ZylonBane on 20/9/2012 at 16:33
I was reading some threads over at the Black Mesa forums regarding all the missing areas and scripted sequences. Apparently most of the omissions weren't by choice-- Seems they had a consistent problem with mappers dropping out of the project. That certainly explains weird compressions like the bit where the Marines shoot your vent full of holes now dropping you directly in front of the Gargantua that leads into Forget About Freeman.
Perhaps the buzz from this mostly-successful release will help them recruit the high-end talent they need to properly finish this.
Vivian on 20/9/2012 at 19:37
The fact they just locked the thread discussing 'missing' bits is a bid dodgy though. I just replayed HL to clear the fug of nostalgia from my mind, and I have got to say that BMS is about 80% incredible. The extensions, rethinks and improvements they made on the original are seriously impressive. The only thing that really brings it down is HECU being just the wrong side of fun to fight (I would say nerf the accuracy and lose a few hitpoints, but its the kind of thing people will work out how to tweak) and the lack of a decent segue between Surface Tension and Forget About Freeman, which is a glaring omission both because there were some brilliant bits in it and because it gave you a firsthand view of how much things were going against HECU, which makes them pulling out make a lot more sense. Also, it gives you something to do with the snarks. In retrospect, I can live with On a Rail being shortened, it doesn't make all that much difference.
It does make sense about mappers pulling out though. There is some weird inconsistencies in the later sections that you could imagine are the result of having to patch up someone elses work. I do hope they actually try and respond to criticism rather than (justifiably) just washing their hands of the whole thing. If not, I guess a community fix is inevitable.
henke on 20/9/2012 at 21:06
Thanks for the Half Life Anthology Al_B. :D
Oh God, I'm all half-lifed out after BM though, have a feeling I might be stuck with this title for a while. But Opposing Force and Blue Shift look interesting, I'll give them a go sometime soon.
Volitions Advocate on 21/9/2012 at 07:52
If you move onto opposing force, remember it isn't really canon. They (gearbox) introduced an entirely separate race of aliens just to "put in the type of game play they wanted" without messing with valves vision. Blue shift is a bit closer to HL, but both are still good to play.
Vae on 21/9/2012 at 07:55
Quote Posted by henke
Thanks for the Half Life Anthology Al_B. :D
That was nice of him...:)
I'm almost done with BM...then I'll comment...;)
Malleus on 21/9/2012 at 20:07
Just finished it. That final fight while the portal to Xen was opening was about a hundred times harden than in the original, which I just checked on youtube. Watching that also reminded me that I really missed the familiar HL soundscape throughout the mod. This and the overpowered Soldiers and Helicopter are my only complaints (and the missing parts of course, but I can't fault them for it if mappers were dropping in and out of the project). I started on Hard (I'm tough like that, plus I finished the original on Hard), but had to switch back to Normal quite early. Otherwise it just blew my mind. It was awesome to revisit familiar areas with better graphics and fidelity and everything. The additions by the team (extra lines by characters, etc) were great too. I'm curious what they'll do with Xen. MOTY so far (though haven't checked out any other mod this year, but I was really impressed with this).
ZylonBane on 21/9/2012 at 21:17
What? The final Xen portal fight was a pushover on Normal. In the original you have to worry about the scientist getting killed, but in the BMS version he's apparently safe in an armored cage. That leaves you free to hide in a safe corner somewhere and snipe with relative impunity.
Malleus on 21/9/2012 at 21:39
Yeah, but in the original you only have those flying things, but in BM there are also vortigaunts, houndeyes and even some alien grunts in the final wave. I died about five times before getting it done... :erm:
By the way, I wonder how they'll handle the transition to Xen. Will it be a separate episode and you get a standard equipment at the start, or you'll have to redo the final part of Lambda Core to carry with you what you have? Or did it make an autosave at the final moment?
ZylonBane on 21/9/2012 at 22:09
Quote Posted by Malleus
Yeah, but in the original you only have those flying things, but in BM there are also vortigaunts, houndeyes and even some alien grunts in the final wave.
...none of which are much of a problem if you're above the ground floor. IIRC the grunts only appear after the portal opens, so you don't even have to fight them.
Too Much Coffee on 23/9/2012 at 15:53
Been playing this for over a week. I forgot how long Half-life was. It really makes it an obvious bummer that singleplayer shooter games are not anywhere near as long as this anymore.
Kudos to the BM team. I have dogged them alot in recent years for taking so long and really did think this was just another vapor mod. But they really did an excellent job. The sounds and voiceovers are especially impressive and professionally done. I almost wish they spent all this time using this talent to make an entirely new game mod though. BM is a fun nostalgic game, but after awhile the "been there done that" still dominates, no matter how better the graphics look.
