I wonder, is there a project that restores cut Xen island from the resonance cascade? Removing it was not necessary, and maybe someone could restore it.
Knock yourself out. It wasn’t cut, it just wasn’t included. They wanted to keep Xen a secret.
Pretty much what Flatline said; the reason it’s not there right now was so to not reveal BM’s design for Xen just yet.
I’m pretty sure they’ll have it in the final release. Heck, they might have already done it. So really, right now, there’s no point in adding the section back in ourselves.
Also, I don’t think that cut-scene is THAT important anyways. In fact, I find that this scene spoil pretty much your idea of Xen in the original. It’s better without it.
The real question is, if they’re going to revamp the infamous scene with the full release?
- I know, I know: We shall see.
I hope they add it but they do all they can to obscure it. To start with, you shouldn’t be able to move. And maybe you should have a filter similar to that when you teleport in Half-Life 2, to obscure your view a little. The idea should be to catch a glimpse of Xen, to have something to look forward to. The first time to see and walk around Xen proper should be at the end of the game.
Wonder if the final release with Xen will update that sequence between AM and UC.
I am not so sure if that year old statement still stands, afteralll a lot has happened since.
Until they give an official statement to the contrary, it’s the best we have to go on. Let’s not make baseless speculations, and just let the Devs do their jobs.
Isn’t that room in Questionable Ethics enough? It’s a fair indicator of the overall Xen art direction.
IIRC Stormseeker said that the terrarium in QE was designed to be a human facsimile of Xen, and that we should expect something a bit different in the Xen chapters.
Yepyep, the one is QE is only a simulation.
Also, the quotes specifically mention “after the resonance cascade,” as opposed to “in QE.”
Raminator, while he did an awesome job on Black Mesa, isn’t officially attached to the project anymore. It’s possible that something has changed in the meanwhile and I don’t want to speculate, hence my post.
I hope they bring it back. I thought the Xen flashes made the Resonance Cascade memorable since it was trippy as fuck and really made the point of how screwed the Earth is going to be. It establishes the threat and the stakes, and looked really cool to boot.
I would intensely advocate adding that bit back into the final version.
I actually thought the vortigaunts appearing in the dark foreshadowed the dangers to come better.
In fact, I wish they didn’t walk toward you in BM.
I loved how in HL1 it’s like you open your eyes and the vorts are just there, staring blankly at you, it was more “oh shit” then BM’s version where it looked like they were teleporting you back.