vanillacrazycake
Newbie
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2007
- Messages
- 40
- Reaction score
- 0
Valve should ditch 4-5 hour policy and incorporate some exposition sequences. Now I know the whole filler-free approach that the episodes are taking, but it is in no way good or satisfactory enough and didn't immerse you into the world like HL2 did, with chapters like point insertion (best opening to a game ever), black mesa east etc that help you set your feet into the universe around you and which pretty much defined the HL2 experience. In contrast, the 4 hours of the episodes have been inanely filled with all the action and very little respite. It is understandable that the eps have a more frenetic pace because everything is going to shit, but some moments where you can reflect upon your journey would be welcome.
People say HL2 was too long, and the episodes are a step in the right direction, and I agree that some parts in HL2 were incredibly boring, but at the same time no matter how good you treat the action and gameplay in the HL2 universe, as it is, narrative and atmosphere is still the primary focus and selling-point of the game, and gameplay variety that HL2 masterfully displayed can only come through extended playtime, and the episodes have been a step-back in these regards, and to have this same trend continue on to Ep3 would be absolutely disastrous.
Chapters that are actually fun to play, not just in theory, and to do that a bit of linearity and scripting is necessary. The ambush scene in EP2 was weak because of its open-ended nature, you could if you wanted just stayed in the basement with the radiator grille and pwn everyone who came, and this sort of weak game design mechanic allows one to work around the intended challenge of a sequence and come out unsatisfied. In contrast HL2's finest action set-pieces such as water-hazard, Anticitizen one and most of the action sequences in EP1 (gunship battle=awesome) presented amazingly fun challenge, although there were obvious constraints as to what you could do and the choices of paths available. This is an area where the halo games really shine. You always get the challenge and fun that the sequence intended, and there still are many ways of going about how you overcome a particular obstacle.
Synth or arctic offshoot of the acid-antlion which is one of the best enemies I have faced in the HL universe, hands down. They had a devastating and accurate attack which always kept you on your toes, they always kept their f*cking distance (a logic that apparently still hasn't been absorbed by any other enemy) and showed high self-preservation by strafing left and right very quickly making them incredibly hard to hit, something hunters just don't seem to show, it is as if they are always caught between two minds as to whether to fire their flechettes, or ram you, and for large parts you can just see them standing at one place, deciding what course of action to take, while you gladly punt the radiator to their face. Granted that the acid-antlions attack is very dodgeable and they don't take too many hits before going down, but in a set-piece situation where other enemies are attacking you as well, they are the perfect backline reinforcement not allowing you to feel safe at all.
Overhaul Hunters which were supposed to be the show-stoppers but ended up failing horribly. They never provide an interesting and satisfactory challenge if you fight with bullets, which they almost seem invulnerable towards, and with phys props they drop easier than headcrabs. They never ever worked in teams, all of them coming at you from the same direction, they were way too slow and did not actively "hunt" you like promised as you can easily sprint away from them and get supplies and ammo, or a radiator grille and come back to kill them. They did not dodge or strafe against my attacks, and the one place where it was essential to do it which is when you are coming at them with a car, they usually dodge only one time in ten instances.
New interesting and challenging enemies such as the synths, etc. to fight against and please make the Advisor battles as tough, epic, and entertaining as possible, because the whole concept of a telekinetic enemy can be used amazingly well, and with the physics engine Valve have in hand, I absolutely hope I end up loving the advisors. And I hope you don't have to go through the same point, click, dodge rigmarole to defeat them just because someone created a device that nerfs their TK, which would suck. I hope for a more complex, and adrenaline pumping solution that requires you to take care of certain factors around you while dodging the advisor attacks, and completion of those tasks opens up a very limited window of opportunity when you have to hit the advisors as hard as possible, or something like that. The whole idea makes them more like a boss, but I doubt Valve wanted to make them a regular enemy, so I hope fighting the advisors would require the kind of multitasking gameplay that the fairly impressive finale of Ep2 showed, although even that could have been improved a lot.
Revamp the particle blood system, it just seems weird to see a bucket-load of brightly coloured blood flow out after a single pistol round connects. I don't know if it is just me but the blood effects of the original HL2 seemed a lot more natural and satisfying.
A nice surprise or something terribly exciting waiting at the Borealis. Possibly a trip to the combine world, which should be amazingly fleshed out, and a very strong narrative, story, plot development, twists/turns, revelations etc.
Last but not the least a fitting send-off to one of the best series of videogames ever, nothing less than GOTY material, by being innovative and superior, without being drastically different to the feel and mechanics HL2 laid out.
People say HL2 was too long, and the episodes are a step in the right direction, and I agree that some parts in HL2 were incredibly boring, but at the same time no matter how good you treat the action and gameplay in the HL2 universe, as it is, narrative and atmosphere is still the primary focus and selling-point of the game, and gameplay variety that HL2 masterfully displayed can only come through extended playtime, and the episodes have been a step-back in these regards, and to have this same trend continue on to Ep3 would be absolutely disastrous.
Chapters that are actually fun to play, not just in theory, and to do that a bit of linearity and scripting is necessary. The ambush scene in EP2 was weak because of its open-ended nature, you could if you wanted just stayed in the basement with the radiator grille and pwn everyone who came, and this sort of weak game design mechanic allows one to work around the intended challenge of a sequence and come out unsatisfied. In contrast HL2's finest action set-pieces such as water-hazard, Anticitizen one and most of the action sequences in EP1 (gunship battle=awesome) presented amazingly fun challenge, although there were obvious constraints as to what you could do and the choices of paths available. This is an area where the halo games really shine. You always get the challenge and fun that the sequence intended, and there still are many ways of going about how you overcome a particular obstacle.
Synth or arctic offshoot of the acid-antlion which is one of the best enemies I have faced in the HL universe, hands down. They had a devastating and accurate attack which always kept you on your toes, they always kept their f*cking distance (a logic that apparently still hasn't been absorbed by any other enemy) and showed high self-preservation by strafing left and right very quickly making them incredibly hard to hit, something hunters just don't seem to show, it is as if they are always caught between two minds as to whether to fire their flechettes, or ram you, and for large parts you can just see them standing at one place, deciding what course of action to take, while you gladly punt the radiator to their face. Granted that the acid-antlions attack is very dodgeable and they don't take too many hits before going down, but in a set-piece situation where other enemies are attacking you as well, they are the perfect backline reinforcement not allowing you to feel safe at all.
Overhaul Hunters which were supposed to be the show-stoppers but ended up failing horribly. They never provide an interesting and satisfactory challenge if you fight with bullets, which they almost seem invulnerable towards, and with phys props they drop easier than headcrabs. They never ever worked in teams, all of them coming at you from the same direction, they were way too slow and did not actively "hunt" you like promised as you can easily sprint away from them and get supplies and ammo, or a radiator grille and come back to kill them. They did not dodge or strafe against my attacks, and the one place where it was essential to do it which is when you are coming at them with a car, they usually dodge only one time in ten instances.
New interesting and challenging enemies such as the synths, etc. to fight against and please make the Advisor battles as tough, epic, and entertaining as possible, because the whole concept of a telekinetic enemy can be used amazingly well, and with the physics engine Valve have in hand, I absolutely hope I end up loving the advisors. And I hope you don't have to go through the same point, click, dodge rigmarole to defeat them just because someone created a device that nerfs their TK, which would suck. I hope for a more complex, and adrenaline pumping solution that requires you to take care of certain factors around you while dodging the advisor attacks, and completion of those tasks opens up a very limited window of opportunity when you have to hit the advisors as hard as possible, or something like that. The whole idea makes them more like a boss, but I doubt Valve wanted to make them a regular enemy, so I hope fighting the advisors would require the kind of multitasking gameplay that the fairly impressive finale of Ep2 showed, although even that could have been improved a lot.
Revamp the particle blood system, it just seems weird to see a bucket-load of brightly coloured blood flow out after a single pistol round connects. I don't know if it is just me but the blood effects of the original HL2 seemed a lot more natural and satisfying.
A nice surprise or something terribly exciting waiting at the Borealis. Possibly a trip to the combine world, which should be amazingly fleshed out, and a very strong narrative, story, plot development, twists/turns, revelations etc.
Last but not the least a fitting send-off to one of the best series of videogames ever, nothing less than GOTY material, by being innovative and superior, without being drastically different to the feel and mechanics HL2 laid out.
