2:58 I love how Stuart put a lot of emphasis on the name "Gordon Freeman" "You are placed into the shoes of a... seemingly ordinary man. 27 years old, MIT graduate... GORDON FREEMAN."
"More variety among the friendly NPC's would have been nice." But who could get their epic dialogue? *DARGH! STAPH! HUEGG! NOOw... AAHGHHH!* _Greetings._
@Mr. Bonnie Bon I mean, apart from officially licensing merchandises, DLCs and stuff, Valve hadn’t been fully investing in HL since 2007. Alyx, which began development in 2016, is Valve’s latest full-scale Half-Life contribution.
2020 is the year for VR! If you haven’t tried VR yet you should grab an oculus quest, wireless 6 dof VR with smooth frame rates it has hand tracking and an optional wired version so you can play more well known games Needless to say, VR is becoming cheaper and more improved so give it a try :3
The surface tension reference is at 8:18 btw he’s talking about the human grunts trying to kill Gordon and how that naturally leads to some “tension” . (Just to make things clear)
I still have Half-Life source version. 2 copies in fact, one that my grandfather gave me after years of us playing it for hours, and one he found in a house he moved in. I actually found a way to catch the G Man that I have not seen anyone else do. Lambda Core: there is the teleported room, go into teleporter 1 with some explosive weapon (I used grenade launcher on the SMG), launch it at the G Man (you must not have ever looked at him in the previous rooms or he will already be gone) before he reaches the teleporter. He should then just stand there, you can shoot the Hornet Cannon that seeks enemies and it will not go to him, throw snarks that eat anything that has HP and they will not attack him. I may post a video showing how I did it.
I've always thought that Freeman isn't the good or bad guy. He's just some dude trying to fucking survive who also happens to be a bad ass. He knows he's gotta go kill the shit so it doesn't come kill him. He's not helping people because he's a good guy, he's using them to help him survive. He has no feelings good or bad for any of the people he meets. He's just trying to get a fucking day off.
People always seem to forget that Half-Life was not cutscene-less. It is brief, but when Gordon Freeman gets knocked out in the game there is a cutscene where two soldiers drag him down a corridor. The player cannot look around because Gordon is slipping into unconsciousness, but it's still technically a cutscene, albeit one explained in-universe.
Yet it doesn't cut away to a new perspective. The teleportation events during the resonance cascade also follow the same formula - they're certainly more cinematic than gameplay - but never does the player view the game from any perspective but Gordon's, unlike many cutscenes in other games, and still unlike a more hard-scripted, uncontrolled scene. I would imagine it's down to personal definition of "cutscene", because some people could easily consider the Blast Pit introduction a cutscene due to its uninteractive spectacle nature.
by cutscene they meant the cutscenes where the camera would just show you in a third person perspective like in gta games, in half life games you are always looking at the world through your own eyes
@@willywre2251 It is not only exclusive in Gordon's perspective, but also that Gordon's response is only through human input: in nowhere does Gordon act without our input and if he is knocked out then no matter what we input he won't move.
in grade 9 me and some of my friends found the original hl and counterstrike along with hl deathmatch, so we put it on a bunch of the computers and at lunch we would all have a giant lan party and play hl deathmatch, good times...
Yeah, that's why you crack the game (or download an already cracked game), put it on the USB and run it off the USB. Its extremely simple. Especially for games like CS 1.6 or source.
Zacq768 I've yet to find halo on one of our computers, but when i was in grade 8 we took a tour of the school and i saw halo on one of the computers, i wanted to play it so god damn bad
***** Well, the guys over at neuwon.com are working on a patch that will give us the multiplayer experience exactly as it shipped in 1998, with some enhancements along the way as well.
Stuart hints at one of the main reasons why Half-Life 3 hasn't been made yet: Valve has found easier ways to make money via microtransactions and Steam. Why bother investing dozens of millions in a AAA game when people are going to throw the same money at you for _hats?_
Having talked with Valve people, I don't think it's as nefarious as all that. Valve doesn't invest money in projects the way most companies do. They have a permanent staff and no leadership. The people at Valve are free to work on whatever's interesting to them and whatever they can convince other Valve employees is interesting. Half-Life 3 has been started at least 3 times since the release of HL2:E2 and the Orange Box. Remember how big a deal the Orange Box was? That was HL2:E2, TF2, and Portal. It was also the beginning of Steam's dominance of PC distribution. I'm not surprised that many Valve employees wanted to work on other interesting projects before coming back to HL (which they had been developing, pretty much non-stop for 8 years before that (from early development of HL2 to the release of the episodes). Those interesting projects are: Steam, Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, New Source Engine, Source Film Maker, user-created content (and hats), Portal 2, Dota 2, Steam OS & Steam Machines, VR, and the support and development of Steam generally (Big Picture, Greenlight, etc.). If you think Valve is in this to optimize a money:effort ratio, you don't know Valve. They have more money and talent on their team that most of us will ever see.
I'm not so sure, I think it's simply that they know they need to release Half-Life 3 with some sort of revolutionary element, as was the case with Half-Life and Half-Life 2 before it.
Ryan Gatts Valve is in for the money like everyone else. I don't understand this "white knight" vision people have of them, especially after the unbelievable running changes to the Steam EULA with their "you can never sue valve" added clause.
Connor Shea To be fair, HL2's most revolutionary element were the facial animations. The physics engine had the impact it had only because most people never played Jurassic Park Trespasser, which was a 1998 game with a comparable physics engine (and a crap gameplay, but that's a different story).
Fan service has never really hurt anyone. The outcry for it is there, and most PC-gamers would buy it when it released, I'd be very surprised if it never happened.
I first saw this game as a child because my cousin had it on his parent's computer, we snuck up late at night and I watched him play it until the morning. It looked so amazing and I had to play it for myself. I found a demo disc at my grandparent's house with the Half-Life Uplink demo and I installed it onto their computer. They had a dated computer with no graphics card, so it ran like absolute shit, but I didn't care and had a blast slowly making my way through the laggy demo running on software graphics. I thought I was the luckiest kid in the world. Eventually as I got older I was able to get my own computer and a copy of the full game. Half-Life will always be one of my personal all time greats. From the first time I saw my cousin play it back when I was a child, even until today, it's still a great game with an atmosphere and feel that cannot be matched.
Author correctly summarized what makes a great game. A quality, thought out experience. Like Vavle created, not rushing to meet deadlines fanatically and taking time to polish art assets, levels, game design, gameplay.
Anyone who thinks that Half-Life is a Quake/DOOM copy well...I'll just say this. I am a huge fan of Quake. Half-Life revolutionized the first person shooter category of games when it was becoming very stale.
@Happyalltheday 227 The security guard at the start of Anomalous Materials even mentioned that they had a system crash about 20 minutes ago. “Just one of those days, I guess?!”
All those people dying in horrible ways. People been sucked into fans, falling and splattering in lifts, been dragged away screaming and eaten by horrible monsters. I miss that 90s dark humor in FPS games.
Eh, HL:A may look more realistic, but I'd say the art style is still stylized enough that it still looks pretty damn good. However, there is still G-Man, who looks the most uncanny-valley he ever has. All by design, of course
You seem like an enlightened sort sir! May I recommend that you consider attending one of our meetings this week of The Holy Church of The Almighty Crowbar? I think you'll find yourself right at home!
They're still allowed to be criticised. This "u don hav to waetch" bullshit is the most obnoxious and cookie-cutter response one could give. Of course he's not forced to watch, that's why he's watching this instead.
Imagine one day, Steam releases not 1 but all games that has 3s on it (DotA 3, TF3, CS3, L4D3, and HF3) all in one bundle! That would be a great reason why they take it for so long to announce it...
Re-watching this video 3rd time since it's released and still want to give those extra likes every couple minutes. The writing and accompanying video is perfect. God bless Ahoy, we need more such people.
Thank you for this look back! I remember the A.I. in Half-Life being something special. My personal favorite moment in Half-Life was lobbing a grenade at the armed forces and hearing them yell back, "Look out! Grenade!" After years and years of playing Ikari Warriors, hearing the enemy's "fear" generate "actual" tension, for the first time ever in playing a single player game, I "felt" empowered. The enemy was reacting to my actions! That's what made Half-Life an important experience during my earlier game playing days. That and Looking Glass's Thief games. In Thief, you can manipulate the computer AI with placement of unconscious bodies and changing the environment by turning off a light. Games like those defined immersive. Unscripted "Awareness" was something that Ninten-didn't. 😜
That's why I absolutely love Splinter cell chaos theory and double agent AI. They flank, Rush, and hide from you, they yell out at you and if they find a body they freak out! Nothing else holds up against it to this day.
Well Gabe Newell has said that half life 3 would only be a thing if everyone at Valve agrees it is time to release it. This can be taken different ways, but I feel what they mean is that they are awaiting for the right stuff before it is out. This may still take some time, nonetheless.
Considering that the hardware surveys have been showing that people have been gaming with relatively bad computers for a long time now, they're probably waiting until more than 10% of users have good hardware. That way they don't have to skimp on graphical quality. Though by the time that happens and it comes out, I imagine HL3 will be quite the visual experience. Photorealism and a material engine beyond what we can achieve nowadays.
Maybe valve is working on VR so they can make half life 3. Think with me, what was the best revolutionary thing in HL1? The graphics, the story, and the Physics. with HL2 they made one the best physics in the game. Now what can they do? Make half life compatible with VR? Because Valve Can Do Alot, With Time, they can perfect VR Tecnology so they can make HL3 On VR. Idk it's my opinion (sorry my english is not perfected xD) One more thing: They would Let you play without VR too. Once again it's my opinion.
Even today when I load up half life the audio quality alone blows me away it feels so modern and half life 2 was way ahead of it's time still today it feels like it belongs in this era
"So, what did Half-Life do that no game had done before? What helped to define its lasting appeal? And why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties?"
It truly speaks to the quality of HL2 that the graphics still stand up. Buggy missions aside and annoying loading screens its still one of the best games ever.
I think you're the only person *in the world* who thinks that HL2 is too physics-focused. The physics in HL2 made the game an instant classic, and it was well executed.
explain why I need the same "put boxes here to raise a platform to continue" several times in the game? That's very overeager. The physics were great. But some of the silly puzzles to showcase them were not.
personally I think the puzzle-solving and platforming changed when the Gravity Gun was introduced. You basically had to do some outside-the-box thinking for the following puzzles.
After watching leadhead I have realized that this footage shows nothing but pistols, revolvers, and shotguns, and you don’t even try to dodge those electrical attacks, huh
I call BS on Xen being the weakest part of HL1. The weakest part is probably Office Complex. Xen is a great climax if you ask me, because it pulls the rug out from under you. Instead of having a climax that's loud and exciting like the rest of the game, it's subdued and unusual. The unusual aspect makes it feel more "alien" which makes it stick with you. I guarantee the people who thought it was weak would still admit that they remember it well. It stands out, just as an alien world would and should. And it's a "calm before the storm", the "storm" being the Nihilanth. It works really well.
+BassbaitGG Same here. I was utterly floored by Xen. It was unlike any alien world I set foot on. Not to mention Nihilanth spoke to you on every level transition in a melancholic tone, like he did not want to fight. He was also warning you of the G-Man and his control over you, which I felt was very foreboding.
+BassbaitGG Xen was *exactly* like every other "alien world" I had ever seen. The factory part was dull, the long jump was very annoying and inconsistent to use, and it just looked way too human. Very disappointing.
“And for Episode 3, some day... hopefully.” And the day has finally come, Half-Life: Alyx! I’m looking forward to this new game and I’m sure everyone else is too.
@Arch Dornan okay hold on, I replied to one of your other comments I saw earlier but you're telling me you HAVE VR, and have played VR games, and have seen Half Life: Alyx gameplay, and still think it could be done without VR!? Dude, have you seen the level of environmental interaction and gameplay possibilities offered explicitly because it's VR?
Arch Dornan just have an open mind. The gameplay footage looks stellar man. Just because it’s set at a price like that doesn’t mean it’s gonna suck. I know this game will be good.
Ahoy Impressive, sublime writing. Liked! Subscribed! Added to Favorites! Also: "Half-Life is no stranger to questionable ethics." "...leading to tension..." I see what you did there. Thumbs up!
HL3 will come out someday. When Eli handed you that crowbar, I don't think that was just for cinematic effect. That was a promise. It might not be this year, or next year, or the year after that, but it will eventually come out.
I played this game 1 year ago and enjoyed in to the MAX .. only downside is that it ends right before the Xen chapter of the original half-life because - as far as I understood - the engine used in Black Mesa had some issues with the organic environments (according to the developers). But I can tell you, this 'reboot' is GREAT.
I didn't like it, guns felt weak, it was weird, I didn't like the strafing camera abomination and the darkness. Don't look up project lambda if you think Black Mesa looks good
Maaaaan! Your videos are so kickass. Each one of your video pictures is a work of art. Your editing is perfect. Your script is clever and your voice is super calming. I could watch these all day keep up the good work!
The black mesa remake of half life 1 actually includes completely new zen levels that address what was the weakest point of the original. They make for some of the best levels in the game and make black mesa worth playing through for any half life fan
I agree that modern FPS sucks but I don't hate Doom man. Doom and Half-Life are my two favorite FPS games. I'm just saying that Half-Life was a revolutionary game and it was more different than all the other FPS games at the time. Hell, 7 months later, I think Quake is actually the game that broke Doom clones. Sure it had a lot of Doom elements but it also used a 3D engine that spawned other shooters like Unreal, Half-Life, and...even Call of Duty...
+Bernard Strauss I agree. By the time you get to the end of the train ride, you're completely immersed in the world and you've already have a lot of backstory told to you along the way. In the hands of less capable directors, the backstory would be shown in a long pre-rendered cutscene between two CG actors.
Lol, I was referring to the "they are waiting for you Gordon... In the test chambeeer" that Ahoy makes at the beginning of the video, but yes the actual train ride of HL is pretty good too.
It is worth it, from start to end. At the end of Episode 2, you'll see why so many people are waiting for the third. You'll look back at all that you went through, and be like,"Wow, that was...great." At least, that's how it was for me :P
I knew the Half Life games were worth it the second Lamarr started trolling Kleiner. And when Dog threw the van across the cliff...WITH YOU IN IT...(spoilers)
Echo Sierra Black Mesa Source is free. Try that too. Once you own Half-Life you can also get Sven-Coop free as well. It allows you to play a multitude of cooperative games online, including the full story of half-life and opposing force. Sadly, when half-life was new, all the games(TFC, CS, DOD, Ricochet, etc) were free downloads once you purchased half-life. Times have changed for the worse.
w00dmii5t3r Wha? No, I'm much older than that, and back in the day I used to play HL, so when someone calls a game that I played when I was younger retro it makes me feel old. Especially when the time it was new doesn't feel that long ago.
Half Life 2: Episode 3: the promised 3rd episode. Imagine if JRR Tolkein had promised a trilogy and released the Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers consecutively. Then he stops without explanation and starts pumping out unrelated stories and his publishing business becomes really successful. Years go by and and not only has there been no Return of the King, but the author refuses to answer any questions about it or to offer any explanation as to why the promised 3rd chapter. Kinda would make you hate the author, wouldn't it? That's why I hate Valve. When it does come out, they will probably make some stupid MMORPG or something set in the Half-Life universe instead of a classic, cinematic narrative experience that made the series so great. Now the idea of Half-Life 3 has become a joke, because no one really thinks it will ever happen. It's just about half-way to Duke Nukem: Forever's 15 year crown.
I really don't think they'll be aiming for the MMORPG market. HL3 will be out, my prediction is when the steam machines go live in 2015 as a simultaneous launch, with HL3 as the face/launch title of the "steam machine".
wulfgarbeorngar The idea of using a console controller to play half-life is not something I would be excited about. Got to be keyboard and mouse for me.
Nonuv Urbeeznus Re-read what I said. I didn't say anything about Valve being unsuccessful. I said Valve stopping HL development is like JRR Tolkein making the first two books of the LOTR trilogy and then starting up Random House. Sure, the whole Random House business in this analogy is successful, but WTF happened to the promised trilogy? If you're going to quote someone then quote something that was actually said.
I remember insisting to my wife, back in 1999, "Check out the graphics on this game! Its incredible, it looks realistic as hell!" and her looking at me like I was nuts. Took a long time to understand what she was thinking. Looks like shit...now. Still very immersive. Awesome game for its time.
That was cutting edge PC gaming thought at the time, lol. I remember those days well. My computer at the time could barely run HL1 at 800x600 at ~20fps, ha!
