New difficulty level possibly in ep2

Shift said:
The F.E.A.R AI was good, but its not what made the game, its was the games attempt at creating a spooky and scary atmosphere to increase the tension even when not fighting battles to make a mentally draining experiance.
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I disagree. In FEAR, the spooky bits were 'meh' for me. What really endeared me to FEAR was the combat, pure and simple. It was just so... visceral and cinematic. In FEAR, when you fire upon, say, a stone pillar, persistant dust is generated (just like one would expect.) This dust adds immensely to the feel of the game, especially when you see it in slow motion. Add in the fact that the levels were designed in such a way as to allow the Replicas to use tactics more advanced then 'rush' against you (usually,) and that the Replicas were very smart, and you have a recipie for fun.

I still feel that the Combine AI would perform better if you gave it a wide open field to play in. Combine after all tend to operate in squads (on Hard, at least,) and while the SMG troops keep me pinned, Mr. Shotgunner will try to flank me (and fail because of the level design and the fact that I'm a paranoid bastard,) and when that fails, charge me. Give the Combine a wide open area to play in, such that they can flank from anywhere, and I predict a lot more obvious 'intelligence' making itself known in the Combine AI.
 
I remember reading on this forum that apparently there are notes in some of the codes for Half-Life 2's A.I that encourages the A.I to stand still, so its easier for you to use the gravity gun on them.
 
Costyn_Elite said:
I have to play again Half-Life to analyze they're AI.But if you play HL2 just block the vision of a soldier with a box and he will stop shooting...and play it one time on "Easy" and you'll laugh at they pathetic atempts to kill you.
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he only reason the grunts seem tougher is a smaller firing cone and higher health. If you gave the Combine Soldiers the same stats, you'd get thouroughly owned
 
Atomic_Piggy said:
I stopped reading here.
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I think you will find it was successful if you read EVERY review for the game lik I did before buying. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just some other action game.
 
Well hopefully we'll see improved AI with the hunters. With wide open spaces seems likes theres alot you can do with them :x
 
Llama said:
he only reason the grunts seem tougher is a smaller firing cone and higher health. If you gave the Combine Soldiers the same stats, you'd get thouroughly owned
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That makes sense that the Combine Soldiers's AI is made for large spaces...But you saw the grunts in large areas like "Surface Tension" they were pretty good...flanks and covers....me I was impressed about there AI in that time (2000) and when i've seen the AI of the Combine Soldiers I was somehow dissapointed...and let's hope that Hunters AI is going to be more advanced.
 
Combine AI has several dumbifications which make them perform worse, one being the already mentioned stand still so I can blast you with this heater/thing. Imo those should be toned down or removed in normal and hard hardness levels.
 
I played through hard mode, and I was a little dissappointed. AI-wise they remain basically the same, and I think they all show up in the same numbers too. So basically they just do more damage and have more health. It works in an area like Ravenholm, but against soldiers it didn't really work so much. They were only really dangerous in numbers because I didn't have time to mow them down before they could close in on me. They still have very little accuracy and insist on firing on 3-4 round bursts that just really aren't effective. Striders and gunships work pretty well as is though, because their AI is generally really solid. I would welcome an increased difficulty hard mode, because the current hard mode just doesn't add enough.
 
Sorry for bumping, but I just thought of something. Does anyone think friendly fire should be enabled in the "very hard" mode? I think this would add an interesting challenge.
 
That email sounds pretty good, least they're still trying to improve things. No matter how good they think they have it.

My problem with games in general (as this isn't just a HL2 thing) is difficulty settings only effect how many bullets you have to put into an enemy. Having to shoot an enemy a few more times to kill him doesn't do it for me.
 
Now we just need them to add a few more difficulty settings above extra hard and we might get one challenge that approaches 'normal' ;)

Good job, though. Ooog. This setting being backwards compatible with HL2 and ep.1 makes it all the better.
 
I was playing "follow freeman" chapter yesterday and I noticed that the combine soldiers ai is actually very good when you fight them at long range, but when you got close they just stand there shooting you with three rounds smg bursts (which equals something like 0 hp damage). I imagine they tweaked the ai so the player could easily defeat it- but that doesn't justifiy the low level of challenge the game provides at hard. So I'm quite interested in this new "super hard" difficulty level. I only hope they don't change things like npc health points or the smg and pulse rifle cone of fire, wich is pretty wide even now. They should only tweak the ai, or maybe give the soldiers extra speed or more powerful weapons. They shouldn't give the soldiers more accuracy- it's simply not fun dealing with hitscan snipers at long range.

:sniper:
 
I came to the forums to suggest something like this, so I'm glad I'm not the only one who is hoping for an extremely difficult setting. I'd like to see more enemies with more health, more armour, more grenades and weapons which do a lot of damage. I'd have less ammo, take more damage and get even less health from sparse health packs or armour from the HEV batteries.

Some of my favourite Half-Life memories are from when I first played through it and found myself facing those assassins in Opposing Force, having hardly any health or ammo left, and only just making it because my machine gunner got killed and I grabbed his gun.

I breezed through most of HL2 because I've played FPS games so often, so in Episode 2 I'd like to go back to the drawing board and wonder how the hell I'm going to be making it through the next section, even if it means going hand to hand with my trusty crowbar.

I've enjoyed both HL2 games so far; one of their few letdowns for me has been that I can complete them so easily.
 
Dude in half life 2 there is this one part i couldnot and still cant get past. Its this one where you got to set up turrets and an insane amount of guys come in. I was able to fend off the first few waves no problem but then they knock them over and as I'm resetting them they are shooting at me and I am losing tons of health. I tried backing into a corner and positioning all the turrets around a cell and backing into it but they just naded me. Maybe I would have passed after a few more times but I was pretty pissed because it was pretty smooth sailing through the game until Nova Prospekt.
 
I prefer the most "realistic" difficulty, to the hardest. I refuse to play when the computer "cheats" such as in many RTSes when they get resource gaining bonuses on top of near-infinite multi-tasking.

I would love a drastically harder difficulty level for Half Life 2, where you actually have to think a bit to clear rooms. Having less ammo, especially on the better guns, would be a good step to improving tactical play.

Another reason which I think contributes to the easiness level is the fast player movement speed. Enemies taking cover, using nades, etc doesn't mean a thing when you can sprint to flank them or avoid fire.

Like others above, I prefer actually handicapping the player in some way, beyond enemy health and your health.
Oh well, we'll see what they pull off, if anything.
 
madog said:
Dude in half life 2 there is this one part i couldnot and still cant get past. Its this one where you got to set up turrets and an insane amount of guys come in. I was able to fend off the first few waves no problem but then they knock them over and as I'm resetting them they are shooting at me and I am losing tons of health. I tried backing into a corner and positioning all the turrets around a cell and backing into it but they just naded me. Maybe I would have passed after a few more times but I was pretty pissed because it was pretty smooth sailing through the game until Nova Prospekt.
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Are you talking about the second time Alyx leaves you? If so setup the torrents around the walkway where you get them from. Don't leave that area.

There is another way I found out about. Collect all the crates around there and stack them up on the far side. There's a little upper level area there and you can just sit there a peg Combine as they come in.
 
Actually if you sit there long enough Alyx will say she's coming down, but Combine reinforcments don't pile up, so you just take out the first batch and wait by the fence for Alyx to drop by.
 
True, if you hang back from the balconey. But it's still nothing compared to the numbers that come when you're down on the floor.

I think Valve changed something with that too. I remember the first time I went up there, Combine were launching manhacks and nades trying to get at me. But the last few times I played that never happened.
 
Infern0 said:
I prefer the most "realistic" difficulty, to the hardest. I refuse to play when the computer "cheats" such as in many RTSes when they get resource gaining bonuses on top of near-infinite multi-tasking.

I would love a drastically harder difficulty level for Half Life 2, where you actually have to think a bit to clear rooms. Having less ammo, especially on the better guns, would be a good step to improving tactical play.

Another reason which I think contributes to the easiness level is the fast player movement speed. Enemies taking cover, using nades, etc doesn't mean a thing when you can sprint to flank them or avoid fire.

Like others above, I prefer actually handicapping the player in some way, beyond enemy health and your health.
Oh well, we'll see what they pull off, if anything.
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I actually found there was quite a big limit on ammo on the good guns, pretty much forcing you to use the same gun as the combine you were facing so you wouldn't burn up all of your ammo.

I'd like to see things more physics-related, along the lines of grenading a supporting beam of a balcony the combine soldiers are on to bring them down.
 
$kelet0r said:
that was an excellent example of poor level and gameplay design
rather than have waves and waves of soldiers come at you, that section would have worked much much better had you faced far fewer soldiers but a more realistic challenge
As it was when I played it, it was just a one way slaughter of combine soldiers with their AI practically non-existant
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That isn't an example of poor level and gameplay design. The section could be pretty tough depending on how well you placed the turrets, but there really isn't much manouvrability in the area, and instead the Combine soldiers work to grenade and knock over the turrets, many a times simply hanging back. The scene played out exactly as it was intended - for you to hold off against a ton of soldiers for a certain amount of time. Success depended on how well you set up the turrets. There's a TON of ways to play that scene, and it all boils down to the turrets, because that is what the scene is focused on.

Your opinion on how the scene should have played out does not make it poor gameplay or level design, you are simply missing the point of the entire scene. The Combine AI is alot smarter than people actually give it credit for.
 
It’s all about perfectly tuned gameplay, and that scene in particular was utilizing the turrets. Your given the training beforehand in the pretty easy control room defence, and then you arrive at the point where you put your training to use. It’s intentionally a slaughter fest. Therefore, it’s far, far from poor gameplay or level design.
 
It's a design decision. It's all about how well you set up the turrets, that is the focus of the scene. You have to defend. When defending, it is only logical you come across waves of enemies. As I said, they work to knock down the turrets.
 
I had a pretty solid strategy for setting up the turrets on hard mode, but I still left the battle with 7 health remaining.
 
I dont know if this has already been said...im just tuning in with my 2cents, i dont have time to read the first 5 pages... but when it comes to a hard difficulty, I would like the enemies to be smarter... not more resistant to being shot in the face... unlike halos legendary mode where you can unload 5 mags into some ones head and still have 3 to go... I personally dont think that a harder setting should change how susceptible a character is to damage, i think they should be smarter, and fewer health, shield, and ammo pick ups would make it a more "realistically" harder game. Also much like Ritual did with the progressive difficulty gain in Sin: Emergence ( even though i dont think anyone noticed it ) They learn your strong points, and your weaknesses, example: you dont have a great aim from a distance but you can own with a full frontal assault on the enemy head on... they learn by your strategies and keep their distance from you. Thats the kind of AI and difficulty setting I want to see in a good game...
 
Samon said:
Your opinion on how the scene should have played out does not make it poor gameplay or level design, you are simply missing the point of the entire scene. The Combine AI is alot smarter than people actually give it credit for.
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I happen to think it's poor design because it's insanely easy to break when you bring all the desks and filing cabinets with you, block up the doorways, set up the turrets and run around maintaining it a bit. The cabinets don't shift, and the soldiers don't have the ability to climb over a 50cm tall obstruction.

What Valve intended to do when they designed it was good enough for me though. Just wish they didn't make it so easy to nerf :p
 
Well if you want to play it proper, don't bring all the tables and such. Nerf. :p
 
Yeah, some of you people really get some stuff about game design wrong :).

The HL2 turrets were a perfect example of a classic smart design trick. First, you get introduced to a new thing (turrets) in an easy fight. If you set up the turrets wrong there, it's a medium-difficulty encounter at worst, if you set the turrets up well, it's very easy. After you've seen how it works once, you're presented with a much harder situation, which can still be somewhat easy if you use your experience and learn from the first time.

By the way, you don't have to bring anything, using some barrels near that second turret room in a smart way can also be of help ;).

As for making the AI smarter... well, that's everyone's dream. But hey, there's a limit to how smart it can be. And past a certain point, it takes a LOT of development resources to make the AI just a bit smarter. That's how AIs work, unfortunately. The Combine AI in HL2 was good, but to bring it up another notch would probably require a significant delay in shipping the game. And there you can get caught in a perpetual improvement cycle, never shipping.

Also, in FPS games such as this, even a smart AI will always seem weaker than it is. Why? Health, baby! The AI plays at a disadvantage, it can take a lot less damage than you can. So it seems weaker. You shoot a Combine with a shotgun in the face = dead Combine. You get shot with a shotgun = you lose some health. If the enemies had as much health as you do, then they would suddenly seem smarter. Because they would actually live long enough to show their smarts. When they're disposed of relatively easy, they just don't live long enough.

Of course, such powerful enemies would be unfun to 98% of the players. Imagine Combine soldiers that can take and deal as much damage as you. It can then get frustrating if you have to unload a whole pulse rifle clip to kill one soldier. Or, if you were brought down to their strength, instead of them being upgraded to yours (and this would be a more realistic scenario), you'd get frustrated from dying if a soldier hits you with 2 SMG bursts. In either of these situations, you would also have to sacrifice big battles - you would instead have to face one or two soldiers at a time. Three for a major, uber-hard battle. And that's just not as fun as facing 5-6 soldiers.

So, there you go ;).
 
its when the combine start nading and when the guys with shotguns come in they just devestate me. I cant fend off the attack from 4 areas and try to keep the turrets up at the same time. The first turret battle was no problem, an easy win but the one with guys that came from above as well as 4 places on the ground was ridiculously hard in my opinion. I have no clue how you guys deem that as easy. I was owning up every other part of the game too.
 
The first time I played HL2, I set the turrets up stupidly, and didn't realise I could pick them back up. The first soldier wave took down all three turrets, I ended up killing the other waves with my weapons. Now that was hard!

On the other hand, it's quite enough to just set the turrets up so that they are in front of a wall, that is, not knocked over backwards easily, and that's it. Then you can just stand back (in one of the cubicles where the turrets were) and shoot your shotgun at soldiers. In between the waves, set the turrets back up.
 
I'd swear once they're deactivated, they're deactivated. You can't set them up again - you have to grab 'em while they're spazzing.

No, that section is a pretty big difficulty spike, especially considering what you've been used to so far. I only got through it after 6 deaths. And I holed myself up in a cell - with an EXTRA turret - picking up nades and chucking them back out again. Still got hit on the second last wave and fought them off with 37 health though. -_-
 
Nope, you can set them up okay after they've turned off, too. Only I've found that it's very hard to do with the gravity gun - it's much easier to use the 'e' button.
 
Alyx even tells you in the later scene to "keep those turrets set up Gordon"
 
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