Ravenholm. A few thoughts and observations.

[impgrinder]

1. Ravenholm is a night time level. I found it wierd that the level before ravenholm was set in daylight, and I doubt that the training session with the grabber would have taken all the way till evening so by the time Freeman goes to Ravenholm, its night. Then after you clear Ravenholm and the mines, when you appear near the railtracks, its day again. How convenient that Freeman lands up in creepy Ravenholm, at night. :naughty:

2. I think, it was a strange change of mood for the game. As ravenholm turns the game into a horror based kind of game for a while. Which was quite a random thing to happen in a game. Something like a Super Mario thing...one moment youre in outdoors in the hillsides or something, and then you are in a haunted mansion. :E

3. It was a fun level though. Reverend Gregorys old english and Bible quoting, Getting headcrab zombies with the car traps and sawing them in half with the buzzsaw blades and all. :thumbs:

Thats all for now.

Discuss. :farmer:

 

[Baratos]

I thought it was fun, until the fast zombies knocked me off a two story building. It wasnt the snipers, or endless hordes of zombies, or scariness that annoyed me the most.....it was being pushed off buildings.

Also, who else exited the mine shaft and thought they were in a new level, but missed the chapter title? That whole area would have fit better in Anticitzen One or Route Kanal.

 

[impgrinder]

:sniper: Well, I was blasting the fast zombies off the roof tops with the shotgun without any problem (I guess the many hours playing D3 trained me well for this) But I fell off buildings out of my own clumsiness plenty of times. ;(

The headcrab zombies respawning infinitely was a problem as I did face a shortage of ammo in that level. So most of the time, I was chucking buzzsaws and explosive cylinders at them.

Did anyone else think that the headcrabs looked adorable running about ablaze after you set them on fire? :E

Also the mines could have been slightly longer. I did think the mines were a new level. Provided the level had plenty of ammo, It would have been a great headcrab-zombie hunting arena. Those things are my favourite things to kill in half life.

The end part of Ravenholm when Rev. Gregory guides you through the cemetary was loads of fun.

I didnt find that level "scary", just out of place in the game.

Hey, maybe they can make a horror based HL2 expansion pack where you play as Barney, which is set entirely in "unexplored" areas of Ravenholm and the mines Plenty of headcrab zombies to take down...what do you all think? :sniper:

 

[Jintor]

CAR TRAPS!

SAWBLADES!

BRICKS!

Who cares how convenient nighttime falls, it's still fun DECAPITATING ZOMBIES with BRICKS!

Although it sucks how you couldn't pick up the gravestones and hurl them at the zombies.

 

[impgrinder]

hehe, yeah... Id wait till the silly zombies walk in a line behind each other and then Id chuck a sawblade at them.
BAM!
Instant zombie chops.

 

[Asknoone]

Hey, maybe they can make a horror based HL2 expansion pack where you play as Barney, which is set entirely in "unexplored" areas of Ravenholm and the mines Plenty of headcrab zombies to take down...what do you all think? :sniper:

No.

 

[bbson john]

The level design of Ravenholm is quite well.
For example, Father Grigori represents light in the darkness of the ravenholm. So whenever you see him appear, there is always sort of light shining at you from him.

 

[Jintor]

He don't have no torch!

He should have a flaming torch and a pitchfork. But then what'll he hold Annabelle in?

Maybe some sort of combination torch-pitchfork-shotgun-rifle thing.

 

[giant384]

umm the night time wasnt a coicedience; when you arrived at black mesa east it was already becoming dusk.

 

[586FAC75]

If the game is set in late October/Early November in Eastern Europe it gets quite dark quite quickly at that time of the year, although I can't say the same for daylight and morning.

I always thought it was strange having a "horror" level in HL2 until I played Lost Coast and discovered why Ravenholm turned out into what we know now.

 

[impgrinder]

So how come it appears to be mid-noon when Freeman gets out of the mine?

Ok, Ill stop arguing so much here. :E

Time in games is wierd.

 

[ELITE COMBINE]

I like to think gordan frohmen caused the end of ravenholm cause it was funny. i have the loast cost level does that tell u more about the fall of ravenholm.

 

[Reginald]

SPOILER-IFIC BREAKDOWN OF THE HL2 TIMEFRAME

Day One:
Morning - Arrive in City 17
Early Afternoon - Kleiner's Lab
Afternoon + Early Evening - Escape City 17
Evening - Black Mesa East
Night - Ravenholm

Day Two:
Early Morning - Mines
Morning - Train Tracks + Rebel Outpost + Start Driving
Afternoon - Driving + The Bridge (2pm Estimate)
Late Afternoon - Sandtraps + Vortigaunt Encampment
Evening - Nova Prospekt Siege
Night - Nova Prospekt
Early, Early Morning - Entanglement

== Lost Week ==

Day Three:
Morning - Follow Freeman
Afternoon - Anticitizen One + Our Benefactors
Evening - Dark Energy

 

[Xendance]

Yeah as your heading towards Black Mesa East, the sun appears to be setting.

 

[Shifty]

Another thing that I think needs to be brought up about ravenholme is (this is for all if you who have played episode one) In episode one the whole zombie thing didn't scare me at all wereas in ravenholme I HATED it! H-A-T-E-D!!! It just just goes to show you that they were trying to make the level scary weras in episode one I only found the zombies to be an annoyance.

 

[ríomhaire]

1. Ravenholm is a night time level. I found it wierd that the level before ravenholm was set in daylight, and I doubt that the training session with the grabber would have taken all the way till evening so by the time Freeman goes to Ravenholm, its night. Then after you clear Ravenholm and the mines, when you appear near the railtracks, its day again. How convenient that Freeman lands up in creepy Ravenholm, at night. :naughty:

If you pay attention throughout the canal maps you can see the sun getting lower and lower, by the time you get outside BME the sun is almost down. While you're in BME it sets fully. And yes, the night is quite short, maybe you're just very far north in the middle of the summer.

2. I think, it was a strange change of mood for the game. As ravenholm turns the game into a horror based kind of game for a while. Which was quite a random thing to happen in a game. Something like a Super Mario thing...one moment youre in outdoors in the hillsides or something, and then you are in a haunted mansion. :E

Well, at least there is an explenation and some forshadowing, unlike say as you said, a Mario game or a Sonic game where you go from one environment to a completly different one in seconds with no explenation. Plus, it adds variety.

3. It was a fun level though. Reverend Gregorys old english and Bible quoting, Getting headcrab zombies with the car traps and sawing them in half with the buzzsaw blades and all. :thumbs:

:cheese:

 

[Mesz]

how does lost coast explain the fall of Ravenholm?

 

[Reginald]

You destroy one of the Combine's HeadCrab cannons. Although the game isn't strictly canon, story-wise, it can still be assumed that these are what are firing the canisters.

 

[Shifty]

Those ARE what are firing the canisters!! If you look up in the sky you can see the canisters flying through the air.

 

[Demolition]

Ravenholm is probably my favorite level through out the entire game. I love the dark sinister backround to the cd. I love the priest and how he is qouting things the entire time while he is shooting the sh!t out of zombie's. And when you first enter the village I mean come on! There is a body hanging there on a junglegym! just classic! haha and when you first meet the priest there are like 6 zombie's impaled by big metal polls! just all together love this damn level

and for it being night time during the level...ur a dumby fi you dindt notice how dark it was when u reached Black Mesa East. and even if it wasent! imaging playing ravenholm in the daytime? that'd be about as scary as the Child's Play movies *and for the retards! those r chucky movies*

 

[impgrinder]

err.... the sky in the water hazard didnt really convince me as an evening sky. It was still bright, even if the sun was seen lower on the horizon.

But still... the sky couldnt have turned dark as night by the time the conversation / grabber training session at Black Mesa East ended and Freeman landed at ravenholm. Its all entirely one sequence...there are no cut scenes.
It was a very drastic change from daylight to darkness. Ravenholm should have had a dimly lit evening sky..OR the previous levels should have had a much dimmer sky.

So the game designers missed out that one small detail just to add in a "night time" feel in ravenholm. Ive accepted it as a blooper within the game.No big deal at all.

And also, the sky after you exit the mines, didnt really look like an early morning sky, as it should have looked when Freeman got out, considering he spent all night at ravenholm and the mines.

 

[bbson john]

err.... the sky in the water hazard didnt really convince me as an evening sky. It was still bright, even if the sun was seen lower on the horizon.

It looks extremely real I think. In reality, the sky looks particularly bright when the sun set. The sky looks bright, instead of dim, because it is fire-orange in colour. Valve didn't did anything wrong.

 

[Azner]

When you get the grav gun, its evening, DONT FORGET!

 

[Jintor]

But still... the sky couldnt have turned dark as night by the time the conversation / grabber training session at Black Mesa East ended and Freeman landed at ravenholm. Its all entirely one sequence...there are no cut scenes.
It was a very drastic change from daylight to darkness. Ravenholm should have had a dimly lit evening sky..OR the previous levels should have had a much dimmer sky.

And also, the sky after you exit the mines, didnt really look like an early morning sky, as it should have looked when Freeman got out, considering he spent all night at ravenholm and the mines.

Yeah, because he should've been by all rights blinded for 2 minutes. ><

It's not really a blooper, night falls really fast around these parts. Maybe it does in Eastern Europe as well, I dunno.

 

[Shifty]

err.... the sky in the water hazard didnt really convince me as an evening sky. It was still bright, even if the sun was seen lower on the horizon.

But still... the sky couldnt have turned dark as night by the time the conversation / grabber training session at Black Mesa East ended and Freeman landed at ravenholm. Its all entirely one sequence...there are no cut scenes.
It was a very drastic change from daylight to darkness. Ravenholm should have had a dimly lit evening sky..OR the previous levels should have had a much dimmer sky.

So the game designers missed out that one small detail just to add in a "night time" feel in ravenholm. Ive accepted it as a blooper within the game.No big deal at all.

And also, the sky after you exit the mines, didnt really look like an early morning sky, as it should have looked when Freeman got out, considering he spent all night at ravenholm and the mines.

Or it could just be that your graphics card sucks and you can't see jack :rolling:

 

[knut]

err.... the sky in the water hazard didnt really convince me as an evening sky. It was still bright, even if the sun was seen lower on the horizon.

But still... the sky couldnt have turned dark as night by the time the conversation / grabber training session at Black Mesa East ended and Freeman landed at ravenholm. Its all entirely one sequence...there are no cut scenes.
It was a very drastic change from daylight to darkness. Ravenholm should have had a dimly lit evening sky..OR the previous levels should have had a much dimmer sky.

So the game designers missed out that one small detail just to add in a "night time" feel in ravenholm. Ive accepted it as a blooper within the game.No big deal at all.

And also, the sky after you exit the mines, didnt really look like an early morning sky, as it should have looked when Freeman got out, considering he spent all night at ravenholm and the mines.

Going by the speed of the day-to-night-night-to-day transition that occurs, I can only presume that it is around September/Novemeber that the game takes place. Although cold months, the sun still beats down ever so brightly sometimes. The mornings espiecally so. Not a particually warm sun, mind, but bright all the same.

During Water Hazard, you start around the afternoonish, and then when you get to the damn it is afternoon. Obvious afternoon, aswell.

Yeah, the space between getting into Ravenholm and exiting is a bit short, but it depends how fast you play through it, really. From my own experience, it felt like an entire day in the town, as I was playing Ravenholm over a space of about 3 days. Plus, it just wouldn't feel right during the day time. I've seen Ravenholm in the day (Concerned/Gordon Frohman comic) and it doesn't look a very menacing place.