Disappointed by "Surface Tension".

Hell-met · August 11, 2020, 9:37am

I think this part would have been a good tentacle spot in ST

Lemonz_amp_amp_orang · November 25, 2018, 2:37am

i still think the old ST was much more memorable, it would be funny to see that tentacle get pwnt by all the mines

Hell-met · November 25, 2018, 2:37am

tentacles can’t die to conventional weaponry, if anything it would accidently blow them up as you pass

Ibanez · November 25, 2018, 2:37am

Am I the only one who methodically shot the ground in HL1 with the glock to explode the invisible mines?

lucifer579 · November 25, 2018, 2:37am

I don’t understand how some people seems to be having problems with the trip mine room. I seriously didnt even consider that room. I went on jumping and ended up at a lift where a box was located. I accidently blew the room up when I pressed the control for the lift the first time. But then I just turned the lift on and sprinted to crush the box with the crowbar and the section was done. Easy as fuck

Crouch jumping is essential.

Ronster · November 25, 2018, 2:37am

It took me ages to get through that place… But I figued out that if you look directly down and have the laser just off screen at the top that was about the right distance to do a crouch jump and clear it every time…

This really does work and don’t forget to quicksave

karotiv · November 25, 2018, 2:37am

this.
it gets me angrey how some ppl can suck so hard o fps like this.
i did on hard whit no qsaves (i hate that) i only do autosaves and my first run was on hard like 7~ hours.
speed runs first was 3h+
best speed run so far 2:33h

MusicallyInspired · November 25, 2018, 2:38am

I was a little disappointed with the shortened Surface Tension. But I can see how most of those areas towards the end would be a little bit nonsensical to remake. But then, they could have been re-envisioned or expanded, but understandable that it was because a team member left. I guess nobody else could pick up on it?

What I DID like about it was that the Garg took me COMPLETELY by surprise! I was NOT expecting it so soon and I was absolutely terrified when he appeared.

I never had any problem with the trip mine room either. Did it perfectly (somewhat) first try. That is, I didn’t do anything that I really got frustrated over. I died moreso by testing jumps or ducks in different places. Always had a quick save just before my experiments. I thought it was fine.

I really love how all of Surface Tension just looks BIGGER. And not just the dam section, but everywhere. It looks like a proper facility. Actually, the whole game does.

Crypt · November 25, 2018, 2:38am

I think the way Surface Tension was changed to be freaking huge makes up for that (crappy) bit that was cut out. My only complaint with Surface Tension is of course the dam having nodraw textures applied in a clearly visible spot (it’s like they didn’t even try :O) and the awkward aerial bombing monitor. It worked well but the whole flickery thing was annoying.

MusicallyInspired · November 25, 2018, 2:38am

Flickery thing? I didn’t notice anything particularly annoying about it.

Ronster · November 25, 2018, 2:38am

I saw the dogfighting haarriers and mantas now in forget about freeman and I think it was done really well but when you first appear it would have been good to show a jet in flames going down followed by a Manta to reinforce that the grunts are losing… Atleast it is an idea only but basically what they have done is awesome… Just want more,

Surface tension was probably the best level in half life and they did a great job of it… But to add the missing atras on this chapter would just make the MOD that much more awesome… I am sure they have Mappers to work on sections of this now the MOD is almost there.

Crypt · November 25, 2018, 2:38am

The cursor (I think it was) flickered a lot while you hovered over the monitor.

Simi · November 25, 2018, 2:38am

jessiestorm88:

I just played through Surface Tension in Half-Life and I think the biggest problem with the parts that were cut for this mod isn’t so much that they are amazingly fun or memorable, but that they really are a big part of the storyline.

The part with the mounted gun where you have to gun down at least fifteen vortigaunts teleporting in is followed by a room with a HECU body strung up by rebar on the ceiling. You use one of the alien jump pads to get up on a ledge of a severely destroyed building and witness two more HECU being pinned down by a vort and an alien grunt.

After this is the snark section where you drop down from the vent and kill the guys in the garage. You can tell the marines are getting jumpy at this point by them shooting up the vents just from hearing something. Then there’s a few on a cannon that you have to kill and use the cannon to break a hole in the wall where there are two more alien grunts. You get the feeling at this point that the aliens are literally everywhere and the HECU are starting to lose.

The next room is a giant battle between the HECU and alien grunts and a few vortiguants where a tank busts through the wall with marines coming out of it. The HECU loses this battle and after you cleanup the very next hallway has an alien grunt tossing a marine through a concrete wall.

After that you drop down on two marines hiding in a mostly destroyed building from an alien grunt and a few vortigaunts. There’s yet another alien grunt way up on the roof of that building. You use the jump pad to go up and drop inside and go into the pipe that a marine throws a satchel charge into. After killing him the next room is a bunch of HECU running around like crazy trying to avoid multiple headcrabs.

By the way there’s alien terrain scattered throughout the buildings in this chapter. From multiple defunct jump pads to webbing in the corners etc. I like to think of it as the creep from starcraft. The whole area is clearly being taken over by the aliens.

After getting the guard to open the door to the garage area the gargantua completely gibs two marines against a wall by pushing a vehicle into them.

Needless to say the HECU is getting slaughtered at this point. There are a bunch of small numbers of them cut off at every turn by aliens. The entire point of the last half of Surface Tension is to show how badly the HECU are losing at this part of the story. This is why the cut parts of the map are so important as Forget about Freeman is the next chapter.

Agreed. The sequences cut from surface tension need to be reinstated in some shape or form. The removal of all the large scale engagements between the HECU and aliens leaves the narrative disjointed and results in the military withdrawl lacking any kind of credibility.

It’s plainly obvious that many of the engagements witnessed by the player throughout the game were removed, simply because the game is so unbalanced that the marines would win easily, every single time, making there withdrawl even more implausible!

If the release of the final part of the mod is a long way off (and I suspect it is) there is no reason that surface tension couldn’t be reworked simultaneously and retconned into the game with the release of the final part. I seriously doubt anyone is going to complain about having to replay a fully restored Surface Tension!

I mean missing tentacles and visible mines are one thing, but the scripted sequences at the end of surface tension are a fundamental part of the narrative. Without them it appears as if the military is pulling out solely due to the actions of Gordon Freeman.

k3nny1550 · November 25, 2018, 2:38am

^ Which makes Freeman even more of a badass, in retrospect. Consider how many squads of Marines you’ve single-handedly killed. You’ve shot down an apache, blown up an APC, destroyed TWO M1 Abrams tanks, and you looted a full armory of military grade hardware. For all intents and purposes, the good Doctor is probably the most chilling threat the Marines have faced thus far, and having an alien invasion going on is just another incentive to pull out Occham’s razor and nuke the base.

_amp_gt_origami_amp · November 25, 2018, 2:38am

I don’t really care to see the tentacles re-appearing after playing through “Blast Pit” to kill them in such a spectacular manner.
I would definitely be down for a “Surface Tension - Extended Edition” though.
More fights with HECU, HECU vs Alien encounters etc…

JDR13 · November 25, 2018, 2:38am

“Angrey” eh? Yeah… I hate that.

T-1000 · November 25, 2018, 2:43am

Langenscheiss:

I must say that I like this chapter but at the same time I’m disappointed. In “On A Rail” I did not miss the cut content, but the Tentacle Fight, the ware house fight, the grenade in that pipe and probably more scenes were really memorable moments. If the devs cannot find enough man power, I’d suggest they should release the important source files for that chapter so that the community can recreate the missing moments. They would really enhance the experience in Surface Tension.
Furthermore, I have to agree with you on the mines. They really should be less visible for the player. In Half-Life 1, you had to throw grenades intelligently to kill most mines and then move from explosion decal to explosion decal. But since you could not see the mines, this created a lot of tension. In Black Mesa, you throw some grenades and kill the rest of the mines with the glock. It’s just an annoying shooting exercise. And they are underpowered.
On top of that, Surface Tension has quite a few bugs. For example, the dam has obvious map leaks.

I totally agree. There are many memorable moments lost in this chapter. Surface Tension is my favorite part and I was really disappointed when it was cut.
Lets just hope that the devs have the time and patience to remake it.

Ronster · November 25, 2018, 2:43am

Alien Grunt smashes a HECU marine through a concrete wall… The Alien Grunts did not really get their slice of the limelight as an enemy and the one behind the blast doors in Lamda core was also omitted… It would be great to see these 2 scenes involving alien grunts re-instated from surface tension and Lambda core

Bjossi · November 25, 2018, 2:43am

If it makes you feel better, I can’t for the life of me see them in BM either due to my bad eyesight. I had to use grenades and guess with the glock.

Noclip. Going through such pointless frustration is a waste of time and I figured that out pretty quickly when Gordon’s pathetic jumps kept setting off tripmines. Jump regularly and touch the laser, you die, crouch jump and go too slowly so that you touch the laser as you land, you die. I call it pretty good you died only 30 times in that room.

And yeah, it was far easier in HL1, my theory is the jump mechanics have a big say in that.

To be honest I think Surface Tension is mostly well polished, Forget About Freeman needs a lot more work imo.

Another thing that made Surface Tension frustrating for me was the soldiers. I spent more time quickloading and repeating than making progress because one little mistake against those guys will result in massive health/energy loss. Not to mention they will shoot at me just a tenth of a second after I show up in their line of sight, hell, even if I am crouched behind cover and only release the crouch button for a split moment and fire the gun they still manage to shoot me.

bur · November 25, 2018, 2:43am

Have you considered that you’re the problem in the tripmine room? There are only a few people complaining about it.

I found it challenging, but manageable.