100% agree
I thought that the cinematic mod wasn’t all that bad as a game but it did ruin the feeling of the game and was an insult to the half life series.
That’s a weird statement…
I don’t think Valve would ever fully remake anything for realsies, like BM has done. They have other things to worry about, and I think they understand that the fertile soil of the modding community will generate anything the public wants, that Valve won’t deliver themselves.
HL2 Update is very pretty, and it holds up well enough. But there are a handful of environmental fuck-up’s and unrealistic concepts in HL2 that BM can and has executed better.
Not seeing it.
I understand that it’s very open, but empty doesn’t connect to my experience of it. Maybe things weren’t always eye candy, but they usually were structurally consistent (though maybe not realistic). I think it makes perfect sense in terms of design. Immersion doesn’t always correlate directly to self-conscious awe of the subject. Sometimes it just comes out in just being engaged.
If that’s not your experience maybe it’s not a lacking element but rather a difference in taste concerning style of design. I liked what it was, maybe that means a faithful reproduction of the mundane makes me more engaged than the spectacular.
My reaction to cinematic mod :
Better to wait for HL3 engine and then to remake it
I’m currently playing through the game with cinematic mod at the moment, I’ve played half-life 2 through like half a dozen times anyway, so I’m actually quite enjoying it, there are things I wish had been left alone such as the weapon models, but other than that it’s really nice. I don’t understand why people bitch and moan about it so much. all the HD character models that people complain about are optional.
Ah well, each to their own I guess.
I know they are optional but that dont change the fact that they are bad …
Bad colours,out of place textures,too dark,BUGS,bad shadows and lighting etc. seriously, this is not cock sucking but Im much more impressed by Black Mesa graphics.
Also pointless tweaks to weapons and other things
@TheSuperNova: I agree, i hadn’t read any comments before I played the cinematic mod and I enjoyed it very much. It’s until afterwards that I read all the bitching and moaning. I’m starting to believe there are lots of gamers out there that played it after they read about the bitching and now it’s probably just sheep-like behaviour to hate on the cinematic mod.
You didn’t respond to Dotard’s specific criticisms at all, just called people who don’t like it sheep. Great argument. Hint: The only way to determine whether a person’s “bitching and moaning” is legitimate is to engage their ideas. You can’t deduct them from using the same product.
“Well, I think this is actually good! They must be sheep!” That’s like me calling a food critic pretentious when he dislikes McDonalds and I actually like me a big-mac. The fact that I like something he does not, doesn’t give me the knowledge that he’s full of crap.
No, it actually sucks. Granted, not as much as a lot of stuff you’d find on moddb, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s bad.
I think the problem is that it just hasn’t aged too well. I mean the rocks and vegetation look pretty bad by today’s standard. Hell, I didn’t even like it much when it was brand new.
Maybe it’s just the harsh contours with lack of detail that kinda break HL2’s look for me.
It’s like I said before… If the whole goal is to replicate reality with the best tech of the time, it will only look good within the time it’s new.
If they’d taken some liberties with reality; twistier trees, more jagged and harsh rocks, character designs a tad bit exaggerated with more distinct silhouettes (but not ridiculous), dirtier and more noisier walls, then it would probably look a lot better to me now.
HL2 just looks boring to me… Always has… Not because it looks old really, but because it doesn’t seem to visually explore it’s own concepts in with very much imagination. A prison is just a prison, a tree is just a tree, nothing really pops. Some could see that as a plus, but I just can’t care about something virtual that does’t even try to differentiate itself or even improve on it’s real life counterpart.
I guess what I’m saying is that they had the power to show us a world that was truly hurting, with a humanity that’s truly on the brink of extinction, but all we got were some plain brick walls and dudes in blue jumpsuits.
I gotta say I would have been much more pleased had they gone with their older 12 monkeys/ Bladerunner visual concepts.
It’s words like this that assure me BM is gonna look gorgeous. To me at least.
I want to make illicit mods about child murder, rape and jaywalking.
I like how you go from Rape and murder to jaywalking, lol.
As for the Cinematic Mod,
Obviously the NPC and weapon models suck.
Changing Gman and Breen’s looks are redundant and annoying. Same heavily goes for Alyx, Barney, Eli, and Izzy.
The music is kinda nice sometimes, and I enjoyed the lighting and bloom very much.
As for realism in Bloom, it looked plenty real to me.
I have no idea what these out-of-place textures are that some of you are talking about. Seriously, I didn’t notice any. Then again, I didn’t play for very long.
Hell yeah.
I don’t think there are any significant problems with the design of Half-Life 2 overall. They worked on it for years, and It showed, but by today’s standards it just falls short in the execution. The story, settings, and characters are memorable and effective. Only minor tweaks would be necessary for a remake.
In that goal, HL2 Update works great.
I’ve never partook of Cinematic Mod, but whenever I Google it, all anyone has to offer me as feedback is pictures of Alyx 2’s chest, so I don’t imagine the rest would be terribly memorable. I understand they replace everyone’s face with an actor’s face, but that’s part of what I like most about Half-Life, everyone looks memorable as themselves. They seem grounded and likable, just by their appearance and expressions. Hollywood looks like Hollywood, not like Half-Life.
Granted, the optional characters aren’t grate and that’s why I don’t use them, I can also see why people such as yourself would not like the mod. It DOES take away from the original theme of the game a tad. But I don’t agree that the textures are ugly or the lighting and shadows are off, the new lighting/shadows and textures are the reason I like the mod. Tweaks and stuff for me just add an extra sense of re-playability to the game, but I understand why others may not appreciate the mod for these tweaks. It’s the bitching and moaning about optional features I was referring to in my previous post.
People really get stopped at the model designs of Cinematic Mod and don’t pursue to look at the wonderful work that has been done to the game itself.
I really wish there was some way to take the overall geometry and textures of Cinematic Mod alone, without the added models and model-redesigns. I mean, take a look at the goddamn beauty,
And for my favorite comparison shot. Very impressive redesign.
Sorry for posting so many, but they really are some sexy shots. Sexy enough to be a good enough remake if someone just spliced together the geometrical work into a mod, save a few other designs.
Yay, constant deep fog!
I kinda like the fog. It makes the world feel more dead than it does without. That’s the kind of shit I expected to see.
Now if only all the women weren’t all dressed like sluts, and the music wasn’t Hans Zimmer track 001-100.
It’s not all fog, I just posted shots with fog to get the idea across.