel - but apparently playtesters found it really annoying, as would most people IMO.

 

[Jintor]

Sense of urgency is lost for good gameplay.

That's probably a good decision right there, but I wish we could've kept both.

 

[Operational]

Some good points, Samon. I did really feel it when that rebel woman said "Go on without me I'll wait and try to get some others out" I was just like "wtf? you've gotta be kidding me". Nothing else stood out like that did but now that you mention it the rebel stronghold could have been much more intense.

 

[Solver]

Some good points Samon, but for the most part, I disagree.

You're talking about the lack of urgency overall really, not about the lack of urgency in Alyx or such. I agree insofar as there were some dialogue problems with those rebels. However, gameplay-wise, you simply can't create urgency and have it be fun for the entire game. Of course, timed sequences are very easy to implement. Say, after finishing Lowlife, you have to finish the rest in 1.5 hours, because the Citadel will go boom otherwise. There you have very unfun gameplay, though, it's simply frustrating to lose to something like that.

I do not see how the game would be more urgent if Alyx wasn't by your side. Heck, it would probably be even less urgent - at least Alyx periodically says something about the Citadel being about to go boom. I look at the methods of creating urgency, and I think that Valve used just about every method that doesn't hurt gameplay. Making the whole game time-dependant would piss many people off and lead to frustration. Won't work. Another very simple method is to have Alyx constantly tell you to hurry up, etc. This wouldn't work either, players would end up being very, very annoyed with her. Some of the commentary mentions so specifically, and I was even surprised it took Valve (apparently) quite some time to figure it out. The majority of players likes to play at their own pace, every game dev should know that.

Ep1, from the beginning until stabilizing the core, was quite possibly the best FPS experience I've had. A large part of that was the ability to set my own pace. In the Citadel, there were places where I simply stood around looking at the scenery, because it was all beautiful and well-done. Any other implementation of the game would lead to frustration and annoyance, or generally make it less fun. If the game was timed and I had X minutes to stabilize the core, I'd have to really think about it and not be able to watch the scenery where I want to. If Alyx was to lead the way or nag me whenever I stand around, it would either take away my ability to watch the scenery or make me annoyed with Alyx. Possibly both.

So okay, would the pace be faster if you were alone throughout Ep One? Not necessarily. The AI and scripting of HL2 is somewhat superior to 1998 standards, so you do not have to babysit Alyx when she's following you - she will not lose track of you if you run too fast, she will not get stuck in the environment or disappear. Thankfully, problems like that with NPCs following you seem to be quite gone in modern games. So Alyx didn't really hurt your ability to move fast. However, if you were alone, you'd have no one to remind you that you need to get the heck out of there. Alyx makes the occasional comment without being annoying. She keeps talking to you throughout the game, keeping you in the story. I, in fact, believe that you can't have a feeling of must-hurry-up when alone, without timed sequences. In HL2, I had the feeling of urgency in the Breen escape-to-reactor sequence, basically the entire Dark Matter chapter. There was this action and the characters would speak, showing that something is going on and keeping you in it.

Bottom line for this post - I loved the graphical cues to the imminent destruction, such as the Citadel itself and all the ash falling down. And I believe that HL games, in their style, are incompatible with true, 100% frantic urgency. Games which rely entirely on time-critical sequences aren't HL-style. Games about frantic RUN, RUN LIKE HELL aren't HL-style. However, some speaking sequences and the occasional funny sequence are a hallmark of HL. I think EpOne would lose a lot if it cut your ability to watch the Citadel scenery for as long as you please, or your ability to listen to the Kleinercast, or the Barney crowbar scene.

 

[heer0]

I STRONGLY recommend for all of you to lose a few hours, and replay EP1 with commentary track ON (if you haven't already did). I'm sure this will answer most of your questions concerning the lack of feeling for urgency and Alyx's behaviour.

Valve explained everything, and it's quite interresting.

 

[Shift]

Some valid points Solver

 

[Que-Ever]

Yep. good job there Solver, especially with the point that gamers like to play at their own pace- something that I cannot find a way to mesh with a sense of urgency properly. And I think this is the most important point- Valve is always about the gamer. Of course, there are ways of letting the player know what's going on without an NPC buddy to tell you, many of which ways are mentioned in this thread- destruction of the environment, overheard NPC conversations, etc. Anyway, my viewpoint on the subject is swayed too easily, I'm gonna lay off now

Oh, has anybody done a speed run of Episode 1 yet?

 

[Solver]

I just kind of went into my game developer mode with that post .

A speedrun of Ep1, there's an interesting thought. Probably some skilled guy could do it in just over an hour, there's bound to still be some glitches that can be used. Though the one originally used for the HL2 speedrun was crazy .

 

[Operational]

I just kind of went into my game developer mode with that post .

A speedrun of Ep1, there's an interesting thought. Probably some skilled guy could do it in just over an hour, there's bound to still be some glitches that can be used. Though the one originally used for the HL2 speedrun was crazy .

What did they do?

 

[Que-Ever]

Lots of skipping dialogue and huge jumps with the gravity gun.

 

[Solver]

And even without the grav gun, it was done all throughout the boat chapter. Basically, there was a glitch that went something like this. You grab a physics object and, looking down at it, you can sort of "jump" on it, up and up. It basically amounted to flying. So the guy crowbars a crate, grabs one of the pieces and flies through half the map.

 

[heer0]

Weird!

 

[Asknoone]

Some good points Samon, but for the most part, I disagree.

You're talking about the lack of urgency overall really, not about the lack of urgency in Alyx or such. I agree insofar as there were some dialogue problems with those rebels. However, gameplay-wise, you simply can't create urgency and have it be fun for the entire game. Of course, timed sequences are very easy to implement. Say, after finishing Lowlife, you have to finish the rest in 1.5 hours, because the Citadel will go boom otherwise. There you have very unfun gameplay, though, it's simply frustrating to lose to something like that.

I do not see how the game would be more urgent if Alyx wasn't by your side. Heck, it would probably be even less urgent - at least Alyx periodically says something about the Citadel being about to go boom. I look at the methods of creating urgency, and I think that Valve used just about every method that doesn't hurt gameplay. Making the whole game time-dependant would piss many people off and lead to frustration. Won't work. Another very simple method is to have Alyx constantly tell you to hurry up, etc. This wouldn't work either, players would end up being very, very annoyed with her. Some of the commentary mentions so specifically, and I was even surprised it took Valve (apparently) quite some time to figure it out. The majority of players likes to play at their own pace, every game dev should know that.

Ep1, from the beginning until stabilizing the core, was quite possibly the best FPS experience I've had. A large part of that was the ability to set my own pace. In the Citadel, there were places where I simply stood around looking at the scenery, because it was all beautiful and well-done. Any other implementation of the game would lead to frustration and annoyance, or generally make it less fun. If the game was timed and I had X minutes to stabilize the core, I'd have to really think about it and not be able to watch the scenery where I want to. If Alyx was to lead the way or nag me whenever I stand around, it would either take away my ability to watch the scenery or make me annoyed with Alyx. Possibly both.

So okay, would the pace be faster if you were alone throughout Ep One? Not necessarily. The AI and scripting of HL2 is somewhat superior to 1998 standards, so you do not have to babysit Alyx when she's following you - she will not lose track of you if you run too fast, she will not get stuck in the environment or disappear. Thankfully, problems like that with NPCs following you seem to be quite gone in modern games. So Alyx didn't really hurt your ability to move fast. However, if you were alone, you'd have no one to remind you that you need to get the heck out of there. Alyx makes the occasional comment without being annoying. She keeps talking to you throughout the game, keeping you in the story. I, in fact, believe that you can't have a feeling of must-hurry-up when alone, without timed sequences. In HL2, I had the feeling of urgency in the Breen escape-to-reactor sequence, basically the entire Dark Matter chapter. There was this action and the characters would speak, showing that something is going on and keeping you in it.

Bottom line for this post - I loved the graphical cues to the imminent destruction, such as the Citadel itself and all the ash falling down. And I believe that HL games, in their style, are incompatible with true, 100% frantic urgency. Games which rely entirely on time-critical sequences aren't HL-style. Games about frantic RUN, RUN LIKE HELL aren't HL-style. However, some speaking sequences and the occasional funny sequence are a hallmark of HL. I think EpOne would lose a lot if it cut your ability to watch the Citadel scenery for as long as you please, or your ability to listen to the Kleinercast, or the Barney crowbar scene.

And not a single point in that post did I mention a timer. I do not want, and I would not want any kind of time-related gameplay. There all kinds of ways to portray a feeling of urgency and tension without resorting to such a crude implementation. For instance, Route Kanal. There was a strong sense of urgency throughout. You knew the Civil protection units were coming down on you and you knew you had to get out of the City. Route Kanal and Water Hazard, together, have a stronger amount of tension than Episode 1 managed for the entire game.

As for Alyx not slowing the pace down...well, think about it for a second. Lets say I'm playing Route Kanal with Alyx. Alot of that chapter would have to be changed and adapted to allow her to follow alongside you. The level design in Episode 1 is restricted to allow Alyx to follow, without you losing her. This is a major flaw when it comes to design. If I were designing such a game, where pace is key, I'd create an environment where the player is encouraged to move quickly, where there is tension and urgency. Alot of Episode 1 consists of scenarios for the player and Alyx, in order to make it a cooperative experience. Coop gameplay requires smaller and contained gameplay pieces, and that is what Episode 1 does. And I'm saying that works against the setting, which it does, and detracts from the overall experience.

Of course a constant AI companion telling you to hurry up is going to get annoying - which is another reason why Episode 1 is the wrong game for Alyx, or any NPC companion. To go it alone jabs it with a sense of isolation and increases the urge to get out of the city. Going through it with another goes against that, and you feel comfortable enough despite what is evidently going on around you. Which again detracts from what I'd expect from an evacuation.

I'm not talking about timed gameplay (how horrible), I'm simply talking about tension, urgency and isolation. The setting pretty much requires these three factors. But it doesn't pull it off at all.

 

[Solver]

You say Route Canal had this feeling of urgency. But how was it different from Ep1? In Route Canal, the Combine are coming after you - you gotta get out of there and to Eli's before they kick your ass. In Ep1, the Citadel is a ticking bomb - you gotta get out of there, and also deliver the message to Eli & Kleiner, the importance of which had been well highlighted. I just don't see how Ep1 was any less urgent than that.

Outside of the dialog sequences, though, I can't remember many places in Ep1 where the pace actually slows down because of Alyx. Yes, the levels were built with Alyx-coop in mind. Definitely. But you can run and gun at top speed nonetheless. Take that parking garage with antlions. It's a classic coop sequence. Alyx holds off the antlions, you block their burrows as you find the cars to do so. You can, though, dash through it as if you were alone - jump, jump, sprint, grav push, jump, grav push, done. Ditto with the hospital. You can take out your shotgun and fight through hordes of enemies like Doom2.

Here are the possible ways I imagine to give a feeling of real urgency.

- Timed gameplay. Horrible and not suitable for HL style.
- Graphical clues. Done in Ep1 - the Citadel's tip looking like it's about to explode, ash falling down onto the city, the Citadel falling apart within.
- NPC reminders. Annoying if done often, but Alyx comments on the urgency several times.
- Overheard dialogue. Done poorly. You do overhear some City17 folks speak, but they do not seem in a panic to leave the city ASAP. In fact, Kleiner is the only one who's truly alarmed - "evacuate immediately, if not sooner".
- Similar to the above: a storyline reason. Done in Ep1 - you clearly know the reason why you need to get your ass away.
- Large magnitude events to highlight the urgency. Not done, at least not after the Citadel. Could be included in the form of an earthquake while you're in the city, or something else pretty big, highlighting the fact that you are on borrowed time.

So, I am hard-pressed to imagine what more Ep1 could have done for urgency without running into other limitations. Maybe a small earthquake would have been good, but by and large, I think they did the best that was feasible. An even more devastated City17 with zombies and antlions roaming the rubble by the dozens might have been nice, but that, again, has its own severe limitations.

 

[Max35]

Route Kanal only had a vague sense of urgency. I stopped plenty of times throughout the chapter, exploring and whatnot, and it didn't bother me and make me think "gee, I have to get going or else...or else what?," The constant fighting with the soldiers helped keep the mild sense of urgency. And that was probably one of the easier flaws EP1 could have fixed.

And it has already been discussed in this thread that Alyx telling Gordon to "hurry up" or "we should get moving" annoyed playtesters. There are two possible ways around this. First, they could have toned such commentary down dramatically, or they could have made it a "toggalable"(sp?) option. Meaning it could be turned on or off.

Also a few more Kleiner casts spread throughout the game, towards the end, would have helped. Even simple variations of "The Citadel core is becoming increasingly unstable" would have helped the situation.

Isolation would have certainly made the lack of urgency worse. Your with someone your supposed to be "attached" to, you want to high-tail it outta there for their sake as well. On the other hand, small bouts of isolation could have been affective. Say you get separated from Alyx for a short time. It's like "I have to find Alyx, wherever the hell she is, AND get out of the city before it's turned into a giant crater."

As Solver mentioned "Graphical cues" would have helped if they were more frequent. The city shaking, resistance members hitting the ground in fear, others searching for cover. There are plenty of other ways to make that vital "sense of urgency" aside from taking Alyx away. Which would have detracted from the situation, in my opinion.

 

[Oppressor]

- Large magnitude events to highlight the urgency. Not done, at least not after the Citadel. Could be included in the form of an earthquake while you're in the city, or something else pretty big, highlighting the fact that you are on borrowed time.

For some reason that made me think of when the Citadel is back on track for a meltdown. Ok, it's not an earthquake, but it's a pretty nasty blast. That made me want to reach the train station, thats for sure.

As for the sence of high pace and urgency, I myself felt a real sence of panic the first playthrough. Many areas are very intense, and as usuall to contrast to that, Valve makes areas that can make the player breathe and look around at their own pace, as some have mentioned already. That was one of the best factors in Half-Life 2, to have both intense and calm gameplay. I think Valve thought the same way when the worked with Episode One, and they may have lost some of the get-da-hell-out-of-here! feeling on the way.

I'm sure no one here would've wanted to run in panic and shoot hundreds of Combine soldiers for 4-5 hours and miss out some of the most magnificent areas ever made.

 

[Solver]

Oh, and that elevator fight at the end of Lowlife. That was plenty fast-paced and frantic enough for me .

Again, I believe that removing an AI companion would greatly *detract* from the sense of urgency. While adding to isolation, of course. These are different things. HL1 played isolation really well. But when you're isolated, there is no outer stimuli to make you think about anything else than the enemies / puzzles you currently face. You'd go from one area to the next, shooting enemies, oh what's that, it's the trainstation. No feeling of "I made it just in time".

Emotions are a very powerful thing. Seeing intense emotions in other people and knowing you need to help them gives urgency. In Ep1, you saw Alyx scared and she was quite anxious much of the time. She needs you to make it out alive. That's the feeling of urgency.

 

[Max35]

Oh, and that elevator fight at the end of Lowlife. That was plenty fast-paced and frantic enough for me .

Again, I believe that removing an AI companion would greatly *detract* from the sense of urgency. While adding to isolation, of course. These are different things. HL1 played isolation really well. But when you're isolated, there is no outer stimuli to make you think about anything else than the enemies / puzzles you currently face. You'd go from one area to the next, shooting enemies, oh what's that, it's the trainstation. No feeling of "I made it just in time".

Emotions are a very powerful thing. Seeing intense emotions in other people and knowing you need to help them gives urgency. In Ep1, you saw Alyx scared and she was quite anxious much of the time. She needs you to make it out alive. That's the feeling of urgency.

That's similiar to what I said about Alyx. Except your description was a bit more indepth. Needless to say, I agree with that point.

 

[Solver]

It's not more indepth, I'm merely a windbag . Besides, I'm really enjoying a rare opportunity to strongly disagree with Samon.

 

[Asknoone]

You say Route Canal had this feeling of urgency. But how was it different from Ep1? In Route Canal, the Combine are coming after you - you gotta get out of there and to Eli's before they kick your ass. In Ep1, the Citadel is a ticking bomb - you gotta get out of there, and also deliver the message to Eli & Kleiner, the importance of which had been well highlighted. I just don't see how Ep1 was any less urgent than that.

The difference was that the urgency was there, whereas in Episode 1 it was not. The Kanal felt like an underground railroad that refugees used to escape the city, and it felt as though it was falling to pieces. However, Route Kanal has only the basic features of such an event, but it gets away with it because it is a single chapter and it is not the basis of the entire game. Episode 1 is an evacuation, that is the game. City 17 is simply...City 17, with a few destroyed buildings and an ash-choked skybox. It wasn't in ruins, it wasn't overrun with wildlife and it just didn't feel like the aftermath it should have been. It should have been abandoned.

Outside of the dialog sequences, though, I can't remember many places in Ep1 where the pace actually slows down because of Alyx. Yes, the levels were built with Alyx-coop in mind. Definitely. But you can run and gun at top speed nonetheless. Take that parking garage with antlions. It's a classic coop sequence. Alyx holds off the antlions, you block their burrows as you find the cars to do so. You can, though, dash through it as if you were alone - jump, jump, sprint, grav push, jump, grav push, done. Ditto with the hospital. You can take out your shotgun and fight through hordes of enemies like Doom2.

The pace has been slowed down throughout. It isn't something to notice, its there. Sure, you can run and gun in these sections but they aren't the quite same with Alyx tugging alongside you. It isn't as fast paced as it could be, or should be.

I'd write more, but I'm exhausted, so I'll counter some more in the morning.

 

[Solver]

Let's see, if City17 was destroyed completely, there'd be no gameplay. You don't have gameplay when there's not a single building remaining standing. It wasn't overrun with wildlife because of performance issues. HL2 scales well to different PC systems. Systems on the weaker end slow down when there are many enemies. If you had antlions crawling around by the dozens everywhere you go and the occasional pack of zombies, it would kill this scaling. Those of us with the new dual-core processors and latest series graphics cards would enjoy it, the rest not so much.

To truly keep the evacuation feeling, it would have to be really, really fast - the game itself would have to be very short. That's the bad point. I've been evacuated by security personnel before, and it is fast. If evacuation is the game, it has to be very, very short, and no one would enjoy Ep1 if it were an hour and a half long.

Abandoned? Well, contrast the city you see in Urban Flight with the city you see in Point Insertion. In Point Insertion, there are people in the streets and everything. In Urban Flight, the city IS much emptier. Yes, it's not as empty as it should realistically have been, but here, again, realism is sacrificed for gameplay. Having a few groups of rebels adds to gameplay, and gameplay trumps realism. Always.

Besides, I do not see why the city should be completely in rubble by then. The Citadel is still standing. From the story perspective, only a few hours pass between you entering the Citadel for the first time (Our Benefactors) and emerging into the city again (Urban Flight). You saw what the city looked like in Anticitizen One. Some streets destroyed, shells falling on the city, etc. why exactly should it be completely destroyed a few hours later? It hasn't been nuked or anything. Still, you see barricades (could've been a couple more), you see streets destroyed, the suppression field is clearly down, some buildings are destroyed completely... isn't that enough destruction for the several hours you've been out of the city?

The pace has been slowed down throughout. It isn't something to notice, its there. Sure, you can run and gun in these sections but they aren't the quite same with Alyx tugging alongside you. It isn't as fast paced as it could be, or should be.

Why not? Give me one reason why these sections aren't quite the same with Alyx if you absolutely ignore her and run and gun. As far as I can remember, you don't really have to wait for Alyx to do anything during the Hospital sequences. You really can play through the hospital without noticing Alyx. The hospital is frantic, lots of fighting, hardly any other sequences. Reminds me of Nova Prospekt that way, just without the Breen-speak. That seems like a true fast-pace part to me.