Really bad balancing

Black Mesa Archive In-game Issues (Mod)
#21

I usually stay away from the mp5. (especially when dealing with the marines) Use the glock instead. With it’s near perfect accuracy you can easily mow down the grunts from afar. Between the glock, 357 and the shotgun, you’ll be good until you get the Tau.

You can also get creative with metal barrels, and other similar objects. Pick them up and while holding them move from cover to cover. Riot shield!

Do not assume you can just run into a room, guns blazing, and survive. This is not Crysis. The hazard suit is not adaptive battle armor. Remember the catch phrase… Run, Think, Shoot… Live. (Think is before shoot. Use your head, and then your environment to your advantage.) If you do this, the game is really not very difficult at all. Also, as previously mentioned, ALL the explosives you carry, and the explosive barrels/crates thrown throughout the levels, are your friends.

#22

I am playing on Hard, and while there have been some hard sections, it definitely feels balanced.

#23

While I wouldn’t say that my entire verdict of the game rests on balancing, this has been some what of a problem for me. I didn’t really notice it until post Apprehension. Especially on the QE finale with the final wave of soldiers. And on Surface Tension as well. I’ve been loving the game so far, but the soldiers just deal a little to much and a little to accurate . Especially when they’re in big numbers.

#24

I made it out of QE with 7 health and 75 suit power, and then spent 5 mins getting past the 5 guys outside. Having full health and armor is a constant necessity because each fight will drain you of all of it. This is on normal. Full health and 75 armor should last you for a few fights but It’s just not enough. Especially against the marines.

#25

I don’t think the problem is with the marines having too much health, (a magnum headshot instagibs them anyway), it is more likely the mp5 not doing enough damage. In the original, the mp5 was an amazing killing machine which made any fight against the HECU pretty fair. Now you are basically forced to get magnum headshots because the mp5 is not very good.

Even the grenade launcher isn’t very good.

#26

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#27

So I’m playing on normal, and I’m on the cliffside fighting the heli… and Ive hit it with TEN ROCKETS so far… would someone like to tell me how the hell a hellicopter can withstand ten goddamn rockets? Is there something I’m missing?

#28

I agree that the mp5 could use some love, but we also need to be careful, as this gun can quickly turn the game into easy mode. Which is why it is currently balanced slightly on the weaker side.

On normal, it is indeed around 9 or 10 rockets. You should be very close. I usually hang back by the bast doors at the back of the cave. Wait for the apache’s missile volley, pop out and hit him with a rocket, go back behind the wall, rinse and repeat…

#29

honestly, I would say that your aiming is not very good.

I haven’t had any trouble hitting my targets with the .357 and have killed lots of headcrabs with the pistol.

#30

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#31

I had to log on to say… ahem.

SERIOUSLY?

I’m almost shocked, because I’m arguably the worst FPS player ever. I’m having very few of the problems you guys are having with the game in terms of combat balance. Sometimes I find myself limping away with 2 HP and I still make it. I’ve died about 15 times, most of those instances to jump puzzles or the 3 pokey arms of doom.

MP5 too weak -
Hold down the trigger after peeking around the corner. Mow them down one by one. It takes just over half a clip to kill someone, but it sure is a lot better due to accuracy compared to the original MP5. I never used that thing. Now I always find myself holding that weapon. In that instance where I had 2 HP left, I was sniping the last straggling soldier with this weapon.

Revolver too inaccurate -
That’s weird, the only time I ever missed with that thing was when I was getting repeatedly shot at from behind in a frantic situation. Otherwise, I always win quick draws against Vorts.

Revolver ironsi–no. options. opt out if you no like. simple.

Soldier reaction time superhuman -
I can agree with this. It gets a bit irritating, especially because my reaction time is really sub-par compared to every other gamer on the planet. Even so, it rarely becomes an issue because I wander into a health kit or station further down the way to make up for my late reaction.

Ladders -
suck. badly.

The 3 pokinators of doom -
Agreed, found sprinting to be more effective.

Grenade throwing arc -
That upward arc that is automatically added to the throw is irritating.

Grenade launcher -
Those things need to be heavier and fly slower. Right now it’s just another missile launcher.

Helicopter -
Yeah 10 rockets seems weird to me.

My main peeve is that the shotgun needs to have slightly more spread and more damage, then firing rate slowed down. I used to have the shotgun as my main firearm in HL1, now I just use it to mop up headcrabs. Anything above that seems to survive unless I pump two shells in and/or shoot it off like it’s an auto shotty.

As for you guys, it’s not Max Payne. Take cover, use tripmines, shoot from around the corner. And take your revolvers to the gunsmith because mine works just fine.

#32

For me jumping off the ladder to the desired place was the hard thing, um by that I mean that usually… just getting off once I climbed up.

#33

maibe we are just so used to the game, most of us play on hard - normal is too easy for me

like joel said - use your whole arsenal, use your environment, know when to flank, when to rush, when to fall back.

there are 3 difficulty settings, if one is to hard, take the lower one - no shame in doing that

#34

I thought the Grunt placed turrets where shooting quite fast at me…

#35

So far the only game breaking issue I’ve had with balance is the space octopus in the launch bay. As has been mentioned before, “stealth mode” isn’t stealthy, crouching doesn’t help, and the grenades don’t distract the critter for nearly long enough.

I’d tried doing it the “right way” enough times until I used poor Security Redshirt #358’s Space Octopus entrance to distract the damn thing, as apparently it’s scripted to kill him first.

Otherwise, I’m playing on Normal and don’t have any serious complaints. The grunts do appear to be a bit too effective, the MP5 seems a bit underpowerful. I do think the difficulty needs to be notched down a peg or two, but only on Normal. I think it’s just a bit too balanced in the favor of the bad guys.

(At least my theory on playing shooters is that Easy should be for run-and-gun-Duke-Nukem-3D-fest where you just run in and shoot all the things. Normal should require tactical planning but you can always fall back on the fail flail of machine gun fire, and Hard should severely punish you for tactical errors.)

Unfortunately the tentacles have really broken the game for me… I’ll just dash through and call myself a beta tester to feel better about not doing it right :smiley: But the damn things need to be distracted for longer, and shouldn’t be able to home in on you when you are crouch walking.

#36

I pretty much agree about the marines, but they’re still manageable. All they’d need is either a teeny tiny delay before they start hitscanning you with 100% accuracy, or simply let them miss some shots.

What’s really annoying me though is the fact that Vortigaunts don’t even have to charge up anymore! Even in HL2 they had a reasonable firing delay but now it’s just “spot, zap”. They don’t break the game, but it’s just supremely irritating.

Apart from that, the houndeyes don’t have a charging/powering up sound anymore so it’s hard to calculate exactly when they’ll let off their shockwave (and I miss the sound effect :s adface: ).

#37

I played through on normal and I thought it was all rather fairly balanced. You couldn’t just charge up on a group of six marines, which is perfectly realistic.

I have to agree on the ironsight, though. It felt really clunky and out of place to me. Maybe if more than just the 357 had it it’d be better, but eh. I didn’t notice any real accuracy issues with firing when not sighted in, though. It didn’t hit 100% of the time, but it hit more often than not.

As far as the vorts go, I thought they died far too easily. One shotgun blast from 20 feet took them out most of the time, and if it didn’t the second one always did the trick.

I fully agree with the blast pit tentacles being far too prone to attacking, too. I ended up using 5 or 6 grenades to just get up two floors while crouch walking.

#38

The OP makes very good points. The fights for me as it is just involves way too much reloading, which isn’t rewarding, and just gets tedious at times. Fantastic game otherwise.

#39

I agree, I always felt bad shooting the deadly murderous puppy things when they were making their cute windup-to-armageddon noises.

#40

And i think that game is well balanced. I just kill 5 soldiers on hard with only 23% of life. Game is challenging, right, but also is well ballanced. If you cant kill someone try another way. Example - you try to climb up, but soldier will kill you instantly when you show your head. Bad ballance? No. Just throw granade, and when he turn to run shoot him in the back. Simple, rewarding and great fun.

Magnum - is powerfull and accurate - just practise and then… BAM!.. you’re master of headshoot.

Headcrabs vs pistol etc. - dunno. I have no problem with them.

Reaction time - sometimes it is too fast, but hey! they’re soldiers. They are professionals and way quicker than Gordon the Lab Geek. :slight_smile:

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.