What could have been done better?

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Max35

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So, what is your opinion on what could have been done better in Ep1? Graphics? AI? Gameplay? Don't be afraid to get specific.
 
The escort scene and I think Alyx should tell you to hurry up if you wait around for a few minutes. That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
 
Okay, this may seem somewhat harsh and make it look like I don't appreciate Ep1. That is not true. However, it is my style, so when I write posts criticizing some aspects of a game, they tend to sound somewhat harsh.

First, AI in Exit 17. As I said in the other thread, the AI there has faults incompatible with Valve quality, and I am baffled as to how they could be missed in playtesting. In case the fault isn't obvious, it's that the citizen AI is not quite intent on following you, nor on escaping. It acts much like the standard rebel AI. When you're escorting citizens through the courtyard, if you run into that shack, the citizens will stay outside fighting the soldiers and may - only may - come to you while returning fire. I've also seen them just get stuck there fighting.

This is totally unacceptable. The citizens should be concerned with nothing except getting the hell out of there. Fighting should have been a secondary goal. This would also give the player more choices. If you want to run quickly through the courtyard and into the shack, the citizens should damn well follow while laying down some fire on the move. Not try to take cover and fight the soldiers. Of course, if you want to sit there and fight, so should they.

This particular thing, I think, sticks out like a sore thumb in Ep1, which I was overall blown away. Oh well.

The damage to City17 could have been shown better. I think that the city was, overall, at just about the right level of destruction, and I liked the little touches, such as windows without glass but boarded up. However, they could have placed, as Samon suggested, a dead Strider embedded into a building or a bunch of other things. Half of a gunship sticking out of a crater in a street.

The dialogue in the game, while fun, didn't cut it in a couple of places. The exchanges, if you can call them that, between Gordon and Alyx were good. But in Urban Flight, the sequences were not so good. The rebels you met were thinking about evacuation, yes, but there wasn't enough panic. They didn't seem to be aware of the fact that the Citadel can blow any moment, vaporizing the city - made even more noticeable by the fact that they (the rebels) had a TV with Kleiner stating this very fact on. I say that having rebels was good for gameplay reasons, but the dialogue there could have been done somewhat better.

One miss that Valve acknowledge in their comments is with Alyx giving hints. The player isn't "trained" to use this function, where pressing E on Alyx can have her give you a hint / remind you as to what you're supposed to do in numerous puzzle situations.

Vortigaunts. They could've shown them. Yes I know they were in the opening. But City17 also had a number of Vorts that, one should assume, can get vaporized just like humans. As such, they should also evacuate. However, you see no trace of Vortigaunts getting out of the city. There are no dead Vortigaunt bodies in the streets, and there's no Vortigaunt boarding the trains, either. A little detail somewhere to show that the Vorts were also going through this would've been good.

I must say, I absolutely can't imagine a single complain against the first two-thirds of the game (from the start until you emerge back into the city). It's too good.
 
The last Vort you see in HL2 is a dead one in Nova Prospekt. I think perhaps intentionally left out Vorts in the city sections of HL2 and EP1.
 
Solver raised most of my points.

Most of my complaints are lodged against the City sections, because I simply don't feel as though they have been executed with as much care, precision and thought as the Citadel chapters. There simply isn't enough emphasis on evacuation, the dialogue exchanges are fairly mediocre and the cooperative gameplay bogs down the pace in what I believe should be a hectic final two chapters.
 
I wonder if Vorts can still port-jump like in HL, or if that was a Nihilith thing.

All other main complaints have been lodged.
 
Pretty sure they can teleport, if that's what you mean... obviously they can get in and out of G-Man's storage area, which may be a special case, but they also get Alyx out of the Citadel explosion, which (afaik) is not G-Man territory.
 
G-Man owns all fool. And, I think They should've added a new gun... I mean come on, same old guns are starting to get boring. Or maybe Alyx gives you a scope attachment for the pistol in the middle of the game... SOMETHING!
 
I'm pleased there were no new weapons. It simply wasn't needed.
 
Solver said:
Okay, this may seem somewhat harsh and make it look like I don't appreciate Ep1. That is not true. However, it is my style, so when I write posts criticizing some aspects of a game, they tend to sound somewhat harsh.

First, AI in Exit 17. As I said in the other thread, the AI there has faults incompatible with Valve quality, and I am baffled as to how they could be missed in playtesting. In case the fault isn't obvious, it's that the citizen AI is not quite intent on following you, nor on escaping. It acts much like the standard rebel AI. When you're escorting citizens through the courtyard, if you run into that shack, the citizens will stay outside fighting the soldiers and may - only may - come to you while returning fire. I've also seen them just get stuck there fighting.

This is totally unacceptable. The citizens should be concerned with nothing except getting the hell out of there. Fighting should have been a secondary goal. This would also give the player more choices. If you want to run quickly through the courtyard and into the shack, the citizens should damn well follow while laying down some fire on the move. Not try to take cover and fight the soldiers. Of course, if you want to sit there and fight, so should they.

This particular thing, I think, sticks out like a sore thumb in Ep1, which I was overall blown away. Oh well.

The damage to City17 could have been shown better. I think that the city was, overall, at just about the right level of destruction, and I liked the little touches, such as windows without glass but boarded up. However, they could have placed, as Samon suggested, a dead Strider embedded into a building or a bunch of other things. Half of a gunship sticking out of a crater in a street.

The dialogue in the game, while fun, didn't cut it in a couple of places. The exchanges, if you can call them that, between Gordon and Alyx were good. But in Urban Flight, the sequences were not so good. The rebels you met were thinking about evacuation, yes, but there wasn't enough panic. They didn't seem to be aware of the fact that the Citadel can blow any moment, vaporizing the city - made even more noticeable by the fact that they (the rebels) had a TV with Kleiner stating this very fact on. I say that having rebels was good for gameplay reasons, but the dialogue there could have been done somewhat better.

One miss that Valve acknowledge in their comments is with Alyx giving hints. The player isn't "trained" to use this function, where pressing E on Alyx can have her give you a hint / remind you as to what you're supposed to do in numerous puzzle situations.

Vortigaunts. They could've shown them. Yes I know they were in the opening. But City17 also had a number of Vorts that, one should assume, can get vaporized just like humans. As such, they should also evacuate. However, you see no trace of Vortigaunts getting out of the city. There are no dead Vortigaunt bodies in the streets, and there's no Vortigaunt boarding the trains, either. A little detail somewhere to show that the Vorts were also going through this would've been good.

I must say, I absolutely can't imagine a single complain against the first two-thirds of the game (from the start until you emerge back into the city). It's too good.
Click to expand...

Your my new god. *bows before Solver and worships him :angel:
 
Well, that was a rather quick shift in the balance of power...
 
I think that the vorts teleported out after they teleported alyx from the explosion, cause after that, i saw no more vorts -.-, and i like those vorts shooting thier laser things outa there hands -_-


also I think you get a new vehicle in ep2, maybe a new weapons to :D

i know what would be cool, they change the grenades in the smg, to like electrical nades so they like "fry" the striders or hunters :D :D :D
 
Episode 1 had a planned new weapon, Black Hole Grenades, but it was dropped and the concept was put into Portal instead.
 
Acepilotf14 said:
G-Man owns all fool. And, I think They should've added a new gun... I mean come on, same old guns are starting to get boring. Or maybe Alyx gives you a scope attachment for the pistol in the middle of the game... SOMETHING!
Click to expand...

The weapons wont change because we have seen every branch of the Combine Overwatch in City 17 and hence seen all the weaponry they have, so for them to just all of a sudden have a new weapon to use against you would have been inaccurate, same as Alyx all of a sudden having a new scope upgrade for your pistle, hmm she has it all this time and decides to give it you AFTER the Battle of City 17. As samon said, it simply was not needed.

Basically what solver said, they really could have beefed the ruined City 17 a lot, like Combine soliders and rebels dotted around the streets, an APC with smoke billowing out of it smashed through a wall, blood on the floor. Just show a sense that this was one ****ing furious battle.
 
Rabarber said:
Episode 1 had a planned new weapon, Black Hole Grenades, but it was dropped and the concept was put into Portal instead.
Click to expand...
It's called the hopwire and it's available in via the console.

hopwire_vortex 1
give weapon_hopwire

Fun little gadget.
 
What confuses me about black hole grenades -> Portal is that Portal is a puzzle game, not a FPS. The ASHPD is the only weapon you have, from everything we've seen/heard so far, ever, and the only actual damage-dealing objects are the guns on the turrets and the energy balls. Grenades totally do not fit into any of that at all.
Unless they're in multiplayer or something... but that still doesn't make sense, because with actual weapons available there's no incentive to use the portal gun.

Fun little gadget.
Click to expand...
Except when you toss it, and Alyx runs in front of you, and you lose...
 
Not really. It spawns a million ragdoll clones of her and drags them in.

Trust me, I've tried.
 
I think the last fight with the strider could have been handled a lot better. The only realy surprise in that whole fight was that it could shove around a few containers, only one of which posed an actual threat. There just wasn't enough drama in the last fight. Maybe if there were 2 striders or a strider and a gunship. Or maybe if you actually had to fight off incoming gunships while the train was in motion. Don't get me wrong, the citadel 'splosion was a great ending, but you're a captive audience at that point. I just wish the fight prior would have been more dramatic or fresh than just a strider battle with 1 new trick.
 
Mahalis said:
Really? I always get the black "Alyx Died" screen.
Click to expand...

Come to think of it, I havn't tried it during *combat*. Generally because I don't look where it is and end up getting sucked into it myself.

I tried it on the cliffs at the beginning, because of a glitch. Well, not a glitch. I had notarget on and that stopped me activating something or other, so Alyx was stuck - so I tried to make her move by spawning Combine, whatever. I think she's invincible for that part of t3h game.
 
Mahalis said:
What confuses me about black hole grenades -> Portal is that Portal is a puzzle game, not a FPS. The ASHPD is the only weapon you have, from everything we've seen/heard so far, ever, and the only actual damage-dealing objects are the guns on the turrets and the energy balls. Grenades totally do not fit into any of that at all.
Unless they're in multiplayer or something... but that still doesn't make sense, because with actual weapons available there's no incentive to use the portal gun.


Except when you toss it, and Alyx runs in front of you, and you lose...
Click to expand...
impusle 203
 
Rabarber said:
Episode 1 had a planned new weapon, Black Hole Grenades, but it was dropped and the concept was put into Portal instead.
Click to expand...

As a matter of fact, the BlackHole Gun was originally conceived in pre-alpha HL :O
 
Hopwire - Wannabe SLAM.

Blackhole - Looks like hopwire, pulls people in.

Now, it was way too powerful for the game. Some smart Valve guy saw them, was reminded of Narbacular Drop, and there we go.
 
Rabarber said:
Hopwire - Wannabe SLAM.

Blackhole - Looks like hopwire, pulls people in.

Now, it was way too powerful for the game. Some smart Valve guy saw them, was reminded of Narbacular Drop, and there we go.
Click to expand...

What?

Some Valve guy saw what, exactly? Black hole grenades? Which for some reason reminded him of Narbacular Drop, which reminded him of Portal, which made him decide to put black hole grenades in Portal?

I have no idea what you're trying to say here.
 
Rabarber said:
Hopwire - Wannabe SLAM.

Blackhole - Looks like hopwire, pulls people in.

Now, it was way too powerful for the game. Some smart Valve guy saw them, was reminded of Narbacular Drop, and there we go.
Click to expand...

Actaully your wrong. Valve saw Narbacular Drop at a conference and hired the team on the spot after showing it to Gabe. The portal team has confirmed this. Valve has confirmed this. Your source is wrong. Tell him/her he/she sucks and he/she is wrong. (Plus, the black hole grenade has nothing to do with portal.)
 
Atomic_Piggy said:
Actaully your wrong. Valve saw Narbacular Drop at a conference and hired the team on the spot after showing it to Gabe. The portal team has confirmed this. Valve has confirmed this. Your source is wrong. Tell him/her he/she sucks and he/she is wrong. (Plus, the black hole grenade has nothing to do with portal.)
Click to expand...

Yeah, my source sucks. :E
 
Posting on topic (is that allowed here?), I'd like to say I didn't dislike the escort mission as much as some people, but it needed more intensity. And by "intensity" I mean "oh crap, we're gonna die!" I wanted to feel outgunned and desperate like I did the first time I played the Water Hazard chopper chase (which I always thought could have been a bit longer, it was the best part of the chapter); instead it was 'bang, kill some combines, blow some crap up, done'.

Oh, and the non-Alyx AI is still like herding cats. I really hope they seriously overhaul the AI, especially for the other 'special' characters. Barney was fighting aliens when Alyx was figuring out how to use a fork.
 
And yet he still likes to charge blindly into landmines.
 
Xendance said:
I reckon all of it was absolutly brilliant.
Click to expand...

That's a little over the top, wouldn't you say. I loved the intro, but not ALL of it was brilliant. The last chapter especially needed to be re-designed, IMO.

The Citadel explosion at the end was great, though.
 
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