Were there really any good puzzles?

[Uber Kitty]

I cant think of a single puzzle in any Half Life game after the orig that took any actual puzzle solving ability like there was in portal for example. In the original, the only tough puzzles were boss fights.

HL2 is my favorite game of all time, don't get me wrong. But I never liked it for the puzzles. Ambiance, graphics, story and action was great. Puzzles, not so much. Seemed like every puzzle was just figuring out which way to go when all other ways are blocked off, aside from the occasional easy puzzle which was mainly made to show off the physics. (see-saw) Maybe I was into the mindset of the game so much, they weren't challenging?

Help me out thinking of some?

Joe :afro:

 

[LandStander]

The magnetic crane while not hard was fun.

 

[Uber Kitty]

The magnetic crane while not hard was fun.

See what I mean? Were there supposed to be puzzles that made you think? Although I am fine without them, people always say that one of HL2's strong points were the ingenious puzzles.

 

[nokori3byo]

I cant think of a single puzzle in any Half Life game after the orig that took any actual puzzle solving ability like there was in portal for example. In the original, the only tough puzzles were boss fights.

HL2 is my favorite game of all time, don't get me wrong. But I never liked it for the puzzles. Ambiance, graphics, story and action was great. Puzzles, not so much. Seemed like every puzzle was just figuring out which way to go when all other ways are blocked off, aside from the occasional easy puzzle which was mainly made to show off the physics. (see-saw) Maybe I was into the mindset of the game so much, they weren't challenging?

Help me out thinking of some?

Joe :afro:

One thing I've noticed about HL2's puzzles is that they become far less problem solving-oriented after you've acquired the gravity gun. From Ravenholm on, the puzzles are less about thinking about solutions than they are about manipulating the environment with your new tool.

That said, I think HL2 and its episodic sequels feature some very good puzzles. To name a few:

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

HL2
--The water level puzzle in Route Canal
--The ramp in water puzzle in Water Hazard
--The second ramp puzzle in WH
--Electric fence puzzle in Ravenholm
--Crane puzzle in H17
--The puzzle-like turret standoff (#2) in Entanglement

Ep. 1 (both series highlights)
--Core puzzle in Direct Intervention
--Antlion-filled garage in LL

Ep. 2
--Weapons caches in Under the Radar
--The final battle, while not a puzzle in the strict sense, involves a certain amount of problem solving

My main beef with Valve's use of puzzles is that they recycle too many ideas. To date, there have been at least three iterations of the see saw puzzle, four of thr grav gun/bridge building puzzle, and two of the Alyx provides cover fire with sniper rifle puzzle.

In contrast, I thought it was great how POrtal introduced the rocket turrets late in the game to add a new dynamic to gameplay. Even the boss fight was inspired and original.

 

[LandStander]

Only the antlion puzzle where you needed to create a makeshift walkway with debris was really original.

 

[Uber Kitty]

One thing I've noticed about HL2's puzzles is that they become far less problem solving-oriented after you've acquired the gravity gun. From Ravenholm on, the puzzles are less about thinking about solutions than they are about manipulating the environment with your new tool.

That said, I think HL2 and its episodic sequels feature some very good puzzles. To name a few:

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

HL2
--The water level puzzle in Route Canal
--The ramp in water puzzle in Water Hazard
--The second ramp puzzle in WH
--Electric fence puzzle in Ravenholm
--Crane puzzle in H17
--The puzzle-like turret standoff (#2) in Entanglement

Ep. 1 (both series highlights)
--Core puzzle in Direct Intervention
--Antlion-filled garage in LL

Ep. 2
--Weapons caches in Under the Radar
--The final battle, while not a puzzle in the strict sense, involves a certain amount of problem solving

My main beef with Valve's use of puzzles is that they recycle too many ideas. To date, there have been at least three iterations of the see saw puzzle, four of thr grav gun/bridge building puzzle, and two of the Alyx provides cover fire with sniper rifle puzzle.

In contrast, I thought it was great how POrtal introduced the rocket turrets late in the game to add a new dynamic to gameplay. Even the boss fight was inspired and original.

Seemed like all you needed to do was to push all the buttons possible for these 2. Often times when people can't solve something, they go around pushing e.

The rpg weapon cache in ep2 was a good one.

Antlion holes + cars was pretty good.

All the otehr ones seem so obvious, were they to anyone else?

 

[Acepilotf14]

That RPG cache took me half an hour to figure out. I thought that if I did the thing that worked in the end, it would kill me. I was afraid, but did it anyway.

 

[Jintor]

I got stuck on the bouyancy one in Route Kanel for ages. I still hadn't got a good grasp of Source physics by that point...

 

[nokori3byo]

Seemed like all you needed to do was to push all the buttons possible for these 2. Often times when people can't solve something, they go around pushing e.

The rpg weapon cache in ep2 was a good one.

Antlion holes + cars was pretty good.

All the otehr ones seem so obvious, were they to anyone else?

I thought the final task in the core puzzle was really clever. More than that though, it just felt neat to be in the actual puzzle.

As for comparing HL2's puzzles with POrtal's, I don't think it's really fair given that:
1. Portal is a puzzle game whereas HL2 is a shooter and, as such, not primarily based on puzzles.
2. Portal's gameplay all revolves around having a gun that shoots portals. Any time I got stuck at any point in the game, I would just say to myself, "Dude, you've got a gun that shoots f***ing portals. Use your head already"--and that would pretty much put me straight. If HL2 lacks puzzles of Portal's ingenuity, it's at least partly because every other game that isn't Portal does too.

 

[Narvi]

Comparing Portal to HL2 is foolish. HL2 isn't a puzzle game. Portal is.

HL2 is a shooter. Valve doesn't want to make all the puzzles super-challenging, because then nobody would finish the game.

 

[Uber Kitty]

Comparing Portal to HL2 is foolish. HL2 isn't a puzzle game. Portal is.

HL2 is a shooter. Valve doesn't want to make all the puzzles super-challenging, because then nobody would finish the game.

I never expected hl2 to have portal-esque puzzles, I have just noticed that people were regarding the puzzles in hl2 to be ingenious and that it made hl2 unique. Maybe it did, but to me, the puzzles never seemed to be a big part of hl2. They were a good rest from the action and they fit into the game.

I can't really explain what I mean, hopefully you guys understand. Am I expecting too much from the puzzles?

 

[yakuruto]

You may be expecting just a little too much from those puzzles.

I believe that what makes HL2 puzzles so special for many people is that they're presented in a context according with the current situation in the game. Quoting toaster-chan, they help create the "oh shit we have to get out of here ohshitohshit" urgency atmosphere by preventing the player from going on for a few minutes, and every second is important when you're being chased, want to rescue a friend from the enemy clutches or (insert here any other critical situation the game presents the player). Also, remember that you're on enemy ground, using alternative routes to get to your destination because the main roads are being patrolled or whatever, the point is that things aren't supposed to be easy for Freeman.

Yes, HL2 is not a puzzle game but, IMHO, the little puzzles present in it make it a little more "realistic"

 

[Jintor]

Yah, puzzles feel intuitive and natural within the gameworld. They don't feel like "Here, let's push crates around until you can progress in the story!"

 

[Druckles]

/me facepalms.

They were all good puzzles. Sure, they weren't impossible, and they weren't particularly hard, but then Valve don't want 10 year olds (who shouldn't be playing the game) and chavs (who shouldn't be alive) to wander around for hours confused. Having too hard a puzzle loses the gameplay. Half-Life isn't about puzzles, it's about shooting the crap out of things and it always has. Sure, the puzzles aren't hard, but they still make you think. And then you're slightly satisfied afterwards that you did it (trying to ignore the nagging feeling that you're not the only one.)

 

[Blackthorn]

Oh come on that seesaw puzzle is hardcore.

 

[Druckles]

It was definitely awesomely fun.

 

[Houndini]

lol it depends on the person

you know them see-saw puzzles where you need to put a brick on one side so it stays up, lol my friend just got the bricks and stacked them up and jumped on them to get to the other side.

 

[yakuruto]

Well, with some patience there must be some alternative ways to go on in some points, only that in the see-saw case using the bricks as counterweight is the most obvious way and I' m pretty sure that most of the players, myself included, do use the see-saw.

 

[Rrocketo]

1st boss in HL1. Destroying simple pieces of wood with grenades.

That WAS fun.

 

[cheesepie]

You can actually do the first ramp with a good crouch-jump instead, but I stack the bricks anyway.

 

[ríomhaire]

I really liked the plug puzzle in EP2 just before your first hunter battle. It's not hard. But the solution turns out to be different from what you originally thought, which I like. If only they'd have more puzzles like that, and on a larger scale.

 

[Druckles]

There are several. The Episode One core, with the orbs and the thing breaking... yeah, you know the one...

 

[yakuruto]

I've just realized that it was until you people mentioned puzzles that I began to think about some as them as actual puzzles. Like the one Druckles says, I just thought "well, that's the state of affairs right now, bummer... let's find a way to keep going"

I guess that's what I meant by "the puzzles are presented to the player in a context"

 

[Blackthorn]

I feel my sarcasm went unnoticed...Or was responded to with sarcasm which really does confuse things.

 

[Pinkle]

I've always loved the puzzles in the HL games. They're all fun. Some of them were actually hard for me to figure out, but I suck at games anyway, so yeah. haha.

And holy shit Druckles finally got banned lol

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

The tentacle puzzle in HL1 was awesome! There was also this one in one of the expansions where you had to connect a fuse with some barrels (although it made no sense...seeing how the fuse not only crossed but exploded the barrel, and the obvious plothole of why couldn't the ends of the fuses just be connected?)

 

[LandStander]

I actually enjoy some of the harder puzzles. I feel a greater sense of accomplishment from completing a difficult puzzle than I do from coming out on top in a standard firefight.

 

[Iron_cube]

I actually had to noclip outta the broken ep1 core engine on my first playthrough, I could've sworn the lift technically bugged

Until I've noticed the combine orb hallway in the ceiling on my second playthrough D:

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

I thought most of the Episode 1 puzzle were crap. Especially ones involving Stalkers...come on! I mean a unit that doesn't seem to know how to attack you but would hold keep you from making progress? The combine having a system of complicated energy orbs instead of a friggin button? And how about the rollermines with their super ragdoll creation? WTF!

 

[Houndini]

the stalkers were creepy lol, you press a button (or use them energy orbs) and then they come do there lazer crap and turn them of, like they dont have a personalilty.

 

[MattyDienhoff]

Would you have personality if you were a mindless slave with most of it's internal organs ripped out? >_>

 

[Houndini]

im guessing no

 

[Absinthe]

Personally I think really tough puzzles would seem out of place in Half-Life. The games are excellent at crafting a sense of urgency without resorting to using a timer; if you had to take time to solve a complicated puzzle, I think it'd really take away the feeling of "oh shit we have to get out of here ohshitohshit." Plus, the environments in HL don't lend themselves to having believably complicated puzzles; you're generally in spaces that have been abandoned and left in a state of disarray, not carefully crafted test chambers like in Portal.

This.

If you're looking for tough puzzles in Half-Life, you're playing the wrong game. The puzzles were meant to function as breaks in between the action. And I've never heard them lauded as "ingenious". They were just neat and fun.

 

[Herr Mike]

I liked the puzzles the first time through, but man they suck when you replay it.

 

[SeBBeN]

I only had trouble with one puzzle.
It was in episode one when you are in the hospital with alyx and you are about to jump down to another floor and the whole floor breaks wich causes you to fall into the basement wich is filled with water.
Then you have to turn the electricity on to open a locked door on the other side of the room.
But then all the water becomes electrified and there are barnacles everywhere...

It took me a couple of tries before i figured out how to get out of there..

EDIT: oh, and the puzzle in Episode two where you need to go up an elevator to open a doorway for the vortigaun

 

[Escaep]

Sometimes i sit there and think about "Why is this not working?????" Then. It clicks on me as to its simplicity, and i feel stupid. They are "Oh" moments.

 

[FrostXian]

Wait.
There were puzzles? The only problem I've ever had was getting lost a few times, specially in HL1, but I have no sense of direction.

 

[SeBBeN]

Wait.
There were puzzles? The only problem I've ever had was getting lost a few times, specially in HL1, but I have no sense of direction.

Lol, agreed.
Im playing HL1 for the first time right now and i seem to get lost all the time xD

 

[Returned3]

There was one in Ep 2, where I had to get the Vort down, Dam I couldnt find the dang gear.

 

[Druckles]

Wait.
There were puzzles? The only problem I've ever had was getting lost a few times, specially in HL1, but I have no sense of direction.

It's so frustrating watching my dad play a computer game for the annoying reason that he has no sense of direction. He'll turn around and start going to way he just came from with no clue as to what he's doing.

"No, you've been that way before"

"Oh, right, thanks..."

Repeat several times.