Half-Life reminsce thread

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After I finish Killzone Shadow Fall I'm gonna start playing Black Mesa Source. What are some of your memories of playing Half-Life the first time?

No FPS has 'sucked me in' the way HL did. Totally immersive. The level design and combat are what stood out the most to me. Fighting both the military and aliens was awesome. And it felt like the military guys really wanted you dead. I loved seeing the threatening graffiti that said something like "Freeman must die".

In terms of a specific moment, the crusher was probably the most memorable for me.
 
My personal GOAT game. I remember playing this with my older brother Christmas Day 1998. I had got it for him for Christmas, but we played it together on our dad's computer because my brother had come home for Christmas that year and was living in another city at the time.

The tram ride at the beginning and the Blast Pit are my most vivid memories. The first time that giant tentacle smashes through the window to snag the scientist for a snack. Man, I'll remember that always.

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HL was massive for me. I was crazy about it even before it got released. I'd sit and watch gameplay footage over and over again. Completely delivered on my expectations. Black Mesa felt like a living, breathing environment. I'll never forget that place bros

I guess the main highlight for me was Surface Tension. That shit was pure chaos
 
I remember thinking this game was overrated, so then I bought it along with Opposing Force. Legit played the games for thirty hours straight. Soon after I discovered CS, and that's all I played for several years.
 
I remember how pissed I was when the military dudes targeted me instead helping. They were bastards too and would pin you down with fire and grenades while flanking.
 
Half Life is probably the game that sold me on PC gaming. I'd played Tie Fighter years before, but didn't really buy any other PC games.

I borrowed Half Life from a friend and it blew me away. Even the opening train ride, just how real the world seemed. Seeing the facehuggers and the scientists interact was cool, I remember in Blue Shift I tried to save as many of them as I could. The soldiers in Opposing Force seemed really cool to little Concrete.
 
I remember how pissed I was when the military dudes targeted me instead helping. They were bastards too and would pin you down with fire and grenades while flanking.

The AI of the soldiers were on another level at the time. I honestly don't remember being that impressed with AI in an FPS campaign again until the first FEAR came out in 2006.
 
A game that can't get enough praise.

I remember the whole "FPS Battle!" At the time in the gaming media. On the horizon there were several high profile games coming out in addition to Half Life. Daikatana, Sin, and some others I can't recall. Half Life was on the radar but it wasn't getting the heavy press of something like Sin due to its developer reputation.

Then came the demo that was bundled with some video card or something. I forget what. But if you got some nvidia card you could play the first 2 hours.

It's hilarious now because you realize what a massive wrench that threw into the gears of every shooter in development. If the game wasn't delayed (Daikatana) it was shoved out the door to be available before HL, resulting in Sin being a buggy mess that made Bethesdas game look polished. It's initial patch at the time was something 25 megs, which was huge for dial up connections.

I remember reading the report that John Romero was literally pacing around his studio yelling "Shit. SHIT! SHIT!" Because HL was just so amazing. All of the sudden anyone developing an fps was shitting their pants.

And the game? Goddamn. I remember I wanted to only limit myself to 2 hours a day, to prolong the experience.

It was agony. I still blasted through it in a handful of sittings.

What always stuck out for me was the fights with the military groups. The AI was beyond anything I had ever seen in a shooter. The fact that I'd die in a particular way, only to start again and have the encounter go a completely different way was inconprehensible at the time. The tactics both you and the AI used creates auch an enormous amount of variation and emergent gameplay that the other enemies paled in comparison, which is, imo, why the Xen levels were so maligned. I would literally save before fights, finish them, save again and immediately reload my first save to try a different tactic.
 
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After I finish Killzone Shadow Fall I'm gonna start playing Black Mesa Source. What are some of your memories of playing Half-Life the first time?

No FPS has 'sucked me in' the way HL did. Totally immersive. The level design and combat are what stood out the most to me. Fighting both the military and aliens was awesome. And it felt like the military guys really wanted you dead. I loved seeing the threatening graffiti that said something like "Freeman must die".

In terms of a specific moment, the crusher was probably the most memorable for me.

So is Black Mesa Source just Half Life 1 revamped? If so, I've been looking for a good single player game that my shitty computer can handle. Plus playing through a hi-res Half Life 1 again would be sick. Can anyone recommend it?

Anyways the original Half Life was an experience. Pretty groundbreaking for me in terms of a gaming period.
 
So is Black Mesa Source just Half Life 1 revamped? If so, I've been looking for a good single player game that my shitty computer can handle. Plus playing through a hi-res Half Life 1 again would be sick. Can anyone recommend it?

Anyways the original Half Life was an experience. Pretty groundbreaking for me in terms of a gaming period.


Depends on what you mean by revamped? Its pretty much, in it's current form, an update of everything in the original Half Life into the current gen source engine. Maybe not current gen, but recent. It's missing the Xen levels, however, which the team hoped to finally complete this summer.

But everything is the same. The levels, enemies, etc. Just in a modern engine.

Theres two version, though. The free version, and the paid version. The paid version has access to all the commercial tools and features of the source engine. So better animation, models, etc. Even given the time in development, its a pretty remarkable accomplishment for a few people to put together in their spare time.

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I remember thinking this game was overrated, so then I bought it along with Opposing Force. Legit played the games for thirty hours straight. Soon after I discovered CS, and that's all I played for several years.

Opposing Force was so good. As was Blue Shift. I LOVED CS, but was a much bigger fan of Day of Defeat.
 
Opposing Force was so good. As was Blue Shift. I LOVED CS, but was a much bigger fan of Day of Defeat.
Yeah, for my every day multi-player FPS Day of Defeat was a no-brainer after playing it only once. It's the best capture the flag type game I ever played, for sure.

Half-Life has amazing longevity. I was privileged to have a friend who told me I should get it as soon as it came out and I wasn't disappointed. I'm still playing some form of it. Amazing.
 
The two best FPS's ever. What's the reason for no Half Life 3? Studio/Ownership issues?
 
The two best FPS's ever. What's the reason for no Half Life 3? Studio/Ownership issues?

Valve isn't interested in making single player campaigns anymore. I mean, theres a little more to it but that's basically the gist of it in a nutshell. You have to read between the lines of several years worth of press releases but that's basically the vibe I get.
 
The two best FPS's ever. What's the reason for no Half Life 3? Studio/Ownership issues?
They didnt even finish Half Life 2.

Episode 3 was teased and we were left with one of the biggest cliff hangers in gaming history only for them to never deliver on it. I m salty as fuck about it but I will still play HL2 again and again.
 
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