Half-Life: 25th anniversary documentary + game update + developer commentary playthrough

[Valestein]

What about making HL3 instead

You already know it's never gonna happen.

The way current year Valve focused on monetization and skinner box game design, perhaps that's for the best. Alyx already had you collect an in-game currency to buy weapon upgrades instead of just finding cool shit. And copy pasted minigames instead of one-off puzzles. The Valve of today is not the one that made HL2 and definitely not the one that made HL1.

But it's also only a matter of time until Gabe and the rest of the old guard checks out and someone less scrupulous gets a chance at milking the HL name (and Steam for that matter).

That being said, hail Half-Life and Opposing Force!

Poor Blue Shift, the unloved stepchild of the HL1 trilogy.

That would be Decay of the Quadrilogy.

 

[NecroLord]

What the heck happened to the rest of Gabe?!! Ozempic?

His metamorphosis into Jabba the Hutt is nearly complete.
Anyway, something to go with the thread:

 

[SlamDunk]

His metamorphosis into Jabba the Hutt is nearly complete.

 

[octavius]

He looked more like a Hut before he got a beard.

 

[Gandalf]

Tested a 32/32 HLDM roday. How can people enjoy that?

 

[SlamDunk]

Tested a 32/32 HLDM roday. How can people enjoy that?

Warning: L O U D



Man... those were some good times.

 

[Gandalf]

Tested a 32/32 HLDM roday. How can people enjoy that?

Warning: L O U D



Man... those were some good times.

Yeah, just wasted another hour on this. Was 5 when scoreboard showed up. Not bad...

 

[Valestein]

OP4 DM was better.

 

[Infinitron]

On this 25th anniversary celebration, we go back to reveal the man who started it all: the great cyber-lumberjack himself, Ivan the Space Biker.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Wonder if it was influenced by Captain Green from a soviet sci-fi cartoon.

 

[jebsmoker]

valve backported func_vehicle to half life

func_vehicle uber alles

 

[DemonKing]

They're waiting for you Gordon. In the test chamber.

https://www.ign.com/articles/25-years-on-half-life-still-feels-like-its-from-the-future

This game really was lightning in a bottle. It just stood out completely ahead of everything else out there. I remember playing it early into the morning on release day - impossible to put down.

Too bad they fluffed the landing at the end, but the rest of the game was so good they got a hall pass for that.

 

[Lyric Suite]

In before they put niggers and troons everywhere.

 

[NecroLord]

They're waiting for you Gordon. In the test chamber.

https://www.ign.com/articles/25-years-on-half-life-still-feels-like-its-from-the-future

This game really was lightning in a bottle. It just stood out completely ahead of everything else out there. I remember playing it early into the morning on release day - impossible to put down.

Too bad they fluffed the landing at the end, but the rest of the game was so good they got a hall pass for that.

That goddamn level on Xen where you have to jump across those pillars...
NOT fun.

 

[otsego]

Dario Casali (of Doom - Plutonia fame) put out his own playthrough of Half-Life for the 25 anniversary. He went from Doom modder to Valve level designer on Half-Life 1 and 2. Very insightful, although frustrating when he fucks up so bad on maps that we presumably know all too well over the years :D

 

[ds]

Btw on https://www.half-life.com/en/halflife25 you can click on the crowbar at the bottom of the page to equip it and then attack things. Neat detail.

Also they managed to break Blue Shift with this update lol.

Poor Blue Shift, the unloved stepchild of the HL1 trilogy.

It seems Blue Shift is loved enough for Valve to have fixed it in yesterday's patch if not enough for them to try launching it at least once before releasing the anniversary update. No such luck for CS so far - must be even less loved than BS, who would have thought.

Too bad they fluffed the landing at the end, but the rest of the game was so good they got a hall pass for that.

That goddamn level on Xen where you have to jump across those pillars...
NOT fun.

I love the atmosphere in Xen though - everything feels alien, you get to fight a couple of big boys without conveniently placed stationary guns, and eventually the Vortigaunt bros chill out and stop trying to fry you while the the big baby can't do anything except send you telepathic threats as you close in.
Jumping puzzles might not be the best gameplay but having some kind of break in the action is fitting and its all short enough that it doesn't get too annoying.

 

[Tehdagah]

Tested a 32/32 HLDM roday. How can people enjoy that?

Warning: L O U D



Man... those were some good times.

Half-Life multiplayer is so underrated. Much better than the boring singleplayer.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I love the atmosphere in Xen though - everything feels alien, you get to fight a couple of big boys without conveniently placed stationary guns, and eventually the Vortigaunt bros chill out and stop trying to fry you while the the big baby can't do anything except send you telepathic threats as you close in.
Jumping puzzles might not be the best gameplay but having some kind of break in the action is fitting and its all short enough that it doesn't get too annoying.

The game has a lot of platforming before then. Remember the factory with those conveyor belts? Remember all the crawling through the vents? Some people seem to have conveniently forgotten about that.

The jumping puzzles in Xen are wierd because everything is supposed to feel alien and that includes the platforming. I'm convinced this is a case of the devs being smarter than the players here. They were trying to make that place feel truly "other" and a lot of people didn't get it.

Compare Xen to the boring as shit Citadel in Half Life 2. Xen is by FAR the more interesting place.

 

[NecroLord]

I love the atmosphere in Xen though - everything feels alien, you get to fight a couple of big boys without conveniently placed stationary guns, and eventually the Vortigaunt bros chill out and stop trying to fry you while the the big baby can't do anything except send you telepathic threats as you close in.
Jumping puzzles might not be the best gameplay but having some kind of break in the action is fitting and its all short enough that it doesn't get too annoying.

The game has a lot of platforming before then. Remember the factory with those conveyor belts? Remember all the crawling through the vents? The game already had a ton of platforming before Xen, but some people seem to have conveniently forgotten about that.

The jumping puzzles in Xen are wierd because everything is supposed to feel alien and that includes the platforming. I'm convinced this is a case of the devs being smarter than the players here. They were trying to make that place feel truly "other" and a lot of people didn't get it.

Compare Xen to the boring as shit Citadel in Half Life 2. Xen is by FAR the more interesting place.

Yeah, Xen is more interesting.
The Citadel is shorter and has more scripted scenes. It's only a major piece of lore on the Combine and the endgame event that takes place there.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Tested a 32/32 HLDM roday. How can people enjoy that?

Warning: L O U D



Man... those were some good times.

Especially with the large selection of fun maps and mods. I still remember some crazy killbox + rocket crowbar lan matches, followed by a few rounds of vampire hunter, the specialist and good old cs 1.6. Normal dm was also great.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Dario Casali (of Doom - Plutonia fame) put out his own playthrough of Half-Life for the 25 anniversary. He went from Doom modder to Valve level designer on Half-Life 1 and 2. Very insightful, although frustrating when he fucks up so bad on maps that we presumably know all too well over the years :D

Watching it. Fun fact: they considered naming their game "Fallout" or "Crysis" among other things.

 

[NecroLord]

"Core Breach"...
Maybe that could've worked.

 

[SlamDunk]

Dario Casali (of Doom - Plutonia fame) put out his own playthrough of Half-Life for the 25 anniversary. He went from Doom modder to Valve level designer on Half-Life 1 and 2. Very insightful, although frustrating when he fucks up so bad on maps that we presumably know all too well over the years :D

Added to first post.

EDIT:

Young gentleman who was not even born when Half-Life was released played through the game and saw the light.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

"Core Breach"...
Maybe that could've worked.

"Trash" also could have worked

Nah, I kid, I kid...

 

[NecroLord]

Why, yes, I am Gordon Freeman, how can you tell?