Should I wait, or play orginal HL

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#141

When introducing someone to an old title, check to see if there are user-created improvements, such as the complete texture reskin of Deus Ex, or the user-created patch for Anachronox. Small improvements make a world of difference to those who’ve never experienced the universe of a particular IP. I’ve actually been meaning to play through Deus Ex again, myself - the lack of autosave kicks me in the ass every time, but I digress.

To the OP - play the original. Not only have you been missing out on an excellent story and one of the main reasons Valve got to where it did, but you will most certainly not appreciate all the improvements that this mod will bring. I’m not saying to torture yourself by going through it on the hardest difficulty, but I am saying that you will highly benefit from the perspective gained.

#142

I try not to patch the old graphics on purpose, specifically so I can judge the game based on it’s gameplay, free from graphical “wow” factor. Retrogaming is a very specific sort of deal- I love me my 16 bit games, so generally it isn’t an issue for me. If the gameplay is good, it’s worth outdated graphics. Hell, I respect Morrowind’s art style far more than Oblivion or even Skyrim- it’s very wonderful and weird compared to the rather generic “fantasy RPG” look of the sequels. A shame the gameplay itself is still rather pedestrian and uninvolving.

#143

by the mid point of Morrowind i was feeling rather bored and just ended up going on a burgling spree - i find Skyrim somewhat painfully addictive how ever. so suppose this just boils down to consumer value on how to interpret a game.
but with old 16bit games and such theres generally a difficulty aspect i find in them that modern triple A’s lack.

#144

Play the original
Play HL2
Watch Alyx porn
Fuck Ep1
Play Ep2 and rage that you keep failing at the strider part
Swear you’ll never play Ep2 again
Play Half-Life Source, get dissapointed
Play the original

That’s what I’ve been doing while waiting for BM.

#145

might as well just play HL1 and imagine its BM because BM isnt coming out…EVER!

#146

There are many reasons why to play the original…are there even reasons, why NOT to play it? …“Can you name even one thing? …I fought not…” :smiley:

#147

Lawl, yea I played it last weekend, the op4 and blue sheft. Not gonna lie after playing hl2 and ep 1 and 2 4 times in a row basicly back to back in a months time, I was raging at the low endness of hl1. Shooting the grunts with 1 whole clip and losing all my hp and armor, I was raging badly. In hl2 it so easy to kill them even on its hardest.

PS, o yea guys make sure you sign/join the group A Call for Communication (Half-Life) while we are talking about hl. We almost got 60k members. I dont know about you guys but I’m willing to help out anyway I can to get some new info on the next hl installment. You never know, maybe Black Mesa will come out with the next hl installment. I would not be surprized if that was the case.

#148

Black Mesa DEV’s working with VALVe?
Fuck, he’s figuring us out.

#149

Play the original HL. It´s worth it, really.

#150

Oh, the original is definitely worth playing. However, I personally wouldn’t want to do that because everything will be even more fresh in your memories by the time when Black Mesa gets released. And you might feel like you’re playing a game you’ve played not too long ago.

So instead I’ll just wait a little longer or perhaps I’ll play some Opposing Force or Blue Shift to get in a mood. However doing that might also ruin the fun of Black Mesa, because the gameplay style would be very much the same.

So I guess it’s best to play something totally different and play Black Mesa when it’s released. And after that I might play the original Half-Life again someday. Unless Black Mesa ruins the fun of replaying the original again or makes it “obsolete”.
Thing is that playing either the original Half-Life or Black Mesa first could ruin the fun of playing the other afterwards.

#151

It kinda sounds like it’s not going to be as similar as some might think.

#152

Actually, HL1 isn’t really all that outdated compared to others in terms of gameplay. It’s reasonably similar to an FPS game that would be expected within the past decade, and I consider it to be such since it did kick off the genre in the direction that we know it today.

#153

Regenerating health and no feeling of exploration?

#154

C-C-C COMBO BREAKER!

Play the original , then the expansions ,then Decay (there’s a PC port), then They Hunger, then Sven Co-op , then HL2, EP1, AND EP2.

I played Half-Life until Interloper. Is that okay?

#155

That was a different (later) turning point and more over time in which developers got lazy than anything.

HL1 was the game that kicked off the more advanced enemy AI and combat gameplay. Compare games before and games after, and you can see a distinct break, with HL1 at the turning point.

#156

This is true.

It also helped people realize FPS games could have great stories.

#157

And then they totally forgot about that again.

#158

What about Far Cry and F.E.A.R. ?

#159

Those both came out years after Half-Life.

#160

That type of AI just built on what people began to take for granted after HL1.

To put it this way,

Before HL1: Enemies run at you mindlessly and shoot and that’s about it. No intelligence.

HL1: Enemies run at you intelligently, flush you out with squad tactics, flank you, throw grenades, search for you, have a sense of self-preservation, etc. Intelligence is established.

After HL1: Depth of AI reasoning is increased. After HL1, all you really see is a sliding scale of “how much more intelligent is the AI” in comparison. Intelligence is built upon.

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.