Putting my thoughts on the internet

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#1

I created this topic for the purpose of putting down my thoughts in order of what I liked and disliked about Black Mesa Source. Having played many genres and franchises in gaming, I consider myself capable of recognizing special qualities which are attributed to each of those series, let it be Diablo, Half-life or Unreal. A little selfish to say so, but who cares since the original post will only contain my thoughts of the game !

As a disclaimer, I am happy to say that this is possibly the best mod I have ever played. Though not perfect, it has changed and added so much so well that it could be recognized as a standalone in its own right. I will list my thoughts/suggestions in a simple order while keeping in mind what made Half-life so great, and what makes good shooters good in general.

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– Positive Thoughts --[/SIZE] :smiley:

  1. Amazing production values for a mod. Despite it’s short-comings, this Source Engine Modification is absolutely fantastic. So many things have been covered - atmosphere, sounds, music, graphics; and successfully so!! The attention to detail is unmatched.

  2. Very impressive graphics. Varied lighting style and reflections have made the look of BMS completely fresh throughout . Whether you’re outside in the desert, deep within Black Mesa - the look of the game just never gets boring. Lights, lights everywhere ! Though there is an out-dated side to the Source Engine, like lack of occlusion mapping or dynamic shadows, you simply don’t know notice those things because overall the game looks amazing.(runs great too)

  3. Great overall feel to movement and shooting. Staying true to the Half-life 2 formula, Gordon Freeman is light on his feet and loud with his gun. Everything feels just right. While other shooters put severe limitations on your mobility, sprinting in Half-life 2 or BMS feels perfect. Except maybe that the Magnum .357 doesn’t always hit where you tell it to …

  4. Scientists, ripe for the killing . I once collected 4 Barneys and 3 Scientists and saved them all, friendly banter between them was amusing - very nice addition.

  5. Impressive soundtrack. Though the queue timings of the music can sometimes be jarring, as well as it’s intensity and volume in atmospheric parts of Black Mesa Source - the tracks itself are still quite good ! You only have to lower the volume so that it would match the volume of music in the original Half-life, which was pretty low(it was almost ambient).

  6. Fun physics ! Picking up Houndeye corpses and hurling them into oblivion is downright hilarious. Blowing up crates just to see the bits fly around is almost as great.

– Neutral Thoughts --[/SIZE] :expressionless:

  1. While for the most part - battling with Vortigaunts and Bullsquids is fun - there could be some small adjustments made to either of those monsters. - Staying true to Half-life, Vortigaunts should probably have a longer charge-up time, louder charge-up sound and more damage done per charge. At the moment, it’s pretty hard to dodge those charges(played on Hard) or predict their patterns - with those changes the game would be more rewarding of skill than luck. The new Bullsquid attack is fun - but it is almost impossible to dodge if the monster attempts to shoot consistently every second. This could be changed by giving the Bullsquid a pause between his attacks, and possibly increased damage - again to reward skill instead of blind luck. Also, Bullsquids should not take a single alternative blast from a shotgun to kill - increasing it’s health along with the attack rate change should work hand in hand.

  2. The Aim Down Sight for the Magnum is completely pointless. It doesn’t really detract from the experience, but it’s addition is jarring as well. It simply has no use, only reminds you of Call of Duty or something. That along with the fact that the Magnum has a slight spread(don’t remember if Half-life’s magnum did?) makes the gun somewhat aggravating to use.

  3. The grenades in Black Mesa Source are very hard to use - they simply do not go where you tell them to go . Possibly use the Half-life 2 physics model of the grenade to make it more accurate ?

  4. There was some removal of hardcore elements from the game, like there is no longer some of the insta-death platforming, but that’s not a big deal whatsoever.

  5. The death of almost every creature/human involves them just simply going into ragdoll. This looks a little weird especially for vortigaunts and some of the scientists(their corpses sometimes ‘jump up’ upon entering ragdoll, like the wounded scientist that dies near the three Tentacles). Can be fixed with a death animation into ragdoll.

– Negative Thoughts --[/SIZE] > :frowning:

  1. The enemy soldier AI. Certainly the worst aspect I’ve had to experience in Black Mesa Source. You are not fighting soldiers. You are fighting walking aim-bots that barely flinch when you shoot them, have superhuman reflexes, fire IMMEDIATELY when in their ‘aim-bot’ range, do not take cover when fired upon, are omniscient. Trying to get through these ‘soldiers’ on Hard Difficulty is almost impossible without extreme luck or exploitation. You cannot use tactics on these guys - you can only hide in a corner with a shotgun, lob grenades until they all die, etc. Facing them head-on guarantees that they will spot you immediately and fire at you immediately, causing grievous and practically unavoidable damage. Makes me want to play Half-life all over again.

  2. The new G-Man spots are too obvious. One of the things that I loved about the Half-life series is finding those little places where the G-Man would observe your actions for a brief moment. That’s the joke - you actually had to look for them. In Black Mesa Source, the G-Man appears in most obvious of places - usually a few meters away from where you’re already looking.

  3. The implementation of physics based puzzles from Half-life 2 is quite confusing . While so far they have involved me sticking a valve into a socket, there was no warning whatsoever that those puzzles would be implemented(there were no such puzzles in Half-life). This could result in confusion for newer/casual players who would sit for a long time not realizing that this re-imagining of Half-life actually uses elements unique only to it’s sequel. Hell, I was sitting for 10 minutes not sure what I was supposed to do. There is nothing wrong with the puzzles fundamentally, it’s just that they seem out of place for a remake of a game that never had them in the first place. To mitigate the confusion you could add a very simple ‘tutorial’ type puzzle at the beginning of the game, warning the player that physics based puzzles will be used later in the game.

  4. There were a few cases where you would enter a room and for some reason the level designers decided to put a shot-gun wielding HECU soldier or a Bullsquid just out of sight and right near the entrance. The end result is you getting shot in the back(unless you’re the super tactician paranoid type that always checks his corners), taking fatal damage if you’re playing on Hard Difficulty. This is extremely cheap and uncalled for. When this happens I simply reload at an earlier save.

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That is all I can come up with for now. Just list of though-out impressions done for the sake of letting a few things off my mind.
Thank you very much for creating this great modification, your effort on this game is almost inspiring.[/SIZE]

P.S.: As this topic is based solely on opinion and experience, feel free to post what you thought of BMS. Contrasting opinions are welcome! :3

#2

The reaction time and aiming of the npcs seems to be constantly brought up.
I’ll agree that they are ridiculously quick to aim and have a high accuracy, but I normally spam the pistol at their face from the other side of the map, I barely take damage from them this way.

Physics puzzles I welcome, though the visual cues seem a tad lacking sometimes.

#3

My thoughts exactly. :slight_smile:

I wish that worked for me, so far most of my encounters were in enclosed spaces - not giving me quite enough range to pick them off with a pistol. Shotgun/Satchel/Booby Trap are your best friends in that situation.

#4

I rarely use the shotgun, it’s kind of an emergency “Oh crap!” weapon I keep as the quick swap weapon for if I turn a corner to meet eye to eye with an enemy.

I find the MP5 to be the ideal mid range weapon, but only using rapid 3-shot bursts. Any more and it’s unlikely that the target will get hit.

I don’t touch explosives much, I tend to blow myself up whenever I try to use them :stuck_out_tongue:

#5

I agree with you in a few regards. The Vortigaunts are too much of a thread because of the fast charging time, and the physics puzzles could be taught better to the player. I only knew of certain puzzles because I had seen them done in Half-Life (plugging something in, attaching a crankweel, etc.)

As far as the Soldier AI, I do agree that they’re a little on the bullet sponge side, but it’s not much of an issue for me personally. I’m not crazy about how much more impervious they are, as the MP5 is somewhat useless to me unless everything else is out. The death ragdoll issue is a little humorous, as during the Resonance Cascade a dying guard crawled over to me, reached his hand out, gave an exhausting gasp, and thrust his ass two feet in the air before dying.

My only real nitpick with the game is that it uses 2010s controls in 1990s level design. The suspended crates area (which annoyed me in the first game because it was a bottomless pit that broke suspension of disbelief) was hard as hell because Gordon wouldn’t get enough momentum, get too much momentum, not crouch or stay on when he was supposed to, or just plain refuse to jump. The problem here is mainly in the Source engine itself, but I did have a time and a half with that section (as well as the section with the collapsed L-catwalk).

#6

ok seems alot of ppl fail to fight soldiers, revolver is your best friend and crossbow, if u have atleast played cs/css u will have zero problems whit them, unless well u are very low class cs players.
soldiers are liek low class cs players from pubs, any decent cs player stomps them.

#7

Well, there’s the problem, then. I’ve taken great pains to avoid playing Counter-Strike in all of its incarnations because I dislike that sort of gameplay. Half-Life didn’t have this sort of gameplay, and I’m rather unwelcoming towards it in Black Mesa. Hell, even Left 4 Dead - which is more or less a Counter-Strike: Source mod - doesn’t play like you’re describing, and I would genuiely like a Half-Life that played like L4D2. I kind of wish they’d used similar gore to that game, but I assume it’s hell in a handbasket to actually make mechanics which allows the player to punch holes in his enemies guts.

#8

Very well put. Again I just simply wish there was some general way to beat HECU grunts without it feeling like some sort of exploit . You surely could play it like you’re playing Counter Strike, but the weapons themselves have some sort of spread and soldiers do not necessarily die off the first headshot. Though, like you said, I don’t want to play Counter Strike in an immersible and atmospheric Half-life game - I want to plan my approach to enemies just as calmly as I would observe the beautiful environments.

#9

Lulwut?

Left 4 Dead is NOT a Counter Strike Source mod.

#10

well its where the idea came from, 1ct vs 30t’s with knifes

#11

Fail, Half-Life is a Singleplayer game… the HECU shouldn’t react like real players with Aim Bot.
They were fun and interesting to fight in the original game, in BM they are just annoying, nerve taking filler.

#12

And that makes it a mod? Riiiiight…

#13

I never said it did

#14

i completely agree with this point.

#15

Lost my whole post, frustrated. It was really well typed as well, urgh.

I’ll try summarise very quickly (and don’t anyone attack me for bluntness or a bad opinion, try be civil).
1. Make bullsquids less like moving turrets, buff BS and Icthy Health. Vorts slightly too fast IMO, bullsquids are too strong with their spit. Should be weaker but make them charge and be scary again.

2. Fix HECU aimbot-ness even from afar and is it just me or do they take a lot of your armor now? Seem to be instant reaction times, and near 360 degree vision.

3. Missing ST portions. If it’s possible try add them in at a later date. I miss the whole “aliens beating people” thing. It feels too rushed and unfinished now (yes I know that member quit, but is there anything that can be done?)

4. Fix balance. That or make certain areas less frustrating. Aliens can be tough in numbers, but as a whole weaker than HECU (or they feel like it). Also, make tanks take 1-2 more hits and the cliff apache take 2-3 less, it’s borderline ragequit for me and I followed the tactic everyone advised.
Also the ever-spawning battle with the OSPREY, that was a tough one for sure (more tough than I’d liked…).

5. Incease MP5 clip to 40 and overall ammo holding to 160 for 200 total instead of 30/150 = 180.
Also increase crossbow max to 15 potentially. Fix the crossbow hitbox/clipping issues. It’s frustrating beyond all hell.

6. Maybe make an ‘insane’ mode. Medium personally feels too hard compared to HL1 and some people find BM’s hard too easy, so they should be entitled (I feel) to a way harder mode for them.

I know I can edit stuff like reaction time/HP/damage very easily with all the stuff people post on the forums. This is just my personal opinion on what official changes could/should be made. When I do my third playthrough (this time on hard) I’ll be implementing most of my changes and testing them, so anyone thinking “oh go do it then don’t complain”; I am, but everyone deserves the chance to speak their mind and hopefully not be abused.

#16

Do you pick up MP5 ammo from dead soldiers? The stuff is everywhere, I don’t think I’ve ever run out. Crossbow max is already 15, unless you mean 20 (5 loaded + 15 held).

Are you aware of the unofficial project addressing #3 in the Leak-Free forum?

#17

Yeah, all the time. I never ran out of ammo or anything just because I didn’t use the gun “enough” to be fair. Had I used it as much as say, the shotgun or magnum, I definitely would’ve been in trouble.
Maybe I’m too used too Half Life. I’ve only played it once, but they really spoil you with that massive ammo capacity. xD
I do trust your opinion more though. I feel a bit negatively biased to the gun ever since I first got it on my first playthrough of BM.

And yes, I meant 20 total. I lost my proper discussion (accidentally clicked on my bookmarks tab and i couldnt select and copy in time), so it’s all very brief/sketchy and probably written barely coherently, hehe.
In HL I feel like they gave you too much ammo for the crossbow(It was 5 + 50 for a total of 55 if i remember), in BM I feel we’re given too little.
To reiterate this is just my opinion, and I’m not known for having popular ones at that. xD

Either way I’m making these adjustments for my next playthrough. Just to get the feel for it.

Also no I didn’t know that actually. I might go check it out, thanks :slight_smile:

Edit: Something else. I miss the crossbow clipping people to objects/walls. I know it’s entirely cosmetic/trivial, but its something I’d love to see reimplemented, even if its just a player made mod. I had a blast with it.

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.