Hydras in Aftermath?

That wasn't a hydra! It was scaley!

And the Helicoptor was no fun to fight, but a lot of fun to run away from.
 
yea the helicopter sucked! the hydra would of had been a lot better, even though i don't know what the hydra was like
 
I think there should be a Master Chief cameo where Gordon kicks his ass.
 
Jintor said:
That wasn't a hydra! It was scaley!
What do you mean that wasn't a hydra! Oh I guess it was a "tentacle" but it totally reminds me of the hyrda, especially when there's three of them :eek:. Color me confusing.
 
sure, why not

ANY boss would be nice. The lack of any boss battle was my biggest beef with HL2, and may have contributed to how freakin' easy the game is.

HL1 had some really creative and fun boss battles. The closest HL2 got was that anticlimactic showdown with the helicopter in Water Hazard.
 
safetyswami said:
ANY boss would be nice. The lack of any boss battle was my biggest beef with HL2, and may have contributed to how freakin' easy the game is.

HL1 had some really creative and fun boss battles. The closest HL2 got was that anticlimactic showdown with the helicopter in Water Hazard.
I always considered antlion guards and synths mini-bossed. Do you think bosses will feature in AM? Antlion King?
 
that's a hard call to make

Well, the big antlions and the synths are cool, but they're not too different than the Gargantuans or fish from HL1. The first time it seems like a boss, but then you see more and start fighting more than one at once. By the end of Highway 17, those helicopter dropship things were more time-consuming than dangerous. Same with the two big Antlions in Nova Prospekt.

I want a REAL boss, though. Like Gonarch or Nihilanth. A final showdown I can be proud of. HL2 was a total anticlimax in terms of action. Yeah, it was awesome how Gordon totalled the reactor at the end, but I didn't feel much of a sense of gameplay accomplishment from doing so. Storywise it was a great ending, but the gameplay was really lacking. I remember riding the big elevator and how I was actually in danger of dying, and I was thinking 'Man, there's got to be something REALLY nasty behind all these guys!' But after I got off the elevator, the game just sort of coasts to the end.

I know there's a new movement out there that wants to get rid of boss battles in video games, but as far as I'm concerned, there damn well BETTER be a giant flippin' mothership at the end. Must be the shmupper in me.
 
safetyswami said:
Well, the big antlions and the synths are cool, but they're not too different than the Gargantuans or fish from HL1. The first time it seems like a boss, but then you see more and start fighting more than one at once. By the end of Highway 17, those helicopter dropship things were more time-consuming than dangerous. Same with the two big Antlions in Nova Prospekt.

I want a REAL boss, though. Like Gonarch or Nihilanth. A final showdown I can be proud of. HL2 was a total anticlimax in terms of action. Yeah, it was awesome how Gordon totalled the reactor at the end, but I didn't feel much of a sense of gameplay accomplishment from doing so. Storywise it was a great ending, but the gameplay was really lacking. I remember riding the big elevator and how I was actually in danger of dying, and I was thinking 'Man, there's got to be something REALLY nasty behind all these guys!' But after I got off the elevator, the game just sort of coasts to the end.

I know there's a new movement out there that wants to get rid of boss battles in video games, but as far as I'm concerned, there damn well BETTER be a giant flippin' mothership at the end. Must be the shmupper in me.
****EN YEAH!:cheers:
 
safetyswami said:
I want a REAL boss, though. Like Gonarch or Nihilanth. A final showdown I can be proud of. HL2 was a total anticlimax in terms of action.

As much as I'd love a boss of some kind (and I would), Nihilanth was the biggest anti climax I've played, even more so than the reactor (which was awesome, but lacking). Nihilanth was boring, dull, no sense of urgency and it just felt...lacking.
 
The hydra is possible to do well - it's a fallacy that something doesn't work because one does not understand how, as in, "I don't see how the hydra can be fun to fight." As mentioned above, you don't "fight" some of the helicopters, you don't "fight" the tentacles (the only "fight" is where you flip some switches, you don't actually combat the tentacles), and you don't even necessarily "fight" the barnacles, you either see them and shoot them or you don't, get caught, and then shoot them. Did I mention they are stationary and don't fight back? I haven't heard any complaints about the barnacles being boring. It is entirely possible to include the hydra in Aftermath and easily possible to make it very fun. I would be pleased to see its inclusion and, indeed, wouldn't be unhappy if they brought every single critter from HL1, all the expansion packs, and the recycle bin of HL2 into Aftermath. I liked fighting Race-X characters - they had the first challenging zombies (gonomes) and the pit drones were super fun.
 
Adabiviak said:
The hydra is possible to do well - it's a fallacy that something doesn't work because one does not understand how, as in, "I don't see how the hydra can be fun to fight." As mentioned above, you don't "fight" some of the helicopters, you don't "fight" the tentacles (the only "fight" is where you flip some switches, you don't actually combat the tentacles), and you don't even necessarily "fight" the barnacles, you either see them and shoot them or you don't, get caught, and then shoot them. Did I mention they are stationary and don't fight back? I haven't heard any complaints about the barnacles being boring. It is entirely possible to include the hydra in Aftermath and easily possible to make it very fun. I would be pleased to see its inclusion and, indeed, wouldn't be unhappy if they brought every single critter from HL1, all the expansion packs, and the recycle bin of HL2 into Aftermath. I liked fighting Race-X characters - they had the first challenging zombies (gonomes) and the pit drones were super fun.
Yes but you any type of gameplay around the Hydra was crap. The tentacle was different. It could be avoided but the Hydra was a inta-death to you when you went near it.
 
...it certainly needed perfecting, which is why they cut it out. They could make the gameplay work if they tried. If instant death made fighting the hydra an unexciting battle, that'd be where I would begin with the changes. They could make it behave like the tentacle, like the barnacle, or like something yet unknown in the HL universe.
 
Adabiviak said:
...it certainly needed perfecting, which is why they cut it out. They could make the gameplay work if they tried. If instant death made fighting the hydra an unexciting battle, that'd be where I would begin with the changes. They could make it behave like the tentacle, like the barnacle, or like something yet unknown in the HL universe.
If Valve wanted something that behaved like a tentacle they'd have put in a tentacle. The only reasonable gameplay feature I could expect from the tentacle the way it was was having puzzels where you have to avoid it while it's in clear view.
 
Right - there's no question that they would have to change it from it's initial creation, but there are numerous ways they could change it to make it fun. At the very least they could have a mobile tentacle. It would behave like a tentacle (less damage, instant kill: you make the call), but could show up anywhere in a waterway. The level would have you make your way along the waterway while avoiding it, perhaps using sound to attract/distract it, maybe pheromones can be used to call ant lions to specific places to keep it busy (remember, the hydra author said it looked cool to see it kill things). Maybe, like the tentacle that you actually kill in HL1, you set about a handful of other, minor missions that let you turn on electricity in the water where it is and kill it. You don't fight it, but you get to see it kill things and eventually you do kill it. It could pop up in the waterway while you are on the boat and you have to dodge it as it either chases you, or the waterway is congested with them. Maybe, true to its name, it comes back more numerous the more you 'kill' it. Now you have two gameplay strategies: continue attacking it; it'll regrow, but you buy time to make it to different safe places, or be stealthy; distract it and creep around so it doesn't detect you.

How does it show up in the mod that was mentioned earlier?
 
not bad, but lacking

Your idea does sound pretty cool, but I'm a little dubious as to whether it would be possible. I mean, from all I've seen, it sounds like they tried REALLY HARD to add this thing into the game and make it fun. Those gents at Valve certainly know how to innovate, and make a creative non-traditional boss battle, but they might have had to cut their losses and run on this one. I'm pretty sure that if they had been able to find a way to fit it in, they would have. If they say that they couldn't make it fun, I believe it. And until someone releases a mod where it's fun to fight one, this is sort of a silly thing to be arguing about now.

Although I suppose they could still surprise us.
 
safetyswami said:
Your idea does sound pretty cool, but I'm a little dubious as to whether it would be possible. I mean, from all I've seen, it sounds like they tried REALLY HARD to add this thing into the game and make it fun. Those gents at Valve certainly know how to innovate, and make a creative non-traditional boss battle, but they might have had to cut their losses and run on this one. I'm pretty sure that if they had been able to find a way to fit it in, they would have. If they say that they couldn't make it fun, I believe it. And until someone releases a mod where it's fun to fight one, this is sort of a silly thing to be arguing about now.

Although I suppose they could still surprise us.
Sorry but no surprise for you! Their is already a Hydra Mod being made by someone called RomeoJGuy.
 
So you've already played Aftermath, then? How was it?

And yeah, I heard about the hydra mod. It seems more like something that will show people why the hydra was cut, rather than something that will actually be fun to play. I imagine it will be a very interesting mod either way, though.
 
safetyswami said:
So you've already played Aftermath, then? How was it?

And yeah, I heard about the hydra mod. It seems more like something that will show people why the hydra was cut, rather than something that will actually be fun to play. I imagine it will be a very interesting mod either way, though.
Already played Aftermath? What?:|
 
Well, you said that the hydra definitely won't be in Aftermath. I assumed you knew this for a fact because you'd already played it.
 
safetyswami said:
Well, you said that the hydra definitely won't be in Aftermath. I assumed you knew this for a fact because you'd already played it.
No, no, I thought you meant if they could surprise us with a mod. I have bad English and social skills.:rolling: :cheers:
 
I hope the Hydra creature appear, since there have been so many pictures and videos showing it. It is based on the "creature" from the movie 'Abyss'. If it is made out of water, then I guess it is hard to kill.
 
Dont count on any Hydras in Aftermath. Really they didnt got it to work proper in HL2 so why should it suddenly fit in aftermath ? The whole game will be the escape from city 17 doubt you will go underground like in hl2 where thats the only place it could be.
 
I hope they put that hydra in, even if we don't see the whole thing, only the scene we have seen on e3 movies (you know, the hydra grabbing that combine and take him away). It would have been awsome... That's not hard to include in Aftermath I suppose.
 
Perhaps not, but we are allowed to dream arenæt we. What bothers me is that they "removed" the bullsquids from HL2. At least the Stalkers and Syths appear, perhaps the Ichtyosaur as well. I'm sure Aftermath will include a surprise or two.
 
If they do include it, it will not be hostile - It is no fun to fight, and Valve would not include an enemy that is not fun to fight
 
It will be in AM now and it will be the most fun thing ever probably :p
 
yea for you , nihilanth was the best endboss ive fought so far and i really liked it.

lol sorry for the post above , i think they can put in the hydra but only to see it once or twice killing some marines. what they really should do is bringing all the old half-life monsters back like bullsquids houndeyes alien grunts and maybe controllers and snarks and gargantulas . best would be if they stopped chnging everything from the original game. the should change the vortigaunts back to the old creepy looking half-life model with its old strange voices.
but i really want to fight a stalker now ;)
 
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