Although they should have used him more and that voice was not that great in my opinion… (military)
You know, one subtle touch I missed was at the very end of Apprehension when you are free but still outside the Processing Plant, in the desert. In the original Half-Life the only ambient noise was that of desert, namely insects and birds, but periodically you’d hear some distant alien howls. It really set the mood and gave you a good sense that this place was much more foreign than it appeared.
Also, personally, I think the ambient noise in some of the Surface Tension maps is maybe a little too energetic. It sounds like the battle is really raging. It might be better if it started that way but towards the end it got quieter, with their mostly being silence, wind, and then the odd gun-shot or alien howl.
It was somewhat like that in the original Half-Life.
The xen aliens vs marines and the outcomes of any fight can be easily remedied so no not FUBAR.
The AI relationship entity is correct it’s only because of balance issues that the marines always seem to win.
so once the game receives a balance update or you tweak it yourself then it will be ok
I just spawn aliens via console and watch them fight the HECU.
Lost one I’ve missed your input the past three years and people making useful constructive feedback. It seems that since the missed release date the community feedback has been either missing entirely or focussing on the tiniest and most insignificant of details. It’s nice now to be able to critique something far larger and more important.
Personally I loved the mod and have complete faith that the team will deliver for Xen. But if there was one thing missing in the game it was the missing segments.
Don’t get me wrong, the delivery of what is present in the mod is spectacular and on par with Valve in almost every respect. But I have to question why these parts were cut, as they were quite distinctive, though perhaps in the case of On A Rail it was for good reason. I loved that level and enjoyed its atmosphere, though it seems it’s a bit of a love/hate thing. But if it’s true that the mapper quit, then I hope that someone in the development team or community could rebuild it. It seems that the hard work is done - the models, voice acting, music, scripting and animation. The map work is relatively easy compared.
I definitely agree that Surface Tension lacked that frenzied desperation throughout. There were huge parts, half the level when you think about it, that were cut that were quite critical to the overall story arc of Xen actually invading. Up until that moment, it just seems as though the soldiers are merely containing the disaster, not fighting an army, and doing it well.
There are distinct moments in the level when the buildings are becoming more and more ragged and destroyed, with Xenian mould and fungus growing on the walls that was completely ignored in the mod. There was a transition and a passage of time from the ordered and tidy to the chaotic and destroyed that wasn’t quite there for me.
To be fair I think this is partly Half-Life’s fault, as in the original Surface Tension you are primarily fighting human enemies even at the very end of the level. There is little evidence of a conclusive victory or defeat on either side, so for them to pull out seemed odd even in the original. But perhaps this is an opportunity that the mod team can utilise if they still wish to or have time. I’d say the bulk of the mod and all the essential parts are there and perfect, and a strong improvement on the original. It seems that the vast majority of suggestions are concerning the missing segments.
I wouldn’t want to impose any duties, you’ve done enough already. But with the mod (soon I hope) on Steam, it can be updated and patched no problem.
Actually now after replaying BM’s I found the “on a rail” good as it is.
Middle-length but decent… the puzzles and soundtracks save it all ^_
I think the Xen Invasion is fine the way it is depicted. I didn’t think anything of it.
/ the grunts need to be easier though.
You know, I was thinking about it and I think you’re right. I actually think it was Opposing Force that gave us a better sense of a losing battle. After all it starts with the Osprey being shot down, you see numerous wounded and dead soldiers, and then you find the deserted crash-zone littered with dead bodies. On the way to the extraction zone you find more HECU victims and throughout the rest of Opposing Force your allies are very scarce where-as aliens are everywhere. Over all Opposing Force gives a very good sense of the whole situation and facility decaying bit by bit.
I think that maybe those of us who played it and Half-Life many times we wound up with a clearer impression of the situation than even the original Half-Life gave us.
That said, I think I posted before that I’d like to see the On A Rail segments brought back, or at least for replacement HECU/alien fights to take place and maybe some more signs throughout the game of the HECU losing ground. 'course that might all be a lot of work and the mod is very very good as-is.
EDIT:
What I miss about On A Rail was the over all horror-vibe of parts of the chapter. You hear distant alien cries echoing through the tunnels, and many sections are filled with aliens and massacred humans (namely HECU). Personally I felt that the first music track there didn’t fit at all, the same with the one when you ride the elevator down in Unforeseen Consequences (where the headcrabs attack).
Has anyone noticed, the HECU weren’t seen losing to the xen life in areas with Freeman, because in areas that Freeman were in they had much larger numbers because they were hunting Freeman, so when they were attacked in areas where Freeman was coming, they were prepared, if you notice in Op4 they are getting mauled by Xen creatures and Race X creatures because they are in smaller numbers because most of the HECU at Black Mesa is targeting Freeman, so in areas where they were not planning to get Freeman, they were badly destroyed.
How have I not noticed this thread before?
Yes, I completely agree. I think one of the core reasons why this is the case is due to the “aimbots” that the soldiers have. Instead of tactical thinking, flushing you out, flanking and what not, we have been given enemies that know exactly where you are as soon as you bother them.
We also need more aliens in the facility, the current version has just far too few.
I thought the Alien Grunt model was really impressive. Seeing more of those massacring HECU would be welcome.
It also might be interesting to see a HECU squad get massacred by a pack of Houndeyes. Man, those things are vicious!
I was picturing the Tow scene where you bomb the tank differently. What I would’ve loved to see is the second you hop onto the thing with one missile already loaded is that a squad of agrunts spawn & disable the tank by punching the crap out of it & ripping parts of it off. One of the mercs could hop out in a panic & gun one of them down, followed by another grunt coming around his blind side, taking away his mp5 & smashing the guy up against the wreckage of the tank. The gunner still in the immobilized tank could then turn around & blast the head off the grunt since the gibulation system works well in this situation leaving you to pick off the tank & remaining grunt with only one missile. This can eliminate the pretty clunky manual reload thing going on in the original sequence where the Tow is getting blasted by the tank focusing it’s efforts on you & no other forces to be concerned with where the aliens were pretty obviously occupying in the 98 release. If I had the talent I would of loved to play that scene out. Anywho I think the game we’re already playing will get edited to level out the differences between the two releases while adding in the cinematic flare that the Episode 2 engine has. I really hope the team gets to see our ideas & thoughts so that this already AAA grade game can further improve.
I agree and disagree. That area should remain fairly quiet, it had a sort of safe, remote feel to it, like you were out of the shit for awhile. Maybe you could still hear the sounds, but they’d be distant. But for the most part they should keep the ‘battle ambiance’, because in the original Half-Life once you cleared out an area everything was way too quiet, as if the whole war centered around you.
I hadn’t really noticed while I was playing, but after you point it out Kupo I can’t help but agree. The HECU absolutely own Black Mesa in this mod. You don’t really ever see them struggling against an alien force. They’re destroying them. They have bombs being called down on the Manta drops, air superiority and ground superiority. It’s really a mystery as to why they’re retreating.
Both of these quoted for absolute truth. On A Rail was one of the better levels in the original Half-Life for me simply because it captured what the game was all about - a lone man in the bowels of a facility fighting for survival. It had incredibly creepy sounds, from the fantastic song ‘Sirens in the Distance,’ to the flashing lights and howls and screams. Oddly, Black Mesa put all of these into Questionable Ethics, which resulted in it being the best chapter of the game in my opinion, when it was one of the worst in the original.
Sure they could have made it less labyrinthine, but that just meant there was more to explore. The team did an amazing job on creating accurate maps for QE, they could have done something equally good here.
For the second point, it felt that the alien grunt was underused. They were beautifully animated, modelled and textured, yet we saw them only a handful of times. I was playing on hard and I think part of the reason we rarely saw them was because they were too tough, far tougher than in the original on hard. I was looking forward to two moments in BM which were cut. The first was when the alien grunt chucks an HECU through a concrete wall, the second was when the grunt forces open the blast doors. Both moments create that frenzied panic.
I realise the devs were trying to surprised the veteran HL players by adding new surprises, but the result was that we hardly ever saw the alien grunts up close unless we chose to. I imagine they’ve got some big things lined up for Xen though with the grunts.
Yeah, I got the same feeling, that the HECU weren’t really on the loosing side. But the devs don’t need to create new maps to showcase the opposite, as it can be easily done by tweaking the existing ones.
Things that I would love to see in that regard:
- Having the last Gargantua actually kill those 2 Marines in the tunnel
- Having the helicotper at the dam actually shoot at a Vortigaunt chasing a Soldier. Right now the Pilot just seems to shoot the bridge for fun.
- One or two more Alien VS HECU scenes with the Aliens on the winning side.
- Having a more subtle transition with the alien infestation (basically adding some a little earlier)
- I know it may require a lot more work, but I’d love to see the aliens destroying some military hardware. Could be a Jet or helicopter crashing down or a Gargantua tearing up a tank/APC. For example, the fight, were a Tank breaks through the door. Instead of having you kill the tank, a Gargantua could show up behind the Tank once you’ve done enough damage, destroy it and run back again.
Having a Garg “kill” a Tank or APC would be extremely easy. All they’d have to do is have him get within it’s minimum range and have him ‘flame’ it for a few seconds. Armour is tough, but it’s metal, and metal heats up. The Garg would simply have to cook the crew-members alive, gruesome but effective. This would leave the Tank itself unscathed, but it would just sit there idle (basically, once it’s attacked by a garg for too long, the AI is disabled and it becomes completely non-responsive, effectively being dead, but without blowing up for no reason).
Or you could just have it damage the tank until it blows up, and hand-wave it by saying the heat of the Garg’s flamethrowers caused the ammunition to cook off 
Here’s the thing about On a Rail - I don’t necessarily want to see the old segments brought back as is. All I really want is for the chapter to be made longer, even if it has to be done via brand new content that doesn’t resemble the original.
I’d also like to see a larger emphasis on the actual TRAIN. Making the electrified rail actually electrified is a good example. Instituting one or two places where you NEED the train to proceed, such as crossing a pool of electrified water or some radioactive goop that’s seeped into the tunnel would do nicely. Turn it into a puzzle that you could walk through on foot, but you need to work at in order to get the train across.
I don’t need a remake of On a Rail from Half-Life. I just want more On a Rain in Black Mesa 
Same with Surface Tension.
I would of liked to see alot more dead marines in some levels to subtly suggest the marines are getting wiped out. would make you think a bit more, if while running towards the gargantua, you had to wade through dozens of dead marines.
Hey everybody!
I came across this thread a few days ago and it inspired me to make this video:
“Infighting” - The Battle of Black Mesa
It’s a cinematic vid depicting how intense and big the battle between the Aliens & Military could have been portrayed.
I agree that the Alien & Military encounters were kinda underwhelming in the game and this video aims to show how brutal and massive the consequences of the resonance cascade are.
I encountered a lot of glitches (mainly clipping issues) and my video editing software is so terrible I nearly went insane. The vid was supposed to be longer and better but hopefully people still like it