Things you DON'T want to see in BM.

Black Mesa Archive Suggestion Box
#861

I finally thought of something to contribute to this thread… unless it’s been said already… in which case… “whoops?” :retard:

Personally, I wouldn’t want to see control taken away from the player for the encounter with Gman at the end of the game, in the way that control was taken away from the player during most of Gman’s scenes in HL2/EP1/EP2.

Those scenes with the Gman drove me nuts. Don’t get me wrong, they were cool, but they weren’t as good as I thought they could have been. It seemed to me as though the developers of HL2/EP1/EP2 broke with the design idea that HL1 seemed to employ, the idea of “never taking away the ability to control the character from the player for a scene or an NPC encounter,” which I believe was done in an attempt to make the experience more immersive.

I’ve always thought that HL1’s treatment of cutscenes is what set it apart (and still sets it apart) from most other games these days, so I guess I’ve always felt kind of sad that HL2+ devs seem to have thrown that train-of-thinking away, at least for dealings with the Gman. My guess (though I may be reading too much into this) is that the impression they were trying to give, was that the Gman was capable of freezing Gordon in his tracks, and making him listen, or something… Personally, I think that that point could have been made much better, if they had made all (or at least most) of the encounters with Gman more like the encounter at the end of HL2: Where you can still move Gordon, but only very slowly, as if the Gman is restricting your ability to move through space. At least in that case, the player has the opportunity to feel as though they’re in Gordon’s shoes throughout the entire game. As it was, most of Gman’s scenes in HL2/EP1/EP2 came across to me as just another scene, rather than as an encounter. I don’t know how to describe it, really… hopefully that makes at least some sense.

I’m not saying I think the devs are insane and would take away control from the player for all regular NPC encounters. (Not even HL2/EP1/EP2 did something that awful… :stuck_out_tongue: ) But it might be tempting to do something like that to the interaction between Gordon and Gman at the end… just 'cause… well, it seems like that’s how interactions with the Gman are being treated nowadays, in the modern installments, anyway… oh well…

Just my 2 cents. :retard:

EDIT: Okay, I’m a rambler… hopefully this should make my idea a bit more clear… although I don’t think I managed to decease the lengthy description any… sorry! :zip:

#862

what don’t you want to see again?
If there’s a simpler way to state your opinion, it would be greatly appreciated.

#863

Er, just that I don’t want to see them “hollywoodize” the encounter with Gman at the end of the game. You know, where the developers do a few things to make a scene “more appealing,” either by moving the camera around somewhere else, (not typical for an FPS) or where they do something like take the ability to control the character away from the player, until the scene is finished (a more common approach, and they did it in HL2/EP2 with the Gman scenes). Things like that.

One of HL1’s more immersive traits (at least, I thought it was immersive) was displayed in the fact that Valve never took control away from the player for a scene. In HL2+, they broke with this idea for Gman’s scenes. So, I guess I was kind of complaining about it a bit there. :stuck_out_tongue:

Sorry if I wasn’t clear the first time, I have a really bad habit of writing stupidly long posts for stupidly simple concepts sometimes. I’ve never been very good at summarizing an idea and keeping it short, sweet, and to the point… :frowning:

EDIT: Fixed the original post, kind of rewrote it from scratch… hopefully made it a bit clearer, even if I didn’t manage to make it any shorter… crap… :facepalm:

#864

Basically boils down to: please, no cut-scenes.
At least, not the type that takes complete control away from the player as if they’re saying:
“Hey, look at this cool shit we did! No, no… you mustn’t look away. We spent a lot of fucking time on this, so we damn sure ain’t gonna let some snot-nosed punk speed-run his way through without seeing this complete and total awesomeness. LOOK…AT…IT. ENJOY IT.”

Ok, maybe I went a little too far, but it was basically what I was getting at a little while back.

#865

Pretty sure they’re gonna do the Gman speeches HL2-style, for consistency and awesomeness.

#866

Well since there’s only one speech and most of it takes place on xen we’re not likely to see any of it until the release.

#867

Anyway it wouldn’t fit to make the speech Half-Life 2 Style because at the end you have to decide whether you go through the portal or stay put and fail.

#868

I don’t know how you can say that.

#869

Except most of the speech takes place outside the tram. You only have to be able to move when you’re in the tram at the end.

#870

@ Marb: Yes, thank you! Sorry, I guess I’ve gotten into the habit of calling every encounter with an NPC a “cut-scene,” even though I guess that’s not technically correct… since in HL, the player is rarely ever “cut” from the gameplay for a scene… So, yeah. No cut scenes. :stuck_out_tongue:

@ Power_Dust: Exactly. I agree 100%. Wouldn’t feel consistent.

@ Burbinator: That’s actually exactly the kind of thing I wouldn’t want to see done. It might be consistent with HL2 to do it that way, but this isn’t exactly HL2. I suppose it’s in the spirit of HL2, at least graphically… oh well, it’s up to the devs.

I’m not saying they can’t graphically stylize the meeting with him in the spirit of HL2 if they wanted to, or whatever… just that I’d like at least some control of Gordon to remain in the hands of the player at all times (even if it’s only the ability to look around rather than move) if possible. In the end, I don’t think the awesomeness of the encounter with Gman would be diminished any, just because they decided to allow the player to continue controlling Gordon… so… why not? :stuck_out_tongue:

#871

I thought I heard something about how when they made the hl1 gman scenes they actually wanted to make those same type of effects like in hl2 but the graphics weren’t good enough at the time.

#872

Or maybe just let the player move slowly like in Half-Life 2 and if the player jumps off the platform the game fades out so the player notices that he may not fall down. I think it is also possible to fall off the platform in the end of Half-Life 2 isn’t it?

#873

The end…

#874

The point with the G-man scenes - and why they break with continuity in HL2 - is purely to break that love of immersion throughout the game. It establishes the creepiness and power of G-man; that he’s in control of you and is beyond anything you’ve encountered.

#875

my opinion is, that they wont change anything in the final scene as it was in HL.
the one point, is that you have to choose, portal or “FFFFUUUUUUUUUUU”
the other point is that theyre still remaking Half Life ONE.
i cant remember if you could move or only look around before youre in the tram.
i would look forward to it if they extend the end if you choose to fight, i mean a fight against 2384622592875 grunts is awesome :smiley: , and if you can move around, but only slowly and not too far (just HL1 style)

#876

I was about to say that the cliff was going to be wider in BM, and quote Swumpster in it.

#877

Um, how about Clinton? Seeing how Half Life was released mid-nineties.

#878

Mid nineties are you kidding me it was the late 90’s 1998.

#879

I’ll be happy if it is true, the cliff was one of the best parts in Half-Life.

#880

Iron Sights! :hmph:

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