Black Mesa is great! But it could be perfect with some changes

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#21

I too had forgotten how to navigate the Residue Processing conveyor belts and kept going in circles.
The conveyor with the mines needs to be a bit more obvious that it’s the right way, because when I see it mined, it just make me go “nope, not going there”.

Same for the melted vent cover at the beginning, I didn’t even see it till I had cleared the area and went downstairs to the locked doors.
Especially since I got distracted with the headcrabs appearing and guard running into the barnacle.
It really needs to be made more obvious, like it getting melted with bright lights from the flames, dynamic shadows, dripping red hot metal, appropriate sounds, etc.

#22

I tried being quiet and kept getting killed (even if I was just standing there motionless in a doorway), so instead I just ran and never suffered a scratch. Seems off. The guard should have said “Just run, you’ll be fne.”

Also, has anyone else gotten the impression that they just bang away ceaselessly? I seem to recall from HL that they would sort of chill out if nothing was going on, but maybe I’m wrong.

#23

Yeah their behavior is different from Half-Life. In Black Mesa, they act a bit smarter. If you distract them with a grenade, one or two of the tentacles will go after it while the other stays behind. Because of this, it works better when you throw multiple grenades all over the place.

And if they bang away and find nothing, it almost seems as if they realized they’ve been tricked, and they’ll start banging all over the place to search for you. So you’ll have to end up distracting them again.

In Half-Life, they stopped banging for a while if they didn’t find anything, presumably to listen for new sounds.

#24

  1. I didn’t find many, sure HL crashed a few times but I find the source engine does that on my PC (had same issues with HL2, EP1 and EP2). [COLOR=‘DarkRed’]Not an issue.

  2. I didn’t find them that hard, challenging sometimes sure but not impossible. [COLOR=‘DarkRed’]Not an issue.

  3. It was required at times but not everytime. Challenging enough but not over done. [COLOR=‘DarkRed’]Not an issue.

  4. They felt easier than HL but I remember them being near impossible. I don’t mind that it only takes a few shots from one of the most powereful weapons to kill them. [COLOR=‘DarkRed’]Not an issue.

  5. They seemed far more responsive that in the original. They responded to grenades like they were meant to. [COLOR=‘DarkRed’]Not an issue.

So in summary, [COLOR=‘DarkRed’]Not an issue.

#25

Hmm no, that is a production / level design decision by the authors; what I’m talking about is NOT dumbing down gameplay because “crouch jumping is extremely difficult”, which I find laughable really

#26

In HL1 the tentacles would indeed stop banging after a while, but they’d still occasionally tap on the platform, presumably feeling around for new prey. It lent the area some great ambience.

#27

I had no problem just crouched and moved slow and got by fine… that is till I started breaking the doors open… used grenades after that.

#28

  1. The most prominent bugs for me were crashes, of which I’ve had around 7 or 8 now, spread over 2 playthroughs.

  2. I completely disagree. I completed it on Hard without any real difficulty, and I’m not a very good FPS player at all. If you’re finding them difficult, tone down the difficulty level in the options menu. HECU fights in Black Mesa are fantastic, and I really, really hope they’re not tampered with.

  3. I agree that perhaps the ordinary jump should have some uses, but I don’t want to see it increased so much that you can bounce around like you’re on a fucking pogo stick. The player should not be able normal-jump onto crates and upright barrels. Maybe a few smaller pipes and some of the lower tripwires and tripmines, but crouch-jump should definitely remain the “main” jump, when trying to solve jumping puzzles.

  4. Completely agreed. I think a large HP buff and a slight alteration of their damage would be perfect.

  5. Agreed on this too. This boss fight doesn’t play out like it did in the original HL at all. You sort of lob some explosives and then leg it hoping you’re fast enough. I don’t actually mind this as it’s not really very difficult at all, but it’d be nice if you actually had the option to sneak past it again.

#29

For those who say the soldiers on hard aren’t that difficult, what was your strategy? Were you cheesin it up by edging, etc?

Anyway, the soldiers are not fine. I don’t care if you beat it on hard like a pro, because that isn’t the point. The AI shouldn’t be immediately spotting you while simultaneously deploying their aimbot. There are also parts where they seem to just magically know where you are.

As for jumping, either make regular jumps higher, or make crouch jumping as the default jump. Normal jumps as it is are completely useless. I ended up just using a script to cj, so I didn’t have to deal with it all game.

The tentacles are alright, you just have to sprint between grenade explosions. Of course, the game tells you to be quiet and sneak past it, and no one is thinking that sprinting is a part of being quiet and sneaky.

#30

I dunno, but I managed to get past the Dam fight using nothing but the MP5 and some cover.

It’s also possible to ninja your way past a whole bunch of the grunts at the Rocket Launch area.

#31

Sorry but what part was that exactly? The melted vent cover? I can’t recall that.

#32

You say this like it’s you who decides on how valid these statements are based on your personal experience. I can tell you most people on this forum would disagree with you on many of those points. I disagree on every single one, as do many others including the OP.

#33

I’d just like to point out that, in my opinion Gordon drowns too slowly.
Though we use up our air in the right amount of time, but the just -2hp / second penalty is too slow I think. It’s safe to set it to -5hp / sec as it was in Half-Life.

#34

On the issue of drowning, the blue flashing is way too opaque, you can’t see anything while drowning. It’s very annoying, even TB mentioned it on his stream.

#35

I managed to do the tentacles okay going down, but going up was another story, almost killed me :frowning:

20:10 - 20:55 Blast Pit

but all in all it was ok

#36

Only happened to me once, but in Office Complex, if you kill someone they fall through the floor.

#37

i’ve had some random things with guards where they will randomly explode,like they were fed a grenade

#38

Using cover intelligently, side-stepping when caught in the open and crossbowing/shotgunning/magnuming depending on the distance. MP5 at long range and once you get the gauss gun things really become easy. Also clever used of grenades/trip mines/satchels helps.

Yes they are. Just because you don’t know how to avoid their fire doesn’t mean they’re “aimbotting.” Their reaction time and damage is fine - they shot at you instantly in Half-Life too, you know? On Easy and Normal they are very much managable by even the worst FPS players. I’d like Hard to remain Hard, thank you. Nerfing the HECU because a very tiny proportion of people can’t blitz their way through the game with 100/100 health in the first week of release would be ridiculous. If you’re finding the fights too tough, you’re simply not good enough for that difficulty level. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the difficulty - if anything, it’s too easy due to the Xenians being such push overs.

#39

I also noticed the soldiers are difficult but I like it that way. Come on, with all these “new generation” games, where arrows point the direction you go or you have an AI ally that leads the way, HL 1 was a game that gave you no clues because games were harder and not child’s play 14 years ago. I’m quite happy that things stay the same in Black Mesa. Do you remember Combine soldiers who do ridiculous damage while having a bad aim even compared to Stormtroopers in Star Wars? That was easier but not fun at all. Let them stay the same, if you die a lot, just switch to Easy and let people have their challenge please.

Tentacles on the other hand is something else. They are harder than their original versions, they are distracted only momentarily plus they won’t stop banging on the platforms, which mean they will eventually hit you accidentally then crush you. Of course they are passable, otherwise it’d be impossible to progress, but they are harder that’s clear. I still like them.

Garg (big blue monster) is another story, it seemed quite easy to me, of course you will get evaporated instantly if you have a head to head confrontation with the monster, but I don’t know, it’s not as scary as it is used to be.

#40

You know it’s generally a bit difficult to do anything while drowning.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.