icemann on 13/12/2015 at 15:44
I didn't mind Zen at all really. It took all the gameplay of the past 3/4 of the game and flipped all of it on it's head in a completely alien landscape. Yep it's platforming heaven, but I dunno I didn't mind it.
But considering how much people disliked the BOTM bit's of SS2 for similar-ish reasons it makes complete sense.
It also explains why Valve didn't dare go alien dimension at all in the sequel. I hope we see a final game in the series someday, and that it's not just confined to Earth.
faetal on 13/12/2015 at 17:10
HL3 hasn't even been officially confirmed as a project in development.
Not sure why, since it would be guaranteed to outsell most PC games in existence I'd have thought.
henke on 13/12/2015 at 17:37
Quote Posted by faetal
HL3 [...] officially confirmed
OH MY GOD :eek:
heywood on 13/12/2015 at 19:29
I recall a fair bit of platforming in Half-Life before Xen. There was comparatively little in SS2, just a bit in the Rick and the internal organs. I actually thought BoTM was cool at first, but then I came to the giant teeth and it went downhill from there. The thing that saved SS2 was cyberspace. If the game had ended at the Many brain I would have been annoyed.
faetal on 13/12/2015 at 19:41
Well played Henke :)
eastgate2 on 13/12/2015 at 20:01
I don't know about 90's but it was for me exactly almost every game between 1997-2002, that I'd say "golden". Almost. Maybe it is personal, or some else forces were at work, after that I couldn't really get deeply involved in any game like I would between that 5 years peroid.
Must be personal thingy, since I kept yawning non-stop during half life 2 and why hl3 would outsell every pcgame out there, that's beyond me.
When S.I.N came out, I thought "Well, what a great game, finally, now everyone will shut about half life or quake".
Humanity should feel greatful that I don't run gaming reviews website.
EvaUnit02 on 13/12/2015 at 20:49
Quote Posted by icemann
I didn't mind Zen at all really. It took all the gameplay of the past 3/4 of the game and flipped all of it on it's head in a completely alien landscape. Yep it's platforming heaven, but I dunno I didn't mind it.
Yeah no. There's no defending Xen, (aside from art direction) it is absolute fucking shit.
* Wide-open areas with no cover to dodge hitscan instant lightning bolts.
* Long-jumping onto the teleporting stingrays. Sustaining fall damage when you land on said stingrays. Combine all of that with aforementioned lack of cover and hitscan lightning bolts.
* Features probably the worst boss fight (Nihilanth) in the history of gaming.
Why do Black Mesa is taking their sweet time developing their take on Xen? It would take a lot care to make it not suck.
faetal on 13/12/2015 at 22:43
Quote Posted by eastgate2
Humanity should feel greatful that I don't run gaming reviews website.
I can't speak for anyone else, but yeah - high five.
Nameless Voice on 13/12/2015 at 23:19
I personally also found HL1 much, much better than HL2.
HL2 had a lot of fancy things in it, but was overall less interesting than Half-Life was.
Yakoob on 14/12/2015 at 02:26
I think the issue you guys are having with platforming is that both of you are defining it differently. GMDX is NOT talking about just annoyingly jumping from platform to platform (aka Xen) like in a traditional 2D platformer or Mirror's Edge, but rather environmental / vertical navigation and manipulation .
HL does have a LOT of does, and in a much more organic way than SS2 or Doom's "vertical shooting advantage" or elevators. Stuff like climbing and going through vents, jump from table to table to disable an electrified water flooding the room, operating machines to move various platforms into place, the whole rail cart bit etc. I'm not sure if I am clear but those are more than just simple platforming.
As for platforming in SS2 - yea there wasn't much of it aside from what I said above, and BOTM jumping puzzles sucked.
Quote Posted by eastgate2
I don't know about 90's but it was for me exactly almost every game between 1997-2002, that I'd say "golden". Almost. Maybe it is personal, or some else forces were at work, after that I couldn't really get deeply involved in any game like I would between that 5 years peroid.
There was this short brilliant webcomic once I can't find that basically said the best period of any medium is exactly when you are 12. It's when the world feels most magical to us and why we remember it oh so fondly. I think there's some truth to that (not that you can't be objective, but it is damn hard to with inherently subjective topics like these).
