Some things from 'Raising the bar' to read (spoiler alert)

[Plug]

The reason i said owned by logic was because i thought it became quite obvious from the last few posts of where valve got their position from, rather than your 'kiddy direction' argument.

If you read raising the bar, played hl2 and had conversations with everything said in mind - rather than your own stuff, just wanting more and more to appeal to you... then that's where the logic kicks in. There's nothing to suggest valve went in a kiddy direction, and others have explained why quite simply.... this is where the logic kicks in.

After reading the forums before i bought raising the bar, i was a little worried that i'd be dissapointed at all the content they cut... but after reading raising the bar, it made me appreciate the direction they went in 100% more. Less is more, in this case. Subtlety and intelligence rules over over elaborate imagery/storyline.

what a brilliant game

 

[Great Grizzly]

Haha, talk about making ridiculous assumptions. More "kiddy friendly", for <insert deity here>'s sake, it's M rated, features the torching and dismembering of rotten corpses, has bad language, features the brutal beatings of civilians by a policeforce and is promoted as a "not to buy" game by parent organisations.

oh, you forgot the things on the ceiling coughing up skulls and spines and stuff. And the burnt and deformed faces of half of corpes in an alien infested sewers

 

[StAtiC]

that "stuff" did not work because they didnt bother to make it work . and how can u say, it would have been terrible from a gameplay perspective with those things?

that kind of stuff is what make the original half-life so much fun and challenging to play. the icthyosaur scared me to death when i was walking accross a slippy metal walkway and fell in , and that water beast in no time ripped my ass to shredds. and that enemy was "terrible", but i look back on it now and realise that those such things were the things that made the original so great.

You have no clue what your talking about do you? The AI with the hydra had serious issues, and it did not work in gameplay. Congrats, your now #3 on my retard-of-the-day list.

 

[azz0r]

Actually the book states the Hydra was perfect.

It does however say that it was fun to watch it fight people, but wasnt even slightly fun to fight because it literally just killed you instantly and you were left wondering what happened. Thus it was scrapped and they hope to bring it back.

 

[KagePrototype]

It does however say that it was fun to watch it fight people, but wasnt even slightly fun to fight because it literally just killed you instantly and you were left wondering what happened. Thus it was scrapped and they hope to bring it back.

I remember the book saying they were thinking of bringing it back in future projects, as a friendly creature. Which would be very cool.

 

[azz0r]

Would require a really big level though, would end up like Dog though - useless because it cant be dumped into any location.

Oh well.

 

[Moto]

A lot of you guys make a big deal about what was cut out of the game. Valve is a top-notch developer, they know what is fun and not fun to play. Everything that got cut got cut for a reason. Either they couldn't work it in with the story or they couldn't make it fun to fight or use. I support them in their decision to get rid of what they did.

Everything that was cut was in the leak. I don't blame them. The Stalkers were no fun to fight, they just ran around quickly, were hard to shoot, and shot lasers at you from their heads. The old style rollermines were too fast and did too much damage. The old storyline was wierd, Most of the time you were on an ice breaker fighting things that seemed out of place. Colonel Cubbage used to be the captain of the ice breaker, Captain Odell. The Hydra had a lot of work in it and it was cool, but wasn't fun.

As for the weapons, they had tons of ideas. The build that was leaked was just full of ideas for weapons. There was Hopwire which was probably the coolest thing ever, (it was thrown like a grenade, but once it came to a stop, it propelled itself 15 feet in the air and attached wires to everything around it like webs) but it wasn't useful. There was the physgun and stickylauncer, both of which have been modded in but were cut out to prevent exploiting. There was the OICW which was cool, I don't know of a reason to get rid of it, so I think it could have stayed. There was the icepick, but that was cut once the ice breaker level was cut since there would no longer be a reason to have it. There was a fire extinguisher that actually worked, but it wasn't useful once the ice breaker level was cut. There was the previous version of the Overwatch Rifle, called the Irifle. It was cool but it fired slowly and had only one function. There were a lot more too, too many to talk about.

But, I think they made the right decisions. The only gun I really wish they didn't cut was the gauss gun. The effect it had when shot was awesome. You could bank it off of walls and off of the ground. It had the coolest looking lightning-ish things that surround the main beam when shot. And, to top it all off, you could still guass jump.

 

[emCee-ig]

Ok, here's the reason the Hydra didn't work as an enemy:

From the player's perspective, the limb wiggles around a bit, then it stabs you, and you die. The Hydra was Ken Birdwell's pet project, spending "six months on and off" getting it to work, and he finally had to cut it because even he saw it didn't work in the gameplay.

this was in a sticky on the front page,

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=57663

but you both quotes the same source

 

[moggy]

I remember the book saying they were thinking of bringing it back in future projects, as a friendly creature. Which would be very cool.

i think having the friendly vortagaunts is enough.

or are u bent on demeaning every effective asset which comes from the original game? if that is the case u really are soft

 

[jimbones]

egahd they shoulda scrapped the palace sequence that right there didn't work. turning on an air purifier woulda been kinda cool. I mean what's with the MIT Ph freakind D, eh?

 

[moggy]

If you read the book, you'd know that they decided to use the Eastern European look after Viktor Antonov suggested it as an interesting art direction. They said that the juxtaposition between the old Eastern European architecture, and the sleek futuristic combine machinery, was very appealing to them. .

yeah but it is not as effective as how the other material could have been.


u must understand. although alot of wat they have created is effective and does give a feel. But it has strayed too far from its original roots and would have been more successful and effective if they had kept a more truely serious approach to the game, and its feel

 

[Mr.Reak]

yeah but it is not as effective as how the other material could have been.


u must understand. although alot of wat they have created is effective and does give a feel. But it has strayed too far from its original roots and would have been more successful and effective if they had kept a more truely serious approach to the game, and its feel

Look here mr.HARDCORXXX with your unstoppable opinions. If you failed to understand what Eastern-European look meant for the game, go back to your history class, or maybe take it when you will go to Middle School. Valve had choice between generic sci-fi look or something right of reality. Look back at oppressed Europe, look back at Russia during its Soviet Union years. I grew up in Russia, I can very well relate to the look of the cities, I heard stories from my grandfather about what it was like growing up in oppressed country, where government IS your enemy and you couldn’t do much about it. Where Propaganda is your news media, where Big Brother resides on the top of the tower and he always knows what’s best for you. DARK AND BLOODY doesn’t mean mature at all. You are just not mature enough yourself to grasp themes that Half-life 2 carry.

 

[moggy]

you. DARK AND BLOODY doesn’t mean mature at all. You are just not mature enough yourself to grasp themes that Half-life 2 carry.

first of all keep your agonies to yourself, i know what u mean by your oppressions u experienced. but this is a computer game we are talking about here not your personal crusade of a stricktly eastern european look. :upstare:

this is about what is best for the game and not a list of "set" choices with boundaries.

i do understand how they intended it to look but it doesnt do the job
and i am not on the immature side of things. there are alot of children playing this game and they believe to think that the combine is cool in some way, just because of the particular style of them in game. where these children have never played HL1 ans met recon marines which were a vastly superior and mmore impressive enemy and AI.
but they are severly misguided to be impressed in that way , with this enemy, the combine.

the combine are a true humanity destroying machine, and they should be made to look even more so. and so i am not immature to say that therefore the environment and the effects should have been made more oppressive. an eastern european look could be gladly conveyed and i have no problem with it. the technology and the attitude and effects of the combine and its alien effects could have been made darker in nature to bring a true seriousness to the game and increase its effectivness. :x

 

[KagePrototype]

or are u bent on demeaning every effective asset which comes from the original game? if that is the case u really are soft

Where did that come from? :|

yeah but it is not as effective as how the other material could have been.


u must understand. although alot of wat they have created is effective and does give a feel. But it has strayed too far from its original roots and would have been more successful and effective if they had kept a more truely serious approach to the game, and its feel

and i am not on the immature side of things. there are alot of children playing this game and they believe to think that the combine is cool in some way, just because of the particular style of them in game. where these children have never played HL1 ans met recon marines which were a vastly superior and mmore impressive enemy and AI.
but they are severly misguided to be impressed in that way , with this enemy, the combine.

You act like it's some sort of immature art direction, something only a child would find appealing. I can understand that you don't like it, but your assertions that Valve did it simply to tone things down and keep it more "accessible" and less "serious" are unfair. It's just a different direction; Valve simply chose to take a more subtle approach to depicting humanity's oppression.

 

[moggy]

Where did that come from? :|

more subtle approach to depicting humanity's oppression.

that came from your quote before about making the hydra friendly. riddiculous

and it is too subtle. we are talking exactly about the oppression of humanity and a more brutal side or truth should be show than that, that has been

 

[Ahnteis]

Good book.

 

[moggy]

the direction in which they have gone this time is that of a fancy art direction. they are the ones who are resopnsible , and this is the case of what has actually happened. it could and should have been more brutal like the first game.

 

[PvtRyan]

and it is too subtle. we are talking exactly about the oppression of humanity and a more brutal side or truth should be show than that, that has been

You may have been expecting some game where little green men run around the streets shooting innocent people or whatever. But what Valve has made is much more like oppression of a people like it happens in real life. This isn't an invasion from Zeta Reticuli where the aliens come down to Earth in their saucers and burn the planet down, this is a regime where a policeforce controls the streets, arrests random people, puts them on trains, where people have fear on their faces, fear of expressing their opinions, where a propoganda machine is controlling all information. There is no need for a dark industrial look, THAT would ruin the whole Nazi/Stalinistic atmosphere.
It's supposed to be subtle, it isn't a regime bent on raping and looting.

But I might as well be talking to a wall here. You don't get it, you just don't get it.

 

[moggy]

looting.

But I might as well be talking to a wall here. You don't get it, you just don't get it.

no my friend, u dont

u seem to see things only as black and white.

i am ot sugggesting it revert simply to blasting away at anything or any sirt of that mindlessness u mentioned .

just a slightly more oppressive and evil feel and look story to it would do just fine

it is u who is not getting it

 

[KagePrototype]

that came from your quote before about making the hydra friendly. riddiculous

What is your point? I don't get it. Be specific and explain it to me, because I'm not understanding you on this at all.

and it is too subtle. we are talking exactly about the oppression of humanity and a more brutal side or truth should be show than that, that has been

I'm not arguing against your opinion on whether it was effective or not, I just think you're being unfair to say that Valve are being "kiddy-friendly" when they're blatantly not.

 

[Vesh]

Trite (adj.): Lacking power to evoke interest through overuse or repetition; hackneyed.

A darker supertechnological world would have done just that: weakened the power of the story [and the situations and events in it] by placing it in a less realistic, overused, stereotypical environment.

Just speakin' for myself - I'd hate for Half Life to be such a cliched, sophomoric thing.